Makers Academy

Before I jump into reviewing Makers, a little context.

I'm older than most people embarking on a technical career - I had just turned 39 when I applied for Makers. I had been aiming at a musical career since I was a teenager, and despite some success here and there, I was still temping in universities to pay the bills. I was no stranger to tech but hadn't coded anything other than a few childhood ZX Spectrum experiments. Perhaps it was my age, or the fact that my daughter was starting to ask what my job was, but things had to change. When my wife told me of Makers, I quit my job immediately to focus on getting in.

The pre-course was a great was to get to grips with the basic tools of the trade - IDEs, the command line, github and so forth. At this point, the Makers student is already at an advantage over someone with a book about JavaScript.

The course itself is very intensive and requires your full attention, all day. This tricky when your sleep is interrupted every single night, and I am pleased that Makers have started a part time version of the course - this would have been my preference if it had been offered at the time.

The curriculum structure is great. Makers mainly teaches Ruby, which is not the most popular language professionally - however its simple syntax allows you to keep your focus on learning the basic patterns that underpin all mainstream coding languages. This emphasis, combined with a couple of weeks' introduction to JavaScript, provided a great impetus to jump in and learn something new whenever it is needed.

Your time is divided between classes that highlight the key concepts, self led learning and pair programming on increasingly complex challenges that neatly demonstrate that week's pertinent topics.

The course's first two group projects are in Ruby and Rails, and the third is a free choice. These allow the student to experience what it is like working on a professional software team.

The general atmosphere is very warm. The Coaches and other staff are friendly and approachable, the building itself was well organised, smart and generously stocked. Thoughtful inclusions such as basic food supplies, games and musical instruments really made all the difference. The presence of a dedicated yoga/meditation/counselling practitioner was absolutely invaluable.

Obviously Makers aren't responsible for this, but all the other students were lovely. The course was pleasantly feud free.

Makers' support doesn't end when you finish the course - you are instead ushered into the Makers Alumni online community, where they help you get a job. They support you through the process of putting together a CV, writing an application and interviewing for jobs. It's great for getting to know other developers and networking to get jobs, and this has been vital during the pandemic. The job board has a special place in my heart as it's where I found my first coding  job!

To sum up - if you want to become a software developer, definitely go to Makers. But if you can't be sure of a good night's sleep every night, do the part time course!

I chose Makers over other bootcamps because via a friend, I knew 2 people who had already done it and got dev jobs. Now, I'm able to add myself, the aforementioned friend and last time I checked, 17 out of the 20 people in my cohort to that list!
Pros+ You will learn things that are difficult to learn and practice on your own as a self-taught developer e.g. test-driven development, object oriented programming.+ You will gain valuable team project and pair programming skills. Again, you cannot get these being merely self-taught and these experiences will come in handy in a real dev job as well as be useful material for your answers to interview questions.+ Job support. Makers have a dedicated team of careers coaches that can help you with CVs, cover letters, interview prep and more. They have careers talks, careers events. You will not feel lonely in your job hunt with Makers.+ Hiring partners. This is one of the biggest pros. Makers have a fantastic array of hiring partners and trust me it's easier to get a job internally through Makers (competing just with other Makers), than it is to get a job externally, competing with every job-seeking junior developer out there pretty much.+ Wellbeing. Unlike another bootcamp I almost did, which was 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, Makers have a healthy approach to work-life balance and also offer yoga, meditation and counselling. Even though I think meditation is total garbage and yoga is not my thing, it's nice that Makers have mental wellbeing in mind.
Cons- Too much pair programming for my liking. I was self-taught for 9 months before going into the bootcamp, others had only a few weeks of programming experience. Guess who benefits from pair programming in those instances? If you're more advanced, the pair programming will often slow you down when you could be breezing ahead and delving deeper into things. On the flip side, if you go into the bootcamp knowing hardly programming, this will actually be a pro. Firstly, you will need pair programming otherwise you will often struggle to get things done. Secondly, you will benefit from being able to pair with and learn from more experienced or adept programmers.- Students reviewing each other's weekend challenges. Not sure as to the efficacy of this. Often it's the blind reviewing the code of the blind. That being said, it does give you a taste for reviewing pull requests in a real job.
In conclusion, I can't compare the content of Makers with other bootcamps because I only did Makers. But what I can say is that I graduated in January 2021, got a job 10 weeks later, and now in December 2021, I know that at least 17 out of the 20 people in my cohort have got legit, full-time, developer jobs.

 Makers Academy takes you from zero knowledge of web development to being able to plan, create and host your own web apps using the most in-demand languages and technologies. It was a fantastic opportunity to make a career change. The aftercare of Makers was by far the most impressive part of the course for me, the process is well managed and the hiring team is fantastic at helping you with your CV and interviews. There are lots of high-quality partners hiring through the academy. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to make a career change! 

