Code Chrysalis

A year ago, I was a professional ballet dancer, who did not even know the difference between software and hardware. Now I am working as software engineer at the startup in Tokyo. Can you imagine?

It was last summer when I joined Foundations Course of Code... Read More Chrysalis, one-month curriculum of JavaScript for an absolute beginner. I was very impressed by the depth of teachers' understanding in JS - but more than that, I could not believe they are just the graduates from CC's three-month program, having learned all they know just by attending to it - and that is, one and only Immersive Course.

So Foundations course was already more than what I expected in terms of the quality of the exercises and lectures, and which led me to the "successful application" of Immersive right after I graduated from Foundations.

Following 1-2 months of the comprehensive pre-course, the most memorable 3 months started. From Monday to Friday, from 9 to 6, everything was about coding. It was very intense, but I never felt down due to the lack of my skill and experience, because I had warm support from the instructors and the founders, and knew it was not only me but my classmates who were going through many challenges.

This journey is definitely not easy, and you might not even notice how far you have come. And that is exactly how I felt when I, to my surprise, got a job offer, only 2 days after my graduation.

The fact that this incredible community in Tokyo is growing rapidly, and all the graduates are very friendly and helpful to each other, means that you will have more chances than the previous cohorts to find an engineering job in Japan, as more and more graduates started working as a future CTO in Japan. You might think that you can learn coding anywhere, and which may be true, but here at Code Chrysalis, you will be immersed more than you have ever imagined.

I don’t know if my review will do justice. This coding boot camp isn’t just a school. They’ve become my family, and it has changed my life dramatically. I had done a little bit of JavaScript before, but I was lacking knowledge. I also had no idea where... Read More to start. There’s so much information online but it made absolutely no sense to me.

Joining Code Chrysalis was the best investment I’ve ever made in my entire life. I borrowed money to get in and to pay off bills because I was dirt poor. But it was more than worth the money.

So let me tell you the procedure in order to get in.

First, you have to pass the coding challenge online to apply for the course. Then you go through a technical interview. I failed once, but they give you all the resources and feedback to pass the interview. I studied based on that and I passed it the second time. Barely, though. My interviewer told me that I’m not at the same level as others, so I really need to study but told me that I can do it. She was very encouraging from the very beginning.

I then was given a material for the pre-course. This is where you work on your Javascript skills so you’ll be prepared for the actual course. This is done at home, and you have to complete this before you start the course. It was a lot of material and I quit my job so I can concentrate on it. I really struggled through callbacks and recursion, and never fully understood it. But they were always checking in on us and they would invite you to work at their coworking space to help you. The support starts as soon as you join, and I had no idea at that time that they help you so much even after you graduate, and pretty much forever.

The immersive course (the actual course) was super hard. I was clueless most of the time. Everyone else in the class was asking relevant questions during the lectures and I was still trying to understand the first slide. I never finished the recursion assignments and most of the code coffees (algorithm practice that you do everyday in the morning as practice) and I felt miserable. But they offer to help A LOT. They really want you to succeed. They would gladly sit next to you and explain things in detail. They are happy to do it, too. You can tell that they really care and want to help you. Even today after graduating, they volunteer to help you when you say you’re struggling with something.

What I really liked about this school is that they prepare you for a full stack. You cover so much and at a very fast pace. You cover computer science, database, frontend libraries like redux and react, vue and vuex, backend like express, TDD, CI/CD, job hunting techniques, building your professional profile, tech talks and presentation skills, communication skills, etc etc etc .. the list goes on forever. You also visit prestigious companies and do presentations using their technology, go to workshops, etc. I don’t want to spoil it to you too much, but there’s so much that you learn, and sometimes I didn’t understand why we had to do some of them- but it turns out that those skills really helped during the interviews, and that usually got me through the first interviews. So everything you do at Code Chrysalis is important, even if you don’t understand the purpose sometimes. And you’ll use that skill and be thankful for it. I guarantee it.

