Flatiron School

Went through the interview process with a couple of top-rated bootcamps using Flatiron's Learn.co platform.  It should most definitely prepare you for any/most technical interviews. Even more so if you couple it with another resource. A couple things I noticed:

1.  There is someone to help you at almost any time of the day via chat.  You also get connected to a network of people working on the same assignments. If you ever get stuck, there will always be an expert around to help you (without giving you the answer), which I found was the biggest perk to using this platform.

2. You use the actual tools (Atom, to be exact) that developers use in order to complete the assignments, which means you know how to use the basic functions of Atom by the time you're done (instead of built-in interfaces which you'll find on coding websites which you'll never use outside of the learning process).  If you're looking just to dabble in learning JS/Ruby and aren't very serious about it, Atom may not be the easiest thing to work with at first.

3.  The learning curriculum covers both JS and Ruby, and you can choose which you want to study.  I personally focused on JS as that is the language I'd like to focus on and took all my technical interviews with. Ruby seems to be more beginner-friendly, in general.　

4.  The exercises make you really stretch out and apply what you've learned.  They will definitely be challenging at times, and you'll feel ecstatic and satisfied when you find a working solution.  If you feel like you need supplentary information, Code School most definitely works as a great tool to start out with OR reinforce what you already know.

5.  From my understanding, they recently updated the course, which meant there were a few small kinks they needed to iron out. They were already working on getting those fixed while I was working through the exercises though, so should be absolutely no problem.

I most definitely recommend this course - especially now.. I mean, it's free. Get it while it lasts!

I had been learning javascript for a little over a year when I started my application with Flatiron. They have a bootcamp prep course on their website that is really helpful in getting more comfortable with programming. The learn IDE platform is such a wonderful tool that is really helpful with getting your familiar with the concepts and real time application. You can either choose the Ruby track or Javascript track. It is challenging enough to teach you to be able to read errors (which is super important) and links you to more reading materials if you want to get to know the concept a little bit more. There is also assistance whenever you need! If you have a question or stuck on a problem, you ask a question and someone quickly responds so you can either message them through their chat boxes or share your screen with them. They get you back on track without telling you the answer. It helped me become more confident on my road to code and highly recommend starting with their FREE prep course! 

I was a Computer Science major at a very small liberal arts school, so my education was heavy on theory, and light on actual implementation. After graduating, I got a dev job, and quickly realized that my degree hadn't done all that much to prepare me for an actual job. For instance, I was never taught how to use git, or any means of source control! I worked there for a year, not really loving it (spending a lot of time maintaining some very old Java code), before speaking to a friend (fellow CS major, we graduated the same year) who had moved to SF and done Dev Bootcamp. He spoke very highly of it, so I looked into similar programs in NYC, and found Flatiron.

I was worried I'd be wasting my money: after all, I already had a CS degree, how much more was there to learn? But I decided to give it a try, and knew after a week it was the right move. There was a lot left to learn, as it turned out. I had an advantage at the very beginning, when we were doing the basics of Ruby/programming in general, but as soon as we got into SQL, and then ActiveRecord, Sinatra, and Rails, I was pretty much on even footing with my classmates. And I had to work just as hard to keep up.

I think my fellow students were actually the best part of the experience. I don't know how they do it, but Flatiron does a great job selecting for passion: with a handful of exceptions (who dropped out), every single student was just unbelievably committed. Coming in early, staying late, coming in weekends, and creating an atmosphere that somehow pushed everyone to do better, without being overtly competitive.

All in all, it was an excellent experience, and I believe that I picked up more practical (in the sense of day-to-day engineering stuff) knowledge in those 12 weeks than the whole of college. That's not to say Flatiron was better, or more useful, than my CS education, but a really good complement to it.

The only gripes I had were that the lessons didn't always start on schedule, and weren't always fully organized, and we didn't spend enough time on learning about JS (Avi, the cofounder & dean, was/is prejudiced against it, but it's still a critical part of almost every junior developer job). But from what I hear, both of those issues have been smoothed out.

NB: I'd like to reiterate that my particular case is a bit special, since my CS education was so theory-driven. I think CS students from bigger schools, who can take more implementation-heavy classes, would find Flatiron (or other programs) less helpful.

As someone who does well with detailed lecture and written informational instruction, the Flatiron School's teaching methodology, structure, and their use of the Learn platform was ideal for my learning. My background was in project management and art history (I have an MA in archaeology and art history) so the detailed prework and information Learn lessons were very helpful for someone so outside the field. Full disclosure: I got into AppAcademy, and Hackbright but was incredibly turned off by the atmosphere and also the sudden jump/intensity into a new realm. Flatiron was one of the only places that gave you a detailed 'textbook' of notes before they expected you to do a coding challenge.

