The Best Bucharest Coding Bootcamps Of 2024

About me:
This section is just so that you can gauge if what I wrote below applies to your situation. I learned programming mostly on my own and only became a Codecool student because I found I needed help in getting a job. I also followed the courses of another company (Scoala Informala de IT <- would not recommend), but this was after I had a decent understanding of the Java programming language. I started learning Java at about 32 years old, and I joined Codecool when I was 36. I finished their courses in 8 months and got hired about 2 months after I finished.


The good:
- You will be surrounded by a community of people willing to help you learn how to code. I'm not talking here about the mentors necessarily (though they will definitely help you... if you set your shame aside and ACTUALLY GO ASK THEM), but about the other students.
- The curriculum is decent and, based on what I heard, it somehow got better AND shorter.
- The job guarantee, although not a guarantee per se (more about that in the next section), is real. If your attitude is not that of a jackass, you will get hired through them. This was the main selling point for me, because even though you can indeed learn to program from Udemi, that doesn't mean anyone will actually hire you.
- You will also learn how to hold presentations for your projects, a skill that, from recent experience, seems to be just as important as writing code.


The bad:
- The curriculum is a roller coaster ride to go through for somebody with no experience in programming. As people have probably already told you if you're planning on becoming a student, the course is a full time job, and you will most likely not be able to also work for the majority of the courses duration. 
- Some of the mentors attitude towards mastery based learning can degrade to "figure it out yourself" without them leading you to the right way of doing things. This statement needs more clarification, as for somebody who hasn't programmed before it probably means that the mentor should be there to help with their the majority of their problems. This is not the case though because learning how to research and troubleshoot are also things that students need to learn. I'm talking about stamping out bad solutions that would make your potential employer shake their head in disagreement if they read the code.
- The HR/marketing team will sugarcoat the contract terms heavily. Now I don't blame them, in fact I'd do the same if I were them, however I still want to point it out. If you read the contract though you will know exactly what you're getting into. The terms are not for the faint of heart. If you won't read them, you'll grieve about how horrible the service is. Either way, it's on you. For example you're not actually guaranteed a job, you're guaranteed 6 interviews, but if needed the number of interviews you're allowed to take can be increased (the way I read this paragraph from the contract is that if you're a decent human being they will help you get hired. If not, they'll provide the 6 interviews and then "bye bye". And also it helps protect against abusers who will wait for a year and not have to pay for the course. Bottom line, read the contract).

16 weeks may seem like a daunting time commitment, but the course is so worth it! The way the Data Science Dojo crew runs their bootcamp program is very thorough. The lessons and homework flow very intuitively. The modules covered build on concepts in a way that really helps with understanding. The instructors really promote class interaction which is good for tackling these topics in such a short time, getting our engagement rather than simply lecturing at us. They also encourage participation in a class Kaggle competition, which helps with additional free-form practical application of the concepts covered in class (plus some friendly competition for motivation). Most importantly, the instructors are very interactive, hands on, and passionate. They want to see every cohort succeed in their learning and you can see the labor of love that goes into teaching us, providing quality content both in the sessions and via the course site. This really sets them apart from other bootcamps, especially those provided online.

The course covers all the hot topics in the Data Science field, grounding in the perspective that the bootcamp is looking to prepare students with a broad range of experiences. I appreciate the context they provide and the thought that went into exposing us to a little bit of everything and the skills to jump in. 

I am very satisfied with the Tester course. The mentor conveys his knowledge very well and backs it up with examples from his years of professional experience. He was able to answer all my questions related to testing. Preparation for the exam was also at a high level. I do recommend it!