Le Wagon

It's been three months since I finished Le Wagon's Bootcamp and I'm pretty happy how things have gone so far.

Well, prior to Le Wagon, I had been working as Product Manager in Rio de Janeiro but I've never had the chance to really dive deep into technology, which has been my goal since I figured it out this was the market that I'd like to work on. As a PM, it is really important to evaluate the customers' needs, to know how to deal with the different stakeholders and, of course, understand what has to be done to solve the customers pains. However, in the startup environment, things happen really fast and your pace must be equivalent, in order to deliver value to the customers and its investors. Thus, I felt that I had a technology knowledge gap which was holding me down to take higher flights.

As soon as I felt that I needed to take this step deeper into technology, I found about Le Wagon and, since from reading its syllabus, I felt that it would be a great opportunity to learn and evolve as someone who wants with technology for life.

I took part of the #261 batch and it was a great opportunity to meet new people, exchange experiences and, of course, learn a lot of new things. The bootcamp is really hands on, with a lot of practical exercises and with a dynamic really similar to what is working as a developer in the real world. The student really needs to look for the answer, debug its code and learn from its mistakes. Also, what impressed me was the product driven mentality from it, which lacks in a lot of companies and is a huge differential among other developers.

After struggled a lot, I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. At the moment, I work at Stone Pagamentos, the most valuable payment company in Brazil, as a developer and I'm sure that the Le Wagon took a huge part on it.

Before Le Wagon, I had just finished a year long internship at a big corporate where I was tasked with a bunch of innovation projects involving technology. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the disconnect between the technical teams and what they referred to as “business”. This was by far and away the biggest challenge to building large scale, successful technical solutions at that company. 

So I thought I would do Le Wagon so in the future I am able to bridge that gap. I was hoping I’d do well to come out the other side able to hold a conversation with a developer. Little did I know that you really could become one in the space of 9 weeks. It is a truly effective programme that goes fast, but not unmanageably so. I really feel like we have covered the fundamentals quite extensively, which was a fear I had when considering this.

The greatest thing for me was the product focus of the programme. I am pretty sure that in no other setting could I get that level of digital product understanding because the reason for it wasn’t just the content, but all the people as well. You get a real entrepreneurial spirit at Le Wagon and it translates into how teachers help you, what you discuss in spare time, what you build for final projects etc. Final projects, the way Le Wagon sets them - with design, development, deployment and marketing all covered, is simply an awesome way to learn! In the end I am so happy with the decision to go and it has been life-changing, just as advertised. Before, I was an aspiring entrepreneur having to work for someone else because I couldn’t find a technical co-founder, now I am doing my university degree while building 2 startups from the comfort of my home.

I’ve always been a nerd but I’ve never had the patience to sit down and code, let alone where to start. I remember the first weeks of the course, having done the prep work I thought we would be eased into the world of coding with a few theory-based lessons. Instead, I found myself learning how to use the terminal on the first day, and I’m pretty sure my first line of code was written on the second. Thank code it was practical, I’m the type to switch off if I’m not engaged by what I am doing. Each week we would complete a set of challenges. Each week it would get more complex there would be moments where I was pulling my hair out, however, the teaching staff were always on hand to help breakdown the problem and help me reach that eureka moment. The part-time course was challenging and it’s not for the faint-hearted. You are about to embark on a journey of trials and tribulations for 6 months. But my, it is worth it in the end. I’m far more competent than I ever imagined. My reason for doing the course was, having some entrepreneurial spirit I’m always hatching an idea. Whereas in the past, I may have cobbled together a landing page, using some HTML template and a series of trials and errors. Now I’m capable of building a web application and this is what I plan to do with my newly found free time. Well, at least some of it. This course is for entrepreneurs and wannabe developers alike. I would also say anyone working in the tech sector would benefit from this course. I myself work for an app and this course has enabled me to understand conversations that in the past would have gone right over my head. Viva Le Wagon!

I dabbled in coding when I was in high school but never thought to pursue a career in it. I have a bachelor's degree in business economics and after spending over 4 years as an ophthalmic technician I decided I wanted to do something different. 

