The Firehose Project

I'm only on the third week with The Firehose Project bootcamp  and so far, I love it.  I've had a few hiccups along the way because I'm completely new to coding and I've made A LOT of typing errors, not knowing excactly what each character represented or meant in the programing language.  However, the staff, mentors, and fellow students were with me the entire time helping me to figure out what I did wrong and kept encouraging me to push forward and grow.  Everyone I've been in contact with at that bootcamp was so helpful and supportive.

Changing careers or picking up new skills? The firehose project takes self learning to a whole new level, not only will they teach you how to code from scratch they will also help you understand it. The support that you'll receive is same day or someone will respond to your question within 24-hours. Weekly office hour sessions where you can ask any question you may have and one of the founders will explain it in detail until you understand. Weekly 1 hour mentor session, which you can go over any content you would like or have the mentor assign you a new task to complete to help with your lessons. The lessons you read for the classes are simple to follow, but the challenges and projects that needed to be completed require more in depth thinking. Sometimes the challenges are difficult but with the support in this bootcamp, it is simple to understand. 

I'm taking this bootcamp because I'm switching careers and before I signed up to the firehose project, I have done some research into different bootcamps. This one has many others beat because the cost is really low and affordable, they offer career support, the forums are great and people will help out, and if that still doesn't convince you, I can guarantee that if you have any other questions that a student advisor can't answer for you the co-founder Ken will reach out to you and answer any other questions you may have. He reached out to me and answered my questions with no hesistation, which showed me that he genuinely cared about what problems I could think of that the student advisor wasn't able to. It felt like I wasn't a dollar value to him but more of someone he wants to teach what he works on. 

I was a stay at home mom with a love of learning. I had my degree in applied math but never pursued a career due to family obligations. However, after choosing to homeschool my kids, I decided to start learning right alongside them. I wanted to get into something that would continually challenge me and then stumbled into coding. I did some independent learning using online tutorials, Codecademy, and The Odin Project. After working through those and still desiring a deeper understanding and a little more guidance, I signed up for a beginners course in web development. I came out of that with being able to implement the basics and even more of a curiosity for the workings of it all. So I began searching for a more in depth training option. I read through reviews on CourseReport and similar sites. I narrowed it down to two options - The Viking Code School and the Firehose Project.  After emailing back and forth with Marco from the FirehoseProject and getting my questions answered very honestly by him, I chose to go with them for two main reasons. First, Marco was honest about where I could/would be at the end of the apprenticeship. He admitted that although they have a solid program, it was up to me how much or little I got out of the program. Secondly, the setup of the program allowed me to continue to work from home, homeschool my kids, and dedicate as much time as I could to coding. 
 

As I read through the other reviews, many of the others hit on some key takeaways from the Firehose Project. Algorithms, practice coding and pushing live Ruby/Rails apps, mentor/pair programming, community...these are all some very important aspects of what Firehose is all about. However, the main takeaway for me was how to apply learning to any programming language that I chose. Yes, I went in wanting to learn Ruby/Rails and become a Rails developer. However, by the time I finished, I felt capable of learning any language put in front of me. I was eager to jump into Python, being an applied math major that felt like the next step. So I decided to jump in and learn other languages and the more in depth concepts of Ruby/Rails.  Where I would have felt intimidated in another language, I now knew how to learn, how to work through the difficult ideas, and where to look for help when I just couldn't figure it out. 
 

So after all that hard work and countless pre 5am coding sessions, just to get coding time without kids tugging at me, where exactly am I? Well, I finished up my apprenticeship the end of August. I had numerous rejection letters, numerous single interviews, and an interview process that lasted several weeks with my "dream" company that ended in a rejection. Then I went into my last interview interviewing for a Rails developer position and was asked if I'd be willing to train in iOS development. Since that was what I took away from the Firehose project, the ability to learn and be confident in my abilities, of course I was willing. So they assigned me a week long challenge to develop an iOS app as they specified. It was difficult but I got through it and I made it fully functional as they had requested. I submitted it on a Thursday and by the following Tuesday I had an offer! It was really an amazing experience and I am extremely excited to be starting this new journey!
 

