Codesmith

Before I began Codesmith, I was practiced and continuing to push my limits with JS algorithms and working my way through building my own apps. Codesmith definitely took my skills up to the next level and maybe even helped me go up multiples and multitudes of levels! Wherever you're at, it's definitely a place to level up with your technical skills and knowledge. It is true what people say, it is a place to "learn how to learn." I now feel confident that with a little time and reading up on documentation, I can figure out nearly anything in code. That is not a feeling I had before I started the immersive. I also feel that Codesmith pushed and continues to push me to think about code in a sophisticated and nuanced way. It's not just about building fullstack applications, it's about developing a deep understanding of how code works, how the data structures and algorithms are built, and which context favors which technology/stack. There's also an aspect of continuing to move the goal-post further and further as you're getting more skilled, so it keeps you humble. If you have the time and opportunity to familiarize yourself with various JS frameworks and libraries before starting, that can make a big difference in your experience, or just go in with a feirce can-do attitude because you will need it! Very rigorous and challening curriculum. Overall I'm very happy with my experience! Particularly the fellows and instructors are very helpful even at late times in the evening and over Slack at random times. The cohort was such a talented and phenomal bunch, the type of people you would want to spend 12+ hours a day with. It is also worth mentioning that Codesmith was very accommodating to myself and others who had extenuating circumstances throughout the 3 months. Life can be unpredictable even for these isolated 3 months and it's good to see that they have their students' backs. Overall very grateful to Codesmith for an amazing experience!

I had an incredible time at Codesmith! They truly go above and beyond for their students by not only meeting with everyone until late in the evening and during meal breaks to help them with any material that's challenging, but they also are amazing at helping when any unforseen circumstances come up for the students. Additionally, they truly prepare you for having a great career where, for example, just this morning I spoke to a recruiter about a job at a large sports company (ideal for someone like myself who is a HUGE sports fan) that uses the exact technologies we've spent a ton of time on here and I was disapointed by the fact I won't take the job unless they move up from the $90-100k a year range they offer candidates for the position. I could not be happier with the experience I've had here at Codesmith!

If you want to be a better software engineer that knows how to tackle any problem and at the same time be surrounded by brilliant, empathetic individuals, Codesmith is the place to be.

Attending Codesmith really taught me how to learn any tech stack and apply it with confidence. There were several times I doubted myself and my ability, but I trusted the process here and it really worked because they teach you to question why and how every line of code works so that you come out of it with a solid foundation to solve any problem. Not only did I gain foundational knowledge, but technical communication skills as well—I love that they really emphasized technical communication here because it’s truly invaluable when it comes to interviewing and working in teams.

The moment I first checked out Codesmith during one of the hard parts workshops, I was truly blown away by the outstanding community, which was another reason why Codesmith in particular really stood out to me. It was almost unbelievable how much everyone here genuinely wanted me to succeed and was willing to answer any questions I had, as well as offer their time to pair program and learn alongside me. Even during + after my time as a resident, I received continual support from the staff, which also helped to foster a supportive culture and collaborative learning environment amongst my peers—something I really welcomed after having been a student/working in highly competitive settings. Because the interview process is so rigorous, you really do have the fortune of growing alongside people who are talented, intelligent, hardworking, kind, and empathetic individuals that will magnify your own abilities as an engineer.

I graduated from Codesmith about a year ago. Before I choose Codesmith I did a lot of research. I went to almost all the coding academies in Los Angeles and scrutinized everything. I nailed it down to two of the most elite schools and made a spreadsheet comparing them on every aspect. I went as far as to talk to the CEO of both of them and compared the glassdoor reviews that their employees wrote. I reached out to alums and asked intimate questions about their salary, work situation and whether the investment was worth it. The alums, students and guys/gals getting admitted to Codesmith seem to be of a higher caliber than anywhere else. I visited schools that were clearly BS, ones that will baby you and tell you that your bad code that you just wrote is great. (I remember going through a tour of one school and they were saying things like “oh our walls are whiteboard, you can draw on them!” Why the would I care about that?) I didn’t want that, I wanted to be challenged, I wanted to learn Javascript deeply and know about all the nuances. If I was going to spend my time and money on anything I wanted the best of the best and I wanted results.

