Alchemy Code Lab - CLOSED

Myself: I came from an entirely different background from tech and did the 301 and 401 tracks. I had some knowledge from self study for a few months prior to starting, which was why I jumped in at 301.

The school is fast paced but receptive to feedback... Read More from weekly surveys. Many times adjustments to the curriculum were made due to feedback.

301: Lecture was around 3 hours long, and lab time was variable depending on how long it takes you to finish it. You are given the time after lecture into the evening to finish it. You also have readings every night and codewars assignments every week or so. There are TAs available during lab time until 6pm, who are very approachable and willing to help. The instructor often stuck around in the evenings to help with questions as well. Overall difficult but not insane. Readings may take 10-20 minutes every night. Labs 2-4 hours. The instructor (Sara Joy) was fantastic. She would stop for questions during her lecture, and provide answers in different formats for better understanding. She was always positive and upbeat, never showed frustration with students. The final week of the class was spent on a team project meant to show a culmination of our understanding. All labs were pair programming.

401 (Devsign): Lecture was around 3-4 hours long. Every Friday was spent whiteboarding with data structures and algorithms. This class had two parts. The first 5 weeks were with Anwar Montasir and we went over design concepts / css / vanilla JS / design tech. I was part of the first devsign course at ACL. Since we were guinea pigs, there was lots of room for improvement and feedback, but the instructor was extremely receptive to feedback and addressed it every week with changes. I have no doubt the second time Devsign is put on that there will be significant improvements and I highly recommend it. Anwar is a strong resource of knowledge and attention to detail when it comes to design and accessibility on the web. He also had a strong understanding of the pace of bootcamps as he went through the full-stack program at ACL himself prior to becoming an instructor. The readings would take around an hour every evening, and the labs took 2-4 hours during the week, and 10-15 hours over the weekend. The pace was very intense and allowed little room for other kinds of activities. There was little pair programming labs except for the midterm project.

The second 5 weeks were with Marty (the business owner) and went over react / redux. Marty is a fast-paced instructor full of knowledge. If you have questions you need to ask them because he will not stop in lecture to check in on the audience. Marty was also extremely responsive to feedback. This section of the career track was the most intense and difficult. Readings are a minimum of 1 hour every evening, and labs take 3-5 hours during the week, and 12-15 hours on the weekend. Sometimes people were paired together to do week-long labs that built on each prior day. The final project was done in a group with 5 days to prepare and then present in front of representatives from companies.

There was one week in between the two halves of Devsign for career services which included resume / linkedIn / github workshops. This part of the course could be improved upon. The school does not have internship relationships with businesses, but does have an in-house internship program called App Lab that takes top career track graduates and has them work with real-world clients with app ideas.

I highly recommend this school if you take the program seriously. It is intense and does not allow room for much else at the same time.

The things I appreciated most:

- receptive to feedback
- willing to work with and help students improve who are struggling
- availability to answer questions, even over the weekend
- TAs that are always willing to help
- relevant new technologies (react / redux / firebase)
- beautiful space and friendly / studious environment
- in-house scholarships for diversity
- career track that is a step beyond what any other bootcamp offers at this time in Portland
- you can use the space all days / all times

I attended Alchemy Code Lab and completed the 401 Advanced JS course. It was the best decision I could have made for my career. I was offered a job in tech within one month of graduation....and my salary is higher than it's ever been! I know that finding... Read More jobs like the one I have now is what leads most people to coding bootcamps. And while I am very grateful to ACL for positioning me to land such a job, the new career is not the most valuable reward that I received from ACL.

By far, the greatest benefits of choosing ACL over other bootcamps in PDX are the top notch education and unwavering support that students receive. This is a code school that values community and goes to great lengths to support students. And the support does not stop at graduation. Just last week I received an email from a career specialist at ACL who wanted to share some new job opportunities with me. Alchemy Code Labs goes above and beyond to help students meet their career goals.