I highly recommend the Firehose Project. They have great mentors, a great community, a great curriculum... but most of all, they have a way of teaching/mentoring that just throws you in the thick of it all. They force you to take responsibility for your own learning and how far you can take the program. They are there to help you through it all BUT you have to push yourself to the limits! It really is a great program that took one who was an extreme introvert that lacked confidence and helped me learn to be a capable, outgoing developer!

I chose The Firehose Project over the others for a multitude of reasons.   I would have to say, however, that I was most impressed by three aspects.  

First, the dedication and involvement of the founders is stellar.  Marco and Ken are not 'take the money and run' kind of business people.  They have a real passion for coding and helping others to learn their craft. I had email exchanges with both throughout my time in the program and theiy attended every weekly office hours I was part of the program, even over the holiday period.  

Second, the program included not only basic html/css/ruby syntax to create a series of web apps but also added in the principles of algorithms, getting students to deeply understand how code works.  

Third, the formation of a pseudo-startup as the last stage to create a sophisticated chess app, including all the rules etc. teaches the principles of agile work and SCRUM methods.  This is a risk though, you get out what you put in and if the other members of the team aren't 100% on board you can end up disappointed with the outcome.  However, the experience with working as a remote developer did prepare me for what was to come. 

Overall, I recommend The Firehose Project fully.  They gave me the advice, the material, the tools and the attitude that I needed to build the foundation of my career change over the few months I was enrolled.  To this day, I still regularly visit the site to get refreshers on how to do things properly and chat with other alumni and students about issues that arise.  While they won't guarantee you a job at the end, anyone who does is selling you a pipe dream.  Only you can decide how much effort you will put in and what you will take away when you're done. They will, however, do everything they can to make your time in the program a success. 

★★★★★

For those who are financially or logistically unable to attend a full-time in-classroom or virtual classroom program but still want to get as close to the level of rigor and quality of those programs, this is a great alternative. I did an additional 2 month pilot course after finishing the regular curriculum (now part of the official curriculum), testing out some new front-end, JavaScript-centric material they were going to introduce. Within 3 months of completing those courses, I recieved multiple offers and I landed a great, challenging software engineering job that pays well.

Who will have a 5 star experience with this program?

• People who can just stick to doing what Ken and Marco recommend without trying to "improve" the program. After being employed for more than 6 months, you will find that you litterally knew nothing about how to best prepare for a career in software engineering when you were considering a bootcamp or other educational routes. Trust the people who do. Their living depends on it. They know more than you do. Spend your time following their advice and curriculum and resting. Don't waste time searching for tweaks, optimizations, or worrying about "what-ifs" and other paths once you have made your choice. It is an exercise in futility and will only waste your time and emotional energy (I know from painful experience haha).
• People who are certain they want to become a professional web developers or launch a web-based entrepreneurial project.
• People who have the courage to ask questions, even when it makes them feel like they might "look stupid" or make someone uncomfortable.
• People who are self-motivated. You are not in a classroom, so there is no one who can see you 8-14 hours per day and tell you to pick it up or to notice that you are frustrated or upset. You need to be able to keep yourself on schedule and seek out help, guidance, and intellectual or emotional encouragement when you need it.
• People who can handle dealing with problems they don't know the answer to. If you have never been humbled by software engineering, you haven't been working on tough problems. Everyone gets in deep water at some point. You have to be able to learn how to break problems down, do research, and ask for help when needed without letting your ego get in the way.
• People who are willing to help out fellow students, contribute to the community, and be kind. If you get easily frustrated with people who are less knowledgable or less intelligent than you are, you won't have a very pleasant experiencing while pair-programming or working on group projects.

What are the weaknesses of the program?

