Ironhack

I would first like to say that for all of the skeptics out there: I was in your shoes, but I can vouch (as much as that counts on the internet) that the people in Miami posting reviews around the same time as me, were in fact students at the school in my cohort. This post will be somewhat long but it will be useful if you are trying to decide if coding bootcamps, and Ironhack specifically, would be a useful expenditure of your time and money.

So, who are coding bootcamps are for:

• People with no programming experience who want a career that is both fun and rewarding
• People who have tried to learn coding/web-development on their own but got frustrated with how long it takes to learn
• Burgeoning entrepreneurs who want to learn just enough to make their business dreams a reality

Who they are not for:

• Experienced programmers who thing OOP is child’s play
• Humans that don’t play well with other humans

I fell into the category of those who tried (and failed) to learn this material on their own. While that previous coding experience was useful, it originally led me to be frustrated with the pace of the class. It wasn’t until later in the course that I fully understood the patience and caring that our instructors, Nizar and Josh, had for us and appreciated how slowly they moved to get us all up to the same level.

Ironhack doesn’t promise to make you an expert programmer; and it shouldn’t. Ironhack promises to teach you everything you need to know to just get your foot in the door for a programming career. They adopt a no-B.S. approach to help people who had never opened a text editor besides Word, learn to build incredible and dynamic websites. Ironhack gives you the basic knowledge of everything web-development and then gives you the hard, honest truth that you need to figure out your own path in this huge and amazing field.

Beyond the coding aspect of the course, the people and the location are incredible. The instructors and staff are there for you every step of the way, and your fellow students are there to help pick you up when you fall, because that’s the environment that Ironhack fosters. You know it’s expensive, they know it’s expensive, and it is a company trying to expand, but their product is solid and if you have the time and the money- but most importantly the drive- then Ironhack is for you.

Before Ironhack, I was an attorney with a liberal arts background. I'd dabbled in front-end design (HTML, CSS, WordPress) for years, but always thought that anything more technical than that (e.g., Ruby) was for Computer Science majors. Ironhack proved me wrong. In eight weeks, I went from being an unhappy attorney to a legitimate developer and tech entrepreneur. But the journey wasn't easy; Ironhack's intensity level was about the same as the first year of law school. The pacing is relentless, and there is a lot of information to absorb. You need to take this course very, very seriously or you will fall behind very, very quickly.

First starting off at Ironhack I had no previous coding history.  Fully emersing myself in a program that will help not only my career but my growth as a person was something I knew coding would fufil and Ironhack delivered on giving the resources and skillset to succeed.  The team at Ironhack were helpful and not judgemental or impatient with people from different professions.  It helped me to reevaluate my thought process on how to learn things and how to solve issues in a way I never could before.  I would definitely recommend taking this course, but remember they don't call it a bootcamp for nothing.  Pre-plan and take on-line courses to make sure this is the right path you want to take.  Then apply yourself and commit.  Always commit.

Before ironhack, I had none experience with coding. The only things I’d previously done were self-taught, so it wasn’t until the beginning of the bootcamp when I realized all the work I had to do before becoming a developer.

I decided to get formal education from professionals. Among all the bootcamps I found out, Ironhack

was by far the one that fitted best with what I was searching for. Quality training in which you study what is really being used without wasting time. Rapid, concrete and direct.

To accomplish these goals, they use a very effective methodology: little theory and a lot of practice. The pace of the bootcamp is very intense so, without realizing it, you’ll learn a lot.

Teachers at the bootcamp are  experts  in their fields. But also, they are very good at transmitting knowledge. This feature is, undoubtedly, essential for learning.

Ironhack team designed very hard but enjoyable lessons. They spread the passion they have for what they do and that drags you to keep programming and learning.

My classmates have been crucial in improving my learning. I feel very lucky to have found in Ironhack a large group of people passionate about programming who are willing to share what they’ve learnt. With them, I learned how to fight against frustration and share the feeling of victory when things work out. These ups and downs helped us to bond strongly as a group.

Perhaps what I liked the most was the quality of the people with whom I lived during these eight weeks. Specially the Ironhack team, the teachers and my classmates. They’re oriented to support you at all times and help you in whatever you need. It feels like being part of a big family.

As the icing on the cake, Álvaro’s career support was the key. He helped me to build a great CV resume and an exceptional Linkedin profile. That was crucial to find my job. Before Ironhack, I wasn’t a big Linkedin fan but I’ve learned its importance to get a technical job. After the bootcamp, he continued helping me by introducing me to hiring companies until I reached my goal: get a good job.  This confirms that Ironhack does not end when classes are over.

I highly recommend Ironhack. Enroll myself and complete the bootcamp was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Everything I've lived and learned during these eight weeks has far exceeded the expectations I had before.

Before IronHack I had taken several programming courses online but after completing each course I still felt I wasn’t able to apply anything I had learned. I think thats why I was hesitant to try IronHack at first. I was worried that the large investment would not be worth the time and money. But after meeting with Nizar, the lead instructor, I knew that IronHack was the right place to go. Nizar is an amazing instructor. He’s patient and is great at explaining the concepts of programming. 

I learned more in the 8 weeks of bootcamp than from all the time I had spent before trying to learn on my own. I highly recommend IronHack to anyone who wants to learn how to program. 

