Le Wagon

Hi, i'm Corentin i was student at Le Wagon Bordeaux batch 127 in January 2018. I used to be an optician. I wanted to change my life because it was bored and had a passion for computer science. So I decided to learn to code to become Web Developer. I choose Le Wagon and i'm not disappointed because in two month i have learnt a lot of technical skills, languages and tips with qualify teachers. Our final project was amazing for very young developers like us. It's one of the best experience of my life, it's the best bootcamp and it's accessible to all.

IN A NUTSHELL:
The 8 weeks of the bootcamp will be tough and fast-paced, but when you look back at the end of the course, you truly feel empowered with the skills and knowledge to build a fully functional web-based app/ website. The course is originally designed for entrepreneurs who would like to learn how to build a website/ app for their business, yet it is very relevant for people who want to work as freelance developers, or who want to quickly learn what programming is about (like myself, I’m an independent management and strategy consultant with a now good knowledge in data analysis/ visualisation to offer to my clients). The course in Bali is very well staffed, students come from various walks of life and create a truly immersive community during the whole course. This was clearly one of the best learning experience in my life so far!
 

FULL STORY:
I decided to learn coding for two main reasons. Firstly, I had a few times some ideas for apps or websites, but never knew where and how to start to build a proof of concept; I was using this lack of skill as an excuse not to go any step further. Secondly, I believe that coding (any language or any context) will become a crucial skill in most of jobs - as important as knowing how to use a computer, excel… - especially when dealing with an ever-growing amount of data on a daily basis.

I tried without success to learn coding by myself, but I lacked the structure to help me getting started on what was important and to deliver step by step an extensive and demanding knowledge. So I decided to look into coding bootcamps available, and the one that caught my attention was Le Wagon. I had a couple of ex-colleagues who did the bootcamp recently and contacted them to hear more about their experience. They easily convinced me.
Just like me, they were working in Management and Strategy consulting for ~5 years, helping venerable industries to improve their businesses, but always far from the new Tech scene. Yet, they all learned invaluable skills that they are now using on a daily basis (they now fully switched to the tech industry).

Before I dive into the content of the bootcamp, I must say that the 8 weeks the course last are extremely fast paced and demanding. The hours can be long, but mostly our brains were mobilised and learning new skills almost 24/7! This is not for the faint-hearted! But all the pain endured is quickly forgotten when we saw the first results.
The first three weeks are dedicated to the core of programming. Basically, you will learn how Ruby (and most computer language) is built and how to quickly build back-end software. This part can be frustrating as you basically learn the first year of computer sciences in 3 weeks. But this is invaluable as you learn how to progressively think like a programmer and understand the logic of any computer language. Then you have about 2 weeks of front end (HTML, CSS, JS) and database management where you learn all the best practice, and because it’s front-end, you quickly feel empowered as you can see you are actually building beautiful webpages. The last 3 weeks are the most interesting: they are the projects weeks. On the first of these weeks, each team rebuilds a copycat of Airbnb from scratch (that’s really amazing – everyone after only 6 weeks is able to build such a site, with fully functional back and front ends!), then the last two weeks are for the projects pitched by students. On top of connecting all the dots (back and front ends), this is an excellent exercise to learn extra features (depending on the project needs) and to learn how to collaborate within a team of developers.

What does Le Wagon give you in the end? The results are pretty self-explanatory: every student is capable of building a fully functional website/ app that they present at the end of the bootcamp. On top of this, Le Wagon gives you access to a huge library of resources, classes, videos… that you can access for life. Very useful when you want to review a specific point of the course, or when a new module is added to the course. Last, but not least, it gives you access to an extensive network of teachers and alumni to help and support you.

Following Le Wagon in Bali is a unique experience: yes it can be frustrating to spend whole sunny days in front of your laptop, but the experiences are awesome. Students come from across the globe and all have different walks of life, creating an immense sense of cohesion within all classmates. No need to sell the charms of Bali, but did you know that it is also the number one destination for digital nomads (source nomadslist.com)? This means lots of freelancers who can give you advice if the digital nomad’s lifestyle appeals to you.

