Le Wagon

Before joining Le Wagon I was working as a business developer in a big French construction company, based in Hong Kong.

I joined the camp because I had been thinking for a while of switching and going in IT. But IT is so big I did not know what to do there nor how to switch. By talking with friends working in different fields and by having a closer link at what they each did I figured that web development would be a fun way to start coding and entering the IT world.
Some of them mentioned different bootcamp that they knew of, but Le Wagon is the only one good friends attended. Since I know them well and trust them, when they told me that it was a great experience I just went for it.

The camp experience was intense, days can be long (10-12h). You have many things to learn and find out that 24h in a day is not enough to to everything, learning and having a life. Although it was intense it was also great as the other buddies attending the bootcamp were all nice and fun people. There was a good team spirit and solidarity, since we all came in here to learn as much as we could and all had different objectives for after the camp.
I'm pretty social, love meeting people, and Le Wagon introduced me to an impressive diversity of people. Several nationalities being represented (13 was it?), many different backgrounds etc. It was perfect!
For people hesitating doing a coding bootcamp I'd say, it will be intense don't fool yourself, but you will learn a lot and will come out of it with good buddies and be part of a family.

When I was young, I always dreamed about being a hacker, growing up watching movies such as “The Matrix” or “Hackers”. I used to imagine myself quickly typing lines upon lines of code onto my computer screen.

Despite initially studying marketing and being inclined towards that career path, I swiftly began to move towards web project management, thinking one day I would be able to pursue my dream career and become a developer. I tried to work on very technical projects and teach myself on websites such as “Code Academy” or “Le Site du Zero” (“OpenClassroom” for the older people). The main problem that I used to encounter with these websites was that I had some difficulties when trying to understand the global view about programming. Overall, even after finishing a tutorial I still felt like I couldn’t create something by myself.

After browsing the internet, I came across Le Wagon! For me, the Bootcamp format was an ideal solution because the training seemed fast and complete.

Le Wagon really was an amazing experience. It gives you the chance to meet so many people who all come from different places.

If I had to sum up my experience, I would say that:

• I liked the teaching as it gave us an overview of the creation of a web product, from the initial product design to its development
• There was also a good overview of the Full Stack development (front-office and back-office)
• Both the teachers and teaching assistants were really kind as they took time to really help us complete exercises and to make sure we fully understood the key notions and ideas
• The environment was great between everyone (you must be prepared to drink a lot of beers during the 2 months!)

At the end of my time at Wagon, there was the impression that you could learn absolutely anything and create any kind of web product. I must admit that at times the pace of learning was very intense and there were times where I felt a little bit lost, but you have to really trust their teaching methods and ways of learning because at the end you will finally be able to thoroughly understand all of the different concepts.

As for now, I am a Full Stack Developer at a start-up company and I love what I do. However, the lines of code don’t roll across my screen at a fast speed as they do in the movies! I still have a lot to learn, but I am happy to have had the chance to change my career path all thanks to Le Wagon.

I have been working as a management consultant for the past 3 years, but my dream in life is to become an entrepreneur and launch my own startup. Choosing to attend Le Wagon was probably one of the best decisions of my life.

Why Le Wagon? Le Wagon’s mission is indeed to “bring technical skills to creative people”. This is exactly what I was looking for as a beginner and as a wanna-be entrepreneur. Le Wagon’s bootcamp by far exceeded my expectations for a thousand reasons, the main 3 being:

• Unique and exhaustive syllabus (the most complete of all!) which really equips you to become a full-stack developer with a product manager/entrepreneurial mind and collaborative skills to work with other developers! Other bootcamps only focus on either back-end or front-end or specific topics – only some offer a full-stack preparation. Le Wagon not only offers a full-stack syllabus, but it offers the best. It does not teach you static notions alone, but during the bootcamp students really embrace a new developer mindset: for instance, we understood how to plan user journeys of our apps for a top-tier user experience (vital nowadays to make your app thrive!), how to approach ambiguous problems and attain a “continue-to-learn” mindset. What does this mean? That, not only does Le Wagon teach Ruby on Rails, Javascript, HTML and CSS, but it really gives you the skills to learn any programming language from scratch if you wish to and thereby build your new app end-to-end in autonomy!
• Top-tier faculty: amazingly passionate and competent people. At Le Wagon you are never alone and teachers and TAs always challenge you to exit your comfort zone and reach the solution on your own, always helping you though when you are having a tough time. This allows you to really become independent as a developer, and indeed – one moth from the bootcamp’s end - almost 100% of the classmates who were looking for a job are now working as developers! Teachers and TAs are extremely patient and what I loved is that they thoroughly explain the rationale behind every concept – so that it sticks in your mind! Never have I met an amazing environment of competent, talented, ambitious, yet friendly people as at Le Wagon – it’s the place to be!
• Incomparable global network: Le Wagon can boast a global network of alumni and faculty that is really something other bootcamps do not have. This is excellent, because I know I may probably find the co-founder for my startup in the Le Wagon network and that I can reach out (indeed I have done already) to teachers and TA if I need advice on coding projects I am working on, even after the bootcamp.

