The Firehose Project

Before joining the boot camp prep program at Firehose I already had some programming background, nothing serious but still. I also studied HTLM back in school quite a long time ago. So far I have only completed the HTML part and am just diving into Ruby which I'm really looking forward to.

What I must say is that in these 2 hours of watching HTML tutorials I've probably learned more than in 20-25h at school. It's qiute a simple task if you know basics of programing and might be a bit challenging if you don't. But it is definitely enjoyable and I absolutely love the format and pace of the videos. Barely any theory, straight to practice.

I must add that I have participated in several other online coding courses related to Java, C, Python and whatnot. And trust me this is the only one that got me on hook. For the first time I don't want to dump the course after a couple of lessons.

Definitely would do it again.

P.S. I recieved feedback to my code sumbissions within couple of minutes and it wasn't some automated copy-paste e-mail. So good work on that Firehose, makes me feel more like in class.

I really appreciate my experience from the Firehose Project (FHP). I have no background with computers or computer science, so joining this bootcamp was my first experience with all these things. The staff is always good at responding to questions. Within the curriculum, there are always ways of getting help, so anyone new should never be afraid to ask for help. Having weekly mentor sessions is part of what makes this program really awesome. I had a mentor who loved mentoring and would be happy to go over the one hour allotment. The group project at the end is a great experience learning to work with others. I think that the job prep section is a good resource, but they don't actually have jobs posted. So in the aspect of job assistance I didn't rate them high. FHP has recently started a advance course section for those who complete the program and want to keep learning. I think this a great resource for people like me who need help getting more experience to land a job. As a new developer, the most important thing I learned is to keep learning. I choose FHP because of the time flexibility of the curriculum and the price was good for me. Many of the other camps I looked at charge much more. The curriculum can be done at your own pace, but they have a recommended pace if you want to keep up with the program. Finally, to highlight what I think are FHP best attributes: ability to go at your own pace, mentors sessions, group project, and price.

I am impressed!

At the moment I am going through their free prep work.  I will tell this, I have never seen something like that before(and I have been looking around for about a year). They are on it; the amount of support they provide is mind blowing. Ken and Marco are the owners of the school; they are also the ones providing the mentorship. If you are serious about a Web Developer career or just looking to get a little knowledge as a newbie; go ahead and just check their free prep work(There is nothing like them out there!). You will thank me later!

I am currently taking the free prep course at The Firehose Project, which is a prerequisite to the full program. I was not sure whether I would have any aptitude for coding, and this prep course is giving me exactly what I needed: an idea of what is involved in being a developer. I am impressed with everything I have seen so far from the team at The Firehose Project. They are helpful, quick to respond to questions, and encouraging. Furthermore, I learned the Firehose teaching team has a background teaching real-world CS courses in college classrooms. This experience is evident. Lessons are designed well; the explanations are clear and easy to assimilate, and anticipate my questions / problems before they occur. This program is geared toward giving students the tools they need not only to be great at coding but also to know how to successfully navigate the resources and community that exist around coding, and to be ready for interviews and teamwork within a work environment, and that part really sold it for me. Very professional program and people.

I am an attorney learning programming for my own purposes -- not to get a new job. So my review is focused on whether I am learning what I need to know and not so much on placement.  I have been in the program for about 4 months.  I have made a simple bio page and three apps -- each of which uses HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Ruby and Rails.  One also uses Javascript. More JS is coming in the next few lessons. There is a lot of concentrated learning ahead.

The program materials and videos are very good. I give them a solid B (and I'm a tough grader). I definitely needed to stop and think, sometimes go to third party materials, to ensure I understood what was being taught.  Sometimes I became frustrated, angry, annoyed, and lost.

Where The Firehose Project really shines though -- and I really think this is critical for an online course -- is the speed at which I was able to get support when I was having problems (which was often).  I would post a question to the lesson questions page and always received an answer within a couple hours -- often within 30 minutes -- day and night.  The coverage was very impressive.  

My guess is if you can afford the time to be in a full time in person bootcamp, that is the best. But for me (and I am guessing for lots of people), that is not an option. The Firehose Project is a solid, worthy option. I'm getting my money's worth and learning what I need to learn.

Michael Burnstein

michael@burnstein.com

My first contact with programming was through this firehose bootcamp prep-course. The lessons waste no time and get you writting your first code almost immediately. The videos are and activities are concise and informative and you have the freedom to go as fast or slow as you want. Not only were the firehouse instructors friendly and helpful, most of my questions were answered, by reading the comments section of the activity, before they were even asked. I would highly recommend this course to anyone considering programming and am looking forward to continuing on my own personal journey.