Le Wagon

Before starting the 9 weeks full stack program with Le Wagon in Casablanca, I was working as an investment analyst and gained over 3 years of experience in that position.

I was at a turning point in my career where my next move would be to either stay in the industry and look for a position in a different firm or take another path for the future.

After some reflection, I decided to pursue a career in technology. My plan at the time was not set in stone but learning new skills is never a bad idea, especially if the skills in question are highly sought after by the job market.

After a quick search for the best coding bootcamps and programs online, I stumbled upon Le Wagon. All the reviews I read about the full stack program were describing the experience as life changing and were giving a detailed account of the skills that would be acquired after just 9 weeks.

After a few weeks of learning the basics of programing on my own online, I realised that having a structured program to complete within a set period of time was the way to go to further develop my skills and get closer to a level where I would be able to develop products and market my skills competitively.

Fast forwarding 3 months later, I was enrolled in Le Wagon and ready to hone my new skills.

The first weeks of the program are packed with knowledge and it is truly a full time commitment. The days would start at 9AM with a lecture about the topic tackled that day, followed by a full day of coding challenges where we use that knowledge to solve problems or create micro applications and would end with a live code run by the professor. Most days would end around 7PM.

The main language used throughout the program is Ruby, an object-oriented language that allows you to write code fast, easily understandable for people new to programming but also very powerful once used in conjunction with the framework Rails.

The basics of HTML, CSS, Javascript and SQL were also dispensed over two weeks in order to truly be able to build a web application from start to finish. The last two weeks of the bootcamp are dedicated to project week. They are the most challenging weeks and were where all the knowledge pieces acquired over the first 7 weeks fall into places.

The program kept its promise to deliver knowledge in a way that takes you beyond the beginner level in 9 weeks and allows you to feel confident to tackle larger projects in the future.

Le Wagon clearly states its intent to deliver content primarily for entrepreneurs wanting to acquire the technical skills to develop their ideas - and it does that in a stellar manner. The course content also caters to people looking to acquire technical skills to further evolve in their current position.

The social aspect of the bootcamp is also something worth pointing out. I was surprised to see so much diversity in profiles - 50% of the participants were there with the objective to rejoin their current position but needed that extra tech skill boost, while the other half were either in reconversion like me or had the intention to become freelance full stack web developer.

The bootcamp exceeded my expectations and allowed me to immediately market my newly acquired skills as a freelance web developer and I’m not excluding the option to join another bootcamp in the future to further my tech education.

As a repatriate, I was glad to join a community of people with the same goals as mine i.e. acquire skills to further develop the digitalisation of services in Morocco and globally. The environment is conducive to learning the best practice in coding as well as the startup workflow. The course was delivered in a coworking space where I had the chance to meet people with different background and trying to take their businesses and ideas to the next level, which is more than what I was expecting.

Every week, there are activities organised for the students - boxing, yoga, meditation and talks with local founders sharing their experience. Overall, it was a fulfilling experience and I recommend it to anyone coming back to Morocco after spending time abroad. It allowed me to grow my local network and boost my career plans.

My takeaways from this experience were the following:

• It doesn’t necessarily take a long time to acquire new skills, a well structured program such as the one offered by Le Wagon do just that.

• It’s never too late to pivot a career, you just need a plan and target a fast growing industry.

• Take the time to further develop your skills after the bootcamp. The bootcamp can only take you so far and delivers everything you need to get started with your new career but in order to produce a quality product, you will need to keep learning long after you finish the bootcamp, you have to think about it more like a marathon than a sprint.

• Get out of your usual environment, meet new people, share ideas with them and grow from their experiences too. This is an aspect of the bootcamp that is not easily replicable and would ultimately make the experience so special.

WHY I WANTED TO LEARN TO CODE

With degrees in Humanities, Political Science and eventually Business School, I had worked as a marketer in FMCG and then in a large tech start-up in Asia. I needed a break and also wanted to address the utter intellectual curiosity and frustration of not understanding the web-products that had been revolutionizing the world economy.

