Flatiron School

This is an outstanding coding bootcamp for the following reasons:

1) The curriculum is great! Speaking as a graduate of the online full stack web development curriculum, you are taught everything you need to work both frontend and backend to write a fully functioning web app.

2) The curriculum is test and live coding assessment driven. This means you can *prove* that you really know how to code and write functioning code. The five projects and half hour assessments with trained developers ensure that you really know your stuff by the time you graduate.

3) You are given a lot of support. You can use the ask a question feature 16 hours a day (9 AM to 1 AM EST) and interact with technical coaches to help you with your code, conceptual questions, or local environment issues. There is no limit to how often you can ask for help on labs (but keep it reasonable and do strive to be independent!). In addition you have a large online Slack community and weekly study groups to help you. That is for the online self paced program I did. If you do a structured or in person program you get more support still. Let me emphasize that this is *far more* support than just about any other place gives you.

4) You graduate with an online portfolio since all of your projects and labs are submitted through github. This greatly increases your credibility with employers.

5) The career and job search support is first rate. You are assigned a career coach and can do half hour weekly checkins with them. They train you to write resumes, network to a job, prepare for interviews, and many other ‘soft skills’ that help you find a job. Does all this work? You bet! There is a reason why this was the first coding bootcamp to have independently verified placement outcomes that were and remain outstanding.

Personal anecdote: I started from almost zero coding experience (< 100 hours). I worked hard and graduated in 6 months. I then took a part time job with Flatiron as a technical coach. Now, less than 10 months after graduation, I am starting a job as a junior software engineer making 73K a year. This well exceeded my expectations. The bottom line: if you are dedicated and have the right personality for programming you absolutely have a high probability of success with this school. As an added bonus they have many free labs you can try to see if this is the right choice for you.

January 7, 2020

Flatiron School was a once in a lifetime experience that changed my life. I challenged myself everyday and met a ton of ambitious and intelligent individuals (instructors, mentors and classmates) who I now call friends and most importantly, I walked away with a profoundly valuable skill: the ability to turn ideas into reality through programming.

I WORKED EXTREMELY HARD AND WAS CHALLENGED!!!

On average, I spent 10–16 hours a day (~75–80 hours/week, including weekends) dedicated to code. I sat in lectures, watched lecture videos and programming videos, worked on labs, wrote blog posts, and built my own projects. Many times during the week I still found myself on campus past 12AM and during the final weeks of Flatiron School in building my final portfolio project, I still found myself on campus past 2AM especially on the weekends. And honestly the only reason why I didn’t stay later was the support of my family, friends and instructors who requested that I take care of my health and not burn out (seriously take care of your health…). But when I got home, I still wrote code. Truth be told, no one should ever tell you that programming is easy because it isn’t. It’s very invigorating and challenging; like really hard. It’s mind-bending work and you constantly have to hold a million different puzzle pieces in your brain in order to solve the problem. There will be days where I go to bed thinking about how to solve the problem and feeling defeated while other days where I felt like I was the champion of the world. Programming, with its instant feedback loop, will constantly play with your emotions. But when things click and you “figure” it out, you will feel a sense of accomplishment like no other. It really is ADDICTING.

The instructors at Flatiron School were all absolutely phenomenal; highly intelligent, humble and experienced individuals who genuinely want you to succeed and do well. Up to this day they still reach out to me and check up on me to make sure that I am doing well and very excited for me when I chose the software engineer role that I wanted.

The career services at Flatiron School stand out among any other Bootcamps in the world and work hard to get you leads and interviews and the job that you want!

February 16, 2020

Prior to enrolling in Flatiron School’s Online Data Science Bootcamp, I had been studying data science on my own for some time. I used other online resources studying R, but it was difficult to know what I should be learning. Sometimes I would go too deep into a rarely used algorithm or I would just spend a lot of time finding/deciding which resource to use. So in the end, I decided to sign up for Flatiron School’s Online Data Science Bootcamp to provide the structure and organization that I was lacking. Overall, I would say it was a positive experience:

PROS:
+ You learn how to implement an algorithm on your own from scratch in Python before they introduce you to professional implementations. This really helps you understand the underlying mechanisms and what’s going on, instead of just plugging things in
+ Instructor support was always available whenever I needed it in dedicated Slack channels
+ Portfolio reviews for the non-technical business stakeholders provided valuable experience in learning how to communicate to people outside of the data science field
+ Provided a pretty comprehensive overview of data science skills
+ End-of-module projects were great for building up a portfolio
+ Career coach was great and provided lots of great feedback on my resume and interviewing

CONS:
– A lot of typos and grammatical errors in the lessons which made it difficult to understand sometimes
– The platform would break sometimes, but this was only a minor inconvenience, because you could always access it from Github
– The technical review for portfolio projects wasn’t as rigorous as I thought it would be, and I was rarely asked to justify and explain my choices
– Not as much content for more advanced data science/machine learning concepts compared to the first few modules, where it was much more detailed and comprehensive

During the last month, I also began looking for jobs on my own and approximately two weeks after I graduated, I received an Data Scientist internship at a fintech.

