Flatiron School

I think Flatiron School is doing something right. I moved to New York literally the weekend before the program started and think it was all worth it. The curriculum is well structured and everything builds on top of itself which is reflective of how a real curriculum should work. I enjoyed the fact that I got to work with people of very diverse backgrounds as well as on my own in the final module. It allowed me to work on the softer aspects of software development which I genuinely needed work on. After graduating you still retain access to all the lessons and it appears new ones as they are created, which is also a nice bonus to remain sharp and pick up a thing or two as lessons are added to the curriculum. 
 
I think my critiques are either unique to myself or generally very specific, but I'll throw them out here. I'd like to see more review material. With the rise and dominance of JavaScript, a lot of the very good Ruby curriculum can feel like it is lost in the fold towards the end. The convention over configuration matra makes the magic commands easier to forget the farther away you get from it. I've since learned that they are providing more instructor to student feedback, which I think is a huge plus, having more feedback is always a plus and I love that they are still constantly refining how the program is run. 

As a final note, it's probably worth mentioning that Flatiron affords you the opportunity to learn, but it does not do the learning for you, no matter what they call their platform. I came into the city basically looking to learn as much as I could for as long as I could hold that pattern and through the length of the program (and a few weeks after), I spent significantly more time at the school than I did at home or anywhere else like 11-12 hours a day 7 days a week significantly. That might be an insane schedule for some, but I think it ended up being worth it for me. If you're going to do it, really do it. 

I can sum up my Flatiron experience in a few points:

- Excellent curriculum that deeply teaches you the fundamental skills you'll need to succeed in the industry.  I'm not just referring to Ruby and Javascript conventions and syntax.. I'm talking about mindest, routine, confidence, perseverence, resourcefulness, and many more invaluable skills.

- I landed a Software Engineer role at a tech startup before I even graduated (still technically haven't graduated! Should next week though) which is solid evidence that employers take bootcamp experience seriously

- Worth every penny.. Especially for the incredible career coaching resources you'll get toward the end of the program. They have a world class team working for your best interests. I wouldn't have landed this job so quickly without the guidance of my career coach.

- If deep down you feel like you need to make a change... just do it. This program will change your entire career path.. and with that.. your entire life.

-Best decision I've ever made. Period.

Before attending Flatiron School, I went to a community college and studied computer information systems with hopes of becoming a web developer after graduating. Unfortunately the curriculum at that other college was lacking and I was not at all prepared to get a job as a developer. After several years of trying to learn more on my own, I decided it was time to look into these coding bootcamps I'd heard about.

After doing a lot of research, I decided to apply to Flatiron School and one other bootcamp. I went through the admissions process with both schools, but I was really drawn to Flatiron School's inviting culture. Not only did Flatiron School seem to have a great curriculum and impressive student outcomes, they also placed an emphasis on creating a community of passionate, diverse people who would support and encourage each other. Aka nice people who I'd be happy to spend 15 weeks with.

My experience at Flatiron School exceeded my expectations. I learned way more in that 15 weeks than I learned in the two years I spent at the community college. It was almost mind blowing to see our progress from week to week. Don't think it's easy, though. The program is intense and you have to be prepared to work hard. It's a stressful roller coaster, but you get what you put in. I can't say enough good things about the people at Flatiron School. My classmates will be lifelong friends. The instructors are wicked smart and want to see students succeed.

After graduating, I worked closely with the career services team, including my amazing career coach. My coach helped prepare me for the job search, and she was an invaluable resource once I started interviewing with companies. I graduated in June and accepted a job offer in August. I'm now working as a Web Developer, which is something I've wanted to say for years!

I decided to transition my career into Tech back in December of 2016. At the time I had not written a single line of code and had no clue what I was doing. I started the in-person Flatiron School Software Engineering Immersive course in March 2017, and graduated late June 2017. In August 2017, I accepted an offer and am currently a Software Engineer working at a start up specializing in software and data science consulting thanks to the Flatiron School!

Overall Experience

I did a ton of research before applying to these so-called "coding boot camps." My research put Flatiron School at the number one spot out of the 3 boot camps I was looking into. One of the main reasons was because of the transparency with job outcomes. Graduate results were a huge factor for me. Not only is Flatiron School transparent, but they also have their outcomes report audited by a third-party firm. Still, I was hesitant to pull the trigger. To me, it seemed like a crash course that simply accelerated the process of learning how to code. If you are currently looking to transition, know this. I have been in your shoes, reading through review after review on various boot camps, trying to get more clarity on how these schools work. If you devote yourself to this craft and follow the meticulously designed curriculum, you will fall in love with programming, learn things in 3-4 months that you never thought was possible, make life-long friends with classmates and land a job as a Software Engineer after graduation. I must emphasize one thing, however - this is not an easy program! You get what you put into it. 

