Epicodus

Epicodus was exactly what I needed to determine whether I wanted to continuing expanding my web programming knowledge into a career. I chose the Part-time course as a wayfinder, which was affordable and fit with my full time work schedule. The instructor... Read More was attentive, helpful, and knowledgeable about industry trends. The pace was challenging but not overwhelming. The classroom space was great with state of the art computers and equipment. The in-person class setting was particularly valuable to me as I really enjoyed partnering with different classmates and learning from each other. Overall it was a good experience for me and a way to push myself to explore new career options. Thank you Epicodus!

If you're looking for a cheaper, quicker way to get into development or other tech career path, this program is for you. It's intense and a lot of work even outside of the 40-hour weeks in class. Your brain will hurt. You will be tired. You may be one... Read More of the students who sleeps on the couches. But it is all worth it!

I mainly chose Epicodus over other programs because it offered a React track and included an internship experience. For me, this was a mid-career change and paying for another traditional degree or graduate program wasn't going to work. And while it's not easy to pair program all day long, my classmates were some of the most supportive and enjoyable parts of this experience. Lunch talks are a great way to network, learn from those actually working in tech and hear about different paths you can take.

Epicodus is a growing family in the Pacific Northwest ... graduates are everywhere! During and after school, I have run into Epicodus students at conferences, at my current employer and on the MAX train.

If this is something you're considering, I would recommend checking out the Saturday open house or scheduling a visit.

I started with a bit of extra web development experience compared with the majority of my classmates. Within 2 weeks I felt like I was swimming in the deep end, Epicodus is FAST at ramping up and challenging you to your fullest. I loved every moment of... Read More it. (I should mention that Epicodus does not require you to have any development experience as their courses will bring you up to speed. They do a great job at it!)

The classroom environment is set for rapid learning, the instructors were great and very knowledgeable and you are surrounded by other students who learning along with you. Sometimes asking another student for help is just as helpful as getting guidance from an instructor. Although troubleshooting issues on your own is part of the process, this prevents you from getting stuck for too long on any one problem.

In addition to learning how to code the latest technologies, the guidance that they provided for your Linkedin, resumes, and cover letters were amazing. They helped me look like an aspiring professional with the skills and experience to back it up. Highly recommend and have already done so to a friend!

I wasn't the one who made a big career change. Even though I knew almost nothing about web programming, I did have experience with coding, since I was an engineer for a short time before.

The reason I attended epicodus was the fact that I had just moved... Read More to Portland from Moscow that year. I knew nobody here, and had no idea how to find job. (just sending out resumes on monster and indeed didn't seem to do the trick.)

To make a long story short, I didn't regret it.

Here's why:

1. It really gives a very good knowledge of the tools that modern web companies use. After epicodus I felt very confident on interviews, knowing that I can actually do the specific stuff that they want me to do.
2. After Epicodus I had a lot of projects on my github that I could show and talk about, which to some companies can be as important as work experience.
3. It gives a general understanding of how this job market works. Just being among a big number of people who have the same goal as you is a huge source of information on how you can achieve this goal. (They also have a 5 weeks internship, but it can be a gamble).
4. Not everybody's gonna relate to this one - it really helps with a language barrier. Pair programming forces you to talk to people for 8 hours every day on technical and non-technical topics. And everybody (at least in my experience) was nothing but patient and nice to me about it.

Couple of warnings:

1. I don't think it would be possible to combine it with work or something like that.
2. It's VERY social. Can be a struggle if you get socially anxious.

So, yeah, everyone is very nice there, and it does what it's intended to do.

I am very thankful for my time at Epicodus, and for the opportunities it has opened up for me. When I started, I had very little programming experience aside from a few online tutorials. I learned an amazing amount in 6 months. As a developer, you'll... Read More need to learn new skills and technologies quickly, and Epicodus gives you great practice!

I think pair programming is a very effective way to learn, and it gives you a taste of what it's like working on a development team. You get to know your classmates very well, and walk away with new friends, and a strong professional network.

Learning is self-driven, with a teacher providing support, but mostly letting you work through problems with your partner. It was definitely stressful and difficult at times, but also fun and interesting. The weekly code reviews give you a chance to assess what you understand and what you need to study. Most of the time you're creating projects from scratch, which gives you a clear understanding of what all the pieces are doing, but not a lot of experience diving into an existing codebase. I thought the curriculum taught relevant skills, with Git, JavaScript, JavaScript frameworks, and SQL being particularly valuable.