As for myself, I am back home where although I am back to working as a freelance Management and Strategy consultant, I feel sharper than ever as I know I could effectively build a proof of concept for any app that would come to my mind (and I’m still working in my free time on my Le Wagon’s project), but also as a consultant, I can bring to the table real skills in data analysis, visualisation etc… that only few other professionals have. So that’s what I’m building now, the bridge between business people and data geeks!

You will learn a lot of thing in so little time it’s just amazing but it’s difficult so be prepare because you can be overwhelmed easily with the amount of information you’ll receive.
I had a high school diploma in IT networking but that was not exactly what I wanted to do in my life so I decided to join Le Wagon to learn how to become a web developer.
I was in Le Wagon Bordeaux #127 the teachers and everyone else are nice and more than helpful they will push you to be better.
To be honest, before to participate to Le Wagon Program, I wasn’t convince that it was that good… but since I’ve finished the program I can say it’s worth it ! I am 100% satisfied with my experience.
Don’t be scared, if you take it seriously, you will not waste your time !

My review is kind of long so I’ll start of with a summary- if you are thinking about a career in web development or just want to learn a new set of marketable skills, do the Le Wagon bootcamp. I couldn’t believe that it could live up to all the positive reviews I found before starting the course, but it did and then some.

 

Right from the get go Le Wagon does two things amazingly well- teaching you how to code and making you feel part of a community. They send you an extensive list of prepwork to do so that you have a bit of foundation and can hit the ground running on Day 1. Frequent drinks are organized to encourage everyone to hang out. This is really effective- by the end you will have made some really good friends and an extensive contact list of established and budding developers.

If you like a challenge you will love the daily routine at Le Wagon. Attend a 60-90 minute lecture in the morning covering a particular topic, after which you spend the next 6-7 hours tackling tasks based around this material. It is not all smooth sailing- there are tonnes of moments where you feel like tearing your hair out in frustration. But there are an equal amount of “eureka!” moments when you finally lock down a concept. And there are always a group of extremely capable TA’s to help out- if you put in a ticket they will generally be with you in a couple of minutes. It is crazy how good some of these guys are at reading your mess of code and figuring out what you’re actually trying to do. They are all genuine guys who are really easy to get along with and who you will also count as friends by the end of the course.

 

By week 4 or 5 you really start to see how all the skills you are learning are coming together and then this is all consolidated by the two projects you do in the last 3 weeks of the course. THese projects give you invaluable experience in creating a project from scratch and learning how to code a product with your partners.

 

The office itself is amazing. Such a great workspace to learn in. It really starts to feel like home by the end of it and we were genuinely sad to leave. Ed, who manages Le Wagon London, is an amazing guy who is always willing to have a chat and give you encouragement.

They set up some really good talks to help guide you through the post-bootcamp-find-a-job phase. I left knowing what needed to be done in order to both continue developing my skills and to conduct a successful job search.

Other great perks:

Coffee anytime you want it

Yogas Tuesdays and Thursdays

 

Final Summary:

Teaching- great

TA’s- super-skilled and friendly

Workspace- top-notch

Tasks- challenging and fun to work on

Fellow students- varied bunch in terms of origin, age and experience which makes it a delight to get to know everyone.

Top tips:

Prepwork- do it! And maybe re-do the ruby section just before the bootcamp starts to really hit the ground running. If you have time, revisit a bit of the Javascript prep before you start the JS section.

Flashcards- find time to do these. It will really help with consolidating material. Also make use of the bookmark function for important or tricky cards. This is both useful during the course and afterwards.

Be on time for lecture and pay attention- showing up even a bit late will make it tricky to get the material

Do not get disheartened if you don’t completely get a concept. You will often find that after a bit of time it will become second nature to you. I’m looking at you iterators.

Don’t get a chromebook! I tried and struggled throughout the course

Try and do yoga, if you’re so inclined. The instructor is excellent and it really helps to clear your mind.

Go to drinks on Fridays- it really helps you to unwind and build friendships

Relax on the weekends- your brain needs time to process material. Speaking of which, have fun with dreaming about coding.

My goals in pursuing a code bootcamp were to relearn to code, to build a recruitment app to boost my business, and hopefully attract others to the project.