After graduating, we checked in every week to share our job hunting process. This is also very helpful and I got a ton of guidance and encouragement during this process. I don’t think I could’ve gone through this job hunting hell without their guidance and support. I was also super broke and they let me teach their foundations course part time, which saved me. They take care of you beyond programming and job hunting. They become your family. They’re always so excited to share you great job opportunities and encouraging you and giving you great advice.

With their help, I was able to receive several offers, and even negotiated the salary! I am at a company now that pays more than twice the salary at my last company!!! Even now they still ask how my job is going and check in with me often. They don't just "run a business" - they will be your best friend, someone that you can always trust and rely on for anything.

If you're thinking about joining, you should do it ASAP. It's such a wonderful program that everyone wants to get in. The acceptance rate is around 20% (I think?), so if you get in, you should be very proud of yourself. You should also really be prepared to work really really hard. It's a hard course, and definitely not for beginners. Although if you're a beginner, they also offer a foundations course which is 4 weeks, 3 times a week. I taught foundations after graduating the immersive course, and I learned so much from that course too. So if money is not an issue, it's probably best to take both.

It's not an easy to learn new things even if this is what you're interested in.
For me, programming is cool thing that I'd wanted to acquire for years.
However, I got to realize that the thing required me so much efforts that I gave it up easily.

In my case,... Read More I've experienced to work as a junior engineer in Japanese IT company for year. Even though, It is hard to learn modern development by myself since there're quite ton of new things to learn.

I also wanted to contribute myself to dev community more, so I decided to join in Code Chrysalis.
What I learn the most there is the way to learn new things quickly. Rather, students were required to do so for meeting the deadline of daily task. It must've been extremely exciting and challenging. I could barely keep up with that speed:)

They taught not only technology but also benefits for good, like speech about tech talk, presentation skill as engineer, mindset, something like that.

This is exactly, as they say, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."

If you're curious about Code Chrysalis, I highly recommend you just to say hi to them, and what's more, they are always so friendly.

Before I discovered Code Chrysalis, I was working as an English teacher for an elementary school in Japan. I really enjoyed my job, but there was no chance for me to progress. As such, I didn't really feel like I had a career at all.

I discovered Code... Read More Chrysalis in July of 2017, when I attended a meetup called 'Intro to JavaScript'. It was my first encounter with coding, and I immediately knew it was something I enjoyed. I spend around 6 months learning by myself, before successfully passing the interview test and getting a spot at CC.

Before the course began, there was a comprehensive 'precourse' of materials to complete. This gave me plenty of work to do, and ensured a more even knowledge level once the course began.

The course itself is divided into two parts. In the first six weeks, you learn about every aspect of full-stack software development. Front-end, back-end, database, a grounding in computer science, algorithmic problem-solving, UX/UI design, and pair-programming. You're introduced to a wide range of technologies which are actually used in industry.

The last six weeks are dedicated to taking what you've learned, and building things with it. You'll build a minimum of three full-stack applications, and are given almost total freedom in what to build and how to approach the projects. Your only limit is your imagination!

One week is spent building a full-stack app using a language you've never touched before. This was intimidating, but it showed me that even though the language might be totally alien, the concepts of full-stack can be carried over.

Interspersed throughout the course are soft-skill classes. Things like resume writing, technical and non-technical interview practice, whiteboarding sessions, and peer-review. These are the sorts of skills that are very difficult to practice alone.

The last few weeks of the course are dedicated to a single project. I was amazed at what it was possible to build given a limited time and a few other equally passionate people.

The staff are very attentive and supportive; they really care whether you succeed. And I met five other incredibly talented students who will be my friends for life.

The support didn't end when the course was over. To this day, I still receive advice on career advancement, notice of exciting opportunities, and a support group that is invaluable.

Nine months ago I was an English teacher. Now I'm a Full-Stack Software Engineer. Change your career.

