Epicodus

Overview: I attended the 6-month full-time Design/CSS program back in 2017 and graduated in late October. Prior to Epicodus, I was working for 4 years as a Makeup Artist and Lash Extension Artist. I managed to continue working part-time while attending... Read More Epicodus, which was extremely challenging but doable. Luckily, I have a very supportive partner who picked up a lot of duties with our 1-year-old daughter so that we could make this happen. The late nights and stress was worth it, as I just accepted an offer with a great company. I'll be making more money (not to mention, have great benefits for my family, as well as fun things like paid vacation) now as a junior-level designer than I made as an experienced business owner. Without a doubt, completing the rigorous coursework at Epicodus was a great decision.

Pros:
• The course material overall is good, and you walk away with a lot of portfolio pieces and tons of hands-on experience with various frameworks and tools.
• Pair-programming allows you to connect with most (if not every member of) your cohort, learn challenging material faster, share ideas, and pick up on tricks/resources from your partner.
• This course was the confirmation I needed that I should absolutely pursue a career in Design. Epicodus gave me access to the latest design tools and educational resources I likely wouldn't have found otherwise.
• My cohort was full of amazing, funny, talented people. I left the program with several strong friendships, and over a dozen valuable connections in the tech space.

Cons:
• At the end of my class, nearly everyone had a high attendance rate on their certificates of completion, despite some classmates having very low attendance rates. If you make Epicodus a priority, like I did, you may find it discouraging to see other people in your class missing a ton of class and not completing Friday assignments, and still passing with you. Epicodus seems much more relaxed about attendance than they say, or at least some instructors seem to turn a blind eye on tardiness/absence.
• Their reported job placement rates seem inflated compared to the reality of the marketplace. Don't be surprised if you don't get a job right away after graduating. The design/coding space is getting much more saturated, especially in the Portland area. Nearly half of my class still hasn't found a related full-time job three months later.
• Some of the course material was frustratingly half-baked --- at times, there were so many errors or out-of-date sections that you would literally get nowhere if you followed it word for word.

Tips or things to keep in mind:
• If you graduate in Q4 (October/November/December), prepare to have a much harder time finding a job than you would at any other time of year. It may take months longer than you think, so I recommend creating your portfolio and applying for jobs before you even start your internship.
• You should know that you are coming into a very fast-paced learning environment, and you will be left behind if you miss a lot of class or don't do the homework. It's up to you to learn the material, not your pair partner or instructor's.

The Epicodus 6 month bootcamp program is for the courageous and dedicated person who desires to transition into a high tech career.

It is NOT like a college or university program with several classes and a schedule you can design for yourself.

It is like... Read More a demanding entry level job. One must be there 8 to 5, Monday to Friday week after week for 6 months. One cannot afford to take days off. And yes, one needs to stay dedicated and regularly study during nights and weekends.

The reward for completing this program, is knowing that you can in fact work in a fast paced software development environment. You can in fact work well both alone and also all day with colleagues. And you can work with a variety of modern computer languages, frameworks and tools, in a short amount of time. You know this, because this is what you have been doing for 6 months.

Proof is both in your Github portfolio and in a rigorous report of accomplishment and attendance from Epicodus.

Epicodus is a credible organization that reliably produces qualified software development and high tech workers in their 6 month program.

I took the evening intro program because I was enrolled full time in college and I wanted a course that would fit my schedule. I also wanted to learn a lot in that short amount of time. After the course my interest in programming increased and I am planning... Read More on taking the full-time course once everything settles down. Thank you to Epicodus for all your programs.

I began in May 2016, pivoted to switch tracks form Ruby to Design, and finished in early 2017.
This gave me an unusually broad perspective on this excellent school as a result!
For instance, I had to slog through the JavaScript courses twice, and I saw... Read More them change in those few short weeks. Humbling and very, very educational.

