Hack Reactor

Pros -
You learn a lot in a short amount of time.
You are a part of another family that you bond with and rely on.
Mentors love working there and want to see you succeed.

Cons -
I can't say anything bad about my experience at Hack Reactor. It provided the... Read More perfect knowledge to become a Software Engineer

Having known about coding bootcamps for several years, for a long time I had been skeptical and indecisive on making the leap. In 2018 I was feeling quite stuck and frankly unsatisfied with my career having devoted 7 years in the freight forwarding industry... Read More and unsure about what growth I could expect. After speaking with a good friend that had attended Hack Reactor a few years prior and hearing his success in his software engineering career, I finally decided to commit. It has been one of the best decisions for my career.

The immersive cohort I joined ran between Sept through Dec 2018 and I landed my position in software engineering in Feb 2019. The course is extremely fast paced and will cover a lot of material on both the front end and back end. The program will also expose you to workflows involved with working in a development team (stand-ups, retrospectives, etc.), and most importantly will train you to be autonomous in seeking solutions which is integral to being an effective software engineer.

The team listens to feedback and is continuously working on improving the experience and keeping the material relevant. It is a strenuous program (6 days a week, 11 hours per day on weekdays) that will require dedication and focus. For me it was well worth it, having found a higher paying and more enjoyable career, and having a great learning experience throughout the program.

Before even attending Hack Reactor, I was met with anxiousness and imposter syndrome. I thought to myself, "Am I right for this field?" However, after the first day of the program I was immediately supported by my peers and faculty. Every Hacker in Residence... Read More (HiR) who had gone through the program before had a similar story and experience to what we were going through and assisted us with an understanding stance. The instructors were always encouraging and extremely knowledgable. And my peers were super helpful and a strong camaraderie had developed and caused many of my peers to become some of my best friends.

The program consisted of two halves. The first half consisted of JavaScript and computer science fundamentals such as Big O Notation, 'this' binding, and functional patterns. Some concepts were picked up faster by certain people, which caused a positive feedback loop of assistance between peers. An extremely important skill that was hammered into us was autonomous learning. Even though HiRs were readily available to assist us, they strongly supported us attempting to search for answers on our own because this is an extremely valuable skill to have as a software engineer. And unlike many other fields of study, computer science and web development resources are bountiful and easily searchable.

The second half of the course consisted of two projects where we were split into groups of 3-5. During this time, we gradually increased the amount of interview practice along with learning some industry practices and technologies. Some valuable technologies/concepts they had taught us were that of Docker containerization, system design, AWS tools, and Agile Methodologies. This portion of the course was essentially a ramp up to let us out into the real world. Autonomy and time management was a key portion because of the freedom gained in the second half of the course, so self discipline and motivation is definitely key.

For the last week of the course we were given job coaching from resume/cover letter writing to behavioral interview practice and even as far as negotiating a job offer. This last week instilled an extremely high level of confidence in my job search process and taught me as much as I probably would've learned in about 5 years time in the industry.

Overall, I would highly recommend Hack Reactor as a coding bootcamp. I gained so much confidence in myself both technically and socially because of this software engineering immersive, and have even obtained a job as a software engineer within the average time expected of a Hack Reactor grad.

I would also like to state that not all of the technologies and format may be correct if you were to attend now. This is because Hack Reactor is rapidly iterating their curriculum to keep up with the changing demand of skills in the web development field. One such change is the implementation of Docker. When we had an alumni panel, one of the alumni had stated that Docker was not incorporated into the curriculum when he attended the program a year before I had attended. With this, you can confidently be reassured that Hack Reactor are constantly on the lookout to make you the most desirable software engineer possible!