After working as a DBA for many years I had the unique opportunity to spend the time to learn some new skills. I had some options for this, but I will always be glad that I chose Code Chrysalis. The technologies we learned (JavaScript, Git, Express.js,... Read More Node.js, GraphQL, REdis, Kafka, the list goes on) more than met the expectations of what I wanted to learn, but what I hadn't expected was learning a new mindset.

The immersive course isn't just about learning how to write JavaScript well, it is learning how to think about technology projects and probably most of all learning how to learn in a new way. I was not comfortable for much of my time in the program, but it pushed me just enough to learn more than I ever have in such a short period of time. And to then use what I learned to build things. It also reminded me that being comfortable is not always a good thing in an IT career.

Lastly, the most surprising aspect of Code Chrysalis wasn't the tech that I learned, but the camaraderie I found with people taking a similar journey.

I have graduated from the immersive program on June 2018.

The reasons I selected Code Chrysalis from a lot of similar programs in Japan are
1. JavaScript: The program uses JavaScript as the main language because JavaScript is the only language work in... Read More web browsers.
2. Fast-learning skill: Engineers are expected to have a lot of knowledge and experience, here you experience like a drinking water from a fire hose. You cannot avoid getting this skill.
3. Small group: Some boot camp starts with a lot of students which I don't prefer. I expect staffs pay attention to each student and everyone has chances equally.
4. Hack Reactor graduates: Hack Reactor which is very very famous boot camp in the US and delivers excellent engineers in the giant tech companies. Hack reactor graduates work here, they know what students to do to succeed as an engineer.

What I received from Code Chrysalis are uncountable, but if I select 7 things. Here you are.
1. 5 capstone projects
You build your own projects with various technologies that help a lot of ways not only for job hunting but also for real working. In my case, I have learned time management and MVP concept(Minimal Viable Project) that helps a lot when you are assigned into real projects when you start to work.

2. Helpful support from friendly staffs
During the program, I have faced tough challenges to catch up on concepts and technologies such as asynchronous and React, which all of the students with the same generations with me learned them quickly. However, staffs are friendly you can talk whenever you want and ask questions to make sure your understanding. Also, they helped me with building tailored assignments.

3. The latest technologies
Technologies we students learn are kept updating by skillful engineering staffs.
They know what students need to learn now. We can stay up to date to survive as an engineer.
And going through the program you start to enjoy learning new things by yourself, you cannot stop learning new things during your off-time. I learned webGL, MobX, Three.js that helps a lot while looking for a job by the way.

4. Networking
During the program, you have a lot of chances to meet with tech leaders that help a lot when you start your job search. The chances are everywhere, sometimes you meet at school because they want to meet with students who passed an enrollment assessment, sometimes you meet at your own Meetup(we take place our own Meetup by the way), sometimes out of school.

5. Job assistance
Although the school does not guarantee to get a job, staffs support students to find a job with a variety of supports such as whiteboarding, interview questions and so on even after you graduated from Code Chrysalis.

6. Get confidence as an engineer
In my opinion, this is the biggest benefit what I acquire through the program. I changed my career from a mechanical engineer, so I couldn’t get confidence as an engineer because I have no experience. But to start something new, all you need as a first step is a confidence. Here, in Code Chrysalis you expose a lot of challenges with your team every day, and those made me succeed.

7. New family
This is a sort of networking, but you find closer people. Because you expose yourself to different background students and staffs with tough challenges for 12 weeks. You discuss, argue, quarrel, grow up and drink(Yay!!) every day, you cannot buy this bond with money. And it continues after you graduated from the program. Also, you find different approaches that you have never come up with yourself, which helped me to have a habit to read source code in OSS.

Additional, before applying for this program I amazed with the tuition fee that looks a bit pricey, but now I regret why I did not apply for this program earlier and I am very happy working with talented colleagues with unbelievable salary and benefits in the international environment traveling abroad.

(Note: My company supported me during the program and I'm still working at the same company, that explains why I set the "Job support" to not applicable.)

