Coding Temple

I am a Digital Foundry & Operate Manager at Deloitte. In 2020, during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, I got downsized by my company. I decided that I needed to update my tech skills, and transition further into technology management. I had a technical background, but wanted to learn how to write code and use data science in product management. Wanted to use these skills to my advantage when conversing with software designers, UI/UX developers, and other members of the product team in order to build robust projects.  I learned of a software development/data science program that the City of Chicago (Chicago Codes) was creating for displaced employees, due to Covid-19. Chicago Codes partnered with Coding Temple, offering a 10 week software development and data science bootcamp. I was a little hesitant, being a more mature student with previous experience in IT. I wanted to further my career in IT management, and did not know if this program was appropriate. However, Ripal Patel assured me that I had experience on my side. I was not starting a career, I was enhancing my management career trajectory within the tech sector.  I completed the 10 week Coding Temple software development bootcamp cohort in 2020 with Coding Temple. I learned to expand my horizons, and challenge myself daily. Sometimes I was operating on a diet of no sleep and fumes, for what seemed like an eternity.  However, It was the best 10 weeks that I have spent, in a very long time.  Our instructors, Joel Carter and Nate Welter extracted coding skills that we did not know that we possessed. We walked in as novices, and came out coders who understood the nuances of Python, JavaScript, React, JQuery, SQL, Numpy etc.  My cohort felt more like family, than colleagues.  We struggled and succeeded as a family, together. We have become life-long friends. Over the years, we have congratulated each other on our mutual accomplishments and have referred each other for positions within our respective companies. Personally, completing the Coding Temple cohort in 2020, was the best thing that came out of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Thank you Ripal Patel and Marlene Tang, for your continued guidance and support in the Coding Temple Alum Community. This journey has been personally challenging, yet rewarding and fulfilling. I could not and would not have wanted to do it all over again, without Coding Temple. 

This bootcamp will teach you enough basics to land a junior level developer job; it is very much a "you get what you put into it" type situation, where if you can keep up with the work and do some extra learning everyday, you will most likely be successful. Since the camp is only 10 weeks, it is very fast paced and students can fall behind very quickly if they're not on it. During the bootcamp, I kept thinking about how I should have picked a longer camp, one that provided more time for certain subjects or could just cover more in general. After finishing though, and finding a job, I'm glad it only took 10 weeks time to get where I wanted to be. If you are someone that needs more time to grasp new things, you might want to consider an option longer than 10 weeks. 

The material taught was enough to give a broad sense of how a full stack application is built and generally how the pieces all fit together. My cohort only did one group project during the whole camp, I really think it would have been beneficial to do more of those. The alumni support is amazing and honestly, the best part about the whole camp. The alumni staff are there for you and are so supportive and helpful in job searching and interview prep. If anything, go to Coding Temple just for that! 

There are plenty of reviews about the quality of the course which I agree with 100%. However what you really pay for is the support after you graduate the bootcamp. 

    The career coach, Marlene, knows what she's talking about! Her advice is always on point, she's very knowledgable about the software engineer job market, approachable, and will literally walk you through every step of the job hunting process if you ask her. Her goal is to help you get a job and she backs that up in her work ethic. She helped me and 100s of other graduates walk through job offers. Plus she will help you land your second, third job and beyond too. I would not have got a job as quickly as I did if it wasn't for her help. She hosts weekly workshops that include celebrating graduates signing offers and asking them what they did to land the job as well as going over any tips/techniques in the job hunting process.  Added bonus: She also will help you find a house (she has a realtor license)!! Find a bootcamp that has a career coach who will help you get a job and help you buy a house...spoiler alert YOU WONT!
    There are two technical support instructors who have the talent to work at MAANG companies. Nate and Sam both have thought the course so they are very familiar with the curriculum you learned. They host weekly workshops that either reenforce the skills you learned in the bootcamp or some new techniques that build upon what you learned in the bootcamp. Nate hosts an additional weekly workshop that covers technical interview questions other graduates have been asked in interviews. There are daily coding challenges to keep your whiteboard skills sharp (every Friday there is a chance to win Amazon gift cards). AND on top of all this there are recorded series that cover totally new topics such as Java basics and Fast API. It can feel overwhelming at times but thats a good problem to have.
    Lastly, there is the alumni graduate body who support each other. From helping each other fix bugs in our jobs or personal projects to posting job opportunities at their company it really does feel like a big family helping each other out. The best thing about being apart of Coding Temple alumni is that all these resources are for life. 

The quality of the course and the resources you have access to after graduation is worth every penny. In fact it's almost a steal. I haven't compared Coding Temple's alumni support to other bootcamps because I don't need to. I have everything I need to succeed and more. Take this course, put in the effort, and enjoy the success.

I did research on bootcamps and read tons of reviews online and on Reddit. I applied to several bootcamps and passed a technical assessment, but my inner voice and connections from space told me this was not the right place for me. And I started from the beginning. 

One day I found a hidden gem-Coding Temple (And now I can say that, because before I had a lot of doubts). I applied, took the assessment, and from the first second before bootcamp even started, I got my first coding challenge to complete a prework. I was so excited about it, and I started feeling that these guys are on the right track and they are interested in you succeeding. It's incredible, but on the first day you learn the basic concepts of programming, and by the end of the week you are making a Law Firm website. The most important part is that mentors teach you not where to put a piece of code, they teach you WHY you need to put this piece of code, and they teach you to think as a developer. My life changed forever. My class was a magic class, and I’m so grateful to my mentors Kevin B. and Dylan S.; if you got them, you got a mega million winning ticket, and it's not just a $2 payout, you will get much more. During the course and especially after graduating, you will get so much important career support from the super professional Marlene T. And these are not all the bonuses you will get. After bootcamp, you will continue to grow as a developer thanks to the great support from the staff (Thank you, Nate W. and Sam D.) 