Additionally, the education that you will receive at Alchemy Code Lab is unparalleled in PDX. I recently attended a meet up where four of us in a group were all recent bootcamp grads (one from Epicodus, one from PDX Code Guild, and one from the Tech Academy). We all swapped bootcamp stories. The other boot campers were pretty envious when I started explaining what it was like to be a student at Alchemy Code Lab. They were envious because of the community support and the school's commitment to equity and diversity in tech. They were also struck by the deep knowledge and thorough skillset that ACL students possess. ACL provides a solid foundation of basic CS principles and plenty of white-boarding practice....I learned that these are lessons you will not receive at other bootcamps. These are skills that set ACL grads apart from other bootcamp grads. It may require a little more up front investment, but I can tell you, first hand, if you're serious about a career in tech, investing in training at ACL is well worth it.

In fact, one of the boot campers from the meet up remarked, "I discounted ACL because of the price tag. I wish I had understood that what ACL was offering was a higher level experience than my bootcamp. I'd probably have a job right now."

If you're on the fence about code schools in PDX, yes, ACL is more expensive....but if you're looking to be career ready and grab the higher paying jobs after graduation, ACL has every other school in town beat.

NOTE: Coding bootcamps are super intense no matter which one you choose. Buckle up. It's worth the ride!

They really push you. There was close supervision during entire program. we had 2 TAs and an experienced instructor for 11 students at the final 2 months of the program. TAs and instructors change from course to course. I had 2 instructors: Marty Nelson... Read More and Sera Joy and they were phenomenal. I would strongly recommend checking out the instructors at any school before applying there. Some of the TA's where amazing, but even if they aren't brilliant they will still be helpful and work through problems and documentation with you.

Since Graduating i met a lot of graduates from other code schools like Epicodus and The Tech Academy. Both places are cheaper which is great, and they have much looser and less intense schedule. They also cover a lot of different Techs and languages. You'll do a a little of everything there. In contrast ACL is more specialized. Cant speak for Python course but JS track was very advanced compared to others. You will learn a lot of cutting edge tech in modern web: React, Redux, MongoDB, end to end testing and so on. You will be expected to be proficient at latest version of JS (ES6) and things like async-await. The result is that you will know these JS and especially React well enough to contribute to companies right after graduation.
Most importantly their job search support is awesome! they have two full time employees to help you search for work and introduce you to potential employers. Its also a nice community, Im still in touch from fellow students and staff from Alchemy code, and come in to the office to work with fellow graduates weekly.
P.S they have cavalier King Charles as a code school pet!!!!

I came into the program hoping to develop some rudimentary programming skills to help me towards my previous career goals in biochemistry. I expected to come in for the summer, learn how to write code, then return to my field and maybe write some scripts... Read More to help analyze lab results or something. What I got instead is far beyond that.

The tech stack offered at ACL is top-notch and up-to-date. Marty, who develops the curriculum, has been in the industry for years and pays careful attention to what the next "big thing" is, which he then incorporates into the curriculum. For example, React with Redux has really begun to pick up steam recently and right now it's one of the hottest skills on the job market. Marty saw it coming and made React/Redux/React-Router a large part of our the curriculum, while also introducing us to component architecture and the virtual DOM in a more general sense, as used by the most used/anticipated frameworks like Angular, Vue, Ember, etc. We're also given a solid foundation in the fundamentals. I was worried that, while I've learned a bunch about git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, SQL, etc., etc., etc. in the class, I still didn't know enough about more Computer Sciencey stuff like algorithms and data structures. I took a couple Udemy courses to fill in the gaps and, turns out, a whole lot of what they went over we did cover, just without some of the jargon and without me realizing it. I should point out that I'm writing this after taking the 401 Full-Stack JS course. The 201 and 301 courses are solid and give you the fundamental skills to start working in Web Development, but it's in the 401 course that we really started going deep with the knowledge and were introduced to most of the cool, future-oriented stuff.