Before I came to Codesmith I was already pretty good at programming since my undergrad was in Mechanical Engineering. I had a job for 2 years coding in MATLAB so I understood the fundamentals. It took me about 4 months of preparation and getting used to the Javascript syntax to get good enough to pass the admission interview. My cohort mates were excellent, even though I had years of programming under my belt I felt that it was hard to keep up. I remember Data Structures and React were particularly brutal to go through. But I got through it with the help of the staff and fellow students. They were very supportive but at the same time they weren’t there holding my hand and spoon feeding me.

The second half of the 3 months were dedicated to projects. The projects helped cement the concepts learned in the first half of the course. The final project was to build a developer tool. In other coding academies, teams are given free reign on what they build. I’ve seen some horrible ideas being implemented. At Codesmith they vet your ideas, making sure that they’ll be good enough, challenging enough to impress hiring managers and Senior Developers. My team had most of our project ideas rejected. At the end, our project ended up being a huge success. We were trending on Github for a whole month. When it came time to look for jobs, the engineers at some of the companies that I applied for knew about my project and have used it. That really helped in having something to talk about during these interviews.

Today I work at a Fortune 100 company, making a salary that is in line with the typical Codesmith graduate. I’ve been here since January 2018. I was hired on as a Mid-level Front End Engineer. When I first got there my coworkers gave kudos on how fast I was able to learn the codebase and create value.

Recently I’ve joined a new team within the company and I learned that there are several coding academy grads in my area. I found out that they’re making about half the salary that I am making. Two of my teammates have masters degrees in Computer Science and I’m keeping pace with them. I’m being trained in the J2EE stack and even though I had no experience in Java my teammates are surprised at how fast I was able to pick it up. This is all because I’ve developed solid programming fundamentals and the skills to learn new languages and concepts fast at Codesmith.

Codesmith was the best decision that I’ve made in my life. It literally transformed my life and career. The last time I checked, my cohort mates are all happily employed. Big Thanks to Will Sentence the CEO and the staff for creating a coding school that is so effective. I’m sure they can expand to every city rake in huge profits from their current reputation but they’re not because Will and his staff obsess over the quality of the program, making sure every student hit their potential.

Before learning about Codesmith I was actively researching web development programs in NYC to see which seemed like the perfect fit for me. I applied and was admitted into some of the more familiar ones, but something about each didn’t quite fit what I was looking for.

While doing some research, I came across a comment on Quora that mentioned Codesmith. I wasn’t familiar so I did a quick Google search and read over their site. After going through the curriculum description, I was pulled in - it had everything the other programs seemed to be lacking. More so, the projects students were producing were tools made to solve real problems egineers face. Projects I could never fathom students producing in a 12-week bootcamp. I was hooked and decided to apply.

After going through two rounds of technical interviews, I was admitted to Codesmith’s April ’18 residency. It was challenging, but it was the best experience I could’ve asked for. I left with skills I never imagined myself having, and close friends I can’t imagine myself without. The curriculum is set up in a way to give you the training needed to hit the ground running day one on the job as a software engineer, and the community is built in a way so that you constantly feel surrounded by a group of peers who support you and, believe me when I say it, after a week together you'll consider some of your closest friends.

If you’re looking to accelerate your career from being a junior to mid/senior level engineer, or are coming from a different background entirely (like me), Codesmith is the place for you. In just 12 weeks you’ll leave with the experience qualifications of a seasoned engineer.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the program, its curriculum or my personal experience at Codesmith. 

As someone trying to break into an engineering role, attending the JS Hardparts workshops has been invaluable to my growth as a programmer. Spending up to 2 hrs breaking down snippets of code line by line helped me understand why JS works the way it does. I could have read multiple articles on specific JS concepts but none of that would have been helpful if I didn't firmly grasp the fundamentals and truly understood how JS works underneath the hood. Spending the time digesting and truly breaking it down allowed me to see connections between specific JS features more clearly. What really makes Codesmith special it seems is the emphasis making engineers understand the why behind programming instead of just saying that's how JS works. Will is also an extremely engaging and passionate instructor, which makes the learning experience that much better. His teaching style and informal nature of the workshops is a big part of why I've repeatedly attended these events. Even though I am not a part of the CodeSmith program, I always feel welcomed and am extremely grateful and appreciative of the support Will and his team has given me!

