The Firehose Project

As a recent graduate I thought I would give my input. I tried Bloc and Thinkful, and graduated form the Firehose Project.

My biggest take aways:

Learning how to learn
Feeling confident in applying for jobs
Made life long friends
Learn real world skills that... Read More I actually use
You know more than you think (always remember this!)
Job placement:

After 2 1/2 months of graduating, I landed an amazing remote job with an incredible team. There are so many students from FHP landing jobs and sharing priceless tips and tricks that will truly help you get a job. That's one of my favorite parts about FHP is that any student who is wowed by something they learned or lands a job, they are so eager and excited to share their experience. It's an amazing community of good people.

Why I chose FHP:

I was accepted into Dev Bootcamp NYC and I tried Bloc plus 4 other popular boot camps. Here's what sold me on FHP: They didn't try to sell me. I took the free 2 week program and was immediately impressed with the care and 'newbie focus' teaching that Ken (one of the owners) delivers in the free course. And that leads me to the biggest reason I chose FHP: The owners, Ken Mazaika and Marco Morawec have had incredible success in their coding careers and 100% truly care about your future - it's not all about making money to them and that means more to me than any amount of hype from big brand boot camps. Ken and Marco are heavily involved in your journey and are always there to help you or give you great advice.

You feel part of a team that wants to help each other become better coders and encourage each other in so many ways. It's freaking amazing.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to go to a boot camp because of hype and the name, or do you wanna have an experience that will change your life, land you a job, make life long friends, and delivers a top notch - always evolving - always accessible curriculum? Do you want to tell your friends that you got into 'hyped boot camp name' or do you wanna show them how happy and successful you are? Do you want to pay 3x the cost of FHP because of the name and receive the same and most of the time, subpar education?

As a current student of Firehose Project with a rather successful outcome, I think I can provide some insight. I recently wrote a short excerpt on my journey in to coding bootcamps, and my eventual landing on FHP. I recommend reading that first, and then... Read More coming back to this answer.

As of this past week, I am starting my first job as a Front-End Web Developer. I am also in my 6th week at Firehose(I haven't even graduated yet!!!). I can 100% without-a-doubt say that I would not have landed this without FHP. At least, not in the short amount of time that I've been programming. My background is in Graphic Design and Marketing, and so I've always had my fingers a little dirty with web dev, but never enough to be considered a developer(not even close.)

So what made FHP essential to me landing that coveted job? Here ya go:

