Coding Dojo

I enrolled at Coding Dojo immediately after they opened the Chicago location. The instructors are incredibly knowledgeable, personable, and professional. The program is tough, and you get out what you put in. I spent many late nights working on the projects. I had many positive experiences at the Dojo. The main focus is becoming a self-reliant full-stack developer, and I feel like I accomplished that goal.  The curriculum is evolving and constantly improving and will only continue to improve.

My only knock was that when I enrolled the career services apparatus had not fully materialized yet. Now, I can see they are actively improving in this area, so your experience won't mirror mine. 

Overall I had a lot of fun and learned a lot a the Dojo, and strongly recommend it. 

In spring 2016, I put down a security deposit to reserve a spot in onsite bootcamp. I asked Paul, the Community Manager, what the employment rate was for graduates and was told that 92 percent of the graduates find jobs within 3 months. Wow, I thought, sounds unreal, but let’s give it try.   I started attending Coding Dojo developers bootcamp in San Jose location in August 2016. I was really excited and eager to learn.    My observations:    1. Most of the teachers don’t have industry experience. If you ask them questions beyond the learning platform they are very unsure. “Go Google it” - is a very common answer. In fact, that’s so far the most common answer you will hear from a TA or Instructor. They want you to be self sufficient. Sure, but I didn’t pay Google  - I paid you!!! The morning lecture usually consists of 15-20 minutes of introduction to a new topic (usually read by instructor from the online platform), then for the rest of the day you are on your own struggling through the poorly explained assignments on the platform.    2. Some instructors are better than others; some have very low teaching skills. They may know the subject but have difficulty passing it onto the students. Most of the day they just walk around the campus or chill in the office.    3. The accept everyone. There is literally no pre-selection. There are people with MS in CS and  people with no college degree learning side by side. Some people were constantly behind others, the majority were rushed through the tasks, not completely understanding the concepts.    4. Algorithms. Again, because they accept everyone, there were students who saw algorithms for the first time in their lives. There were students who studied algorithms for years in college. Instructors do not explain the concepts behind algorithms. The algortihm book they give you is poorly written. During the last month, only 5 out of 25 people in my cohort were attending the algorithm sessions. People simply gave up.   5. Portfolio and projects. Don’t think you will walk out with a great portfolio after completing Coding Dojo. You will need to spend at least one more month building something decent that you are not embarrassed to show to your prospective employer.   6. Learning 3 full stacks in 3 months is a joke! You may qualify for a Junior Front-End Developer position, but a full-stack developer… hmmm… Focus on one or maximum two languages that are in demand.   7. Job search. Going back to a 92 percent employment rate. Three months after graduation, only one person from my cohort found a developer job. The person had Master’s Degree in CS and previous industry experience. Several stayed in CD as so called “resident engineers”. The previous two cohorts have very similar numbers. Max 5 out of 25 people found jobs. The rest are still looking… They lie about their graduates employment rate. They will keep telling you there is a huge demand for developers. They won’t tell you there is a demand for experienced not Junior developers. Why so many of them stayed in CD instead of working in the industry? They simply couldn’t find jobs in a real world.    8. Job search assistance.  CD will send you irrelevant to your experience positions. I can’t remember how many times I was sent Java developer position. Why? It’s useless to me. I wasn’t taught Java in Coding Dojo. If it is in such demand, change the curriculum.    Don’t waste your money. Don't waste your time.

EDIT: almost forgot to mention! 90% grad hire rate has FINE PRINT. 90% of graduates with ALL BLACK BELTS (3 people per cohort achieve this usually on each exam) get hired within 3 months. Real graduate hire rate (all graduates) must be extremely low. EXTREMELY low. like 3 out of 30 getting a job low.

What a nightmare AND waste of money. I had the misfortune of (unknowningly) attending Coding dojo at the peak of their "transition" from one location to another. Way too many students were shoved into one room, and some days I would come in and not even have a seat to sit at. This school will expand until there are zero seats left in a building, all while neglecting those already occupying said seats.
PROS:
- Anyone can come here. Literally anyone. Some people in the building struggled with even opening some of the programs we used. This may be a pro if you are just looking to learn how to code for over $11,000.
- They have a ping pong table.

-Sometimes they have snacks.

CONS:
- H O R R I B L E internet. Imagine the worst connection you've ever had, then multiply it times 100 people in a room. The leader of the bootcamp put himself in charge of fixing the internet, and chose not to notify any higher-ups. This led to (almost) no internet for about 6-7 weeks. CRAZY. They sort of deflected the blame towards us, and how we needed to turn off our cell phones. Later we found out it was because it was done by hand by an employee who was not an IT proffesional.

