Hack Reactor

I graduated from HRSF in September 2018, right as they were acquired by Galvanize. 3.5 stars. It was an overall rewarding experience and I don't regret it, but my general opinion is that the experience left a lot to be desired. I'll spare you the details of what you hear over and over (hard work, cameraderie, life changer) and provide you with my unabashed opinion on what was once considered SF's premier immersive program.

My Hack Reactor journey took place over an entire year. I started the part time structured study program in Jan, got admitted into the April cohort, attended for a week and was (rightfully) deemed underprepared, attended the HREXT program for 6 weeks and got readmitted in June, graduated in Sept, and held fellowship that finished up in Dec. I was fortunate enough to have an entire year (plus months of job searching) where I could dedicate my time and energy in going from someone who enjoyed programming but had little knowledge outside of online free courses to a graduate. So my first caveat is that your journey may be longer than just 3 months; be aware of your learning pace and take your time, because it's better to do that than get by with the "C's get degrees" mindset.

That said, one great thing about this program is that they won't let you through the gates unless they deem you to be ready (in the beginning, anyway. Will get into more details later). They were able to catch the fact that I was going to fall through the cracks within the first 3 days(!) and suggested that I enroll in the HREXT program to get back on track for the next cohort. I am SO thankful for that, because I knew that I have a high learning curve and still felt shaky with the fundamentals when they admitted me--I was pretty sure that I could catch up by putting in extra effort and extra hours, and they gave me a chance to prove it.

The biggest flaw I've found with the program is the unrealistic amounts of autonomy that are expected from you in the program, especially in the second half. When you're a junior engineer at a company, you are usually not expected to "know everything" and will generally receive some sort of mentorship beyond "just Google it". Yes, it's true that HR wants to emphasize becoming self-sufficient as an engineer and I totally support that, but some things just can't be Googled without priming. Things like bugs, error messages, function signatures, etc should definitely be independently researched, but certain things (design patterns, best practices) are much harder to research. One example: business logic should generally not be stored on the client; this idea didn't come naturally to me, and as a new engineer, I wouldn't even have known the term "business logic." Since we had such a high emphasis on client-side work, it seemed logical to me to have the client handle it, and my group mates and I didn't even realize that it could be handled by the server! It wasn't until I had friends who work in the field who code reviewed me and pointed out this antipattern. The TL;DR is, by the second half, no one looks at your code besides your equally inexperienced teammates, and no one will inform you if your code is full of antipatterns, inefficiencies, and other bad practices that aren't intuitively searchable.

Lastly, I want to say that your cohort-mates make all the difference. As I mentioned, I got the rare experience of being in two cohorts (granted, only a week with the first one), but the difference was night and day. My first cohort was <25 people, mature, and most people were considerate. The cohort I graduated with was a wreck. I really wanted to avoid the summer cohorts because I knew it would be flooded with college students on summer break, and I was right to make that judgment. It was ~40 people, rowdy/loud, and ridiculously difficult to learn. People were terribly behaved and I felt bad for our cohort lead, who had to spend time disciplining our cohort as if it were middle school detention. Maybe half the students were serious about working and learning, the other half were being outwardly inconsiderate, playing DoTA, chatting on the phone, vaping indoors, leetcoding, and doing phone interviews. I don't care that these people were doing other things, but I DO care that I spent 18K and was being bothered left and right by people who don't realize that they're in a common space and lack the courtesy to not be disruptive to others who actually take their work seriously. Imagine if you were in a college lecture next to someone blabbering on the phone and you'll get the picture. If you think I'm some ol' curmudgeon...I was 23 at the time.

Lastly, job searching. I knew I would take longer than average to find a job because of my low confidence and learning curve, but I promise if you put in the effort it can be done! The job search behavioral tip lectures were helpful, but I didn't really get much out of connecting with my career coach after graduation. The micromanaging, constant checkin thing just didn't work out for me and I am glad my coach respected my decision to go at it at my own pace. I think they focused too much on the "behavioral" side (seriously, there's a calendar for how you should spend your job search days) and not enough on the technical aspects of getting a job (aka what really counts).

