Jax Code Academy

I am a software developer from Canada (7 years experience at NBFX financial), now living in Jaxs to be with family, and I can honestly tell you that people here in the US whine to much!! They want to be spoon fed like babies!! I've done a lot of research on these guys-including what's posted on the deep web- and these guys are legitimate and good at what they do!!. Its a bootcamp people, so do a fair amount of work before you enter the program, so u don't end up blaming these poor guys who work their ass off teaching whiny little newbies all about software development- that you're falling behind or don't understand the course content. The curriculum is comprehensive and more than adequate to enable people to "hit the ground running", so speak, into this industry. I plan to attend the in-person classes in 2023 because, after about 34 Tech interviews, over 80% of prospective employers in the USA always end up asking me -"what American experience do you have???" -when I say "NONE" they tell me to please come back when I do. A word of advice for you ignorant skeptics out there-DO THE WORK before hand-WORK HARD AFTER CLASS (4-6 hours in the evenings at least) and you should be somewhat well versed in web dev so that you don't look like a fool while performing at your job..

Jaxcode held a one day minicamp advertised as an introduction to web development and cyber security. Now 4 hours is not a lot of time but the instructor (Fitzmeyer) did his best. Unfortunately, he only covered some very rudimentary HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. The other instructor who was scheduled to cover JavaScript and cyber security topics did not even show up for the class, so it ended about an hour and a half early, which was disappointing because I had driven about 45 minutes to attend the class, but the abbreviated time was more than enough to learn this was probably not the class for me. 

The instructor's teaching style is gruff, disorganized, and unoriginal. Students were instructed to download Visual Studio Code to use during the class. This is a great IDE for experienced computer users, not so much for the uninitiated or beginner. He also did not seem to understand the tools. We were instructed to use Photopea.com for a color picker when there is a color picker built right into the code editor. It took some time for him to even find the eye dropper tool in Photopea which provided some much needed comic relief.

The class followed W3Schools tutorials. Students can do this at home for free and pay $95-$190 for a much more prestigious certificate than the $3500 tuition at Jaxcode. I will say it is probably a perfect class for the completely uninitiated because he was very helpful for clueless students, but that also bogged the speed of instruction a lot causing him to hurry in between students, which caused more confusion that led to more one-on-one while other students waited.

The venue was at the Avenues Mall in Jacksonville. It was clean and snacks/drinks were provided. However, the tables students sat at were provided electricity for laptops via cables that drop from the ceiling and provided a distracting obstruction to the projector screen. On a side note, he did make a surprising statement that Jaxcode had been affiliated with a local university (the University of North Florida (UNF) if I remember correctly), but that the university had "kicked us out of there" and that was the reason for the school now being located in the mall, but no further elaboration was forthcoming. Still, it is food for thought to hear that a university booted a learning company off campus.

Jaxcode has potential but the school needs a lot of work. Instructors who are very familiar with the tools and with teaching skills more finely tuned to their audience will go a long way here.

I was very interested in this school until as of recently. The things that made it appealing to me was the affordable price and also the next cohort was perfectly timed for when I would be leaving my employer. I applied online to attend Jax Code Academy about 1 week ago and received a call today from someone who I can not recall their name. Basically the call started with the gentleman introducing himself and asking to speak with me. Without providing any more info other than name and where hes calling from, he says "any questions for me?". I am thinking at this point like what was your reason for call? did i get accepted? anything you'd like to tell me about  you or the program? I am very new to coding and asked a question such as any thing he'd recommend reviewing/learning before cohort starts to assure I am ready? he said "nope, just show and do the work and you will graduate and get a job. any other questions?" A little turned off by the answer I asked an additional question around if he feels this program was suited for someone looking to transition in to FinTech(aka Financial technology)? he said "ill get you set up with someone, any other questions?". I was really turned off at this point as lack of customer service or even effort to answer a question I said "no other questions" and immediately referred me to their website to begin paying tuition. I think his exact last words were " alright, next steps now just go to jaxcode.com/docs and pay your tuition and everything will be just fine. thanks have a good day. bye"

I am not sure what to think at this point. Jax Code Academy looked to be the solution I was looking for but cannot seem to get past the very limited reviews available online and also that my first interaction with someone from the academy felt like nothing short of someone trying to take my money. Who knows maybe it is a good academy but it's not one that I feel I can put my trust and career aspirations into due to the lack of reputation and poor treatment of a first time applicant. Good luck Jax Code Academy but I will be looking elsewhere. 

I have always been interested in web development before taking this bootcamp. The thing that turned me off about all the others I checked out was the high price, which is why I decided to go with this specific bootcamp that Jax Code Academy offers.

My experience was a great one. It started off a bit slow, but more so due to the fact that everything was new to me, as I had zero prior experience in web development. Once I started getting more acquainted to everything & applying myself even more I got the hang of it. 

The instructor has been doing this for a long time so he knows exactly what he's talking about. The class sizes were small so there was a lot of one on one assistance which worked wonders when I was lost or needed more help. 

I do think the bootcamp should be a little bit longer but that's the only real "complaint" that I have. Taking this bootcamp has certainly changed my life. I went from not knowing what to pursue in life to having a career in web development. Taking this bootcamp was, by far, one of the best decisions that I've ever made. I definitely recommend it.

The cost of this Bootcamp is what attracted me in the first place. It's MUCH less than any other in-person Bootcamp that I could find and is taught on the UNF campus which gives a great learning atmosphere.

The curriculum was a little different compared to other Bootcamps. They teach what companies in the area are hiring for and then some. Guest lecturers (recruiters, companies, etc.) are common which I feel is important as it gives you insight into the market in the area.

The job assistance is great. My goal from this Bootcamp was to become a freelancer which is what I'm doing now. Other students in my cohort went on to find jobs in the industry. A couple of the students went on to become paid TA's at the next cohort.

The instructors were very helpful. The class size was fairly small so I was able to get plenty of 1-on-1 help. All of the students use a chat app to interact with the instructors and other students during after hours. I had no problem with getting help from my instructors after class. The instructors are even available for help after the Bootcamp is finished. They really care about you and want you to succeed.

The one thing I believe stands out the most about the Bootcamp is the re-take policy. If you attend class and do the homework assignments, you can re-take the Bootcamp for free. So if you feel you are not quite ready to enter the market then you can fortify your knowledge by taking the Bootcamp over again.

A couple of things that I would like changed are the length of the Bootcamp and the hours. The Bootcamp runs for 8 weeks. There is a lot of things that we learn during these 8 weeks that make it hard to keep up. I don't think you'll be able to complete this Bootcamp if you have a full-time job. The hours are 9am-1pm every weekday. I think it would be great if it were an all-day event from 9am-5pm.

Overall it was a great experience for the cost and would do it all over again.