Flatiron School

I have been teaching myself to code for several months now. I've bounced around through several online resources (Coursera, Codecademy, Free Code Camp, etc.) and they all helped but some moved too quickly through the material or got pretty advanced while... Read More I was still lacking a strong foundation, I started to search for more of a full program option, that's when I started looking into attending a coding bootcamp.

I looked into all of the reputable bootcamps, the in-person and online options, and narrowed it down to about 5. I signed up for information from those 5 and received the recommended prep courses from each. I completed a full prep course from my top choice bootcamp but didn't feel entirely prepared so I decided to try the other prep courses before submitting any applications.

Out of the others, 2 of them weren't really worth my time, they were just practice problems and gave me no information about the teaching style of the school. So I was left with Flatiron's prep course on Learn.co and another fully online school's course. They were both very well done and I went through several lessons on each but Flatiron's Learn.co was really everything I wanted so I focused on completing it first.

The online prep was so thorough and really fun to move through. Each lesson built upon the previous and contained mini labs that helped solidify the concepts. At the end of each module there was a larger project to complete using all of the skills from the lessons, each lab helped build up to it but enough was definitely left open so I never felt like I was just filling in the blank. I really got to apply what I had learned and finally felt like I was building a solid foundation.

After finishing the Bootcamp Prep I not only felt totally ready to apply to the bootcamps but Flatiron had also become my top choice school. I submitted 3 applications, completed the assessments, and received invitations to interview with all! I chose Flatiron :)

I attended Flatiron School in March, for the web developer immersive program in NYC . Within the first week of school we were pushing code on Github, and doing object oriented programming! From that first week onwards the pace, and complexity continued... Read More to increase. Flatiron has a style of teaching that is extremely effective. It is fast paced as you learn new concepts on a daily basis, but you are challenged to put those skills to use by building projects so that what you learn sticks. They also teach you enough of the plumbing so that you always know whats going on, but most importantly they teach you effective coding patterns so that you can abstract away that plumbing and create more complex programs. Overall the curriculum is well structured, but challenging, its no walk in the park! The instructors at Flatiron are amazing, they are some of the most intelligent people that I've ever met, and they are very good at what they do!

If that's all that Flatiron got right it would be a great school, but they also got one very important thing right, and that's community. First of all, they do a great job of assembling a class of smart, creative and very hard working students. My classmates challenged me every day to do my best work, and they we're so supportive and kind to one another that it made coming to school everyday a joyful experience. I learned so much from them, everything from music theory, to my first VR experience. I gained as much from spending time with them as I did learning how to code in class.

But is it worth it? put aside the incredible set of skills you will gain, the amazing people you will be around everyday, can it really payoff in three months? Yes it can, it did for me. Part of the program is the very rigorous work thats done by the career services team. They are nothing short of amazing. They work hard to guide you through all of the things that you need to do to be the best candidate to get the job. I accepted an offer for a Front End Engineer position with an up and coming startup, a month after graduation. If you are driven to learn software development, I strongly recommend that you attend Flatiron, they've got the secret sauce!!!

I was recently accepted into the Web Development Immersive at the NYC campus and am super excited to be attending the program next month.

To start my story: I have been interested in learning to write code for some time, but never really found the impetus... Read More to begin my journey. I have worked a variety of jobs and have most recently found myself working in Non-Profit, while finishing up a bachelors degree in Management. I never really found true fulfillment in any of the work I was doing until I started working Non-Profit, but even there I have found that there is a certain limit to my achievement. As I am wrapping up my degree in the next few weeks, I have been pondering how I may better myself, so as to find personal fulfillment, while providing the maximum benefit to those who may be less fortunate than I.

I found out about Flatiron School while looking into bootcamps, online. Seperately, a cousin who works in tech did some research for me, about bootcamps, and connected me with the friend of a co-worker. This person actually attended a different bootcamp and did not have the best experience, but she highly recommended Flatiron School because of what she had seen from graduates of the program. The seed had been planted.