I was a Codesmith resident coming in with significant experience. I was mainly looking for a good tech community in NYC and a chance to catch up on some JavaScript trends that I had missed out on. I left with much much more.

Starting the journey

I first found Codesmith while looking for a great tech community in NYC. While there are many groups around and many people to meet, I found myself often dissapointed and frustrated for a variety of reasons. That is until I found Codesmith. The extended community around Codesmith is stellar and filled with people at all skill levels who are supportive of each other. 

One of Codesmith's main events is JavaScript the Hard Parts, a introduction and pair programming session around common sticking points in JavaScript. People attend to: learn JavaScript, get practice talking about code, experience Will Sentance's excellent lecture style, network, and evaluate the learning environment for their junior friends. I was impressed with the event and it eventually dawned on me how difficult it is to have complete beginners and seasoned $200k+ leads working together, pair programming, and enjoying the experience.

It was surprising, but I could see myself growing in Codesmith's residency, whereas the majority of schools on coursereport could offer me very little in terms of growth.

Application

I found the application process very balanced, transparent, and fair. A person with little experience, but lots of aptitude can pass, while a person with lots of experience, but little aptitude would be challenged. 

It's strange, but I was very happy when I borderline failed the JavaScript technical knowledge portion of my interview, but passed overall due to problem solving and communication. That's exactly where I would have gauged myself. I've written JavaScript since the early 2000s, but it was never my main language, just something that was useful for building out front-ends and browser extensions. I had always been able to solve problems that crossed my desk, but I would not consider myself a great JS dev at that point.

Cohort

What drew me to Codesmith is their focus on excellence and quality. My first interaction with Codesmith staff was a message I received on meetup welcoming me to their meetup group. I replied with “This is probably a bot, but thank you for the welcome …”. The reply I received promptly summarizes my experience with Codesmith, “Alex, believe it or not, I’m not a bot. Here at Codesmtih, we do things right.”

The cohort sizes are smaller and the support from staff is tremendous. There is roughly 1 mentor for every 2 residents and the residents themselves are often quite astonishing in terms of technical ability, but also communication and working with team dynamics. The diversity of residents is a big plus and gives everyone a chance to struggle and learn. The teaching philosophy can be uncomfortable if you are not used to a strong focus on active learning, but, in my experience, is a phenomenal way to learn.

The experience is often uncomfortable and requires hard work and careful judgement in how you approach your growth and the growth of those around you. At the same time, the support is tremendous and the residents are carefully selected to thrive in such an environment. The general culture is one of “work hard, play hard” and does not get stifled by perfectionism.

Breaking Plateaus

Codesmith taught me new ways to communication, learn, present myself, problem solve, and put me in touch with an excellent growing community. I firmly believe that the trajectory of my growth has vastly improved for at least the next 5 years.

The hard parts

Every program has trade-offs. I think the major trade-off in Codesmith is that they put learning first and happiness as a close second. The people are wonderful and supportive, but the curriculum is not designed to make you happy. If anything, it’s designed to make you feel the stress and uncertainty of working in a production environment forcing you to develop consistent problem solving approaches with unfamiliar technologies. Watching your teammates struggle and figuring out how to constructively help can be difficult, but ultimately everyone seems to get through it.

On the other hand, it seems clear that this focus on real work is a key to Codesmith’s amazing outcomes.

I was a student from cohort 1 for the 3-week Deep Learning course.  I dropped out after two days because it wasn't worth the time investment.  I had already spent my money by that point (no refund). Since leaving around a month ago, no one from the program has reached out to me for why I left.  I was hoping the stellar reviews here would carry over for the new Deep Learning program, but that was not the case. My main concerns are in the structure of the curriculum (as of July 2018).