Instructors

Every instructor that I had the pleasure of working with at the Flatiron School were passionate, patient, and knowledgeable individuals who helped shape my programming skills throughout the program. The culture that the instructors instill onto the students is something that I cannot put into words. The school also does a phenomenal job in accepting students who align with the culture. Every person in my class comes from different backgrounds but we all had one thing in common - we all wanted to see each other succeed. This was mirrored by the instructors. It was obvious that they enjoyed watching us grow from newbies to full fledged engineers. The instructors made the course enjoyable but intense at the same time. It is quite clear that Flatiron School does not just hire anyone to be an instructor. They are not only knowledgeable but also can effectively communicate with the students. I also appreciated the fact that their responses to my questions allowed me to discover the answer on my own but with careful guidance; helping to build the underlying fundamental skill every programmer must develop, problem-solving.

Curriculum

As of writing this review, Flatiron School's in-person curriculum consists of a couple of weeks of pre-work that must be completed before the official start date. This helps students build some programming foundations in either Ruby or JavaScript. The course itself is divided into 5 modules, each revolving around a particular topic. It looks something like this -

Week 1 - Ruby 

Week 2 - Rails

Week 3 - JavaScript

Week 4 - React

Week 5 - Computer Science/Specializations

I felt that the curriculum overall was fantastic. The Learn.co platform and its IDE is built from the ground up and designed specifically for students to learn. This alone puts the Flatiron School ahead of the boot camp race because the platform is so intuitive and conducive to learning. 

That being said, I took one star off in this category because I feel that the curriculum's Computer Science module didn't live up to my expecations. We learned a bit about data structures and algorithms, but not quite to the level that potential employers expect. From my experience, many employers expect a baseline knowledge when it comes to these fundamentals, and so I spent a huge chunk of time learning these topics on my own. This is the one aspect of Flatiron School that I think needs to improve. However, if you are willing to read and work through Cracking The Coding Interview or Interview Cake or through any other interview books/resources, you will be fine.

Job Assistance

I am amazed by how smoothly and efficiently Flatiron School is with assisting graduates to land their first role. As a graduate, I worked with several members of the business development team whose primary focus is to build and cultivate connections with companies. Once I officially began my search, I was receiving 3-4 introductions to companies a week! These introductions were with engineers, recruiters, and HR reps at the respective companies. It is quite overwhelming but in a good way! This is also why the Flatiron School assigns a Job Coach/Mentor to you who will guide you throughout the entire process. From building my resume to strategically structuring my LinkedIn profile, to mock interviews, to negotiating, to mitigating interview anxieties, my Job Coach was there every step of the way. 

I can't be thankful enough to the Flatiron School and how they changed my life!

Top notch program, from beginning to end, including the job assistance from my couselor Katie. I was in the Learn.co, online program as I needed flexiblilty and it all worked out perfectly, completed in about 6.5 months. It's was hard work, no doubt about it but I never felt like it was undoable because the assistance was always there, quick and just one message away, plus the opportunity to live pair program if you needed more in depth help or guiadance. I graduated and definitely felt ready and prepared to enter the job market. Alongside my counselor, I found a job with an amazing and ideal company for myself in just about 3 months...Today my deal was finalized and I'm just reflecting on many things along with just being grateful that I was able to be a part of this program at Flatiron..Changed my life.

Amazing program, you learn so much so fast.  Everyone from fellow students to instructors want nothing more than to see you succeed.  

It really is hard work and day to day you will leave each day exhausted but recharged the next morning.  After graduation is an uncertain time, but you need to stay busy with personal projects and expanding on everything you have learned.  The job market is very competitive, don't expect to be guaranteed a job just for graduating. You have to continue to build your skills.

Just a pre-emptive note that, since I'm still an active student, I cannot comment on the efficacy of their job assistance.

So, I've noticed that many of the "most helpful" reviews are 1 to 2 star reviews from anonymous users stating that the curriculum is disorganized, their job reports are falsified, etc. After 11 weeks in the program, I can safely say that many of these are either trolls or people who are flat-out lazy. The curriculum is "disorganized" in the sense that you won't have instructors breathing down your neck to complete your labs; they expect that you're a functioning human being with an actual work ethic and desire to learn. The only things that are mandatory are lectures that help to reinforce what is learned from the labs and group projects that, again, help to reinforce what was learned in the three week module.

The program is amazing, but it's a lot of work in a short amount of time. To put it bluntly, if you aren't 100% dedicated, you won't make it.

After evaluating all the options for coding boot camps I decided on Flatiron. The comprehensive curriculum and learn at your own pace were attractive to me. As is the job-guarantee. I was confident I could get done quickly and save myself some cash along the way, which I did.

