Codesmith

They said it best, but I’ll add what I can

As hundreds of these reviews attest, Codesmith is an amazing, demanding, aggressively worthwhile program that turns excitement and ambition into engineering success. I’ll echo the highlights – a lasting community, self-directed projects, passionate instructors, consistent job-search support – but rather than focus on what makes the experience awesome in general, I want to touch on the stuff that I didn’t expect while addressing the concerns that I initially had. My intent here is to answer the questions that I was asking – and the ones I should have been asking – when I was considering Codesmith.

The Codesmith family – more than a bonus?

I sought out Codesmith because of the community – a network of friends and professionals really appealed to me, and I felt like I might mesh better with people who were drawn to this sort of environment. I was surprised to discover just how necessary this culture was, both during the program and after it ended. It didn’t just make the process more enjoyable – it consistently kept me around and learning new things hours after I would have left for the day. During the job search it was invaluable to have folks to meet up with for interview practice or to swap resources and encouragement.

Two heads better than one?

Pair programming is heavily emphasized for the first few weeks, and to be honest I was skeptical that the system would work for me. I felt like it would be intimidating and uncomfortable to problem-solve aloud in front of a stranger. What if all I did was slow my partner down, or visa versa? Turns out I was dead wrong – pair programming was a huge reason why I was able to join Google as a software engineer straight out of Codesmith. It not only builds your technical communication skills and makes you more introspective of your own thinking process, but also teaches you new ways to approach problems and diagram out solutions.

Deliberate curriculum

You’re too busy learning stuff to appreciate how far-sighted the curriculum is until you transition into the job search – then you realize how everything fits together. React and its supporting cast are definitely in demand, either as the core tech of a full JavaScript role or as the front-end framework of a more complex stack. Codesmith leaves you well-suited for a whole spectrum of engineering positions, but just as importantly it gives you experience that you can piece together into the compelling story of a really attractive candidate – open-source enthusiasm, production-level library, demonstrable React/Node/DB knowledge, speaking at a bona-fide meetup, etc.

A program for all coding backgrounds

I’ll join the chorus here and say that Codesmith is an obvious choice for anyone with minimal programming experience but a willingness to put in the extra effort and a genuine interest in software development. But what about those – like me – who have technical degrees, or those who already have a few years of development experience? I was hesitant to commit to the program because I wasn’t sure that I’d get as much out of it. Again, I was dead wrong. As a comp sci major, I was able to build up knowledge of real-world technologies that complemented my theoretical foundation and market myself as a problem-solving generalist with relevant development experience. To a current software engineer, Codesmith is a place to transition into a more in-demand tech stack while building the communication skills of a senior-level developer.

For those who are wondering whether they’d be better off trying to pick up the technologies on their own – I can personally tell you that you’re being dumb. It’s worth the investment to learn them faster, better, and in context. No matter your background, I cannot recommend Codesmith highly enough. You’ll stagger across the finish line but wish there were more.

I joined Codesmith in NYC at beginning of 2018 and it's by far the best decision I have ever made in my life. I came in with a technical background but minimal coding experience in Javascript. I have to say the first 6 weeks is challenging but all the team members and my cohort mates are so supportive and I would never make it through without them. After I graduated, the support never stopped. The team checks in with me regularly and there's a career coach available 24/7 and willing to answer any questions you have. I am so thankful that I made the decision to join Codesmith and it was really a life-changing experience. 

