Bloc

I am now a couple of months in to my Part-Time Web Developer Track and it is incredible how much I have already learned.  The way the course is structured makes it very easy to learn the basics and then implement what you have learnt as you move through each section.  As you progress they take what you have already learnt and expand that knowledge with great tutorials and coding examples.  The mentors I have been allocated have been fantastic and such a great help when you inevitably find yourself struggling with some of the checkpoints.  They have always been able to guide me in the right direction and give great further explanation of any topics I am having issues with.

Overall I am very pleased with the progress I have made and am looking forward to learning so much more as the course continues.  I highly recommend you considering Bloc if you are thinking of learning any aspects of coding.

I did a lot of research before choosing BLOC, and can say with certainty (3 months in) that I made the right decision. The content is approachable, yet challenging. I’m refreshing my existing knowledge base as a lapsed designer, and I’m learning entirely new concepts and applications. The ability to go at my own pace really works for me, and the course has fit into my work/life balance very well. The curriculum includes a heavy dose of career preparedness work, something I frankly never received as an undergraduate or graduate student, and quite a value unto itself. Meet-ups organized by fellow students have been enabled connections, while mentors and fellow students (not to mention the CTO/Cofounder) are a constant helpful and informative presence on Slack, which functions as the school’s virtual campus.

I have been with Bloc as a UX Design and Development student for a few months now. The coursework is in-depth and pretty easy to follow. My only slightly lame experience was with the student advisors lack of communication, but that was only at the very beginning of the process of starting school. My mentor has been an amazing support system, and a source of real-world knowledge. My meetings with him always provide nuggets of wisdom and extra information that is invaluable to my learning process at that time and for the future. I was nervous about doing an online bootcamp since it means very little contact and feedback from others. But between my mentor, the Slack channel for other students, the Facebook group, and local meetups for Bloc students I have felt like my work can be effectively critiqued and I get plenty of participants for the assigments that require user feedback. The head of the design program even comments on the Slack channel everyday. It's pretty great how involved the school is in your learning process. And becuase I got a scholarship, my program will cost me a fraction of what the other mentor based programs I was looking at would have, which was a huge factor for me. I am really happy I chose Bloc.

I'm about a quarter of the way through my part-time web dev program with Bloc. It's been awesome! I'm a massage therapist with no prior background in coding, so it's definitely been challenging me to use my brain in new ways - but the pacing and flexibility of the program along with the personal support from my mentor has helped me to feel confident in my ability to learn the material at every step along the way. My favorite aspect of the program has got to be the personal mentorship - my mentor is GREAT at helping me to understand difficult concepts and giving me pointers when I get stuck. Bloc does a really good job of presenting the  material in a straightforward way, and the pacing of the program feels pretty spot on to me.

I am currently 9 weeks in and almost done with the second module.

The Bloc Software Developer Track so far has done not only what I had expected but more so. It encourages you to do research on your own as well as side learning which helps you in the long run to solve ideas on your own. Not to mention it allows learning within Bloc much more easy because you're used to researching what you don't know.

It has its own methods of teaching as well as outside teaching. It has a great way to start with fundamentals, going to hands-on, and you doing it mostly on your own.

Each checkpoint and assignment you do; allows you to get a review of it. I think this is great because it means they are always looking for ways to improve.

Bloc seems to be able to keep it entertaining because I have yet to get bored, I feel confident in what I am learning so it keeps me hungry to do more.

In addition to the curriculum, you get a mentor. Now, you may not always need the mentor for the coding but your mentor will be an invaluable tool through out your learning journey. My mentor has told me much more about how life will be during your job as well as hiring and even looking for a job. Keeps me confident in what I'm doing and motivated to learn more.

As your doing the checkpoints and assignments, if you happen to get stuck, the mentors will always do their best to reply to you in a timely fashion to get you un-stuck. It usually doesn't take long and you can use that time to either keep on trying different ideas and researching or using that time to learn up from other websites. 

In conclusion, in my search for a coding bootcamp (as well as trying some such as coursera), I decided upon Bloc and have not been disappointed. I have done other certificate courses such as for personal training through NASM but have never been so sure of myself as I am now doing Bloc. Great opportunity.

At this point, I have completed the first two modules of the Software Developer Program, which consisted mainly of Front-end material.  So far I have been extremely pleased with the content, the program, and especially my mentor.  This is not my first experience with front-end material so how the material was delivered to aid in my learning experience was extremely important to me.  Before Bloc, I tried to learn on my own, as well as took some basic classes provided from other sites.  Unfortunately, I was not satisfied with my progress or the content and felt that I would not be prepared to not only look for a job, but to be successful in the field.  Bloc has completely changed that for me in the few months that I have been in the program.  I now feel that I am being prepared to be able to successfully find a job and be successful in that job, once I complete the program.  If I could have had this experience a few years ago, I believe that I would already by in the profession.  However, the Software Developer Program is a newer program that is offered by Bloc, so I am lucky to get that kind of experience that will increase my skills for the job market.  Also, I have felt that Bloc actually cares about my progress, that I am not on my own, and provides skilled mentors that also care about my progress.  This program is not like others that I have looked into or taken, it is truly an apprenticeship and I completely have the confidence that the program will prepare me to enter the world of software engineering.  If you are looking for a program, more than a just bootcamp (that just crams all the information in a short time), then I completely recommend Bloc.  