I also felt like I needed the skillset to build things myself and not rely solely on the skills the corporate world had taught me because some of them would end up being non transferable in another environment (eg. as an entrepreneur or a freelancer). That skillset also meant the possibility of freedom  to me.

WHY I CHOSE LE WAGON

Firstly, a few friends of mine had done it and ended up teaching there right after completing the program, which I found unbelievably cool.

I had read many reviews about Le Wagon that contained  lots of promises. Even though I could believe them, I couldn’t comprehend how my brain was supposed to go about it in only 8 weeks time.

How the Wagon goes about teaching you coding - their approach - is simply word-class. The learning curve is steep and the program is definitely not for the faint-hearted. But problems that seemed insuperable in the first weeks turned out to become the least of our concerns in the project weeks.

I had no idea what was under the hood of a software on day 1.. On week 6, I ended up coding an AirBnB clone from scratch and then a custom merchant app with a team of students. This is how steep your learning curve is going to be.

THANK YOU

I could not have done it without the support of my fellow batch #189 students.

Our teachers, Inou, Ellyn, Elsa, Albert and our managing staff Guido and Dirk have been amazingly caring and supportive. I am happy to count them as friends today.

LAST WORDS

This program is not for everyone. Not in the sense that you need  prior knowledge of coding or an analytical/technical/quantitative background to be successful. But it does require a high level of resilience, motivation and absolute trust in Le Wagon’s team.

Today I am joining a US tech giant in a Product Marketing role, hoping to transition to a semi-technical role in the near future. I am still coding and upgrading my skills thanks to Le Wagon’s online platform, community and a custom curriculum designed by my teachers.

Do it in Bali, seriously. That’s my last and most important advice ;)

I was thinking about the next step in my career and I became increasingly interested in software engineering. I wanted to have a strong start into coding so I opted for a boot camp experience. In particular, I choose Le Wagon because extremely product focus and its strong reputation worldwide. Also, Barcelona was very appealing as a major tech hub and design capital in Southern Europe.
I wanted to learn how to code to design and realize an MVP so I was amazed by what we were able to create in such a little time. Furthermore, I had the luck to meet several creative fellow students.
My advice to future students is to learn as much as you can and don’t be afraid to ask. Le Wagon has been a great start into coding and such a cool experience."

我在2017年的暑假加入了Le Wagon。在此之前我是成都外国语学校国际部的一名高二学生，想要在即将到来的申请季申请到理想大学的计算机科学专业。我想在进入大学前对计算机科学有一个比较初步的认识，所以从高一开始自学编程。但是自学到的知识是碎片化的，我也并不知道如何投入到实际应用当中。最后在同学和老师的推荐下进入了Le Wagon。我是Batch#88中年龄最小的学生，并且当时没有接触过很多英文的计算机术语，所以对当时的我来说Le Wagon是相当有挑战的。

经过了在Le Wagon的两个月之后，我从最开始的编程小白成为了在团队里一起开发项目的一员。Le Wagon的两个月对当时即将步入美国大学的我来说真的是受益颇多。最后两周的final project和我在Le Wagon两个月的宝贵经历都成为了我申请大学的resume和essay中画龙点睛的一笔。现在我就读于美国伍斯特理工学院的计算机科学专业。在Le Wagon的学习中我不仅积累到了很多的编程经验，也从中学到了如何有效率的进行peer coding和团队合作，这些对我在美国大学的学习确实有很大帮助，让我受益匪浅。

(Bali, batch #163)

Before attending the bootcamp I was just finishing my bachelor’s in law (quite a different field than coding I admit but it was not a major issue). My main motivation for attending Le Wagon was getting the skills to create my own products and become independent in my job. Turns out it’s exactly what the program brought me.

