Le Wagon

I was one of the students who deliberated for many months over whether to commit to a bootcamp. I finally made the decision to resign from my job and paid the deposit for the Le Wagon bootcamp. The experience exceeded my expectations, and I feel it has put me firmly on the right path in both my life and career. 

I would suggest to any new students that the prepwork is very important. Ensuring you fully understand the concepts in the prepwork will put you in good stead to absorb as much of the bootcamp content as possible, as the bootcamp is very intense and fast-paced. The first 3-4 weeks in particular can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming, especially for those like myself who came with no background in programming or computer science, but just making sure you get some good rest and sleep in the evenings and weekends goes a long way. 

I chose the Bali bootcamp, and could not have been happier with the location choice. You'll make many new friends from all corners of the earth in your batch, plus the Indonesian locals are all super friendly. The school building itself is pretty special. The views and sea winds produce a calm atmosphere and environment. On the horizon you can see the surfers riding the waves of Canggu on the one side, and on the other, (if it's a clear day) you have the spectacular view of two volcanoes.

For me, the teaching staff were the biggest factor in advancing my own personal development. They are jedi masters of programming, and they all have the patience of saints. When you're stuck either on a challenge or a feature of your project, the teachers are skilled at probing you for the answer instead of just giving you the solution. These instances slowly help you realise that you are actually understanding the concepts, but you just don't yet know how to express the solution entirely. The effect is a compounding of your confidence, which probably helps explain why as students we're able to build such complex projects in such a short amount of time during the project weeks. In addition, the Le Wagon style and system of teaching is very fine-tuned. The professionalism, and honesty in how they teach is impressive.

Le Wagon clarifies that the bootcamp not only teaches you web development, but it teaches you how to learn. This bit should not be understated, and having left the bootcamp a few weeks ago I am now really beginning to see the effects of this. In my own work post-bootcamp, I'm finding that I can find solutions to my own dev problems quite fast, much faster than when I was on the bootcamp itself. 

One of the reasons I chose Le Wagon is because of their emphasis on giving you the tools to build your own startup. Le Wagon does not claim to find you a job, however the amount of career and job resources they give you upon graduating, are almost as overwhelming as the first few days of code.

As an alumni, you also get lifetime access to all the course content plus more. As technology changes and advances, it's comforting to know that Le Wagon will continue to keep me up to speed.

After 3 years of work experience in a consulting firm, I wanted to change of universe, in order to discover web development which was murky for me. Le Wagon’s program seduced me and during those 9 weeks, I could discover, understand and learn some of the computer languages which are the hidden side of all websites and applications that surround us everyday. Le Wagon’s experience met perfectly my expectations, regarding the learning aspect and the environment.One year later, I have not kept on practicing coding but my experience at Le Wagon made the difference when applying to jobs. I got a new job as a CFO in a startup named Blackpills because the co-founders liked the fact that I was able to discuss with the technical team, and to understand their technical issues and challenges.

I was very interested in discovering how the most popular apps are built and how they work. My intention was being capable of making my own products one day, so I started self-teaching through online resources. However, I felt that if I really wanted to go deep, I would need some extra support.

I had heard miracle things about coding bootcamps so I checked those in my city and I started digging about their syllabus, methodology, and reviews from former students. The only thing holding me back was that I wasn’t sure whether Ruby was still worthwhile learning, but this site helped me to dispel my doubts isrubydead.com, so eventually, I considered Le Wagon because it offered me a proven methodology, international environment, and I realised Le Wagon was more than a bootcamp, it is a community.

I loved every single day during the bootcamp because you never get bored. You know that the next day you are going to learn the next piece of the puzzle you need to become a developer, so I was hooked.

Teachers and TA’s were fantastic, always keen to help and really passionate about coding. Le Wagon platform is awesome, it is so well developed and full of resources and you have granted access forever. It has become my best friend since I finished.

I am very happy now coding Ruby, but the most important thing you acquire during the bootcamp is the developer mindset. After that, you feel you can learn any other language much quicker, and you have plenty of resources and people to ask whenever you are blocked. It is now straightforward to follow the path that many people have traveled before.

For the new students, I would recommend that you prepare as much as possible before the bootcamp if you really want to make the most of it. It gets tough sometimes so try to be familiar with all the concepts you learn during the prep work, and you will enjoy 10x the experience!

Before coming to Le Wagon, I was in my final year of my Bachelor’s  degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. I had been studying information systems and finance for the past three years but felt link I was lacking one of the most important skills to work in the tech world: coding. In the hopes of becoming an IT consultant or work in the biggest tech companies, I felt like I had the business and strategy side notably though my internships but not understanding a single line of code was for me a huge weakness.

