Flatiron School

For perspective, began in November 2015 and am now nearly finished with the curriculum.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the Flatiron School's Learn Verified Program.  The platform of learn.co itself is great.  From day one, everything you are doing with your time is real, actual work.  You always work in a real dev environment, and push all your code to Github.  I view this as a mandatory feature for any program that claims to prepare you for a job though.

I could rave about how the course material was a good mix of clear, concise, and fun, or how the specific technologies covered are relevant for today's market.  However, what I believe to be one of the strongest features to Flatiron is the overarching sequence and manner in which they guide you through learning programming skills.  This is hard to explain if you don't have much coding experience.  The Flatiron curriculum is very thoughtfully crafted in a way which has you cementing together fundamental blocks of your knowledge that you only realize after you have already built them.  More succinctly, it's wax on, wax off.  More concretely I mean that they have you manually build out various technologies in detail by hand, before introducing you to an existing technology or framework (dynamic ORM before ActiveRecord, Sinatra before Rails, etc).  Going about it in this manner really ensures that their students will have a firm understanding of what these technologies do and why they do it.  I am much more interested in gaining a thorough understanding of how to use a framework well than simply being able to crank out apps and material without that underlying basis.  More complete understanding is better for you in the long run.

I have found that help has been quickly within reach anytime it was truly needed.  The staff has been extremely responsive, and genuinely make every possible effort to give their students anything that will help them succeed.  The live assessments are very valuable as well.  Every time I have learned an extreme amount of information very quickly.  You are given perspective not only on the work that you have done, but for overall project design decisions, code patterns, and often pushed to expand your work in ways that you'd never have thought to.

Now nearing the end of the coursework, I am feeling very confident in my ability to build increasingly powerful and complex applications.  It's important to remember that a bootcamp is just a beginning.  If you are genuinely changing careers into software development as I am, the learning does not stop after any bootcamp.  There is a limit to the amount of material that you will learn in any bootcamp, but I don't think there's anything I feel was lacking from Flatiron.  I am highly confident in my ability to find work upon graduation, and will hopefully update with results in the near future.

As a former computer science student in college, Flatiron will teach you things I never learned, or even expected to learn, in a coding bootcamp. Upon graduating, I became even more impressed with the overall experience when using the career services. I felt incredibly lost leading up to graduation when thinking about the job hunt because I had no experience in the corporate world. I was not switching careers, but still pursuing my original one. I now feel fully equipped with knowing lots of corporate etiquette and certain formulas and procedures you just have to follow for things. 

There were a couple downsides, and I'm hoping one was due to a unique situation. I dealt with instructor roulette due to layoffs and curriculum restructuring. Even though I was on the FLEX self-paced path, not having a static instructor the entire time was rough. The other is lack of focus on algorithmic, typical coding questions you will see in tech interviews. There is a curriculum for that post-grad, but I would have liked to learn more and be tested on them during my education. 

I chose Flatiron School so that I could attend a bootcamp in-person. It was important for me to establish working relationships and gain experience working in an office-like environment while programming with other developers. Flatiron was really great for that since you spend a lot of time on campus and can mix in with other cohorts to see what is coming in your next phase, or help others in phases you've already completed. The campus also provides a nice atmosphere to foster collaboration - it's not about doing better than anybody, it's about making sure everybody gets through the program. 

My major critique is about organization. I attended right before they transitioned from teaching Ruby on Rails to Python so it felt a little bit like the instructors were scrambling to figure out things they might not have had experience in. That being said, I still learned a bunch of resources and concepts to explore which set me up with a gameplan after I graduated. It's important to understand that the bootcamp is not an all encompassing, teach you everything experience. It's a really good jumping off point. The more you can be self-sufficient and plan for your time after bootcamp, the better.

Some advice I would give: be organized. Most of your success comes from how well you can organize and prioritize. If you are switching careers, make the bootcamp the priority above all else including family, friends, relationships, etc. It's difficult to do especially if you are older, but all of the time you spend in the program will pay off much quicker if you are able to do that.