Before going through this program, I had already been working as an DevOps engineer on a totally... Read More different technology stack.
And this program gave me a new set of skills that I'm pretty sure I'll benefit a lot in my career.

Here are some good points.
- A decent understanding of JavaScript and a good exposure to its eco-system, especially on front end frameworks/libraries.
- An opportunity to learn something I always wanted to learn, and build some projects I always wanted to build.
- Some very good practice in modern software engineering industry and some good habitat of communication. Pair programming, giving feedback are the ones I personally value the most.

And there are some low-level topics(like operating system, TCP/IP and etc) not covered very well.
But I think the staff team have made the hard trade off since the time is quite limited, and it's unrealistic to expect that you can learn everything about computer science and software engineering during three months.
Make the right expectation and I believe one can learn enough skills to prepare oneself as a software engineer.

While teaching English for many years in Japan and working on some technical projects at my school, I discovered that I love programming. I wanted to change careers. I spent many months preparing on my own for interviewing for software engineering positions... Read More in Japan. When the time came, I discovered that I was *almost* ready. In the interviews that I had, I was able to hold my own, but I was missing the spark to inspire a job offer.

It was clear that I needed more experience with modern web technologies and software engineering skills. I explored the available coding bootcamps in Tokyo and came across Code Chrysalis. I was immediately attracted to their cool application process, which required submitting code and subsequently doing pair programming with the CTO. From the moment I met Yan and Kani, it was obvious that they knew what they were doing. I knew that the financial cost of attending the school and being a full-time student was going to be an investment, rather than a risk.
During the course, we covered so many software engineering skills. Algorithms, pair programming, back-end web servers, reactive front-end frameworks, databases, NoSQL, Agile software development, whiteboarding, and more. We even covered other professional skills like interpersonal communication, presentations, interview preparation, and making a super polished resume. 


To me, the most valuable skill that I learned was how to go from "not knowing how to do something" to "being able to do that thing well". For the whole duration of the course, you are pushed to learn new things. Not through knowledge transfer from the teachers, but through repetitive practice. After learning so many new things hands-on, I feel comfortable and confident continuing to learn new difficult things throughout my career.

The job preparation part of the course paid off really well for me. One of the guest lecturers at the course was a CTO at a company in Tokyo. He also attended a few meetups during my time at Code Chrysalis. After the course, he offered me an interview, and eventually a position at his company. It's going really well.

It's not often that working adults get the opportunity to spend 3 months learning something new full-time. During my time at Code Chrysalis, I didn't take for granted for one moment that I was doing something rare, special, and important. Code Chrysalis helped me to make a huge positive change in my life. If you challenge yourself, put in sincere effort, and have an open mind, you can do the same.

Very immersive course ( with a lot of homework ) and enough fundamentals and practical skills you can achieve to be a professional software engineer. Instructors and curriculum provide not just programming skills but soft skills such as presentation,... Read More communication and team building which are very important to be a great engineer.

In my case, I didn't have any professional background and that is why every day is so challenging. But thanks to their intensive support, I could manage to get through it and I had got very confident as an engineer at the end.

They also provide curriculum and support for career planning and job searching. That helped me get a very good job opportunity even though I did not have any professional background. I really appreciate all the help they gave us.

Code Chrysalis tells you not just engineering but presentations, networking, and mindset.

As to software engineering, you can learn fundamentals, frontend and backend to be a full stack software engineer. When you learn each element, you need to understand... Read More the concept, implement example applications, and explain what you have understood through pair programming. Staffs help you to do so, but they won't give everything you need. You need to google for anything you need, which is necessary for any engineer.

As an engineer, you also need to tell your opinion, explain what you are implementing clearly. In Code Chrysalis, you can have a lot of opportunities for lightning talk, presentation and something like speaking about anything in front of people. You can exchange many feedbacks for improving yourself by staffs and classmates.

You can get many job searching helps like how to write your resume, practicing interviews including technique. I can ask them even after my graduation. If you have or achieve a lot of skills, you need to show them. You can know how to show your ability better way.