Le Wagon

Hi future students of Le Wagon, I am Sonia and I attended Le Wagon Milan 2018 and I am not scared to say that It is the most important carreer shift I made  !

I have a marketing background and noticed how important it is to get skills in web programming. Of course I tried to learn by my own but I learned slowly and wrongly. I advice you to not waste your time learning on your own and go to Le Wagon even if you have 0 skills in coding. 

Le Wagon strategy is learning by doing 
You will learn by doing exercices and projects. The courses are super clear and everyday you get to do exercices and live code. In the end of the bootcamp you get to do projects with your team. This was an awesome experience that I shared with my team mates, you get to code a project from scratch and this is the period where you realize how you leveled up and how much you did with no previous experience before Le Wagon. 

The unique power of Le Wagon is that you are never left alone.
In the beginning this is really hard but the teachers are motivating (In Milan : Francesco Ecclesie, Angelica Vanni and Arbi Velaj), they will always be really patient and improve your skills. Appart from the staff, there is a buddy system which allow you to code with another student each day. Day by day, you get to know the other students and in the end it is like a big family. 

Now I left Le Wagon 2 months ago but in the end what did I get from that ?
-Coding Skills : i  can code, read and see the mistakes in RUBY HTML CSS JS ~> A huge differentiation professionally and personnaly
-A portfolio (Github, Two projects)  ~> this is really useful during interviews and change everything
-I can code my own project ~> amazing experience and could not do that if I did not attend Le Wagon before
-A huge network with Le Wagon where you can share info with other students from all over the world, improve your skills and find jobs in front end/back end/full stack/marketing....
-Many Friends because even if It is a serious bootcamp you will play hard, lots of dinners and drinks on weekends !

Many thanks to Le Wagon :)

Before LW, I was working as a cybersecurity consultant in Paris. This was a nice job. Bright people, reasonable hours, high salary, good working conditions. After four months I validated my trial period and suddenly the name of my contract hit me hard for what it was: “permanent”. A permanent life of boring suits, gloomy subway, consulting lingo and fake smiles. Nope. I freaked out, resigned and decided I needed something new. I had put coding in the back of my mind for a while. I talked to a friend who had done LW before and went through all the reviews I could find online. Change your life they said, alright, this seemed cool. 
I had no background in coding. I had tried once or twice to learn by myself and watched the first two lectures of Harvard CS50 course but that’s pretty much it. On the first meet-up right before the bootcamp, I remember meeting alumni and getting a little anxious. There were almost only ex-engineers. I had done business and my previous job consisted mainly in preparing PPT, writing reports and shaking hands... In the end, it is not about what you did before, it is just about how much time and effort you’re willing to put into it. Everyone can success. 
Looking back, I can say that Le Wagon has been, by far, the best learning experience in my life. It’s about coding of course but it is also much more than that. These guys entirely rethink the whole teaching process to make it as stimulating, challenging and rewarding as possible. In just 9 weeks, you become alternatively a student, a teacher, a teammate, an interviewer or a speaker. It completely changed my view on learning and motivation. I enjoyed every second of it.

What you pay for:

You've read around 500 5-stars reviews, you’re convinced. Now you want to jump in. There’s just one thing… 6000€. What can possibly justify that price? 
Everyone experiences the bootcamp differently but IMO the following is what made it more than worth it: 
-    Resources: The hardest part about learning to code, especially on your own, is probably to sort through the huge amount of materials you can find online, to distinguish between good sources and bad ones, between essential knowledge and useless bs. LW does all the job for you and organizes it so that it makes sense. The good thing is you get a lifetime access to everything: video lectures in French and in English, challenges, corrections, course slides, useful links or documentations, flashcards… Even months after the bootcamp, alumni keep using the platform to go back to the basics or review a specific concept. 
-    Teaching Assistants: The lecture takes place between 9:00 am and 10:30 am. Afterwards, the whole day is about coding and solving challenges. You’ll get stuck. A lot. The TAs are the guardian angels that will prevent you from repeatedly smashing your head against your screen to try and make your code work. They’ll walk you through the process step by step without giving you the answer until you solve the problem by yourself. They’re all alumni, they know what you are going through, they all did the bootcamp, sometimes a few weeks before you. They don’t know everything but they’re probably your best source of knowledge. Call them a lot and every time you do, take some time to summarize what you’ve just learned. 
-    Network: LW has an exponentially growing alumni community. Unlike many other alumni communities, all the people there took a huge step to join LW. So everyone feels engaged and the community is all the more active. The different slack channels are alimented daily with news, new resources, job offers etc. By joining LW, you get a direct link to more than 3000 bright and open-minded people all around the world. It is invaluable.