I care a lot about my work environment, so something I really appreciated was that Megan, Marty, SJ, and the other TA's and instructors work really hard to provide all the students with a comfortable, motivating space to learn in. This became more and more important as we progressed through the course and were stressing over increasingly complicated material (programming is hard!). To keep things fresh and moving, we were always encouraged to take a healthy amount of breaks, get up, move around, do some push-ups, etc. When it came to labs, sometimes we'd be working on something solo or in groups, and the nice thing is we were often given the option to choose. All the other students are friendly, motivated, and there to learn, so not once have I gotten the feeling in a group or pair lab that the others were slacking off or not trying. Seeing everyone around you working hard can do so much to keep you going! The instructors, councilors, as well as the folks in charge are super approachable and very open to feedback or often just to chat if you feel a bit overwhelmed. Finally, the physical classrooms are great: open and spacious with lots of natural light and little potted plants, and it's in the heart of DT Portland so whenever you need to pull your eyes away from the screen you can just stroll over to Powell's or Whole Foods or the food truck block. Next to the kitchen they keep a little table with free coffee, a hot water dispenser, and just about any kind of tea you could want. Even on project weeks, which were the most challenging, the ACL classrooms never failed to prop up my spirits and help me get down to business.

To wrap it all up, Alchemy Code Lab teaches some of the most sought-after technologies used in the industry today and gives students an amazing environment to learn it all in. When I was searching for a code school I researched and visited all of the most highly ranked ones in Portland before settling on this one. Not once have I regretted my decision. They have fully converted me from a career in science to one in web development, and I am truly grateful.

In 2017 I decided that I wanted a complete career change and I was looking to the tech field for that. I had a biotech background but no real web tech knowledge. I needed to go back to school and I wanted to take the short but intense route. I began looking... Read More into different bootcamps in/near Portland. I knew that I wasn't going to do well with a school that just offered online teachings. I'm a hands-on learner and I wanted personal interaction. This, alone, narrowed the candidates for me. Then I needed to consider the curriculum. Well, I wanted to learn a language and learn it well, as opposed to learning a little bit about several languages. From everything that I'd heard about coding, it mattered more to "master" a language than to simply "familiarize" oneself with many languages. This is because the basic bones of most languages are similar and the knowledge is highly transferrable. This made a lot of sense and, again, narrowed my options. When I looked into Alchemy Code Lab, it was associated with a tried-and-true code academy from Seattle. One with great reviews. Alchemy Code Lab seemed to pump out very successful graduates who often entered their first job at a level higher than a junior dev. How was this possible? Come to find out, their curriculum offers more depth and material than other bootcamps and the material is also always current or ahead of the trends. Lastly, the actual physical environment of the academy is quite inviting - friendly people, natural light, modern, spacious, and a plethora of drinks and snacks rewarding all the deep thought that happens there. It also impressed me that so many alum liked to revisit their old 'digs'. I immediately enrolled in the program (literally). I quickly became part of a family of like AND different minded people. I was fortunate to have 2 amazing teachers throughout my studies. Both are not only extremely knowledgable about the tech world/scene, constantly keeping abreast of the topics themselves, but they are also both quite accessible to help guide, teach, and answer questions outside of lectures. This was what I needed. I won't lie, this bootcamp is not for the weak or lazy. It's tough, grueling even. But the proof is in the pudding and what you come out knowing will blow your mind. If that wasn't enough, the school also takes seriously their commitment to helping you find a job. They have an in-house career-services sector. They also bring in outside coaches to offer guidance on salary negotiation, resume writing, job searches, etc. And recently, they introduced a mentor-program for their graduates. This program allows graduates to work on real client apps and get paid while doing it. I'm incredibly impressed and grateful to have found ACL.

I attended ACL part-time (nights & weekends) for 4 months, then full-time for 3 months. Their skilled and experienced instructors are incredibly effective in teaching the most in-demand coding skills, as well as what's current in Portland job market.... Read More Besides learning NodeJS, Express, React, Redux, MongoDB (and more), I learned how to **think** like a programmer and solve problems like a professional.

