Le Wagon

I entered Le Wagon with a single goal, changed my career after more than 11 years working with marketing.

I was already playing with html and css and had done some codeacademy tracks, but the frustration always came when I tried to create something from scratch, outside the tutorials ... I just could not do it.

After much research, I understood that the best way to change career fast was through a Bootcamp. I needed a course that would teach me why and how things worked and especially how to think like a programmer, work like a programmer and attack problems with a different mindset from a marketing planner. I need practical, day to day knowledge to be able to succeed as a web developer. 

Le Wagon gave me all this and more! I finally understood how to connect one thing with another and everything started to make sense. I developed skills in 9 weeks that alone might never have been possible, or would have only after a long time.

The methodology is very well built, the experience is mind-blowing, rewarding and challenging but the great triumph is the people. Friends who struggle with you every afternoon to solve the challenges, the fantastic teachers who are always willing to ensure that we learn the concepts and THE community that generates a very important networking for those who want to enter this career or launch a new project.

It was this networking that gave me two internships (France and Holland) after only 3 months of graduation. Today I work as a Full Stack Ruby on Rails Developer freelancer for these two startups.

If I had known that I would have changed my life so much in such a short time, I would have done it sooner!

Prior to Le Wagon, I would often get frustrated with my total dependency on developers even for quick fixes on the website as an e-commerce manager. Now, after only 9 weeks of coding at Le Wagon, I feel empowered. Not only I managed to acquire technical skills, but I also gained self-confidence. It was a life-changing course.

Le Wagon is an amazing organization full of friendly and helpful staff. The teaching assistant to student ratio is great, so you get full support throughout the course. The program is set in a very entrepreneurial environment with many bright and interesting students. Through Le Wagon, you also get an access to an ever-growing network of like-minded alumni. I seriously did not want the bootcamp to end.

Before Le Wagon, I had no experience in coding and I had no idea how websites functioned or even my own local desktop. I had just finished school at 18, and wanted to go on a bootcamp before going to university. 

Le Wagon to me was more than a bootcamp. It provided a quality of teaching I couldn't ever have wished for, an amazing work environment (which was always very fun) but above all it provided me with the skills to independently code after the course. Le Wagon teaches you a well revised 6 weeks of different languages and then put them all together with 3 weeks of project coding at the end. You are always surrounded by experts in their individual fields and everyone is so friendly.

What I am also impressed by is Le Wagon's alumni network. As an alumni you have access to all the lectures you attended at the course and more. You can also message the people of every single other batch that has gone through Le Wagon. You always have a helping hand in a city and there are always people offering coding help if you get stuck after the course.

After Le Wagon my group are going to continue working on our project which is designed to help hotel management easier. I have also felt confident enough to take up a little bit of free lancing work. Le Wagon gives you by far the most enjoyable, interesting and knowledge packed 9 weeks of code and was truly a great experience.

I left my job in June 2017 to persue a career as a web developer. At first I tried teaching myself through platfoms such as codeacademy, but realised more in depth knowledge and self discipline would be required to become a well respected developer. After weeks of searching, I found Le Wagon, a coding bootcamp that promised to teach you how to code and become a web developer in 9 weeks. 
    I joined Le Wagon in October 2017 and I can safely say this bootcamp has completed changed my life for the better!
    Le Wagon is a 2 month long course which focuses on both front end and back end development and has a group final project in the last 2 weeks of the course. However, as well as it being a great course to learn all the tools needed to become a web developer, it offers so much more. Once you join Le Wagon, you enter a 2000+ community of developers all over the world, they share lots of exciting opportunites such as jobs or project offers, and offer their help whenever it’s needed. 
    The course itself taught me so much more in 9 weeks than I could have ever imagined. This was down to the well structured, well though-out syllabus and most importantly the teachers and TA’s who are always there to help you with any problem you have and make you feel comfortable. In addition, the atmosphere is so friendly and positive, allowing you to work hard while enjoying every second of it.
    In conclusion, I would highly recommend Le Wagon to anyone who’s thinking of delving into coding and promise it will be the best decision you’ve made in your life.

I discovered programming a few months before applying to Le Wagon. I didn’t have much experience (except for html and css, where I was pretty comfortable). I needed an intensive course that would teach me how to have a structured workflow, how to use real world tools and how to code and communicate in a team of developers.

After a few weeks of research and, as I was in Lisbon at the time, Le Wagon was the perfect candidate for me ! A two months course focusing on both front end and back end with a group final project. But this bootcamp is so much more than that ! You enter a huge community of developers around the world, sharing experiences, offering their help, sharing lots of opportunities (jobs, projecst, etc).

