Ironhack

My name is Walter Monecke and I recently graduated from the german University of Bayreuth.

I studied business but wanted to get into more technical stuff.

I read A LOT of reviews and the coding school that had the best reviews by far was Ironhack and I am writing this review to confirm it.

Ironhack is a coding school that teaches small groups (up to 14 people) to code in a very efficient way. Not only do you learn to really code and put out one project after the other, but you also make great contacts with people in the industry, so it is WAAAAY easier to find a job than being on your own. And yes many of my friends already have jobs. I do not have one because I chose to work on my own projects and follow the entrepeneurship that was always within me.

Ironhack teaches industry standard technologies like for example the MEAN-Stack and throughout the course you do three different projects on your own that help master each one of the tools that compose the whole stack.

By the last project, i.e. number three, you actually create a full web-app. You come up with the idea, you use your creativity and your learned skills to actually develop it.

I cannot tell you how much Ironhack changed the course of my life and how much I am grateful to have discovered this hidden passion for code. I am happy I can wake up and start building something out of thin air and say "This was done by Walter!".

Having a computer science major is cool. Having gone through this bootcamp is better.

Ironhack is a family to me and I will be always be a proud alumni.

 

PS: If you apply and get accepted I cannot tell you how important it is to do you pre-work.

The more you learn before going to Ironhack the more you are going to learn. Do your homework!

 

I had just been fired from a restuarant I worked in when I heard about 'coding'. I saw the "learning to code" video with Mark Zuckerburg and all those other CEO's and I was inspired to learn... After a few weeks of CodeAcademy learning HTML & CSS, I got curious and clicked on an ad mentioning a school in Miami that taught development over the course of 9 weeks.

To everyone's surprise, it was actually Wyncode! I immediately clicked on the link, reviewed their site, tuition, and material. I even signed up for their  "Learn to Code in A Day" event where they taught basic Ruby... At that event, I met a guy who was also at the course trying to build his site. I told him my interest in Wyncode and the developer role where he immediately told me that if I was going to pay for a school, it should be Ironhack. 

That was when I learned, that Ironhack is one of those schools that could have their doors packed with people & students if they really wanted to. But they don't! They have a selective acceptance process where they try to weed out those that want to 'code' and those that have a passion for technology + code. 

It didn't occur to me at first but, that had been the single most luckiest and best decision I had ever made, choosing Ironhack. 

And I can say that, why? Because I experienced both. Not only did I go to the "Learn To Code In A Day" but my brother, who also wanted to develop, took the web-dev course, but at Wyncode.

So here's my perspective on both, no strings attatched. 

Ironhack's taught me how to be more comftorable with computers, code, and manage software and its archetecture. It gave me a chance to really sit down with technology and learn the in's and outs, talk the talk but also walk the walk...Of course, every web-dev program will (hopefully) do that. 

The caveat is the people. The people here at Ironhack are phenomenal. From the lead instructor Nizar, to the wonderful ladies who tidy up the place when they need to; it was all wonderful. At first, my biggest fear was having this program be more oriented around business than the actual 'learning' part of everything. Kind of something like where you walk in, they teach you for 9 weeks and thats it, just a "good luck! goodbye!" That fear was immediately laid to rest when I met the team. If we are talking just culture, not even considering quality of the education, Ironhack has it down pat. These people truly care for you, and your future, as if your fate was their own. I have seen many of them go beyond their 'work' requirements to help a student in need; whether that be staying late to clear up some confusions for students or at times carpooling to a networking event. The Ironhack team is a team of focused, determined, and compassionate individuals who will get you to where you want to be, in your career. 