Now, after 5 years groping around with different courses, internships and jobs I’ve finally found something I can think of as a career path. Thank you Le Wagon!

I joined the Le Wagon coding bootcamp in Amsterdam to take a deep dive into the world of coding. As a Product Manager, I had a good understanding of tech and had some experience coding in css but my knowledge was basic. I tried many online courses but never really closed the gaps, Le Wagon changed all of that. At best I hoped to leave the bootcamp a technical product manager but I left a developer armed with more technical knowledge than I ever could have expected for 9 weeks.

Apart from learning syntax, Le Wagon’s teaches you to think like a developer, a systematic approach to solving complex coding problems. This has given me the tools to continue my learning and exploration and I feel confident that I can pick up any coding language going forward.

The course structure is fast-paced, challenging and exciting with the final collaboration with teammates on building an mvp product to show off all you have learned. They provide detailed resources to help you over the hurdles, teaching support throughout the journey and enough exercises to ensure that you are comfortable on every topic.

By far the best investment I’ve made in my own personal development and a course that I would highly recommend to anyone!

I’ve attended Le Wagon in Paris three years ago. When I look back now, this is the best decision I have ever made. The 9 weeks program is really well shaped: you start with painful days of Ruby programming, doing everything from scratch. Every week you add a layer: database, front-end, rails, until the last three project weeks. The teachers are 100% committed, always friendly and willing to help. Students are super international and the network brings you great job and after-bootcamp opportunities. What could have been better: Back in the days, we didn’t have so many community events. But this is something they worked on really hard. Now I am proud to be a Le Wagon alumni! What I loved: The content, the product and entrepreneurial approach!

I was working for Apple and realise that I wanted to do something that would allow me to be more flexible with location. I decided to quit my job and join the January batch at Le Wagon in London. It was highly recommended by friends and family members who work as developers.

It was the best decision I made and the best investment I made in my life. You will learn so much and the team is fantastic. Great fun and definitely worth it. I cannot recommended enough. I was worried about leaving a job but I would do it all over again in a heart beat. Thank you so much.

I’m an Olympian and former professional swimmer and I finished Le Wagon London’s bootcamp in March 2018 (batch #123).  I had taken one coding class at university almost ten years ago and forgot everything with that bad experience. I moved to London to explore new careers and find a job and it was hard to find the right fit when lots of industries require some sort of technical skill or relevant experience. Le Wagon solidly put me on a path towards achieving that and solving this problem, and it was up to me to take it where I wanted. I think Le Wagon is a great fit for any entrepreneur wanting technical skills. If you want to get a developer job after, you will also be in the right place to achieve that. I just got a job as an Associate Engineer at BCG Digital Ventures and couldn’t be more pleased with what has happened!

Goals

Before Le Wagon, my goals were simply to learn and obtain technical skills that I could rely on as hard evidence for finding a job. What this job would be, I didn't know. But, I knew I wanted to equip myself with skills to be able to launch a digital product myself in the future and be a better entrepreneur. I never intended to work as an engineer and still can’t believe what has happened!

Why I chose Le Wagon

Le Wagon was a great fit for me because they teach beginners from non-tech backgrounds with a bigger picture business perspective and with a purpose of making you a self sufficient developer. Le Wagon is much more interesting than a developer factory and they don't make money from recruiting fees when you get a job. They don’t force you to be a developer or pressure you when you finish to find a job as one. It is up to you to take your different background (from a tech industry point of view), your new skills and use it as a strength and get what you want in true entrepreneurial fashion.

Curriculum and teaching

Le Wagon’s curriculum is designed to teach you something hard very quickly, so inevitably there will be growing pains on the course and some aspects prioritized over the others. There is no such thing as a perfect curriculum; you will always have to fill in gaps yourself, as with anything. However, I thought Ruby/Rails was such a great choice by Le Wagon to get me started with software engineering. Given the course is nine weeks, the curriculum makes sense and its now unsurprising why such companies like Airbnb and Github used Rails in the first place. You’re trying to learn something hard like coding (or launch a fully fledged webapp/business like Airbnb) very, very quickly. This curriculum (and Ruby/Rails) teaches you to do that in a fun and entrepreneurial way and not to be a developer who will just build what they are told to build without questioning (no problem if that is what you want!).  

