Code Institute

I can't say enough positive things about my experience with Code Institute.

I took a 6 month break from my current work and started with a keen interest but no experience in programming.

The course material was instructive and engaging & I was able to... Read More go at my own pace - which was as quickly as I could without being overwhelmed (failing on a few occasions because I was rushing myself).

At the start I was concerned about the online support and would have opted for the Classroom option if it had been convenient. However the combined support from CI staff, mentors and the fantastic on-line support & peer-to-peer networking via the Slack channel was encouraging, comforting and a real life-saver.

I completed the course in approximately 8 months with the constant feeling of being an imposter fading towards the final projects.

I passed with flying colors and have not looked back since. I have been working on some freelance projects and successfully incorporating the programming into my existing work interests - so I have not had much exposure to CI's Job Support (hence 3 starts). Although, if the same rigor and and dedication to student progression is applied I've no doubt it is excellent.

I'd highly recommend Code Institute to anyone considering a Bootcamp. Dependable, highly skilled and dedicated folks. Thanks!

I would really say this has changed my life.
I have gone from Zero to Hero in a year and a half doing this.
Their pillar of support with a slack community, tutors, mentors and even a dedicated TEAM (Student care) really shows how you can achieve your dream!... Read More
I achieved mine and I can't be thankful enough.

For anyone interested think of this, the money you pay for it is a great investment in your feature. It might sound like alot but a degree will set you back about 12k £ a YEAR.
This course gets you a portfolio, it also gets you the skills you need to land your job. I have landed multiple ones!

Best thing I have ever done so Thank you

This was one of few courses offered online at the time that I joined (plenty of quality full-time bootcamps around, but quitting my job for 3 months on top of paying $10,000 was not an option).
First I phoned to enquire more about the course structure,... Read More asking about how the study material is presented and was told "We don't use videos, because we know it's easier to read, or even copy code from a text; it's easier to revise from written text than waste time to look up a particular moment in a video" -- that was a selling point to me. To my great surprise, a week after I signed up, they revealed they will be switching to a new, nearly all video format. It was in the pipeline for over a year, so I'm curious as to why the lady on the phone decided to deceive me.
Mentor support is 10h over 12months (and my mentor quit in the middle of my course, leaving me hanging), the rest is #slack and students answering their own questions. Quite a good business method, but there's plenty #slack channels I can ask questions about programming for free, and ask seasoned programmers, not rookies. If you're not a heavy slack user willing to sit there 24/7, this is not for you.
They boast their course if university accredited - and that's true. What is also true, that the diploma means very little as an academic achievement - I enquired at a few unis in the UK if they would accept that diploma as HNC (Lvl 4, first year bachelor), and they declined.
The course content varies, some sections are top notch, other barely touch on the subjects which are later required for the projects. You end up having to look up entire topics in other sources (students on slack keep recommending other courses to substitute Code Institute material with -- after paying nearly 6,000 euros that should not be necessary!), which are often free or really cheap, and more useful. And they have a habit of axing bits, and after you worked hard on a project, you suddenly get an email saying it no longer applies.
To sum things up: if you have the determination and discipline to study on your own, in your own time, you're better off purchasing cheaper courses or tutorials from other sources. If you don't have the discipline: again, you're better off purchasing cheaper courses or tutorials online, you won't learn to code, but you'll save yourself thousands.

I am currently taking the Full Stack Developer Diploma online and am about three-quarters of the way through and so far I can tell that the course is definitely not as good as Class Room based training I have had before with JustIT, another supplier.... Read More The audio quality of some of the videos is not great, but they provide auto-generated subtitles which are a big help. The quality of the content of the tutorials is a letdown, especially with the later modules which get very complicated. Numerous times I followed the tutorial exactly only for my code not to work. It is only after checking my code dozens of times that I realise that the tutorial has skipped some crucial information. The tutorials often jump ahead which is fine for stylistic and personal choices like the design but certain parts which are essential for the function of the code are completely skipped. The skips themselves are very subtle as well and you might not realise until the very end of the tutorial that certain code has been added without an explanation and you might not eve see it in the video, the only way I found out about this was by looking at the provided solution source codes, which isn't a very good way to learn. Also In one case, the source code was also wrong and I had to speak to support for a solution. Support time is limited to about 45 mins a week I believe so having the contact them for errors that are present within the tutorials is a waste of time that could otherwise be spent discussing extra code that is not covered in the tutorial. On the plus side, the support team is very helpful and the curriculum is modern and relevant.