+ Constantly evolving curriculum, just like the industry
+ Learning with a cohort helps keep you motivated; pair programming teaches soft skills
+ Awesome staff, very welcoming and supportive
+ Outrageous value
+ Persistent help with resume, job placement; they invited me back to Demo Day until I found a permanent position
+ Early start time and strict attendance policies help you take your learning outcomes seriously

- Code Reviews formulaic; if you don't grok the material by Friday, you'll have a hard time delivering a Review that passes
- Barely any focus on debugging (this may have changed)
- Not enough practice with deploying projects (again, this may have changed)

I sincerely recommend Epicodus to anyone who has the curiosity to write software, but has not yet found the focus/drive/commitment/etc to teach themselves.

Big warning, though: if you're treating this as a gateway to a gleaming career in Tech and you don't already enjoy solving gnarly problems with computers, look for another role in Tech to grow into. Software development -even at this introductory level- is not going to make you very happy at all if you don't like reading documentation and seeing your best ideas fail over, and over, and over again. But it's so sweet when you finally see that hidden problem, and fix it!

If you enjoy the sound of that, seriously consider software development, and Epicodus!
I've met successful people here with backgrounds in: teaching, music, information management, copy writing, law, printing, and many other brainy pursuits. Software development is incredibly fun, but it demands patience and a certain precision and is not for everyone.

I attended Epicodus after working as a project coordinator for 5 years after college. I had some experience of basic HTML and CSS which intrigued me to want to learn more. I had heard great things about the code school from an alum and former coworker.... Read More If you want a quick way into the tech industry Epicodus can help you get there, but you definitely need to dedicate yourself and put in a lot of work on your own if you want to be successful.

Teachers are there more so for moral support and to help you learn better. It is up to you to do the heavy lifting, which is what it will be like in the job world. The initial curriculum can be overwhelming for someone with no experience. I would highly recommend trying to code on your own through free online resources to determine if this is something you are truly interested in pursuing.

Also, Epicodus focuses on pair programming; this is when you work with another person, sharing the keyboard and mouse daily. You can choose your partner. I would suggest trying to work with everyone in your cohort at least once. This will help you learn different work styles. Sometimes you will have a bad day with a partner and you may choose not to work with them in the future. Take that as a learning experience, but also keep in mind you can’t always choose your coworkers so learn to work better with different people, which probably means learn to communicate better.

Job search help is pretty good. But again, you need to do most of the heavy lifting. Top three tips: network at meet ups/hackathons/friends/linkedin, work on side projects (not cookie cutter Epicodus projects, keep an open mind (the most important thing is to get your foot in the door.) Also, find code challenges and do them daily and pick up some resources on basic computer science concepts, Epicodus is only going to scratch the surface.

I'd been trying to teach myself C# and failing, due to a lack of motivation. I heard about Epicodus from a grad, and saw they had a C#/.NET track, and I knew that I would be doing that asap. I withdrew my enrollment from PSU (just 2 days before class... Read More started), and paid for Epicodus. I had some background with Web based Programming, and video game development, but what I needed was a positive and open space to dive deep into the .NET stack. Having an instructor that knew the curriculum well, and (more importantly) was willing and able to learn with us when we found difficult problems, really went a long way. She was an excellent mirror for our collective excitement. I graduated this past October, and within 3 weeks was hired.

This worked so well for me because the curriculum was challenging but fair, and I loved doing the work. I happily devoted as much time as I could, because I knew that I would reap the rewards after graduation. I highly reccommend this program for anyone looking to delve into Web Development.

Its not a real review without at least one negative comment. The only one I can think of was that there were a few hiccups with the internship process for my cohort. It is a mercurial process, dealing with businesses and students. My cohort was part of a double group, Design and C#, so there were 40+ people to place.

The most important point I want to stress is that I saw far too many people enter this program without doing ANY programming experience at all. How can you know if something suits you if you've never tried it? There's no excuse, simply sign up for udacity's... Read More CS101 course and see if you're into it. If you don't find the challenge fun, do NOT sign up at any coding bootcamp. Programming jobs pay well because it's very challenging work, not because there's a shortage of entry-level programmers (there is a shortage of GOOD programmers).