Having the opportunity to pitch product ideas to your classmates and teachers was amazing. It's a very product driven bootcamp; awareness to keep your ideas or features in line with the value proposition you seek to deliver is drilled in to you. During the project weeks, this was really important to be mindful of. There are not many better ways to learn than by creating a product you like, getting your creative juices flowing, feeling ownership over it and blowing yourself away with what you can build in ten days.

All of the teachers were great and most of the TAs were as well. They didn't just simply give me the answer or code it for me. They were all patient and tried very hard to explain in multiple ways so that I would understand. There was a holistic approach to learning which I appreciate a lot - "remember to eat properly, get enough rest and sleep" etc.

You will spend less time on some things (like testing and javascript), but in my opinion you leave Le Wagon with a solid core foundation that you will then be able to decide how to add to yourself (as is in life or on any job). If you compare this to other bootcamps, less impact on learning testing/javascript is a bit of a drawback, but Le Wagon is different to other bootcamps in a very creative way. You will leave Le Wagon with knowledge on how to go fill in the gaps, what to look for and with a big community to back you as well. Le Wagon is great value for money and time. I still cant believe 9 weeks jumpstarted the process and eventually lead me to land an awesome job.

Before joining the Le Wagon bootcamp I was working at a company called TicketSwap, a tech company in the ticketing industry. There, I managed the support team. I joined TicketSwap as the first employee, so during the first years I witnessed a lot regarding the development of the product. I liked talking to the developer colleagues and figure out how things, technically, work. After 4 years my time at TicketSwap came at an end because I wanted to change course and learn more about coding. A good friend of mine told me about the bootcamp and after a short holiday I hopped on board the Wagon. During the 9 weeks I learned so much. It’s incredible to see what you can do in that period. Even though I shouldn’t, I tend to compare it with my bachelor degree. I wonder; why did I need 4 years to get this diploma while I only needed 9 weeks to learn how to code and set up a working web app. In our final project we created a platform where people could recommend podcasts to their followers through donations. It’s like a Twitter on steroids where your feed contains the recommended podcast (not sure if it’s still online: mendio.co). Working together with other people was a great experience as well. Now, after the bootcamp, I’m doing a traineeship of 3 months at a company called Ace & Tate. I’m working on the back-end of this webshop, not only maintaining the webshop but also things like inventory and order management. Pretty complex stuff, but I know my why around thanks to Le Wagon.

I’m an engineer, 6 years of prof. exp, with previous knowledge in algorithm theory and a quantitative mindset. I wanted to learn code the way entrepreneurs do. Not the old style, theoretical code I learned in school

Pro: - Fast pace - Excellent ratio teacher / student (about 1/6) - Amazing fine tuning of the cursus: each daily lesson follows exactly the previous. Zero redundancy! - Great community & alumni network

Cons: - Warning, you will not be satisfied at the end: you will want to keep learning ;)

I always wanted to know how to code without really knowing where to start. My several attempts to learn as an autodidact has always failed so I decided to look for training. This is how I found Le wagon Tōkyō. 

The courses are given in English, which seemed, to me, more reassuring to learn new concepts.

It’s a training that mainly focuses on the exercises.

The bootcamp not only taught me how to code, but it also instilled a methodology and a new way of thinking. Teachers and teacher’s assistant are obviously always there to help you but they will also entice you to be autonomous by finding the solution by yourself.  They will show you how to find the solution efficiently on the online documentation.   

During the bootcamp i used a lot of new tools like Git, Postman, Airtable. 

And the School learning platform is quite cool too. With Training videos, flashcards, etc.

Le Wagon Tokyo boot camp is also a community, with many meet-ups and speakers. Recruitment firm, Specialist in marketing and cyber security comes to provide advises and recommendations .

I found a job just before the end of the bootcamp thanks to the management of the boot camp that put me in contact.

What emerges from these two intensive months is an immense satisfaction that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a career change or simply getting new skills .