Flatiron School is without a doubt, a great bootcamp for receiving the fullstack engineering experience from true industry professionals. When I say great, I mean it's great because of the community. The community really does motivate you to code. Everywhere you go, you see people work together or alone, drawing diagrams on whiteboards to design user interfaces and systems, and students constantly finding new technologies to incorporate into their next project. If that isn't enough to fuel your hunger to learn the trade then I don't know what else will. But while that is where it shines, it falls short in the fact that there are no transitions between phases. Learning Vanilla JavaScript is great but when you suddenly crash straight into React, without having truly experienced the full extent of Vanilla JavaScript, many students end up confused or discouraged. This might not seem like a valid point as this is a bootcamp that only lasts for about 15 weeks but this is something definitely worth considering. This is a concern that the majority of my peers share as much as I do. Other than this, Flatiron School brought me a memorable experience that I will never forget in my life!

When I started Flatiron School, my cohort was my instructor's first coding bootcamp cohort ever. This person, with years of programming experience and a background in education, struggled to adjust to the fast paced, high demand bootcamp atmosphere and was very overwhelmed. Initially, I was upset and insecure with an intimidating workload, and seemingly no guidance from an instructor who was just as confused as I was. 

The way Flatiron is structured is that you have modules with lessons, exercises and practice code challenges that you can complete to gauge your understanding of the concepts at hand, as well as lectures for every phase on that particular language/framework you are learning, AND technical coaches. I leaned on these other resources to make sure I was leaving this bootcamp learning to code. Halfway through my 15 weeks, the instructor was let go and replaced with someone who had not only attended Flatiron School, but had taught multiple cohorts already. Many students were upset with the sudden layoffs, and some couldn't let go of what could be seen as an inconsistent learning environment. 

However, my new instructor was amazing and not only did I graduate with two full stack projects under my belt, I was hired for an entry level position less than a month after graduating. Flatiron's curriculum gave me a solid foundation to pass my first ever technical interview. To quote my now direct manager, I made it farther into the tech assignment "than some mid-level and senior developers we have interviewed". The technical foundation and career coaching I received at Flatiron was solid and I left prepared with projects, a resume, and useful skills, that have yielded real results for me, regardless of the hurdles I had along the way. Although Flatiron's bootcamp experience is intense and challenging, it works. 

I started the Flatiron program back in August of 2022. I was a Mortgage Loan Officer who was looking to pivot my business experience into a more technical role where I could merge my soft skills into a more technical field. I was referred to the Flatiron program by a fellow Loan Officer who was also interested in moving into a more technical role. He convinced me that the program was worth the price tag. ($16,900 is what I paid for the start of my program.) I left my job and started the program and I haven't turned back. I graduated in late November and have accepted a position as a business analyst. As far as turnaround times go on employment, I couldn't be happier.

One thing I would like to see more of in this program is an increased focus on SQL and visualization programs like Tableau or Power BI, as those are required for many data analyst roles.  I would recommend this program for anyone who is interested in learning Python and its many libraries for data science / data analytics purposes. 

Like many others have said, what you get out of the bootcamp experience is what you put into it. They will support you but no one will hold your hand — you need to be highly-motivated and interested in the discipline you're studying. However, I would also add that the reality is it is also what you bring into it. By that I mean you will be far more likely to land a decent job in a reasonable timeframe out of bootcamp if you have impressive and relevant higher education credentials and/or (ideally and) impressive work experience. The experience doesn't have to be related to the field you're going into but if you can show you've done previous professional (white-collar) work competently, then it will make things easier. That's not to say you can't land a good job without one or both of these, but it will be harder. For those without previous professional work experience or an undergrad degree at a top-tier college (or stand-out resume at a lower-tier) I would probably say that you are better off spending the time going for a master's degree because you will be competing with a lot of people who do have those things. If you are strictly interested in learning the subject matter though, then I'd recommend it to almost anyone — you will learn a lot.

I have always had an interest in software engineering growing up, but I ended up in another career field because I felt that I didn't know much about the tech industry. After 4+ years as a Physical Therapist Assistant, I decided I wanted to change my career path and thought about pursuing my doctorate in Physical Therapy or becoming a Physician's Assistant. The overwhelming thought of putting myself in so much more debt and many more years of school made me decide to look elsewhere. The thought of going to a coding bootcamp kept popping up, but I just brushed it off.

