Coding Dojo

I took the Coding Dojo online course which met live online twice a week. When I graduated at the end of October, I felt like I'd just completed my first year at Hogwarts: I learned the existence of many things I hadn’t even imagined, studied hard, had my projects blow up in my face every other day, met some new great friends, faced difficult challenges with them and ultimately prevailed with the help of my magical and powerful instructors. It was challenging and rewarding and I feel like I’m becoming a more capable person who can now do some pretty cool things that I couldn’t do before. And there’s still so much more to learn! Do I think it’s perfect? No. Do I recommend it? Yes. 

First, right up front, Coding Dojo is not easy. I was warned that the program demands a lot of study time outside of class but it was even more demanding than I expected, mainly due to my own hectic work schedule. If you are going to enroll, be sure your schedule is clear and your loved ones will be supportive and not resentful of your absence… I found the schedule to be demanding and after months of coursework, the pace felt relentless. Having someone to give you moral support and who can cut you some slack on your home and social duties is very helpful. There were definitely those in my cohort who seemed to have an easier time than I and at least one who was consistently ahead of the rest of us, so I think I may have struggled a bit more than many. I had three instructors in my coursework and I am pleased to say that every instructor and TA I worked with demonstrated a genuine desire to help me learn and succeed. There are many choices out there for learning coding and when considering which one to take, my biggest worry was that I would not get my money’s worth. The instructors and staff at CD showed me many times that they are not about grabbing my money – they were flexible when they could be and gave me every chance to succeed.

Coding Dojo has a Learning Platform from which you get most of your information. The idea is that you read, watch videos and do assignments and then class is your chance to ask questions, build on what you’ve learned and work with a group to apply your knowledge. It’s important to keep up with the platform schedule because if you don’t, you don’t get as much out of the live class experience. The platform is nicely designed and pretty easy to navigate. The information could be a bit uneven at times… some areas went into very deep detail, others left me wanting a little more info that I found elsewhere. One of the things that impressed me about Coding Dojo is that they are constantly striving to improve the platform. If you think you’ve found an error, there’s a popup available on every page to report it. When my class told our instructor that an item could have been clearer or needed to be updated, he quickly updated the item with our recommendation right on the spot.

Other things I liked: like a martial arts dojo, they establish a tone of respect and humility that encourages learning by enabling students to admit what they don’t know. My instructors maintained their enthusiasm and positive attitude even at the times when I felt lost and/or incredibly stupid. Coding Dojo heavily promoted the idea of students teaching each other and I was admittedly dubious at first. I thought I'd be risking getting bad info from someone who didn't know what they were talking about or wasting my time teaching someone who was behind me instead of moving myself forward. As it turns out, I was completely wrong: I learned a great deal of useful things from my fellow students and my own understanding of the material was greatly enhanced when I tried explaining it to someone else. I also found that having a study buddy helped motivate me to put in more hours at the keyboard. I also discovered that I actually enjoy working as part of a team on coding projects, something I really did not expect. 

If I were to offer some constructive criticism, it would be to give individual feedback on our assignments. Other than the exams, I didn't get feedback on the many assignments I uploaded. I knew that they worked -- I tested them before I uploaded them -- but I would have liked to know if there was a much better way to have completed the assignment. 

I am in the early stages of portfolio preparation and job hunting so I don't have any feedback on that part as yet. 

Prior to the bootcamp I came from a marketing background with zero coding experience. I learned more at Coding Dojo than I thought was possible in 14 weeks. I have walked away with a plethora of new skills and I am so glad that I decided to go through this immersive program! With that said if you are planning to attend the bootcamp be prepared to put other priorities in your life on hold, you need to invest a significant amount of time into the course work if you want to get through the program. 

Coding Dojo works hard to stay up to date on all the newest in the tech industry, part of that being the instructors and business team that they find the best of the best for. Ensuring a strong instruction team, they are able to provide insightful and self suffcicent material and lectures to the students. The environment that they create in the collabortive classrooms encourages students to work together and learn what its like to work as a developer in the industry. The amount of material that they are able to cover in 3 short months, along with teaching students how to be self sufficient produces some of the best learners and developers. I wouldnt take back my experience at the Dojo for anything in the world. The genuine connections that I made throughout my time in the bootcamp has changed my life, and I feel fully prepared to enter the tech industry with all the resources that are provided to help me through that process.

I decided to do the full-time on-site bootcamp in Tulsa, Ok. Overall, I'm glad I did it! I just graduated so here's my perspective from fully completing the program:

Also a quick note - I had a friend who also considered Coding Dojo, but she needed it to learn languages and technologies to apply in an engineering setting. Keep in mind is Coding Dojo prepares you for web/application development. 

I loved that we learned three stacks as opposed to one. I feel like it gives me a great competative edge. I have the basics of all three technologies to be able to run with any of them and learn any of them more in depth. Also, a lot of job applications look for people with multiple languages, or list that as a "preferred" qualification. 

The program is very demanding. Don't expect to work while you do the program or be able to have your normal social life. It will help a lot if the people and organizations that take up your time now understand that you will be mostly unavailable the next 3 months. 

The program teaches the need-to-know basics. I'd say the only thing that lacks curriculum-wise is working with git and github and teaching the concepts of version control or how to work with teammates on remote repositories, which is nearly guaranteed you will need in the workplace. The curriculum does cover this, but it was not emphasized or required and you'll find that if something is not required, you probably wont touch it because you'll be so busy with what is required. However, if you stay disciplined, you can do this as you go.

This program pushes you, and you will often feel like they ask more of you than you can possibly do. Sometimes you will be surprised what you accomplish, and sometimes you will have to be OK with not perfectly completing every assignment by the given deadline. 

I am confident Coding Dojo will get me in the door of a career in development, however there is SO MUCH to learn that there's no way to become an expert by the end of 3 months. Expect that you will still have gaps to fill and a lot of learning in your first company.

But no way I could have learned and accomplished all I have without Coding Dojo. I would not have been able to get where I am now if I tried to self-teach in my own time using online tutorials etc. Definitley worth it. 

I attended the onsite immersive program at Coding Dojo in Orange County, where I learned 3 full-stacks (Python, C#/.NET, and MEAN). The environment is very welcoming, and having other students that you are able to learn alongside of holds you accountable and fosters an atmosphere of collaboration. The instructors are very knowledgeable and making lectures engaging and inclusive. The learning platform is designed in a way where each assignment and lesson builds off of the previous one to help solidify the concepts learned in each section. Attending a coding bootcamp is really one of those things where you get what you put in, so if you are someone who is serious about learning how to become a self-sufficient web developer, and can dedicate 60+ hours per week to learn, I would highly recommend Coding Dojo.

When I started here, I had some doubts about whether I could still cut it at 43 years old.  Three full stacks in just over three months.  I graduate today, and will be going back home to prepare for a life change.  This experience has been amazing from start to finish.  I learned from the instructors, the others in my cohort, and the ones that were here when we started.  From that, I was able to help those that followed us.  I will definitely be referring others to Coding Dojo.

I had a great experience at Coding Dojo. The program has a lot to teach you wether you have programming experience or not - there are many bonus challenges to take on if you get ahead of the standard curriculum. I recommend minimizing outside distractions during the length of the course - it is most rewarding when you can put in maximum effort.

They do provide Job Assistance, but I have not begun the process with them at the time of writing this review and therefore have marked it as N/A.