Berkeley Boot Camps

I recently (1.5 months ago) completed the 6-month variant of the UC Berkeley Bootcamp as one of the members of the very first cohort, and just this past week I excepted a job as a front-end engineer at a startup with a starting salary in the 90k range.

Before coming to this bootcamp I had been teaching myself to program for about a year, but slowly, and had also been able to essentially intern(largely for free) for a company slowly learning to write automated tests in Python. So my experience with code was past absolute beginner.

I knew I needed to find a way to elevate myself quickly to a professional developer's level, and I knew that the quickest way to do this was to focus on a Javascript - front end to full-stack engineering bootcamp.

After researching a number of them, I chose this one partly because it was among the least expensive by far, and also because of the name recognition (Berkeley). I was happy about the prospect of taking 6 months to learn everything I wanted as I knew I would need to work part-time and generally use the time to consume more information on my own.

This bootcamp took me and my cohort through a cirriculum that rivaled if not largely beat the cirriculum of more famous and expensive place like HR, App Acad and Dev BC. This according to notes(and code) compared with my friends who attended each. They cover everything about the front end from your first introduction to HTML/CSS to coding in Javascript all the way through to React powered full-stack applications.

The instructors Michael and David were both excellent. Personable, kind, and (most importantly) genuinely engaged with the idea of transferring as much of their knowledge of the science and art of programming professionally onto all the student. Michael had a traditional CS background and a number of years of work while David was a grad of HR with a couple of years of working experience, which made them each compelling for their individual experiences. They are both excellent programmers.

The same idea carries throughout the organization. Rosa the career director cares for the concerns and roadblocks individual students might face, and Sam of career services is constantly involved in building your public profiles and presentational person for career services. Although, ultimately, this part of the program is perhaps the weakest, as their networks are not the same as your bigger and far far more expensive BC's.

I also got a chance to meet Pavan, someone from the parent organization of the BC, a company called Trilogy that partners with Universities throughout the country to create these bootcamps for them. Pavan was also smart, kind, and commited to hearing about my experience as a student. They all wanted to see me thrive, and not just collect a check and pepper you with information only to leave you to "sink or swim" as the case in some other programs.

By the mid-point of the program we were already writing full-stack applications with our own server instances(Node.js), and using them to render templated views of custom sites which would both consume various API's and also access our own SQL or noSQL backend data services. Students would coluntarily explore topics like user authentication with Passport.js or WebSocket enabled multi-user live interfaces. I dove into a Google Maps Api for my first (one of three) major project and came away with a powerful new tool.

It was at this time that I started to peek at the work my friends had/were doing at the more popular BC variants out here in SF, only to discover that their body of work was tiny in comparison. Often not particularly broad. Nothing wrong with checking out the competition once in a while. Right?

Now, like any programming cohort there was a range of stories, many struggled HARD, and some essentially failed or gave up, but to those that did not, the experience has left them with a significant number of projects across the modern Javascript stack and an overall broad knowledge of how the heck a modern web app is built from the ground to the backend MongoDB non-relational databse. Sorry, bad programming humor.

Ultimately no Bootcamp can singularly gurantee you a great engineering education if you just sit there with your arms crossed waiting for the instructor to automatically funnel the information into your head, you have to do the work. And, not only that, but rise to the occasion to exploit the technology introduced more deeply.

Having that attitude may mean that you will be successful at most any Bootcamp, but this one will introduce you and set the stage for a deep variety of topics that you will want to expand on and explore to secure a mastery.

As a student I realize I may have been an exception with my incoming experience and devotion to extra learning on the side. I would constantly look to expand on the assigned hwrk and develop new and unexpected features not explicitly required in the assignment.
However a number of my peers who I now get to call good friends, had not touched code until starting this program, and through constant devotion to learning and playing with code they have all elevated their skills far beyond what I was able to achieve in my very first half-year of programming knowledge.

So if you are serious. Want to learn a lot about the modern web, and plan to build on what this school offers you to stand out from the busy bootcamp graduate field out here in the SF/Bay Area, then this school will help you prosper!

Best decision I have ever made! Can't wait to get started with my new job on Monday.

As you may or may not know, UCB's coding bootcamp's course content is very similar to other bootcamps out there. I personally did a lot of research on bootcamps and other university's teaching the edX curriculum. I am SO GLAD I went with UCB. They gave me the support I needed to complete the work. They pushed me to challenge myself when I was unsure. And they gave SO MUCH INFORMATION. Seriously, I plan to go back through the course as much as possible in my own time. It's a treasure trove!

