Le Wagon

I just finished the latest batch (number 131) at Le Wagon Milan and I want to share with you why Le Wagon is the right option if you want to learn coding in Europe.

I have always been interested in new technologies and I become even more interested during the past two years of my life.
I thus began to study programming by myself, by using online courses, watching online tutorials and buying books. However, I felt that my progresses were too slow for two main reasons. Firstly, I had a full time job which allowed me too study only few hours every night. Secondly, I had no one to help me when my code was not working or when I did not grasp a specific topic.
Therefore, I started to look around to find a coding course suitable for my needs. I came across Le Wagon thanks to the positive reviews I found on major tech websites.
I was amazed by the abundance of positive reviews people wrote and how they enjoyed so much Le Wagon.
Being skeptic, I started to contacting Le Wagon’s Alumni on LinkedIn asking if the course was really that good. All of them confirmed it to me: Le Wagon is the right coding bootcamp if you want to learn how to code.

Therefore, I decide to take this jump in my life and finally commit 9 weeks of my time to learn coding. Le Wagon kept its promises. After 9 weeks I know more than what I could have achieved alone.
Do not take me wrong, the course was extremely tough but even more rewarding.
We started working at 9am and finished in the evening only when the exercises were done.
The course has a simple yet effective structure. The first hour and half of the day was dedicated to learn a new coding concept while the other seven hours were dedicated to solve different exercises. It is a learning by doing process in which you, as individual, try to solve the challenge and, if you do not manage, only after consulting with your fellow students you can ask the teacher. Each teacher will be more than glad to help you out in finding your bug/mistake or find a better and cleaner way to write the code.
Each day you are exposed to a new concept, a new code reality which, step by step, throughout the 9 weeks, will allow you to build the final project.
The final project consists in a website/application developed in teams of 3 or 4 in less than 2 weeks. 
If you really think about it, Le Wagon takes a group of motivated individuals with zero experience in coding and, in little more than 2 moths, gives them the right tools to build a fully functioning web application and be prepared to code alone.

At Le Wagon I did not only learn how to code, they also taught me how to look for the right information, the right posts, the right guides to be a better coder. In this world full of information and data, it is really difficult to spot what it is relevant and right from what it is not. Le Wagon teaches you how to learn to code and how to program in little over than 2 months.

By deciding to go to Le Wagon you truly open up doors for yourself to new opportunities and skills, but also new friends and networks. One of the most important things to highlight about Le Wagon is the community you join, which is second to none. If it is the number of different nationalities represented (14 in my batch alone) or the varying backgrounds of the individuals, everybody has an interesting story to tell.

Regarding the coding - do not expect it to be sugar coated in any way! You will really have to commit yourself to Le Wagon and coding in the nine weeks ( the first three weeks are not called "hell weeks" for no reason ;) ). But if you really want to learn the basics of coding and are up for a challenge this will definately be the right course for you!

I’m a Parisian graduate in business. Since I’m out of college, everything has been aligned perfectly for me to pursue a great career in Finance. Everything, except that never felt right to me. Hence, for a year, I’ve been dedicating myself to  purpose driven projects. But in each of these projects development, I found myself stuck on the same redundant reason: my lack of coding skills. Without these, there was no way to truly own the digital products I was working on. That’s why I attended LeWagon.

As an autodidact, I tried first to learn how to code by myself. But I never succeeded to build anything serious, and I had the impression of losing my time attacking a field that seemed too big to handle on my own. Now I realize the odds were even bigger, and I can’t imagine how I could have succeeded without the intensity and the quality of LeWagon’s formation.

LeWagon’s education logic is simple: learning by doing. However, that’s the way LeWagon pushes you to do that is incredibly effective. The courses are super clear, the TA’s were always pedagogue and motivating,  the challenges get you to manipulate the concepts and really grasp them, the buddy system helps you accept difficulty and have fun with it, and the live codes are the sweetest moments to jump out from you comfort zone and realize the progress you made.

