Hack Reactor

Quit my previous full-time job needing a career change. At the advice of a few friends, Hack Reactor became the top choice. Six months after graduating, I still talk about my end-to-end experience with my new colleagues and family. Most importantly, Hack... Read More Reactor gave me the tools and training needed to create for myself a fulfilling career. In short, worth every minute and penny to the determined and motivated. It's a fast-pace, demanding program that requires your full attention, but if you are able to commit, there will be supportive staff and a challenging curriculum, focused on preparing you for the job market.

I recently graduated from Hack Reactor's San Francisco campus and I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to switch careers. The program ended up being fully remote due to COVID-19 and has definitely changed my perspective of online learning.... Read More I had heard so many wonderful things about this program, and was lucky enough to experience it - even virtually - for myself. As others often mention, the curriculum is very well-thought out. The staff also continuously gathers feedback from students throughout the program with the intent of making adjustments for future cohorts, showcasing their own desire to learn from your personal learning experience. Perhaps most importantly, the projects I worked on simulated many aspects of the actual job experience, putting me in a strong position to apply for such jobs after graduating HR. On top of the clear professional benefits, I also made several lifelong friends along the way. In short, I've never learned so much in such a short amount of time. I highly recommend HR to anyone looking for a truly challenging, one-of-a-kind, and life-changing experience! Pros: Hack Reactor staff is out-of-this-world amazing. They really pour all their heart out to support the students. Curriculum is top notch and well-curated for those looking to make a career change. Cons: Requires your complete dedication and attention from start to end.

I just finished the bootcamp in October 2021 and loved my experience. I was part of the San Francisco cohort, which was unfortunately remote due to COVID, but the remote format was surprisingly engaging and still provided ample opportunity to bond with... Read More my classmates and staff. I never thought I'd learn as much as I did, but this program exceeded all my expectations. Though 13 weeks is really too short to become an expert engineer, the crash course covers the latest, most in-demand tech stack for a full-stack developer, and leaves you with 4 apps to add to your portfolio, team projects to speak to during job interviews, and the skills and confidence to find a job and continue to learn. The bootcamp was split into 2 halves. In the first half, we learned the tech stack (JavaScript, Express/Node, React, MySQL, MongoDB) through daily lectures, local workshops, and 2-day sprints where we pair program with a classmate. Though the lectures were sometimes a bit dry (too many slides, too high-level), the local workshops held by the SF staff were phenomenal with material tailored specifically to student interests and highly engaging as well. The second half was project-based where we applied skills learned in the first half and work in agile teams to create a few apps (1 front-end, 1 back-end, 2 full-stack). Because of all the pair-programming and team-based projects, I got to know my classmates pretty well by the end, and also have relevant project experiences to speak to during job interviews. Throughout the bootcamp, I was consistently impressed by Hack Reactor staff, especially the SF team, who was always knowledgeable, quick to respond, happy to help and offer support whenever needed. I had heard that Hack Reactor placed a lot of emphasis on autonomy, so was pleasantly surprised to receive extra support when I was struggling with Javascript fundamentals in the first half of the program. Staff went above and beyond, staying late, hosting additional workshops and office hours, to ensure that all students, including myself, had a solid grasp of the material heading into the second half of the program. Overall, I'm really happy with my experience with Hack Reactor. I knew it would be difficult going in and was challenged as expected. Learning and working with my classmates was really fun, and I felt fully supported throughout - the staff really cares about the students and do their best to help them succeed. You won't regret this program!

I like to think of the classroom setting at Hack Reactor to be like the teacher that hands out assignments and expects you to figure out what you're supposed to learn from the textbook. Leads don't really help with the cohort and Help Desk is what you... Read More are supposed to reach out to for technical help. There's busy times and slow times so I found myself having to work on assignments during work. My anxiety/depression worsened because you were expected to do so much outside of the technical work that I didn't have time to dedicate to assignments. Words like "you have to show your face on zoom or it's going to count against you, " and other stuff contributed to my health downturn. It just seemed like HR were being strict parents that put you on a short leash. I couldn't breathe. The "support" really seems to focus on what you are lacking and not uplifting their students. I'm not saying spoon-feed your students and hold their hands all the way through. I'm just saying give some flexibility and let go a little. The bootcamp puts major stress on each of the students and they don't need any more. Especially when they already have demanding full time jobs. It just seems to me like HR needs to make some major updates to their system (not curriculum, but the system).

