Perpetual Education

To be honest, I was skeptical about Perpetual Education in the beginning. After checking out their website it felt much more like a designer or UX/UI leaning course. I really loved their outlook and approach to educating, but it wasn't the path that I wanted. I (thought) I was looking for a backend path or maybe fullstack. I did return to them eventually and after chatting with Ivy and Derek, I was assured that with how they set up the program, there are eventually different routes and different areas to focus on during the course, but they are heavy on teaching about the design DOs and DON'Ts so that more developers are able to create with more purpose and not making broken things.
The course is heavily reliant on group participation and communication. When students aren't involved, it can impact everyone, so don't go into this (or any study program) if you can't dedicate yourself to learning and keeping up with everyone. It's not fair to you or anyone else. The participation with fellow students has been some of the best experience and learning from the program. Others would ask questions I hadn't thought of or would run into issues and we could all learn from that as a team.
There is an expectation to meet with Derek at least once a week to chat about whatever you need to. If you are struggling with understanding a concept, he can work with you one on one to get a better idea and how to practice so that the information will stick. Do NOT skip out on these meetings. It is single-handedly possibly the best benefit to this course.

Now, for job assistance, they aren't going to hand out jobs for everyone to apply to, because that isn't their goal anyway. They want everyone to find their own focus and discover the kind of companies you want to work for. If you really like camping and hiking and outdoorsy stuff, find a cool company that aligns with that and figure out how you can get a job there. Then you will get the assistance you want/need for polishing your resume, your portfolio and generally preparing for interviews and such.

In short, I think the experience here is one of a kind and I can't imagine a better outcome from any of the other bootcamps I had looked at in the beginning.

This program is a bit different from most. I hesitate to call it a "bootcamp" as the curriculum and mentorship is presented in an almost academic-quality manner. From the production and planning of the lessons, to the detail and depth you will get into, it begins to feel like a rigorous college program than a quick bootcamp. 

This program is designed to cover design fundamentals as well as programming. If I had to guess, I would say that maybe 1/4th of the course is strictly design related, but it is woven into the rigorous programming lessons too at times. Having a decent eye for typography, space, and color can allow you to have more intelligent conversations with co-workers, or even just guide your process when creating your own work. Typography, for example, is one of those things that once you learn even a little bit of the basic ideas - you increase your value as a developer quite a lot. Myself and my cohort have several people who have taken those design principles quite far - and the stuff they've made is genuinely impressive - certainly beyond the portfolios of other people I've seen who have not been exposed to design principles.

This program is not light on programming either. As stated, my ballpark guess is that a large majority of the course is strictly programming related. The course is basically structured in a manner that tracks the history of web development over time. For example with CSS, you start by positioning elements with floats. You then use flexbox, and then grid. For scripting, you start by introducing basic php scripting and partials, then move onto more advanced PHP principles, then WordPress as a basis for understanding frameworks. Then you do some Javascript - and follow a similar pattern. Basic JS, then more advanced concepts, then a JS framework - and so on.

The course is quite detailed. It really benefits you to work hard every day until it's over. In my experience, students who do not continually apply themselves tend to not do well in the long term. The ones that stick around and actually work end up becoming pretty freaking great. 

So is this program great? I would say so. Personally, I think it's one of the best decisions I've made - and I've went to college. I probably would have considered giving this a try before college if I knew what it would be like. Derek is great, the course is pretty fair in the sense that it increases in difficulty pretty straightforwardly. You never really feel totally lost for too long - but it has its fair share of challenges. I'm a harsh critic when it comes to a lot of things. I'm the type of person to rate an amazing movie or album an 8/10. I don't hand out high scores for things almost ever. I think this course - in terms of learning web development with some design to round you out - is a true 10/10 - and I genuinely mean that it is probably, pound for pound, the best web development program you could take if you want to get a great start in a career, or start your own development company, or what have you. I do think it is that good.

But that doesn't answer the actually important question - is this the right program for you in particular? That's a hard question to answer, because even a really good course and a truly great mentor can't prepare you for the realities of development. It is a hard field. I am currently employed after taking this course - and it's challenging. I've seen a couple cohorts where people seemed really passionate and some gave up, or slacked off, or whatever. I would say that this it depends on your temperament and personality. If you love development, if you love design, and if you love programming - then I think it's the best. But if you don't love those things and if you aren't ready to work really hard to not only pass the course, but land a job - then it is not for you. It takes genuine passion and dedication, and even being a developer now - I would be lying if I said there weren't times that I wanted to give up (and I really like programming!)