You can read as many review as you possibly can, but nothing prepares you for coding boot camp, period.  You think you might know what to expect, but you don't.  From day one you are emmersed deep into the curriculum and it's EXTREMELY fast-paced.  You must keep up.  That means, no cell phones nearby, no Facebook.  Only complete and total focus.  The pre-course work is extensive and extremely important as it's referenced several times during the actual course.  It's imperative that you complete the pre-course work prior to day 1 of boot camp.  The instructors change every week (as each week you learn a different language) and they range from very good to a bit inexperienced, teaching wise.  The TA's are excellent and very dedicated.  In the end though, I didn't feel that I was truly prepared for the real world.  I think another month in this course would've been best (12 weeks instead of 8).  I think focusing on the coding challenges required by employers would've been highly valuable.  It's not touched upon at all.  Hiring week was a little disorganized and many people were under the impression that it was the last week of boot camp, when it was actually the week after.  Therefore, many foreign students had already left Barcelona without taking advantage of it.  Also, the employers that were setup for interviews were looking for people with more coding experience than 2 months in a boot camp.  The perfect job after Ironhack would be a junior developer position.  A company that wants to train you themselves, but utilizes the knowledge you gained from  your course.  All in all, it was a great experience.  There were a few things I would change, but I think I gained enough to get started in the coding world.

I got me degree in Telecom Engineering back in 2012. Right after finishing I started working in a big company where you could see people working as fifteen year ago. No flexibility, no innovation, not a place where I wanted to be. Then I thought of starting my own thing. There’s where the need of learning Web Development arrised.

I loved the idea of applying to Ironhack because it promised to compress a whole year of learning in just two months. Also, the proposed syllabus was aligned with the new technologies being used. That’s just what I needed to pick up the pace and being able to start my new project. I think I never got such a persistent amount of knowledge in such a small amount of time.

I really enjoyed the dynamism and good atmosphere we lived in those two months. It was perfect to be in the right mood for learning, being creative and come up with lot of new ideas.

During the bootcamp I built Impolutus. An online cleaning booking service. It was awesome to get the chance of being finalist at the Hackshow and talk about it in front of all that people. A few weeks ago I heard that some people have done the same thing (Impolutus). Now they have been bought. I lacked the resources to bring it forward. I learned a lot from it however.

After Ironhack I launched Gemfeed.com together with two other Ironhackers. We work five minutes from the beach but I won’t call it work. It’s more of developing with friends for some hours a day. It’s not fortuitous that we end up working together. Any person enrolling in Ironhack has something special. At least that’s what I felt while I was there. You get way more than the knowledge.

If you want to invest in good valious knowledge, gain time and become a competent Web Developer I would recommend Ironhack. If you want to start programming or you have some knowledge but want to learn what is being used now, I would also recommend it. It was the best investment I ever made and all my colleagues from my edition have a good positioned job now. I think that talks by itself ;)

My experience at Ironhack was one I will never forget. Ironhack pushed me to my limits like no other class or school l have attended. At times I felt like it was just all too much but would constantly tell myself that it will pay off at the end. Eight weeks straight of getting your hands dirty and setting yourself up for errors over and over again, just to realize at the end that you forgot one letter on your line of code. It wasnt the easiest thing I have ever signed up for but I am glad I did it, I am glad I kept pushing myself everyday and studied even on the weekends, It brought out a side of me that I have never seen.

Nizar(Teacher) and Josh (Teachers Assistant) were the best teachers anyone could ask for. They were accessable throughout the day even after class and on weekends. They did their absolute best to explain the problem that we were having on our assignments. They walk around and check that you have completed the exercises before moving on to the next slide/presentation to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Ariel, the owner balanced us out when we were fried from the content we had learned throughout the week, he kept us motivated and gave us therapy to make sure that we kept pushing. Alia (marketing manager) made sure that at the end all of our LinkedIn profiles and resumes were styled perfect, she also set us up with mock interviews which I learned so much from and I cant thank her enough for that.

Overall, I cant take anything away from Ironhack, they exceeded all of my expectations. It wasnt easy but then again it is not meant to be easy. They are going to challenge you day in and day out until you really get an understanding of things. If I had the chance to do it all over again I would, I am glad I stuck around and accomplished what I have wanted to do pretty much since I graduated high school and that is to become a developer.

My experience at Ironhack was one I will never forget. Ironhack pushed me to my limits like no other class or school l have attended. At times I felt like it was just all too much but would constantly tell myself that it will pay off at the end. Eight weeks straight of getting your hands dirty and setting yourself up for errors over and over again, just to realize at the end that you forgot one letter on your line of code. It wasnt the easiest thing I have ever signed up for but I am glad I did it, I am glad I kept pushing myself everyday and studied even on the weekends, It brought out a side of me that I have never seen.

Nizar(Teacher) and Josh (Teachers Assistant) were the best teachers anyone could ask for. They were accessable throughout the day even after class and on weekends. They did their absolute best to explain the problem that we were having on our assignments. They walk around and check that you have completed the exercises before moving on to the next slide/presentation to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Ariel, the owner balanced us out when we were fried from the content we had learned throughout the week, he kept us motivated and gave us therapy to make sure that we kept pushing. Alia (marketing manager) made sure that at the end all of our LinkedIn profiles and resumes were styled perfect, she also set us up with mock interviews which I learned so much from and I cant thank her enough for that.

Overall, I cant take anything away from Ironhack, they exceeded all of my expectations. It wasnt easy but then again it is not meant to be easy. They are going to challenge you day in and day out until you really get an understanding of things. If I had the chance to do it all over again I would, I am glad I stuck around and accomplished what I have wanted to do pretty much since I graduated high school and that is to become a developer.