I’ve been learning front end development for about nine months now and have decided that I want to apply to coding bootcamp. I got accepted into one in Prague today. I like this bootcamp because the curriculum aligns with what I want to learn, it’s far cheaper than many other American bootcamps (not to mention Prague being a cheap city in which to live), and the class sizes are 16 people max.
I’m curious to know if any Americans (I’m American) have gone through a coding bootcamp in Europe, and if so, would you mind sharing your experience? Particularly, were you able to get a job in the United States upon graduating?
I know this is a hotly debated topic, but for me I want to accelerate my learning and also work on the communication aspect of being a web developer.
Hey @jawaka72, I visited them in person and I think they have a very good setup there. Been also looking for boot camps in Europe! Have you decided on what you will do?
Who did you visit exactly? The one in Prague that I mentioned didn’t work out for me, but I’m going to go to Barcelona and study with Le Wagon. They are well established and have a good reputation. Plus, they are much cheaper than any coding bootcamp in the USA.
I visited Coding Bootcamp Praha (the one you linked to earlier) and met the founders and toured their campus. Can you let me know why it didn’t work out for you?
I also checked out boot camps in Barcelona and found Codeworks and Ubiqum as most fitting – although the former is almost the same cost as the ones in the US.
CBP seemed like a “too good to be true” deal. And if it seems like it, it probably is. For example, they say they offer accommodation, but they only provide six rooms for their students and just have the rest search for housing options on their own. So, yes they do provide housing, but only on a first-come-first-serve basis. I think that’s a little misleading because if you were one of the later people accepted into the boot camp then you have no shot at receiving housing.
Their organization was just too new for me. In the end, I wanted to go to a more established bootcamp that has a solid reputation. Also, after reading some reviews from the most recent cohort, my enthusiasm greatly waned and I decided that I would rather go with a different organization.
If it works well for you, then that’s awesome. I encourage you to do thorough research before applying. Ask hard questions because this is your time and money that’s on the line. I think that maybe after a couple more years, I would consider CBP, but it seems like they are still getting their footing with this business.
I’m one of Codeworks co-founders. We’re located in Barcelona (Spain), and teach JavaScript for the full stack. Our program is more intensive and selective than most other bootcamps in Europe and the US. Obviously the outcome is proportionally more rewarding too.
Our course is comparable with Hack Reactor for JavaScript and App Academy for Ruby.
To be honest, it’s quite challenging to get admitted into these programs. Our acceptance rate for example is currently around 5%, but if you’re motivated and looking for excellence you should try!
I personally think it’s amazing that there are lighter programs out there, since they might be a better fit if you’re exploring the coding space and are not considering a career in tech yet. Besides freeCodeCamp is such a great initiative!!
We teach 100% in English, have a strong pre-coure, run classes 11 hrs per day, 6 days per week, for 3 months, with top-tier instructors and a curriculum that will challenge your learning limits.
@jawaka72 Hi, that’s an interesting experience but I must say I have really an opposite one. I got accepted to the Le Wagon Paris in early 2017 but after nine weeks I hardly learnt anything - you go through exercises on your own most of the time or with your “buddy” who is just another unexperienced student as you are. There was no job support at all and when I complained about it, I was told that actually they “focus on entrepreneurs” - something that they definitely do not state on their homepage! I tried applying to different places after the Le Wagon but honestly there are hardly any Ruby jobs in any of the European markets where I wanted to go (which was pretty much anywhere in the EU!!). I was really disappointed but I didn’t give up and applied for a real coding bootcamp afterwards.
@danilo I also visited the Coding Bootcamp Praha campus before applying and it really all clicked - the guys were so passionate about what they do, I met up some of the students who were really happy and I filled in my application on the very same evening.
I got accepted to the Autumn Batch 2017 of the Coding Bootcamp Praha, learnt tons and started a job as a Web Developer (JavaScript / React) in a cool company two weeks after graduation. So if you really want to switch a career - and not just play around and making yourself feel good with too easy and unpopular tech stack - then do your research and go for a true coding bootcamp…
Nice - congrats @Karamajeth! Are you a non-EU citizen like me? If so, how was the process like in terms of paper work? I was mostly worried about the limitations of going to CBP through a visit visa.
Hi @danilo , I applied for a tourist visa as that was the easiest and fastest for me. Its only 12 weeks, so you should not need a longer one but definitely not an expert on this but if you want to work there afterwards, you need to apply for a work visa…
Different feedback is still feedback. We’re not in a fascist state where everyone has to think the same and any deviations are outcried, if not punished. You’re in dangerous waters there.
Of course it’d be interesting to find out where the disconnect is nonetheless.
Hi @lynxlynxlynx of course, we totally agree with you. We respect and value all feedback, they always help us improve our curriculum. This said, we strongly believe the above feedback is not coming from one of our alumni but from a competitor who wants to bring discredit upon Le Wagon, reason why we wanted to clarify what Le Wagon is.
@lynxlynxlynx I think dangerous waters is when we don’t measure our words and start calling anyone fascist making it so banal that we forget the real meaning of this term.
Hi @Papillard - Honestly, I cannot say that your reaction surprises me. Anytime I tried to voice my concerns I got silenced in exactly this way. When I complained that we learn nothing, I was told that everyone else is happy, thus it is my problem only. However, there were many other “unhappy” students in my batch but noone really cared. Maybe if you spent less time writing essays on online forums and more time taking care of your students it would be better for everyone. I’m glad that some of your alumni made it but considering how many bootcamps you run all across the world, the number of the good stories is very small.
Hey everyone,
Since I started this thread I just wanted to share my journey. After a year of teaching myself front end development, I decided to attend a boot camp to fill in the holes in my knowledge as well as get a good introduction to back end programming. I went with Le Wagon because they have a solid reputation and it was much more affordable than most US boot camps. I learned a lot at Le Wagon. They have an excellent online learning platform that makes accessing their materials very easy and I enjoyed the way they taught the material. I do feel that my prior self-taught experience helped a lot and, like with many difficult things, it all comes down to how hard you work and the risks/sacrifices you’re willing to take. Now, I am a web developer at a great company in the US. Could I have gotten a web dev job without Le Wagon’s help? Sure, of course. But it would’ve taken much longer and it would’ve been much more difficult, and I wouldn’t have made all these great connections.
It’s upsetting seeing some negative comments in this thread. Oh well. I’m gonna get back to building applications with my team. Peace all.
Hi there, Im glad it worked out for you. I think the best is always to check the reviews, for the Coding Bootcamp Praha you can find tons of them online: http://codingbootcamp.cz/reviews I also really loved the fact that they got selected among the top IT educational programmes by the MIT and for me that gives it even more credibility than reviews (see here: https://bit.ly/33KGAV5). A disclaimer - im a past graduate, just came across this randomly