It’s a 3-week course, but taught at the pace of a 12 week course.  Tensorflow is not covered in the first week, let alone the first day.  We spent the first two days on a very basic NN with no backpropagation.  No backpropagation means weights were decided manually as an exercise. That’s like becoming an animator by adjusting individual pixels.  Like learning astronomy by counting the stars. Attacking someone by hurling a gun at them. Rubbing two matchsticks together to create a fire.

I will say there is nothing fundamentally wrong, it was just executed poorly.  The idea of an online Deep Learning course is a great one and I hope Codesmith does not give up on this.  Here are my suggestions.

• There are many excellent free resources like Andrew Ng's Machine Learning course, Stanford Computer Vision course, and Fast AI.  The curriculum of Codesmith was similar, but at a lower quality and they charge money. This is my biggest concern. I wish Code Smith followed my next point.
• Leverage how young the field is.  Advances happen so quickly that many resources aren't available on the cutting edge.  What is posterior collapse or KL Divergence? Are Sigmoid's still useful or should I only use RELUs?  Goodfellow just released his code for his latest paper, but I can’t understand a line of code.
• Use abstraction.  There are many libraries in Python that can make an image classifier with over 90% accuracy in a few lines of code.  I agree that a basic understanding of Neural Networks would help increase performance. However, a significant amount of our time was spent on coding functions that are included in Numpy.
• Math isn’t needed.  It doesn't take advanced math to understand the basics of a GAN.  Yet many resources teach it poorly with a lot of mathematics. Adam gradient descent can be explained with a momentum metaphor.  Feature space can be visualized with Google Deep Dream. To explain matrix multiplication is a waste of time for both math background and no math background students (1 lesson is not so effective).  I would suggest to either choose to not need advanced math or limit the audience somehow.
• The instructor did not seem extremely experienced.  I don’t mind this, but if that’s the case I would prefer the fate of the course in more than one person's hands.  It seemed to be hinted that the instructor was the sole creator of the course material. What?! Give him some help!  Unless he got a degree in this field or has direct work experience, he can’t take on AI by himself.
• Create a big picture, work towards a project.  The majority of people would be very satisfied if they create something cool.  An AI that beats me at chess, a model that can classify music into genres, an RNN that can write Shakespeare-like prose.  We coded a Neural Network from scratch in the course, but this is covered by so many resources and has been done by thousands of people.
•  Furthermore, I would suggest the precourse include setting up cloud computing (like Paperspace) on a local device.  A laptop is pretty limited in what it can do. Also, Cloud computing setup is not so straightforward and people may need help.  Any course that does not teach this is seems behind the times and limited in scope.

Looking Back

If there is one thing that I can really say that I got from my 12-weeks at Codesmith, it is the fact that I had developed an engineering mindset. Having the ability to decompose a problem and break it down to chewable / understandable parts and then formulate a solution while knowing the pros and cons of that approach and on top of that being self-aware of when to ask for help is something that will always be relevant in software engineering.

Life Before Codesmith

I'm coming from a non-technical background (Nursing) who had a strong affinity towards technology. During my early teens, my class "volunteered" me to be a representative to an internal school website competition. Though the result was only a bare bones html page, the experience sparked a strong tech interest in me. This fascination, however, was "shelved" as I went to college but as I began to work in Nursing, I noticed patterns of how technology is creeping into my field ( paper charts are being converted to electronic medical records, and all analog instruments are being replaced with their digital versions, just to name a few ). This led me to investigate about where technology is heading especially in the context of web development, which eventually pointed me to to Javascript.

Codesmith Life

As I started to learn Javascript, I decided to attend a bootcamp prep that teaches Javascript basics. At the end of that one month program, one of my cohort mates mention "Codesmith" as one of the places to check out to apply for. Frankly speaking, I haven't heard about Codesmith before, so I curiously tagged along with my friends to a Javascript the Hard Parts session. 

Due to my wonderful experience at Codesmith's Hard Parts Session and the high level of technical communication that I observed plus my further research that indicated that Codesmith residents will be making a developer tool to contribute to Open Source, it didn't take me too long to decide that I really wanted to go to Codesmith. Long story short, I got in as part of the first cohort of Codesmith NY. 

