Makers Academy

I have just finished Makers' 12 weeks full-time immersive coding bootcamp and I really enjoyed it. My aim was to change career and become a software developer. I already had some coding experience before the course, but a few people on the course also... Read More didn't have any experience. The best thing about the Makers course was the community of students with whom you go through the course together. You work in pairs or teams most days to solve coding problems and work through a very well designed curriculum. The focus of the learning is on understanding bigger coding concepts like Object Oriented Programming, Test-Driving and writing high quality code. And a huge focus is on becoming an independent learner and getting good at solving problems independently by looking things up or finding different ways of approaching a problem. All students start learning the language Ruby to understand basic concepts and become fluent in a language. Later, you switch to JavaScript and from then on I started really getting how to learn new languages quickly. Towards the end of the course you create two big engineering projects in teams of 3-6 students, which is very intensive but very fun and helps you put everything learned into practice or use your learning skills to pick up a new coding language and develop an app with that. You learn how to learn effectively as a team - just like in a coding job, to plan together, support each other, divide up work and merge it later. There is a number of great workshops during the course where coaches give you live examples of how a concept works, you can ask questions and see how an experienced coder approaches a problem. The coaches are all very friendly. If you are stuck - especially in the first weeks - there is always plenty of time to ask a coach for help. The coaches then often guide you towards how you could test your code to find the problem and look up a solution independently - this is really great, because you learn how to become independent. I completed the course as part of a remote cohort - that means I interacted with all the other students and the coaches mostly via zoom and the fantastic chat platform Slack. This worked really well and I don't think I would have learned more if I had been doing the course in person in the office in London. However, there was the opportunity on most days for people from the remote cohort also to go into the office an work from there, which I didn't use, as I don't live in London. Being in connection with the students and the coaches online everyday helped hold me accountable for my learning, so I coded about 7-10 hours every day and made really quick progress. Now, at the end of the course I feel I really understand how to write high-quality code and can call myself a software developer, although I haven't got a job yet. After the bootcamp is finished there is a dedicated careers team that will support you with the job hunt, help you learn how to write applications, CVs covering letters and prepare you for interviews with regular workshops. It seems they support you until you find a job - but I have only just graduated, so I can't say this from my own experience. Most other alumni I spoke to seem to have found a job as a junior developer within the first 3-4 months after graduating.

The Makers environment and community is incredible and highly supportive. Makers goes beyond just teaching you how to code - you also learn how to work, solve complex problems and communicate with others effectively. There is also a focus on your overall... Read More wellbeing and emotional intelligence. Makers tries to simulate a "real-world" environment as much as possible so you are fully prepared to work in the field. You learn the core fundamentals of coding which you can apply to any programming language you wish, and you "learn how to learn" so you can go on and keep improving yourself on your own. There's a good balance between Makers guidance and working things out on your own. Can't recommend Makers enough.

Being a Makers student is such a wonderful experience. Their holistic approach helps you become a software developer that not only has the technical skills to find a first position in the market, but that will also able to care for their wellbeing and... Read More show great communication and team-working abilities, as well as learning how to best learn anything they want to. It is an intense few months, but they are also very good fun!

It is not only the quality of code knowledge that you can be sure to find here, it is all the many things you will need to be ready for your first role as a developer. I knew Javascript pretty well before Makers, and turns out didn't learn more Javascript... Read More then I already knew during Makers - but I hadn't written a single test in my life! And I doubt I would have talked about 100% code coverage if I stuck to Udemy and YouTube. So TDD, OOP, SOLID, Agile, Pair Programming, Git, EQ (emotional intelligence curriculum!) - all of it ... everything you need to hit the ground running as a reliable and promising junior dev is what you'll find at Makers. Put as much in as you'd like to get out and the absolutely AMAZING Makers coaching team will be there to support you every step of the way, from "Hello World!" to hello first job!