Tl;dr if you have a similar background as me and love to code, enroll in Hack Reactor. You won’t regret it. I have a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. I worked as a ME for 8 years then earned an MBA and worked as a Product Manager for 2 years. I always... Read More had an interest and passion for software and tried to integrate it into my job and side projects as much as possible but felt if I was going to make a switch to be a professional Software Engineer, I needed a few things: A structured curriculum to learn specific things to make me employable, a mechanism to learn best practices which would set me apart from people who just figured it out on their own, and a network of fellow graduates and career coaches to help me find a full time position. Hack Reactor absolutely provided those things and I fully believe I wouldn’t be working at a FAANG company today without that support and education. I picked Hack Reactor because it seemed like the most challenging, was consistently ranked high, and the network of alumni is broad and well-rooted in the industry (because it has been around for a long time). I was not wrong and they exceeded my expectations. Hack Reactor is brutal. Say goodbye to your current social life. Your new friends are fellow students. Just don’t get too attached because many will not be able to make it. Lectures are great but don’t expect a deep dive into CS theory. They just teach enough fundamentals so you can sound knowledgeable in an interview and a lot of applicable knowledge so you can actually build things. The first half of the program is a lot of pair programming. They generally pair the strongest students with the weakest. Weaker students face the challenge of the stronger person moving faster than they can keep up and the stronger student faces the challenge of being held back by the weaker student. Fortunately if you don’t like your pair, they are rotated every two days. I STRONGLY believe they should separate students into a higher performing group and lower performing group so that the unique needs of each group can be more accurately addressed. The second half of the program is longer, group projects, but individuals typically work on their own features, somewhat alleviating the challenges of the first half of the program. Two staff individuals I would particularly like to highlight were Josh Elder and Liz Martinez. Josh was the Technical Mentor for the Seattle campus. His technical knowledge far surpassed anyone else in the staff. Josh was the goto person for any bug anyone experienced. I personally saw issues go through three other staff members before being escalated to him and he was able to solve the issue within 5 minutes. He also taught many of the lectures where he was energetic and engaging. It’s very obvious that Josh loves to teach and his passion for it shows. I’ve talked to many students who said that they chose to attend the Seattle campus specifically because of Josh’s reputation. It was REALLY scary to quit my full time job and join a boot camp. I really didn’t know if it would work out or not, but it definitely did. I get to write code and learn every single day, which is great, but I also doubled my total compensation. I couldn’t be happier. I can’t recommend Hack Reactor for everyone, but if you have a similar background and similar passion for software, I couldn’t recommend Hack Reactor enough.

If you're reading through this review, it means you're in the same spot that I was in 6 months ago. In a traditional 4 year university, it will cost an upward of 20 - 40k. In addition to the cost, it is the time. Time is a limited resource that a lot... Read More of us cannot afford. Hack Reactor is easily the best choice if you want to switch career without having to spend 4 years learning the materials to become a software developer. Now you're wondering, is it possible for a person with no coding experience to become a full stack engineer? The answer is YES! Hack Reactor does an amazing job teaching you how to problem solve. If you're looking for a bootcamp to hold your hand, then this bootcamp isn't for you. This bootcamp is made for students that are willing to persevere through challenges, and have a passion for learning. Hack Reactor has an amazing staff support, top-notch lecturer (best in the industry). Arguably the best part of Hack Reactor (aside from the technical) is the community (your cohort mates). When you spend 11 hours a day, 6 days a week, it became relatively easy to get close. These connections will transcend the 3 months of this bootcamp. It is a support system that will help you survive through the 3 months. This was worth the time, money, and effort. Everything that is worth doing will be hard. But if you're able to get through it, you will be an amazing software engineer.

Alright y'all ngl the program is very difficult, you will have no semblance of a life for about 3 months. You will see more of your classmates than your own friends and family for three months but you will not regret it. I went in not expecting much,... Read More but the program astonished me! I thought that I was going to learn some JavaScript and some modern frameworks/libraries that are common in the work place. I did learn those but I got so much more from the program. It really had me start thinking about code as a software engineer. Hack Reactor doesn't like to refer to its program as a bootcamp, they like to call it a Software Engineering Immersive. And they absolutely deserve the title!