March 5, 2020

My cohort was one of the beginning cohorts for the new data science program at flatiron. The structure of the program was lacking, but the content wasn’t. We learned so much in a short amount of time. I was able to get exposed to the field of data science and learn the python language and machine learning and did couple projects in deep learning. I think bootcamps like flatiron are really great for those that don’t want to or can’t go to the traditional school and pay so much in student loans. There is a caveat however; because this is data science, it relies on math, and the most relevant subjects are calc. 1, probability and statistics. Everyone learns at their own pace, but not knowing these fundamentals might make the learning curve even harder. This is not to discourage you, the program exposes you to the fundamentals, but it would be easier if you know them beforehand. I was skeptical about the job placement but it was honestly so great. I was able to have about 10 interviews through them and placed at a job through EP. I would recommend flatiron if you do want to switch careers or get a practical sense of DS in industry.

March 7, 2020

My situation was a little unique in that I was living and working in DC, but knew I was going to move to Miami soon to be with my new husband. I decided to quit my job, do the in-person immersive program, and then move to Miami and search for jobs there, and it was the best decision I could have made for my career! Flatiron helped me move from a $50k/yr job to an $80k/yr junior dev role in Miami.

I definitely recommend going into it for the right reasons. Try something technical and see how you like it. Before I applied, I tried Flatiron’s free online bootcamp prep course, which is how I discovered I really liked learning about code. Something employers look for is passion for code, so it’s important to actually like coding before you start.

During the program: the experience was really amazing. I bonded really well with my cohort (50% male/ 50% female) and got a scholarship for women in tech. The instructors were very understanding, knowledgeable, and always wiling to help and mentor students. They all come from tech backgrounds, so they can tell you what it’s like in the industry too. We learned Ruby as a backend language, and JavaScript and React on the frontend. This enabled me to get a freelance job working on the React frontend of a cancer research website. I’ve found that compared to people who studied CompSci in college, we got a TON of hands-on experience and importantly, we learned how to learn a new language. Both of these skills made me very marketable when it came to the job search.

After the program: The career coaches are very knowledgeable, encouraging, and keep you accountable in your job search. Since I was job searching in a new city, my career coach was a huge resource suggesting lots of job search activities.

Overall, a great experience and the results speak for themselves!

March 9, 2020

I did the online Full Stack Web Development program at the Flatiron School, and like any online program, it had its positives and negatives. On the positive side, I do think that the school and the instructors genuinely care about the students and helping them as much as possible. The focus on labs, projects, and practical application was a good approach though I’m sure that there are ways to improve the curriculum which I believe they regularly do. While taking the course, they released a number of additional lessons, edited lessons, etc. It felt like they were constantly trying to stay current and improve what was there. Getting help on the labs were relatively easy through the “Ask a Question” portal, and they did their best to encourage collaboration and helping others. The projects they had me do were immensely helpful in actually understanding the concepts, and they gave me a great portfolio to use when looking for a job. Employers constantly asked about these projects, and they made me feel more confident in my abilities.

However, like other students have already said, it is what you make of it, especially with online programs. It is self taught and self led so that has its own set of challenges. You definitely have to be self motivated so if that is something that you struggle with, you may want to do an in-person class setting. Another area of weakness they had was support for the projects which I’ve actually talked with them about in trying to improve for the future. When I went through the program, there was only one instructor for each section project so one person had to handle anyone who was currently working on that project which made it nearly impossible to get much help from them during the project. Some instructors were extremely helpful, and I had one that was borderline nonexistent in terms of responsiveness. Hopefully they’ll fix that in the future and make it a little easier to get help when that channel fails during projects. There were study groups that we could attend, but they were meant to be led by students’ questions and sometimes that was a struggle (sometimes we didn’t know what questions to ask- we just weren’t as comfortable with that particularly subject material). I do think they’ve been extremely open to feedback though, and I’ve had multiple people talk to me about how they can improve and how Flatiron can improve.

In terms of after the course, I thought my career coach was excellent. The coaching I got completely changed my perspective on networking, and I just had a coworker call me a “master networker” because of the things I did with Flatiron after graduation. I was always open with my coach about the ups and downs of job hunting, and I really feel like I was given the push I needed to put in the work and find an absolutely incredible job. (They also helped me draft anything I was nervous about sending ahead of time, and they help you practice with mock interviews.) Some days I can’t believe that I work where I do, and I wouldn’t be here without Flatiron so I’m pretty grateful. I don’t know if you’d get quite as lucky as I did with my awesome career coach, but when my first coach ended up leaving (her husband got a job across the country), my next coach was just as great so I’m pretty confident that they have incredible career coaches if you’re willing to work with them and be open.

Overall, the program has its ups and downs, but it led me to where I am now, so for that, I’m really grateful that I went to the Flatiron School.

March 16, 2020

I took the online full stack web development program and had a great experience. I was brand new to coding when I enrolled and the program and now I can say that I am a full stack web developer! In addition to a great curriculum, the people at Flatiron are absolutely amazing. I never felt alone and was always able to find the support I needed to get through the program. From the education coaches to the technical coaches to the career coaches, everyone was friendly, encouraging and knowledgable. I will forever be grateful to Flatiron!

August 31, 2020

Great time here and learned alot. Had a lot of support and job resources. The mock interviewsb really helped me get a feel for what the real world will be like.

I liked the way the curriculum is structured and the pace that they go with also made a difference

September 7, 2020