Flatiron School

A few years ago I was a freelance writer and designer with no true technical skills to include on a resume. Now, I'm a mid-level software engineer at a large contracting company with a job that I absolutely love. To this day I am shocked that the Flatiron School was right about me. They not only taught me the necessary technical skills to build upon after I graduated, but they also identified the very things that might be blocking me from succeeding as a developer down the road - and showed me how to overcome them. I will be forever indebted to the awesome teachers, business developers, and administrative staff at the Flatiron School for believing in me and for catapulting me into the ever-changing, ever-challenging world of web development.

A big part of my first few days at Flatiron was sharing with my classmates "What We Were Before." Most of us had been program managers, business analysts, or marketers. Some had been data scientists. One was a circus acrobat. I was an English major who, to tell the truth, had had terrible luck on the job hunt.   When I applied to Flatiron, I had only a cursory understanding of programming. I'd taken a few comp sci courses, sure, but it rarely stuck. Learning at Flatiron, though, was unlike anything I'd experienced before.  From what the founders told us, the program was always meant to disrupt education.   And they got it right.     It was intense, yes, but I found myself engaging with the subject matter for the first time.  The program depended on building up our understanding of exactly how things worked.  Instead of saying "eh, it's Rails Magic," we built a replica of each piece of Rails. Instead of tossing us at a JavaScript framework, we learned the language in its pure form first. We knew how to pick problems apart, how to best build solutions for them.   And all that was before we even graduated. Without a doubt, one of the most valuable parts of the whole bootcamp for me was the Placements team. They worked tirelessly to get us all in contact with companies. They coached us on interviewing, networking, salary negotiation.   Start to finish, top to bottom, Flatiron gives you the tools to succeed, the means to Make Yourself Useful.      

As a student at the Flairon School one of the most impressive aspects was the level of commitment of my classmates and other students.  Arriving early and staying late are common and everyone is super motivated to learn as much as possible each day. I think an environment like that is actually pretty unique and difficult to find or recreate. 

After graduation I was asked to stay on at Flatiron as an Instructor.  That experience has literally changed my life. The students I have worked with are amazing and it really is a privilege to be play a part in their learning and see them go on to get jobs of their own. 

Seeing the operations of the school from the other side I can attest that the levels of commitment from the students are matched by the Instructional staff.  Over my time here I have seen the curriculum improve significantly and the school is constantly updating the materials taught or structures of the courses to produce better outcomes for students. And it has paid off, the last few rounds of student final project demonstrations have been really impressive to see. 

I was an Accountant for 7 years before deciding to switch careers. I had ZERO programming experience but always dreamed of becoming an iOS developer. I was obsessed with apps and I wanted to build them for myself.

I had the choice of a few reputable coding bootcamps in NYC to choose from, I decided to go with Flatiron School. I was a part of the iOS-004 class which began in February-2015. It changed my life. It literally changed my life. From the new friends I met in this class (one who is now my roommate) to the knowledge I've gained in becoming an iOS developer, I am a different person. I'm happier! I wake up everyday putting to use what I learned here as a student in ever project I start.

I now work at Flatiron School as an iOS instructor. I do my best to deliver the experience I receievd as a student to any student that walks in these doors. The best thing this school offers is this ability to attract the most interesting, passionate, and smart individuals.

Each class delivers a unique footprint filled with determination, joy, and knowledge that every subsequent class looks to step into and then some. In whatever path you decide to go down, I wish you luck!

 

 

 

The Flatiron School Changed My Life

Deciding to attend The Flatiron School was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that forever changed my life. 

From Day 1, I knew my class was in for something special. I’ve literally never seen such a deep level of caring, anywhere. Everything we did at Flatiron was carefully crafted to ensure we got the most out of the program, and that we learned in the most optimal way possible. There was meticulously curated pre-work to prepare us before the semester even began, thorough (and fun!) labs to help us practice our newly acquired skills, in-semester tutoring by alumni, and even post-work to hone our skills after we graduated. I was particularly blown away by the selfless alumni who carved out time from their busy weekends to tutor us. 

My Classmates
I’m also thrilled that I was able to meet 27 like-minded individuals. From the moment we first introduced ourselves, it was clear that everyone had a fascinating story; it didn’t take long for all of us to become friends. Our class was so diverse and had so many different personalities! Over the course of the semester, we laughed together, we cried together, we learned from each other, we supported each other. Lifelong friendships were forged, undoubtedly we’ll cross paths with each other at future jobs, and I’m sure we’ll one day be starting companies together.

Our Instructors
I’d also like to thank you for providing us with the greatest instructors we could have asked for. Our teachers imparted us with a great deal of knowledge, answered all of our questions, and were always available to assist and guide us. They understood that each of us had different methods and speeds of learning, and catered to the unique needs of each individual student.

But they were more than just our teachers; they were our friends. We had lunch with them, hung out after class, and had discussions that ranged from questions from a lecture, to the most mundane of topics. In addition to programming, the non-programming lessons that we learned from them were just as valuable. Our teachers led by example and showed us that being a caring, empathetic person is just as important as knowing the nuances of ActiveRecord or how to iterate through Nested Data Structures. Our teachers empowered us to not only become better developers, but to become better people. Blake, Steven, and Ian- you guys rock.

The Overall Stellar Flatiron Staff
I’d like to thank Avi and Adam for creating such a wonderful program, Rebecca and Jackie for tirelessly championing employers on our behalf, Elana and Carley for putting together all the wonderful meetups and events, and the rest of the incredible Flatiron staff for being awesome.