• This is not a classroom or virtual classroom program - This should be obvious but it is still worth mentioning. If you can't get motivated to code without having a team right there with you or watching you, you won't be able to work in any program with this format. That doesn't make you a bad person, it just means a classroom or virtual classroom program is a better choice for you.
• Remote admissions and admissions standards - This is not a program designed to exclusively cater to the wealthy and unencumbered by life responsibilities or to people already skilled in web development or a related field. The admissions standards are based around passion, having a good attitude, and showing that you can learn some basic HTML, CSS, design, Ruby, and how to deploy a website. By definition, the audience will be broader and people who are not fully committed to the program could certainly fake their way in. Every bootcamp has to make a trade off of some sort on admissions and there is really no perfect solution.
• Time coordination - Even though this is a convenient, online program, I would highly recommended you insure that you can make the Office Hours, which were held on Wednesdays at 6PM EST, US while I was attending the program in 2016. If you are interested in joining an agile group project team, I would also recommend you make yourself as available as possible during evenings EST US time on weekdays and daytime on weekends. Since admissions is rolling, if you apply to and are accepted to join the agile group project, you may have to start 1-2 weeks before or after your anticipated start time. You will still get all the mentor sessions but it may cause inconvenience in your schedule.
• You have to be self motivated - I know I've mentioned this, but unless you ask questions, tell people when are you feeling a lack of confidence, or when something isn't working out, they will never know. If something isn't working out with a mentor or you have been stuck on a tough coding challenge for a long time and grinding, you have to speak up. I would also highly recommend completing at least one additional solo project during the course to test yourself and have more to show prospective employers than just your capstone project.
• There is a lot of material to cover to become a proficient web developer - I studied full-time and logged just shy of 800 hours during the program without running out of material. There are definitely a lot of students who work during the program and have success. I would just caution you to be really certain you will spend a minimum of 25 hours per week on the program unless you already have an education or experience in a related field. NOTE: The program length has been updated and this may no longer be applicable.
• Don't expect to be a software engineering ninja by the end of the program - This should go without saying for any web development bootcamp. A web development bootcamp can take someone who is truly brilliant or has prior, related training to the level of mid-level developer at best. Most people will graduate any web development bootcamp at the level of a junior developer. After the program, you will have to seek out information outside of the curriculum to keep growing and round out your weaknesses (they will be happy to tell you where to look and continue answering questions). People who worked throughout the program and only spent 15 hours per week may need an additional month or two of self-study to get there. You will get out of this program what you put in. Have honest expectations and consider a different field if you are only in it for the money. There are plenty of easier and smarter ways to get rich than solving tough engineering problems all day.
• No Hiring Network, etc. - I know some bootcamps have hiring networks of recruiters, demo days, etc. This one does not.

What comes with the program and what are it's strengths?

• 1 hour long mentor session per week with a personal mentor and 1 hour (often longer) group mentor session per week with the founders, that they call Office Hours.
• An additional mentor session per week during the apprenticeship portion of the program from weeks 8 to completion. During this period you will either join an agile group project, join an open-source group project, or do an entrepreneurial solo project.
• Computer Science Basics - You will work on well-known algorithms and data structures, lots of tough coding challenges, and learn core concepts like OOP, how the internet works, and web application designs concepts.
• Project-based Learning - You will work through tutorials and documentation to build web applications with less and less information laid out as you go through the program. You will also have quizzes on basic, practical web application tasks in which you will build small applications or pieces of them.
• Community - You have a forum for questions, a Slack channel full of awesome students, alumni, mentors, and staff who want to get to know you and help you, and Google+ community. I never had to wait long for help. I would usually ask a question when I was about to take a break to make a cup of coffee. While there is no officially guaranteed answer time for questions, I don't ever recall not at least receiving a response by the time I returned to my computer.
• Basic Job Prep - Resume review, an overview and challenge problems for technical interviews, a number of articles on how to approach job search, how to speak to humans, etc.
• Lifetime access to the website content, Slack channel, and Google+ community.
• Responsive staff that acts on feedback. During the time I was in the program there was a pair-programming room added to the Slack channel, and multiple updates to the curriculum based on student feedback.
• Learn the Ruby on Rails stack, Git, best practices like TDD, web development tools, etc.
• Ken Mazaika is a beast. He answers about 8 bajillion questions per day, must work over 80 hours per week, is nice to people, and seems to really enjoy it.