I would like to give a shoutout to the HREXT team though--that program was AMAZING. You'll learn and get actual support and encouragementand actual advice on coding cleanly and idiomatically rather than some hand-wavy non-answer.

Background about me: taken HS programming course, BS+MS in Biotechnology, some college work. Shy, introverted, low confidence, not particularly well inclined toward math/engineering and slower learner, but love learning about technology and algorithms nonetheless.

I started the Hack Reactor prep program (then called Structured Study Program) in November of 2018, entered the full-time immersive in February of 2019, graduated that May, stayed on in an associate instructor role until August, and started my position as a full stack engineer in September. I hadn't touched or read about code before November of 2018 (unless a few lines of HTML in middle school counts). If your plan is to put everything else on pause and give the program and job search 100% of you, it works.

I think the critical pieces to the success of the program are: its emphasis on both hard and soft skills, its focus on community-building around shared goals, and the pivot into career readiness and support as students approach graduation. 

Students spend as much time and energy leveling up their ability to communicate and collaborate with others, verbalize their technical work with accessible language, and iterate on their workflow and project planning as they do on leveling up their technical abilities. This is huge for both nailing technical interviews and performing on the job as a software engineer (which are two different beasts). It's not enough to be great at coding or communicating; both are necessary. Students are guided by technical instructors and counselors, each of who are passionate, dedicated people who genuinely care about their students' success. They do a great job of fostering a community, which certainly helps with motivation/morale, but also improves technical growth through collaborative approaches to the material. It also translates to professional networking. You're likely to meet amazing people going through such a rigorous program that places such high value on people skills. I certainly did.

The curriculum is iterative; both students and instructors are in tight feedback loops, and schedules and assignments are flexible to match the needs of students and industry trends. Side note: I think it's important to view the curriculum as a tool rather than a transformative environment-- you won't move through it and level up into a software engineer. You'll use it, along with Google and your peers, to figure out how to solve a million tiny problems and a few big ones. It (the curriculum) has some shortcomings, but I think the overall system works, and I think it serves its purpose. 

The career support is huge. The career counselors meet with you regularly after graduation to coach you through the job hunt, working on/vetting doc's like resumes, covers, emails, etc., and practicing interview talking points, compensation deflection and negotiation, and general mental model/strategy work. I found this critical to my success in the job hunt. Special shout out to Lena Johnson in the Remote campus.

Overall, the program provides what it says it will: the environment, tools, resources, and people for you to figure out how to software engineer.  

I graduated from Hack Reactor in May 2015 from the San Francisco location. At the time, I had just graduated from undergrad with a non-technical major and a CS minor.

Hack Reactor was one of the best decisions I've ever made. In my college CS classes, other students just wanted to get an A whether they understood the material or not. At HR, there are no grades and the students genuinely want to learn and help each other. It's such a collaborative learning experience that it changed my entire perspective on what education could be like. To give a quick example, I took a semester of Data Structures in college, then spent one week learning data structures at HR and thought "is this what they were talking about all semester in college?" HR has figured out how to teach what you need to know.

After graduation, I became a Hacker in Residence (basically a teaching assistant) and taught a few pre-camp classes (for students who have never coded before and want to eventually apply to the program) because I appreciated so much what the community did for me and I wanted to give back.

Even years after graduation, I still get help from HR when applying to new jobs and negotiating salaries. Shout-out to Marlene Fong, an awesome career coach/alumni director who is incredibly supportive and super helpful for alumni figuring out their careers. This is the kind of support that even a university (which is many times more expensive!) will not give you.

Is it possible for you to save your money and learn all of this for free? Of course. Are you going to know what to study, in which order, and have an entire network of other motivated learners by your side? No, and that's exactly what HR gives you. Will you learn the same amount as you would in a typical 4-year degree? Of course not, but you will be able to apply it better. CS degrees teach you theory, HR teaches you application, which is much more important for a job.

Overall, I highly recommend this program. It's a life-changing experience.