- Huge class size, tiny room. They are moving into a new floor, so thats all going to change for future students, but sadly I attended at the wrong time. Very noisy environment, and the teachers choose to stay off doing their own thing most of the day so don't expect intervention - unless you are one of the chosen students they pluck out of the class and give a real education to.

- The instructors are former employees. Most of the teachers at my location had zero experience in tech 2 years ago. They took the course, and then got picked up by the school. They don't have the best teaching skills, so imagine a young substitute teacher being your instructor. This is the coding dojo way.

-Instructors don't know very much outside the realm of the curricullum. I took a python course (not knowing this was also a first time oferring) and my T.A. HAD NEVER TAKEN PYTHON. He couldn't help anyone in the class. He would just shrug off your questions and say "sorry, I didn't take Python".

-Really need to study today? Too bad! Suprise open house going on at 6 PM. Please keep your voices down so we can pitch our school to more students. Don't forget the occasional "tech talk". My favorite tech talk was the gentleman who came in and began discussing his mother's drug addiction when he was a child for 40 minutes, and then taking a few question. [This really happened]

-Choose your own stacks? False. Ignore the pamphlets. They recently fixed the website so you don't make this mistake like almost everyone in the building had upon sign up. They choose your classes.

-Teachers are always in "meetings" with other teachers, so they can never really make time for you unless you have about 45 minutes to spare waiting for them. This is the Coding Dojo Mantra. Struggle on your own. You'll figure it out.

I could go on and on forever, and have no problems doing so if anyone wants an update or wants to ask something. Please do not make the same mistake me and 30+ other people in my cohort did. Almost everyone dropped out, maybe 3 people have jobs. Learn online, go to a traditional college, or find a legit bootcamp - but after this i'm not sure there is such a thing. :/

The people that rated Coding Dojo good are basically all saying, it is a flaw cirriculum and not everything is perfect, but because of their good relationship and experience with the staffs, it is a good enough. Coding Dojo knows that really well too, people are willing to pay for a good experience in the least, so because people are really being that nice, some get taken advantage of. There are still staffs and students that would collaborate to talk about people they didn't like and label them as lazy people who only want high paying jobs. How offensive is that? Is there anybody that has so much money to waste for something they wouldn't even earn a degree out of? Yeah of course, you judgmental people that would never change. Even if they do, it is still their money that they paid to get the service they need, you have no ethics! If they have no money at all but put in so much believe in Coding Dojo, you don't even feel bad for how Coding Dojo is treating them, how do you call yourself human? People are not paying Coding Dojo for a degree if you don't know that information yet, they are paying for skills. If they have no skills, Coding Dojo only gives them a fat zero of help for finding jobs. So why is it that some people did not want to learn but only some particular students want to learn? It is only because of stereotypes and too much stupid imaginations or hallucinations from XXX.

Who can learn a language in 3 days, use 1-2 days to learn its framework and all those other little pieces, then understands SQL in another 2-3 days then build a full stack out of it? The only thing people believed in was trust, the trust in Coding Dojo that they can either break it or chose to do well. People joined in Coding Dojo believing in these good ratings, thinking that through good help of staffs, and the sort-of flaw platform, but as long as they hard work, then they would know all of those skills. 

 

Pros: 
1. Although initially it may seem like a con, their 20 minute rule is brilliant. It forces you to really grapple with the material and teaches you how to learn on your own. 
2. The daily algorithms practice is also great. That's not something all coding boot camps include in their curriculum but it's super important. 
3. If you avail of their discounts and promos, this is one of the cheaper boot camp options available.
4. The similarities in the assignments and lessons across languages help you see the patterns that will help you comprehend things better.
5. Every stack ends with a project week. They provide you time to work in a group on a project of your choosing. This could be great for your portfolio.
6. Their career services people truly want you to find something. They cheer for every student that gets a job and they will sit you down to discuss your strategies regarding networking if you struggle with finding a job.
Cons:
1. Sometimes the instructors really encouraged you to take the 20 minute rule seriously but other times they were actually just unavailable for that time period. The cohorts were getting bigger and bigger and the instructors were being outnumbered. Sometimes it took an hour of raising your hand to get a TA or teacher to help you.
2. They basically dissuade you from practicing algorithms on your computer. While it's true that many companies will make you whiteboard, there are also many that will interview you online or make you do HackerRank.
3. Project week was too open-ended as it is. What a great opportunity for students to work on portfolio material that will actually help them find jobs with the mentorship of their teachers. Instead, you are told just to come up with something approximately in the last stack you learned.
4. Lastly, their career services people care that you get jobs and are great about pushing you to network if that's not something that comes naturally to you. However they seem ill-equipped as a company to truly set up their students for careers. Their community engagement lags behind compared to others coding boot camps. Their only partners are staffing agencies.