I had a wonderful time at Makers Academy. I've landed an incredible role within a leading AI startup, and have fast tracked my career transition.
PROS
- Community. I find it helpful to be part of empowering communities, and between the students and coaches Makers has put together an excellent one. This certainly helped expedite my learning. Whilst self teaching code helped me with syntax etc, after Makers I feel like I could confidently produce well written/tested/documented production code in most languages.
- EQ stuff is excellent. Daily check ins, daily led-meditation and yoga several times I week. I attended all of these, and have continued most of these habits since finishing the course.
- Job hunting support is strong. Good coaching sessions to prepare for interviews, and great emotional support through out
CONS
- Being fully remote was a bit of a con for me, as in-person classes hadn't resumed when I started
- I think some students could have benefited with a little more 1-on-1 coaching time on the main course. I didn't feel like I needed anymore, but I know other students disagreed with me

Makers will teach you how to learn new things,  over and over again. You'll do something new every week and it's really really full on. By the end, you can build web apps. In at least two languages. It's really amazing how far you can come in just a few months. There's a big focus on teamwork (in the form of pairing and group projects) and mental well-being (in the form of workshops, meditation, yoga, and an amazing chief happiness officer who is always there for you if you hit a mental bump). You'll need all those resources though - it's very challenging and can be frustrating. Most of the learning is self-led, you have to be willing to work really hard to find the answers to your questions yourself. You can ask coaches questions but they will also encourage you to find your own solutions first. It can also be hard to get a coach involved sometimes, at least in a remote setting. You'll spend a lot of time learning things from other members in your cohort rather then a coach - especially in the later weeks.

The careers team works very hard as well to get good hiring partners and to teach you about applying for jobs. I gained a lot of confidence and knowledge by talking to them. They also provide great opportunities to get to know companies. I would highly recommend looking for a job with their help over going it alone.

All in all, I would recommend it, it will get you started in software development. But it will completely take over your life for the time you're in the course.

I took a huge gamble leaving my full-time job to join Makers, in the middle of the pandemic no less, but I found that a lot of people on the course were in a very similar situation to myself. Makers know this too and offer incredible support at every stage to help you deal with the doubt, stress, and anxiety that can come with taking such a huge leap of faith. That said, the course is not a cakewalk. Makers do everything they can to help you along your journey, but ultimately, you are the one who has to walk the path. To get the best out of the course, you will need to put your all into the weekly challenges, workshops, and materials provided by Makers. It is an intensive course for a reason.  Luckily, the coaches make this a really enjoyable and fun experience. They treat you as an individual and there is an emphasis on emotional intelligence that for me was a huge part of why I chose Makers over other coding boot camps. They are honest with you when talking about job prospects or any limitations upon course completion and have an amazing team specifically dedicated to assisting you in finding your first role. I am happy to say I was offered a role within the first 2 months of completing the course and the face time that you get with their hiring partners is invaluable in achieving this. If you are pursuing purely a front-end role, the course curriculum does not focus on this as much so maybe it wouldn't be the best for you if that was your goal - the hiring partners (for the majority, it seems) tend to be either back-end or full-stack roles. That said, some of their hiring partners are looking for front-end only devs so I wouldn't write it off completely. Look at the curriculum. Do your research. I can guarantee you will learn something on the course that can help you find a job.  

Learn to learn how to make anything, that's a tall order!  However, it's a great goal and Makers definitely meets that challenge with an agile approach.  The bootcamp was a hard journey that I value highly and I feel empowered to be able to make anything.

Sometimes it didn't feel straightforward how each particular lesson or exercise on the course fit into the big picture, however perhaps that's the nature of tackling as abstract and complex of a problem as learning to learn!  You learn it's best to fail quickly and often, that pair programming and talking out your logic is sometimes invaluable, and about a myriad of topics that nascent experience can only skim the surface of.  There are plenty of workshops offered as well as one-off workshops when a group of Makers all have similar needs.  Technical support in the form of coaches is available and helpful, but you're also learning to de-bug your problems yourself.

The end of the program was a little unsettling by the very nature of stopping an intensive 3 month structure and then preparing to apply for jobs.  The careers support side of the program has a strong emphasis on learning your own effective process for meeting the challenge.  The coaching available during this time is incredibly helpful and prepared me with confidence in an approach to job hunting that I'd never had before.  Additionally, the roles available to apply to, from companies recruiting through Makers directly, are high quality opportunities.

Community is also emphasised during the program, looking to bring people together in new ways, encouraging communication and relationship development.  Even though I was on the remote program, my cohort was extremely cohesive, supportive, and energising.  I can only imagine that the bootcamp in person is an elevated experience of what Makers manages to pull off remotely.

Well done to Makers Academy and their incredible staff!

Makers Academy takes you from zero knowledge of web development to being able to plan, create and host your own web apps using the most in-demand languages and technologies. Through the use of instructional seminars and regimented pair programming sessions - daily - you quickly learn whilst sharing your knowledge with the rest of your cohort and this only compounds the rate at which your skills develop. There are challenges at the end of each segment that showcase just how much you've learned, to yourself more so than anyone else. At the end of the course, I found myself employment ready. Making the most of the post-course support to build a competitive CV and hone the art of writing a cover letter, I found myself on the end of a job offer within a couple of months. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to make a career change!