Le Wagon

After two years working in the banking industry in London, I decided to change life and go back to France to become an entrepreneur.  Leaving behind me a confortable professional situation, my friends, my girlfriend, my flat… and went back to my parent’s place to start a new life.

The first struggle on my entrepreneurial journey was the lack of coding skills. I had many business/product ideas but found myself unable to create a MVP without hiring a freelance developer to build the app/website. I realised that I didn’t want to fall in a dependency relationship towards a developer. Hence, joining a coding bootcamp became obvious – it brought me to the FullStack Programme at Le Wagon.

Le Wagon is definitely a life-changer programme: after 2 intense months of coding, I now can develop a MVP and test multiple business ideas on my own.

Le Wagon is simply amazing because: teachers are exceptional both technically and personally, the atmosphere is unique, students have very diverse backgrounds and the program is perfectly structured. If you are in a similar mindset, please do not hesitate anymore, join Le Wagon community to have fun and learn!

I worked 2 years for Saas start-up in Healthcare industry as a Customer Onboarding Manager: I knew everything about the product and worked closely with the PO and the Tech team to improve it on a daily basis.

But after the merger with our competitor, we grew so much that every team was working in silo and I lost all connection with the product development.

I then realized it was my favorite part of the job: reflect on, improve, test and design the product.

So I enrolled for Le Wagon Bootcamp to become a Product Owner, and finally be officially shaping the product.

But halfway through the training and as the end was approching, I had my second epiphany: I didn't want to stop learning and coding!

With Le Wagon not only I learned basic coding skills but also discovered the developper mindset:

• curiosity is your prerequisite,
• failing means trying means improving,
• The one asking may be the one sharing and vice-versa

The teaching method was far more well thought out and effective than in my business school, that is why I feel so confident what will happen next!

I finished batch 205 in Lisbon, and I was blown away by the quality of the teaching, and the effort put into ensuring that the 10 week bootcamp gave students the best possible learning experience. The staff were extremely dedicated and always had the time and patience to help with any problems we encountered.

The way that the course is taught is great - with everything being taught from a fundamental basis in order to offer a good grounding in the concepts, and then showing quicker, easier ways to do this without coding it from scratch so that you learn how to build complex web applications in a relatively short amount of time using best practices.

The bootcamp teaches the ruby on rails stack, but all the concepts are completely transferrable, and having done the course I now feel that I would be able to pick up new programming languages and develop using different frameworks relatively easily.

A shift in my first job contract gave me three months to spare. It was then when a friend told me about Le Wagon and highly recommended to take it, I remember he literally said "It will change your life". I had a technical background, but not being capable of implementing anything was frustrating. I did not think it twice and I started my journey at Le Wagon.

Looking back, Le Wagon was an intense experience, but really pleasant to carry. During the week, from 9 to 19ish, fantastic people from all the world with different backgrounds made time fly, and once coding was over, football and beers took place. At weekends, Barcelona's weather and lifestyle offered plenty of possibilities: going to the beach and playing volley ball, tasting local food or, the favourite of some of us, enjoying Barcelona's nightlife.

Le Wagon was just the beginning on my coding journey. As soon as I finished the bootcamp, together with two friends, we founded a start-up. There are still loads of things to learn, but Le Wagon set the essential foundations to keep learning in a fast and solid way.

Now it is me who highly recommend Le Wagon to all my lifelong friends and say "It will change your life".

I was working as a Product Manager at a tech startup in Paris before I joined Le Wagon. I went to their Bali location as I was looking for a change of scenery to consider the next chapter of my professional career as well as to deepen my technical knowledge and expertise to be able to lead technical projects with a more hands-on approach.
The bootcamp has exceeded my expectations on all fronts. Not only did I get comprehensive experience on all full-stack development notions and beyond (databases, test-driven development, API integrations and build, background jobs, mailers, javascript plugins…), the very product-driven approach offered by Le Wagon really has every student consider and experience first-hand how to develop products with a good UX/UI and market fit. The friendships and the network developed hold no comparison, and the surfing, yoga, scenery and multiple events organised by Le Wagon were awesome bonuses.
For a couple of months, we’ve all felt a renewed sense of confidence, creativity and energy. It was a really life-changing experience, far from what one could expect from a simple bootcamp, and one of the best decisions/investments I’ve made in my life.