Once the pandemic hit, I decided it was the perfect time to take the leap and pursue what I knew would be the career I could see myself in moving forward. I applied to Flatiron School and got in! Right from the beginning, Flatiron School's staff was very friendly and helpful. The application process went smoothly and I was excited to begin my coding journey.

One of the main reasons I decided to go to Flatiron School was because I needed structure. With all the free resources out there to learn coding, it was overwhelming. Flatiron School's curriculum was very structured and taught at a pace where you're able to grasp each concept well. The instructors are very helpful and made sure to help each student understand everything at their own pace. The project assessments after each module truly help you understand what you learned and also give you a taste of what a technical interview would be like. Career coaching is top-notch and very helpful in helping you with fine-tuning your resume, and LinkedIn profile and giving you the advice needed to succeed in landing interviews. All the students are very helpful and typically worked as a team to help reinforce what was learned. Each resource given to the students was also very helpful and assisted in your learning both during and after graduation.

The only thing I would say that Flatiron School could improve is to incorporate more data structures and algorithm courses into its curriculum. Overall, I'm proud to be a Flatiron School alumni and want to thank Flatiron School for preparing me well for my first job in this new career.

I very much enjoyed my Flatiron School experience! (For full transparency, I just signed an offer after 2.5 months of searching so I'm feeling particularly positive right now!) The instructors and curriculum did a great job of setting guide rails to success. Do not think this is not hard work or a commitment, but if you commit yourself to this and spend extra time you can leave in a good position to find an entry level job in tech, while acknowledging that getting your foot in the door is very challenging. The career coach services were very helpful. 

Important takeaways:
JavaScript, HTML/CSS, React, Ruby on Rails is a solid full stack to work from but you really get just a taste of each. If you want more of a back end focus, be sure to supplement more.
Results can differ based on who is leading your cohort. Your lecturers are all very solid, but hope your cohort leader who you will be communicating with on the daily in alignment with you. 
Start learning data structures and algos early. Flatiron gives you a basic curriculum you can do on your own but get started early. Your job search will thank you. 
The more you put in, the more you get out! 

I completed the life, full time software engineering bootcamp this year (15 weeks, full time 9-6). Overall, I would recommend the program. I thought it was very well organized, and the materials were educational and easy to follow. I would do the program again, because I do not think I would have been able to learn the material as quickly on my own, and I attribute this to the pace of the program, instructor support, and coding challenges/projects which held me accountable to keep up. I also really enjoyed the community flatiron offers, there are a lot of events and networking opportunities. There is a good amount of self study and independent learning involved, so to do the program virtually I would recommend having strong self-discipline to complete coursework at home. The networking opportunities and connections I made at Flatiron enables me to get a job within 3 weeks of graduation. 

In this school, the part-time flex program, it is self-directed. And they mean it. You are left to your own devices. The only help you get is from former students who are paid $20 an hour to answer a question if you by chance get stuck but I have gotten timed out in those chat calls. Several didn't want to share the screen to help you through the lab in Visual Studio, etc. Before class even starts you are given 75-100 hours of pre-work to finish no matter if you're part-time or full-time. I'm working full time and specified I had 20-30 hours a week of time to work on this course work. But I ended up working 7-8 hours after work a night and 10 hours on a weekend day. I was exhausted, had migraines, and literally made myself sick that I was put in the ER. After I was timed out again from a chat, I tried to call the school, and there is no live person who picks up the phone. I emailed onboarding and I was stalled until I played phone tag with the admissions director. By that time, I decided to go to another school that was a better fit. I left a message saying that I was pulling out of the program and asked him for a refund of all money received. An hour later, I received an email from him saying that my behavior was in violation of the student code of conduct and they were disqualifying me from the school.

So, essentially, it was the hypothetical 'I quit' and 'you can't quit but I fired you'. Real professional and maturity there. I have read reviews where people tried to persist through the program, ended up with the debt and little to show for it, and now feel blessed to have gotten out when I did even though I spent 80 hours on their program with no support, no instructors. They tell you to learn four or five languages on your own. 

Please, if you're considering the part-time flex program with them, take this as a word of caution. You will be on your own. You won't have much support but former students who will only help on occasion and an advisor who will tell you how much of the program you have completed by a percentage every Friday. Is that really what you want to pay $15-$16K for? You can save money and sign up for Code Academy for $19 a month. It's a good program for giving you the basics of various coding languages.