The instructors I had were incredibly kind, very committed and very engaged in my understanding and mastery of the material. I enjoyed that this program was not a "do tons of coding challenges" driven environment and was instead about delving into the understanding behind the code and craft.

While like anything, a student gets what they put out of it- the teaching environment is very very conducive to one growing a love for web development. 

In regards to job search, my cohort graduated in an interview dead period - Late October, right before the holiday season and while I had a lot of interviews and meetings almost all of them flaked or didn't get back to me until mid January.  The career coaches are kind, informative, and helpful but they do expect you to be on your game. There is a commitment contract afterward that I very much suggest engaging in to make sure your coding and networking activity is where it should be. They are also very open and honest that 3 months is the typical timeline for a job search. I technically received an offer within 4 weeks of graudation but turned it down and was able to have a frank honest conversation with my career coach for my reasons to turn it down (Despite obviously wanting to 'offload' students, my career coach was very good about not pushing decisions) I received the offer I accepted the first week of February. 

Graduated from Flatiron's NYC Web Development program about 3 months ago and it was definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made. The educational experience and community was incredibly well put together and effective. 

It took me very little time to find a job (although there was plenty of effort on my end for that) and I feel very well equipped in my new work environment from the instruction I received at Flatiron. 

I strongly recommend Flatiron to anyone who is considering this type of program or direction in the future. 

Quitting my job to attend Flatiron was a big decision. I did as much research as I could in advance about bootcamps - attending events, speaking to alums and getting opinions from working developers. It seemed that everyone and everything kept pointing back to Flatiron. On Day 1 I was completely overwhelmed, but by Day 5 I was confident that I was doing the right thing. I couldn't believe how smart and personable my colleagues were. Working in different groups was actually enjoyable, even for an introvert like me. The curriculum was challenging, but the instructors always gauged how overwhelmed the class felt and adjusted the speed accordingly. The career services team is incredibly responsive and willing to support in every way, be it proofreading a thank you email or giving you a pre-interview pep talk. This was one of the most positive experiences of my life and I look forward to my new career!

Pros:

• Highly competent and passionate teaching staff; they really cared about your progress in the class and are experts in their domain
• Optimal balance between class-level and individualized attention
• Excellent cirriculum, tailored well for those without coding experience, and paced well for those who breeze through the material as well as who need a little extra help
• Great culture; students, teachers, and staff are universally kind, smart, and motivated
• Highly involved job placement - this exceeded my expectations, as the placements team was very high touch and passionate about their mission to help students through the job search

Considerations:

• Tuition ($15K for Web Development in Fall 2015) is non-trivial; one should carefully consider whether they are prepared to incur this cost
• Culture, not unexpectedly, is somewhat geeky and soft, but is a nice change of pace for those coming from a stricter work environment

I graduated from Flatiron in 2015, and have been working as a developer since then. The curriculum and caliber of the teachers was amazing - I can't speak highly enough about how great the learning experience was. I've programmed professionally in 6 languages since graduating so I really appreciate that the curriculum focused on programming fundamentals instead of a week here and there on whatever the hot technology of the time is.

My biggest gripe was that I don't live near NYC, so the career team wasn't as much of an asset to me as I had hoped. I did get a job reasonably quickly with their help, but for less money than I had expected. I'm still giving the career team 4/5 stars because I think they did everything they could, and it was more a matter of my expectations being out of line based on advertisements and so forth. That first job was a wonderful job working on really cool projects, and I enjoyed every day of it. After being in the industry for a while I had no problem switching to a different job at a market rate.

I attended Flatiron's web development course in the winter of 2016, and landed my first professional engineering gig a little over a month after graduation. At Flatiron, you are getting a lot more than 3 months of web development instruction. The network of friends and colleagues that directly resulted from my time there has been invaluable in every sense of the word ever since, and I draw on my Flatiron experience daily to inform my career decisions and make myself a better programmer. My head instructor was essentially a complete rock star (we lucked out in that sense, but all of the head instructors at Flatiron are excellent) and he was supported by two stellar TA's. In addition to the lectures and one-on-one guidance that the faculty provides, your actual coursework is the best possible simulacrum of real-world development work that you could hope for. Languages are learned through the completion of test-driven labs, and your work is deployed using git, setting you up to use best practices as soon as you get that first job. I will say that the course is not for everyone, and you have to be absolutely dedicated to the at times very difficult work. The hours are long as well, but enjoyable if you are there because you want to be there. Definitely the best boot camp in New York, and probably the country.