Apart from the crazy nights we had going out with the batch, my favorite moments were also the last ones, during the project weeks. Those are the days when all of a sudden, you realize that you’re naturally doing what was unimaginable before. Seeing our team’s project getting concrete was a tremendous satisfaction. We rebuilt and dramatically improved one of my last year’s project: à European newspaper written by locals called Nationall.

Surprisingly, I not only developed my coding skills but also my pitching skills, which I had to improve sharply for the demoday. I also discovered how to work in team with people coming from different background and cultures. All of it is both super interesting and ultra useful to be prepared for a professional environment.

Now, I ended the bootcamp two months ago. After some deserved holidays, I’m still working with my teammates on our newspaper project to welcome our firsts writers and readers really soon. I’m also about to work as fullstack developer in a company to explore this new vast world full of possibilities. That’s how my conclusion takes us back to this post title; LeWagon broad up my horizon, it couldn’t have been the wrong choice.

Le Wagon is for real, when they tell you "change your life, learn to code" they do not lie.

On the end, it is the opportunity to discover and master a new motivating universe, dynamic, filled with challenges and constantly evolving, the tech world. (you wont get bored anytime soon)

After several reorientations and 5 years of business school, the code has triggered in me something that gave me many future perspectives: be a freelancer and work from anywhere in the world with just a computer and a wifi, start a project solo (or not!) with elbow grease and 0 $ in the wallet, be hired as a dev and join an adventure in a startup type company in the tech world, and so on!

On the experience Le Wagon, nothing to say, well yes, a lot of good! About efficiency, do not be afraid of the duration, 2 months is short but here it was enough, in addition to a new topic, we discover a new way of learning: constantly supported by the ultra-effective online platform  (and accessible for life) including all courses, exercises, corrections, QCM ...; each day brings a new challenge through a 1h30 class in the morning on a topic, then a whole day to practice it and understand it well, before moving on to the next day. It sounds simple, but it changes everything.

Add to that a great working atmosphere (but not just work), effective teachers and a driver that gives everything, and you have, in just 2 months: learned to code, built a network (constantly expanding) in this sector, met new buddies, had fun, had some drink (must release the pressure), and opened new horizons! It goes so fast, that in the end we ask for more.

And all this for everyone, no need for knowledge in code, good school record, "mention", being from "such school" or other, just to come in a good mood.

On Le Wagon in Lyon, the team is perfect, Matthieu the driver give this extra care to all batchers (pay attention to the "diet" Le Wagon, would be better to re-register in the gym before, just in case), about the teachers Kevcha and Jpheos, they know much about coding and bring much fun, and in addition they are pedagogue ... But watch out for the football teams that some support!

If you hesitate to do Le Wagon, I will save you time, do not hesitate, go for it.

As a classically trained graphic designer I love making things in my computer, and It was very surprising to me that my curriculum didn’t require scripting, code, or software design. After I graduated I began working as an art director for a global advertising firm, and eventually ended working for the digital side - where I got the chance to work on the creative side of web development. I realized how hard it can be to make awesome things if you don’t understand the technical capabilities of the technologies you’re using to build them, and therefore decided to learn to code.

I began LeWagon without having any clue on how really life changing it would be. When you work in a creative field for a big corporation, you are very detached from ownership if what you make. Working for big clients or agencies, meant that i wasn’t really spending my time doing what I loved, MAKING COOL THINGS, but working my way around loopholes to get things approved - delivered - sold. Coding and LeWagon gave the back the power to really create value from scratch allowing me to make a living through building products that people are passionate about.

I was impressed at the quality of people that was brought together by the bootcamp, and how different our backgrounds are. The community and collaboration approach to learning works wonders when you allow yourself to be immersed during the 9 weeks - and after that you will leave with a network of amazing professionals/people who you have shared a life changing experience with.

I would recommend to anyone!