Since I was a child, I’ve always had lots of business ideas related with internet, but I’ve never found the right moment to develop them, and one of the main reasons was my unknowledge of web development.

Last year, I decided to make a break on my professional career on business consulting to learn new things and decide what had to be my next professional movement. At that moment, I had a business idea, so I decided to learn to code and develop the web-app by myself.

I chose Le Wagon because its academic program was not just learning to code, it was much more than that, it was learning to develop your own web-app, through methodologies like Lean StartUp, UserExperience, Agile and Scrum, Prototyping, etc. I realized that the Coding Bootcamp of Le Wagon was the best program to make real any business idea that you could had.

Then, the experience was amazing. Nine weeks working really hard, learning lots of programming languages, and the best part of the bootcamp, making our web app in teams, designing the solution and coding an entire web app in just two weeks. And outside classes, all the activities that we did with classmates: football and tennis matches, parties, trips, concerts, etc.

I’m very happy to have chosen Le Wagon due to all the people that I met and for everything I learned, I’ll never forget this amazing experience.

Summary One of the best education I've ever had with 2 factors;

• Got practical skills in a short period of time: Everyday-coding challenges after morning lecture never let us leave just as lecture but as practical experience.
• Surrounded by smart / passion / diversed people.

I've been always interested in programming when I was doing internship for a startup before Le Wagon. And finally I jumped into Le Wagon Tokyo right after my graduation of bachelor degree in business.

Learning to code at Le Wagon was an amazing 9 weeks which I'd definitely recommend to anyone looking to up-skill or change careers. The course structure is very well organised with fun challenges and excellent resources. The teachers are awesome and there is always a friendly face to help when needed. I was amazed at how much I'd learnt and grown in just 9 weeks. I would highly recommend Le Wagon to anyone who has an interest in coding and looking for fun, supportive learning environment.

In Le Wagon I’ve found myself in an exciting community full of people that share with me a passion for creating, learning and coding. This sense of community and friendship was really important during the bootcamp to keep me motivated and excited for each day, sharing all our doubts, difficulties and personal knowledge was a special key element of Le Wagon, as well as all the dinners and events we shared together! All the teachers were caring and made sure we were taking full advantage of what the bootcamp had to offer. As well as an awesome curriculum full of coding technologies, we were taught important soft skills that really helped me getting my career started in the tech world right after the bootcamp finished. Even now my batch is over, I was left with direct contact to all Le Wagon’s online groups and communities filled with experienced teachers, alumni and new learning content to keep expanding my knowledge and stay in touch with all the great people I got to meet. I’m very happy I was able to be part of such an awesome experience, and I’m so excited to go into my new job and put to practice everything I learned in Le Wagon!

Le wagon has been an incredible experience in an uncountable amount of ways. If you’re considering doing a coding bootcamp, choose Le wagon.

Where did it start?

My interest in coding started when I experienced some limitations at work; I really wanted to create something and I knew how it should work or look but I didn’t know how to tell the computer exactly what I wanted. I researched coding and web development and used many free online tutorials, and I felt like I had made some progress, I could really write some lines of code and manipulate things on a website (felt pretty cool), but I didn’t know where to go from there, I could write some lines, knew some syntax, but there was no way I could create a full product, where would I start? After drowning myself in all the resources out there, I felt more and more confused and decided it was time to get some guidance.

Before choosing...

After researching coding bootcamps, it was clear that Le wagon was going to be a great choice. Although, I was a little skeptical at first because they seemed to just have endlessly positive reviews and I thought that can’t be right? Are these reviews real? (I can of course confirm that they are, now that i’m here writing one myself). Le wagon appeared to offer many interesting technical skills, but also seemed focused on teaching students to create a product as a whole, and focused on supporting entrepreneurship too. I watched a bunch of their demo day videos* from many cities and I was beyond impressed. I remember thinking “Wow, some of these ideas seem absolutely genius, and the presentation of the final products are really inspiring”. I wanted to be able to create something like that!

