Flatiron School

I was part of the on campus web development immersive 2/2015-5/2015 and my life has trasformed in ways I could not have imagined. Here's my review broken down into different aspects that you may be interested in:

Curriculum: When I took the course the... Read More curriulum was based on ruby and built up to ruby on rails. We started from writing basic ruby, into object orientation, then sinatra, and eventually to RoR and javascript for client side interactions. The really nice part about the curriculum is that we start at a lower level to understand how some of the abstractions work. An example is when we built our own ORM which mirrored the pattern of Active Record. Another example is building our own log in system that used the same implementation as the Devise gem. Since there are a lot of abstractions in programming, its a nice way to introduce newbies like us to a large framework like RoR. Oh, and of course, we were always using git like a real developer for version control :)

Content delivery/organization: Obviously I haven't gone to any other bootcamps, so I don't know how they deliver their content, but at Flatiron School, we used a system called Learn that had our daily schedules each morning, our assignments and "readmes" that explained the concepts we were going to cover, and any announcements from our instructors. The tool has all of our labs organized by topic and you can also see who else is working on it so you can group up and code together. It also has a built in chat system so you can ask for help from instructors or other students! Outside fo the tool, we had lecture and lab reviews everyday up until project mode. Those were pretty helpful to ask as many questions as you needed until you understood the lab.

Community/student support and growth: One of the reasons why I chose the Flatiron School over other schools is because of the student support and community involvement. And I must say, they definitely delivered! For community involvement, Flatiron hosts a meetup every Tuesday where students present a project of their choosing. It's required to do this if you enroll, but it really expands your ability to talk about technical stuff in a concise way. At the meetup, current and aspiring developers show up so there's time to talk to them before or after the presentations. There are also a lot of guest speakers that come in and talk about their experiences as a developer, CTO, product manager, etc. Another awesome part about Flatiron School is that they provide tutoring and mentorship for students that need/want it. Unlike some of the other schools, Flatiron won't just kick you out because you don't understand something. They'll help you out and make sure you get the support you need. The only reason why a student might be kicked out is if they do something really stupid like steal monitors or punch another student in the face.

Job Assistance: I think this is one of the biggest questions for most applicants coming into the program. How long will it take for me to get a job? What's the most effective way? Who's gonna help me out? All these are legit questions. What I will tell you is that you're in great hands. During the semester, you build at least three projects to have in your portfolio (1 from the Flatiron Presents project, and 2 project mode projects) and they are all on topics that you want to focus on. There's also a dedicated Placements team that helps you in numerous ways ranging from resume reviews, mock interviews, or how to interact with potential employers. There's also a speed-interview session during the last week of the semester so you get to interact with people that are looking to hire developers. I could probably keep going on about the placements assistance, but you can see how great of a job they do by looking at their jobs report on their website.

In summary, Flatiron School is filled with people that truly care about your well-being and are interested in your success to switch your career from whatever you were doing to a developer. I highly recommend Flatiron School and hope that you have a great of an experience as I had.

In a couple of days, I will start working as a developer at New York Magazine, all thanks to Flatiron School. I graduated from their NYC Web Developer program a couple of weeks ago, and ever since then, the Career Services has been super helpful and effective... Read More in making sure that I get paid to write professional code.

It all started in July when I was exploring my options on how to move forward with my life. I’ve always been super interested in computer programming and web development, dating all the way back to my childhood, but I had never actually sat down and studied this stuff day-to-day.

I’ve been connected to Flatiron School for about 2 years prior to becoming a student, so when I had to decide on which coding bootcamp to attend, the answer was pretty much right in front of my face. But I still analyzed a few other bootcamps, wrote out pros and cons for each, and the facts are simply the facts: Flatiron School’s quality in terms of curriculum is absolutely impressive. I tried out their free courses on Learn (which you should definitely do as well before making a decision), and they were super informative and user-friendly. In fact, the entire product of Learn is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s a full-blown learning management system that guides you step by step on your experience as a student.

Learn provides hundreds of labs, videos, and readings on web development. As if that wasn’t enough, they also have an entire track dedicated on learning how to land a career as a professional web developer. It’s so awesome. Best of all though, after you complete your course, you get access to all of Flatiron School’s other courses, like the entire NYC iOS Developer program’s curriculum on top of your existing one.

