Big Nerd Ranch

I attended the iOS Essentials with Swift bootcamp in Monterey. The Asilomar Conference center is beautiful and very comfortable. I was new to iOS programmng and so, for me, the pace was very fast. The course proved to be an excellent foundation for me to build upon. I am looking forward to attending an Advance course when I feel like I have progressed enough to benefit from it. I had wanted to attend a Big Nerd Ranch bootcamp for quite some and was not disappointed at all.

My instructor was excellent. Very knowledgeable and able to explain difficult (for me) concepts. Small class size and a wonderful group of fellow students made for an excellent learning experience.

January 5, 2018

Without a doubt, I highly recommend BNR’s iOS Essentials with Swift course. As an experienced developer that was looking for a springboard into iOS / Swift, this course was great. During the course of the program, we were exposed to important topics on iOS and Swift and were encouraged to think outside of the box and ask questions beyond the course material. At the end of the course, I had not only a large portfolio of working code examples, but also experience and knowledge beyond what could be found in just the book.

Location and amenities were great as well.

Helpful hints: 1) Make sure to be fully focused on the training while there. Do your best to avoid work emails, etc, unless required. 2) Have a project or idea to play around with during office hours in the evening. This is a great way to expand on the knowledge you have learned on a daily basis and will allow you to ask questions beyond what is covered in class, and the instructors will be helpful in answering your questions.

Only downsides are that it can be tough to get away for that long and cost can be high if your company is not covering the training.

I’ve attended the Android course as well, and it was great. Really looking forward to the Kotlin course in May!

February 7, 2018

I attended the iOS 7 day class with Objective-C.

I have been to literally dozens of training classes over the years and 90% of the bore me.

This was the best training class I have been to by far for the following reasons.

1. Immersion – If you can find the time, please try to. Being dedicated helps focus and results. There are a lot of online courses available and they are really good. This experience is world-class.
2. Instructors – My instructor was world-class. I was looking for industry expert which is what I got
3. Teaches you how to learn – Many classes and online sites tell you how to do things. BNR does some of that but more importantly they teach you how to use the Apple docs properly and find the correct answers yourself instead of relying on search engines
4. Classmates – You will find that all your classmates are very motivated because they also are dedicating the time. I love learning from others and since you eat and train together all day you get to learn a lot from many different angles.

(Please note my class was iOS with Objective-C but that was not an option in the drop-down list)

February 12, 2018

I took this 7 day bootcamp when it was iOS Essentials with Objective-C at the Historic Banning Mills location as did a couple of the other reviewers. The course was excellent. The instructor was awesome. The food was great. The accommodations were cool. The ziplines were a new experience. The mosquitoes were legion.

I didn’t really believe it when the instructor told us to plan to spend some late nights, but most of us were there every evening until 10:00pm or so. Worth every penny. Most technical training classes I attend usually end up with me sitting around fiddling with stuff that is not a part of the assignment because I complete assignments quickly. The instructor picked up on a few of us who were a little more advanced and gave us additional stuff to try. It was refreshing to be continually challenged. The instructor had also built apps for BNR clients, so he had enough experience with the pain points of development (and of Xcode) to give us additional information to minimize those potholes. The fact that there was almost literally nothing else to do there at night encouraged a lot of extracurricular studying.

BNR books are great, and you should have the collection regardless for reference and refreshing purposes, but if you can in any way make it down to one of the bootcamps you will not regret it. It is an intense, superior learning experience.

March 16, 2018

Just like Big Nerd Ranch’s books, their bootcamp courses are top notch. This was my first development bootcamp and I can say without a doubt it was the perfect introduction to both iOS programming and bootcamps in general. The instructors were very versatile, delivering a curriculum that they real-time adjusted to suit each student (we had some first time programmers and some seasoned developers in our class). There’s a reason BNR has been around for all these years and on a continued growth path, their attention to quality sets the bar for other educational companies to aspire to.

March 22, 2018

I was deeply impressed with the Big Nerd Ranch bootcamp. Our company was interested in expanding our IT systems into mobile applications and we decided to attend an iOS bootcamp at Asilomar. BNR does a great job at pairing excellent teaching with a retreat style getaway. The grounds look like you’re taking a vacation but the 12-14 hours a day of instruction and lab time ensured the material became second nature. The instructor was highly knowledgeable and was able to address any question we had. He sprinkled nature walks and other activities throughout the week so that our brains were able to decompress from the rigorous learning. While the overall course doesn’t cover everything required to launch an app of your own, you get a great level of knowledge that let’s you tackle the remaining learning much easier.

April 10, 2018

Big Nerd Ranch knows how to put on a bootcamp!

The curriculum was thorough and easy to follow. The instructors were engaging and very knowledgeable. If they didn’t know an answer off the top of their heads they would help me find the answer.

The location, Stone Mountain Resort, was breath taking and extremely comfortable. All of my needs were taken care of and provided the perfect environment to focus on learning.

I cannot recommend this bootcamp enough to anyone who is looking to jump into the Swift and iOS world. I was able to take the skills I learned from this bootcamp to launch my first iOS app!

April 13, 2018

The complete immersion into the subject matter is fantastic. I attended the iOS Dev and by the end of the course, I was not only skilled but confident in those skills. I am now a fulltime iOS dev.

I have recommended BNR to colleagues that have gone and loved it as well. I will be going back shortly to add Kotlin to my bag of tricks.

The format is well thought out and the material builds on itself nicely.

April 25, 2018