Career services post graduation was top notch. In addition, I have access to this resource for as long as Flatiron exists (I think they'll be around a while).

One of the biggest things that impress developers I've spoken with about the program is the Test Driven Development built into the curriculum. Every lab has tests that must be passed to move forward. I can say I learned in a TDD & BDD environment which is something most other boot camps DO NOT do. Telling someone I have read thousands of tests is a big plus to a lot of employers.

I really enjoyed my time in the program and even though I have now achieved a full-time developer position I still run study groups part time as a Teaching Assistant. The community was such a big part of my success and I enjoy giving back to it, yes I know I get paid but still.

I completed the Flatiron Bootcamp Prep course.  The self-paced course is taught online through the Learn.co website and through the Flatiron Learn IDE.  It provides an introduction into Javascript and Ruby with a few sections on HTML/CSS.  Students can post questions about lessons to seek help from other students and from Flatiron instructors.  These instructors are very quick to respond (nearly always within minutes) and offer web conference sessions to help students with their questions.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Bootcamp Prep and highly recommend it.  To me, the one standout feature was the Learn IDE.  I have tried a variety of free programming courses online covering a variety of languages; generally, most expect the student to set up their own development environment or to use an online interpreter.  However, Flatiron provides its own IDE (a customized Atom editor) that is fully integrated with the course.  

When I finish coding a lesson assignment, I simply type "learn" into the Learn IDE's terminal to run tests on my code to check if it fulfills the assignment.  Once I pass all the tests, I type "learn submit" which pushes my code to GitHub.  Now, when I switch back to the Learn.co website, I see the lesson is already marked as complete.  My "offline" progress on my computer is automatically synced with my Flatiron Learn.co account.   

Beyond the amazing user experience, I greatly appreciated how closely this system matches how a real programmer works.  The Learn IDE is based on Atom, a very popular editor used by actual programmers.  The use of this IDE helps build foundational skills and familiarity in subjects rarely found in “Introductory”-type courses.  You gain familiarity with project folders and their structure. You get a first look at GitHub and gain some (simplified) exposure to a Git workflow.

The big bonus was exposure to running test cases.  The Bootcamp Prep lessons come with tests written in real testing frameworks (Mocha and RSpec).  Many lessons encourage you to run the tests first before writing any code to see what test fail and use this information to help formulate your code.  This is good practice for writing code and this prep course helps build some early familiar with test driven development/behavior driven development.

These aspects really helped set the Flatiron Bootcamp Prep course apart for me.  It is a high quality course when considering the lesson content alone.  But the inclusion and integration of the Learn IDE really propelled it to another level.  The Bootcamp Prep punches far above its weight for a prep or introductory course

I have been teaching myself to code for several months now. I've bounced around through several online resources (Coursera, Codecademy, Free Code Camp, etc.) and they all helped but some moved too quickly through the material or got pretty advanced while I was still lacking a strong foundation, I started to search for more of a full program option, that's when I started looking into attending a coding bootcamp.

I looked into all of the reputable bootcamps, the in-person and online options, and narrowed it down to about 5. I signed up for information from those 5 and received the recommended prep courses from each. I completed a full prep course from my top choice bootcamp but didn't feel entirely prepared so I decided to try the other prep courses before submitting any applications.

Out of the others, 2 of them weren't really worth my time, they were just practice problems and gave me no information about the teaching style of the school. So I was left with Flatiron's prep course on Learn.co and another fully online school's course. They were both very well done and I went through several lessons on each but Flatiron's Learn.co was really everything I wanted so I focused on completing it first. 

The online prep was so thorough and really fun to move through. Each lesson built upon the previous and contained mini labs that helped solidify the concepts. At the end of each module there was a larger project to complete using all of the skills from the lessons, each lab helped build up to it but enough was definitely left open so I never felt like I was just filling in the blank. I really got to apply what I had learned and finally felt like I was building a solid foundation. 

After finishing the Bootcamp Prep I not only felt totally ready to apply to the bootcamps but Flatiron had also become my top choice school. I submitted 3 applications, completed the assessments, and received invitations to interview with all! I chose Flatiron :)

I tried out Flatiron School's free Bootcamp Prep Course and was surprised at how comprehensive the course was along with its online community which gave me directions and guidelines with the courses in real-time .  Among other free online programming resources, Flatiron's online course was a level above the rest in teaching style and it gave me confidence in pursuing a career in programming full-time.
Since, I've become a student in Flatiron School's Software Web Immersive Program and starting classes soon.  

Bootcamp Prep Course gave me confidence to know if programming was right for me,  the teaching styles and online community gave me the drive to becoming a Flatiron School Student.