After a thorough research, I decided to enroll in Le Wagon Bali. The course itself has already been described in many of the other reviews so I won’t go into detail here. But I really want to highlight four differentiators:


First, how organized, structured and thoughtfully-composed the program is. The amount of information to take in can be overwhelming but the platform Le Wagon has built is unique and greatly facilitates learning.

Second, how hands-on the program is. You actually spend the majority of the day solving exercises and applying your new knowledge.


Third, the last two weeks of the bootcamp you get to build a live, functional app with a team of others. In my case, we built the very project I was dreaming of for Find My Flock. I thought I would only be starting it after the bootcamp! The tireless camp instructors not only helped solve our daily coding problems, they coached our team on the presentation for Demo Day so we’d have a boost later when seeking investment.

And lastly, the staff’s commitment to reducing stress before and throughout the learning process. Examples include pre-course prep work, yoga breaks, accommodation tips and more. One time I needed an electronics charger and they ordered it online for me in Indonesian and gave it to me in class.


So, what are the results? I left with a fully functioning recruitment web app. We’re already sending it to users to join. In addition, I hired two classmates to continue to develop. We code with the aid of a highly-active 2,500-members-strong Le Wagon alumni network. Multiple times already, I’ve posted a technical question on their Slack and gotten quick tips/help/feedback. I have never heard of these kinds of outcomes from another bootcamp.

Thank you so much Le Wagon Bali— I fully intend to sing your praises to everyone who asks!

After dropping out of college I stumbled across programming online and immediately fell in love with it. I got my feet wet with Codecademy and tried to teach myself how to code via tutorials and online mini-courses. Even though I made good progress and was able to make very simple mobile apps I always felt like I lacked the fundamentals and the structure to really be a competent developer and that’s when I realised I needed more than a simple online course, at the same time I found out about the concept of coding bootcamps, which promised very good results over a short period of time and Le Wagon ranked number one in every review site I visited, so after reading countless 5 star reviews I enrolled in Lisbon.
Everyone warned me about the pace of the bootcamp and how intense it was, but I remember being in shock with the rest of my classmates in the first week. We all felt like this was just too much to grasp in 9 weeks, but we were so wrong ! Don’t get me wrong, this is indeed A LOT to grasp in 9 weeks, but what makes Le Wagon different from every other learning experience I’ve had is the people that are apart of it - from the lead teachers, teacher assistants, the driver and even the intern! Everyone made sure we had the best guidance and support over the course, and displayed a level a of patience that I was not used to. In college, if you keep asking the teacher question after question, after a while they will just find a nice way to tell you to fuck off, whereas in Le Wagon they welcomed your questions and were always there to help you solve your challenges.
Besides the intense and rewarding learning part, which is obviously the reason why everyone decides to enroll on a bootcamp, the experience itself was great. In what other school/bootcamp are you drinking, having fun, meeting interesting people, all while learning such a overwhelming skill like web development! So much so that I looked forward to going to Le Wagon everyday, even when I knew I was going to work my ass off and be really tired by 7PM, I still wanted to go, and that can only happen if you are enjoying the journey.
The climax of this journey are the last 10 days where you and your group get to build a project from scratch to present it on Demo Day. This is the defining moment where you put to work all the skills you've been acquiring the previous 7 weeks, and by skills I’m not only talking about the hard skills ( HTML, CSS, Javascript, Ruby on rails) but also the collaboration, agile development methodology and design tips you've been taught in the bootcamp. I really enjoyed this last part of the course because it was so rewarding to create something out of nothing with skills you didn't have just a couple of months before!
At the end of the day, this was by far the best learning experience I've ever had and I would recommended to anyone, now I see why they have all of those 5 star reviews 

I graduated from Business Administration a few months ago and over the last few years, I got more and more interested in entrepreneurship, especially in the tech industry.

After an internship in a start-up in Montreal, I decided that it was time for me to build on some tech skills. I wanted to acquire the skills that will allow me to join a start-up with a product that resonates with my interest or to build my own product/projects.

As soon as I began Le Wagon batch #125, I felt that I was at the right place to build on those new skills.