I got my Bachelor's in Business Administration, and was disappointed with the salaries when I entered the workforce. Not sure if this is the same outside the SF Bay Area, but I noticed a huge discrepancy between Computer Science and Data Analytics salaries versus Business/Marketing/Sales salaries. I knew I needed to learn those tech skills if I wanted to afford to live where I am going forward. Plus, I was always interested in technology, but wasn't young enough to grow up in an environment where women were encouraged to pursue careers in STEM. I feel like now it is a lot more common to see women in Technology, and I am happy to see it. 
I am planning to move to a different department within my current company, which is a tech company. After I obtain my certificate I will be eligible to go for Product Management, Business Operations, Growth Analytics, etc. – there are a ton of applications for data skills. I've found that coding is a lot like math (a lot of f(x) stuff) so if you feel comfortable with math, you should definitely learn how to code. Everyone I know who works in technology loves it. Soon I will be one of them  :') 
This bootcamp is definitely intense, so prepare to devote around 20 hours a week or more. Ask for help, the TAs and your fellow classmates are very helpful. There is tutoring available as well. 

In three decades of attained achievements and shaping experiences, this program has directly and indirectly impacted me in ways I could only have prayed for.  I am not just drinking from the proverbial fire hose of UC Berkeley vigorous curriculum. If this were the case, the greatest takeaway could be what's stated on the syllabus. This boot camp has been so much more. In its entirety, this experience will not only allow me a competitive edge as a cyber sec professional, but the brilliance/inspiration demonstrated by the instructors/assistants and success manager offered lessons in mental fortitude, gratitude, and compassion that extend to all realms personal/professional/academic. Some of my takeaways could arguably be attributed to the unique composition and timing of my specific boot camp, but by far, the potent constant, student success manager, Krishana Anderson, is an incredible mind and person that is willing, eager, able to help you maximize your experience as you get closer to your goals (just come driven to advance yourself because she can't do it for you).  Whether you never graduated high school or just finished an ivy league doctorate, this boot camp offers the knowledge, tools, and support to advance a path in IT/cyber security.  This is NOT empty rhetoric.  Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn to verify claims or ask more specific questions.  As evidence to my bold statements, my class enrolled brand new entrants to the IT space as well as industry veterans actively employed, and the course provides the content, structure, and support for BOTH groups and everyone in between. I am humbled, touched, and eternally grateful.

Berkeley FinTech Bootcamp is one of the best way to start your career in FinTech industry. I loved the way they helped me in learning basics of coding with real life experiences in a form of case studies to be covered in weekly assignments. Teaching faculty is very cooperating and helpful, they pay attention to each individual to overcome his problem or doubts. I have made new connections and advanced my knowledge in the world of finance and technology. This 6 months course is amazingly designed to boost one’s confidence to start his/her career right after this Bootcamp. 

I was quite reluctant few months ago while writing a code but now Im very confident and happy that I chose this program to transform myself in the world of FinTech. I highly recommend this course to individuals who are looking for a new start in their career.

Firstly, this is not a beginners program as it is very fast-paced. I would recommend going on Udemy and buying programs from Colt Steele
https://www.udemy.com/user/coltsteele/ and  Maximilian Schwarzmüller https://www.udemy.com/user/academind/ for $14.99 when they have a sale.  What is important is really learning what they teach and apply it to a project or 2 to get attention from recruiters and then practice coding challenges on leetcode and hacker rank. 
Secondly, it does not begin to cover everything you need to know about Full Stack Development especially the backend stuff. You need to know systems design, deployment to AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, etc that are not taught here.  It is a lot of money to just gain the basics. 

I decided to switch careers after a long stretch doing economic modeling.  I looked into options available and suitable and found the Berkeley Data Analytics Boot Camp.  It ticked many of the right boxes:

• Broad curriculum that would give me exposure to a large set of tools.
• 24 weeks duration, not too long and not too short.
• Could be completed remotely 100%.
• Recognized University in the tech industry.
• Right price and payment scheme.
• Career Services aimed to help me find a position within Data Sciences.

Currently we are half way through the course and I am extremely happy with the program. The material is well structured and provides guided hands-on learning on the multiple tools and technologies.  There are also lots of support available.  There are multiple Office Hours where the Teaching Assistants (TAs) can provide support and answer questions.  It's also possible to request additional tutoring one-on-one sessions and even post questions to the entire class via Slack.

The instructor Ryan, and the TAs are very knowledgeable and willing to answer questions. A few of the TAs have been through the Boot Camp themselves, so they are familiar with the type of questions and issues that we may have.

I have also found some of the Career Services presentations very informative and have helped me feel more confident about my future.

However, it's a fast paced course with lots of tools and programming languages presented.  I feel that I need to put in at least 20hrs/week are needed to get the most out of it.  
One piece of advice that was given to us at the beginning was to stay ahead of the lectures, reviewing the online module materials ahead of the lecture and not letting much time pass before completing the week's challenge.

Cheers,
Jose.