Ironhack

Before deciding to take the plunge, I did tons of research about the UX/UI field and the various bootcamps that offered this course. Having graduated a few weeks ago, I can confidently say that I couldn't be happier that I chose IronHack. I feel as though I have accomplished more in 9 weeks than I have in any given year. The quality of work that you will be able to put out by the end of this course will astonish you. Of course, like anything, what you put in is what you will get out. This course is by no means a walk in the park. You will have to work hard - long days and sometimes even longer nights, but it is SO worth it. 

The team and the other students at IronHack become like a family, and the support that you will recevice is like none other. It really feels like a little community. 

I don't have a graphic  / visual design background, so I was a little concerned about the UI section of the course, but IronHack really does a great job of equipping you with the tools and skillsets you need. If you come in with realistic expectations, you will find that IronHack exceeds them. You won't know everything there is to know about UX/UI upon graduation (like anything else, there is a continual learning curve), but you will most certainly have a solid foundation to be able to move forward in a new career. 

Because of unfortunate circumstances, we didn't have a lead teacher for some weeks of the course, which is why I docked a star. However, the team in Barcelona has already rectified this and have hired a stellar lead teacher who is starting with the next cohort. 

I would definitely recommend IronHack and the UX/UI course to friends and family. If you are on the fence about it, I say just do it. It will certainly change your life for the best - both professionally and personally. Without a doubt, it was the best decision of my life. 

Overall, I'm happy that I decided to attend Ironhack. It helped jumpstart my career and gave me the opportunity to finally achieve my goal of becoming a Software Engineer. My experience was slightly different as I had been learning Web Development on my own for about 1.5 years prior to Ironhack.

Regarding my experience, I have mixed feelings. I decided to attend Ironhack because I knew that Nizar was an amazing teacher, and Brito was the Job Jedi. However, Nizar took a position in Paris, so our cohort had an instructor who seemed to not be able to handle the responsibility of knowing the material well enough to provide the class with the best learning experience. This led to qiute a bit of frustration, miscommunication, and headaches throughout my time at Ironhack. *This instructor was replaced and the new instructor is a much better fit on all accounts. 

The curriculum is also a bit outdated. There were many bugs, old code/technology, and seemed a bit tone deaf regarding what should be taught vs. what technologies are in demand. In a 9 week course, you have to provide students with tools and skills that make them job ready, and I don't feel the curicculum did a thorough job of doing so.

Our TA's, Jess and Sandra, were AMAZING! They were extremely helpful and plugged any holes that were left by the instructor. They were the difference between me giving a three or four star review. They stayed overtime basically every day to make sure that we were all up to speed. Brito (Placements Manager) was involved and was able to help me land a job prior to graduating, so I don't have anything negative to say here :)

If you're planning on attending any bootcamp, please do your homework and introduce yourself to the material before taking the course. It will make HUGE difference during the course. It's impossible to learn everything in 9 weeks, so give yourself time to get to where you need to be. 

I applied to Ironhack (Web dev part-time) to power up my JavaScript skills as an Analytics Consultant. But I learned so much more compared to my initial expectations. You will learn how to build your own application with the main trendy stack (Node JS, MongoDB, Express, React).

The course was intensive and sometimes painful but the experience was great. The teachers are very helpful and pedagogues.

At the end of the course, you will be more confident in yourself and you will be prepared for your next adventure. Thanks IronHack :-)

I was part of the first generation Web Development Bootcamp at Ironhack Mexico City. I would definitely recommend this bootcamp to anyone who would love to kickstart their programming career. 

These are my three recommendations if you’re looking to become the next Ironhacker. 

-Finish the Pair Programmings and dailies that are assigned daily.
By doing so, you will benefit a great amount! 

-Share your knowledge! 

-We work is a great place to study, and also to meet and network with people. Make the most of it. 

This experience was life changing! I learned a lot about my potential and most of all what I was truly capable of. I’m happy and proud to be part of the Ironhack Family. Don’t forget that knowledge is ubiquitous, don’t be afraid to embrace it.

One of the questions that I get asked most by prospective students is what I feel the return on investment has been. In my case, I was able to transition from a career in manufacturing to web development in a new country (France) and without speaking the local language. I landed a job within one month of graduation! Ironhack definitively played a key role in this transition. Therefore I would recommend it to anybody looking to jumpstart their tech career!

The frameworks taught in the boot camp are aligned with the needs of the industry and provide you with the necessary knowledge to continue your journey afterward. Having learned Vue during the boot camp, it has not been difficult to learn React as an example. Additionally, and this is something that sets Ironhack apart from the competition, we had the opportunity to interact directly with UX/UI designers/students. It sensitized me to the importance of UX/UI and my projects benefited greatly from the feedback I received.

What I would recommend prospective students is to talk with the teachers. Ask them a couple of questions and see if the way they explain the concepts fits your needs. You will spend a lot of time asking questions and the teacher answering them, so the interaction must work for you. You can also talk to the students (and enjoy a couple of beers while at it) or attend the hack shows to take a look at the products the students built. 

The aspect I enjoyed the most about the boot camp was the people involved. The staff was very supportive and all students were just great. 

In summary, it was the right decision for me and if you have a clear goal Ironhack is definitively going to help you achieve it. 