I was a chef with only a hobby level of experience with computers and coding, decided to take the course after hearing about it from a friend. Easily one of the better decisions I've made in my life. I'm now employed as a Software Engineer in New Hampshire making astronomically more money than I ever have in my life and loving my job. Would recommend this course to anyone (which I do just about every time someone brings up hating their job or not making enough money).

pros:
  -no fire and forget curriculum where you just get assignments and sit on a computer alone
  -emulates a real work environment well
  -great staff
  -rapid pace
  -blends autonomy with accountability and social engagement
  -support is available but not as a crutch
cons:
  -I actually found this to be a pro but the pace is breakneck and this program is not for the faint of heart, this lends to the program's gravitas.

I finished HR in San Francisco in April 2019. I had heard about it through reading reviews and hearing about other graduates' experiences online, and understood it to be one of the best bootcamps on the market. I chose HR based after speaking with a former colleague who had gone through HR a year before. What they said about the program and how it enabled them to make a transition from finance to software was the most important factor in my choice.
After over ten years in another industry, I was eager to make a career change. I had a lot of concerns about making a mid-career shift--the sacrifice in earnings, time, and stability required to do it successfully. But I'm so glad I did! There's no other way I would've learned so much in such a short time.
The whole process took nearly six months for me. I spent almost 3 months preparing for the bootcamp. About 1.5 doing the Structured Study Program, which is basically a pre-bootcamp bootcamp, and then another 1.5 months doing the prerequisite course for the bootcamp itself.
I'm very glad I did the SSP. Not only did it prepare me for the bootcamp, but it was also nice to see what I was capable of before joining the bootcamp full-time. It helped validate my decision to keep moving forward with it.
The bootcamp itself is intense. 6 days a week. 11 hours a day. But I'm not sure there's a better way to do it. I met some amazing people, and learned way more than I expected. I do think that the program would be improved by making its small group meetings and one-on-ones more productive by making the topics of those meetings be focused on technical as well as non-technical aspects of the program.
Getting a job afterwards is the hardest part. While HR provides some resources--mock interviews and resume workshops were helpful to me--they are mainly there for support. I would encourage anyone considering this to evaluate the strength of their network: do you know enough people working in engineering or high enough up at tech companies to get a referral? If not, it's going to be tough competing against all the other bootcamp grads and CS majors and people with <1yr engineering experience.
Companies are understandably not so eager to hire fresh bootcamp grads. A bootcamp is great preparation, but I can say my first few months in an actual role was at least as intense as the bootcamp in terms of everything I've had to learn and work on.
My former experience and network was invaluable in terms of getting my first job out of the bootcamp. So if you're also in mid-career, know that you have a lot of valuable skills and knowledge coming into the program that make you a strong candidate when you graduate.
And now that I'm working with other bootcamp grads, I know that I did a lot more at HR than what they did. My bootcamp experience was closer to what it's like to be an engineer and work on an engineering team.
 

I’m a software engineer who graduated from Hack Reactor, and then stayed a few extra months to help teach and assist before getting hired as a full-time software developer. My salary as a Software Engineer is average for the town I work in (Austin, TX), and yet it is still twice as much as anything I ever earned while working in hospitality.

Should you consider this program? Do you really need a program at all? It is a difficult question, especially because Hack Reactor isn’t cheap. I hope my review helps you answer these questions.

First, should you consider Hack Reactor over other programs? This one is a resounding yes! Hack Reactor has a fantastic entrance exam that only lets in students who are strong in their programming basics, and are also decent people. Hack Reactor will have you studying with your classmates for 70 hours a week, for three months. They try to not let in anyone who isn’t aimiable or who doesn’t have a strong programming foundation. While the price tag is staggering, it also means that every student you meet will be 100% committed. As a result, the large majority of Hack Reactor students I met were fantastic people, and I have personally seen them get great jobs at companies such as IBM, Apple, Google and more. Sure, there are other great Boot Camps, but I have no doubt that Hack Reactor is one of the best.

