Juno College of Technology

I just completed a 12-week Part-Time Web Development program at HackerYou, and can say without a doubt that it was the most enriching learning experience of my life thus far.

From the moment I walked through the door for my tour of the campus, I've been greeted with a smile, and that feeling of welcomeness has been a common theme during my experience at HackerYou. My instructor, Kristen, and the mentoring made class a very fun and interactive learning experience and I looked forward to every class, which is saying lot for me since I've generally been disinterested and would lose focus with more traditional learning styles. I had no previous background in web development, and the facilitators are very patient and understanding in helping you learn each new concept.

However, as many people before me have mentioned, the big highlight for me has been the sense of community that HackerYou instilled from Day 1. I am looking forward to continuing the learning journey with the new friends I've made at the Bootcamp and beyond, and I feel that the Part-Time program has instilled the skills necessary to apply for the Bootcamp and succeed.

In recap, don't hesitate to learn at HackerYou if you have any interest in Web Development. You won't regret it.    

As a HackerYou bootcamp grad (in 2014), looking into the school's other programs when I wanted to level up my skills was a no brainer. HackerYou has always stood out to me for its incredibly supportive learning environment and this course was no different. From the staff who helped me determine if the class was a right fit for me to the excellent instructor and mentors who not only taught in an engaging and accessible way, but also provided valuable one-on-one time to work through problems and challenges specific to our projects.

What really drew me to this course in particular was the curriculum. The course teaches technologies that are both current and well-used throughout the industry while presenting each part of the tech stack in a way I found extremely logical. On a personal level, they are also technologies that we are using more and more in my workplace. Being able to apply new skills to work projects right away is a great motivator when learning new things in the tech industry. I would highly recommend HackerYou in general and this course in particular to anyone interested in learning about web development. 

I am just finishing up the part-time Web Development and I had such a positive experience. I came to HackerYou with essentially no coding experience and I know feel like I have been given a tiny key that basically unlocks the internet!

The instructor Jazzmin VanGeel was an excellent source of information and real world experience from the world of web dev. She was patient and took the time to try and answer every single question. The teaching assistants Melissa and Jaime were also super supportive and ready to help every step of the way.

The lessons are easy to understand and the class is packed with resources that I intend to keep practicing with on my own, even after the class  is done.

I would totally recommend HackerYou! I'll be back for sure :)

Raven

I just completed the Part-time Web-development course at HackerYou (2018). I thoroughly enjoyed the classes and learnt so much about web-development and coding in these few months than I did in my 3 years of college studying computer science! Jazz is an amazing instructor! She explains even the hardest concept with ease and in detail. And, it also helps that all the instructors are so knowledgeable, energetic and positive! Once you enter the class you know that you will be learning something exciting. Thank you Jazz, Melissa, and Jamie for all your help and patience!

I took the winter 2018 winter part-time web development class with Jazz and I can confidently say I am 100% satisfied with my decision in taking the course at HackerYou! 
- Content: up to date with the industry and they are always refining their curriculum – in fact, before our final class there was a last minute addition to teach something new and exciting in the developer world with CSS Grids (we were the first guinea pig class) for something they may want to include in future classes.
- Instruction: Concepts were easy to follow along and you are able to build upon the knowledge previously acquired class-after-class with a ton of in class code-alongs and applying the knowledge through in-class exercises and multiple projects over the course of 12 weeks. The best experiences were introductions of tools that would change how we approached writing code or improved our workflow. Lots of tips and tricks and online resources! The instructor and mentors were always there when you were in a rut and proactively checked in on you to see how you were doing.
- Community: Ultimately what led me to choose HackerYou. Heard many things about the kind of environment HY prides itself in and I can say this is very much true! Many if not all (to my knowledge) of the instructors and mentors are past alumni students that have gone through the same program. They have a very active alumni community and its encouraged to reach out to alumni for questions which I did, and found them to be very approachable for questions or any kind of support. This is super important should you pursue something further into web development. 
Overall would definitely recommend this course to anyone who always had an interest in improving their ‘digital skills’ and a starting point into a web development career.

I just recently finished taking the Part Time Web Development program at HackerYou and I must say, I am extremely pleased with the experience I had. I am 35, married with two little ones and I had been looking to change career paths for a little bit, having been in my past position for 9 years and not seeing myself going any further in it. I have a bit of self-taught web design / development experience and some programming experience from college but never took a serious pursuit to web development.