I loved my time at Makers bootcamp! I hardly knew any code before Makers, only a bit of Ruby that we needed to learn before joining. The curriculum covers a vast amount with exciting group projects, and is mainly self led learning and pair programming.... Read More The experience after finishing the course and joining the careers bootcamp was AMAZING!! You receive loads of support, and they are there to support you until you find a job! I can't thank Makers enough for helping me with this career change and successfully finding a job so quickly!

Makers is a well refined, well structured, intensive coding bootcamp. The coaches are super knowledgable and ready to help, and the curriculum is well curated and structured. The job support after is *excellent*. I initially got a job through Makers at... Read More a company that ran out of funding, and Makers added me straight back into their job support network without hesitation.

Within 6 months, I have gone from very novice coder to getting my first job as a developer and that is thanks to Makers. And although an intense learning experience, it has also been a refreshing and revitalising break from the world of work where my... Read More learning has been the priority. The course is 16 weeks long and starts with 4 weeks of pre-course material to do as self-study. This helps provide a good intro and basics needed for the main course. I like that the course starts with Ruby and then you learn JavaScript and get to build web apps in both. I think this leads you to feel more language agnostic and not daunted when looking at jobs that might use different tech as you know you can apply the principles and knowledge you already have to learn new languages. There is a big focus on pairing and also working on group projects, which is great for helping to prepare for life in a tech team as well as aiding your learning. There is no spoon-feeding, you get out what you put in, but you also gain the tools to continue to learn and grow your knowledge as you head on into your career. And to get there, there is good support once you finish the bootcamp and start out jobhunting, with a team of coaches rooting for you to get a job and then celebrating with you when you do. :)

I did the Makers Apprenticeship in 2019 and after more than 3 years I can honestly say that it has changed my life. The bootcamp is demanding, and you will find that there is no easy answer to any problem. What you learn at Makers on top of basic coding... Read More skills is how to approach these problems, break them down and deal with them as best as you can. Don't expect to be taught how to do everything but rather you'll learn how to pick up new skills quickly and put them to use. The coaches were super helpful, they are knowledgeable and they support you to find answers yourself. After working in the industry for over 3 years, I find that I still use the tools I was given at Makers to learn about new tech in my day to day job. After the 3 months bootcamp I started working as a software engineer as part of the apprenticeship program and completed my level 4 software developer certification within a year with the support of my placement coach. This bootcamp and preparing the assignments for the level 4 certification while working was probably one of the most challenging things in my life but it was 100% worth it.

I decided to change career after moving to the UK, after doing some researches I decided to go for tech with Makers. I will start with the pros. Pros: - Pair-programming: we did pair-programming almost every day. It gave us the opportunity to learn from... Read More each other. It also allow me to get used to working with other people. - good cirriculum structure: It saved me a lot of time trying to figure out what to learn first. It allowed me to learn step by step and progress with a good speed - 3 group projects: we worked with Agile, which gave me some taste of working in a team with high speed. I was surprised how the group projects helped me grow as a developer. - demanding workload: yes, I do think it is a pro. We had weekend challenges at the second half of the course, so expect to work really hard even on weekends. But it helped me to learn quick. Cons: - Full time and expensive. It's actually quite expensive, adding the fact that you have to study full time, you need to be sure tech is really what you want before joining. - Sometimes it is quite self-paced, so nobody can promise you that you are able to learn everything fully by the end of the course. You still need to pay a lot of effort to really absorb everything. Overall: Yes, the course is demanding. It provides a good structured cirriculum. You can get prepared to join the tech industry in a relatively short time - if you are willing to work very hard.

I was always skeptical about doing a Bootcamp, as coding has such a wide and deep range of free material that's readily available and free! However, the most valuable skills I learned at makers were not ones that could ever have been picked up through... Read More an online course. Not only do they teach you to code, but they also teach you how to work in a professional development environment and how to think as one! would highly recommend to anyone seriouse about taking up a carrer in software.