Helping teach after my graduation further convinced me of this - I worked with the staff for three extra months, and I got to sit in on their many weekly meetings. They discussed each student’s progress, strategies on how to get each person to excel, and ways they could improve as a team. Their success rides on the success rate of their students, and so they truly care about their student’s success. 

Second, should you consider a boot camp at all? It is a much harder question. Hack Reactor’s mission is to provide three things: Curriculum, Capital, and Community. Curriculum is what most people already have access to, with 80% of the things taught at Hack Reactor being available online. They do have some fantastic group-based milestone projects, which would be impossible to do by yourself. Lastly, the group workflow foundation they give you (working with Git, ticketing systems) shouldn’t be underestimated. Still, I get it. FreeCodeCamp is awesome.

Capital and Community - these are the two things I’d reckon most people are lacking. If you have a strong connections to the tech industry, or if you have the capacity to go back to a good university, this program may not be for you. As for me, I loved programming, but I was overworked and underpaid at the hotel I worked at. I didn’t know any other programmers, and I was too busy being an adult to consistently self study. On top of all that, I had no freaking clue how to sell myself for a tech job! Hack Reactor’s grueling course allowed me to devote 100% of my time to becoming a better programmer, an opportunity I am truly grateful for. I made a ton of awesome connections along the way... I even competed in a Hackathon with three new friends after the program, and our team won first place!

Should you consider a boot camp? It really is a tough question, but I’m glad I did it. You may hear online that you can do it by yourself, and some people definitely can. However, it is within six months of my graduation, and at least 90% of my class are now employed as software engineers. We all met for pizza this last week. I’m not fluffing these numbers up - check out Hack Reactor’s website for real success rates. I bet their success rates are some of the strongest, and I am 100% certain their success rates trounce the self-taught crowd’s success rate.

If you are still on the fence, try taking the entrance exam. You won’t regret it

When I enrolled in Hack Reactor, I had been working as a professional bicycle mechanic full-time for about seven years following a loss of interest in pursuing a career in my electrical engineering degree. Despite being reasonably well-paid for the bike industry, living in a relatively expensive area and making payments toward student loans meant I was still living paycheck-to-paycheck. Hack Reactor's accelerated program was just what I needed to take a minimal loan while pursuing a change in passion from bikes to software. The organization and pace of the program allowed me to learn the best and most-relevant skills at a much more rapid rate than I ever could have alone.

Pros:

• Well-polished program
• Rapidly learn software engineering beyond just the basics — learn some best practices while mimicking a real work environment
• Excellent technical and emotional support when it's needed
• Learn alongside fellow excellent people
• Great balance of autonomy (super-valuable) and direction

Cons:

• I loved the pace personally, but it can be a struggle at times

TL, DR: Pretty decent curriculum. Could be better, but I would recommend it as it still has solid curriculum that makes you a good candidate during tech interviews. A lot of other boot camps don't put emphasis on group projects - which is critical in technical behavioral interviews at bigger companies.

I graduated in October 2018 right before Hack Reactor was bought out by Galvanize. Nowadays there are a lot of resources online to teach yourself, and many would be debating if $18k is worth it.

If you are serious about the career change - it is. 

Pros:
- Project-Based Curriculum: Hack Reactor dedicates almost half of the time to group projects. I believe this experience is critical for technical behavioral interviews, which is much harder to get if you take the self-teach route. Granted, you can self-teach, work as a free-lancer for couple months, then leverage that experience.
- Network: you will make some good friends, and they will help you keep sane during the job search.
- Resume and cover-letter critique: my career coach was really available to perefect my resume and cover letters. A lot of my softwar engineering friends said my resume looked solid. 

Cons:
- Stupid rules: I hated their check-in rules. They can kick you out after 9 tardies or 3 no-shows. I was always on time, but forgot to check-in couple of times. Almost got kicked out cuz of this.
- Over-emphasis on applying over studying: after the Hack Reactor management change, the career service is not the same. They over-emphasized applying for jobs over studying after graduation. Hack Reactor tells you are interview ready on week 1 and tells you to "GO GET 'EM!" I was definitely not ready. See why below.
- Need more leetcode: I think you need to do at least 100 leetcode problems (50 easy/ 50 medium) for you get comfortable with technical challenges. You do about 30-ish leetcode-ish problems over 3 months at HR. 30 is not enough and you will for a lot of them by the time you graduate. I recommend grinding leetcode for a month after graduation before tech screens. I personally used interviewcake.com and algoexpert.io in conjunction with leetcode.