FHP sets your expectations
FHP is very unique in that they offer a 2-week intro course. This goes over very basic concepts concerning HTML, CSS, and Ruby. It gives you that mild taste of Full-Stack development, and is just challenging enough to give you a taste of your passion, if web development is where it lies. Even during these 2 weeks, you have access to code reviews, refactoring, and guidance without committing to paying a dime.
FHP equips you with one of the greatest weapons in programming: Guidance
This one has so many levels to it. You start by diving right in to the first app, and are given access to the FHP slack channel. This channel is ESSENTIAL not only during FHP, but beyond. If you have a question, are running in to a funny bug, or just wanna shoot the shit with other programmers, they are always available. I can't recall an instance where my questions weren't addressed or answered in less than 5 minutes. FHP doesn't advertise this too much on their page, but I think it's one of the strongest aspects.
The 1-on-1 mentorship. My mentor is a developer with Shopify. A quick Google, or just common knowledge will let you in on the secret that that's nothing to scoff at. He's a professional in the community. Not only does he help me understand the curriculum when I get stuck, but pushes me to go beyond the problems outlined by FHP. During my first mentor meeting, he gave me an assignment that went way beyond what I had learned so far. After googling, and hopping in the Slack channel to see if anyone wanted to try it with me, a couple of other FHP-ers and myself got it done. It was an incredible learning experience.
This one is pretty straight forward, but the forums on lessons are awesome. If you want to keep a question local to a specific lesson, you are able to post in a forum directly below, and receive an answer really quickly.
Office Hours. This is a weekly meeting where all of the current FHP students get together to discuss current problems, projects, or anything else on their mind. One of the valuable things about this is that you get to simulate what a meeting might look like with senior developers. Some students are further ahead, and will ask more complicated question as a result. Even if you don't understand each topic, your subconscious is being equipped with jargon and terminology that you'll encounter down the road.
FHP makes you desirable
You know how to code. Plain and simple. FHP not only teaches you how to code, but how to learn as well. It's the difference between being a home builder, and a home architect. You'll know how to approach each new project with the right mindset, and accomplish the actual tasks as they rise.
I think this is a point that so many bootcamps (including FHP) tend to overlook. Being a part of a bootcamp, and a global community makes you a desirable asset to a team. Imagine this: I'm a hiring manager for a development team. I've got multiple candidates in front of me. A self-taught dev, a CS graduate, and a FHP graduate. I meet with all 3 because their skills are relatively close. After my talks with all I realize that the bootcamp graduate is bringing an added perk. When he runs in to an issue, he's not just bringing his own knowledge-base to the table. He's bringing the whole program. He can reach out to the extremely active community for fresh ideas, problem solutions, and more. Not to mention that the bootcamp graduate is now an "in" with that community for future recruiting opportunities. I know this holds to be true as every interview I had brought this up. It's such an important factor.
FHP is cost-effective
There's no in-depth analysis here. FHP is the best ROI in the bootcamp industry. As with any product in life, the most expensive on the shelf is not always the best (looking at you Land Rover.) FHP is a definitely one of the most affordable, and returns one of the greatest programs.
The fact of the matter is that you won't find a better program. I encourage you to do the following: Schedule an info session with other bootcamps, and then after you complete all of those, have a personal phone call with Ken or Marco. The two founders are as transparent and active as anyone in the community and I know that will shine through if you have a single conversation with them. Enjoy the road ahead, and remember to always be coding!

(Completely unrelated, but you'll be totally adept at gif posting after FHP as well.)

Background

Others have said many awesome things about theFirehoseProject. I read many of the reviews on Quora, joined theFirehoseProject, and absolutely did not regret it. I have a B.S. in Computer Programming. I have created things in college courses... Read More or as hobbies utilizing PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, VBA, VB.NET, and SQL. I have intermittently programmed various things in the last 10 years or so on the side. However, there was this feeling of being confidence and having experience, which I felt I did not have. I have been in my career field for almost 12 years, work full-time, and have a family, which I couldn’t just pack up my things and leave to a different state for 12-15 weeks. An online bootcamp seemed perfect for my situation.

My Goals and Experience During theFirehoseProject

I wanted to especially focus on algorithms and data structures and I wanted the experience of working as a team. I initially didn’t care too much about learning Ruby on Rails because I feel that it hides a lot of things, which I’m not used to. However, I actually learned to like it towards the end of the course.

I put in about 40 hours of week going through the curriculum and learning additional things on the side during the first half of the course. I then dropped it down to about 20 hours a week because I got switched to working nights, which affected my comprehension and the amount of information I was able to retain. This might be something to consider if you think you will be in a similar situation.

I was paired with an awesome mentor with about 30 years of experience. I have paid for the “on demand expert coding mentors” through several popular websites and some of them had M.S. in Computer Science degrees. None of them compared to my mentor and other mentors I’ve seen from theFirehoseProject. The mentors at theFirehoseProject are the epitome of what coding mentors should be.

My mentor challenged me throughout the algorithms and data structure challenges. If I solved it, I usually had some kind of homework to figure out how to optimize the code. My confidence with my coding ability improved through paired programming with my mentor. I can honestly say that my sessions with my mentor and learning from the struggles of other students through the office hours with Ken, Marco, and other mentors have stretched my coding ability and comprehension beyond any of the college courses I took.

