Hack Reactor

I was a chef with only a hobby level of experience with computers and coding, decided to take the course after hearing about it from a friend. Easily one of the better decisions I've made in my life. I'm now employed as a Software Engineer in New Hampshire... Read More making astronomically more money than I ever have in my life and loving my job. Would recommend this course to anyone (which I do just about every time someone brings up hating their job or not making enough money). pros: -no fire and forget curriculum where you just get assignments and sit on a computer alone -emulates a real work environment well -great staff -rapid pace -blends autonomy with accountability and social engagement -support is available but not as a crutch cons: -I actually found this to be a pro but the pace is breakneck and this program is not for the faint of heart, this lends to the program's gravitas.

When I enrolled in Hack Reactor, I had been working as a professional bicycle mechanic full-time for about seven years following a loss of interest in pursuing a career in my electrical engineering degree. Despite being reasonably well-paid for the bike... Read More industry, living in a relatively expensive area and making payments toward student loans meant I was still living paycheck-to-paycheck. Hack Reactor's accelerated program was just what I needed to take a minimal loan while pursuing a change in passion from bikes to software. The organization and pace of the program allowed me to learn the best and most-relevant skills at a much more rapid rate than I ever could have alone.

Pros:
- Well-polished program
- Rapidly learn software engineering beyond just the basics — learn some best practices while mimicking a real work environment
- Excellent technical and emotional support when it's needed
- Learn alongside fellow excellent people
- Great balance of autonomy (super-valuable) and direction

Cons:
- I loved the pace personally, but it can be a struggle at times

I’m a software engineer who graduated from Hack Reactor, and then stayed a few extra months to help teach and assist before getting hired as a full-time software developer. My salary as a Software Engineer is average for the town I work in (Austin, TX),... Read More and yet it is still twice as much as anything I ever earned while working in hospitality.

Should you consider this program? Do you really need a boot camp at all? It is a difficult question, especially because Hack Reactor isn’t cheap. I hope my review helps you answer these questions.

First, should you consider Hack Reactor over other programs? This one is a resounding yes! Hack Reactor has a fantastic entrance exam that only lets in students who are strong in their programming basics, and are also decent people. Hack Reactor will have you studying with your classmates for 70 hours a week, for three months. They try to not let in anyone who isn’t amiable or who doesn’t have a strong programming foundation. While the price tag is steep, it also means that every student you meet will be 100% committed. As a result, the large majority of Hack Reactor students I met were fantastic, driven people, and I have personally seen them get great jobs at companies such as IBM, Apple, Google and more. Sure, there are other great Boot Camps, but I have no doubt that Hack Reactor is one of the best.

Helping teach after my graduation further convinced me of this - I worked with the staff for three extra months, and I got to sit in on their many weekly meetings. They discussed each student’s progress, strategies on how to get each person to excel, and ways they could improve as a team. Their success rides on the success rate of their students, and so they truly care about their student’s success.

Second, should you consider a boot camp at all? It is a much harder question. Hack Reactor’s mission is to provide three things: Curriculum, Capital, and Community. Curriculum is what most people already have access to, with 80% of the things taught at Hack Reactor being available online. They do have some fantastic group-based milestone projects, which would be impossible to do by yourself. Lastly, the group workflow foundation they give you (working with Git, ticketing systems) shouldn’t be underestimated. Still, I get it. FreeCodeCamp is awesome.

Capital and Community - these are the two things I’d reckon most people are lacking. If you have a strong connections to the tech industry, or if you have the capacity to go back to a good university, this program may not be for you. As for me, I loved programming, but I was overworked and underpaid at the hotel I worked at. I didn’t know any other programmers, and I was too busy being an adult to consistently self study. On top of all that, I had no freaking clue how to sell myself for a tech job! Hack Reactor’s grueling course allowed me to devote 100% of my time to becoming a better programmer, an opportunity I am truly grateful for. I made a ton of awesome connections along the way... I even competed in a Hackathon with three new friends after the program, and our team won first place!

Should you consider a boot camp? It really is a tough question, but I’m glad I did it. You may hear online that you can do it by yourself, and some people definitely can. However, it is within six months of my graduation, and at least 90% of my class are now employed as software engineers. We all met for pizza this last week. I’m not fluffing these numbers up - check out Hack Reactor’s website for real success rates. I bet their success rates are some of the strongest, and I am 100% certain their success rates trounce the self-taught crowd’s success rate.

If you are still on the fence, try taking the entrance exam. You won’t regret it.

This program was very rewarding. For me, and it seems a lot of other people, it completely turned my life around. In my experience meeting other boot camp graduates, it’s clear that hack reactor’s curriculum goes above and beyond the industry standard.... Read More You’ll be confident in your abilities upon completion of this program, which isn’t something all boot camp grads can say. It’s a big time commitment and not for the faint of heart, but if you’re looking to go this route HR should be your number one choice.

Quitting my job and making the career transition to software engineering is one of the best decisions I've made. If you genuinely like to code and think you can handle a fast-paced learning environment, Hack Reactor is a great option. The curriculum is... Read More constantly changing to accommodate for a very dynamic field, and the name recognition was apparent as I was applying to jobs. Now that I have a job as a software engineer, I can confidently say the skills I learned at Hack Reactor are transferable and I gained the tools I need to learn on the job. It could be frustrating at times with the vagueness of directions and the level of autonomy they expected, but learning how to learn in the dark is one of the most important skills they teach you.

The job search support is another way I think Hack Reactor stands out. They have you thinking about your resume and practicing interview-style problems very early on, and throughout the second half of the program you have one hour in-person whiteboarding interviews every week. After you graduate, you have access to career counseling for up to 6 months with a weekly check-in to hold you accountable. There are also office hours with the tech mentors for mock interviews and the alumni network is very extensive. Any alumni I reached out to was more than happy to talk and help me out.