Attending the 9-week coding bootcamp at Le Wagon Berlin was one of the best decisions I ever made because it changed my life. With a background in journalism and cultural analysis I had no prior knowledge of coding. However, I wanted to change my career path and become a web developer. So when I stumbled across Le Wagon I first went to all of the free workshops they offered and spoke to staff and alumni before I decided to join myself. The programme is very tough (hence bootcamp) but the curriculum is really well structured. You start by learning the basics of Ruby, HTML, CSS and JavaScript before moving onto the Rails framework. In the last three weeks, you build two projects in groups and present your final project at a demo day. 
I didn't believe it was possible to learn coding in such a short amount of time, but it is amazing to see what you are able to learn when you commit time and passion to it and have competent people to guide you. The teacher at Le Wagon do an incredible job teaching the complexity of web development to absolute beginners and I have experienced them to be always helpful, patient and encouraging. 
Apart from the technical aspects, le Wagon has an amazing community. Our driver, Philipp, and our main teacher, Alice, organised a lot of evening activities and also workshops or talks to introduce us to the Berlin start-up scene. I also became really good friends with the people in my batch as well as the teachers and TAs and everyone was motivating and encouraging each other. Even though the programme was tough, I loved being there to learn coding. I am now pursuing my career as a frontend web developer and will never forget the unforgettable time and fun I had at le Wagon. Thank you for everything!

Having a background in law I had no idea of programming (besides some rudimentary HTML knowledge from school) and got to Le Wagon through their evening workshops. After my interest was sparked by these workshops I decided to go for the full-time bootcamp and I was not disappointed. The LeWagon Bootcamp is a thought through course from the didactical concept to the content of the lectures. Days start with a lecture in the morning followed by challenges which are solved by the students themselves. Thus, from day 1 you are challenged to solve problems and work practically. In the evening there is another live code session bringing together the whole group. The independent time is accompanied by teachers and teaching assistants who help with any upcoming question - a luxury you will not enjoy when learning on your own and which is extremely helpful as it speeds up your learning process. The structure of the classes do not only include coding basics but you also get taught in practical approaches on how to build a website from scratch. It was this holistic approach which convinced me choosing Le Wagon. This pinnacled in the two last weeks where you are building a website based on your idea from scratch. Additional to the curriculum we were provided with a lot of extra activities such as weekly talks with interesting persons from the scene, regular yoga classes and team building events. The people I have done the bootcamp with have become friends and besides the knowledge I gained it was also an incredibly fun time! 

I had just changed careers from being an accountant first to fully focusing on web development. I moved to Ibiza to work in my father's company. At that time I didn't know anything about web development yet, so I went searching for a good web development course. After a while I ended up at Le Wagon. I had a good talk with Feiko Boerstra (leader of the course in Amsterdam) who was very helpful in answering my questions about the course and web development in general.  I decided to do the course.

The course was very intense from beginning to end. It was very good for me as well, because I've never gone so deep into a certain subject before. I learned a lot thanks to the constant putting theory into practice and learning from my mistakes and from the clear explanation from the teachers. Whenever I had a problem or I got stuck in an exercise the teachers and/or teacher-assistants were always there to help me and to share their expertise in a way where I could understand where it went wrong and how to prevent the mistake for next time. Through the 9 weeks sitting together in one room you get to bond a lot with your fellow students. We went out together often for lunch or dinner or just hanging out. So the Le Wagon course was both fun and challenging. I'm very happy that I chose to this course and everything what I learned will definitely be useful for my future as web developer.

After the course I went straight to work on my first website for a client at my dad's company. It was for a construction company and with my newly acquired skills I was able to make very decent website for the client. He was happily surprised with my work. My next challenges for the coming period is trying to help my dad's company make the transition from conventional paper advertising to full digital advertising. The first project is trying upgrade our websites so that they fulfil the demands of today on the web where fast delivery of great and rich content has become the norm. I look forward to going deeper and to understanding more about the possibilities of what web development has to offer. What I've learned at Le Wagon has really opened my eyes. I never knew I would like coding so much. I definitely recommend you try it out!