The firehose project is a very well organized, well structured, and rewarding learning experience. The bootcamp includes self paced tutorials, weekly office hours (video chatroom), mentorship sessions, and 24-7 forum where to ask questions. In addition there are coding challenges to solve and a group project towards the end of the project. The team at the Firehose Project includes very talented developers all of whom also serve as mentors to students. For me, the mentorship sessions were the highlight of the week. I also really enjoyed the atmosphere during the office hours every week, it was always very laid back yet productive. Ultimately, the office hours and mentorship sessions always left me uplifted and ready to tackle whatever challenge came next. To anyone looking to learn to code and build web applications, I highly recommend The Firehose Project.

First, Some Background

I graduated from college about a year and a half ago with a BS in Civil Engineering. I started to work in construction engineering after graduation with the intention of eventually becoming a design engineer. Over the course of my short-lived career, I realized it wasn’t the field for me, and I began exploring coding. I have some previous coding experience – did some Java programming in high school, dabbled in Python, etc. – but by no means did I have a CS background. Anyways, I began taking some free courses online to brush up on my coding skills – Codecademy, random blogs, etc. The great thing about these resources is they give you a foundation of how to write code, but if you’re like me, the real problem is figuring out how to put it all together and actually use your coding knowledge to MAKE something.
 
That’s where Firehose came in. After some extensive research, I gave their two-week free trial a shot. I loved the structure and tutorials, and based on some previous reviews and my experience so far, I decided to go with them.
 
The Coursework

I went through most of the course on nights and weekends, while still working my job. It’s a flexible course structure, but the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it. I’d say plan on spending at least 15 hours a week if you’re still working your day job. The course was so enjoyable for me it didn’t really feel like extra work anyways!
 
Over the course of 15 weeks (including the free 2 week ramp up period), you’ll build 3 Rails projects – a simple quote generator that will familiarize yourself with Rails (this one will be quick), a Yelp clone, and a site similar to Udemy – an online video teaching platform that will build on your experience from the last app and add a few more cool new things.
 
In addition to this, you’ll go through common coding algorithms that are likely to show up in interviews, learn about object-oriented programming, the importance of Test Driven Development (TDD) and much more. You’ll also video conference with a mentor once a week for one hour, and they will go over whatever you want. Do take advantage of this. My mentor, Phil, was great at answering any questions I had, working through coding challenges with me, and suggesting things to study for next week.

The Final Project, AKA The Big Kahuna
 
In the last 6 weeks, you’ll build a much bigger project with a team of 3-4 people, and an experienced mentor who will assign tasks and guide you along. You will video conference once a week for an hour with them to discuss tasks, issues, etc. Our mentor, Jeff, was incredibly helpful in this regard. This project is really a culmination of your learning – the first 3 projects are more tutorial based (though they do get more challenging and less handhold-ey as you go). But this project is very much something you are building and figuring out as you go – you’re assigned tasks, and you have to figure out how to implement them. This project is probably the most important aspect of the course as it will emulate the real-life workplace of an Agile web development team.

The Community
 
I can’t stress enough how great the Firehose community is, either. Don’t skimp out on this. Do join the Slack channel at the beginning of the program. Ask questions, struggle along with others taking the course, and goof around and have fun. This is probably the aspect of the course I didn’t take advantage of enough. Ken and Marco are almost always available on Slack or via email, and have been so incredibly helpful to me. Near the end of my course, I started to consider quitting my job to focus more on the course and job hunting. I had a Skype chat with Ken, who took a look at how I was doing, my personal situation, and really encouraged me to go for it. So I did, and over the course of the next two months, I job hunted vigorously. I live in the SF Bay Area, so there are a lot of developer jobs here. But that  doesn’t mean it’s easy to get one. You have to hustle, put in the work. But Ken guided me along, encouraged me, gave me things to study and even code reviewed some code challenges I was sent.  Keep in mind, this was AFTER my 15 weeks were technically up. These guys really care, and they want you to succeed. Well, after two months I did, and I landed a job as a Rails developer just a few weeks ago, working for an awesome company.