With that said, my experience at Epicodus was almost entirely positive. I learned A LOT, very quickly and pair programming was a blast. If I were to recommend any changes for the curriculum, I would include 5 weeks (or more) of CS fundamentals and raise the acceptance bar.

I also want to say that the new career counselor in Seattle (Mindy) is incredible. She has been professionally trained as a career coach / interview coach and knows her stuff. Definitely utilize her knowledge if you're in the Seattle program.

Great course! I had a really good experience with Epicodus in Seattle. The classroom setting was inspiring, coursework was thorough and engaging and instruction was there when you needed it. Ultimately, besides the fundamentals of coding, what I learned... Read More was the ability to find answers to problems, troubleshoot, be tenacious and rely on my problem solving skills to figure out lessons. I would definitely recommend if you have the drive and motivation to challenge yourself here.

Every 6 months or so I get approached by someone asking about my experience at Epicodus. It is from someone who knows someone who is on the fence of switching careers and they aren't sure if Epicodus is for them. I love connecting with these people, because... Read More I love sharing my experience. They usually have the same concerns I did, "Is it worth the cost", "Will I find a job?", "Is this the best [coding] language to learn?" I can tell you it is worth it. My biggest skepticism was that I thought Epicodus was another Coding bootcamp cash cow, taking advantage of the tech trend. After the first few weeks my skepticism faded because I was learning how to code by writing and testing code 8 hours a day. It was hands on, real world practice. At the end of the bootcamp we were setup with internships. I felt I was prepared sufficiently. It is a program I owe my current success as an engineer and because of this I can say it is totally worth it.

This was one of the best things I have ever done.

I chose Epicodus after researching a few different fast-paced coding programs- some were shorter (and still cost more), some were longer. I picked Epicodus based on price, location, and the pair programming.... Read More

Though I didn't think I would enjoy pair programming, I thought it would be valuable to learn how to collaborate, not just have a role on a team, but actually build something together. It ended up being far more enjoyable than I had thought! It was fantastic to learn from, lean on, teach, and support eachother through our courses. I rarely had any issues with others, and in fact made some very good friends.

The staff is great. The teachers do not hold your hand- they are there to help you learn, not provide you answers. That said, there were times I found such devious ways to baffle myself and them that Loren (my instructor) and I would spend hours learning new things to tackle the issues. They are friendly, capable, and more than willing to help you through the tough spots. The internship/employment staff is also very supportive! When I had opportunities to interview before we had done the in-class prep, they took extra time to help me practice before hand.

The only thing I see wrong in the curriculum was that I wish there was more of it! It IS a short program though, and they can only put so much into everyday. There are many further exploration links and suggestions provided in addition to the daily lessons.

If you are attending Epicodus, a few suggestions:

Follow up on as many of the extras as possible. Do the optional second assignments on your own time if you don't have time in class.

Do not make assumptions about your pair until you have worked with them- preferably more than once! Everyone struggles with different parts of the program, and they may lag in one area only to be the expert you need in another.

If you are struggling- I certainly did- remember that the things that looked hard a week ago seem easy a week later. Keep at it and chances are whatever seems impossible today will seem easy in another week.

Keep your github clean and your readmes up to date - it will save you a lot of time later!

Learn all you can about tech interview/algorithm/BigO notation and PRACTICE solving coding challenges/whiteboarding as much as possible. These are essential for the interview process and are not covered except very briefly in the coursework. Codewars.com is a great place to practice.

Network! Go to events, make yourself talk to strangers. It is how you get most opportunities in this field.

Don't wait until graduation to start looking/applying to jobs- and don't let a 'failed' interview bother you. (I failed a few!) Many jobs take a while to get back to you, you want a head start, and the interviews are TOUGH- but they are a skill like any other and practice is the only way to get better.

You can get hired! There were a few of us that had jobs even before our internships ended- some through regular application/interview, some through introductions (networking!!!).

I loved this school, and would do it again in a second. Highly, highly recommended.