Thank you, Coding Temple, for giving me the ability to swim like a dolphin in the sea of software development.

Easily one of the best choices I have made. The teachers were incredible. (Kevin and Dylan). They pushed us all to be at our best from the very beginning. They were honest about our work and helped us reach our max potential. They always challenged us with every project and assignment given. By no means is it an easy course. The weekly white board sessions helped us become more comfortable explaining our code in front of other peoples.(The wheel of death). It was something we all dreaded at first but something I'm glad they had us do because it has helped me with my interview skills. This is a course where you only get as much as you are willing to put in. Overall a great experience and i would recommend it to everyone who wants to learn how to code and thing like a software engineer.

Where to start.
From the front office staff to the instructors and all the people behind the scenes, Coding Temple is hands down the best bootcamp around. I start my journey back in 2021 I was workin a full-time job (60-70 hours a week) I got week 3 into the program and Nicole checked in with me because I was so far behind I told her I don't think this is for me I work to much and have no time to sleep or even eat. Nicole mysel and co-founder Ryan work together to come up with a plan where I would  return in the summer of 2022 and restart the course. I restarted in June of 2022 and with great motivation I flew through the prep work with flying colors, and started the course with much more confidence then I did the year before. Huge Huge shout out to my instructors Brandt who was there for me almost everyday no matter how dum the question was he always found a way to make it make sense, and Shoha who made class worth coming to everyday. He always made it fun. I really liked the cohort I was in there was always someone in the classroom where you could bounce ideas back and forth or get help in an area you were struggling in and no matter who was in there no one ever made you feel behind or not up to speed we all helped each other out. My one very small teeny tiny thing is you only get 30 mins of 1-1 time with the instructors a day. There were many times where I wish I had just 15 more minutes. Overall the experience was amazing and continues to be they have a great alumni program for after you finish the course with TONS of people who all went to Coding Temple and are there to help you with anything coding related (job, project, etc.). I would recommend this course to anyone looking to get into the tech industry. You need 0 experience to start they teach you everything.

As a complete beginner knowing absolutely nothing about code so much so that I thought coding was just putting 1 and 0 in the computer however, after beginning my adventure at Coding Temple I soon found out how absolutely fascinating coding is. The instructors are there to help you with whatever you need and really care they want you to do well and enjoy coding as much as they do. Coding Temple has been a great leaning experience for me as well as many others I can't wait to start me new career and I can't thank everyone at Coding Temple enough for giving me this opportunity 

Coding Temple has a culture of hard work and honesty. You will get out of the bootcamp exactly what you put into it. If you're looking to make a career change into Software Engineering / Development, the instructors and career assistance staff will be there to back you up every step of the way. 

I remember having a lot of concerns while looking for the right bootcamp, and one of my biggest ones was that as soon as I graduated, I was on my own. This is not the case at Coding Temple. When you graduate there are live lessons nearly every day, 1 on 1 meetings you book with instructors, and infinite job support from Marlene and Nate. 

If you have any doubts about Coding Temple, let Ripal give you a call, I spoke with him before signing up, and he lays out how to program works from A to Z. 

P.S. Request Lucas Lang as your head instructor if you can!

Coding Temple will take you where you want to go. It is hard to see progress in yourself until its exceptionally obvious, but trust the reviews and the program. For me, the structure, and expert guidance was the allure for this camp and I was not disappointed. Brian was an excellent teacher, with patience and kindness. You can expect long hours, and if you do not have any coding experience, it will be very difficult. This will likely be the most studious weeks of your life, and if you are considering anything other than studying and sleeping, it might not be the choice for you. There will be a plethora of study material, so you will get what you make of the program. The training is excellent, but it will also provide a foundation to learn more on your own very effectively adding on to the value of the camp. This career field is one where there is constant learning and growth, so consider this as well. In addition to great instruction, the after class Alumni Group is very active. In the Alumni Group, you can work on your resume, advance your skills, and connect with many like minded individuals. I highly recommend this course, for anyone looking to get into software development as a career.

I had a great experience at Coding Temple. Before enrolling in C.T., my coding / web design experience dates to at least 15 years ago. I was overdue for a re-introduction to the wonderful world of web development.

I like how C.T. emphasizes both the material subject matter (the curriculum) AND the job search process itself, and how -- once one passes/graduates the program -- one becomes availed of ongoing education AND career advice.

I found a focus here, while also gaining an introduction to a wide array of topics.

With the help of the alumni staff, I'm assessing my strengths and taking time to study and delve in to areas of interest and areas for improvement, with ongoing support.

My advice to future students would be to "code along" in Jupyter Notebook or VS Code during the first 5 weeks, but by the weeks where we study Flask, React and Express, perhaps use class time to just "observe"...  There's so much happening, and so much building on the previous material, that trying to code along and troubleshoot and cut/paste. etc risks missing important points of instruction with regard to the advance of new material... 

Either way, however, all class lectures are available to review indefinitely (at 1.5 x speed!)... But since my instructor consistently uploaded to github the relevant files for each day's class, there's no urgent need for the student to "code along" at the expense of "big picture" understanding -- during the somewhat accelerated Flask, React, Express weeks.

Sometimes, (personally) by the time I realized I needed after-hours help, the available TAs were already booked. But that I'm sure is a labor concern, not a quality concern. For most of the time, help was available and they were definitely knowledgeable and positive.

Another thing I appreciate about C.T. is the general vibe / community of proactive, enthusiastic ppl helping each other along, no matter what stage, nor real/perceived obstacles. I do appreciate that community in Slack.