I got on board the Le Wagon adventure with a friend who told me about it. At first, I was sceptical about how much I could achieve in only 2 months of classes so I started to do my own research and realized it was worth it to accept the challenge.

Therefore, I came to Bali to be challenged and I was not disappointed. The program is really intense and it requires a lot of physical and mental dedication. It is made for students to give their best and get the most out of the 2-months program. Also, it adapts to the level of students, I think it would be hard for anyone to finish every exercise every day. But that you can find in many bootcamps I assume and I want to explain you why I think Le Wagon is unique among other bootcamps.

I only realized how exceptional this program is when I got there and here are my reasons.

First, on the very first day we had the introductions with the team members and our classmates and I understood that this bootcamp was serious. All of the teachers but one were previous students of Le Wagon who had taken the bootcamp in the past but also worked in the tech industry. It didn’t take me long to realize that they were real experts in what they were doing and that they were really enthusiastic about taking us to the same level.

Second, I was worried I would not have enough previous experience to follow everything that was going on everyday but I was willing to do as much as possible and give my best every day. To be honest, the environment and people around me really helped me to stay on track as it is sometimes frustrating not to achieve as much as you think you should. It takes some humility to accept that but thankfully Le Wagon doesn’t only teach about coding.

It also teaches you to keep a positive mindset and help you improve your social skills. Especially in Bali because we are all immerged in the same conditions in a wonderful location with a lot of activities to enjoy and far from our daily routine. I think this situation really brought us together and made this experience better in every aspect.

Le Wagon also teaches you the coding methodology. By giving you instant feedback, with the rake, a test written for each exercise which is guiding you to the solution. Also by pushing students to solve an issue themselves like an experienced coder would do - by googling it - instead of giving the answer straight away. Of course, they do help you if you have any problem but they really help students become autonomous learners and programmers.

Also, something I loved was that the team spent time with us outside the classroom to share moments together, and we made great memories! I never felt like I was lonely because everything was made for the group to really get together.

I struggled a good amount during those 2 months but it was one of the best experiences in my life where I met great people and surpassed myself. In the end, we all had great products ready for demo day and celebrated it properly.

Finally, I’ll talk a bit about my post batch experience. I started a master’s in law a few weeks after I finished the program and quitted one month after to dedicate myself to coding 100% of my time. I think it’s really important to keep coding right after you finish the bootcamp to keep building on the fresh skills that you have just learnt. Now I feel like I can learn anything about coding by myself because all the resources I need are out there.

I am now building a web agency with 2 other friends while trying to launch my own product at the same time.

All these reasons make the Le Wagon bootcamp in Bali exceptional to me. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a life changing experience and is ready to apply this change to their life right after the bootcamp.

Valentin Raille (Bali, batch #163)

I initially graduated in Criminal Justice, but after university, I didn't really have a clear route I wanted to take in my career, and did a few different jobs without feeling satisfied. 

Then, a couple years ago, I tried some free coding sites online, and realized that I wanted to pursue a technical career.  Learning on my own for a year only got me so far, so I decided to research coding bootcamps.  
Besides the passion for coding, I'm also an experienced diver, and I was curious if there were any coding bootcamps in Thailand or Bali.  
I googled "coding bootcamp Bali", and Le Wagon popped up.  
I researched them online and knew right then that I was going to attend their bootcamp.  

Learning to code in a place as fantastic as Bali is a win/win.  If i'm going to look at a computer all day, I wanted to balance it out with an awesome ocean sunset right outside our classroom window.
The first few weeks of the bootcamp are tough, as you start to grasp programming basics, concepts, and logic, but if you stay focused and follow the teacher's suggestions, very soon you really start to understand how to apply all the tools Le Wagon has given you. 

The teacher's support during the whole bootcamp is incredible. Their educational skills and the in-depth knowledge of the tech allows them to be really explain what you're learning, and their passion and the attention for the students are truly remarkable. When you have any doubt or need clarifications, you always receive an accurate explanation and the one-to-one keeps going until everything is finally clear.
Also, the program is outstanding. I love that each week's topic builds onto the following week's topic, so you're gradually building the tools and knowledge you need to build full web apps. 