Aside from the curriculum, the part that I hands down loved the most about Flatiron School was the community. Our class was sort of small, about 26 students, but from the very first day you start developing a loving relationship with each student. We go out to dinners and do a bunch of fun activities together.

Our instructors were completely amazing. Seriously, it’s been a couple of weeks so far and I miss them so much. They know everything about computer programming so if you have any questions, even ones that have nothing to do with the curriculum, chances are that they’ll be able to give you a pretty detailed answer and provide you with additional resources. They go all the way making sure that you have a great learning experience, including staying after-hours and helping students that need extra assistance. There was a time when one of our instructors stayed until 9PM helping us on a pretty complicated concept that we were learning at that time.

The week after graduation, there is an event called the Campus Draft, which is pretty much a bunch of companies coming in and interviewing us for positions. One of the companies I interviewed with was New York Magazine, and I got an offer literally the day after. A bunch of other students have also received great job offers, and it hasn’t even been over 2 weeks yet.

Flatiron's online full stack web development program was the curriculum I needed to transition from a career in financial services to a career in tech.

I did a number of online resources prior to discovering Flatiron and found the curriculum to be top... Read More notch and I was grateful for the way it was structured. It does a great job at building on top of previous lessons and is a great way to reinforce learning.

Another great thing about Flatiron's online program is the awesome community. Learning online can feel a little lonely but Flatiron set up the online community in such a way that while going through the program you don't feel alone.

I couldn't have asked for a better experience and was glad I chose to learn to become a developer through them!

Attending Flatiron School was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Not only is the curriculum rigorous and relevant, but the instructors are absolutely incredible- both as developers and as people. In addition to the planning and delivery... Read More of instruction, what makes Flatiron so special is the community. Of the many bootcamps out there, Flatiron is one of the few that intentionally and successfully creates access and diversifies the tech world. My class was composed of bright, inspiring individuals with different backgrounds and perspectives, most of which are currently underrepresented in the tech workforce. When taught the right way, code is incredibly empowering. Many people remain skeptical of how one can learn the content and skills required to get a job in this industry after 3 short months. Technology is constantly evolving with various languages and platforms, but what Flatiron does so well is teach you how to teach yourself. Additionally, the career services team works tirelessly to ensure that you are set up with a variety of conversations and job interviews following graduation, and they do not stop until you land one. Flatiron School was far and away the best learning environment and community I have been a part of—be prepared to be challenged everyday but it is worth every minute.

I had known for years that I was interested in writing code for a career, but I had no idea how to take the knowledge from two college introductory courses and turn it into a software development job. While exploring different post-grad options for learning... Read More how to code, I met some Flatiron Alumni who impressed me with their success in finding jobs after the program as well as the way they seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed their time at the school. The Flatiron School's founders, Avi and Adam, exude nothing but excitement about code and enabling new developers to break into this field. They have created an atmosphere different from school. It is a group of 30 or so people working as a team with a common goal.

The course was difficult, and not without its frustrating moments, but it is well worth it. The instructors did an excellent job pacing the course so that every time we mastered a new topic, it was on to the next one. And after the course was finished, the career advisors worked with all of us to make sure we found our first jobs. I year later, I could not be happier with my job and my company.

While preparing to apply for different boot camps and as a beginner to coding languages I spent 1 month to prepare before I started to apply for different coding boot camps, flatiron boot camp prep course helped me immensely to improve on my skill and... Read More to make me realize that how much I enjoy to code. The positives are below:

1. It’s a free course so you don't have anything to lose. This course will help you know more about the Flatiron Schools study culture/style.

2. One of the best reasons I suggest it is because if you are stuck there are experts who are there to help, and they are very responsive.

The bottom line: It's free, you will gain knowledge with every moment you spend on it.

I was a twenty-something female liberal arts major struggling to make something of myself in publishing. After dabbling in web design for years without making any real progress, I finally decided to take the leap and turn my hobby into my career by applying... Read More to and attending the in-person web immersive program at the Flatiron School in the fall of 2015.

It was easily the best decision I've ever made. The Flatiron School doesn't just teach you how to code; they teach you how to think like a programmer and to love every second of it. The instructors are passionate and truly care about outcomes. It's easy to see that they go above and beyond to help students out, throughout the program and even during the job search.