I had zero knowledge about coding, and I did not know where to start. So I joined premium prep at Hack Reactor. The course is designed to teach you the javascript fundamentals, and it is very well structured. Other bootcamps have similar courses. I chose... Read More Hack Reactor because they offered it for part-time and full-time students. Part-time worked out great for me. It was from 9 pm to 12 pm EST. When I was halfway through the premium prep course, Hack Reactor became my only choice. I did not even look at any other bootcamps. I had my technical interview scheduled towards the end of the premium prep course. I was extremely nervous on my interview day, and the person who interviewed me did everything he could to ease my nervousness. I got a call the very next day from my enrollment officer about the result, and to my surprise, I passed it! The next step was to complete all the materials in the pre-course before joining the immersive. The materials in the pre-course ensure that you are ready to start immersive. There were supports available in pre-course as well. Once I finished and submitted the materials, I was allowed to start the immersive. The first few weeks were difficult for me because it was very fast-paced and, of course, the long hours. That being said, the longer you stay with Hack Reactor, the easier it gets. By week 6, I was no longer tired. I would often code until 11 pm or even midnight. What stood out immediately to me was how caring the staff were. They were very compassionate, understanding, caring, and always there to support their students. The tech mentors are highly knowledgeable, kind, and always willing to help students. The study materials were on point, the sprints were well structured, and the lectures were gold. I once sent a message to my tech mentor about a line of code, and he replied to my question by explaining what every word in that line of code was doing. By the end of the final week of the immersive, I was blown away at my own growth and how much I had learned. I learned a lot, but one of the most valuable things Hack Reactor taught me was how to navigate through new technologies and be autonomous. The support does not end once you graduate from the program. Hack Reactor also has a strong alumni network, and upon graduating, you will be a part of that network. It was a challenging course that demanded 100% of my focus, attention, dedication, efforts, and time. I am so happy that I decided to join Hack Reactor. I met some of the most amazing, kind, and brilliant people at Hack Reactor. I would absolutely recommend Hack Reactor to anyone who wants to learn programming and is willing to give 100% of their time and efforts.

I started with their Premium Prep Course ($250 tuition, goes toward full course tuition if accepted). Before this, I had no experience with JavaScript or web development. The prep course was easy to follow and the support offered from the Premium option... Read More was very helpful. I highly recommend this route because it's essentially free as long as you pass the entrance exam and the staff really was incredible. Coach Kathy gave some solid pep talks every morning and the tech mentors were great when helping with any issues. After you pass the technical admission assessment (TAA) you get enrolled in the Precourse. This is about 3-4 weeks of work to get you prepped for the real course. Again there is lots of support from the staff and helpdesk. I received help several times from the helpdesk staff and they were always very helpful in guiding me to find the answer rather than simply answering. Now for the main bit. I was enrolled in the Remote Eastern cohort (though everything was remote at the time). The course is split into two phases, the junior and the senior. During the junior phase, there are one or two lectures every day. These were "blended learning" lectures meaning that there were multiple cohorts in the zoom call. The lecturers were all great. They explained relatively complex topics in about an hour, setting us up to use put that info to work in the current sprint. The sprints were two-day projects that you work on with a partner. These are projects to learn the principles of the current topic. You switch partners every time so you'll get to know many of your classmates, which is difficult in the beginning due to the remote environment. All of these lessons lead up to the Technical Assessment which is a gating midpoint exam. You'll have to pass this to go on to the senior phase. As long as you are putting in the work and asking for help when you need it, the TA shouldn't be an issue. The senior phase is all about combining all the junior lessons to start building real applications. There are four projects, three in groups and one solo. This was the part where I started feeling like I might actually be a software engineer. The staff was incredible in every aspect. The lecturers did a great job remotely (as a former teacher I was always impressed). The cohort lead always brought her inspiring attitude for the morning announcements and was always available for any support you might need. The tech mentors were great as well. They had regular office hours to go over any tech topics you might be struggling with. Most of my interaction with staff was with the helpdesk or the SEIR (software engineering immersive resident. All the helpdesk staff and SEIRs are recent Hack Reactor grads so they have experience with whatever issue you might be having. The helpdesk helped my various partners and me get through many struggles in the junior phase sprints. My cohort was lucky to have the best SEIR. He was super helpful and highly skilled at explaining difficult concepts as if to a child but without being condescending. The final week of the course is spent with the Career Services team. They help with your resume, cover letters, salary negotiation, and much more. This is crucial because obviously, the goal is to get a job. After graduating you're assigned a Career Services Manager. This is the person that will help you individually with any job search questions or concerns. Also there optional is the Job Search Program which provides some structure and guidance for your job search. I had a great experience at Hack Reactor and definitely recommend it. I want to emphasize though that it isn't for everyone. It's a lot of work. Expect to put in a minimum of 60 hours a week for three months. They provide what you need to be successful, but ultimately it's up to you to do the work.