I looked forward to the team project during my time at theFirehoseProject, which the project can extend beyond the graduation date. I had a great team and was able to learn from other students that were above my coding abilities. The most important thing for me during the team project was seeing how all the pieces came together. I’ve never worked with a team and there were obstacles and conflicts that I had to overcome. As a result, the team project provided the experience to defeat these team obstacles and conflicts together.

Final Thoughts

My confidence and coding ability greatly improved through my experience at theFirehoseProject. If you have considered an online coding bootcamp, I highly recommend theFirehoseProject. They have a great curriculum, a great community, and awesome mentors. Lastly, you will not be spending $10K+ and the earnings from the amount of time you spend away from your job on a coding bootcamp that will teach you similar things.

The Firehose Project has been an amazing experience for me.
My mentor pushed me to learn things beyond the curriculum and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better. The curriculum went through the solid fundamentals of programming. The coding challenges... Read More involving advanced computer science algorithmic problems were extremely difficult, but through the office hours, I was able to receive amazing help and support that enabled me to solve them. I’m still on my team project (they allow you to continue on the team project even if you have graduated), but I know this will also be another learning experience as well.

Here are three things I loved about The Firehose Project
1. An active and welcoming community
The community at The Firehose Project is very active, with people constantly asking questions on the Slack channel and posting valuable information on the Google Plus group. Alumni still hang out in the community (many of them working as a web/software developer) and they help out in solving advanced problems. I've made a couple of buddies in this communities and we sometimes even work together on problems and pair program as well.

2. 1 on 1 Mentor Sessions
At The Firehose Project, each student will have a 1 hour mentor session every week. How you choose to spend your time with your mentor is completely up to the student. For me, I always listed questions I had during the course work, or other advanced topics that I couldn't figure out. I couldn't ask for a better mentor. He gave me extra meaningful work/exercises and really cared for giving me the insight to improve as a programmer. Even after the program is over, I want to keep in touch with my mentor because he was such a great educator.

3. Coding Challenges
The Firehose Project provides many coding challenges which students will go through. These challenges are common interview problems or computer science problems and are very difficult. As a computer science major, I know that just learning Ruby on Rails isn't enough to become a good developer. Logical thinking skills are essential. As I am developing a complex website for a local start up, I find myself being able to solve problems and obstacles faster than before because of the countless hours spent banging my head against the wall trying to solve these challenges.

The Firehose Project has given me the knowledge to learn coding on my own. It has given me a skill that I can turn into a profession. And mostly, it has given me a lifelong passion.

I highly recommend this bootcamp for anyone who wants to become a programmer and join a community of enthusiastic and friendly people.

Choosing the Firehose Project was one of the best decisions that I’ve made. Before deciding to drink from the Firehose I was weighing a bunch of options (from free to paid, online and in person). Bloc was one of the original bootcamps I found that started... Read More me on the path to an online bootcamp a little over a year ago and I thought I would end up enrolling with them. With my professional experience being mostly in email marketing, their emails, cadence and content were pretty much on point ever step of the way, but even with those great tactics that I knew should be driving me to convert, I was never sure that I was going to get more from them than I could just by making myself sit down and review free resources and tutorials. I had come across the Firehose Project early on in my searches, but for some reason, I didn’t consider it. When I got serious and decided it was time to jump in I luckily checked them out again. I watched a recorded info session and immediately I knew I would get more from this than any of the other programs I was considering because of the foundation of fundamental programming skills (algorithms and data structures) and problem solving built into the curriculum.

Ken and Marco understand that it’s not about just being able to copy/paste code and follow instructions - it’s knowing how to break down problems and find solutions. This is something that isn’t just for Ruby or Ruby on Rails or even basic HTML and CSS. Understanding the fundamentals gives you the ability to work with any programming language out there as well as tackle other problems you may encounter that don’t necessarily involve writing code.

The group project at the end of the program gives you an opportunity to interact with a remote team of other developers and experience what working on a web application in the real world is like. You’re given some direction on what needs to be built, but ultimately the features are yours to build and it’s up to you to decide how to best implement them while applying those fundamentals you worked on building leading up to the project. In the past I’d worked alone on some of my own projects, which is great, but it doesn’t really compare to the considerations, challenges and achievements that you encounter while working with a team - something that I really had never considered up until that point (and something that is very important when switching careers).