Also, ACL is committed to diversity and involvement in the tech community, and this is reflected in the school culture. It's a wonderful place to learn, be challenged and evolve into a professional developer.

Some more pros: awesome workspace in an informal and unintimidating environment, small class sizes with lots of 1:1 mentoring, relevant and specific career advice & assistance, final projects that kickstart your portfolio, rubbing shoulders & becoming friends with future/current members of the tech community.

Before I started taking courses at Alchemy Code Lab the only experience I had with code was customizing my Myspace layout back in 2005. After completing the Advanced Full Stack JavaScript program I was amazed at how far I had come in 5 months. For the... Read More first half of the 401 segment of the course we learned all about creating databases from scratch, as the course progressed we incorporated more back end frameworks like MongoDB and Mongoose. The last segment of the course had a very in depth focus on React and Redux and general principals behind modern component based architecture as well as various best practices for connecting the front end to the back end.

Alchemy Code Lab has a great environment to cultivate your programming skills. The staff and instructors are absolutely incredible with tons of real on the job experience and knowledge to share. In addition to the superb staff the the general work space lobby is open to students and alumni alike who are all very friendly and open with sharing their knowledge and experiences.

In addition to being surrounded full time by excellent computer programmers Alchemy Code Lab also hosts a variety of tech meet ups so, it is a great place to start meeting software developers in the area!

All in all Alchemy Code Labs Advanced Full Stack JavaScript Course is absolutely amazing, I would not hesitate to recommenced it to anyone interested in deepening their knowledge of web development!

I am so glad that I chose to attend Alchemy Code Lab. I know that I got more of an in-depth education and real-world skills. They have a very supportive staff and instructor-led classes which really sold me. If anyone is looking to advance their career... Read More or get into software development, this is absolutely the place to do so.

I graduated from Alchemy Code Lab in March of 2017. I can say with great confidence that going through the program at Alchemy was one of the best life decisions I have ever made. Marty and Megan strive every day to make it the top bootcamp in Portland... Read More with continuous encouragement and support. They always stay on top of the trending frameworks/technologies and it is seen through out the whole entire curriculum. If you are considering a code school in the Portland Metro-Area and are on the fence about which one to choose, I highly suggest you check out Alchemy Code Lab.

I graduated when I was only 20 years old with no experience in the software industry and I am now a web developer full time at an awesome company. And I would not be here without Alchemy.

I went through the entire Full-Stack JavaScript certificate program at Alchemy Code Lab (formerly Code Fellows PDX)—meaning bootcamp prep, bootcamp parts 1 and 2, and the advanced career track (these had different names when I went through, but the curriculum... Read More is the same. I’m using the new names for clarity going forward).

Students in my cohort came into this program from all walks of life. Some already had CS degrees or had worked in the past as software engineers but then had a resume gap and wanted to get up to speed on newer technologies. Others had absolutely no exposure to technology development or didn’t have any school after High School and were committed to a career change. I was always interested in math and loved science, but for some reason computer science always seemed mysterious and off-limits to me. I only took a couple of courses in programming basics when I got my bachelors degree, but I didn’t really consider learning to program until I had to for my last job. Then I fell in love with it and started considering changing my career.

I checked out all of the bootcamps and coding programs in Portland and settled on Alchemy Code Lab for several reasons:
* There was a higher ratio of women and other minority groups in tech representation. It meant a lot to me to be learning in a more diverse environment. I believe this is due to the diversity scholarship program and other initiatives they pursue toward bringing in those less represented in tech.
* I was looking for a full-time, intense experience that I could complete in 5-6 months.
* Related to the above: I wanted to go deep on one language so that I could understand the ins and outs of it before moving on to another language. Because of that, I went with the full-stack JavaScript certificate program.
* The environment was welcoming and professional. In class and during labs, I felt that my background, interests, and contributions were respected and appreciated. The owners of the school work hard to create an environment that works for the students as they go through the bootcamp process.
* Students complete four large group projects if they do the whole program. This was important to me since I had spoken with several industry professionals who told me that when they consider less experienced hires they pay attention to evidence that they can work well in teams. This program let me have ample experience coding individually, pair programming, and working in teams of 3-4 to build working apps from start to finish.
* Size of the classes. My cohort generally had 12 students (it varied somewhat between the courses), and it didn’t take long for us to become very close. In addition to the instructor, we had a TA that had been through the program.

