SPICED Academy

My time at Spiced Academy was a super career-reset. After making the tough decision of a career switch during the pandemic, there was also choosing the right school. I read online about bootcamps in Berlin and they always mentioned that it can be a nerve cracking experience if you are not mentally prepared and highly motivated. I had already decided about Full Stack Web Development after discussing with friends in the field and online research. 

I believe the curriculum at Spiced was well-organized and structured. As I was a bit nervous naturally, I prefered the duration of 12 weeks instead of the more common 9 week bootcamps. In addition, an appealing website always helps to attract students, especially if they want to become a web developer. It definitely had an effect on me and made the decision easier. If eligible, one should definitely utilize the Bildungsgutschein from the Arbeitsagentür. The admission process was a good way to learn about the school and get some basic preparation. The home assignment during admission already gives you a good idea about yourself and whether you are ready for such an intensive bootcamp. 

Once the bootcamp started, there was no time to look back. We were thoroughly engaged with learning and our home tasks everyday. It was nice to have fellow course mates from various backgrounds. We slowly got to know our friendly and very helpful teachers day by day. They each had their own style but also a common aim, to get the topics into our heads! During the pandemic, studying remotely was a new experience for both sides and Spiced handled it quite well. It was a good balance between lectures, assignments and consultation. The course also had a seemless flow starting with JavaScript, HTML, CSS for the front end; shifting to the back end with Node/Express, PostgreSQL, etc.; getting introduced to frameworks like Vue & React and finally moving onto the real projects. While working on the projects I had realized I have already made considerable progress. Each project was different and exciting to do, as we could include our own ideas and creativity. That always helped to open our minds and broaden our perspectives. 

Finally, before we knew it, it was time to submit our final project and graduate. The intensity made the 3 months feel like it flew by. We were ready to create our portfolio, resume and online presence as job-seekers. Spiced career consultation helped a lot to achieve them, even after we had graduated. There were career talks/discussions throughout the bootcamp. In addition, the hiring department was always actively searching for prospective employers for Spiced graduates. Both career counselling and hiring department from Spiced supported to push towards the job market and give confidence while applying to jobs myself. Thankfully I was able to land my first job within a couple of months as a Frontend Developer in Berlin. Till date we are still connected to the Spiced network, old and new students. The time at Spiced will be a very memorable experience forever. I would highly recommend Spiced Academy for anybody looking to change their careers, no matter what background you come from; have an awesome/priceless brainwash and get ready for the tech industry within 3 months!

I did the course after quitting my job as I really wanted to be a Developer for around 2 years. So my decision involved a lot of research in advance because it wouldn't be an easy way either. After multiple talks and invitations at different providers, I quickly wanted to be part of SPICED. My personal reasons for that were primarily the curriculum --> modern frameworks, a lot of JS and working on/creating multiple projects each week to really have something of your own work to show after graduating. That was quite helpful for my applications afterwards. Also, it shouldn't be too general and easy - at another provider I needed to simply change colors in css and got the course acception based on that. Idk, you think about the level of the whole course then right? If you have few experience before, you need to learn so much to even start in that job anyways. My recommendation is learning the basics before and use the bootcamp for getting deeper into understanding. If you see yourself in my review so far, SPICED is the absolute best way to do this. :) I'm not gonna lie, it was very challenging and exhausting. I thought I cannot make it so often. But it was the best way to learn quite a lot in a very short time. You get a great overview of different Frontend and Backend projects what can also be helpful for focussing just in one field afterwards. Biggest props at this point to our outstanding teacher Florian! I really think that he was the best part of the whole bootcamp. Patient, funny, very good at explaining, always helpful and positive on anything especially when you are deeply frustrated :')
It took some time and still a lot of work after graduation, but I'm an employed Full Stack Web Developer now and would do it anytime again with SPICED.

The Overall experience of the Boot Camp was really Nice. The instructors were Really helpful and the curriculum was very well constructed. First we learned the basics off css and javascript then we had two big projects that were made with react and vue.
The graduation project was a Projektei of our choice with a framework of our choice.
10 graduation project was actually the most fun, because it was the first time you really saw what you learned in practice.

While going through the different topics there were really interesting job search workshops in between, , preparing you for the later job search.
They also help you with the whole hiring process and get you a accustomed to 
Tech interviews.
What really stood out was the community behind spiced Academy. All people are really engaged to help you and I’m still grasping opportunities via slack and the different channels and events they do for graduates.

If I had to decide again I Would totally 
Do the camp again.
It is a really good starting point to get deeper into web development, if you already have grasped the basics.
I have to warn you though that It is really intense and you will probably come to the point where it seems too much, but luckily there will be teachers which will guide you, if you get stucked.

❤️❤️❤️

I completed the 12 weeks intensive course in Data Science in Berlin this June-Sept. It was without a doubt one of the best times and I want venture as far to say life-changing. The faculty and staff were, and remain, extremely helpful and supportive. Course content can be challenging as it really is quite a lot (a new topic every week), but totally worth the time, and you will never not receive help if you ask. The bootcamp gives a great overview of various topics and teaches valuable (tech) skills, so the hardest thing is to then choose what you like best and want to continue focusing on after you graduate. There is great career support with e.g. CV reviews during and afterwards as well. SPICED Academy also has a good number of hiring partners, which the direct line helps to land an interview in today's competitive market.
I can only recommend SPICED to anyone wanting to advance their skills and career.