I soon signed up for Flatiron School's Online Bootcamp Prep course, which is free of charge and hosted on the 'Learn' platfrom. I began going through the tutorials on my own. Whenever I found confusion, I would ask a question, and I would find an almost immediate response from a Technical Coach or a student. I was very impressed with the level of helpfulness provided, being that it was totally free and started making some progress. A week or so into it, I got a call from Cailee at Flatiron. She asked me how it was going, what my intention was with the prep course, and if I had any questions. She then informed me about an online Q&A hosted by Adam at Flatiron, which I attended and found to be very insightful. I also read pretty much all the information on their website and took a few days to digest everything, making sure to properly reflect and reaffirm my intention for the study software engineering. I then applied for the program.

The first part of the application process was a written application. I took some time to write it up and then sent it in. A few days later, I recieved an email saying that I had been invited to the interview process! The first step was a Skype "get to know you" interview, which I had with Adam. We had a very nice conversation where he asked me about my interest and intention for the program, then he let me ask him questions about the program. Luckily, the interview was successful and I was invited to the next step in the process, the technical interview.

I was very worried about getting accepted into the program, because my knowledge of code prior to the Bootcamp Prep course was very slim, but I kept my head down and worked, and reworked, through the prep course material to prepare for the interview, which I scheduled for the next week. I had my technical interview with Tony, who asked me questions about my work on one of the labs and, thankfully, I was able to answer most of his questions (though I did have a little trouble with a more advanced question he asked me towards the end). I was very nervous leading up to, and throughout the interview, but his attitude put me at ease. He let me ask any questions I had at the end of the interview and then that was it. The interview process was over.

The next few days seemed like an eternity while I anxiously waited to hear back. A few days later, I got the email announcing my acceptance. I was ecstatic! They informed me that I needed to complete some pre-coursework, and review some documentation before attending, so that is what I am taking care of now, while wrapping up my final classes for my degree and transitioning my responsibilities at work.

Overall, my experience thus far has been greater than I would've imagined. I have already spent many hours and long nights working on the projects on the 'Learn' platform, but it has helped to develop more of a hunger in me in wanting to learn more and become fully immersed. I am very grateful for this opportunity and very excited to be attending come the end of August!

A fellow alum convinced me to give Flatiron a try because I'd recently been laid off when my previous company collapsed. The first day I knew it was one of the best decisions of my life. Fast-forward three months and I have a new job, am making 25k more... Read More a year than I was in my previous career, and genuinely enjoy the work that I do. Go to some of their events, get a feel for their vibe, and if you're gut tells you to make the plunge then do it. You won't regret it, and you'll work with some amazing people who push you to be the absolute best version of yourself.

I attended Flatiron's Online Web Developer Program via Learn.co from August 2016 to April 2017 while working full time. Fully employed as of May 2017.

I'm fully aware that I go into full fangirl mode whenever I talk about Flatiron. What can I say? I had... Read More an amazing experience that I can honestly call life-changing. I went from a hobbyist coder to an employable web developer in less than a year, met tons of friends from all over the U.S. and the rest of the world, and laid the foundations for a great career.

What made it so great?

1. The flexibility - Unlike an immersive program, if I was having trouble with a particular concept or technique, I was able to take some time to explore it further rather than just having to move on.

2. The people - Learning to code isn't just learning to code. It's also learning to talk about code, how to explain your code to other people, and just generally the vocabulary of web development. I learned as much watching other people code in lectures or study groups and helping other students via Slack or screenshare as I did from the curriculum itself.

3. The format and curriculum - After graduating, I had 5 projects, all of which had undergone a technical-interview-style code review from an instructor and meticulous refactoring. I had more than one potential employer comment that I had a surprisingly well-developed portfolio for someone of my experience level.

Don't get me wrong; it was a ton of work. I had an unrelated full-time job that I couldn't quit for financial reasons, so my life consisted of going to work and coming home to code for several months. My friends thought I had turned into a hermit. But it was absolutely worth it, and I'd recommend this program to anyone looking to get a head start on a career in web development.