I am infinitely grateful to Le Wagon. Le Wagon has been my springboard to acquire the precious technical skills I need to realize my startup’s app MVP and a strong developer mindset.

Interactive designer for 22 years, I could experience and see evolve the tech environment through many angles. The trades related to tech industry are constantly changing, some disappear, others endure and segment themselves, which is why it is important to maintain a constant technological watch and to train as often as possible - lately I chose to follow the Bootcamp Le Wagon in Bordeaux because I had not to miss the techy Wagon train that goes straight to the future!
This training, however intensive, and whatever its level of apprehension of the code, allows any motivated entrepreneurs to obtain a teaching rich in new ideas to develop its activity. And what's more satisfying than discovering the secrets of web development from a team of caring and passionate teachers.
Matthieu Dubois - Designer UX-UI - Le Wagon Alumni Batch#191

I’d been in China about 10 years before joining Le Wagon working as an in-house investment banker for Chinese companies investing abroad before I decided to take a break to assess my prospects. During that year I invested in a startup, focused my learning on new areas and dabbled a little in coding with no meaningful purpose. 

I actually went to see a demo day, more out of curiosity than anything, was really impressed by the products presented, and my decision was made. I wanted to join Le Wagon. 

The course format is well suited to self-learners, mornings are lectures followed by a series of exercises that complement and extend the core curriculum. 

It’s tough, it’s long hours, it’s a lot of material but it’s definitely worth it. You learn so much and you really learn to push yourself to make and break things. It sets you up to continue learning about coding and to explore new technologies. 

There will be days where it’s just overwhelming but you are not alone. My batch was awesome we were 28 and we had so much fun, many of us formed close friendships. The whole Le Wagon crew, the teachers, the TAs and every guest speaker really contributed to making it a fantastic 9 weeks.

As a testament to the power of the Le Wagon, our group submitted our final project to a pitching competition before we had written any code. In just 10 days we finalised the MVP, drafted a business plan and model and were able to pitch against much more established startups. We didn't win for a whisker and the confidence and encouragement we received was amazing. People we impressed and shocked of what we were able to achieve in just 10 days considering where we stood at the beginning of the camp.

The week after the camp is a little difficult. The adjustment is tough, many of us are meeting and discussing and evaluating options and I think the staff and TAs feel the end of camp adjustment as much as the students. They are here with us providing amazing support and valuable advice. It's like a mini after camp!!

If you are considering it, just do it. Don’t hesitate, you won’t regret it! It will change your outlook, understanding of web technology, coding and yourself.

Hi! My name is Philipp. I studied product and concept-design in Germany which led me to score cool roles as a UX designer and a globe-trotting consultant in Agile frameworks including Scrum and Kanban. Nevertheless, I felt that I needed to understand coding so I could better communicate with developers in my team and sometimes I also wanted to turn my own web ideas and concepts into reality. That’s why I decided to quit my job and join Le Wagon in Bali, and unsurprisingly, the decision paid off right away with a new role as an Advisor for the company Blackboat in Berlin when I returned back home! The Bootcamp was efficient and precise: the Le Wagon teachers and learning platform give you exactly what you need to learn to build a complex web app in a 45 day bootcamp. Even though I worked in the tech industry, I was starting as a coding newbie. I progressed over each day through the daily topics, morning lectures, the vast number of exercises, and the daily group live code sessions supplemented by flash cards and video preparations in our own time. In the last 10 days of the bootcamp, the repeated success of Le Wagon was proven once again in project Remedium, a blockchain charity donation platform that I had the opportunity to build together with a few camp mates. You can see my presentation in Batch #128 Demo Day. And that’s not all! In fact, the chance to join a Bootcamp in Bali is rather unique because the experience of the island made our Bootcamp-journey more relaxing and enjoyable. I don't know any code camps where you code from a terrace with a view of the ocean which I also enjoyed surfing in. The adventures around the islands at the weekends with my new found friends made working together through the long coding days so much easier and not least, fun and memorable. I also did the math and i am convinced that a Bootcamp in Berlin or London would have cost me the same if you compare cost of living. To conclude, now that I’m back home and starting a new exciting career, I can put my hand on heart and say that Le Wagon has been a career-changing experience and probably one of the best I have had in my life. I’m really grateful for the incredible journey and the people i met there. Dirk and Audrey are incredible Hosts and you can feel that they put their hearts in this bootcmap. I cannot recommend more this experience to everyone - and if you have any questions, hit me up on LinkedIn. Cheers! 

I completed the 9 week Le Wagon bootcamp that started in June 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

It totally surpassed my expectations - I learnt far more than I thought I would, I made awesome friends and the alumni community was stronger and more global than I expected (I live in Sydney now and meet up with Le Wagoners here and everyone is super helpful on the alumni Slack channels).