Although Hack Reactor was great for me, I think it's important to note that I don't think full-time bootcamps in general are for everyone. They are extremely fast-paced and challenging, and if you can't learn under that kind of pressure I would recommend doing a part time option. The job market for junior engineers, especially in LA, feels saturated and finding a job is not easy. The people who get jobs at companies like Google and Amazon right after graduating usually have prior tech/engineering experience. That being said, finding a job is not impossible if you're willing to put the work in and be persistent.

I graduated from HRR in 2019 and my experience was amazing from the beginning through my job search phase.

First of all, HRR has a great team of staff who are willing to help you out every step of the way and truly want to see you succeed. Don't expect... Read More to be babysat, instead be prepared to hear the real feedback they give you on your performance and what you need to improve on. Aside from the technical topics you learn, HR makes sure you have the experience that mimic the real-life functioning Engineering team - stand up, project management, agile best practices. You will also be sure to form a close-knit community with your cohort through many social and pairing activities. For me, it was not only a learning experience but also a time of self-reflection. You will learn so much about JavaScript and Full Stack Development but also about yourself. On top of the up-to-date curriculum and support from the staff, you also have access to probably the largest coding bootcamp alumni community - many of whom stay active in the community and support each other through new careers post HR.

I landed a great job at an amazing company and I'm super excited to build my career in Software Engineering. Can't thank my career coach enough, she was the best! Not only did she give me great interview tips but she was an emotional support during the job search phase which can be stressful.

Just a little background on myself: I was an educator that was determined to be the exception and remain a teacher for the entirety of my working years. I was incredibly passionate, dedicated...and made it nine years. I needed a change, new problems to... Read More solve, and an opportunity to be a true continuous learner. After researching and reaching out to alumni, I landed on HackReactor @ Galvanize (Austin campus) as the path that I would take to my new career and I am SO glad I did.

HRATX offers emotional and technical support whenever you need it. There are opportunities for office hours with residents, instructors, and the campus lead to address any concerns that you may have and scheduling such sessions is incredibly quick and easy. The staff is always kind, direct, and extremely helpful. Not to mention, any feedback you have is well received and addressed.

I have a lot of experience around educators and have known many great ones. However, one of my favorite teachers I’ve ever had is at HackReactor in Austin. The instruction was made accessible, interesting, and no question was too trivial.

As amazing as this program is, you get out what you put in. Not having any technical background, this was the hardest 12 weeks of work that I’ve done and was incredibly humbling. But I worked really hard, stayed late, and asked a lot of questions. I leaned heavily on my peers (which Hack Reactor does a great job selecting, in my opinion) and tried to do everything advised by the instructors. This curriculum, method of instruction, and stellar career services yielded two job offers within a month.

If I had it all to do over again, I would choose this program again in a heartbeat.

I graduated from Hack Reactor Los Angeles campus this year. As a graduates, I can confident say Hack Reactor has great learning atmosphere, efficient and powerful curriculum, employees are extremely reachable and helpful. After I graduated, I am very... Read More confident in job searching process, the career consoler is here for you when you need help or advice. I got an offer within a month after I graduated.

In sum, I am really appreciate about choosing Hack Reactor, and it is a successful career path change for me! Thank you Hack Reactor LA!!!!

Hack Reactor was the best investment I ever made in myself. Excellent all around. Great curriculum focused on the skills you need most to become a Frontend developer, a problem solver, and a JavaScript connoisseur. Prodigious instructors who believed... Read More in their students, had high expectations of them, and were very approachable. It was easy to find the motivation to put in the work with the culture of this program.

Job assistance is outstanding. Yes, is. They don't stop. Ever. You will find out what Marlene is all about when applying for your first job. No nonsense, all business, let's get you hired soldier! Already have a job and feeling like you can conquer the world on your own? Go for it... but what if you need a shoulder to cry on... don't look for Marlene, she is all about getting you what you need to succeed as a job applicant--just kidding! She is there for you. Need to vent about that company who is wasting candidates with their silly recruiting games? Marlene is there. Need to shake off the interviewing rust before jumping back into the job market? Yes Marlene is there.

Hack Reactor will give back as much as you put into it. And on top of that, job assistance is the gift that keeps on giving.

I finished the Hack Reactor Software Engineering Immersive in late August 2019 and got a job 3 weeks after finishing. I loved that the program makes sure all students have a decent amount of knowledge before being accepted into the program. The program... Read More also allows for students to advance in each mini sprint to their own level. The program teaching Javascript full stack and allows students flexibility to learn different database options. I was able to get experience with multiple SQL and multiple NoSQL DBs. The second half of the program is designed to be much more self/group guided with you able to work as hard as you can to learn new technologies while building full stack both by yourself and in a group while using an AGILE workflow. Overall, this is a program that really speeds up your learning to becoming a software engineer. Anyone could learn all of this information by themselves with enough practice, but never in the short timeframe of 3 months.

I had a blast the entire time and really enjoyed working with other people to constantly push each other to be our best and advance. It was lots of hard work, but also a fun time as well as becoming great friends with all of my cohort.

They spend a lot of time fine tuning resumes, cover letters, and other job hunting materials as well as give advice on the best way to look for jobs to stand out. Ultimately, it is on you to find the job though. It does take some time, but the payoff is worth it.

All in all, I would highly recommend this program to people who are serious about a career switch to a software engineer. My advice would be to spend a lot of time beforehand really practicing coding and make sure you enjoy it first.