Which city should I choose?

Le wagon offers their course in heaps of cities, and although I was choosing between several cities, Barcelona was a clear winner for me. I wanted to stay in Europe, and after researching, Barcelona had one of the lower costs of living. Not only is it home to many start-ups and makes a regular appearance on lists about tech hubs in Europe, but it is also located on the lovely Mediterranean, and who would turn down a city with sunny beaches and beautiful mountains all in one.

After applying…

After I filled out the form on the Le Wagon website to apply for the bootcamp in Barcelona, I got an e-mail from Gus, the driver, offering to book a chat on skype. We had a great chat that resulted in getting the offer to do the technical tests. I was given some material to learn in a few days along with some tasks and then I was given a test which should be completed more or less in an evening. I was very glad to know that I passed the tests and had been offered a place at the bootcamp. The time between my admission and the first day of the bootcamp I was given some prep work to complete.

Before the Bootcamp…

I cannot stress enough just how helpful it was that I had completed the prep work given to me**. There are several videos to watch with some questions afterward, loads of useful resources linked in the descriptions. I really suggest you read/complete the info in the links. One thing that is great about the prep work is that it gets you into the mindset of how the bootcamp will be, consistently getting fed knowledge and new information. Lastly, DO NOT underestimate the javascript part, this will take you more time than you might expect.

Before the bootcamp started I also received a few really helpful email from the campus manager, Avalon, who gave me loads of information about the city and also helpful tips about finding places to stay during the bootcamp. She was really helpful and answered all the questions I had.

During the bootcamp..

From Day one I was so happy to meet so many interesting new people with so much of their own culture to share and stories to tell and I knew that I was going to really enjoy the 9 weeks to come.

First third of the bootcamp

The first week we learnt about the Ruby basics which was really helpful because they’re the fundamentals to learn any programming language, the important part was understanding the concepts as opposed to just learning syntax of by heart. It was intense, just as I had expected! On the friday we all went out for some beers to reflect on the first week and despite being tired and our brains overflowing with not only new information but also a new way of thinking and learning, everyone was in a great mood and we had a lovely time getting to know each other.

Something that really impressed me was the learning platform that the creators of Le Wagon have developed. You can’t even imagine how well structured, engaging and useful this platform it, it really was the key to being able to learn so much in just 9 short weeks. They have video lectures, slideshows, daily challenges, flashcards, and a super impressive “search” function where you can just look up any keyword you remember from a lecture and it will give you all of the content related to that word - I really relied on that!

The second week we learnt about more advanced programming concepts and we actually created some pretty cool mini programs which was the first time I started to feel like a developer.The third week we focused on Databases which was really interesting and it was really useful to learn how to communicate with Databases. So the first three weeks really focused on understanding the back-end.

Second third of the bootcamp

The next two weeks were focused on the front-end, we learnt HTML, CSS and Javascript, and also discovered libraries such as Bootstrap. We were able to build a profile page, learn how to build web components, good UI and UX practices. It was interesting to learn just how much logic is behind design, and it was actually really different from the back-end. It was refreshing to touch a new topic but it was just as challenging.

During this middle part of the bootcamp when we were focusing on  front-end and design, we were also taught about how to pitch a product, and we had a practice night pitching all the ideas we had to our fellow wagoners. This is a really valuable skill to learn, as they really taught us the ins and outs of a good product pitch.

The next week we learnt about Rails and oh my god - the magic behind Rails was mind-blowing. Rails is fantastic and seeing everything come together was really rewarding, it was great to finally understand why we were learning everything we had been learning.

Last third of the bootcamp

Now that we had acquired all the necessary skills to build our own app it was finally time to build one! We had one week (5 days) to build a clone of AirBnb in teams of 3, 4 or 5. This was really good practice to learn how to efficiently collaborate both in person and on GitHub, we learnt how to organise ourselves as a team and also how to deal with problems that we would run into. This practice week was so exciting because we had the opportunity to present what we had created to our classmates which was a great taster for when we would be presenting the actual product we were going to develop.