My experience at Le Wagon Lisbon was amazing and taught me so much in only nine weeks! The Driver, the teachers and the TA’s are always there to help you if your are stuck and really make you comfortable. My classmates were awesome and highly motivated people, from all ages and from all over the world.

The last two weeks of the bootcamp are for your final projects. Working in teams of three or four people, we had to designand code a full web app with only 6 weeks of course done, this sounded pretty difficult ! It is where you really apply everything you learned and create something from scratch. And I am really surprised about the quality of all the projects from my batch. All the apps are great and functional! (Demoday: https://www.lewagon.com/demoday/97)

In conclusion, I would say that I am really happy I chose to do Le Wagon and developed a new skill that quickly became a passion! I have continued programming a lot to build my knowledge and work on some personal projects. Also, I know that many alumni have found a job just after the bootcamp.

So I am confident that when I will go to look for a job, it won’t be that difficult to find something great ! Finally, I would say that I highly recommend doing Le Wagon if you are interested in web development and if you want to quickly build this amazing skill.

Before joining Le Wagon I was a VFX Artist with no coding skills.

As programming had been a skill I was interested in learning, I did some research and  I came across the Le Wagon bootcamp course in London and after meeting with Ed, London City Manager, I got convinced it was the right choice for me.  
Le Wagon is an all around awesome course that helped me fast tracked my programming knowledge in just 9 weeks. It doesn't just teach you how to code, it teaches you how to think , to actually be able to solve a problem. 
The guidance I have received from the teachers has been amazing and I would suggest it to anyone who is willing to commit to such a profound change in their life: I was taught industry best practices, alongside the skills of learning how to learn effectively in an industry that is constantly changing. 
The first few weeks are hard, the course is intensive but if you’re motivated to learn and willing to ask questions, you will get so much value out of it.

We carried out pair programming every day and during the last two weeks I created, designed and coded a fully functional web app:  Fast Gardener,  an online marketplace that allows home owners and gardeners to connect.

I honestly never imagined i could do that in just 2 weeks: it's great! It 100% worth it so don’t wait any longer and just apply!

My experience at Le Wagon was unbelievable, probably the best decision of my career! As an entrepreneur, I’m confident I reached the level of autonomy that I was so desperately missing in my previous ventures to launch my next digital businesses faster or tackle new professional challenges as a product manager with the right skillset.

I used to think programming was boring and something for nerds only, but the methodology of Le Wagon made me completely change my mind. I learned fast, very concrete stuff and it was even fun. I’m now one of the biggest fan of Le Wagon’s teaching platform.

I graduated from Mechanical Engineering and over the last few years have worked for big corporations where things moved slow and innovation was hard to implement. I was sick of jobs I didn't like and working for companies I didn't believe in. Once that realization came about, I started to look at the young and vibrant tech industry as the next logical step. But how do you make that move? How about learning a new technical skill that would help kickstart my career in the tech startup world? That's when I decided to do Le Wagon.     What a great decision. I joined batch #98 in Montreal. Le Wagon's program offers you the resource, the structure, the support and the motivation to truly learn a new technical skill in 9 weeks. The last 10 days of the bootcamp is when the magic happens and you get to put it all together to build a prototype of a web-app in small groups. My group and I were proud of what we built and had a blast while building it. But it's not just about the learning experience, you also get to meet amazing new people, from your classmates and teachers to the people you meet along the way at the different events recommended or organized by Le Wagon. This means that you leave the bootcamp with a highly in-demand skill, a great network to lean on and a web-app to showcase to the rest of the world as a proof of your awesome new skill.    Le Wagon allowed me to reorient my career in a little over two months, something I wouldn't have been able to do on my own or at least not in such a quick turnaround. If you are reading this review, you are already on the right path... All you have to do is apply and get ready for a 9-week roller coaster like no other.

When I found out about Le Wagon through a good friend of mine who had previously attended the course I was sold immediately and decided to join the program. So I enrolled myself into batch #95 in one of my favorite cities, Barcelona!

I was so impressed with the entire set-up of Le Wagon. The expertise and teaching style of the teachers are fantastic, the course material such as the slides and exercises are top-notch and constantly updated to reflect the latest industry trends and the location (warehouse style) in the trendy neighborhood of Gracia is super cool and relaxed.  The platform we used on a daily basis to work on exercises, communicate with teachers, play flashcards or watch a lecture replay to deepen our knowledge after class is truly powerful. 