As a matter of fact, Le Wagon's program was perfect for me as I had no previous experience in web development. Therefore, I needed a supportive environment to make my first steps in this challenging world.

The 9 weeks were challenging, but with the incredible support of the teachers I made the most out of it and learned full stack web development. The project weeks were incredible as all the learnings from the past weeks finally aligned in my head and suddenly I realized that I was capable of doing much more than I would have thought.

In only 2 weeks we built a functional web-app that I can use as the first major piece of my portfolio, but more importantly, I now have a clear vision of the process and challenges associated with building a web product.

I now have the keys to grow as a web-developer or product manager and I am already working on side projects while searching for a job where I will put to use my recently acquired tech skills.

Last but not least, Le Wagon is a wonderful human adventure and as a member of the family I have not only made great friends but I also have access to a strong network of mentors/business partners.

I had finished university and was unsure what to do with myself, when someone recommended trying out coding. After doing lots of online research, I decided to sign up to Le Wagon because all the reviews were very positive. I was quite nervous because it seemed like a big commitment considering I was still a bit unsure.

 

It was in fact a great decision! The teaching and the resources were amazing, and after 9 weeks I feel confident going in looking for a job in coding. Each day we were taught a new concept and then given tasks to complete to reinforce the learning, a style that really worked for me. The teachers are helpful, and the community itself is strong and supportive. I feel that even now I have finished I could always reach out and ask for help and someone would very happily give me that help.

 

I was suspicious about the lack of bad reviews of Le Wagon, but it is just because it is a really good coding boot camp. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

The period I spent in Le Wagon was an amazing learning experience. My background is in healthcare. I am a physician and practice in the field of Family and Community Medicine. I always had special interest in technology, and thought that learning to code would be a useful skill for life - both professionally - as the applications of technology in healthcare seems to be promising - and personally, as I found out that I enjoy coding and solving problems.   The bootcamp period was intense. The people that I met there were amazing. The volume of information we learnt was huge. It was challenging, satisfying and fun. If I were to give advice to anyone that considers going through the process, that would be to prepare in advance. Learn the basics beforehand, do the prep work. It really pays.   During the last weeks of the bootcamp, our team developed 2 applications. The first was a Airbnb-like platform in which healthcare professionals could lease, rent or share consulting rooms. The second was a web-based tool aimed to reduce paperwork and provide meaningful data to healthcare providers working in basic health units. I feel really proud of what we did there.    As I am writing, 3 and a half months after the bootcamp, I consider that this learning experience opened many opportunities for me. Since last month I am working in a project in which technology is applied to make the healthcare system of my country more efficient, and the skill of knowing how to code was considered a great asset in my job interview.   I keep studying coding in my spare time, and as a side project, I shall start prototyping an idea, coding a MVP, soon.   Before Le Wagon, all of this would be unthinkable. I am grateful to all the Le Wagon staff, and believe that it really did change my life for better.

People asked me, you go to Bali to do what? Coding??? That’s right. I spent the first 2 months of this amazing year of 2018 coding with Le Wagon Bali, and it literally Changed My Life.

Graduated from UC Berkeley with an Industrial Engineering degree, worked in Silicon Valley for a few years, and then moved to Shanghai to learn Mandarin, I’ve been constantly surrounded by tech geeks and gradually exposed to the increasingly popular “digital nomad” lifestyle. The idea of traveling the world while working remotely as a web developer appealed to me, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon (see what I did there). I was thrilled to hear the best coding bootcamp in the world was opening its first batch in my home Bali, Indonesia and even more thrilled knowing the timing was perfect for me to join.

I have three reasons why Le Wagon Bali is the coding bootcamp you should consider.

First, the curriculum. I don’t need to explain why Le Wagon is currently the best coding bootcamp in the world. You will not only be able to code in five highly-marketable programming languages (Ruby, SQL, HTML, CSS, Javascript), but also have your own very first MVP built at the camp (take a look at mine: www.wearewaterfall.com). As the old Chinese proverb says: 授人以鱼，不如授人以渔, give a man a fish to feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish to feed him for a lifetime - at the camp, you will get to acquire new skills every single day and more importantly, learn how to work independently.