I didn't do the course to change careers - I've been in finance for 10 years and I enjoy my job. I did the course because I wanted to create things and follow through on ideas. I love coding so much now that I am nonetheless contemplating a career change - either way it will be part of my life from here on.

My advice - (1) Ruby and web-apps are probably the best place to start. I was considering a mobile-app centered bootcamp but I'm glad I did Le Wagon fullstack because it empowered me with a solid understanding of a range of coding skills and concepts so it's easy for me to learn new languages and platforms. (2) Speak to alumni and the drivers of the location you are considering - the culture in the Lisbon bootcamp was perfect for me and I chose to study there specifically (I was living in New York at the time). Having a really good batch with enthusiastic teachers helps you get through the program (which can be intense at times - you have to learn super fast).

I've wanted to learn coding for 3 or 4 years, so one day I finally decided to quit my job and go for it! I looked trough several bootcamps and Le Wagon got my attention for two main reasons: compared to other trainings it's connected to real business life and it's "only" 9 weeks (I wanted to switch careers rapidly). Now I can say it, it went beyond my expectations. Le Wagon gave me a very operational package (when you end it, you can actually build something functionnal) and in these "only" 9 weeks I've learnt a lot of tools and languages: Ruby and Rails, SQL, Javascript, SCSS, Github, etc.

I was working in the operations team of a tech startup when I decided to join Le Wagon in Milan (batch #181) and it turned out being of my best decisions. 
In my previous role, I was constantly surrounded by developers and somehow fascinated by what they were doing. I did not have any relevant coding experience or knowledge at that time (I graduated in Management Engineer) and little by little I started to feel limited because of that, while my curiosity was keeping on increasing day after day. 
Changing career path is never an easy decision but at Le Wagon I felt supported from the very beginning and most important, I felt part of its huge, international and talented community from day one. 
The energy and passion of the teachers are contagious, and their support and advise during the lectures and the final project invaluable. The course is intense, and you have to deal with a huge amount of information and new concepts every day, but the lectures and exercises are well structured and tailored so that you don't feel lost or overwhelmed. 
And in case this happens, you have access to all the resources and help you might need to go back on track. You won't remain behind! 
I am fully satisfied with my journey at Le Wagon, and I now feel confident to start a new chapter of my life as a developer.

I decided to sign up for Le Wagon after spending a little less than 2 years in a chemical analysis lab. As it turned out, it was not the career path for me, despite devoting 4+ years in the study of life sciences. I needed to do something that challenged me more, that allowed me to think through a problem logically and creatively. Knowing many people in the field of software development, I felt that this was my future. My friend recommended Le Wagon, as it was a highly praised bootcamp and it allowed me to go study abroad a bit, which I love doing. So I set off to Amsterdam, with a limited knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

 

    After the 9 weeks there, I can do nothing but compliment the whole experience. From day one I saw how beautifully diverse our classroom was, not only in culture but in knowledge of the field. Some had already worked as developers, and others were completely new to coding altogether. It was clear from the first lesson that our teachers were not just there for a paycheck, but legitimately cared that you understood the topics, as many of them have gone through the same experience. The focus of Le Wagon, I felt, was not to just teach you how to code, but how to think like a coder. Answers were never given to you (despite the occasional pleading). Instead a teacher would sit down with you and you would both brainstorm together, as it often is in a real-life setting. You learn to be open with your confusions and questions, and to ask around and discuss with teachers and classmates. This is something many classrooms wish to have, but I have never seen it done as successfully as at Le Wagon. The days are long, and the challenges are challenging, and as a result you really get to know your classmates and teachers. I’ve made very close friends in this bootcamp, and I still stay in touch with them, despite living on the other side of the globe.

    During those nine weeks can confidently say I know Ruby on Rails, and have built several applications using the skills I learned in this course. I can also tell you that I had a great many stories and adventures that will stay with me forever. Doing the course did feel like that first step I needed towards my new life and career. I will deeply miss Le Wagon, and recommend it to anyone who’s looking for that first step towards their future.

Before joining le Wagon, I was working full time at a Bank and completing a bachelor degree in Software Engineering. Although I already had coding experience, I learned a lot of new valuable skills and explored new material during these nine rewarding weeks at Le Wagon.    The teachers are very knowledgeable and helpful and take time to ensure you understand the material that is being covered. The curriculum is well designed to teach you everything you need to be a full stack developer. The platform that Le Wagon students use every day is impressive and provides you with a wide range of resources and material that can also be very useful after the Bootcamp. I was even able to prepare for parts of my technical interviews by reviewing these resources made available by Le Wagon's platform.   The final project, which is completed during the last two weeks, gives you the opportunity to experience what it's like to bring a product to life from conception to final deployment.  The product design sprint was a great learning experience as it equips you with the tools needed to tackle real-life entrepreneurial challenges.    Following the completion of le Wagon Bootcamp, I was able to land a web development position at a great and reputable software company in Montreal. I am grateful for the valuable knowledge and experience that this program provided me and would encourage anyone who wants to change to a career in tech to join this excellent program.