Now, lets talk about the education. Nizar is the lead instructor here, and was the main instuctor in my course. The man is brilliant. Extremely patient with students, gives you room to fail and make your own mistakes when you need to but also catches you when you're going to fall too deep. The course itself is really well built, you pretty much have a couple hours of lecture everyday where they introduce you to the new material, followed by a pair-programming exercise and a do-alone exercise. We were also the first cohort where they introduced two other main projects to, whereas before you only had one final project that you had to present and demo for your graduation. This was one aspect that I feel Ironhack really excelled in. These first two projects really taught me a lot, not only about the actual code but also things like time management, soft skills and working with others, asking for help, etc that a lot of other courses didn't get to fully experience. Nizar does a phenomenal job taking care of his staff + students, and the quality of education really reflects that.

Now, what about finding a job? They have a placement manager here, Brito, who's job is to connect you to companies who are looking to hire developers, and kind of get the ball rolling... Daniel Brito is one of Ironhack's greatest commodities, because he knows everyone in Miami and will go to extreme lengths to putting you in touch with the right person/company.This guy could sell water to a ski-boat if he wanted to. He pushes you to be just like him, a go-getter. He willl call you non-stop to make sure you sent the right email, he will chase you down to make sure you applied for the right company and he will give you the necessary butt whooping if needed. The guy has experience, has been in the tech business for some time, and is super well connected and has those relationships that are really necessary when looking for employment in the tech-industry. Plus, he's funny as hell. 

 

In the end, my brother needed to go back and re-learn a bunch of the material after his graduation. Till today, he calls me and asks for help and an extra pair of eyes for his code. And we took two different courses, almost simultaneously. 

All in all, Ironhack has a top of the line team with top of the line skills, and anyone who walks into the building can tell the second they walk in. It has changed my life and the way I look at it, completely. I willl forever be in-debted to some of the people here that were so patient and took their time with me. I will never be the same, ever again.

 

Overall, I'm very happy with Ironhack Barcelona. I have been included in the last round of students spècialising on the Rails stack as compared to Node / Angular (which I think is what the new programme offers) and to be fair I'm very happy with it (plus the organisers made up for having changed the programme buy giving us extr material for free, which was really appreciated). 

There are some organisational issues that they might want to correct. Sometimes there is little communications between a teacher and the next, which might lead to some loss of pace. I would appreciate a well structured programme to take the best final projects to the next level. 

But nonetheless, the very fact here is that after Ironhack I am capable of building a web app on my own, I have learned plenty, I have gotten in deep in some areas while been given enough background knowledge to keep learning different technologies on my own. 

Overview

I came from about 10,000 km away, Japan. At first I was so nervous because I have no design background and I have never been to Europe. But thanks to Ironhack and colleagues, I can make a personal design portfolio and projects. Ironhack is a gateway to the latest tech world and I can highly recommend it. 

In this review, I introduce 3 good points and 2 not good points.

Good points

1. People

In Ironhack, I could meet so many smart and talented people, classmates and professionals. In UX/UI course, the class is consisted 8 students(6 Spanish, 1 Egyptian, and me) and basically 2 teachers( fixed and weekly professional). Classmates are from several backgrounds and I could learn many things. Teachers are very helpful and passionate, so I could learn from zero easily. This encounter lets me grow up at very high speed and I want to keep this connections.

2. Curriculum

It covers whole UX/UI theories and methodologies. The style( lecture & workshop) helps me to understand the new things. And it's very good to access the course materials even after graduating the class.

3.Opportunities

There are some interesting events during the course, for example the lecture of tech star people. And Ironhack gave me a chance to public speaking, called Hackshow. It deepened my understanding for what I learned in the class and gave me a confidence to overcome a challenging situation.

Not good points

1. Schedule

Sometimes the class was not on the schedule and unpredictable. So it's not easy to make a personal schedule and I need to catch up the change of plans. This problem is probably fixed by using schedule management tools.

2. Environment

Sometimes it was so noisy that I could not concentrate on the class. The reason is probably the classroom is open space and the sound is easy to expand. This problem is probably fixed by the adjustment of events and the place of classroom.