The Conclusion
 
Firehose was an incredible experience, and I really had no idea I could make such a massive career change in a matter of months with a program like this. If you’re exploring bootcamps, do take the time to consider your options and what is the best fit for you. But coming out of Firehose I can say with confidence that your best bet might be right here.

It was hour number 8 of looking at the same computer screen and scrolling through the text to see if I had missed an important detail. I had not. I was stuck. I had admitted I was stuck hours before then began redrawing the same numbers and diagrams on the white board I had erased three times before. Frustrated was an understatement. I then looked at my dog who was hungrily eyeing the almonds on my desk and began to explain to him (for the fifth time) what I was trying to accomplish. He was rewarded for his patience but his kind ear did nothing to help my predicament.

The above anecdote underscores (to me at least) the challenge and purpose of learning a new skill. I would eventually solve the algorithm and move onto a new problem but I always remember the struggle of being stuck, the steps I took to make progress and the ‘ah-ha’ moment when all the pieces came together.

I am not a programmer by trade nor do I have what many would consider a classical technical background, e.g. engineering, mathematics or computer science. Rather, I am just a man who grew tired of relying on flakey developers to ‘make the magic happen’ and wanted more than to be on the outside looking in. Thus, I vowed to learn the trade.

My search for the right development program started with in-person “bootcamps” that ran 3-6 months in major metropolitan locations and cost nearly $30,000 irrespective of room, board and the lost wages of being in school. Being a high risk gamble, those options proved cost prohibitive and I moved on to online apprenticeships which offered similar curriculum but with the added advantage of being remote, done at my leisure and far more cost effective.

After prospecting six different programs, I narrowed my choice down to two: Bloc.io and theFirehoseProject. Each presented different advantages and disadvantages and the cost was (nearly) similar enough to warrant a full examination. I initially chose Bloc.io due to their customizable length of programs, higher amount of mentor meetings and what appeared to be denser curriculum. It took nearly three months of disappointment and frustration before I finally threw up my hands and transferred to theFirehoseProject to finish my coding education. In order to explain the sequence of events that led to both choices, I feel it is incumbent upon me to contextualize the differences in each respective program.

Ken Mazaika and Marco Morawec (co-founders of Firehose) have a rather unique approach to teaching the fundamentals of web development. Rather than create a foundation piecemeal, they put you immediately into the driver’s seat of application development and include explanatory pieces of information at the exact moment when you need it (like MVC architecture, Object Oriented Programming, API integrations, etc.). Throughout the program they also include rather difficult and advanced algorithmic problems that force one to think beyond the typical CRUD applications (like the simple apps I was building over at Bloc). Creating several complex applications and solving the algorithmic challenges serve as preparation for the group project at the end of your program that teaches all aspects of Git, pair programming, JavaScript and several other important technical skills. Since the curriculum is non-linear, a student can direct his or her efforts towards the topic they find the most stimulating and build from there. You are required to complete some preliminary development work before other more difficult aspects are available but this is for one’s own good as man must crawl before he or she can walk.

Bloc has a similar focus with some key differences. Mainly, Bloc uses step-by-step tutorials and questions to walk one through the fundamentals of beginning to code. Depending on the speed at which you learn, this can be a good way to ramp up your knowledge before diving into full-on application development. If, however, you find applied knowledge more useful than regimented modules, you might find this aspect both frustrating and regressive.(Most of the skills I gleaned from these sections could be found on a site like codewars.com or rubymonk.com. This is not to say it was not helpful to learn!) Bloc then takes a similar approach to Firehose and offers a series of CRUD apps that teach very specific pieces of knowledge. These apps provide a lot of useful features (API knowledge, rake tasks, Stripe API integration) but are somewhat lacking in terms of Test Driven Development and expanded knowledge, like algorithms or advanced usage of GitHub.

This was a particular sticking point for me, as I tend to rely heavily on lecture material and in-class demonstrations to help clarify new information. But, as I learned the hard way, it is not the number of mentor sessions provided, but the quality and investment of the mentor.