The last thing I’ll mention about the Firehose Project is the community. It is an amazing group of current and former students that you have access to in addition to your mentor and Ken, Marco and team. From the discussions and knowledge sharing on Slack and Google Plus to the fantastic office hours, there is a wealth of information and tools available to ensure that you succeed.

I wholeheartedly recommend the Firehose Project to anyone considering a coding bootcamp.

I’ve had a few days now to come to terms with the fact that theFirehoseProject is all over. It’s been an amazing ride over the last 3 months and the skills I learned will leverage me into my next career pivot. I’ve met some really great people, experienced... Read More horrible frustrations, and felt amazing triumphs. I’ve went from slowly trudging through the Rails tutorial sea of mud to learning how to be a web developer. To have been able to accelerate my skill acquisition in this way would have been damn near impossible had I continued to do it on my own. It truly has been an amazing program to be a part of and it is easily one of the best decisions I have ever made. In a lot of ways the Firehose Project has brought me a significantly higher quality of life than I had prior to starting.

The program starts off at a slow pace but quickly ramps up in progressive succession. By the time you are done with the program you will have a simple quote generator, a business/restaurant review site, a two sided video streaming marketplace, and a complex chess application. You’ll also get the taste for writing JavaScript, in depth understanding of object oriented programming, test driven development and learning complex algorithmic processes with the difficult coding challenges that the Firehose Project provides. Oh the coding challenges, they will be the most difficult thing you will do. You will want to, at times, bash your skull in with your keyboard out of frustration but when you get it, and you will, you will have the most uplifting and reassuring confidence boost you have ever experienced.

In addition to the coursework you will be assigned a mentor. Some how Marco and Ken knew exactly the right mentor for me. They paired me up with a seasoned veteran of the software development industry who spent a lot of time developing video games such as Bioshock Infinite, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. We jumped into our first call and it was super easy talking to him about basically anything. Over the 3 month program my mentor and I got to know each other pretty well and it felt as much as a friendship as it was a mentorship. He helped me through my frustrations, gave me insights into the industry, gave me advice about jobs and the hiring process, pushed me to keep coding more and more difficult things, and taught me information that went beyond the Firehose Project and into the foundations of computer science so that I could fully understand the impact I would have on the systems I’d be interacting with in the real world. My experience with mentor was very much a highlight of the Firehose Project and I was super fortunate to draw the mentor that I did.

When you look at a bootcamp you look mostly at two things, the course work and the mentor. What you will often overlook and not even consider (myself included) is the community and the social interactions within that community. The Firehose Project community is a caring and supportive community encompassing founders, mentors, alumni and students. When you join Firehose you get access to the private G+ community and the Slack channels but on top of that you get office hours, the weekly meeting of students, founders, and mentors to go over things we may have struggled with throughout the week. Access to these social/community channels, if taken advantage of, will give you access, insight, support, friendship with the other Firehosers, and an ability to level up. My experience being a part of the community was a special one for me, many of the digital communities these days are toxic, hellish, and negative battlegrounds of vial opinions but not with the Firehose Project. You don’t see all the negative things that you would in the wild on the internet but what you do see is an overwhelming level of support and kindness to the other Firehosers, something truly special in today’s digital communities. Every one of my interactions in the community were positive and in kind I did my damnedest to return that kindness and support in magnitudes of order. I think communities are as strong as their weakest contributors, if you have a supportive and active community, then you have a strong community, the Firehose Project is a strong community. The community was already primed and welcoming for me to contribute before I began. To play my part I wanted to amp that community up and give my all to it, I want the new students to feel as welcomed as I was when I started. The TL:DR; the Firehose Project community f-ing rocks!