I attended Le Wagon in Paris during summer 2017. It was an intensive but great summer. I was surprised by how much I was able to learn during such a short period of time and couldn't have imagined before the bootcamp that I was going to really be able to code for a living after the summer. I got hired by a startup as a backend developper right after Le Wagon and even though it was though in the beginning compared to other more experienced developpers, after a while I was fully operational. Great overall experience at Le Wagon, teachers and assistants that take time to help and are almost always available. Great methodology for teaching with only a few courses and a lot of exercizes. Highly recommended. 

I lived in the US for 9 years were I pursued my undergraduate degree in Business and later on my MBA and Master's in Science of Finance. After 2 years of experience in the steel industry I worked in process management and business development for a private business group dedicated to Retail and Real Estate (3 years) were I got to travel to places like: Portugal, Brazil, South Korea, Switzerland, Ireland, China and Hong Kong.

Joining Le Wagon has been the best decision I have made and would advice a younger me to have joined this industry years ago. Now that I'm a FullStack Programmer I can freelance, join any industry or startup I want.

The community of Le Wagon is friendly, collaborative and connected to high-profiles that can open doors everywhere. Lose the tie, put on your Nike's and come join Le Wagon.

Since I always had enjoyed cooking at home I decided to try myself in the culinary arts industry as a side income while studying. Ever since that day my life was all knives and flames, scars and stress for the most part of the year except the wakeboard instructor job I had in summers when I could recharge my self again for upcoming part of the year in the kitchen. I had always been determined and unafraid of hard work so I quickly excelled from cook to chef in small but interesting places, restaurants and projects.

As the years passed on, the novelty of my career faded, the urge to prove myself in the kitchen became pointless, and it became increasingly hard to understand or justify the choices I had made. At some point, I realized 10 years of culinary experience on my resume could only lead to 10 more years of culinary experience and  60+ hour work weeks in the kitchen  was something I did not want to tolerate any more.

So last year I quit my job abandoned my plans to go to culinary school in Italy to become a master chef of Italian cuisine and I set off on a journey of self-discovery that lead me to code. I started to learn from online courses by myself but since coding was something completely new to me and there are so many deferent things you can learn I needed some kind of basic structure where to start from. So searching in google lead me to LeWagon page. I immediately found a lot of amazing reviews about this boot camp and as I wanted to meet like-minded people and learn as fast as possible this looked like perfect opportunity to kick-start my career as a developer.  So I enrolled in LeWagon coding bootcamp in Amsterdam.

So about the LeWagon in Amsterdam-

Usually people have the image of coders as boring, lonely, weird people who spend their days in front of screens and don’t want to communicate with others, but in Le Wagon you see that coding actually can require a lot of collaboration with diverse group of amazing people, with different age, backgrounds, experiences, nationalities and you all work to gather as equals to learn and create something amazing.

Overall experience was nothing short of incredible. I’ve probably never learnt so much in such a short time. Every day you are surrounded by inspiring teachers that are there to help when you hit the wall. In nine weeks you learn a solid introduction to all the necessary tools you would require to reach a productive level, how to put them all together, and how to collaborate in team and make MVP product from scratch in 7 days. There is almost no time to rest. It’s difficult but completely worth it!

Be aware that the bootcamp will not do the work for you. To get anything out of it, you’ll have to give it your full commitment. So if you are planning to do this, the main thing to get the most out of it is to prepare your self properly. Do all the prework that is given by the LeWagon and do it twice if possible. Take a vacation and try to arrange everything so you don’t get much distraction during the 9 weeks. Prepare your self physically as well - be in good health, well rested.

If you are looking for bootcamp experience then LeWagon is the one!

P.S.

After bootcamp I went back to my home country Latvia and started to apply for jobs. I was looking something ruby or frontend related. All the frontend positions where asking for PHP knowledge so I started to learn that. After a month and a half of actively applying, doing test works and going to some job interviews I finally found a job opportunity that I really was excited about - frontend developer in a digital agency that is one of the best in Latvia. Long story short - two days after my job interview I got the job as a junior web developer. Right now it is the end of my second month there. All the knowledge I gained in LeWagon is a huge help in learning and understanding the new work environment - cause right now I’m working with php Laravel. So my recommendation - if you find a job opportunity that makes you excited and by description, it may be over your skill level, but you still know you want it - go ahead and apply for it - you still could get it!