With only six weeks of coding experience, the class built a lot of awesome projects. And then the real fun begins: building your final project. Our project uses a GitHub API to nicely display your GitHub projects, along with the language used to create them (www.buidl.cc), graphs and other features that I would never have thought I'd be able to implement after such a short time.  

My Le Wagon knowledge and resume has helped me greatly.  After just two weeks from the end of the bootcamp I am now already interviewing for a few companies (including a fortune 500 company who specialises in consulting, cybersecurity, and other services for the US Government), without any previous technical experience. 
Aside from the code, the friends and bonds you make with classmates are for a lifetime, and Bali is really the perfect place to mix learning and social life.  I miss it already.  It was the greatest experience of my life, and I would do it all over again today. I am very happy that I decided to attend Le Wagon! Change your life, learn to code!

I had been working as an English teacher in Thailand and China before I decided that it was time to move to a more future-proofed and lucrative career. Coding had always been of interest to me because I’m both creative and I enjoy problem solving. Bootcamps are the fastest way for someone inexperienced to become an employed developer, and I was attracted to Le Wagon above all others based on their track record of being able to train people with immediately serviceable and employer-sought skills in just nine weeks.

I visited the Le Wagon London campus to speak with current students and teachers and to better understand the Le Wagon culture, and although instantly impressed, I opted to study in the sunshine and surf of Bali.

The setting couldn’t have been more perfect, and it was a wonderful learning experience as the course teaches you things at a pace that initially seems too fast to handle, but the concepts that you learn are reinforced again and again and again throughout the bootcamp, and you realise come the start of the Airbnb week and final projects that… you know how to build web applications.

The teachers are friendly, knowledgeable, and always available to help you on the bootcamp, and the teaching material is well structured to continually build on your previous knowledge.

Since finishing the bootcamp, I’ve proven that I took away the proficiency and the skills to build web apps away from the assistance of teachers and have built a portfolio that I’m now using to leverage my way into the career that I want. Le Wagon is supporting me in this process, and the alumni community, based all around the globe, is there at a moment’s notice for any questions I have.

The experience of Le Wagon was overwhelmingly positive, and as well as new skills, lifelong friendships were forged during the bootcamp itself. I don’t think I was alone in my batch in graduating with a brothers-in-arms mentality of knowing that by doing Le Wagon, we’d been a part of something special. A learning experience that was going to take us forwards into the rest of our lives.

I’ve been living and working in China for over 11 years before starting the Le Wagon boot camp. The first few years I was working with an ecommerce startup in Digital Marketing before going out on my own starting my own agency. I’ve worked closely with developers the entire time I’ve been in China and I took a few online development courses which simply didn’t work.

I joined Le Wagon to get to hands on approach to coding so I could understand how to better manage a team of developers, as well as to be able to create and code my own crazy product ideas I’ve had over the years. After completing the boot camp, I can see and feel that there has been an immediate impact on my business and I’ve already started coding one of those product ideas that I have been sitting on for years.

This boot camp is perfect for those people who are looking for a change, or like me, want to expand their knowledge and actually build something meaningful. So get ready for fast paced, impactful, and more importantly exciting 9 weeks!

When I started Le Wagon in Milan, I could have never imagined that in just 9 weeks, I could learn all the things needed to become a developer.
The course was really challenging but in a very friendly environment. The structure of the course is tested and thought in a specific way to teach the students how to think, sketch and develop a working digital product.
The best thing about the course is that after just 3 weeks after the end of Le Wagon I've started to work as a ruby on rails junior developer!!!

Did you ever wonder what coding would be like? Did you ever have that one idea you wanted to build, but couldn’t? Did you ever get frustrated, because you noticed you lacked the skills to bring your idea from ideation to realization? Well hang on, because I did. Three weeks ago, I finished Le Wagon bootcamp batch #189 in Bali. I can honestly state that I’ve never learned so much in only 2 months. 