The Bootcamp was definitely a challenge for me, and I struggled initially in a good way. I think the structure of the Bootcamp and learning method worked for me. Short and intense lectures every morning and then the rest of the day to work on what we learned that morning. It's really an incredible learning curve and it was amazing to see how quickly i progressed. The resources that Le Wagon provides are outstanding. The learning platform we used, Kitt, is great because all the lesson material is in one place and we can always refer or check the lecture slides and knowledge base because we have lifetime access to it! 

I worked on Lavender, a platform for social investment as my final project. I especially enjoyed JavaScript - one of the many programming languages we learned in the Bootcamp. It makes dynamic websites and I was able to code the features in the final app we presented at the end of the Bootcamp. I enjoy every part of the development process but my favorite is working on the front end because of its creative potential, because I can see the results immediately. So I think for anyone interested in coding, I really recommend Le Wagon because you get to explore different languages and eventually you'll see what works for you and maybe you even discover what you want to do with these new skills. 

Doing the Bootcamp in Bali was a great decision. Le Wagon has locations all over the world but I felt that coming from Los Angeles, it would be a similar environment. The weather is great and I don't think there's any place I'd rather learn to code in. You have this great view from the classroom and it's all positive vibes. Spending 2 months in Bali really makes a huge difference.

Before I started the Bootcamp, the goal was to learn how to code and produce creative products and solve problems. I was able to accomplish all of that after 9 weeks, that's pretty crazy. I definitely had to work hard throughout the program but it was worth it. Le Wagon has helped me start the journey to pursue my interest in building scalable, innovative products that can make a positive difference in its users' lives.

Graduated from a business school, having worked in finance, marketing and business development in the Real Estate Industry and Banks, I was seeking to develop my entrepreneurship skills.

I always was excited intellectually about coding, starting like many financial persons on excel and going through VBA to automatize many processes of the working place I used to work into, improving the fluidity of the operational part, diminishing repetitive actions and minimizing human risks.

Deeping myself into the code, was for me a necessity, mainly because I always want to learn about everything, but moreover be able to understand, communicate and exchange in my future jobs (that will for sure be in the tech industry) with either technical or business persons.

What is the most surprising in this experience, is that you came to learn code, thinking that you will spend hours on your computer, and going back home exhausted. Well, most of the days you will...

But some other days, starting paying attention to your environment, you will meet incredible people, with outstanding background: from the person being a monk over the past 10 year looking to change his life for good, to the marketing / HR persons looking for to have shift in his career passing through the professional tennisman and brilliant entrepreneur passionate about investment.

Having such diversity is what makes this Bootcamp something bigger than just a learning experience. Maybe not everybody leaves from here, having new best friends, but for sure you are now a part of a new family. It's just up to you to dive yourself into it.

 

So, what I'm doing now ?

• Having a focus on the product I dedicate my recent days to work with my CTO in my start-up on the UX / UI (being more interested in the front aspect) conceiving and achieving our product.
• At the same time, I'm on my way to pass jobs interview to join two persons of my project team (grizbi) that has been hired in the same place, a consultancy firm dedicated on digital transformation integrating technical aspect in his reflexion and having a environment similar to the one that you can find in le Wagon.
• And finally but not the least, as I always wanted to involve myself in education, I had the opportunity to join Le Wagon's team as Teacher Assistant in order to help and follow the new student in their comprehension.

That's it for me, the rest you will have to discover it by yourself, but first come to the Demo Day to just have a hint of what can be a signifcant change in your life !

Good luck on your learning path ! 

Before starting Le Wagon, I was working as a Senior Consultant for a consulting firm specialized in tech. I was contributing to many projects. Mainly UX/UI, CRM and Marketing projects. But I wasn't fully satisfied because I wanted to learn precisely how things work. For example in design, you can be a good designer who knows how to use design tools (such as Sketch and Figma). But to become a great designer, you need some serious coding skills. It's really important to be able to differentiate what can be done, how long it will take, what are your constraints due to the tech stack, and so on. So I came to Le Wagon in order to develop that kind of skills and work on interesting projects.