Conclusion

Of course all things include pros and cons. Anyway, thanks to Ironhack, I could join the UX/UI desing field and open new opportunities I've never expected. If you want to change your career or life, it worth considering this bootcamp.

I first heard about Ironhack from working in the coworking space where it is headquartered. I would see the students in the classroom from sun up until sun down with terminals and web browsers open, furiously typing away at their keyboard. I'd dabbled with learning how to code in the past through sites like Codeacademy and Udacity without much success, but working a full-time job meant I couldn't sign up for the course even if I wanted to. A month or so after telling myself it just wasn't meant to be, I received news that Ironhack was introducing a six month part-time course for the first time ever. 

I proceeded to look at the time commitment involved. Tuesday and Thursday nights and half of my Saturday for six months? I could totally swing that. Again, the money wasn’t an insignificant issue, but how many more times would I be telling myself “Maybe next time”? How much longer could I go about seeing the developers at work go about their ways and find myself regretting not having pursued this endeavor years ago? How would I feel seeing the students in the program presenting their projects six months from now and knowing I could have been a part of it?

I submitted my application and was contacted by Alia, Ironhack Miami’s awesome Marketing & Community Manager, to schedule an interview. We spoke that same day, where I told her my reasons for applying for the program and how it would help me grow as a professional and as a person. To potential applicants, think of it less as an interview and more as a conversation.

After that, I scheduled my time for the second stage of the application process, the technical interview. Alia sent me an email with links to the material I would have to study, and when I wasn’t at work, I had my head down focusing on absorbing as much of the content as possible. When the day of the interview came, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly nervous about what task I would be assigned.

Nizar quickly proved that all of my fears were for naught. He walked me through the steps required to complete the task and offered to help if at any time I became confused, frustrated, or just hopelessly lost. Luckily, it didn’t come to that due to the thoroughness of the study materials, but it says a lot about the quality of a program when its instructors understand how intimidating this part of the process can be. I won’t describe the nature of the practical interview for the sake of keeping it fair for future applicants, but trust me when I say that the Ironhack team will give you all the preparation you’ll need.

I received my acceptance email the next morning and immediately paid my deposit so I knew it was real. A few days later, I received access to the platform I’d be using to complete the pre-work and some information on Day 0, the unofficial first day of the program.

The pre-work was challenging but presented at a pace that helped facilitate learning of the early fundamental concepts. This allowed me to walk into the class the first day and follow along with the coursework we were presented with. The teaching sytle was incredibly hands on, a combination of lectures and practical exercise to solidify what we'd learned that day. The instructor and TAs were always available to answer any questions in a matter that further helped facilitate learning - instead of providing a direct answer, they would ask questions themselves and guide you to think of an appropriate solution. The learning platform was available 24/7 with all of the lectures and exercises covered in class to help get as much practice as necessary. 

The course did reach a level of difficulty that had me wondering at times whether I was meant to pursue this path, but the Ironhack staff consistently encouraged us to keep pushing forward one day at a time, all the way until it came time to work on our final project. That's where all of the topics we'd covered over the past few months accumulated into one concentrated effort - we were able to achieve things we'd never before imagined possible with code, bolstered by the support of the instructors, the mentors we were provided with, and each other. It was at this point that I also realized how strong of a bond I had made with my fellow classmates - we were always willing to help one another with any tricky issues that would come up and celebrated each other's success.

The Hack Show served as a celebration of all the work we'd put in, where we each showed the collective product of our effort to a huge audience made up of friends, family, and members of the Miami tech community. I actually ended up winning the show with my project which was a huge surprise and sense of joy, but the overall purpose of the evening is to be proud of what we've done, not to chase a prize. 

The connections made throughout the program are nothing short of phenomenal. Daniel Brito is a veritable juggernaut at getting students to push themselves as hard as possible and matching them with phenomenal web development job opportunities. We were also connected to hundreds of other members of the tech community through various Slack channels we were invited to, only helping to further foster the sense of belonging. We entered the program as outsiders and left as essential parts of the Miami tech community as a whole. 