That said, a coding bootcamp is an all-consuming experience. I met with several students, TAs, and alumni before I chose this program, and everyone told me that I would be working from 9am through 6pm every weekday, then doing more homework each night, and also working one or two days of most weekends. Somehow I still didn’t really believe them, but they were right. You will get out of this program whatever you put in. It is not cheap, even with scholarships, but it is worth that money if you go in committed to putting forth the effort.

Other thoughts:
* I took the full-time version of the bootcamps, but I know plenty of students who took the night classes and loved having that option. They are also quite grueling, since the course length doubles and you give up one full weekend day for class/study for the length of those courses. It is an important option for those who can’t afford to quit their day job right away and dive into a career change. The advanced career track is always full-time, as far as I know.
* The instructors collect feedback from students every week, with an anonymous section of the survey for comments you don’t want associated with you. Most of the time I didn’t have too much to say, but the couple of times I did, it was addressed right away. They are quite responsive to the feedback they get—the direction of the week can change on a dime (within reason) to include a general course interest or address a lack based on those comments.
* They have a floating advisor/experienced pair-programmer who is there at certain times to help you on labs and projects. This was immeasurably useful, not just for the advice from a senior engineer, but also so that I could learn different ways of doing things from what the instructor might show.
* The career services involved set times to work on resumes and cover letters, have presentations from industry leaders and recruiters on breaking into the Portland Tech job market, networking, and all things job hunt-related. There is no internship associated with this program, but on the other hand, most of the graduates I spoke with (who went all the way through the advanced career track) landed a job that was above internship or junior-developer level. Interviewing, white boarding, and algorithms practice is also part of the advanced career track curriculum, which I felt was pretty important practice. There is also a new consultancy practice that they are starting with some of the alumni, which is kind of like an in-house internship on lower price tag projects, as far as I know.
* Since I had some experience with HTML and CSS (and C#, but I didn’t think that would apply) beforehand, I considered skipping the first bootcamp level and testing into the second bootcamp. I didn’t end up doing that and instead took the full set of courses from start to finish. There were a couple students in my cohort who did that at either the second bootcamp or the career track level. Though there were some things we had learned by then that those students weren’t really familiar with, they caught on fairly quickly. In any case, I was glad I had gone through the whole program.
* The school is really involved in the Portland tech scene—they host regular events like DonutJS and the Women Who Code Algorithms study night, and then other sporadic events. It makes it easy to stay a little later at the school and then attend an event and practice networking.
* When I went through the program, Full-Stack JavaScript was the only advanced career track, but I know they are adding two more in 2018—Devsigner and Python. There are also professional development courses, which I think are two or three week night classes.

There was definitely stress. Don’t go into a program like this thinking that it will be a cakewalk, because you are setting yourself up for disaster. Even coming in with some prior knowledge of HTML, CSS, and C#, there were times I was struggling to get through and topics that were harder for me to understand. It seemed that everyone in my cohort struggled at different times throughout the courses, so it was really important that we could rely on each other for help in understanding.

So where am I after all of this? I didn’t find a job right off the bat, but I was lucky not to have the financial pressure that would require me to get one immediately. Still, it has been less than three months since I finished, and I have one offer on the table and other jobs for which I am in various stages of the application pipeline. It is a different kind of stress, but a good position to be in. They are all regular, full-time positions with the title Software Developer or Software Engineer.