Redwood Code Academy

The best advice I can give regarding making a decision about attending a bootcamp at all, or if this is the bootcamp for you: go to the website to get in touch with and meet Harrison, the lead instructor & founder to discuss what you are looking for, and to get a feel for his personality and experience.

Harrison is endlessly knowledgeable in a ton of technologies, computer science theory, programming concepts, and best-practices. His real-world experience really shows in our lessons, the curriculum, career prep, and his industry connections. 

The assistant instructor, Billy, graduated from a bootcamp himself (General Assembly, LA). His bootcamp experience is incredible for us students, since he knows exactly what we are going through and how to supplement lessons when the class is struggling with a particular topic.

It will not be easy, but nothing worth doing is. Harrison will have prep work for you that is very helpful and much needed in preparation of the 12 week slam. Be prepared to do up to 70 hour weeks. I perosnally had around 65 hour weeks throught the bootcamp. It's as Harrison said to us many times, the bootcamp is like waking up and drinking from a firehose full of knowledge. There were a few times near the end of the 12 weeks in which I was told we would be going over a langue or two but never did end up getting the lecture or a one-on-one lesson. 

I was a unique student in the cohort as my employeer had sponsored me to go to the camp. I had moved from several states away to attend a .NET camp. There are very few camps out there like this one and the market for .NET is ever growing. However Harrison made sure to make a point of whiteboarding and preparing us for the job interview and application process. 

If you're considering joining a bootcamp, I highly recommend Redwood Code Academy.

The amount of information and knowledge presented throughout the course is amazing. Post graduation and I'm still learning from it all. Sure, It was tough at times, but that's because I learned more in the three months attending than my previous two years of self teaching. And not only do you learn full stack development, but you also learn the stages of developemnt and the strategies used to ensure success. You'll learn how to assess a given project, choose a combination of technologies to build with, and move forward with the knowledge of how they connect to make the whole. There is a good amount of white boarding and both of the Instructors have the knowledge, patience, and tools to help you succeed in this journey.

I attended Redwood Code Academy and received the knowledge needed to be successful as a developer. The instructors at Redwood Code Academy bring all to their knowledge to table. I enrolled having no exeperince at all in coding. Now that I've graduated knowing the lastest skills in development. I'm happy and confident moving forward. It was a struggle for me but the assistance and motovation I received got me through, I couldn't be more exicted and thankful about the opportunities ahead..

The best advice I can give regarding making a decision about attending a bootcamp at all, or if this is the bootcamp for you: go to the website to get in touch with and meet Harrison, the lead instructor & founder to discuss what you are looking for, and to get a feel for his personality and experience.

Harrison is endlessly knowledgeable in a ton of technologies, computer science theory, programming concepts, and best-practices. His real-world experience really shows in our lessons, the curriculum, career prep, and his industry connections. 

The assistant instructor, Billy, graduated from a bootcamp himself (General Assembly, LA). His bootcamp experience is incredible for us students, since he knows exactly what we are going through and how to supplement lessons when the class is struggling with a particular topic.

Having .NET in the curriculum and taught by someone with Harrison's experience is an amazing opportunity as well, since so few bootcamps teach .NET and because of .NET vs Ruby job openings in this area currently.

It will not be easy, but nothing worth doing is. I recommend doing some prep work on sites like Team Treehouse, but after a certain point during self-study, progress becomes too slow and that is when something more intensive and immersive is needed to drastically speed things up.

I'm not far into the job assistance phase yet, but we've already been introduced to top specialized recruiters in the area and have had great one-on-one meetings with the instructors, as well as white-boarding experience and interview advice (Harrison was director of ~100 developers and has a lot of experience being the interviewer).

I took a course last year that taught the basics of front end development and I was able to get a job, but when I was working I realized that I needed more training, then I started looking for intensive courses (bootcamps) that will give me the skills to be a full stack developer, I was particularly interested in .Net and C# and that is how I found Redwood. Being now in my 4th week of the course I am glad I found this school, Harrison the instructor is an expert developer and champion of a few hackathons, he challenges us every day and we are acquiring the skills to perform well in a real job. Also the environment is good, Billy the other instructor is always there to help.  I will update this at the end of the course, but if you are looking to be full stack developer with .Net in the backend you definitely should consider redwood. 

**NOTE: I have updated this 5 months after graduation, original review below this**

So I am 5 months out of graduation. I have a job that pays roughly 50% more than before. 