I first learned about Hack Reactor through my sister. She attended a year before I started and found a job soon after graduation. I looked through all the reviews and outcomes of hack reactor; they were nothing short of amazing.
I attended the full-time... Read More immersive program at the Austin campus in November 2018 and finished February 2019.
The best part of this immersive program are the technical skills I gained and the growth mindset I developed. At the end of the day, the most important skill that Hack Reactor gives you is the ability to learn anything fast and the positive mindset. The first month and a half is extremely fast-paced because every two days you are picking up new technologies and before you know it you have your midterm. Throughout this first month, HR provides a lot of resources and support for you to succeed in the forms of feedbacks, one to one mentoring, and quizzes. This program is not your traditional form of education in college; there is a lot of hands on and deep dive into problems. Essentially learn by doing. The career support after hack reactor is terrific whether it was honing your resume and cover letters, interview skills, alumni network access, and salary negotiations. It's a challenging process but very worthwhile, personally I found a job after 3 weeks of searching after graduation. Good luck on your journey!

Before my time with Hack Reactor, I had no prior coding experience, but was looking to make a career change. I enrolled in SSP in February of 2018, which was great in helping me decide if this was something I really wanted to pursue and if I could handle... Read More a bootcamp environment. I spent a few months preparing and finally enrolled in the September full-time remote cohort. Those 12 weeks were one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it was more than worth it. As a student, you have to learn so much in such a small amount of time, but the curriculum and environment really prepared me for the industry. My cohort was the guinea pig for new curriculum changes, which made things difficult at times, but they really do their best to keep the projects up to current industry standards. Even though I wasn't sure that I was prepared enough for the job search, I landed a great full-stack remote position (which the HR team recommended me for!) within a month of graduating. We use many of the same technologies and best practices taught at Hack Reactor, so I have been able to start contributing really quickly despite having to learn Python/Django in my new position. I love my job and my team and couldn't be happier with my decision to join the HR community! And even though I chose the remote class vs. campus, I made some great friends in the process that I know will be great personal and professional contacts for years to come.

I have been at Hack Reactor both as a student and as a staff (Hacker in Residence), and after having seen the program from multiple angles, I can confidently say that this is a fantastic place to become a software engineer.

As a student, I had an incredible... Read More experience. The curriculum is fantastic. It's very obvious that a large amount of thought and effort went into the lectures and assignments, and the program even uses learning techniques found in teaching literature (i.e. spaced repetition and allowing students to struggle with problems rather than giving answers). Also, the Hack Reactor culture and community is amazing, which made it very easy to meet new people to network with, study with, and even become friends with.

As a staff, I was always blown away by how much everyone cared. They were there with the intention of helping people become software engineers, and would go above and beyond to try and make that happen. They don't work at Hack Reactor because it's a job, they work there because they want to make a difference in people's lives.

I was also there during the transition to Hack Reactor @ Galvanize, having been there both at the old building and the new one at 44 Tehama. There were a few bumps during the transition (lots of stuff had to be moved, furniture had to be rearranged, etc.), but at the end of it all, things turned out great! Galvanize provides lots of opportunities to network with people (there are lots of hosted events, and people working there who are from outside Hack Reactor). Also, Galvanize has a lot more amenities than the old Hack Reactor building, which makes it nice to spend time here as a student and also afterwards, during the job search.

I would highly recommend Hack Reactor to anyone who wants to get into software engineering.

HR does a good job in preparing you for your first job in the software industry. It's not an easy program, and you're not taught EVERYTHING you need to know (which is not possible in 3 months), but you're adequately prepared to have a good idea about... Read More how things work, and how to learn and figure out what you don't understand. The curriculum is solid and there is a good amount of support at all stages, but don't expect hand-holding for 3 months. Struggling and figuring things out on your own is built into the curriculum and a necessary part of working in web development.

The job search is definitely tough, and can indeed take up to 6 months depending on a lot of factors. HR's job search prep is solid, and if you follow it and put in the work, you will be fine.

I found my job about 4 months after the program ended. After 2 weeks on the job, I had a pretty good idea how the data flowed in the application I was working on and starting contributing to the code base.

If you're new to programming, I recommend doing their Premium Prep program to learn mid to advanced JavaScript and see you if you enjoy writing code.