Therefore I stumbled on Le Wagon’s website through a simple Google search “coding boot camp” and was very quickly convinced that it was something I HAD to do. So many options in different cities around the world but I chose the Barcelona one given the amazing reviews and the experienced teachers and TAs (besides that who wouldn’t want to spend 2 months in Barcelona??  ).

A few months later I was able to create working web applications with features such as geo mapping and instant messaging. To this day, I still cannot believe how much I learned in such a short period of time.Along with 3 other amazing teammates, we were able to build a fully functional web messaging and file storing app called MyFam which uses a tag system to make retrieving files super simple. I really feel like I could have never achieved such an amazing end result without my boot camp experience. With that experience I am now on my way to achieve my goal and in the process of finding the roles I wanted but didn’t qualify for due to my lack of knowledge in app development.

I joined batch #276 in Bordeaux, France, and I enjoyed every part of it. It was intense, but it was worth it: we had passionate teachers, and we were all eager to learn as much as possible.

It's a very rich experience, that brought me what I was looking for: online courses are a good start, but they were frustrating because I felt I was lacking skills to see my ideas come to life. I had acquired basis in HTML/CSS/JS: I was able to make nice-looking static websites, but that was pretty much it. I knew nothing about database, geolocation, search/payment features, to mention just a few. I didn't even know what was CRUD, and even less what was a framework and how to work with it.

In Le Wagon, your daily learning rate just explodes: it's really addictive! I could never have learned that much on my own, whether on a technical point of view or in terms of good practice and tips. I really wish this bootcamp would last way longer!

Now I am technically capable of building a tech product from scratch, and I have both the overall view and the skills I need to keep self-training on the Internet in a much more efficient way than before Le Wagon.

To sum up: Le Wagon brings you skills and MUCH practice, but also a network, friends, and a strong foundation for a better self-learning. Conferences about tech are also really interesting and motivating.

I am very glad I went for it: it was worth a thousand times the personal and financial investment.

I have always been interested in learning programming. As I couldn’t leave my job for a long time I was looking for an intensive short – term course.

That’s how I found Le Wagon and lucky me, it was their first Madrid batch!! Fell in love with Ruby from the first sight! I didn’t have any previous knowledge and I will tell you that it is very important to do all the prep work they give you.

I can say that I have learned everything that I wanted, it was really challenging and a lot of fun. I feel now that I have enough knowledge to continue studying by myself.

And another but not less important thing is that I met a lot of wonderful people from all over the world!! So..would rather choose Le Wagon once again to enjoy people and studies.

100% recommended!

I always was interested in developing but I wasn’t sure I could do it. As I am in professional reconversion, I decided to give it a try and I discovered Le Wagon.

I had a lot of training before le wagon. So I can say that Le Wagon is the Best training center I’ve been. Teachers are very skilled and passionate by they job.

The other alumni was very motivated as well, and, together, we manage to build some awesome app that we could even imagine two month before.

If you are curious in coding and motivated, Le Wagon is the best place to go.

J'ai intégré la formation Fullstack Ruby du Wagon Bordeaux (batch #246, www.lewagon.com/fr/bordeaux)  du 8 avril au 7 juin 2019, sur les conseils d'un ami qui venait de finir sa session quelques temps auparavant.

Si j'ai décidé de postuler au Wagon c'était avant tout pour me reconvertir professionnellement et tenter de devenir développeur web en acquérant de nouvelles compétences techniques, et le moins que l'on puisse dire c'est que je n'ai pas été déçu ! La formation est intensive (42h / semaine pendant 9 semaines), très complète et très enrichissante. Vous apprenez les rouages du code en suivant un programme qui a largement fait ses preuves, ce qui donne un profond sentiment de confiance tous le long du parcours. Après avoir passé 7 semaines à emmagasiner du savoir, les 2 dernières semaines sont réservées à l'élaboration d'un projet (par groupe de 3/4) qui prend la forme d'une application web. Ce projet permet de concrétiser et de mettre à pratique tout ce dont on a appris depuis le début de la formation, et c'est à ce moment là que l'on comprend réellement pourquoi nous avons fait tout ce chemin !
La formation dispose de professeurs qui sont tous des modèles de pédagogie, d'accessibilité et de sympathie, ainsi que des professeurs assistants (des anciens élèves qui sont mis à disposition des nouveaux pour les aider à accomplir leurs exercices) dont j'ai la chance de faire parti aujourd'hui.
Les locaux, situés cours Balguerie Stuttenberg aux Chartrons sont spacieux, bien équipés et idéaux pour travailler dans de bonnes conditions.

En résumé, j'ai vécu au Wagon une excellente expérience qui m'a permis d'acquérir de nouvelles compétences et de faire des rencontres humaines très intéressantes.
Je recommande à quiconque qui est intéressé a devenir développeur web, product owner ou product manager à suivre ce cursus professionnel.

