UC San Diego Extended Studies Boot Camps

Review of UCSD Extended Studies Full-Stack Development Bootcamp
By Noah Sullivan

In the past three months, I have gone from a novice with no experience in computer programming, to someone who studies and works on computer programs for over 20 hours a week. 

This may seem like a lot, but really it has been a life-changing decision for myself and my career.  The bootcamp experience is something that I am proud to be a part of. 

Not only do you get educated on a high-level learning subject by one of the best Universities in the world, but the education has an incredible amount of real-life applications. 

I have only been through half of the program at the time of writing this review, and I have already developed, and deployed a website for the public to use with my fellow students:

https://www.togoodgreens.com

Not only that, but the variety of programming languages and types of coding, such as Front-end, backend, ORM, OOP, Node.js, express, SQL, etc. make it a seriously beneficial program, professionally and personally. 

I am now taking more classes offered through UC Extensions due to the positive experience I have had with this course. 

I highly encourage other people to take this program, and explore all the benefits which it has to offer.

I was formerly an entirely self-taught developer who was in his third year of his data science career when I decided to take this bootcamp. I had been working as an analyst since 2019 after graduating with a BA Psychology and self-teaching R, but when I got a more senior engineering position, I decided to take the UCSD Extended Studies Data Science and Visualization bootcamp to shore up my fundamentals and gain valuable new tools to add to my repetoire.

So far, that has been a fantastic decision. The course is fast-paced and demanding, and I think having a prior programming background really helped me, but having the fundamentals of why code worked taught to me in a structured manner has made me a much better programmer. I've been able to take the knowledge I've gained from the course and apply it to my fulltime job, from database work to automation. In addition to filling in the gaps of my self-taught dev career, I have learned valuable new skills, particularly some elements of web development, which will allow me to build out ways to share data with the public at my job. I may not use everything this course covered on a regular basis, but having more things I am capable of calling on if needed gives me much more flexibility as a developer.

The career services have also been quite helpful. I now have a much more polished resume, LinkedIn, and even portfolio, and a solidly built out Github as well. I would encourage all students to take advantage of the career services--I have regularly been contacted by recruiters even prior to graduating the course. I feel confident that I will not need to worry about my employability, even as I am happy at my current fulltime position.

I will say that this course is on the expensive end. I think that it is worth it, but I would caution prospective students to make sure they can fully commit to the course and make the absolute best of it. The pace can be grueling, and while it is great to have actual classes, they are a commitment you must be able to make every week. It is also a lot of work! It pays off, but make sure you know what you are getting into and that you can handle it. This course is heavily Python based, and while it's my personal favorite language to work in, the learning curve is steep and it's important to be able to be the kind of person who can keep trying even if they've failed half a dozen times on a task.

Overall, if you feel confident you want a career in data science, I would say this course is a fantastic way to train for a complex and ever-evolving field.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently employed by UCSD Health in a data science position and was prior to taking the bootcamp, but I am not at all connected to UCSD Extended Studies and this is my honest review based on my experiences as a student. I was actually signed up for this course before I interviewed for my current job, since based off my research it was a solid program!

My overall experience is to much to express, but it came with the combination of stress, persistence, and confidence. I recall the first month on learning the starting code languages and it was actually hard to understand, but now when looking back and getting used to the repetition of seeing it each week and understanding how other languages tie well together with it made it easier by time. Even when I got stuck with each unexpected error, I gained the persistence and motivation and tell myself, "I MUST, I CAN, AND I WILL" or "YOU BREAK IT, YOU FIX IT, YOU OVERCOME IT!"  These words helped me push during those days I wanted to give up or felt the anger want to build up. The good thing is that this Bootcamp gifted me with an excellent Professor and TA that understood how to easily communicate the information to us clearly. They were there anytime, and so was the extra support tutors that were available to us 24/7. Having all this support was another reason that I didn't have an excuse to give up or fail. The class was amazing, and everyone was so nice and supportive of each other that It brought some good people together in the end. As a team, we all knew our end goal and helped each other to help ourselves to understand everything better. Me having a Specific Learning Disability, didn't stop me, ones own mindset is more dangerous to passing or failing in this course. Lastly, emphasizing, I recommend writing good notes on each language to help build the understanding better :)!

