What to Expect: Learning In-Person at LearningFuze

LearningFuze offers online and in-person bootcamps at their campus in Orange County, California. Senior LearningFuze instructor, Robert Gardner shares his insights on what you can expect from the in-person bootcamp experience. Get an introduction to the campus amenities, in-person teaching style, and the types of tech roles bootcamp students are prepared for at LearningFuze!

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LearningFuze teaches both in-person and online. What are some of the overall benefits of learning coding in-person versus online?

While online learning offers flexibility and a structure that can be beneficial for certain types of learners, in my experience in-person learning is generally more efficient for several reasons:

• There are fewer distractions in person!
• In-The-Moment Communication: Questions and answers are more easily communicated when you can see how the other person is reacting to the comments. Questions and answers are also communicated more clearly and precisely when spoken than when typed because typing does not carry as much information and is easily misunderstood. Speaking about how to solve coding problems is quicker and more efficient than typing questions and answers in an online medium like Slack
• Live, In-Person Teaching: Through ongoing, face-to-face interactions, instructors develop a professional relationship with students, including an accurate opinion of their skills and where they might need more development. This allows the in-person instructors to extensively tailor future instruction for each individual student. The in-person instructor can more easily assess the student’s ability as they watch them code. The instructor can more easily guide the student by looking at the entire scope of the code, and ask direct questions about the code. 
• A Variety of Learning Materials: Diagrams and drawings about the code or solution are more easily created and shared. With a projector, whiteboard, and laptop, the student is exposed to a broad variety of learning techniques, which helps them better learn and retain the information
• Cohort Companionship: Students can interact with each other, get help from each other, and give help to each other. It is easier to stay motivated and engaged when those around you are doing the same work, learning the same things, and enjoying the same experiences. Some of the most meaningful benefits of the program, including the camaraderie between students and between the student and instructor, tend to be far more robust for those who can attend in person. Being on campus every day, taking breaks and lunch together, students and instructors get to know each other personally and develop bonds that can last a lifetime.

What can students expect from LearningFuze’s in-person campus?

The LearningFuze campus is in a building where junior and senior cohorts are in two separate, large rooms for instruction. These rooms contain desks and monitors for the students, a projector and whiteboard for the instructor, and an instructor desk that is close to the students so that individual, one-on-one assistance can be provided when needed.

Each student has their own desk in the classroom area where they listen to instruction and complete their assignments. The students bring their own laptop but are provided with a monitor. 

Students also have a dedicated lunch/break room, career services center, and separate meeting rooms for mock interviews, whiteboarding, and interviews. 

Parking is free and there are bus stops nearby.

What is Irvine, California like? Is it home to tech companies or startups?

The Orange County area has development offices from large tech companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Blizzard. The gaming industry in Orange County and South LA is large and vibrant. There are many small and startup tech companies in Orange County and South LA. Our campus is located in Orange County’s tech hub, Irvine, CA— a city renowned for its numerous tech start-ups, like a mini Silicon Valley.

Have you found that there’s an ideal student for in-person learning at LearningFuze?

Learning to code at a bootcamp is an intense experience that requires time, dedication, and commitment. Students who are most successful in the course and beyond are driven. Not only are they dedicated to continuous learning in and out of the classroom, but they’ve planned and prepared to set aside all other activities for 3-4 months and focus exclusively on learning.

For prospective students, what is your advice to them on how to choose between learning in-person versus learning online at LearningFuze?

In-person learning works well for most students. While remote learning can be effective for students who need more flexibility or aren’t local to Orange County, it requires more dedication and focus to be successful in an online learning environment. 

Typically, the online class structure works better for students who already have some knowledge of the material. Remote students also need to have a dedicated workspace where they can study and learn without distraction.

If you’re not sure how to choose between LearningFuze’s in-person and online bootcamps, attend one of our info sessions!

What is the community like at LearningFuze’s in-person campus? Do in-person students also interact with online cohorts? 

The in-person students typically form a strong community as they learn and work on exercises together, spend time together during breaks and lunch times, and help each other in their learning. The students also do several “hackathon”-style projects where they work together in teams, which also helps foster a strong community.

Online cohorts have similar projects to help build rapport, but students typically need to put in more effort in a remote environment to build their community. Oftentimes, the online community is built more easily when someone has a more outgoing personality. 

The in-person and online cohorts interact minimally. Typically, they have exposure to one another during LearningFuze’s combined career services workshops. 

On average, how many hours per week do you find LearningFuze students spend on campus? 

In-person students are expected to be on campus from 9am to 5pm every weekday. Other than a one hour break for lunch and short breaks in the morning and afternoon, this is all time spent in class. The LearningFuze campus is available to students whenever staff are onsite. Oftentimes, students will arrive before or stay after class to work on assignments and projects with one another.

Can online LearningFuze students use the in-person campus at all? 

Our campus is open for all LearningFuze students, regardless of remote/in-person! However, since most of our online students live quite far from campus, they rarely, if ever, come to the campus. If they do come, they are welcome to use all the facilities in the same way as the in-person students do. This includes the break rooms, kitchen facilities, and any open desks and monitors.

It’s been such a volatile tech job market this year — What do you feel like sets LearningFuze bootcamp graduates apart in the tech talent pool?

We have a high caliber for our students because our alumni represent us within the workplace. Because of this, we have a strong flow of students who are often employed by the same hiring partners. 

At LearningFuze, we focus on teaching students the skills they need to excel in a software development career. We teach students a few technologies at a very deep level, rather than many technologies at a shallow level. 

We focus on writing code, learning to write clean code with solid error handling, and to structure their code for maintainability and readability. LearningFuze students learn how to read technical documentation to learn how to use technologies, how to teach themselves new skills, how to write and debug code, and how to solve software problems. 

With this deep understanding of computer software and capability to teach themselves new skills, LearningFuze students are particularly well qualified to excel at any job they undertake.

Do you find that in-person LearningFuze students land jobs in the Irvine area? 

Many LearningFuze graduates find jobs in the southern California market, though many also move to different locations if a job opportunity requires it. 

Our industry relationships with hiring partners in the Orange County and South LA area are deep. Nationally, we have over 300+ relationships with companies. 

Are in-person LearningFuze students job-ready for remote developer jobs when they graduate? What about online students — are they prepared by LearningFuze to successfully work in in-person tech teams after graduation?

LearningFuze in-person students are well-situated for both in-person and remote developer jobs because they know how to get support using online tools like Slack, how to use Zoom for remote communication, and how to focus and get things done.

LearningFuze online students learn the same curriculum and skills and have proven that they can also excel in in-person jobs. Because these students learned in a remote environment, they also excel in remote workplaces since they’ve been in the same simulated environment for the 18-week course.

What are your tips for incoming students on making the most of the in-person bootcamp experience at LearningFuze?

Here are five things an incoming student should do to improve the success of their bootcamp experience:

• Block out 12 hours per day, 6 days per week for the duration of the bootcamp. Learning something as complex as software development in just a few months requires time and commitment.
• Study online free resources before starting class to become as familiar with software development as possible.
• Get a laptop that is powerful enough for software development and become familiar with it before day one of the bootcamp.
• Make any arrangements necessary to be able to be on campus each day, on time.
• Make plans for lunches. Eating out every day can get expensive, but you still need to eat healthy and take the time to unwind and relax during the lunch hour.

Find out more and read LearningFuze reviews on Course Report. This article was produced by the Course Report team in partnership with LearningFuze.