If you have any dobuts at all about going through Ironhack, I'd strongly encourage you to experience it. It's a life-changing opportunity that some people could only dream of. 

I came from Puerto Rico, working a boring 9 to 5 job as a customer service agent and decided it was time for a change to do something that will make me happy so I moved to miami just to do the very first  ux cohort and after about a month a landed my first internship at a start up company called blongg right in the same building. The staff is very helpful and they push you and motivate you everyday to make sure you are getting the material. You learn valubale design and research skills. Joining ironhack was the best decision i made!! And completely changed my life and i am forever grateful!!

 

It was December 4, 2015, when I heard the bad news: the public relations agency where I was working at suddenly went into bankruptcy and hundreds of people, including me, were laid off. Yes, this kind of things happens very often and when people lose their jobs they simply look for a different one. However, my situation was a little different as working at this company had been my dream.

So, here I was on January 2016 looking for a “new dream”, one that could not be torn apart so easily and big enough to keep me motivated. I wanted to take this setback in my professional career and turn it into an opportunity to grow. I have always enjoyed solving problems as well as trying to understand how the technologies that have marked our lives nowadays work. It was at this moment that I realized that I could make an interesting mix with these two ingredients by learning how to code.

I started looking online for possible ways to get into coding and that’s how I found out about Ironhack. I read excellent reviews about their programs, instructors, staff members and facilities, which motivated me to visit their campus in Miami. I was welcomed by Alia (Admissions), who kindly explained me everything about their coding school. At some point, after being amazed by her charisma, I even thought that Ironhack was too good to be true — Was it possible to learn how to code and launch a web application after only 8 weeks? Were their graduates really landing cool jobs with competitive salaries in the tech industry? I honestly was skeptic about it.

That day I also met Ariel (Co-Founder), who shared with me his vision and explained how he, coming from a family of educators, wanted to change the world of education. It was something that I had never heard before.

My visit continued with a tour around the facility and then I spent a few minutes talking to some of the students. It caught my attention that there were many students from different backgrounds and even different countries, including India! Why would someone from the other side of the world come to Ironhack to learn how to code? Maybe the reviews were true, maybe they knew what they were doing.

And that’s when something inside me said that I should give this a try. I was already aware that as part of the admission process first I needed to do a general interview and then a technical interview. Of course, I spoke with Alia for more than an hour, enough to come to the conclusion that my personality was “ideal to handle the intensity of the bootcamp”. That only left me with the technical interview before I could be considered for a seat in the March 2016 cohort. We scheduled my technical interview with Nizar (Head Instructor) for the following week and then I left Ironhack with the feeling that I had done the right thing.

Alia had sent me an e-mail with the material that was going to be covered during my technical interview. During that week, I spent at least 6 hours a day going over the JavaScript concepts and exercises. I must say that this was the first moment that I felt overwhelmed about programming. There were some concepts hard to understand and some exercises that I didn’t even know how to initially approach. And then the day of my technical interview finally came and I felt that I wasn’t ready. I was parked outside the school, debating if I should really do it or not — “What if I suck?”, “I don’t want to embarrass myself”, “Maybe I should just go home” — Unbelievable, what was I thinking and since when I was so weak? I was about to give up on this without even trying. No, no, no, I took a deep breath and walked in to finish what I had started.

Nizar, who by the way is very fluent in English and Spanish, explained me the format of the technical interview: I had to solve a coding challenge with 5 iterations and I was allowed to use my notes, but there was a time cap (I don’t remember if it was 15 or 30 minutes). While I was working on the challenge, I realized that I knew more than what I thought. I was able to finish the first 4 iterations before I ran out of time. Yes, it was challenging, but it wasn’t that bad. Nizar reviewed my solution and gave me good feedback. I could felt right away that he had the vocation of teaching.