If you want to start programming but dont know where to start Ironhack is the place for you, this bootcamp will teach you step by step how to become a full stack developer. Not only will you learn how to code but you will also get to know people from the top tech companies like IBM, or tech startups that will change the world. Overall Ironhack is a great experience that is definitely worth it and the best way to start your coding carrer since you learn form the best.

Thank you Ironhack!!!

Pros: Great school. Alan and Brito were great!

Free beer, coffee, snacks, and the occasional pizza is available for all student.

I got many many many job interviews and was able to get a job offer within 3 weeks after graduation.

Cons: The curriculum was not so great. Typos, outdated instructions, some lessons were skipped, and you had to wait for the class teacher to troubleshoot the LESSONS GIVEN TO YOU BY IRONHACK because they were incorrect. But my biggest gripe was that the lesson instructions were outdated. If you followed some of the instructions step-by-step, your app would fail. This was incredibly frustrating. You couldn't really study at home because you couldn't trust the instructions. You'd had to wait for class to find out if the material GIVEN to you was either correct or incorrect. I hated that because I paid a ton of money and I received sub-par class materials.

If it wasn't for Alan's fast troubleshooting and helpful guidance to overcome the incorrect provided instructions, by whoever wrote the curriculum directions, as well as Brito's amazing help to find me a job fast AND my very own will to invest extra money in outside sources like Pluralsight, Codeacadamy, and books, I would have given IRONHACK a piece of my mind and legally disputed the payment sent to them. 

My recommendation to IRONHACK is to replace whoever wrote the instructions that we followed daily in class with someone who is more dedicated to double-checking their work. Class instructions need to be accurate and easily readable. Memes and incorrect instructions don't teach us anything.

I also hope the class materials, that I PAID for, are updated continuously as time goes by. The instructions are ONLINE for god's sakes. I'm an alumnus of this school and as a customer who paid money, I should be able to go back to the material to study without worrying that my course materials are outdated or forgotten, even 5 years later. Everyone should have access to the same material whether you're from the first class ever in Ironhack to the 50th. If you update the instructions, it should update for ALL who have access to the student portal.

In conclusion: The school is overall great. Alan and Brito were amazing and have earned my respect and it's because of their great work ethic that I did not raise hell. I couldn't say the same for the person who wrote the instructions found in http://learn.ironhack.com/

If you're a student, I recommend you review the course material within the first week with someone else to make sure your material is correct. So that if it is not accurate, you ask for a refund without issue. 

Thanks for everything.

I think when evaluating such a massive life and financial decision as a coding bootcamp, the most important aspect of the review is how likely the camp is to get you a job. I can say this: I came into Ironhack with an incomplete computer science degree and no meaningful work experience, and left with three scheduled job interviews, and I had a competitive entry-level developer job offer within two weeks of graduating. I don't think my experience is typical, but I do feel safe in assuming that if you come here prepared and work hard while you're here, you can leverage the experience into a new career.

Before signing up, though, it's worth mentioning that the curriculum and instruction is in a period of transition. The previous instructor, Nizar, moved from Miami to Paris, and was replaced with Louis. Louis lacked Nizar's experience, and became less professional as the cohort went on, being less prepared for more advanced material and often leaving mid-day, letting the TAs (Jess and Sandra, who were both fantastic) manage the class. Louis isn't coming back - he decided to go to Japan after finishing the cohort - and I'm not sure who his replacement is. If you're interested in the camp, that's the first thing I'd ask about.

The curriculum is largely solid, but has a few intermittent bugs and grammar issues. Honestly, though, I'd rank it above my college experience in terms of usefulness and structure, as well as any class I've seen on places like Udemy. It's intelligently structured, and gives you the information required to learn the skills necessary to complete exercises and build projects. They're also actively working on fixing issues in the curriculum right now, and it's a safe assumption that you will have a cleaner experience with the material than I did.

I think the quality of the job assistance matters more than the quality of instruction in a bootcamp - realistically you could teach yourself everything here with a few Udemy courses, a solid work ethic, and maybe some contacts in the coding community or online - but it's hard to leverage that into a job. Job assistance is where Ironhack shines. Their job placements manager, Daniel Brito, is constantly working phones and email to get respected developers in the community to give presentations and companies looking for talent to come to hiring fairs. He has tons of resources to teach you how to manage your job hunt, and is pretty much constantly available for questions on Slack (or in emergencies, his phone). This effort is reflected in the experience - if you do as he says, you'll develop contacts in the Miami tech community, which will lead to job offers. 

It's also worth noting the location is incredible. The building is right next to a train stop in downtown Miami as well as a decent parking garage, and is blocks away from dozens of fantastic restaurants. The building itself is also amazing - it's a well-appointed coworking place with free snacks, coffee, and beer on tap. 

It was scary signing up for Ironhack, but I honestly think it was the smartest decisions I've ever made in my entire life. I learned an employable skill in less than three months, got to make dozens of friends with other like-minded and driven people, and leveraged the experience into a new job. Expect to work hard - the 400 hour estimate they give you is low, and the most successful students were those that showed up a few hours early and left a few hours later - but if you do, it'll change your life.

One more thing - if you decide to sign up for Ironhack, take a cohort date a few months from now, and spend some time learning the material. Colt Steele's Web Development bootcamp and Advanced Web Development bootcamps on Udemy are a fantastic primer for the large majority of the class, and completing at least the first course beforehand will give you a huge leg-up on learning skills well and making solid, presentable projects, which will help you significantly when job hunting.