Tech Talent & Strategy

It was an amazing course filled with so much knowledge but it wasn't all serious we laughed and we actually enjoyed the class usually all new things you aren't familiar with seem overwhelming but its ok just think about it logically

Sometimes it may feel... Read More like its a little fast but that's the point of homework and reading over your slides and truly taking time out of your life to achieve and be great at something

…and that’s how I found myself out of work & learning to code.

I didn’t expect that I’d find myself looking for work at this point in my life, since I’d been working in an administrative/data entry position for 17 years. But time & technology have a way... Read More of taking your current skill set & making it obsolete.
So, after pondering that age-old question of ‘What next?”, I decided to build a new skill set & began looking for a coding boot camp.
My primary boot camp needs were that I wanted value for my money & that it needed to be local, or at least local-ish (Raleigh is a bit of a haul from Hillsborough, but still manageable if you can avoid the 5-o’clock rush). It didn’t take long for Tech Talent South to grab my attention – it had great reviews from former students & placed high on SwtitcUp’s list of quality programs. I opted to shoot the TTS folks a ‘more information please’ request & off I went.
I’ll be honest - the thing that really grabbed my attention was their student coordinator’s response time – I’d barely looked away from my laptop when my phone rang. “Hi! I’m Brandon – what can I tell you about the coding boot camp at Tech Talent South?” He & I chatted for a bit about the program, schedules, costs, & the other things you’d expect from this conversation. I was really happy to find out that TTS offered an assortment of scholarships – my being a US Navy veteran dropped my tuition costs significantly.
Anyhow, less than a week passed & I was back in school (for the first time in over 20 years). I opted for the Part-time Code Immersion– having been away from school for so long I didn’t feel up to the task of tackling the Full-time program.
I’ll admit it – I was feeling a mix of trepidation & exhilaration.
I’d played around with some coding basics via CodeAcademy (HTML and CSS) prior to starting class so I didn’t expect to be completely lost. I was a bit surprised at how quickly my knowledge base was covered & then surpassed. We covered a lot of information in the span of eight weeks.
Did I mention the course was fast paced?

Here’s a basic breakdown of my time at TTS
So, prior to diving into Ruby, we had to build a foundation. Weeks One & Two covered command line navigation, HTML, & CSS, & Bootstrap.
We delved into Ruby in Weeks 3 & 4. Methods, Classes, Arrays, Loops – this was all new material for me & I must admit that I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. My instructor was happy to give me extra help both before & after class, which helped me push through my stumbling block.
Following our exposure to Ruby the Week 5 focus shifted first to Git/GitHub then on to exploring Javascript & jQuery – that was another fast week.

A quick aside at this point – each class ended with a homework assignment. These assignments went a long way to helping cement that evening’s lesson.
Also around this time I recall commenting that I felt that I had enough knowledge to ‘be dangerous’.
Ruby on Rails - The last three weeks passed in a flurry of installation, integration, & implementation culminating in a final web-app project that acts a lot like a twitter-clone.
So, here I am on the next-to-last day of class. Looking back to Week 1 I’m kind of amazed at the number of things I’ve learned & (even better) how many of those early lessons are almost second nature.

Would I do this again?
In a heartbeat.

Joe Jungers
Part-time Code Immersion

PROS:
-goes over basics of programming with slides, which is helpful to be able to go back and look things up/find errors
-our instructor knew extra tricks and things to help us when we got stuck (everyone did!)
-great experience coding in Ruby on Rails... Read More
-lots of projects you can customize for your GitHub and/or portfolio
-good guest speakers came in and gave us an idea of what its like to be a programmer

CONS:
-slides are a bit outdated at times due to not being updated every cohort (our slides were using Bootstrap 3 instead of 4, the most recent version)
-Ruby and Rails are used most of the time and the other things (HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Javascript, JQuery,etc) are only covered one day each so there is a lot of self-study involved if you want to make your apps look good/add functionality

I recently found myself out of work & decided to change my skill set.

My experience with Tech Talent South has been enjoyable & I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to start learning about Ruby on Rails (along with all the bits that tie into Rails)

I find... Read More that I learn better with a hands-on approach & this program is very hands-on.
Add to this an instructor & student coordinator who always seem to be available when I need them (which was often - there's a lot of material in this course).

Another selling point to me was that TTS offers scholarships applicable to a wide variety of situations. I took advantage of their veteran scholarship.

So, if you're looking to learn to code - be sure to give Tech Talent South a look.