Let me first tell you about my motivation to learn coding and join Le Wagon.  I studied Business Engineering at the KULeuven and finance at ESADE. During my studies I co-founded Quivr, a mobile application which allowed students to consult class schedules, library occupancies, student papers and student restaurant menus. Having a business background, I didn’t know how to code at the time.  I was mostly occupied with the finance, marketing and sales of Quivr. Since our core product was a mobile application, strategic meetings would often steer towards technical topics. At times, it would frustrate me that I couldn’t get involved as much as I wanted in discussions about what feature to code next or when to launch the next business module.

I always knew I wanted to build a startup, and preferably in technology. I started my career working at an international strategic consulting firm. I figured that working as a strategic consultant would give me the analytical, social and entrepreneurial skills necessary to start my own company. I certainly believe it did, but only to some extent. Partly due to my experience at Quivr, I increasingly felt that being able to code was a prerequisite, or at least an accelerator, in building a tech startup. Coding enables you to build your first idea yourself. Even if your idea is in a premature stage, you’re not dependent on developers to get it out there. As a result I quit my job and joined Le Wagon. It was one of the best decisions in my life, and here is why.

Le Wagon teaches you exactly what you need as a beginner

I attempted coding before, but never really got far. Frankly, I didn’t know where to start. Since there are so many coding languages and methods, I felt increasingly lost and confused about what to learn first and why. As Le Wagon approaches its 200th batch, the organization knows exactly what their students are struggling with and what they should learn first. The bootcamp builds up to fullstack coding on Ruby on Rails. It’s a powerful framework that is very accessible for beginners without any prior coding skills.

Le Wagon teachers are committed and want you to succeed

Before lectures, Le Wagon puts its highest emphasis on completing exercises and actual coding. During 80% of the day, students solve problems and code in pairs. Needless to say, without any coding background, students would often get stuck. At all times, teachers and teaching assistents  would be there to help you out along the way. They know the struggles of a coder and are incredibly willing to help you overcome them. Throughout the bootcamp, I was amazed by their drive and willigness to help.

Le Wagon teaches you to build a complete application

During six weeks, Le Wagon teaches you all the programming languages, principles, and methods needed to build your own application. But the most important and challenging step is to leverage these skills in actually building your application. The last two weeks are dedicated to building your final project in a team. It teaches you to work in a team and take into account every aspect of building a complete application. Together with two other students, we built keetchen.co, a student delivery services with integrated life GPS and QR code scanning. It was definitely the most challenging, but fun part of the course.

Le Wagon gives you the tools to keep learning by yourself

The learning traject of a coder is all about running into problems, and subsequently solving them. At times this can be frustrating, but it’s part of the learning process. Teachers and teaching assistents at Le Wagon are there to help you out with the struggles of coding, but most importantly, they are there to show you how to solve it yourself. They don’t just give you the solution, but show you the way how to get there. Moreover, Le Wagon offers a great learning platform, Kitt, on which you can find the most relevant entry level coding principles. After Le Wagon, I felt encouraged to keep learning. Currently, I’m learning Javascript and React by myself.

Le Wagon offers you a network and a whole lot of fun

There are 30 different locations around the world where you could take the bootcamp of Le Wagon. I did Le Wagon in Bali. People would often ask me why. I mean, why not? Bali is a great location. You can surf in Bali, take Yoga classes or travel around the island. You get to know your fellow students while coding and having fun.  I’m sure the other Le Wagon locations can offer a similar experience. It provides for a great network later in life. Moreover, when joining Le Wagon you are immediately added to the official alumni slack channel, giving you access to fellow Le Wagon coders, founders, employees, teachers, etc. The community provides great help for every coding and entrepreneurship related question.