When I decided on a career change, I came back to the desire to pursue web development and began with some online courses and reading some books, but felt that I wasn’t making the progression I had hoped. After doing some research about programs to take, I came across HackerYou and was intrigued by the programs they offered and what they stood for. After reading all the reviews I could find, highly touting the programs and the instructors, I decided to start out by taking their Part Time program first. I am extremely pleased with that decision.

The instructors and staff at HackerYou are all extremely knowledgable, friendly and helpful, many (if not all) were also former students here themselves. The program was very well laid out, spending ample time on each topic to ensure that the class was able to grasp the concepts. I especially love the ratio of instructors to students, ensuring that the students were able to get their questions answered and the help they need, while still continuing on with the lesson.

The team at HackerYou also does a very good job of ensuring that their course material is continually updated, so that the programs don’t feel old and stale and that you are always learning relevant material. I am extremely looking forward to applying to the Full Time Bootcamp coming up this summer (and maybe also the Javascript program down the line as well). I am eager to expand on what I have learned so far and excited to continue fuel the fire that has been lit under me at HackerYou.

I previously worked in the book publishing industry which I loved, but I knew for a long time that when I was ready for a change that I wanted to work in web development. I knew I wanted to go to HackerYou because I had heard so many good things about the community there, and I really respected the way it had evolved from Ladies Learning Code. I had taken some two-day workshops there and loved the experience. When my family and I decided we were ready for me to take the plunge, I did some more research comparing HY to other bootcamps in Toronto, which only cemented my decision.

The most difficult part about the career change for me was that I have a young family at home. The workload in the bootcamp is very heavy, and I needed a ton of support from my husband and my family in order to be able to tackle it. Outside of class, I needed all my evenings and weekends for homework. The fact that the course is nine weeks long made this achievable for all of us because there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and not a moment of those nine weeks were wasted which made it all feel worthwhile. 

It's amazing how much you can learn in two-months with the right support system. Throughout the course I was really impressed by how much care and attention went into every detail. As we were learning the instructors would make notes as they went. After ever cohort they take weeks to re-evaluate and iterate on the course, and they're constantly updating the curriculum to ensure HY grads are on the cutting edge, so that the class I took was different than the class my friend took a few months before me, and different than the one another friend is taking now. You really have the feeling of being part of a well-oiled machine, but also on the edge of something new. 

There are layers and layers of mentorship built in. The staff and instructors and fellow students are all wonderful, but there's also a huge component of alumni mentorship and involvement which I think really speaks to what HackerYou get's right. The students in my cohort came from all different industries and backgrounds, with different strength and challenges, and HY really created an environment in which we all could thrive. We became very close as well.

In addition to the really supportive class environment, there's a support system upon graduation as well. I've never seen anything like the program they have in place to help students get work out of the bootcamp. I was lucky enough to get my dream-job right out of school, thanks to a connection I made in the HackerYou-organized networking event. 

And now that HY's been in action for some time, it's getting a reputation built on the quality and success of it's grads. I really felt it opened a lot of doors for me. 10/10. I'd do it again. 

I’ve been working as a developer in telecommunications for the past several years, but am learning new skills to transition into web development. The HackerYou Full-Stack course has been an ideal journey through the ins and outs of a modern web stack. It takes students from the front-end, to the back-end, to the database, and explains the roles of and coordination among various parts of an app. Along the way it covers up-to-date best practices, options for tools, and fundamentals such as computer science concepts and clean coding practices. The course manages to get across a breadth and depth of knowledge far beyond what I would have thought possible in nine weeks of part-time.

HackerYou is also a wonderful community and supportive learning environment. The teachers and mentors have a deep understanding of their craft and communicate the material with clarity, charisma and humour. The staff, students, and partners of HackerYou always seem happy to help each other learn. I’m applying what I’ve learned at my time here to my current job and in my job search, and feel that I’ve really leveled up as a developer as a result of the course. I have nothing but good things to say about my experience, and I won’t be surprised if I find myself taking another course or workshop here in the near future. 

I have taken Web Development, Winter 2018, which is a part-time course of six-hour lectures each Saturday, running for 3 months.

I based my school choice on the reddit posts about programming academies around Toronto and on CourseReport reviews. Hackeryou got the most glowing reviews.

The school occupies a bright open-space floor in downtown Toronto. The location has study area, classrooms and a kitchen, so it is possible to bring lunch. The space is very inviting and reminiscent of a sunny airy café, rather than a school.

Every lesson has a main instructor and two mentors present so each student get enough attention to have their questions answered. The instructor and mentors were very supportive and available either during class or online to answer any queries. Teaching staff are all employed in the programming industry so they speak from the most current experience, which is a big plus.

The projects are mostly recreating existing website mock-ups, which is a great way to apply the skills learned right away.