In theory, the best possible course would simply act as a mirror. Given a great curriculum and teacher - truthfully speaking, the only people who would have a hard time succeeding are people who aren't actually in love with the idea of being a developer, or something like that. I think this course is a mirror. I think given the price and scope of the material, Derek puts the ball in your court. You will, in a sense, have everything you need to succeed. 

Whether you do is up to you.

My journey into web development began at the end of 2019 and sporadically throughout 2020 and 2021 when I came across a “How to Build a Calculator using HTML/CSS/ and JS” tutorial on YouTube. I had no coding experience and figured I’d skim through the video and then watch another video. I ended up watching the entire 37-minute video, and although confused at what I watched, I kept thinking to myself how amazing it was watching someone create an online calculator from nothing. 

I began to research how I could learn programming through Google search, Reddit forums, Quora, and any site or resource I could get a response to. I found so many responses that said going to a coding boot camp would be the best road to take, but also an equal amount of responses that said boot camps are a waste of time because all the resources are on Google, YouTube, Khan Academy, FreeCodeCamp, Codecademy, etc. 

The coding boot camp promise of becoming “a full-stack software developer and landing a $90,000 a year job in 12 weeks” was so enticing that I decided to research that option. Yes it was expensive, yes it required 8-10 hours a day, every day for the next 12 weeks, but the idea of becoming a full-stack developer and making that much money in 3 months just seemed too good to be true. I research every boot camp near me as well as all the “best” online boot camps. I requested information from them, spoke to reps over the phone, went to info sessions, and even interviewed for a few. I spent two months researching and meeting with boot camps but in the end, there just weren't any that gave me total confidence. 

Nearly every boot camp I spoke to sounded like they were trying to sell me their school and get me enrolled so they can take my money. They would often repeat how much money I will be making in such a short time and how I did not need to know ANYTHING about programming to enroll. They would give me their syllabi and it just seemed impossible to truly learn everything they said and be a full stack developer in 12 weeks. Many of them also did not seem to have a great career assistance program for graduates. In fact, most just told me to bombard people on LinkedIn, and eventually, someone will grant me an interview. In the end, I felt they were all sale pitches and felt none of those boot camps had my best interest at heart. 

I ended up going down the self-taught route and purchased a few courses on Udemy. It started with HTML and CSS and I would watch and code along with the instructor. I would add images to a webpage, change the font colors, make the heading fixed to the top of the pages, and do things a real web developer did. I felt great and felt accomplished. The only problem was problems. When I would come across an issue or something not working correctly I did not know how to fix it. These problems were not in the tutorial thus I did not know how to come up with a solution. That is when I realized that the only reason I knew how to add images, change font colors, and make headings fixed were because I was blindly following another person’s code and not learning its core concepts and why things were happening. I also had trouble retaining things I learned and would end up rewatching the same parts of the tutorial over and over again with each new time thinking I was finally going to get it. I never did get it. I would quickly deduce that the tutorial I purchased was bad and would learn better from another tutorial. I never did get better with the new tutorial. 

I was depressed after feeling like a failure for not being able to self-teach myself like all those other self-taught web developers on YouTube and Instagram. I thought about quitting and did for a few months. Then in January of 2021, I decided to get back on the coding horse and give it another ride. I ended up coming across a video posted by Derek from Perpetual Education which led me to their website. What intrigued me was that this website was not like the other boot camps out there. There was no giant text telling me I could be a full stack developer in 12 weeks and make $90k a year. The site was bright and welcoming. It also featured introductory videos Derek made explaining what this mentorship was, who it was for, what we would be learning, and why Derek made it. And throughout all the video, it felt Derek was talking directly to me as someone who genuinely wants to teach web development and design the way he wished he was taught. Perpetual Education and Derek were able to give me something those other boot camps could not: confidence in me that I could become a web developer and confidence that he can help me get there. 

I have been a student at Perpetual Education for the last 5 months and there is not a single day that goes by that I regret enrolling. Within the first two months, I have learned more than I have in almost 2 years of self-teaching. 