The curriculum is probably the best I've seen online, and I went through a bunch of free programs before I decided to enroll at Flatiron. What I like most about Learn is that it doesn't hold your hand through everything; it challenges you and teaches you how to struggle because that's what life is like as a developer, just a series of problems that you need to figure out how to solve.

What I also loved was the collaborative and supportive community at Flatiron. There was a good male/female ratio, and nearly everyone in the class was friendly and nice. During my time there, I made some great friends with whom I'm still in regular contact. When I was considering other bootcamps, it was the community at Flatiron that really sold me. They also do a lot of community-building events and activities, which breaks up the day and reminds you to be a human, even as you're furiously trying to solve labs.

Within two months of graduating, I was employed as a junior software developer. The career services team was there to support me throughout my search and they helped me get the best results for me, including helping me negotiate salary and accept and decline offers.

I will also add that this is a tough program. When you go to Flatiron, expect to learn at a breakneck pace and to challenge yourself beyond what you ever thought was possible. It's an enormous sacrifice for three months, and you will not do well unless you commit 110%. That means working probably 12 hours a day, every day, over weekends. For me, it was totally worth it. A few alumni I've spoken with have told me that Flatiron saved their lives. Now, a year later, I can say with confidence that I feel the same way.

I spent a couple of months working through Flatiron School's Bootcamp Prep track at learn.co and had a really great experience with it. I was doing it to see if I enjoyed coding enough to take the plunge into a bootcamp and now I am joining the February... Read More 2017 cohort. I was really impressed at the quality of the lessons. I got a solid foundation in both javaScript and Ruby, completing many labs and a couple of real projects.

The program really helps you to grow as a coder. The final project in the javaScript section has you build a Rock Dodger video game. I had learned enough from the course to be able to do that and then take it further to transform it into a Space Invaders-style game. It's hacky, but it works! Very satisfying.

One of the things that I was most impressed with is the availability of online help. Whenever I had a question that I couldn't figure out, I would just type it into the Questions section and I would have expert assistance almost immediately. Remember, this is at no cost! The other thing is that the way help is provided is very skillful. The support staff would always ask more questions than anything else, leading me to be able to figure out the answer myself, actually learning something in the process, instead of just being given the answer.

If you have any interest in checking out coding, I highly recommend this free, supported course.

The bootcamp was the best I could have hoped for. Helped me transition into software development career in no time. Completed the program, had an offer within a month and started working within two. A year before enrolling in Flatiron, I would have never... Read More imaged that I'd be doing what I'm doing now. But about the program, what separates Flatiron from other is the Learn.co platform. By the end of the course you would have done over 150 labs in getting concepts across. To me this more hands on approach is much better than lots of reading, day long lectures or even online videos. Having others around you working towards the same goal is an amazing experience and you learn from each other.

Pros:
- Lots of hands on training through labs.
- Friendly and always willing to help instructors.
- Team projects that help you learn to work with others and learn from them as well.
- Job placement assistance.
- Amazing community.
- Free coffee/tea!

Final note - Bootcamps aren't magic. You don't go in and just come out automatically with a job. You get what you put into it. Putting in the minimum, just coming in at 9 leaving at 6 and not studying over the weekends you'll get the minimum results.

I attended the Flatiron school in the fall of 2015 and can wholeheartedly recommend the program. I had been interested in a career in web development for several years at that point but despite taking night classes in Computer Science at a local college... Read More and trying various online coding programs (such as codeacademy) I was still struggling to make the transition into a new career and unsure of how to continue fitting all these additional courses around my busy work hours. I eventually applied to the Flatiron School for the full time web development bootcamp. For me, the ability to learn how to code with in person teachers and with the support of students going through the same program was invaluable. Its always heard to gain the amount of knowledge needed for beginning a career as a programmer in such a short amount of time but I feel that the Flatiron School balanced teaching the essentials to help us establish a solid foundation, as well as gave me the tools to continue learning and growing as a developer in my first job out of the program. Additionally, thanks to the career placements program and the final week of interviews I was hired fairly quickly after graduation in a job I love and am still working in today. I can enthusiastically recommend this program to anyone who is looking to change careers into web development.