In conclusion, they provide great training if that's what you're looking for. However if like most students you are looking for a career change, this is a rough one. You have to supplement what you do at the Dojo heavily to break into the field and it's not going to take 1-3 months like your research might lead you to believe. At graduation, you will just understand enough to realize what you're missing: More algorithms practice, completed portfolio projects that showcase skills most companies are looking for, networks that you've established that you can now reach out to, etc.

Putting your all into anything of course makes a difference. Don't come here and expect it to be easy and don't think they're called a "boot camp" for the fun of it. It's a lot of work and it's almost always challenging/frustrating. However coming from someone who spent 70+ hours a week on average here and who is multi-belted, diving into the work isn't all it takes to make a career change. Unlike what the Dojo tells you from the beginning, network from the start and go to MeetUps. Black belts are a good metric but they are not going to make or break your career change. I found a job 5 months after graduation and know of only a handful of my classmates who did as well. I know the statistics were similar for the cohorts above and below me. I believe that if they stick to it, many of those students have a good chance as well. I know that for all of us, the job hunt didn't align with our expectations.

Pros:

1) Lots of information can be learned from the instructors when you are onsite

2) They cover lots of coding information in a short time. Their learning platform is loaded with lots of information

3) Length of time the bootcamp runs for is just right

4) Some of the instructors are really good at teaching

5) All of the instructors are really good at coding

 

Cons:

1) Instructors change often between classes. This causes difficulty in transitions.

2) Lots of instructors are learning their class for the first time. This means, they aren't often ready to teach it properly based on where the technology stands today.

3) Lectures are infrequent and, with the wrong instructor, might never occur. This reduces the significant benefit of onsite bootcamp versus the remote.

4) Platform information is often wrong and the feedback system for it is poor.

5) Classroom communications are often poor. When a lecture is done, most instructors don't record or give a means of reviewing this information.

6) When learning platform changes occur, it is rarely communicated to those currently using the learning platform.

7) Wireless works terribly throughout the entire building. They have no support staff onsite so if it breaks be prepared to go home.

8) Often times, you will be in a rotating classroom as they are overfilling the classes. This means, you might be rotating around the building each week.

9) What snacks they have is not well coordinated. There are numerous times where there is nothing available as they keep trying to order low to reduce costs

10) Numerous days will be interrupted by the staff as they decide they want to do an investor walk-through that day. This will happen several times through the bootcamp and without warning

11) Algorithms are done in a haphazard way. No structure is there, no real assignments are ever given, it is treated as an after-thought and has no real instructor or curriculum. Don't expect much here.

12) Exams are done with the need to deploy, but this is often note tested properly before exam time.

13) Instructors are often in meetings with the other staff numerous times through a given day. This means, you won't have your instructors handy for questions or assistance a lot of times.

14) You don't get to chose your instructor and the instructor for a topic can change each month (see earlier complaints about instructors)

 

Conclusions:

The idea Coding Dojo has for teaching students to code in a short time is a great idea. As it stands right now, the cost of the onsite bootcamp does not make sense over the remote options. The structure of the classes, lack of consistent lecturing and documenting of projects and assignment, and lack of onsite coordination makes the onsite option undesirable.  With some efforts on keeping the class sizes to a max threshold, ensuring the teachers are ready for the classes they are teaching, and making sure the facilities are maintained by professional support staff they could really create a proper and functional classroom experience. As it stands today, I would recommend looking at other institutions or consider their remote options if you are in the Seattle area.

I was stuck in a professional rut a short time ago.  I have two computer science degrees, and 8 years working experience in technical roles.  But I wanted to switch technological focus and needed to pick up new technical skills in a short amount of time.  I did my research both looking for online technical courses and boot camps before selecting Coding Dojo.  What attracted me was how they offered 3 full stacks in 14 weeks.  

I was initially skeptical if Coding Dojo could benefit me because they also cater to professionals with little to no coding background to learn the ins and outs of software -- what could they offer an industry veteran?  What I found was an intense and fast-faced curriculum that I needed to get me oriented in the world of web development.  The mixture of online material and in-person instructor and peer support was very effective and exactly what I needed.  They focus on practical skills, learning by a mix of written material, video and in-person presentations by qualified instructors and applying technical concepts in small assignments, and then a team-oriented project at the end.  They make it a point to provide a good foundation for computer science fundamentals and algorithms. They emphasize portfolio development and graduate career services to help graduates get pointed in the right direction to finding a job post-bootcamp.  

Coding Dojo is a great entry point (and arguably the only coding boot camp that will accept students with zero coding experience) for those getting into the fast paced world of software development.  They emphasize your personality growth and achievement over maintaining their high graduate hire rating -- i.e., they will not kick you out because you do not measure up to their metrics!  Their instructors and tutors have an overabundance of "positivity" and enthusiasm.  