With an engineering background, I decided to complete the bootcamp at Le Wagon to develop my dev skills and launch my own startup. It gave me all the necessary skills to understand all the dev that we need for our product, to develop the MVP and launch it with paying customers. 
Moreover, I become very concern about the UX/UI of the product which is so important. 
With this amazing experience at Le Wagon, I have now all the skills that I was looking for and I had 9 incredible intensive weeks with a team of teachers always trying to help you as much as they can. 
I highly recommend this experience, which was amazing ! 

Before Le Wagon, I had mostly worked in hospitality. I had been a manager, chef, bartender, waiter, working in restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, festivals, cafes and street food. However, at the age of 35, I decided it was time for a change, to find a career where I wouldn’t be on my feet all day long, and also be creative. That’s when I looked into the idea of becoming a developer. I heard about the existence of coding bootcamps through a friend, and after a lot of investigation I settled upon Le Wagon in Barcelona. Needless to say, I’m very happy with my choice!

It was without a doubt the best educational experience I’ve had, and only further fuelled my enthusiasm for coding. Besides learning how to build web applications and solve problems through code, I have made some friendships and connections that will undoubtedly endure the test of time. Project weeks were a particularly highlight for me, where my team and I built a complex web-chat and file-storage application. Now that the course is finished, I am still enjoying coding, and am adding even more features to our project.

Thanks a lot Le Wagon!

I always felt like I would need to have a creative career. I studied fine art and illustration but as much as I appreciated the background it gave me in lateral thinking, I still felt like I wanted to do something more practical and disciplined. I began teaching as an English teacher and I found that it gave me that discipline I was looking for, as well as being very gratifying. I found that my favourite part of doing a lesson was planning it, creating new materials and discovering new apps or new ways of laying out lessons that were more interesting or effective. It was fun playing around with little pieces of paper, and gave me the opportunity to try out what would work with my students. However, I still really wanted to create something that felt real and tangible out of these experiments.

Two of my brothers were already working as programmers, so I suppose that I realised more quickly than other people might have that programming was a way to create something from this that felt a little bit more real. I was already living in Barcelona, so I was also already conscious that people in Barcelona live pretty well! It’s also very easy to make a lot of connections because people here are very helpful and there’s a lot going on. There are often people who want to collaborate with you or would like to show you how to do something and learn a little bit from you as well.

The teachers in Le Wagon were great, I suppose mostly because everyone has a good mentality about growth. It felt very fresh. The different people on the teams all brought something unique and useful, but it never felt like I was being forced to think one way or another. The most common line of thought among everyone was that they were proud of the work that had been done on the Le Wagon materials (which are incredibly well-researched and tested) and of how their own efforts were layering on top of that work and refining it. They were also all very kind, which is important when you are learning something intensively!

After finishing high school, I worked for two years in banking, where I first got introduced to topics like digital banking. It wasn’t until I started my undergraduate studies in sociology, politics and economics that my curiosity about the interplay between ongoing technical developments and the socio-economic changes, grew. I wanted to deepen my understanding of how those technologies are created and programmed. Starting the Bootcamp, Batch #269 in Oslo, was a very spontaneous decision but I am so happy I joined Le wagon over the university summer break.

Lewagon gave me a perfect introduction to the tech world. The program is so well thought out that after the 9 weeks, you can put specific topics into perspective and get a better understanding of the bigger picture. Coding always seemed so abstract and overwhelming to me, that I didn’t know where to start learning. But after the Bootcamp, I began to realize how broad tech actually can be, and I was surprised to see how many diverse job opportunities within the field of coding exist.

Every day of the Bootcamp was very intense, full of new information, impulses, vocabulary, and I always wished to have a pause button, to quickly read up on topics/things. It was challenging, and at certain points frustrating. But at the same time, it gave me a lot of energy: the moment it ‘clicks’ is extremely rewarding. The support from the teachers and team colleagues motivated me to improve.

Teachers at Le Wagon do not just teach the subjects but also guide you on how to approach new tech challenges along the way. At some point you start to realize patterns and improve your problem solving skills.

The last two weeks (project weeks) were the most intense but looking back also the most fun and rewarding. I was really intrigued by the idea of pitching own ideas and creating something entirely from scratch. We definitely experienced many up and downs in the team and it was extremely helpful to have all the teachers by our side checking up on our progress and helping us to structure and scope our work. I ended up making compromises and successfully resolving unexpected challenges.

Having a space of so many kind, motivated, and interesting people really made this a unique experience for me. I was amazed by the level of motivation and the efforts of the staff to help you improve. You get a chance to fully focus on your own personal development. I feel like this interdisciplinary learning approach over 9 weeks gives you a guidance and a very stable foundation of knowledge, network, and experiences.