Given the fixed length of the program, Firehose allots 12 mentor sessions or one per week starting on the second week of your program after you have already constructed and launched your first web application. I bristled at first as Bloc promises nearly triple the number of mentor sessions during your apprenticeship. However, while this might seem like an impediment, it actually forces a student to find solutions through diagramming, Googling or trial and error. Since this type of self-guided discovery comprises 90% of computer programming, absence of oversight turned out to be a blessing as opposed to a curse. Further, the quality of the Firehose mentor sessions proved far superior to Bloc. I lucked out and had Ken Mazaika (one of the co-founders) as my mentor and he was an incredible resource. As opposed to ‘driving’ while I watched, he constantly challenged me to think about what I was trying to do and why I was doing it rather than just showing me how do it. As a former attorney in training with an overly analytical mind, I needed to see the reasoning behind the code and this proved to be the impetus for me learning the methods. Finally, though we would constantly run over on the allotted time for our mentor session, Ken would make sure I had all of my questions answered and would point me in the direction of places where I could expand my study of a particular concept we covered that day.

As much as I enjoyed the dynamic with my mentor, the quality of sessions did not match what I was expecting. We would meet twice a week to discuss my questions, but often times I was left watching as he produced the code. Given my inexperience in the world of computer programming, this approach did very little to help my growth. I would leave the sessions without having resolved the questions I initially presented to my mentor, as I would need clarification on a lot of the concepts we covered during that call. Furthermore, if I would ask about a particular piece of information I had uncovered during my self-guided coding, I was told to disregard the question if my mentor did not find it valuable. I will admit that some of my questions may have been elementary but only through understanding outdated information does one realize why the question is inferior. The timing aspect also proved to be frustrating as my mentor would frequently arrive tardy to our scheduled session due to a previous call and had to jump off early to attend to another student. I would sometimes feel like a burden when asking questions via e-mail and eventually resorted to leveraging other developers in lieu of reaching out to my mentor.

TheFirehoseProject is either $4,000 up-front for a full stack development apprenticeship or $4,500 with several payment plans available.

Bloc is $5,000 regardless of your payment plan. You can, however, qualify for a ‘scholarship’ if they deem you to be eligible. 
* It is worth mentioning that Bloc charges a $500 cancellation fee if you cancel your membership after a month into the program. I learned this the hard way. TheFirehoseProject did not charge such a fee.

TheFirehoseProject has two main areas which are of use for people looking to enter a career as a web developer. There are weekly ‘office hours’ that bring all students into a community video chat with Ken, Marco and other guest mentors to discuss issues students have encountered. This allows an open forum for both general inquiries and specific technical questions. It also provides students an opportunity to interact with one another which is nice given that most of your coding will take place in isolation.

The final 4 weeks of the program are dedicated to a mentor-lead group project which involved a lot of advanced coding skills (“how do I write code to validate check-mate?”), heavy use of Test Driven Development and a lot of technical pair programming with other students on your team. The group project has been incredibly helpful for understanding the real world web application development process for a novice like myself.

Bloc, at least while I was enrolled, had pseudo-office hours where one mentor would answer questions from students in a chat room. Often times, the mentor would not be in attendance as I was informed that Bloc was no longer using this feature. Since there was no group project, I never used pair programming until I transferred schools.

These four main points of comparison are what I used to rank the programs before enrolling. As mentioned, initially Bloc seemed like the better option given its higher rate of mentor interaction and the somewhat nominal difference in cost. 

However, the difference in Curriculum and Mentor Quality, Real World Pair-Programming and Cost made my transfer to theFirehoseProject easy. 

Sometimes the appearance of the school is just that: only an appearance. I suggest fully vetting both programs (if you are prospecting online schools) and talk to alumni from both to answer any questions you might have. 

In sum, I am very happy with my choice of switching over to theFirehoseProject, despite the financial impact of transferring schools. But most importantly I now have the skills that I need and feel ready to work as a junior web developer.