The software development industry is one where if you do not keep learning and picking up new skills to keep moving forward, you are quickly left obsolete and behind.  In this way, not only is Coding Dojo an invaluable resource to reinvent the careers of the technical novices/newcomers, but they still have something to offer the established engineer.

•  2 reviews

  10/11/2016

"My experience here at Coding Dojo as a student was definitely challenging and humbling but overall a great experience; A mental journey I didn't think I would go through but an outcome of understanding something completely 360 from me and my knowledge. I was previously in the Marine Corps before attending Coding Dojo with a background in Accounting and Diplomatic Security and very basic HTML/CSS knowledge. Immediately we knew the school would require a lot of attention, time sacrifice, and time management. Most days would range easily putting in 12 hour days, 5-7 days a week. 

I didn't fully know what world I would be getting myself into but I knew from dabbling with Code Academy and enjoying it, that I wanted to become a full-time Programmer. The instructors/staff are incredibly nice and helpful. The instructors and TA's are caring and patient; they do their best to help you understand the material. Bending over backwards and sitting with you for as long as needed to help you understand what you're doing. I really appreciated when they would record the lectures and demonstrations so I can go back on the material for live examples and code with the videos. I have struggled a lot during the school but I see it as constant room for growth and that there is a lot to be learned in Programming and you shouldn't give up. 

Multiple assignments and class work a day plus algorithms will feel heavy and challenging. But I believe with struggle comes strength and some points you'll question it all. And learning and soaking in the material feels quick but you'll soon realize you know more than you give yourself credit for.

The implementation of the "20-minute rule" for working on your own, then asking a TA is a great push to becoming a self-sufficient developer. Students will grow to need less supervision and how to find the answers instead of having the answers given to them. 

Coding Dojo helped give me the skills and understanding for walking into the massive realm of web/software development and that there is much more to be learned, and in many different languages. And if I wanted to learn a different language, it's doable. It makes me eager to continually and constantly learn as an aspiring self-sufficient developer."

"The four letter word DOJO built confidence in me within three months. I am already seeing lot of changes in myself before and after ""Coding Dojo"". Now, I can do algorithms on my own, build the whole website within hours. The reason why i choose Coding Dojo,  from so many other bootcamps in bay area is because of its curriculum. When compared with other bootcamps in bay area, no one teaches three different Full Stackswithin 14 Weeks. Thats one of the main reason for me to choose Dojo instead of other bootcamps.   I entered into dojo with little bit of prior experience in programming, but some of my cohorts has zero experience in coding and they are very successful students after graduation. Life in Dojo is very simple, every day  morning there is an  algorithms class for an hour from (9AM - 10AM), which is the most important and makes me to think about the logic. After that there is lecture for an hour and rest of the day we have to do assignments and study for ourselves. If I struck anywhere, dojo principle is to struggle ourselves for 20 minutes, if I still do not get it then check with my my TA's. TA's in dojo are really helpful, they are here  to explain the concepts patiently till we understand them.    After three weeks of each stack there is a belt exam, which is really important and mandatory for everyone. Personally I felt confidence about me after taking the exam and also doing projects. The project week is really important, TA's helped me a lot in choosing right project, technology to use etc.    After doing all the three different stacks now I can say confidently I'm a full stack web developer, I gained so much knowledge in 14 weeks, what people usually gain in one year. My sincere advice to all if u want to see yourself as a developer I strongly recommend going Coding Dojo."

They still teach the same things that were being taught back in 2014. As anyone in tech would know, technology changes rapidly and things get replaced. They claim that they're here to make you a self sufficient programmer, yet the technologies they teach are outdated and dont even translate to newer ones (Angular 1 vs React). 

Overall, you'll learn how software development works, BUT the stuff they teach is way outdated. You need to learn a lot of ther things to get a job.

It's sad how lazy the staff is. They have enough people to keep the platform updated yet instead of focusing on adding new and in demand content, they are more focused on opening new locations to producing more developers that think they know python, yet dont know django, think they can develop in JavaScript, yet cant understand React or Angular2, think they know iOS, yet ... well actually the iOS curriculum is so bad you wont even think you know it.

When this bootcamp began a few years back the point was to provide students with enough of an overview of different stacks that were in demand that theyd be able to find jobs. I dont know exactly what theyre aiming for now..besides making more money

I won't suggest going to another bootcamp, because all bootcamp graduates are struggling to find jobs soley based on bootcamp work and experience. If you have the money, get a degree, it will lead to a smoother transition to getting a job. Dont waste 10k on this place