I have always had a passion for computers, hardware and software, but never had the training, encouragement, or courage to take the leap of faith in switching careers. I was looking at other schools in the LA area and was referred to Codesmith by a friend who had graduated and gone on to do very well. I feel blessed having gone in that way, as it helps to know beforehand that the program really works.  It's incredibly demanding and it will make you doubt yourself at every turn -- overcoming those doubts is the very core of the program -- but with the support of passionate and caring mentors, you will come out the other end as the best software engineer you could possibly become in the time given. This crucible of overcoming blocks in understanding is one of many things that set Codesmith apart. It makes you a great software engineer able to tackle any stack you want to, and more importantly, engenders the technical communication and engineering empathy that makes you someone people want to work with. Codesmith is the Ivy League of bootcamps, and that means you'll do well when you graduate. It also means that you'll need to work hard to get in, so my advice on shooting for Codesmith is that there's no such thing as too much preparation. I went in without prior experience, but I put in many months of study beforehand, and I still struggled. It's all about the struggle. If you're looking for someone to hold your hand, walk you through "Your Very First Full Stack Application," pat you on the back at the end, and set you up with a nice, non-challenging Junior Developer role, then look elsewhere. If you want to become the kind of developer that other developers look up to, then go to Codesmith.

Codesmith was the best decision that I could have made for myself. I dropped out of NYU at 20 years old because I knew I could do what I wanted without paying $60K more for a degree. I wanted to be a software engineer. It didn't just teach me how to use frameworks and how to solve algorithms. It taught me how to learn efficiently. I left with a life long skill of adaptation.

I also left with really good friends, my cohort was like a big family. The whole team is such an amazing source of support. The instructors and the fellows don't give you the answer but they help guide you into figuring it out on your own. The environment just encourages support and learning together. I looked into a lot of programs that offered similar curriculum but I went to a hard parts and I knew that this was the place I wanted to spend my time learning. And I have no doubt that I made the right decsion. 

I just graduated from the most recent April '18 cohort and had a really amazing experience at Codesmith.

Many reviews on here have described the amount of work that is demanded from Codesmith residents, to which I would say it's a given that if you're looking for a complete career change in three months, you're going to have to put in a lot of time and effort. That being said, the community and the support that you get from both staff and other students  makes that process much, much easier. It's obviously possible to learn technologies like React and Redux on your own, but coding is a collaborative process. And that's not something you can learn sitting on your couch with a laptop. I remember all the time I spent on Codewars, FreeCodeCamp, and CodeAcademy prior to Codesmith, studying to get in. I learned a good amount studying on my own, and I'm sure I could have learned how to put together a website myself with a few more months. But the kind of work that you do in order to get accepted has almost nothing to do with what it's like to work on a team, which is what you'll have to do once you go out and get an engineering job. The projects that you build at Codesmith ingrain you with that collaborative process. Whether you like it or not, you'll have to work with people who are stronger than you, and people who are weaker than you. You'll have to decide how to break up a project into pieces so that someone can put together a SQL database while another person adds OAuth to your app. You'll also have to also learn how to merge two, three, four different peoples' work together into a single codebase and not break everything (which inevitably, it will) in the process. You'll learn to code with other people, and that's what companies want from engineers. Someone in my cohort had an interview a few days ago and was asked 'Tell me about a time someone on your team underperformed, how it affected the rest of the team, and how you responded'. That's a question you absolutely cannot answer if you've only ever coded by yourself. Codesmith prepares you to confidently answer questions like that, because you spent months working with other engineers, constantly facing blocks and having to overcome them. To bring this back to the amount of work that is demanded from students at Codesmith—yes, it's difficult, but most of that difficulty comes from learning to work with other people, and that's an invaluable skill to have as an engineer.

