Coder Academy

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 I’ve undertaken a bit of tertiary study and this was by far my favourite – and most challenging – experience. The curriculum is incredibly up to date, relevant to industry trends and best practices, and well designed. Although the pace is lightning fast, the deep immersion learning environment helps you learn at a speed you wouldn’t have thought possible; I feel like I’ve picked up more here in the last six months than I over three years at university.

 

The coursework is seamlessly integrated with industry relevant learning that is peripheral coding: git and version control, agile development methodologies, project management, and a whole host of other skills that make a great developer.

 

It’s a big commitment and you’ll get out of it what you put in, but the staff are passionate about sharing their skills, adept at teaching, and incredibly generous and supportive. Even if I was struggling with a concept I never felt out of my depth as I knew I had a solid support system to help me.  

After a few years out of study and looking into getting a career in web development, I researched several different options. I initially enrolled in a master's at university, but after a few weeks of class and looking at the curriculum I felt that the content was too shallow and would not get me to where I wanted. So I looked into bootcamps, Coder Academy had a good curriculum and the length of the course felt appropriate compared to the other bootcamps. 

Six months later, I have now completed the course and I can say it's the best educational program I've done, the content is very relevant and up-to-date and the environment is very friendly and supportive. I made a lot of good friends and learned a lot. So I would definitely recommend this course to people wanting to get into web development that want a more practical education or don't have the time to commit three years for a degree.

From a professional perspective:
CA has an incredible program that enables its students to enter into the web development world. I would highly reccormend this course. Some aspects to be made aware of are: the 6 month time period (anything shorter is insane), they help place you in an internship and finally it is acreddited which means you finsish with a diploma. The educators are well prepared and have extensive industry experience. The administative staff are professional and very welcoming. 

From a culture perspective:
I moved to Australia a few days before starting this course. I made friends within the first day that will last a lifetie. There are few experiences that can compare to CA. 
 

It's insane to think of how much I've learned and how far I've come over the course of the past six months as a student of Coder Academy's Fast Track program (first half 2019). I went from not knowing how to code to having an understanding of two separate programming languages, html, css, and varioous web development frameworks. I still consider myself a beginner programmer, but Fast Track allowed me to jump start my career and set me on a path of lifelong learning with a strong nudge in the right direction.

If you're considering Web Development as a career path, I cannot speak highly enough of the Coder Academy course. One thing I will say is this - if you enrol and you want to make the most of it, you MUST revise what you are learning, continually. You will come far without revision, but if you truly wish to maximise your learning, then revise revise revise. Revise, and supplement your learning outside of class, and you will emerge from the course a confident junior level (or even mid to senior level) developer.

Joining this bootcamp was probably the best decision I've made in my adult life. I was in limbo thinking of changing careers and did not know if I could actually learn coding after already doing a degree in University. Let me tell you I was completely wrong and that this course was so worth it. The instructors here are amazing and very knowledgeable. They are trained to teach people that have never written a single line of code. After 6 months I can confidently say I am a programmer and can't wait to start on this new career journey.

I vividly remember jumping on course report around 7 months ago, looking for some inspiration. I was keen to do development of some kind, but I barely knew how to turn a computer on at that time. I couldn’t believe some of the courses that told me I’d go from zero to developer in a month or 2. Then I stumbled across Coder’s 6 month course and thought I’d give it a crack. 

Yesterday marked the last day of class, and I’ve got to say, I’m wildly impressed. Having slugged away for 5 years in university, where you’re just a student number to them, and you get cut off as soon as you finish your last exam, the classroom feel Coder has managed to achieve is phenomenal. Garret (the lead educator) is one of the best teachers and guides I’ve ever had. He’s always keen to learn, so you’re always getting up to date material. The patience he has makes you feel like it’s a 1-on-1 class at times. The support and good times don’t stop there. The rest of the staff will always checkin, make you’re fine, and have a laugh. All this makes the learning experience exceptional, and I can say that not only can I turn a computer on, I can also create real world web apps!

My advice to anyone taking the time to read this essay - commit. It’s 40hrs/week plus self-guides learning. If you’re like me, and had been living the traditional student life up til now, this will be a shock, BUT, if you get stuck in and put the effort in, the results will astound you.

My last note, when searching myself, the money was something that turned me off slightly. I actually ended up doing some calculations and realized that my whole uni degree (bachelor of business) had 864 contact hours, where as Coder has 840...and uni cost a hell of alot more than this!