I was really (and positively) surprised when I arrived, because above everything else, Le Wagon is a strong community of like-minded people. During the bootcamp, you meet a lot of interesting people who have various backgrounds, and different ways of thinking. This is extremely valuable because you will always work at some point with someone who found the solution to an exercise, but in a complete different way than yours. And this is where it gets really interesting if you are curious, because you will start to study different way of approaching the same problem. And then you will probably come up with several solutions, while being able to assess the pros and cons for each solutions.

This is just a small example of why Le Wagon is unique. Teachers are fascinating, very accessible, nice and competent. The staff is very active, and helpful when you need them. Like I said, this a community that lives with strong values, and also digitally with a myriad of Slack channels where alumnis continuously share helpful information, job posts, resources, tips...

Frankly, before starting Le Wagon I had fear that I wouldn't find what I was expecting with a bootcamp. But as soon as I started, I felt great and always pushed to learn more. And this was before the life-changing experience of the final projects where you work as a team. This is probably the best moments at Le Wagon, when you realize that, YES YOU CAN DO IT! You can design and develop great websites. And you are not alone to do it!

I found exactly what I expected, because Le Wagon gave me the opportunity to improve my coding skills, and now I feel much more confident as a Product Designer as I ever was before, because I have a better understanding of the articulation between design and code. I am able to design and develop my own UI components, and think more broadly about the UX, and how everything will work from a back-end standpoint. So yeah... Le Wagon is great, and if you are a curious and motivated person, I think you should definitely do it!

Who’s going in London for an APM (Associate Product Manager) program? I am!! Am I excited? Yes! Is it thanks to Le Wagon? Definitely!

I taught myself a bit about Product Management in my previous job as a project manager, discovered I loved it and wanted to dive deeper in this career. On job offers, I found out most companies were looking for technical skills and I had a business background. I found trainings, conferences, books, but I wanted expert ‘official’ knowledge that would be recognized as valuable by recruiters. I thought about keeping learning all on my own, but it takes a long time to look online for the best resources and practicing and learning after work on the evening and weekends is not so easy.

Le Wagon is a coding school that provides a solid framework on how tech products are developed: you learn how to code, how developers work (methods, mindset), you learn about user stories, user flows, product design sprint, design tools, UX… Lots of skills that can clearly give you bonus points when applying. Teachers are experts in their field and there is a real culture of excellency: students are very motivated and aim for the best, you work A LOT and you have a lifetime access to online resources that are very very very well-made. I loved that during these 9 weeks (and still after!), everyone was focused on gaining the most out of Le Wagon experience.

About Le Wagon community: it is clearly one of this training’s biggest asset. People are kind, helpful and always happy to share. I found a job thanks to a Le Wagon alumni through our internal Slack just a few weeks after having finished the bootcamp. I’m gonna be a Product Manager on a SaaS and guess what? They used to only hire engineers. But now I do have some technical skills, so I had my chance as well :)

I have always wanted to learn code because i thought that Coding was becoming really important for young people who want to become entrepreneur. I decided to sacrifice my summer and immerse myself in the world of code.

Guess what? It was not a sacrifice at all! I discovered that I love coding.

Le Wagon has been by far the most intensive and efficient training I ever followed.

The methodology, the staff and people were amazing!

After 9 weeks at Le Wagon, I was able to make a web app by myself and had enough confidence to keep on learning.

For several years, I worked as a digital manager in the art market field. At that time, I knew some HTML and CSS but I was a bit frustrated not knowing more. A few months ago, I decided to learn coding at Le Wagon to gain knowledge about it and be able to develop complex websites. Best decision I made ! It was an amazing experience ! These 9 weeks at Le Wagon were very interesting and intense. I learned to make websites from scratch: back-end, frond-end, database architectures...and I also met lot of great people.   You learn a lot in a short-time, guided by the great staff, always there to help and advise you. You never feel lost ! And the alumni network is very wide, supportive and active all around the world.   I recommend this bootcamp 100% for any person who want to learn coding and boost its career, whether you want to become a developer, a product manager or launch your own project afterwards !