Epicodus provides help with LinkedIn, resumes, cover letters, interview practice, and also with the demo days several times a year. You start using Git on day one, and will have a solid GitHub profile by the end of the program. I had a great internship experience, but they do seem to vary. You may not get a job through your internship, or immediately after graduation. I had to apply to a lot of jobs, and it took a few months before I got a paid development internship, but I did get there! Overall, Epicodus is a great value for your money. I highly recommend it!

Before starting at Epicodus, I knew next to nothing about programming. As I look back two years after graduating the program, I can say with full confidence that it was my decision to enroll at Epicodus that launched my fulfilling and exciting career... Read More in web development.

Epicodus teachers and staff strive to create and maintain a unique environment where students can safely learn new technologies and hone their programming skills. By pair programming with my colleagues, I learned how to verbalize concepts, collaborate with others, solve complex problems, and learn from my mistakes. After I completed all my courses, I enrolled in their internship program. During those five weeks, I gained valuable, hands-on, real-life programming experience and had the opportunity to learn from seasoned developers.

Landing a job as a programmer certainly requires training beforehand and plenty of hard work along the way. But I can honestly say that if I had not attended Epicodus, I certainly would not be doing the work I love so much today. I am grateful to the team at Epicodus for providing me with the environment, tools, and training I needed to jump start my career and pursue my dreams.

Epicodus takes an industry/ hands-on approach to teaching code. They emphasize a lot on self-learning and being an independent developer. Things I like about learning at Epicodus includes weekly talks by people in the industry, career coaching and internship... Read More opportunities. Things I wish Epicodus could improve on would be having a lower student to teacher ratio, more structured student review system and more group learning sessions. The course is definitely a value for money as it is way more affordable than other bootcamps. Do note that if you're attending the course hoping to be spoon fed/ have most concept explain to you, this might not be the best option.

Over 13 moons have come and gone since I graduated from Epicodus, and I have yet to receive any worthwhile assistance in my quest for employment as an entry level coder.

Epicodus neglects the most important part of any Coding Bootcamp: job placement!!!... Read More There is but one day to work on a resume, do a mock interview, and update social media profiles. That's it! That's all you get for job prep. Demo Day, which is designed to be a reverse job fair, was a big fat waste of time. "Employers"--in quotes because some were Epicodus students pretending to be employers--meandered around the room looking at projects. Many seemed uninterested or obligate to be there, the whole affair felt like that distance relative's wake your parent's dragged you to when you were 15 years old: sad, but somewhat redeemed because you had unlimited access to junk food. I had to aggressively flag people down to present my work. I felt like the balding uncle at your distance relative's wake trying to make the 15 year olds who didn't want to be there smile by pulling coins from their ears and restoring torn napkins. I don't know anyone who landed a job from Demo Day. The short of it is that Epicodus does NOT offer any worthwhile connections to companies like New Relic, which is practically across the street.

Furthermore, I don't believe that the instruction was adequate. My code reviews, for instance, were impercipient. I didn't really receive actionable feedback--comments were predominantly positive, lacking any substantive tips about how to improve my code.

I believe Epicodus sells a lie. They entice you with the dream of transforming your life through a coding job--anyone can do it--just complete our program, work hard, and you'll be a programmer. That is total BS! It's been over a year since I graduate from Epicodus; I code everyday: I'm active at Hacker Rank, CodeWars, and Github and I am still seeking employment as an entry level coder. My experience is that Epidocus is NOT doing anything to help students find jobs in Portland's saturated job market; instead they promise a job, but they deliver a link to a virtual certificate that's not worth the paper it's printed on.

I went to Epicodus for the CSS/Design track in 2017. The course was very rigorous in the best way possible with at the very least 8 hours of each day (often times closer to 12-15 hours) spent either writing code, designing, or testing code/prototypes... Read More that I had created. I feel like the experience prepared me to step directly into the tech community and get to work. Since graduation, I have been working as a UX designer applying all that I learned as well as expanding upon that knowledge in intelligent and meaningful ways. Not only did I learn how to program at Epicodus but more importantly I learned how to learn technologies as well as getting in touch with the vibrant local tech community.