The final two weeks were intense, exciting, nerve-wracking but amazing. We worked in sprints and we were able to build an MVP in just 10 days. It was incredible to be working on a project building an actualt real-life app just 6 weeks after not knowing how to write a single line of code. God that was an amazing feeling.

On the Demo day, the day we would present our products to not only our classmates but also a general public audience who had signed up to join the event. We had a great day practicing our presentations and spending time with our fellow campmates, though it was a sad day saying goodbye to all my new friends, it was also a great day as everyone had a genuine sense of achievement and we were  all really proud to present what we had been working so hard on.

So that was it, after 9 weeks, I could now call myself a Junior Full-stack developer.

About the Teachers

Le wagon Drivers are great at choosing teachers who fit very well into the culture. Oftentimes the teachers have done the bootcamp themselves and so they are really able to relate to the students and understand which sections of the course tend to be more challenging and how students react to the content in the course. All the teachers in my batch were super friendly, we got along so well and it really made it a fantastic learning environment. There wasn't a strong sense of authority and superiority coming from the teachers which made the atmosphere more comfortable knowing that the teachers are really just there to support, help and guide you through the course. They help you learn how to solve problems by yourself so that you’re ready for the real world of developing and so that you don’t become dependent on them. (although I do sometimes miss having them around)

After the bootcamp

Earlier I spoke about the incredible platform built by the Le Wagon founders, and the best part about the resources is that they’re available to you for the rest of your life. They are not only aimed at students who are currently in the bootcamp but there is a massive active community (4000+ students) contributing to the resource part to help you continue to learn after the bootcamp.

They have channels to help you find a job, work as a freelance, help you if you get stuck while coding (fixing any errors you can’t seem to fix yourself). Everyone who has been a Le Wagon student is very supportive of other wagoners, and the worldwide community is great. If you attended the bootcamp in Tokyo but you are looking for a Job in Barcelona, the wagoners from Barcelona will be sure to help you. This is something that I am infinitely grateful to be a part of.

Why should you choose Le Wagon Barcelona?

Looking for a career change? Le wagon.

Want to become a Full-stack Developer in no time? Le wagon.

Looking to build your own start-up? Le wagon.

Want to learn how to communicate effectively with the devs in your company? Le wagon.  

Looking to become a Project Manager with Coding knowledge? Le Wagon.

Want to become a freelance developer? Le wagon.

Seriously...the list is endless in the number of ways Le Wagon will benefit you. You can learn so much and in such a beautiful city with so many international people. I highly recommend Barcelona.

What did I personally learn?

Apart from the obvious coding part, Le wagon actually taught me many useful life skills. I got to meet a bunch of awesome people from many different cultures and get insights into their lives, I learnt about how to approach …, I learnt how to tackle problems along the way, I learnt about teamwork in a technical environment, and I overcame my fear of public speaking from the support of the driver and teachers, which I will always be thankful for.

*anyone who is considering Le Wagon as their bootcamp choice, I would really recommend watching the demo day videos.

** All aspiring students should really take the prep work seriously.

After being graduated from Top French Business School, I had various professional experiences where i was in contact with programmers. Fastly, I realised that I had no legitimacy to run my project correctly because I was not able to talk their language properly. My conclusion : I needed to understand them to be more efficient in my work.

I heard about Le Wagon when I was in Business School while they organised a workshop and I really loved their methodology: learn by doing. So I decided to get in touch Le Wagon Barcelona and few interviews after, I was on board.

On my first day, I have directly been amazed by the variety of profiles in my batch : engineers, medical students … I probably couldn't have the opportunity to work with so many different people in one place. And it had been a real chance because this is what makes this experience so unique - people with totally different backgrounds, different points of view, different skills - but with the same purpose: learn to code and change life.

Those differences had been the engine of our success: we were combining our soft and hard skills to reach a common goal: create a product that we were believing in.

To any applicants: I highly recommend you to follow this bootcamp. This is a really challenging moment that requires a lot a work and involvement.  And at the end you'll learn so much more than code.