Pros:

Learning from home

Having a tutor for more difficult subjects and areas
Cheaper then uni

Tiff was really good and got things sorted as best as possible and rather quickly and handled everything professionally and was a credit to the code institute.... Read More

My new tutor was much better then the last one, (old tutor would drop appointments)

Cons:

Let downs by tutors for silly reasons on multiple occasions

Learning materials changed half way through and new material on subjects I had already covered I would have liked to have gone over again as it was abit better but had less time to do so because my time wasn’t extended so that I could cover this extra content and felt I was getting less for my money than perhaps someone else who joined 6months later.

Tutors and some admin on slack were cocky about advice and made me personally feel be-littled because I didn’t know certain things that was obvious to them.
I was also tagged in a conversation and then told that my advice was wrong but in such a way that I was purposefully made embarrassing, the information I gave was to help a fellow learner and I told them how I did that particular part and that it not necessarily correct, but that was my understanding of the subject.

Tutors weren’t always available when planned as they had to go into class, to teach,further placing my current question or issue on the back burner till I could book them in again the next week.

Almost one year ago I decided to change something in my life from the career point of view. There was not much to choose or to like so I got into coding, right after I asked one of my firends. After spending many hours of reading, researching etc I found... Read More what I wanted. A company that was providing everything to start on a completly new path. Not long after that, I enroled on The Learning People so right now after 9 months, I found the job I was looking for. Definetely I recommend to those who wants to change their life by doing what I was doing, either with Learning People or others.

I attended the code institute Dublin during the summer of 2016. This was after deciding to make a big career change so the fullstack software development course seemed ideal rather than going back to do another 3 or 4 years in college.
It was one of the... Read More best decisions I have ever made , the course really pushed me to learn quickly and adapt to a fast paced environment, very similar to what you meet when working in tech.
I haven't had many problems getting jobs since then, I am currently working as a software support engineer and am delighted I made the initial investment in doing the course.

Code Institute is a great bootcamp on several levels.

They have very knowledgeable and friendly staff and teachers. I always felt the teachers (and teacher assistant) had a solid grasp on the course material. All questions were promptly resolved to my... Read More satisfaction. The course content covers up-to-date and relevant technologies, and it is constantly evolving. Meaning what I learned in the course would have changed by the time you sign up, for the better. That is supported by a council of industry leaders (a few bit companies) that reccommend material and changes to the curriculum by going over what they would like to see in a potential candidate's CV.

The price is affordable, considering you will up-skill or outright change your career to a higher paying salary position after you are done. You will get back your investment soon enough. It also helps that Code Institute holds a "careers week", where you will have a CV workshop, attend mini-seminars with recruitment proffessionals and get leads on positions that would require what you learned in class.

There is also the possibility to take the course online, with support from 24/7 mentor staff and a network of fellow students who you can lean on and learn from (and with). With a well structured Slack chatroom, you will always have someone to support and ask questions to.

I would wholeheartedly reccommend it as a bootcamp to change your career for the better. I'm way happier now than I was a year and a half ago before I started this journey. I earn a much better salary and my social life has improved as well owed to my new and very comfortable 9-5 Mo-Fri schedule.

While it is quite comprehensive, a lot of the resources used are not too respected within the developers community and people have laughed at the tools they use to teach us, such as Cloud9. I hope that when I finish this, which is a level 5, I can

It... Read More also uses things that have been out of date for months such as Bootstrap 3 and therefore grid rules in the exercises. Support is not that great, I had to change mentor because the one I had was extremely rude and basically didn't hear anything I said. The applications of languages such as Python and JavaScript could be more "real world" useful instead of making a version of a 90s game.
I was also told by The Learning People that the projects were a lot more community driven, that there would be encouragement for real life practice to be evaluated for the project, and they are not in the slightest. If it was not worth 5,000GBP I would not complain. I wish I had used a different program.