I am about 8 weeks into the Software Engineering Track and I have nothing but good things to say about Bloc.  I have a technical background with 5+ yrs experience in System Administration and I have also tried other bootcamp style courses (Udacity, Coursera, Udemy, Safari Learning Paths, etc.).

I can say without hesitation that Bloc blows them out of the water.  The curriculum is effective and challenging but also extremely well thought out so as not to overwhelm students.  Building on that foundation is a fantastic mentor experience which is what really sets this program apart.

If you are thinking about a career change (or starting a career) in software development, consider Bloc. It is worth every penny!

After a successful career in print production, I decided to completely change my track and become a Full Stack Web Developer. I spent weeks researching different boot camps and made the decision to enrollin BLOC. I'm really happy with my decision, the curriculum is very thorough and makes you work. Like anyone learning something new, I have had some struggles, but my mentor Tessa is amazing and helping me through any of the tough spots. I am halfway through and now working on some really cool projects that will build a great portfolio. I'm confident that when I am finished with the course, and with Bloc's help with career planning and interviewing I'll have an amazing new career. If you're dedicated, and willing to put in the time and effort, you will be successful at Bloc!

I joined the bloc.io UI/UX path in 2020. Personally, I would not recommend this specific program. I would highly suggest you try your best to learn on your own if you can. Spoiler Alert: I did NOT complete the program. During my time in the program, they apparently were making a lot of changes and updates due to recent feedback. Apparently I got stuck in a block that had to deal with all of the errors that eventually (hopefully) were getting addressed in the next group. I feel like I was duped out of my money, and I had a really bad first experience with a bootcamp.

1. The mentor aspect: My mentor was very nice and knowledgeable in UX/UI. However, in the program you do have a good chunk of coding involved (which I was very interested in). Unfortunately, my mentor did not know ANY coding and could not help me at all anytime I was stuck (which was a lot). It is an accelerated program so you have a limited amount of time to work on each module before you end up behind. At that time, they only had people helping with problems on their slack channel and most of the time the people were overwhelmed with questions and it would take a very long time, and back and forth in a comment thread, to get any real significant help. It would have completely changed things for me if I had a mentor that was proficient in coding. This factor alone sent me way behind (and was very frustrating). My Mentor had tried to pass me along to a coding mentor just for the coding modules, but they would not let her. She said this was an issue they were all dealing with, as with UX/UI in the real world they don't do a lot of coding so it was a problem a lot of other mentors had. Most did not know enough code to help a student get through a problem. My Mentor told me later that Bloc was addressing those concerns and in the following cohort the next year, they were going to change things so that during the coding modules, the students can have a mentor proficient in coding, and then go back to their normal mentor in the UX/UI modules. I would have absolutely LOVED to have that option. But since I signed up the year prior, I was basically cheated out of that option.
2. The grading was very all over the place. If you submitted an assignment, you would have several different graders giving feedback and approving, or denying the passing of an assignment. On one hand, it was nice to get feedback from different people, but it became very frustrating to be get feedback from one, correct the feedback, but then be graded by another on the re-submit, and then that grader had a different idea on what was missing/needed to be done. It was all very relative to the graders preference on design aesthetic.
3. I mentioned above, the questions we had were address on slack, and it was very disorganized because of the back and forth you would have on a comment thread. They would have different shifts, so if you caught someone on a shift change, you would have to re explain to the new person all of the issues you were having (despite the comment thread still being available to view). Another great thing for future cohorts, but no good for me, is that towards the end of the program they changed this so that you can ask the questions directly from the website in the exact module you were having issues with. I really loved this, but honestly, it came too late.

Another downside, is that I had an advisor that I would message on slack about my concerns/deadlines. During that time, she apparently quit, which is why I was never getting a response. Someone eventually reached out to me weeks later, and rectified that issue so I was happy how they handled that.


All in all, I am still paying back on a skillsfund loan, on a program I never completed. I take responsibility for my actions, however, I would be lying if I said I wish I had waited a year so that I can actually benefit from these changes. I feel really let down that I was part of the experimental phase.


If Bloc/Thinkful gave me another chance to complete the program with all of the new updates, I totally would (since I have already paid them). I doubt that would happen. 


I can't say if any of these changes have actually been implemented yet, but this is what my mentors told me when I was exiting the program.


Hope this helps anyone :)