Interacting with the founders was also a great experience. Ken and Marco make everyone feel welcomed from day one, they’re supportive, and they’re completely open to feedback. I have never felt from either one of them that I was simply a dollar figure to them and have always felt, even from the first time I met Marco or Ken, that I am a welcomed and contributing member of the community and the program. To me that speaks volumes for the caliber and quality of character of the founders and honestly was one of, if not the primary, reasons why I joined the Firehose. If a founder or founders truly believe in their product and see their customers as parts of their family and not just dollar figures I know they have a solid product that I too can believe in. Of course they’re selling something, it is a business after all, but what happens is they undersell and over deliver in EVERY aspect of the Firehose Project. From even the pre-work course you get the feeling that they’re not in it to churn out as many students as possible so they can make the highest profits possible. Then when you start the program you realize for them it’s all about empowering people and sharing their passion and joy for programming, that excitement is infectious. I have zero disappointments in the experience and no regrets or hesitation saying that the Firehose Project is worth 10 times the cost of admission!

Continuing in the same vein of community and the founders I’ve got to say everyone is welcoming, open to trying new things and open about improving the community. When I suggested Firehose Project Lightning Talks to the community I thought I would get a “sure, that’s a good idea but it’s not something we can really do right now because we’ve got a lot of things up in the air already” instead I got “That’s a great idea, lets do it!” Everyone seemed excited about it and we had our first ever Firehose Lightning talks in less than 2 weeks after suggesting it, the feedback was positive and it had a great impact on the community. We’re about to hold our second ever community lightning talks this week. In addition to the talks we’ve also got a community Firehose Project blog where students can contribute as writers or developers on the open source environment that we have created for the students. That’s what I mean by the founders are open to ideas and improvements, I never thought I would’ve had the feedback that I had about the lightning talks nor did I ever see it happening that quickly but the founders saw it as a great way to increase the quality of the program and saw the impact it could have on students by getting them comfortable talking about technology, public speaking, and encouraging them to explore beyond the curriculum. That mentality says a lot about the character of the people running the show and how much they care about the community and ecosystem they created.

Those are basically just the highlights reel of my experience at the Firehose Project, if I wrote everything that I have experienced and felt about the Firehose Project I would have a short novel because it truly has been a wonderful experience (you could also just go back through my blog and read my week in review posts). There is a sense of bittersweet sadness accompanied by joy and accomplishment that I have with the Firehose Project and to me that is a sign that it is something truly special. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, I’ve accomplished just as much but very few things upon completion have been accompanied by a feeling of “I just don’t want it to end” most the time it’s “Hell yes, finally it’s over, now I can do this!” With just that mixed bag of emotions I can truly say that this was something special, that the Firehose Project is something truly unique and special, and it will be one of the greatest experiences that I have ever had the great fortunate to be a part of. When I look back on my time at the Firehose Project I can see the leaps and bounds I have taken in pursuit of my new career and passion, I can see the great relationships and friendships I have made and the promising future that is in front of me because of this experience. The best part of the Firehose Project though, I don’t have to leave, I can stick around and contribute, continue to help and improve the community, give my support and encouragement to the new students and do whatever I can to continue to help make it a great experience for everyone who joins. This ladies and gentlemen this is what makes the Firehose Project great, I still want more. More coding, more community, and more Firehose. A big CHEERS and THANK YOU to Ken, Marco, Kevin, Ben, and the whole damn Firehose community! You folks all made this one of the best damn experiences I’ve ever had.

After completing two introductory Firehose courses online, I finally decided to enroll in theFirehoseProject: online web development apprenticeship program.

I choose theFirehoseProject because it offers me convenience, affordability and and immersive and... Read More systematic web development curriculum.

Ken and Marco are the founders of the program and also act as mentors at their online coding bootcamp. They are expert web developers and problem solvers and were always available for any of my questions as they came up. I very much appreciated their willingness to help me in any way that they can while I was their student.

I would love to work with them again and highly recommend theFirehoseproject to anyone seeking to join an online coding bootcamp!