I attended Hack Reactor in Austin,TX as an older student. I found that the curriculum heavily favored hands-on learners and I was surprised at how much I learned in such a short period of time. If you have a choice, I would try to pick a cohort that does... Read More not graduate in Q4. I found the closer it got to Christmas, the less people were interested in hiring then the second week in January the interviews all kicked into overdrive.

I attended Hack Reactor Los Angeles in summer of 18 and I had a very mixed and eye-opening experience. First off, id like to say that the educational portion of the corriculum is only done in the first half of the program. I dropped out after the first... Read More half, receieved half my money back (almost 9k), and finished the second half at home. I even managed to finish it faster than if I had stayed in the program thanks to most of the material being availabe on websites like Udemy for $10 (my cohort-mates filled me in on every topic I needed to cover to finish my front-end and back-end capstones).

Many of my ex-cohort mates complained that the majority of their time was wasted in the second half, and because it was mostly unsupervised, some even played LAN video games all day instead of coding because they were "stuck" and were just waiting for the smartest kids in the cohort to figure it out for everyone else (which is usually what happened).

What I believe is most important to say, is that the numbers they adverties are completely false. It is not as exclusive as you might think, and the number of students who get jobs afterwards is far fewer than they say. During my time there, the head of oporations told us that 25%, not 3% of applicants are accepted, demeaning the exclusivity of the entire experience. Next, Id like to say that at the time that I had been accepted (around early May 2018), Hack Reactor LA official stats stated that 53% of graduates got jobs in the first 3 months, and that number went up to the mid-70's at 6 months. It has been 5 months since my cohort (LA23, about 17 ppl) graduated (not including me obv) and only 2 have secured jobs so far. The cohort after me (LA24, about 19 ppl) graduated in Oct 2018 and as of writing this, only about 4 people have found jobs. I actually met a graduate from LA20 at a job interview in October and he still hadnt found a job yet, meaning he had been looking for somewhere around a year.

This is mostly due to what appears to be a severe lack in junior level and mid-level jobs in the LA area, but it also proves that now-a-days, going to an expensive coding bootcamp will not increase your chances of getting a job. They do well to tell you that when you sign up -- "dont think you're guatenteed a job", and in fact, sometimes they tell you not to even mention that you ever attended a coding bootcamp. Employers are weary of bootcampers now, and with another 20 engineers being pumped out every 3 months, the market for fresh engineers seems to be pretty much at capacity in LA. It seems to be more about who you already know that what your skillset is. Most of the smartest kids still dont have jobs.

I will say that, if you have the money to spend, that attending Hack Reactor will be the fastest way to get a broad range of skills and a general understanding of how to work with a basic MEAN/MERN stack. Before I attended Hack Reactor, my main problem was simply managing to code through projects autonomaously. meaning, If i ran into a big enough problem, I had no idea where to turn to solve it. After hack reactor, I can say that I was mostly autonomous and could finally start to figure out tough issues by myself. Hack Reactor gave me confidence, but unfortunately, it seems like the resume is what counts in this game. No job experience means no job. For this reason, many people in the cohorts I was familiar with are now turning to searching for unpaid internships...

Pros:
1 .Knowledgeable instructors and TAs.
2. Structures that mimic real job situations.
3. Peer pressure that keeps you motivated.

Cons:
1. Not cheap, but is still a good investment if employed at market salary after graduation.
2. Bootcamp in general, increased... Read More difficulty in finding an entry-level position compared to a CS degree new grad getting a job through on campus career fair.

Hack Reactor is just a platform. It is not intended to solve anyone's life problem. It offers challenges advanced enough for even seasoned engineers. You learn and grow through working through those challenges. Hand holding is minimum, and that is intentional.
Success at Hack Reactor requires a matured mentality: understanding that we 99%ers can only achieve success through hard work.
If you learn as if your life depended on it, you will be just fine in Hack Reactor.

I gave curriculum 4/5 because it could have been improved. However, in retrospective, it really does not matter that much. I got hired not knowing anything the company was using. I was hired because I demonstrated I can get things done, and that's what employers want and Hack Reactor teaches.