When I was applying to bootcamps, I knew that I wanted to go to one of the top programs, and I only wanted to specialize in one language. That basically left me with Hack Reactor, since App Academy still teaches Ruby (at least when I was applying) for the first few weeks of its program. I was accepted into Hack Reactor and was pretty much ready to go, and found out about Codesmith in early March. Being a much younger program than Hack Reactor, Codesmith felt like it was more of a risk. I had never heard of it and I was very skeptical about the promise of getting a mid-level or senior position after three months. What convinced me was attending Hard Parts and seeing the founder, Will Sentance, teaching an introductory Javascript course on the whiteboard and going into an incredible amount of detail, more so than any other intro course I'd seen. After doing more research and reading some of the reviews, I applied and pretty soon bought my flight to LA. I think there is something special about the fact that much fewer people know about Codesmith. It brings together people who are not only incredibly driven and intelligent, but also people who are willing to take that same risk. It brings together interesting people, which is not something you can say about every software engineer out there. Attending Codesmith was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. I'm 27 now and after years of working in different industries, I can confidently say that I've found what I'd like to do for the next decade of my life. If you're also committed to becoming an engineer and you're generally a kind and hardworking person, you'll probably also arrive to Codesmith and feel like you've finally found your people. Some of the friendships I've made here will last me a lifetime, and I'm confident that everyone in my cohort will go on to do incredible things. All of that is only possible because of the level of commitment that people bring to that place, and that commitment shows when you hear about the outcomes that people get, when you hear people talk on the alumni panel about the careers they're currently in,  and when you meet other people who have gone through the program. If you're looking for a career change into software engineering, I can confidently say that I can't imagine there being a better place to do that than at Codesmith. 

I had found Codesmith through attending a few JavaScript: the Hard Parts events. At the time, I was a front end web developer but was looking to move into more data-intensive software engineering positions. I had also just moved to  LA and didn't have much of a network; JSHP seemed to be a great two for one deal: brush up on JavaScript basics and meet other engineers. What I hadn't expected was just how great the JSHP (and by extension, the Codesmith) community is: everyone around me was extremely supportive and giving. Couple this with the high techincal standards, Codesmith seemed like the perfect program to effectively up my technical abilities. Having come through the other end I can attest that it did that. A+, would do again. 

I was a resident and then a fellow at Codesmith so I think I can give some quick insights on the program. If you are about growth through technical challenge and embrace deliberate practice rather than easy wins, this is the place for you. If you want to be surrounded by determined and brilliant people who genuinely care about your learning experience, you've found it. But keep this in mind, no one will hold your hand and you have to come in with 110% of focus and self-determination to make it through. This is great opportunity to excel yourself as a mid-senior software engineer, so come and earn it.

A few months prior to joining Codesmith I had quit my job with the goal of learning coding on my own in order to switch careers and create a few projects I've had in my head but never been able to act on. (I come from a technical background, but on the Electrical side - so I wanted to get SW skills in order to be more full stack.)

About 2 months into my self-learning journey, I realized I could solve problems but always felt I was "hacking" the answer together instead of just being able to immediately solve them, which I felt slowed me own drastically.

Enter Codesmith...

After the 3 month course I now feel I have a thorough understanding of the key concepts I needed and, in addition, also a deep understanding of the advanced/cutting edge javascript frameworks - ie. React, Redux, Node. 

I received all of the skills that I was looking for and can now immediately reason in my head when solving problems on my projects, as-opposed to having to stack overflow every question and 'hack' together answers.

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In addition, the two things I think really set Codesmith apart are 1) the culture and 2) the projects.

1) A majority of the people that join Codesmith are already solid programmers or problem solvers with technical backgrounds, and they want to take their skills to the next level. This was what was really worth the price of admission, to me. Working on my own I would sometimes hit a wall of frustration and need a break; with the community you're working with at Codesmith, if you hit a wall there is surely someone around who is happy to sit down and troubleshoot it with you. And you're on your way forward in no time. (Not to mention the network of driven people you are now a part of)

2) I don't like how some schools force boring projects on you - I don't think that helps promote true learning because you're not passionately solving through your problems and can just go through the motions. Codesmith lets you choose your own projects (pretty much whatever you choose, as long as the concept is challenging enough and clearly described). This phase was where I really solidified my knowledge because I was working on projects I cared about and that allowed me to spend the extra time to really push through difficult problems, willingly.

TLDR: I'm very happy I made this decision as I now have the skills I was looking for, in only 3 months. Now I can solve challenging problems without help.

Note: It's not easy - be ready to put in the work.