The immersive (12 weeks) was grueling and yet had a "chill" environment. It's like "a work hard, chill hard" feel. Lol

The first six weeks was all about learning Codesmith material. I had a difficult time grasping them as we were going by fast and had to context switch every two days. In addition, I kind of felt the Imposter Syndrome as I often compare myself to other cohort mates who were breezing the two day modules, but thanks to Codesmith's warm, supportive, and reaffirming culture I was able to bounce back and eventually diverted all my energy to the task at hand (Developer Tool creation).

The second and final six weeks were all about our production projects (creating a developer tool as per each team's vision and MVP requirements). In this period, Codesmith gave us one week to brainstorm before each team submits their list of ideas. Once that process was complete, we spent the remainder of the last 6 weeks coding the tool out and beat bugs and solved technical challenges on our own. 

Life After Codesmith (Job Search)

After graduation, I wasn't confident about the things I learned in Codesmith as I felt like they went over my head. In spite of that, I just followed the Job Search tasks that Codesmith gave us to do and it helped me immensely. I soon realized that I knew more than what I thought I did. It was just a matter of choosing the right terms and phrases to accurately articulate the knowledge that is already in my head.

Having said that, the Job Search process was filled with its ups and downs. From my experience, it took me a while (~4 months) before I gained traction ( getting an offer) in my job search but Codesmith staff was there to check up on me and offer feedback. Also, I know for a fact that Codesmith will never leave you alone after you graduated. I had a first hand encounter with that because two months after graduation I was seriously contemplating to go back to my prior field and it was at this time when Will Sentance, the CEO, called me personally and asked me how I was doing and then gave me pointers regarding my job search moving forward. So I tweaked my approach a bit, and kept on keeping on and eventually got an offer about 2 and a half months after the call.

To sum it all up, even after graduation, you’ll never stop being a part of Codesmith. One way or another, they will try to assist you and you will always be welcome to hang out/ set a base camp for your job search. Lastly, you may hear that on average, grads typically get a job in about 3 months. It's a fair estimate BUT should you ever find yourself exceeding the 3 months, PLEASE DO NOT CONSIDER YOURSELF AS A FAILURE. Just keep applying and learn from each interview that you have. Turn the grey squares to green. You'll get there.

#Gogogofightfightfight!

I have always had a love for technology and, after 17 years at the same company, decided to make a huge career change and jump into software development. After vetting several Southern California programs, I decided to move forward with Codesmith. After having competing offers, and accepting a senior level position, I don't know that I could have made a better decision.

In addition to the recommendation from a few hiring partners I knew prior to applying to the program, one of the more impressive factors in this decision was the overwhelmingly positive experiences and outcomes of alumni. I don't know that I have spoken to anyone since beginning the program that would not recommend it to a serious, hard working person looking to make a change, myself included.

I doubt I could say much more than most of the other reviewers have but will hit on a couple items I believe aided in my journey.

Technical communication:

This is something they try to make everyone become competent in. It is such a valuable skill and they really ensure you are as clear and technical as you can be in order to fully communicate your ideas and thought process. Personally, as someone who initially struggled with this, all six of my interviewers (for the position I ended up in) commented on how proficient and clear my communication is.

Analytical problem solving:

By design, mentors will rarely give a straight answer. By guiding students to proper documentation or asking pointed questions, mentors are able to put students in a problem-solving mindset in which they are able to more adequately approach challenges and become independent, self-sufficient engineers, much like they would be in the wild. There are exceptions to this rule, however, the aim is to have students struggle and learn rather than go through a three-month tutorial.

Support and community:

Codesmith strives to create an inclusive and supportive environment which allows for an incredibly competitive culture in which everyone also wants to see each other succeed and grow as much as possible. This was very refreshing coming from an industry which maintained a dog-eat-dog, toxic mentality. Beyond this, you really do make your way in to a pretty powerful network of engineers, and a community of alumni which continue to maintain a presence after the programs conclusion. 

If you have the opportunity, Codesmith is certainly one of the best programs you can go through. Be prepared for a lot of work, but the payoff is absolutely worth it. 