In Conclusion...
Thanks to The Flatiron School, the trajectory of my life has been forever altered. I never thought that I’d be capable of doing this. I never dreamed that becoming a software developer was an option, since I was never a “math or science” kid. Besides falling in love with programming and the unparalleled education, this program changed the way I think, reinvented my life, and shaped my brain differently.

I’d like to conclude with something we were told at our graduation ceremony:

“Tell the story that you have a family here forever. You have people here that love you and are rooting for you.”

Well, Flatiron School, the feeling is mutual. I’m proud to call myself a Flatiron alum, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future.

Thank you.

(adapted from my Medium post "Thank You Flatiron School!")

My time at Flatiron School was excellent, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone considering applying. When I signed up for the web developer course, my only goal at the time was simply to learn Ruby. After 12 weeks, I got so much more than that. Two takeaways I want to share with you: 1. You can do so much more when you work with your team. Flatiron School provided a positive and supportive environment for students to collaborate on projects together. Think about it: no company wants to hire a lone wolf programmer. 2. Ship something today. The dean of Flatiron Avi said, "First, make it run. Then make it right. Then make it fast." As someone who suffers from paralysis-by-over-analysis, I have no regrets about burning this mantra into my brain's ROM.

Hello! I am a graduate of the 2013 Fall Web Development immersive, and I also worked for a year and a half as an Instructor, so I am one of several that has experienced Flatiron School from both a student perspective and an instructor perspective. 

Why Flatiron School?
I applied to several programming boot-camps in the summer of 2013, and was accepted into several. However, the decision to go to Flatiron School was largely because of the philosophy of Flatiron School ("if you're driven and imaginative enough, then learning how to code is not ultimately the objective, but rather opening yourself up to a world of new possibilities through code"). Other bootcamps focus on using assessments to qualify whether or not you're good enough to succeed in their programs, whereas Flatiron seeks to surround forward-thinking and driven individuals with like-minded peers in a diverse environment. This was what set Flatiron School apart from its competitors for me.

Programming
Yes, the objective of Flatiron School is to teach its students how to code, and how to code well. But that's not what makes Flatiron School succeed. It's the ability of the admissions team and its teachers to provide a rich, diverse community in which students push each other to succeed through collaboration and support. As a result of this, students learn programming by communicating with each other while working on projects, and ultimately creating a rich ecosystem of knowledge that iteratively builds upon itself, week after week throughout the semester.

New York Tech Community
Flatiron School has benefitted a lot by simply being part of the New York tech community, and has given back to the community as well. That's the primary ethos of Flatiron School. Its defining quality is community, and it hosts meetups and events every week, such as NYC on Rails, iOS Devs Meetup, Manhattan.js, and Flatiron Presents (student presentations). The diversity of its graduates that go forth into the New York tech community is something that sets Flatiron School apart from its peers; at least 40% of accepted students are female.

In Closing...
Flatiron School has been one of the best investments I have ever made. I say this not from a financial perspective, but rather from a career and motivational perspective. As the weeks progressed during my time at Flatiron School, my burgeoning skill-set started to show me what was possible. Coding is not a means to an end in itself, but rather it's the gateway that makes everything else attainable. Being able to build a software tool or product or whatever you may call it allows you come extremely close to having a profound effect on the things you care about. Making life more colorful and vibrant again. After all, isn't that the point of education? It is meant to bridge the gap between your dreams and reality. I didn't find that in high school or college, but rather I found that at Flatirn School.

I graduated from Flatiron's Full Stack Web Developer Bootcamp (online/remote program) about 3 weeks ago and I have already had interest from potential employers. 

I strongly recommend the Flatiron program to anyone who is serious about learning to code. I am not a STEM person, I came from an arts and humanities background and I found the Flatiron curriculum to be fun (and often very challenging) but always instructive. The instructors were always available to answer my questions and point me in the right direction. 

I am very happy with the career services support that I have been receiving since my graduation and I anticipate finding a great job as a developer very soon.

As I've been on my job search and spoken to working developers I’ve discovered that I know coding languages and tools that people who have been working as dev's for years don't know. 

Flatiron made sure that I had all the skills I needed to be a full stack developer. I am so glad I enrolled in this program. It was a great investment! 

I’ve been recommending it personally to my friends since I started the course.

If you’re thinking about making the switch to becoming a software developer I encourage you to take the first part of the Flatiron curriculum. You can start for free! And if you do take the course they guarantee you’ll find a job in 6 months or your money back. Can’t argue with that.

 

Very efficient way to teach people how to code by using hands-on approach and collaboration. Turns out, 3 month in enough to get skills to be able to solve complex tech problems at work. Mostly it comes from the fact that they not only teach specific tech topics, but how to solve problems in general.

Job placement is great, the students are expected to do their part (i.e. building projects and writing tech blog) and the school does a great job matching students with companies. 

Considering tech salaries (even for entry-level programmers), the return of investement is great as you land on the first job quickly. 

 

Flatiron's online full stack web development porogram was the curriculum I needed to transition from a career in financial services to a career in tech. 

I did a number of online resources prior to discovering Flatiron and found the curriculum to be top notch and I was grateful for the way it was structured. It does a great job at building on top of previous lessons and is a great way to reinforce learning. 

Another great thing about Flatiron's online program is the awesome community. Learning online can feel a little lonely but Flatiron set up the online community in such a way that while going through the program you don't feel alone. 

I couldn't have asked for a better experience and was glad I chose to learn to become a developer through them!