A few days later, I got an e-mail from Ironhack, where they said that they had reviewed my application and decided to accept me for their next cohort. Wooohooo!!! That was a small victory after being so close of simply rejecting this opportunity. Once accepted, I paid the tuition, got access to their online student platform and was sent the pre-work material. The pre-work is a module composed of four parts that covers the basics of Ruby, JavaScript, HTML and CSS. As expected, in many occasions I found myself stuck with some of the exercises, but Ironhack was always available to do Google hangouts to go over my questions. This is when I met Josh (Teaching Assistant), who I knew was part of the first cohort in Miami and was now teaching others how to code. Josh, like Nizar, showed me his commitment as an educator.

I finished the pre-work during Week 0 and then we kicked off the bootcamp with Week 1. I truly loved the layout of the program and most importantly I always felt that I was surrounded by great and smart people, always willing to help me and with such an incredible amount of patience, including my classmates. Learning how to code is not easy, but when you are in an environment like this one, it makes the process very enjoyable.

By Week 2, we weren’t a group of strangers anymore, we were more like a family immersed in this new cool world. When we were not coding, we were talking about coding and in some cases listening even more about coding from other experts as every week Ironhack brought in speakers (senior developers, CTOs and CEOs) to give us insightful information about the tech scene in Miami.

Our regular schedule was from 9 am to 6 pm, but I don’t remember spending less than 10 hours at Ironhack every day. I didn’t know I was going to love coding this much. At the beginning, I was skeptic about what Ironhack was capable of doing, and now I was experimenting it. In 8 weeks, I learned how to code and I also built my first web application, but most importantly, I learned how to learn. Being a developer means that you will never stop learning and Ironhack gave me the tools to keep doing this on my own.

We concluded our cohort with a Hackshow, where everyone presented their web applications in front of 180+ people. This was a great way to celebrate our efforts and achievements, and a perfect opportunity to network as in a few days we were going to be in the job market as Jr. Developers.

And when it comes to job market, Ironhack has another killer player: Daniel Brito (Placements Manager), who is not Romero Britto’s cousin but still does cool things. Daniel helped us with our resumes and online presence, he prepared us for our future interviews and introduced us to many employers. Some of my classmates got job offers right away, and some others, like me, took a little longer. Daniel always kept me accountable and motivated to never give up. His phone was available 24/7, I called him several times late at night and even weekends looking for feedback and he always picked up the phone. You can surely tell that he loves his job, which is helping others in their quest of success.

I now have a job where I use technology to solve problems, where I’m constantly learning, and which has allowed me to improve my quality of life.

Ironhack is not only a bootcamp, it’s a life-changing experience and a family that will always be there for you. It was through Ironhack that I discovered this passion and set a new dream for my professional career.

I will never forget that deep breath I took before my technical interview.

The main teacher was great, but he's now left Ironhack Barcelona. During our course he was having some serious issues with the school admin, and there were some awkward moments and arguments it seemed. Also it was one teacher for more than 20 students, so it was very hard to get any feedback from him. Instead of more teachers with actual experience Ironhack hire former students (literally students who were from the cohort before us) to give us their feedback on our work and help us become UX designers. This doesn't help, as they don't have any real world experience in UX design.

As for the careers service, it was a bit of a joke. They give you all the usual advice you can find online for free in 2 seconds, and in terms of their partnerships with companies, there were zero opportunities - I didn't get a single interview through Ironhack, despite all the promises made in their marketing that their course would make you career ready and they would hook you up with opportunities. Don't believe that for a second!

Ultimately, it was my fault that I wasted so much money on this course. I did learn a lot, it was very intense, quite hard at times. Some of my cohort who came from a design background already have landed jobs as UX designers, others have landed jobs but they aren't designers. But having won the final project competition, and doing more work than anyone else in the pre-course work, and following all the advice of the careers service, this has not been a good way to get into a tech job. Find much cheaper courses online, find study buddies, find mentors, and don't waste your money on a bootcamp!