Loved my experience going to Flatiron School, had the chance to work with an amazing group of really talented and friendly people. The school really cares about admitting personable people into their in-person program which in my opinion is really important... Read More for such an intensive program. I had never learned so much in such a short period of time but it was all worth it. Curriculum wise I wish they had full stack Javascript, but they do prepare you to have the basic concepts and be able to learn any language. They also have an amazing career services team!

I attended the Web Development Immersive program beginning in September 2016 and got a job in software engineering in February 2017! The on-campus program really helped me provide me with a platform to learn with the most helpful instructors and other... Read More students who shared the same passion to learn coding/programming.

I was previously in banking for 5 years and the Flatiron School really allowed me to make a career change in such a short amount of time. I got my job through the very helpful career services team at the school.

The curriculum is strong despite some programming languages being a little old in an ever changing world of different technologies. Ruby on Rails provides a solid foundation for Object Oriented programming and for basic web development structure and an idea of what frameworks are. However, the school is constantly revising and updating their curriculum to try to stay up to date. The most relevant language taught that I actually use at my job is JavaScript, which is ubiquitous in all of the internet.

All in all, the 12 weeks are rigorous but necessary to have you effectively learn everything to prepare you for the tech industry. If you are serious about pursuing a career in web development or software engineering, the Flatiron School provided an absolutely wonderful experience. It's extremely effective and has the results to prove it!

The best thing about Flatiron School was the instructors. They were well-qualified, friendly, motivating, and ready for helping even after the program finished.In addition, the environment set by my cohort. Many of them were my healthy competition, as... Read More well as fun and interesting people to be around.
This is definitely a challenging course, and you really need to put in the effort to learn the material. Part of what they're teaching you is how to learn programming, which is very valuable later on in the job hunt and career. However, it does mean that they don't spoon feed you everything. The curriculum introduces topics and shows you the pertinent information to get started, and provides a challenge/practice problem to use it, but there will be a lot of self-learning on the way with the instructors guiding you.
I really enjoyed my time with this program and I am very glad that I took this step toward a career change!

Coding bootcamps have been getting a lot of attention recently for touting high median salaries after a (relatively) short period of study. I can't speak for all bootcamps but I can say that Flatiron lives up to the hype. Learning to code from a non-technical... Read More background is difficult, but teaching yourself how to do it increases that difficulty exponentially. I learned more in my first month at Flatiron than I did in six months teaching myself. The community, the curriculum, the pressure, all of it combines in a perfect storm to drive you to do your best.

-The instructors and staff here are fantastic. Supportive doesn't even begin to cover it, but the feeling of inclusion and community made what is a very difficult curriculum, fun.

-The students. I don't know how, but the Flatiron admissions staff must be magic because almost all of the students here are great people. Being a part of a group of such diligent, creative, sociable people inspired me to do so much more than I thought possible.

-The curriculum. It's not for everyone, it's incredibly hard. That being said, if you got accepted, chances are you can do it. It doesn't cover everything you should know but considering the time constraints of the immersive, the curriculum makes sense. You should expect to always be learning outside the classroom. This isn't like college where you show up for tests and hand in all the homework at the end of the semester.

-The campus. If you have a chance to apply to the immersive, I highly recommend checking out the campus. It's conducive to getting work done, while also having all the bells and whistles to keep it fun and a good place to hang out. There's also tons of meetups/activities/guest speakers/meditation workshops etc... There's never a shortage of things to keep you busy.

In conclusion. As I mentioned, it's not for everyone. But it really is what you make of it. It will probably be the hardest couple of months you've ever experienced, but you'll get to reap those benefits for the rest of your life as you begin a career in this dynamic industry. Also you'll probably meet a bunch of the coolest people in NYC.

I attended Flatiron School's iOS Immersive program in the fall of 2016. I absolutely LOVED it! I learned so much from the course; the instructors were unbelievably helpful and approachable and the material was both challenging and instructive. The career... Read More team was very helpful in preparing me for interviews and in managing the process of finding a job. Strongly recommend this course!