Upon applying to the coding bootcamp (full stack flex - part time), I did not know what to expect.  I knew that I had an interest in coding and was hoping to eventually change careers into this field.  But I had seen mixed reviews everywhere on different bootcamps. Initially I kept wondering if I made the right decision to go into a bootcamp, as well as if I made the right choice in bootcamps.  I was nervous, scared, and continued questioning myself on this decision even into the first few weeks of the program.  After 6 months with my cohort, I could not be more satisfied with how I feel after completing this program!

I learned so much each day, and had great support by my instructional team and peers (I am extremely grateful with how supportive the instructor and TAs were throughout - they definitely helped make this a wonderful experience).  Once it came to our final projects in the last month, I found myself having so much fun with everything!  Being able to end the course by building a full stack web app, encountering all types of challenges and knowing how to face and overcome them, and working with a team that is just as motivated and driven as you made this entire program worth it.

My advice to prospective students: 
1- keep up with the work (6 months seriously goes by super fast and covers a ton of content; stay disciplined to fully get the most out of it - I would study 20+ hours a week outside of class time to grasp each concept and get extra practice in).
2- utilize all resources (the bootcamp offers great resources, including your instructional team, tutors, and career services to help you with everything; also youtube, udemy, stackoverflow, and google help with reiterating concepts that you may not understand right away).
3- make connections (you are not alone, and majority of your cohort will have similar feelings through the journey – you all will be nervous, excited, frustrated, passionate, angry – you will get through it all together and it feels great supporting each other).
4- speak up and reach out (I'm the type that can be very shy, but I knew that if I was going to be successful with this career change, I would need help; I would reach out to my student success manager, career director, and the career material advisors whenever I had questions or needed advice; they were very helpful and were a big part in building my confidence).

I feel confident in being able to take the knowledge that I now have to start my career change to find a job, and will never stop strengthening my skills! 

As with any learning the amount you get out of a program is proportional to the amount of effort you put into your program. This course is designed for people that can be self-directed in researching and learning new code. You have to be curious about tech going into this field, because the ability to research the obscure errors you may encounter is vital to your success in the program and in your new career. 

This program currently focuses on MERN stack covering: JS, Node, Express, SQL, Mongo, and React. There is very little time spent on algorithms and writing tests. There is a bit of these subject covered and mentioned in the material but it is up to the student to supplement the learning materials. In some ways I wish these topics were covered in more detail but there are online programs that can help you get these skills regardless of bootcamp. 

The program offers an instructor, teaching assistants and a tutor and they provide plenty of support. There is also career support throughout the program and an alumnae Slack to connect with. 

Cost wise this was my best option as I couldn't afford to quit work to attend a bootcamp full-time - and finding an online bootcamp was incredibly difficult... until COVID changed everything. This program offered the sweet spot of being associated with a known university, offering live-online classes at night after work hours, and being a shortened program of 6 months - it came in at $10,000 

Hopefully all bootcamps will realize that offering an online program helps students develop a vital skill: remote engineering teams need to understand how to collaborate effectively. This program was done on zoom and through slack and our project teams were able to effectively meet up, pair program, and have study group sessions without any issue. I was able to leverage this in the interview process for my job - knowing how to work effectively remotely in a time of COVID was invaluable. I hope this one continues to offer online as an option for future cohorts. 

I accepted a promotion to a software engineering position with my current employer as a result of this bootcamp and the skills acquired. 

 UCSD's Extension Bootcamp for Coding will be a highlight that I will remember for the rest of my career.  I just graduated in September 2020 as a part time student.  I came into the background with a slight background in HTML and CSS, and I read a book on basic Javascript concepts prior to starting class.  Having that knowledge prior to starting the program was IMMENSLY helpful because it allowed me to stay one step ahead of whatever the next topic was.  The first month was mostly a review for me, but things really picked up when we got into Node.js and the backend technologies. This program moves FAST, so if you're a slow learner, I'd definitely think hard about signing up.  

The only cons is mostly due to the COVID pandemic.  Some of the lessons felt a little under prepared, but I give a ton of grace here because of the given situation.  But overall, if your mind is set on getting into web development, I couldn't recommend this program more highly.  There's so much I can say about this experience, but if you're thinking about doing this, here's what I recommend:  

1. Buy a book on HTML, CSS, and Javascript (I recommend the Head First series), and read through all of it before you even think about signing up. Then, build some small, vanilla projects with what you've learned.  If you don't enjoy it or feel like the books are too much, you will struggle a lot through this course.  But if you do this, you'll be one step ahead and have a good grasp on whether or not this field of work is for you.
2. If you're dating/married, have a serious conversation with your loved one (AND yourself) about the time commitment and set expectations beforehand.  If you actually want to get a job after bootcamp, you'll be spending close to 20 hours a week on average for this course if you're part time. If it's encouraging, I did this with a wife and a 4 month old and about 30-50 hours of part time work in addition to bootcamp.  If I can do it, you can do it.