Second, the people. You will meet people from all walks of life. My batch consisted of 16 people from 10 different countries and 5 instructors and leaders from 4 more, and each carried their own stories, skills, and perspectives. We get to know and work with each other intimately through the buddy system and later, in the team projects. Le Wagon have developed an amazing learning culture that encourages everyone to respect and help one another regardless of proficiency level and learning speed. My favorite thing about this is the fact that after the bootcamp, I would have buddies from all around the world that I can potentially work with in the future. As digital nomads, you live far away from your family, but you will have families everywhere you go. We are in this together.

Third, the place. I could be biased, because Bali is my home, but you can ask a million other people who have visited this tropical paradise on how fun it is to live here. Two months in Bali was not nearly enough to fully get the most of the island, let alone only a week that most people spend when they visit the island. Therefore, I can’t think of a better reason to choose Bali for a coding bootcamp of a global reputation. Our classroom in the Canggu area is a 5-minute walking distance from a popular, quiet surf beach and surrounded by a huge variety of gastronomy from around the world, including fusion and vegan (some would even say it is a vegan paradise). The mountains are merely an hour car ride away, or you can also rent a yacht to the nearby islands to swim with manta rays. Follow our Instagram (@lewagonbali) if that was not enough to convince you.

Now I am back in China, finishing my language study while building my portfolio and pruning all the skills I have learned from a bootcamp. After this, I want to travel the world, build impactful web applications, and potentially even teach at Le Wagon one day.

Coming from the creative industry working as a freelance fashion photographer for the last 7 years, I was pretty worried about my ability to learn something as ‘technical’ and ‘right-brain’ as coding.

But, the super well thought out structure of Le Wagon coding bootcamp meant that I was able to learn far more than I ever imagined. The program is fast paced but thorough enough to get the core concepts hammered in and have you ready and confident to take on projects by the end.

As I was coming from a zero-tech background I made sure to complete all the pre-course work which I would highly recommend if you want to maximise your capacity to absorb knowledge during the course. Regardless of your abilities, everyone is nurtured and catered for by the wonderful teachers and assistants but the more you can prepare before starting, the more material you will be able to cover during the lessons and therefore the further along you will be by the time you finish.

For anyone considering the leap from a creative or otherwise less ‘techy’ field or anyone in general who wants to skill-up as fast as possible in Web Development, Le Wagon is your ticket. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this fantastic programme especially in the blissful location of Bali with Dirk and his fabulous team.

When I applied for Le Wagon Montréal I wasn’t sure what to expect.   I decided to do it because I wanted to learn how to code to become a good project manager and be able to speak the same language as developers. Coming from a web marketing background the only thing I knew about code was basic HTML and CSS.  I really wanted to know more about how things really work on a website but the number of information online can be really intimidating when you’re on your own.   That’s when I heard about Le Wagon Montréal. The program seemed to fit perfectly my needs with a nine weeks intensive program where you learn how to code a complete web application, so I applied.   As the bootcamp approached, I was a bit afraid. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but pretty much all the people said that it was hard and really intense. I wasn’t sure about my capacity to do it and if I would enjoy coding as much as I wanted to.   Now that I finished it, I won’t lie, it is intense. You don’t learn how to code a web app in nine weeks if it’s not. But even though it’s hard on paper, everything is done in order to make it as simple as possible for you. So you work hard, but you enjoy every moment of it!   Every day is so much rewarding, you learn something new and you practice immediately, being helped by amazing teachers but also by the other students. You really learn a lot about yourself during those nine weeks seeing that your brain can work on problems like you didn’t expect.  Coding can get really addictive, and the way it’s done at Le Wagon Montréal has a lot to do with it!   In the end, le wagon gives you the ability to build pretty much any web app you can think of and it’s really amazing to see what people can achieve during the final project knowing that no one knew how to code two months before.   All in all, it was really a once in a lifetime experience for me and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to learn how to code.  It was really the best investment I did on me, the only regret I have is that I didn’t know about it earlier.   I loved so much coding that I now want to do it as my day job as a web developer. So if I have only one advice to give to anyone doing Le Wagon Montreal, it would be: Take the time to enjoy every moment of this amazing experience as it passes really fast!