Expect a real challenge! Le Wagon is tough and fast-paced. How else do you get from zero to Junior Developer level in only 9 weeks!? I knew that before I started but I am still stunned by how much I was able to learn in such a short amount of time. Surrounded by like-minded people you soon get into the zone and the motivation you get when your code is doing what you want it to is awesome. During the project weeks when we were working on our prototypes some of us got so excited that teachers literally had to tell us to go home and rest rather than keep on coding through the night. I met great people I am still connected with and we are all part of the large alumni that we are given free access to for tips and help on whichever product we might be working on after the bootcamp which will be the priceless and lifetime benefit to joining Le Wagon.

I wish I learnt how to code earlier. Not for a different career but to be better in what I did. Over the past 12 years of working in online companies I had developers in my teams most of time. I now see how frustrating it must have been for them when I said things like "JUST move this from here to there". If you want to be part of the tech industry, learning how to code will help you no matter which role you will be working in. For me personally Le Wagon changed my life in a way I want to help more people learn how to code and I am proud that I became part of Le Wagon family expanding our campus around the world.   

After finishing my communication degree I had absolutely no idea what to do so I took some time for myself trying to figure it out. Having done some coding before I felt attract to that path and I told myself that a 2-months bootcamp will be great to have some basic knowledge and to add to my resume. 

I had a bit of experience with some basic programming such as html / css but I was a bit scared not to be able to follow, or, to end up with more advanced student. The first week took away every doubt I had. Because at the end, no matters what was your experience before, at le wagon we all learn everything steps by step. The pairing system that we used was one of the things I like the most since it allows us to help each other.

Even if it is an intense 2-month bootcamp I never felt more motivate to learn something and the spirit at le wagon help me feel confident and comfortable.

Le wagon teaches you not only how to write code but how to make a complete project from scratch, skills we can actually use in real life. During the last two weeks, I had so much fun working with my teammate on developing a word game and I was so amazed at what we could accomplish after a few weeks!

Thanks to this bootcamp I finally realize that I want to start my career as a web developer, and I am not longer scared about my future.

I started coding as a hobby, to do something while work was slow or I was stocked on level 235 on candy crush. Never really thought it could take me anywhere but I´ve always enjoyed learning something new, and programming seemed interesting. Slowly, I began to realize coding was actually not only cool, but very useful. “All those genius making apps” were not smarter or different than me, they just knew more. I wanted to dive completely into that world.

For me, learning on my own was not enough, the technical skills –although vital- were just a part of it, the environment, the people, the mindset, were just as important. Plus, I didn’t want to spend two years learning the basics.

Among many alternatives, Le Wagon just clicked with me, “bring tools to creative people” was a promise I could relate to, and according to many reviews, it delivered. On top of that, it was in Barcelona, a city I’ve been in love with my whole life. It’s funny how sometimes the best decisions are done in the shortest time. It was simple, a month later I was flying from Mexico to Barcelona.

Suddenly, I was a part of this multicultural community, with apparently nothing in common. All of our backgrounds were different, our goals, our way of targeting problems, I couldn’t see any cohesive force that could pull this eclectic group together for two intense months. There was one quality we all shared, hunger. We were all there with the same mindset, learn more, be better, experience this magniffic opportunity to the fullest.

 

It wasn’t always that easy. More than once I got out of the classroom in utter frustration, I actually got sick one week from not sleeping enough for having to pull all-nighters to keep up (I didn’t even do it on college). The phrase “it will all sink in, eventually” bothered me too much, until it was true. A teacher is always one click away to point you in the right direction, they won’t tell you the answer but the path to it. After a while the logic becomes apparent, maybe you don’t understand but at least you understand what you don’t understand and where to look for answers. They give you all the pieces, its up to you to solve the puzzle.

 

It’s not easy to find people with whom you can be sited quietly 8 hours focused on a problem, just to close your laptop and get to a club when you found the solution, wake up next morning to a volleyball match or go to admire Sagrada Familia. There is a certain magic when you find people so different from you and yet so similar. LeWagon introduced me to a world I no longer want to be apart from.

After a month and a half from that, I’m no longer playing with apps but building them, I have my own plan derived from my personal project, my hobby is now my job and I have friends I can relate with all over the world. I learned a lot in the shortest time, it was challenging, hard and required my attention to the fullest, and yet, somehow, I still think of it as the most awesome two months vacation I’ve ever taken.