This web development Bootcamp was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. But it is well worth it. In the first place, I had too many concerns regarding my background because I have spent 7 years as a lawyer and when I decided to make a career change, I had literally no idea about web development and had no coding experience. I still can not believe but I found a position just after 2 months of finishing my Bootcamp, first as an intern and now as an FE engineer in the same company.  Bootcamp is quite intense but all teachers in Spiced are quite helpful and so supportive. Whenever I felt bad or under pressure, they really made their best to make me believe again that I can learn to code. 

Bootcamp is officially 3 months but with the prep period (Spiced is providing some links/platforms so that you can learn basics for CSS/HTML/JS/SQL for the Bootcamp and pass the assignment), I would say I spent almost 5 months for Spiced. I strongly recommend investing good time in the prep especially if you have no background/ experience in coding. The curriculum is quite packed and intense but at the same time great for the industry. While applying for the positions, I figured out how much we learned in Spiced and how useful the things we learned for the industry. Happy that I had this experience and met all the great people (and of course David's cat :) ) from Spiced! 

This bootcamp is a great opportunity to get into this area in Germany without any German language requirements, also worth joining for Germans who would like to learn in an international atmosphere. When I heard about SPICED, I didn't hesitate to register and try to get the funding from Agentur für Arbeit. The course was indeed intensive, but I completed every project in the end and had a lot of fun. The teachers are good at what they do. The career coaching is super helpful. I'm glad about my decision and will definitely recommend it to friends.
Application:
Don't be afraid of this 60-hour prep course and the assessment. The course is just a review of university math (Calculus, Linear Algebra and Statistics), some introductory reading, and basic Python codes. If you have a programming background, it doesn't take that much time at all. If you don't, it is easy to catch up with the learning material.

The assessment is writing a Python program regarding simple math problems. This is not a graded exam. You will receive a comment with suggestions from the teachers.

During the Course:
The course is mainly about Machine Learning (incl. Deep Learning). There are also projects about SQL, AWS, Docker, and software engineering. Meanwhile, topics like coding style, testing and web application will be mentioned as well.

The bootcamp can be on-site or online, depending on which city you live in. You will stay in front of the computer for at least 10 hours a day, and the brain work will get you hungry sooner than usual. Remember to relax and keep exercising during the bootcamp. → Don't break your eyes, back or neck. :P

All course material is online, which means you have full access even after the bootcamp. There are mandatory lessons and extra lessons for self-learning. The teachers may add them in the course depending on the schedule and students' learning speed, or upon requests.

A weekly project involves many relevant topics. The target and steps are usually listed in the beginning. You'll receive the tools from the teachers and apply them one by one. On Friday afternoon, everyone will give a lightning talk about their work of the week or some other interesting topics from their exploration during the week. This is the relaxing moment of the week.

Career Coaching:
After the class (once a week), there are online career sessions about job functions, CV & cover letter, LinkedIn, interviews, salary negotiation, job search strategies, etc. There you will meet students from other cohorts. No matter how many applications you may have written, you could always learn a new point or two. For academics and fresh graduates, it will be a fundamental instruction of job searching.

You could also book private coaching sessions with the professionals to discuss individual cases or for a revision of your CV/cover letter. The career sessions are also offered after graduation.

Graduation:
In the last week, you will come up with your own project idea and use what you've learned to realize it. The teachers are there to help. It will be an exciting challenge, and it helps you to get a feeling of real work. You will present your project online on the last Friday in front of 40/50 audiences.
In the end, you will only find that 12 weeks are not enough, you want to learn more. But at this point, you are actually more capable than you think because you can already solve so many problems in your life! The final project is proof. This bootcamp is a fast and ensured path to start your data career. 

Learning web development at Spiced Academy was a fantastic experience! I joined the full-stack web development program. The admission team is very friendly and informative, though the entry assignment is quite challenging but worth it! As a German citizen or resident, you can benefit from state aid and get an approximative 60% grant.

Every teacher was great and supportive. I went from no code to build a simple web application using all the latest industry tech stack.

The curriculum is very well organized, and the pace is relatively fast. It was not easy at all, but every day made more sense as we moved along. The Bootcamp lasts 3 months. We learned HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, and the most used frameworks in the industry, NodeJs, Handlebars, VueJs, and React. The Bootcamp gives you all the tools in your hands to become a web developer!

I'll start off by saying that we were the first cohort to be 100% beginning to end online. That would be worrying as so much of the experience would be lost, or so I thought.. SPICED adapted incredibly well, and the instructors were beyond incredible. 

My entrance exam was returned to me after the first attempt because I didn't know the difference between a return and a console.log (except that they show different colors on the browser). Today I feel like that was years ago and not just 12 weeks. 

Spiced will keep you up in front of your screen 10-14 hours a day. You will dream code and you will have breakdowns but not once did I feel alone or lost.. The light at the end of the tunnel seemed faint at first but if you push, SPICED will get you there.. 

I think the biggest positive (and this might be a negative to some) there is no hand-holding. There is guidance, it will seem vague at first but when you pick a new library and can read the documentation and think for yourself the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming. 

Today I can npx create-react-app cd into an idea, and from nothing create something. Thanks SPICED