Let’s start with the basics: Derek taught us how a computer even works and navigate through our computers more effectively resulting in us learning shortcut keys and tricks we’ve never used or known about. We learned about file paths and file systems on our computers. We learned about how the internet works, how everything is a series of HTTPS requests and transfers. We learned about how websites looked, functioned, and were built in the 1990s and even built our own 1990’s style webpage. We learned HTML and how the browser parses and renders code line by line. We learned about SEO and meta tags, a concept I never even heard of as they were not in any of those HTML/CSS tutorials I bought. We learned the basics of design using Affinity Designer and were able to design our own meta-images, logos, and wallpapers for our websites. We learned about styles, connecting them to our HTML file and drastically changing it with CSS. The best part is that we did not just work on HTML and CSS for a few weeks and then completely moved on but am constantly using it and learning more about it throughout this mentorship. We learned about the importance of typography, how it can significantly impact whether viewers want to look at your webpage and how to incorporate them into our projects. We worked with a real client and got to build a small business website using HTML and CSS. We learned about responsive websites and how to make our website scale from desktop to tablet to mobile views. We’ve created SVG images and learned how to change their styles using CSS. We learned how to ask questions online on Google and StackOverflow as well as ready documentation on MDN and other sites we find. We have been working with PHP to create components to create HTML as well as import JSON files, loop through its content, and dynamically generate its content onto the browser on the fly. We’ve learned and used a Content Management System in WordPress and have been working with Javascript as well. 

The concepts I’ve mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg in the mentorship and every day we students are constantly learning something new. The best part of it all is that Derek teaches in a manner that is easy to learn. When things are not easy, he is ALWAYS there to help answer questions and guide you. “Design for the Web” is NOT a boot camp, it is a mentorship that truly teaches you the fundamentals of whatever field you want to go into. Whether it is design, front-end development, back-end development, program management, or whatever other tech field you want to go into, Derek and Ivy will do everything they can to help you. 

I have always been a pessimist when it comes to my career. I’ve always felt I could never amount to anything or get anywhere. For the first time in 10 years, I am excited and confident about my career. I completely trust Derek and Ivy and know, wholeheartedly, that I am in great caring hands. And I know that even after I land a career, Derek will still be the mentor I go to whenever I need help or advice. This will not be a once you “graduate” you are done kind of program like those other boot camps. I will come back and edit this post as time goes on but I just wanted to take the time to post how grateful I am to be a student at Perpetual Education and cannot wait to see where it takes me. 

I've been enrolled in the Design for the Web (DFTW) program now for six months. I chose to build my career here because of how original, unique and genuine the program's approach is compared to the content provided by the mass of other boot camps. For example, none of the other bootcamps offered the chance to study and work in small groups while in a mentorship program. In addition, the most impressive factor was that this program tied in web development and visual design.

After the first virtual meeting with not a salesperson but the mentor himself, I was convinced this was the right program. I had the chance to really get to know about the program and ask him all that was on my mind. (Go for it, really, ask him ANYTHING.)

In addition, the sense of humor the mentor has makes the lessons less dense and pedantic. I also liked that I never felt I was left on my own to digest all this crazy information. I had the option to message or schedule a 1 to 1 virtual call with him every day of the course if I wanted. I know for a fact that other boot camps don't offer that. 

One important aspect that I truly appreciate about this program is that it helped me gain confidence in my knowledge. You'll learn about the tech industry, its tools, what to expect once you get a job, how to read books, visual design, and how to tackle projects. I even got the opportunity to work with real clients. And as the saying goes, with knowledge comes power; I gained a lot of confidence in myself as a web developer because the courses taught not only the technical aspects but also had a holistic approach by showing me how to implement this in the real world.  

Yes, the mentorship program is new, and it faces some growing pains. However, its value resides in its unique nature and constant evolution (just like Tesla cars?) It indeed demands a lot of mental work and self-discipline to keep on track with all the lessons. But, if you like the idea of a constantly evolving course and being able to talk to your mentor as much as possible, schedule your time, find those 3-4 hours of study per day and consider enrolling. You won't regret it. 

I wish a school like Perpetual Education(PE) existed back in 2016 when I started my journey to learn to code. Not so much a bootcamp but a community of like-minded and intelligent people to learn with. I can confidently say that they are one of a kind.

Since becoming a student, I have made more progress learning design and programming here than I did in 3+ years of learning on my own. No other school recreates the demands of a real-world work environment, while also teaching you work-life balance and soft skills. 
Instead of going to a strictly coding school where I am forced to be full-stack (and may end up in a job I hate).

PE offers a bite-sized and goal-oriented learning strategy and allows me to find my place in the industry naturally. This system is what allows me to build my portfolio, learn troubleshooting and how to explain my decisions. All skills that will help me get hired. 

I think that Perpetual Education may have confused some people. They think “Design” isn’t for me. Or “I want to be a software engineer”. But what they are missing is that you learn all the programming stuff you’d learn in a coding bootcamp AND the UX and design thinking. It’s just taught in a different way that combines it.
The combination of individual support and highly focused lessons is what sets Perpetual Education apart.

PE helps you get jobs in a bunch of ways / but your portfolio is going to get you the job. They aren't teaming up with corporate America to have you "placed." They are focused on the education. The work will speak for itself. Also, what other school is personally taught by the person who actually designed the lessons?