Was Redwood worth it? YES! For me, it was the only way for me to learn. I struggled being able to sit at home and teach myself. 

Redwood does a good job at preparing you for the real world. You learn full-stack development, and have resources to help you out. The people you meet there are all amazing. 

Should you take a course just to make more money? No. If you want to excel at Redwood and in the future, you need to make sure becoming a developer is what you want to do. 

Post Graduation was a bit tough. Without prior dev work experience, it's not super easy to get a job even though there are tons of them. You need to work harder than you worked during the course to find a job. Network, apply to 100 jobs per wek, etc... It takes time. Without Redwood's training I would have never had the job I have today.

Some tips that I wish I followed:

• Code in your free time. The 3 projects you make should take up all your time. I spent 2-4 hours after class each night working on my project, and all my weekends. When not in a "project week" I suggest you either continue to learn on your own, learn something else, or start working on a side project. The more code you can have on your github, the easier it could be to get a job.
• Network, Network, Network. Start going to meetups during after classes. Majority of open positions are filled by someones acquaintance. 
• Don't get down if no one respond to your job app. I got a bit depressed after 2 months of searching. Harrison at Redwood helped me out of it, and once I gave it 100% I was hired 2 weeks after that. Job searching should become your full-time job post-graduation. Spend 6-8 hours a day doing it. Oh, and did I mention you should be networking and going to meetups?

Redwood has the tools to make you a great developer, but you need to put in an effort to use the resources they offer. Slacking off, not trying, etc...will get you no where. You're paying a decent chunk of cash to attend and have them teach you, get all you can out of it. Don't squander it and expect them to snap their thumbs and make you a developer if you don't try.

This course will kick your butt. Let your family/significant other know that once this starts you need to dedicate your time outside class to learning/projects. 

I'm extremely grateful for Harrison and Billy at Redwood. I would recommend the course to anyone who was interested in becoming a developer.

You can't go wrong with Redwood as long as you put in an effort - during the course and after graduating.

**ORIGINAL REVIEW**

Where to start? Over the last few years I've attempted to self-teach myself using Code Academy, Free Code Camp, The Odin Project and a couple of books. Most of them went the same way. Pickup the fundamentals, then at a certain point I hit a wall and don't know where to go. New concepts become to difficult to learn, and I can't figure out how to use what I learned in a real life situation.

I decided that enough was enough and enrolled at Redwood Code Academy. I was scared to apply to a first cohort, but after meeting Harrison I was sold. 

Harrison (the owner and lead-instructor) knows his stuff, and is also very personable. Another reason I chose Redwood was that they teach .NET and C#. Not many bootcamps do this. Do a job search, do it right now. Search for "web developer." There should be a ton of .NET jobs at large companies. When I searched, I saw a significant amount of more jobs for .NET than ruby (what other bootcamps teach) or Node.

I've learned more in 2 weeks than all my self-learning combined and am actually understanding how to use this in real-life situations.

Is it frustrating at times? You betcha. But I knew this going into it. I would hit walls like I did when self-learning. The difference here is that Harrison and the TA (Billy) are extremely knowledgeable and I wouldn't be able to get past these hurdles without them there to explain things to me in more detail.

The culture is also a plus. Coming from a startup, this feels like home. It's that "work hard, play hard" culture, and Harrison does a great job at fostering that culture. Pepsi's stocked in the fridge (sorry all you Coca-Cola fans :P ), ping pong table that gets used every break, etc...

I 100% believe that after the 12 weeks I'll be able to find a job as a developer, and believe this is the best thing that's happened to me. In fact, this weekend I worked on some classwork. The big difference is that this weekend I couldn't wait to do some work. Before this weekend, I would have to force myself to work on code on weekends and considered it work - now I'm enjoying it.

Redwood Code Academy has been the gateway to infinite possibilities for me in the field of software development. I had no prior experience in anything having to do with computers. The course is intense, but that is because it is meant for people like me. Harrison, the instructor and founder of the academy, does an excellent job of making sure his student get a full-scope view of how these full stack programs work and are related to each other. The environment he has built at Redwood is creatively stimulating and comfortable. You can really get things done and be productive there. It is safe to say that being a part of this cohort was one of the best decisions I ever made. Enrolling in the intensive at Redwood gives you the tools to succeed in any software development endeavor you set your mind to.