# Course Report

I attended Codesmith's 3month immersive program and loved my experience. I have a background in Hollywood post-production so I was comfortable with Graphics/Video software and basic unix operations but was never a professional programmer. I had been teaching myself web development slowly in my free-time over about 2.5 years prior to finding CodeSmith. I started to reach out to the programming community in Los Angeles and soon found the "Javascript: The Hard Parts" meetup and was hooked.

Will is a passionate speaker and the community of people was very encouraging. I knew pretty much right away that I wanted to be part of this program. Even once the material of the lectures was less fruitful for me, I still loved attending for the pair-programming sessions and the random people I met.

One JSHP meetup night in particular that stuck out to me was when Schno stayed after with 3 of us as we were going through a coding challenge. We got as stuck as we could and when we reached out to him, instead of giving the answer right away, he subtly guided us down a path then sat back with a grin on his face. He could tell when we had figured out enough and just waited for us to put the dots together ourselves. You could tell that he really enjoyed "the a-ha moment" that comes from this type of work.

I ended up attending JSHP meetups about 10 times before attending the program.   

Writing software never came easy for me, and it took me 3 attempts to even get into the program. Once in, the program was a struggle for me the entire time so, to keep up, I was coding all day and night ( minus ping-pong breaks of course :) ) and was practically sleeping at the computer. I expected the program to be intense, but just a warning... If you would prefer more hand-holding and a slower pace, this is NOT the program for you. If you like being pushed and going through intense growth as an engineer, then consider Codesmith.

1 month after the program I got a job offer in San Fransisco to work on Walmart's customer facing website. One of the biggest React apps in the wild and at $125k/year! I've made more than a few life-long friends, all of which are now working on exciting projects.

The Codesmith staff is a passionate and intelligent group of people. You really have all of the support you need to succeed as you got through their program. Erik Kirsten, Will Sentance, Haley, Shanda, Master Schno and all of the other instructors are incredible people.

There is no guarantee of success of course, but if you put in the dedication, Codesmith can be an incredible stepping stone in a software developer's journey.

When I was researching avenues to enter the software engineering field, I was initially set on attending another school. I thought that every school was going to be similar. Boy, was I wrong.

I came across CodeSmith during my search and saw that Will Sentance (the co-founder of CodeSmith) gives talks every week at "Javascript: The Hard Parts". I attended the lecture remotely and was surprised to see the deep dive into Javascript and computer science. They did not hold back. You can see and feel the technical excellence that they are striving for and the technical knowledge that they want to impart. As part of the session, attendees teamed up to do pair programming. I was paired up with anothe remote attendee. We took turns practicing technical communication and directing the partner to craft a solution to the challenge.

Soon after that, I attended a Hard Parts in person and the vibe of the space, the CodeSmith team, and the attendees was really awesome. It seemed like a place/community that I  want to be part of. It was really inviting, there's great diversity of people, and it feels cool and hip.

Needless to say, I eventually applied and was accepted.

Throughout the program these FIVE core tennets were reinforced.

• Technical communication
• Non-technical communication/Empathy
• Analytical problem-solving
• How to handle blocks...technical and non-technical
• Technical knowledge

Everyday was an opportunity to hone these skills, which are at the core for mid to senior level engineers.

There is not a lot of hand holding (just like on a real job), and you'll be pushed everyday. You're guaranteed to learn lots...whether its technology, working on a team, managing project scope, etc.

I won't talk too much about the course contents because that will evolve as technology changes. Having said that, during portions of the journey, you're free to explore and incorporate other technologies into your projects.

The team at Codesmith is super supportive, they really take care of things so that you can focus on learning. Also, lead technical mentors and fellows are there to help you think through your problems when you get stuck or to advise you on your Senior projects. No hand-holding...just a bump in the right direction.

Now for some other cool things about Codesmith (LA): There are lots of opportunities for fun...there's a Ping Pong table (during my cohort, there were lots of exciting matches), Venice beach is a few blocks away, Abbot Kinney is within walking distahnce, Codesmith organizes drinks after Hard Parts meetings, and more...

If you are up for a challenge and want to push yourself to the limits, Codesmith will change your life for many different reasons. You'll be honing your coding super powers (and can apply them to so many fields). You'll, forever, be part of a community and network of amazing individuals that share the same passion.