 Here's the awesome part.  Through some serious grinding, networking, and the help of the TAs and instructors (MASSIVE shoutout to Shamira, Beth, Brian, Brandon, and Michael!!!!! Give them all a raise!!!!), now I'm a part time Front End Developer for a startup company in Silicon Valley, and a full-time Software Implementation Specialist/Software Engineer for a startup in San Diego.  I got hired WHILE I WAS IN BOOTCAMP and was able to increase my annual salary by 160% by the time I graduated.   In the end, I definitely recommend UCSD's Extension Bootcamp.

 I decided to participate in this Bootcamp because web development has always been a passion of mine. I have been self-taught for years, but there are some things that are better learned in an environment like this. The best part of this experience has been the collaboration between the students and the instructor and the TA's. My advice to anyone considering taking this course would be to do your due diligence before starting the course. Have some coding experience under your belt. Don't go into this cold. 

Hello,

My name is Leeland and I am a graduate of the April 2018 cohort for the part time full stack flex program. This program prepared me technically and mentally for my career jump from a restaurant manager to a software engineer. I had no prior experience with coding and I was taught the necessary tools in order to apply to developer positions. The curriculum is top notch and involves a modern tech stack. They go through the MERN stack and there are multiple full stack applications that are built throughout the program. It is crazy to believe that I went from creating a static html page to buidling a React app. The best part about the program is how invested the instructional team are to your success. My instructor prepared us with knowledge and best practices that will be relevant in our job hunt. The TAs are also very knowlegeable and willing to help when you get stuck (Trust me, I got stuck a lot). I believe that those who continue grinding out and work hard will succeed in this program. I had no relevant experience, but I was able to land a job a little over halfway through the boot camp. The instructional team helped me by asking mock interview questions as well as white board questions. It is great that we learn modern technologies, but the difference with this program is that they teach you how to learn and solve problems with code. "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teacha man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." could never be so true! I would highly recommend this program to anyone trying to make a career switch!

A well designed and challenging program. Be prepared to work really hard if you want to maximise your investment and you will not be disappointed. I have learned so much in these 24 weeks compared to trying to learn coding on my own. The level of support that I've gotten from my cohort and teaching staff is top notch. 

All 3 projects that I've developed during the course are ready to be shown to employers by the end of the program. You will get to learn from scratch to building industry ready full stack projects that will value-add to your portfolio.

Coming from an IT background with around 10 years of data analytics experience, I've never worked as a developer professionally but always wanted to pursue a career in coding. I've landed myself a full-time position as a front-end web developer one month after graduation and this will not be possible without this excellent course.

I'll take the course again in a heartbeat!!! Keep up the good job!!

Hello! my name is Goose and I'm a recent graduate from UCSD extension's coding bootcamp  last September 2017. My focus was to learn and challenge my self to become a full stack engineer.  The bootcamp provided me with all the tools and knowledge that I needed to know to achieve my goal of becoming a full stack engineer.  Coming from a CS background with some techincal  profesional experiences in software development, I  still learned tons of professional used technologies and challenged me to think differently.  I tried almost everything to learn how to be a full stack, from online youtube videos, books, udemy classes but I felt that I was copying code instead of learning how to use the concepts.  UCSD extension's coding bootcamp forced me to not only know the syntax and technology but also the proper use of it through homework challenges and projects.  For me my favorite are the projects that we had to start from scratch.  Rather than just copying sample codes, we had to start from ground zero to a working MVP web application. They also thought us how to research and think differently in terms of Computer Science in what algorithm to use and smarter solutions to a problem.  UCSD coding bootcamp also offered career help.  From one on one practice interviews, whiteboarding, up to job search and advice.  When I had trouble finding a job and being intimidated with job descriptions, the career councilor helped me alot from resume revamp , accepting an offer, up to negotiating a pay.  I am now starting a full stack career this November with an awesome starting pay.  Thanks again UCSD extension coding bootcamp.  I hope someday I can be a TA or instructor with my professional experience.