Attended CodeSmith - August 2016 Cohort 9

Background - Chemical Engineering

Currently - Software Engineer (First Job landed after CodeSmith was Nike)

I attended Codesmith back in August 2016 for a 13 Week Program that transitioned me from a programming enthusiast to a software engineer. I understand a lot of things probably have changed since my cohort, but I'm going to assume that it was for the better. Whether that was hardening the course material to focus on current in-demand skills or even providing additional staff for the students. It was one of the best paths I could have chosen for my career. Codesmith provides all the necessary tools for you to succeed. I fully recommend CodeSmith as a JavaScript-focused Bootcamp that can get you started as a software developer or harden your skills as one. 

In short - If you love programming, javascript and are dedicated 100%+ to pursuing a job in Web Development (that is if Web Dev is your passion), go for it. 

*Note* - One thing that Codesmith does well, is the support. I still get my resume reviewed from time to time and Codesmith does a great job in being responsive to their student needs in regards to Job Assistance. 

I come from a background in PR and Marketing, and transitioned into a role as a UX/UI developer. I wanted to build out the functionalities of these static wireframes and prototypes, but my scope of software engineering was so narrow that I didn’t know where or how to begin. I did a lot of research on bootcamps and immersive programmes, and the amount of polarising reviews put me off any further researching. I decided to try the whole “self-studying” thing, and found myself completing algorithm after algorithm, but not really implementing it to build anything useful.

I attended my first JavaScript: The Hard Parts meet-up, and was completely blown away at how in-depth and precise Will went into explaining the JS engine, and how it executes each line of code. There were also a couple of people from Codesmith who volunteered to stay with me past the meet-up event to pair-programme with me until I was at a point where I understood all of the concepts. After attending a couple of more times, I became more familiar with the Codesmith community, and knew that I had to be a part of it. I’ve never been surrounded by such passionate, hilarious, supportive, and talented group of people before, and I still keep in touch with those I’ve met at Hard Parts.

During my time at Codesmith, the hardest part for me was to discipline myself in adjusting to a “new” way of learning. The lectures give you a solid high-level overview of a particular topic, but it’s up to you to put in the hard work to further research how it’s used and how all the pieces come together. Every two days, you’re learning a new concept/framework/protocol along with a unit challenge, and I definitely put in a lot of extra time during and after the programme to ensure that I’ve understood them. During the “senior” portion of the programme, Codesmith really pushes you to explore areas that might feel like impossible to build at first, but when you’re surrounded by such determined and ambitious talent, you pick up on their energy and push through together as a team. My team and I built a real-time text editor with end-to-end encryption - still can’t believe that we worked with encryption!

The last few weeks are dedicated to outcomes and building out your network, which was one of the most important areas of Codesmith. The Codesmith team put in a lot of effort in conducting resume workshops, mock interviews/white boarding sessions, and cover letter/follow-up strategies. You’re in this iterative and refinement phase that further strengthens your technical and presentational skills when it comes to hiring day. You’re equipped with an extensive network of Codesmith alumni that are scattered across major cities, and I definitely took advantage of that by reaching out to them and they were more than happy to meet with me for interview preps. Codesmith built a solid foundation for my career, and I accepted a great offer a few weeks after finishing up the programme!

Codesmith as a program really lives up to it's hype. I was skeptical at first, as having been a software engineer for 4/5 years back in the late 90's / early naughties I was well aware of how big an undertaking it is to become a competent developer. Having not programmed for 15 yrs, thereby missing the internet/cloud era I found myself drawn to bootcamps as a way to re-immerse myself in programming. I decided on Codesmith having attended JSHP and really liking the community Codesmith was developing. My instincts were correct. Codemith has developed an awesome community, where students, alumni and the Codesmith team, all support each other fantastically. This really proved helpful during the program, where people all stayed on beyond the required 12hr days to help each other overcome the struggles of learning to code. I feel like the base knowledge the program gives you, really instills an ability to go out and tackle any coding challenge. You come away having learned how to break the problem down, research what knowledge you need in an efficient manner and apply this to any given challenge. This ability coupled with the community, I could not have asked for more.