I didn’t have any programming background before Le Wagon. In fact, I was a high school English teacher for a few years before deciding I wanted to take a completely different direction into development. In the beginning, I was intimidated and anticipatory of what to expect, but once I realized all of my fellow classmates felt the same not only about what to expect but also about taking the risk of trying something new, it reassured me to have that common ground.
Because my background is in education, everyday I was impressed by the Le Wagon team, including the curriculum, the instructors, the TAs, the passion they have for each student and really seeing us succeed in an intensive, short amount of time.
I wouldn’t replace this experience for the world, learning an invaluable new skill, going through the struggles, challenges, and successes together, as a team.
Le Wagon really prepares you thoroughly, not only with the computer science skills, but also taking those skills and actually knowing how to implement them in a technical working environment, collaborating and communicating with others. Basically, it teaches you how to jump into a fast-paced development team and know how to swim on your own. Those skills are unique, and in the end, I believe are the deciding factor as to why Le Wagon alumni complete the bootcamp successfully.
You can read more about my experiences and perspectives throughout the bootcamp here

One year ago I decided it was time to learn coding. I started off by my own, reading a book and watching online videos. I soon realised that I needed a better way to learn the basics and create the foundations on which I could build on my knowledge. Lewagon gave me this exact foundations that I was dreaming for. In the end of the course the most talented students will be able to find a job strait way, but everybody will have the foundations and knowledge of what to do next in their new coding career.

Regarding Lewagon London: The offices were really nice, very spacious, modern and clean. All the staff was super friendly and helpful. The location was good too, in a nice area close to the center and next to the overground. The classes were surprising well structured and organized. I would like to mention something negative but there is nothing I can thing off. Even the students in my batch were incredible.

Overall, I really enjoyed being a student again and I feel like I learned a lot too thanks to Lewagon. If they had an advanced course I would join for sure! Really recommended.

I originally studied Business and worked for many years in Administration. Then I decided that I needed a career change, and because I felt inspired by the tech industry, I wanted to learn to code.

I applied to Le Wagon in Lisbon, #batch122, where my life changing experience started!

It’s a very challenging program, which has been structured in such a way, it gives a maximum of technical knowledge in a minimal amount of time. Most of all, they teach you how to learn, which will be very helpful as a developer, since as a developer you’re continuously learning, in order to keep yourself updated with the new technologies in the market.

At the beginning I really thought it was impossible that my brain could assimilate so much information at once, but believe me, it is possible! I’m a living, breathing example of it! I struggled a lot at the beginning, but I managed to bring everything together towards the end thanks to the endless help and support from the Teachers, TA’s and the manager. In just 9 weeks, I went from zero to a Junior Developer, who’s capable of developing a web application!

I strongly advise Le Wagon for those who want to learn to code. They have developed a perfect program that any non tech background person, like me, can turn themselves into a developer in just 9 weeks.

Beside learning to code, Le Wagon also provided me with a very cool learning environment. My idea of school was a boring and serious place to learn, but at Le Wagon, we can do both - learn and have lots of fun at the same time :)

I really enjoyed this experience, and strongly recommend it!

I studied history and politics at Swansea University and I have no idea why I chose those subjects. I was just going to uni because everyone else did. I was then self employed doing a bit of labouring work and other bits and bobs. But then I decided to start learning Ruby and Javascript online and realised I just loved it.

I decided to enroll with Le Wagon because it's a very product focused course and having competed the course I can see how 9 intense weeks is all you need to get your first job. The week after I finished Le Wagon I found paid work as a full stack developer.

The curriculum is well mapped out, starting with backend, so you are starting to think like a software developer from the very start, then it moves onto front end, Javascript and Rails. The last 3 weeks are spent working in teams building your own rails apps scratch. Without these last 3 weeks I would not have been able to get a job so quickly working on real life we apps for paying customers. There are loads of teachers everyday, saving you needless wasted time and always improving your skills.

In only 9 weeks I went from beginner to Full Stack Developer. I highly recommend Le Wagon.