In other words, I can highly recommend Le Wagon as your first experience into coding. It will definitely give you everything you need to keep coding. It’s a great way to jumpstart your career as a developer or an entrepreneur. Consider it as an investment

I just graduated from a Business School, and I am specialized in marketing digital & web strategy. I quickly realized that I wanted to know how to code, to better understand the technical part and how developer works.
I’m crazy about making things and having crazy ideas. Passionate about startups and innovation and I’m constantly looking for new things to do, new challenges to deal with. So it was pretty obvious for me to learn how to code.

I’ve met a lot of alumnis of Le Wagon who were really satisfied about the bootcamp, so I decided to join Le Wagon Bordeaux on October 2018. (https://www.lewagon.com/bordeaux)

It was one of my best experience. Learning all the web stack and the coding basics in only 9 weeks or 360 hours of code is just incredible and really challenging.  At the very beginning it can be really intense, you are learning Ruby and coding basics but also the vocabulary, the methodology, the mindset. After a few days you feel more confident, you are understanding new concept and languages quickly (Software Engineering, Object-Oriented programming, Database & SQL, Front-end, UI, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Rails… ).

The most incredible was the team of Le Wagon Bordeaux, the motion and the atmosphere. All the teachers and the team were really cool, helpful and know how to explain in a simple and effective way. They always have a solution and take time to explain misunderstood concepts or new concepts you are interested in. All the alumnis of the batch 191 of Bordeaux were really welded together so we had an amazing experience all together. And the pedagogy is perfect to learn quickly with short lessons and a lot of practice.

The final project is the best way to understand and see all the progress made in 9 weeks. With your team you are delivering a complete project / product in only 2 weeks. It was my favorite moment of the bootcamp, being able to code something you imagined from scratch is really rewarding.

I definitely and highly recommend Le Wagon Bordeaux without any hesitation.

After a bachelor’s in economics and more than two years in business school, I felt like taking a different route. A faster one, that would accelerate my career. It’s been a long time since I wanted to learn to code and with my plan to run my own business, I believe knowing how to code is a key skill to have.
As I didn’t have any coding background, I knew, to make this work I would have to be 100% focused. Besides being the most inspiring destination, once I was part of it, I found that Bali is made to live the Le Wagon experience. Super intense learning during the day and holiday feeling before and after class. With everything at your fingertips, healthy food, nature, beach, sports, bars, restaurants, party, yoga, spa… 
For me bootcamp-styled programs are perfect, fast-paced and tough, but at the same time, short enough to stay focused and pull through. And in the case of Le Wagon, after only 2 months you can get web developer jobs, create real web apps or, in my case, start a freelance career. I really think that’s crazy compared to the slow motion teaching I was used to from university and business school. 
Even so I don’t have the broad knowledge of a senior developer to fully judge this but also the curriculum of Le Wagon seems cutting edge to me. I feel like we learned exactly what’s needed to jump right into action after the bootcamp. No detours or unnecessary theory, it was always straight to the point. Introduction of a new topic during a morning lecture and then hands-on coding for the rest of the day. I only learn when I am coding it myself and can ask questions when I am stuck. 
Which leads me to the teachers and TAs. Thank you so much for your dedication and help. No question it too much even if I asked the same one several times and they really care that you are understanding everything. Guido, special thanks to you for staying late with me on several occasions to clarify some concepts. And thanks to the Bali team for making everything so smooth and even organizing extra activities on the weekends.
I got to attend the bootcamp with one of my best friends which makes is extra special, but we had such a great group of people in general. All students in Bali come from all over the world making it a very interesting mix of cultures to learn from. And super fun to hang out with a big group of like-mined people after class and the weekends. 
To sum it up, the course has its price and is very intense but worth every penny, the Balinese environment is exactly what you need as a balance to long days of coding, and I am writing this review 4 months after graduating still in love with the experience and a couple of freelance projects under my belt. Enjoy, it’s going to be amazing!