I had a really great experience at TTS Raleigh learning several programming languages in the full time code immersion course. I love the fact that they brought in guest speakers to talk to us about what to expect, how to market ourselves, how to nail... Read More an interview, what you should leave off of your resume, etc. It was also great that they gave us the option to teach Kids Code. Having to explain programming languages to someone else brings the entire coding experience full circle. My instructor always answered my questions and did not mind walking around the classroom to help individuals debug errors. TTS also teaches the importance of networking, joining web developer groups, partner pairing, etc. At TTS, I definitely learned more than just coding.

I decided to enroll in TTS for a career switch. I am a recent college graduate and have 15 months of experience as a Business Analyst. I have always loved web design and while in the workforce I realized that I wanted to purse this course so I could take... Read More control of my career and happiness. I completed the part-time code immersion program and I definitely feel like I have learned a lot! My instructors were great, whenever I had a question either during class or outside of class they were always available to help out. In a code immersion program, you get out what you put in, and I still have a lot to practice since my schedule was so limited due to working full-time while I was enrolled. As a student, TTS also organizes company tours which I loved because you are able to get an inside look at different Tech companies located in Charlotte. You can't expect to walk out of this course with a job offer unless you network and put in the work yourself. Many companies are looking for portfolios and won't hire you without one. That's my only tip, if you really want a job offer by the time you finish this course, work hard and put your skills to use to have a portfolio that every employer would love. I would definitely recommend this course to everyone!

TTS is a blessing! I was in the process of relocating and wanted to enter a program with all sorts of learning curves mainly dealing with developing software or design. I prayed for results that were flexible in cost to fit my budget alongside classes... Read More for a 1-month period. After one day of filling out information for recruiters to contact me Tech Talent South were the first to reach out. The recruiter was energetic and optimistic. He spared no details on all available courses, supplied advice and answered all questions efficiently. Hearing the course was for 1-month, started in about a week, ideal price range and qualifying for a scholarship was music to my ears. Their payment options were life savers and enrollment ran smoothly. Class hours tied in perfectly with my job hours and being a part of a small class made the setting much more intimate and easier to learn. I couldn't thank my instructor enough for her commitment to making sure I understood the material 100% and showing interest in my success in the design field with issuing extra tools and resources once the program came to an end. Tech Talent South has a five star support system with perks any student would seek after. I have the option to audit taken classes free of charge, remaining access to the student portal to look over old/new material and connect with other students/instructors, job alerts and frequent check-ups providing extra services. With TTS being the foundation of my success I took the liberty of recommending a couple friends to join the TTS family. I'm thrilled I made this decision and am proud to call myself a Tech Talent South Alumni.

One has to put other schooling experiences aside when attending a bootcamp. You cannot compare bootcamp to college or other school experiences. The pace means that you will not get all the homework correct and you have to become comfortable with being... Read More confused. In other school situations, I liked getting A's and mastering a topic before moving on. That will not happen in this situation, but it does not mean that you won't learn a ton and be ready for work. Patience and persistence are a must.

Tech Talent South does a great job of supporting their students. When I was struggling at one point, they offered free tutoring to help me get back on track. They have a number of industry professionals that come to speak to the class. This turned out to be very informative -- providing concrete information regarding what potential employers expect of bootcamp graduates and what the development jobs are like day to day, in both start-ups and larger organizations. The instructor is very knowledgeable and extremely calm and patient with students. Likewise, the student liaison is visible and engaged in each student's success. In two weeks, I will be completing the camp and my transformation into a developer will be complete!!

I attended the part-time code immersion course with Tech Talent South in Raleigh. Cole as my instructor has been very helpful and available at any time and even has gone over work with me one on one when I had to miss a class for a work event. Caitlynn,... Read More the community organizer, is incredibly friendly and helpful - and has proactively reached out to help with job placement. I wish I had been able to do the full-time course, as I feel there are more opportunities to attend networking events with that schedule, but in terms of curriculum, the part-time covered everything I needed. The most major con I ever had has nothing to do with the class itself - just that it starts at 6 in Raleigh and I live and work in Durham until 5 (traffic at that time is terrible). I've overcome this by working remotely in the afternoon from Tech Talent South's shared space in Raleigh HQ, so with a flexible schedule or if you're coming from a closer location that shouldn't be a problem at all.

I've been raving about the programs to all my friends, I couldn't recommend it more!

Joining Tech Talent South is something that I have wanted to do for quite sometime and finally had the chance once I moved to Charlotte. The course is great and will give you a solid foundation for web development and programming. For someone who only... Read More had experience trying to teach themselves online, the class is instrumental for someone who is a more visual learner.

I would highly recommend the course for someone interested in Front-end Development and Ruby on Rails.