Codesmith

"Codesmith is the type of program where every student leaves as a transformed version of the person he/she came in as. The most obvious transformation is one’s exponentially expanded software engineering knowledge and experience, but students also leave with a radically broader grasp on empathy, the kind of empathy you gain from intense pair programming sessions and grinding through 12+ hour days with your Cohort-mates. The curriculum is always evolving and is updated as a result of student feedback and/or the ever continuous momentum of the industry. Over my 12 weeks (13 including a prep/gap week between cohorts) Codesmith presented daily opportunities for ‘aggressive expansion’ of my engineering and problem solving skills (for anyone thinking of the scene from The Dark Knight, there is never any battling , though Ping Pong games can get intense). You go deep in JavaScript, by the end you can truly develop a web application that includes a database, RESTful API based server, and powerful front-end (using Vanilla JS, React, Angular, or whatever you desire because you have to mental tools to learn anything new). You learn about more than just JavaScript at Codesmith though. Daily, you will experience the exciting challenge of a new algorithm problem, you learn data structures, engineering best practices, and possibly most important of all you will grow tremendously in your technical communication. Anyone who has tried to solve a highly technical problem in a team setting will relate to how important technical communication is for the project’s success. At every point throughout the program you will either be asked to communicate to your pair-programming partner when you are not actively typing, or with the Engineering Fellows during code review, and ultimately all of these experiences result in a deeper understanding of the material and an ability to explain your code that is highly valuable to teammates and employers. Attending a coding bootcamp is a major life decision, and I have not once regretted choosing Codesmith over any of the other options in LA or elsewhere. You receive full devotion during and after graduation and I wholeheartedly believe there is nowhere better to begin the next chapter of one’s life."

"A life-changing experience. Codesmith builds in its students the ability to problem-solve and take on the most challenging engineering problems. They keep an active part in the Los Angeles and San Francisco developer communities, and are fully dedicated to growing their students and alumni through the course of their software development careers."

"Great environment, amazing Meetup 'Javascript the hard parts' including lectures and pair-programming exercises. Highly recommended for any level of experience from absolute beginners to experimented. Immersive program is extraordinary to start a career in tech!"

"I first heard about Codesmith as my big brother picked up an interest in becoming a software engineer. My brother decided that he wanted to jump straight into JavaScript and we learned about Codesmith while looking for local meetups. Now although Codesmith is a 12 week software engineering program, they do hold weekly "Build with Code" sessions so that new developers can come in, learn some JavaScript, and get a feel for the education that one may get when applying to Codesmith. I've been coming to Codesmith with my big brother for their weekly "JS the Hard Parts" series and it has been amazing. Will Sentance who is CTO and one of the main instructors at Codesmith teaches the sessions and makes an effort to involve everyone in the learning process, as well as make sure everyone is understanding the material before moving on. Our first day at a session was really fun and motivating as well. It really makes you excited to learn and it's what keeps us coming back. I've talked to a lot of people that have been to other places for coding sessions and they often say that the other ones they go to are really boring and they feel more like a study group instead of a session where you actually go to learn something. I really encourage everyone to check out Codesmith. Whether you are looking for a program to learn software engineering or you are new and want to meet people who are just starting like yourself. Check it out, it's a great environment, and it is extremely friendly and welcoming."

"Codesmith has transformed my life in such a short amount of time. I knew I wanted to be a web programmer and I was going to teach myself javascript over this past summer. On my own I probably would have still been trying to learn the fundamentals, not creating projects to reinforce my knowledge in different frameworks and libraries. Codesmith didn’t teach me to program by giving me the syntax to a function, but they explained the process of a function and how its variable store works. Getting a deeper understanding of how a computer executes a callback function, for example, has gotten me further than solving a single problem on an online tutorial. I have learned how to be/think/act like a full stack engineer. I didn’t come from a stereotypical tech background, I graduated with a B.A in American Studies a few months ago and now I have a good understanding on how servers, databases, and multi-threading work. It is such a great feeling to be able to understand the process of what your code is doing, but there is so much more I want to learn. Technology is constantly evolving and Codesmith has equipped me with a skill set to keep learning on my own."