Hack Reactor was the best investment I ever made in myself. Excellent all around. Great curriculum focused on the skills you need most to become a Frontend developer, a problem solver, and a JavaScript connoisseur. Prodigious instructors who believed in their students, had high expectations of them, and were very approachable. It was easy to find the motivation to put in the work with the culture of this program.

Job assistance is outstanding. Yes, is. They don't stop. Ever. You will find out what Marlene is all about when applying for your first job. No nonsense, all business, let's get you hired soldier! Already have a job and feeling like you can conquer the world on your own? Go for it... but what if you need a shoulder to cry on... don't look for Marlene, she is all about getting you what you need to succeed as a job applicant--just kidding! She is there for you. Need to vent about that company who is wasting candidates with their silly recruiting games? Marlene is there. Need to shake off the interviewing rust before jumping back into the job market? Yes Marlene is there.

Hack Reactor will give back as much as you put into it. And on top of that, job assistance is the gift that keeps on giving.

This review is specifically about the alumni services/job search support. I graduated in August 2018 from the part-time-program. I entered in my second job search in April 2019 feeling uncertain because my first job out of Hack Reactor was not pure software engineering.

The alumni team was really helpful in ensuring my resume and experience would be enough to interest recruiters, and they connected me with a number of companies off the bat which was hugely helpful in building my job search pipeline.

The alumni team checked in with me regularly on my progress, always offering helpful advice and guidance. Negotiation help at the end was hugely helpful in not getting myself stuck with low offers and bad deals. Overall, the biggest thing that helped me was just having someone who understood the industry and job market really well. Quite a bit was different with my preferences from the first job search to the second. I can say with confidence that the Hack Reactor alumni team can and will adequately prepare you for both and beyond.

Years later now, I still look back very fondly on my time in Hack Reactor (now Galvanize). The instructors were great, my cohort was fantastic, and I learned more in a short period than I ever have before in my life (this from someone with a PhD!). They chose the curriculum based on what gave the best fundamentals and what were the most popular frameworks and libraries in jobs, combining the practicality and thoroughness you need to be a great developer. And they were always updating it (I even got to help update it as a Hacker in Residence) to keep it current.

It's scary to apply, scary to interview to get in, and scary during the bootcamp not knowing whether you can cut it. Don't sell yourself short by doing one of the easier bootcamps with no entrance exam or a slower pace. Let me tell you, it's so absolutely worth the money and the worry once you're on the other side with a great job and a start in a huge new career. And as an investment, it's immeasurable. I am now making more than would ever have been thinkable in my previous line of work, and honestly enjoying it much more.

Speaking of good investments, one thing I did not consider at all when looking at bootcamps but has honestly been the best ROI of the whole process has been the Alumni job search support. You know they'll help you with your first job search when you're done with the bootcamp, but I somehow missed that they'll support you in all your job searches for the rest of your career! Specifically I have to praise Marlene Tang, their alumni director. Literally her advice alone, pushing me to get multiple offers, always negotiate, and know what to say to negotiate in a way that's not going to alienate anyone, has literally more than paid for the entire cost of the bootcamp in salary raises.

I can't recommend the Hack Reactor program enough, and as I've been given to understand it, they've continued all the best parts of that under the new banner as Galvanize. I actually figured they would kind of let all the old alumni drop once the name/company changed, but they haven't at all! So one more nice perk: in this shifting bootcamp landscape, where companies get bought out and change hands all the time, these guys have provided a consistency that's hard to find elsewhere! I saw it first hand as it was just shifting from MakerSquare to Hack Reactor during my time at the bootcamp, and it's clearly continued since then.