Makers Academy

If you are looking to change careers, joining Makers is the best decision you can make. Makers' holistic approach to coding helps you build healthy habits that not only make you a better developer but also improve your health and wellbeing. The 12 week course is very intense, but is such a fun experience that gives you a preview of what working in the tech industry is like. You join the course with very limited coding knowledge, and graduate being able to create applications and websites that you are proud to show off to your friends and family. I found that Makers attract people who bring a lot of positive energy and help facilitate connections with people who share the same interests as you. The biggest focus of the course is "it's not hard, it's new". When you learn to take this approach you create practices that benefit your own self-led learning which helps you to be prepared for this industry. The job hunting support is fantastic. The coaches during your job hunting journey provide you with the support, advice and tools that make you truly feel job ready. I found that the coaches had a breadth of knowledge they were willing to share, were really friendly and approachable. You find that with Maker's extensive selection of hiring partners, there are opportunities to apply for jobs almost every week. Learn to trust the process, and you will find that not only are you learning but you also enjoy and have fun, while creating beneficial habits and skills that will help you with this career path. 

Lots and lots of pros to this course. Great coaches, excellent syllabus, progressive outlook. The key thing for me is that I left feeling confident about picking up new languages and working in new tech stacks. You also cover lots of things you probably wouldn't if self-learning, such as TDD and doing multiple projects in teams. Another big bonus is the careers team, and the relationships they build up with hiring partners.

In terms of cons, I'm struggling. It's definitely an intensive course and I did more hours outside of standard hours to stop me from falling behind that I thought I'd have to. 

It's definitely a lot of money. But the ability to get a job quicker will mean it will essentially pay for itself. And you'll be more confident and well-rounded when you do land that job.

Makers teaches you how to become an effective self led learner, allowing you to pick up a new tech stack and build anything. There is a large focus on test driven development and planning which really helps you develop effective working processes. What impressed me most is their dedication to good mental health and well being. There is a big focus on mentality and understanding how to work with others in agile workflows. There is also a great emphasis on how to be patient with yourself as you learn  and understanding that the course is the beginning of long term growth. 

Makers taught me more than just how to make good software, they also helped me discover my own strengths and how to recognise them. I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking for a new and exciting challenge.

Makers was a fantastic opportunity to make a career change. The course content was good, focussing on the important skills you need as a developer, which helps to set up for success after the course is over.

The aftercare of Makers was by far the most impressive part of the course for me, the process is well managed and the hiring team is fantastic at helping you with your CV and interviews. There are lots of high-quality partners hiring through the academy and these opportunities are worth their weight in gold. The hiring market for junior developers is hard but is made a lot easier with what Makers can offer you.

I would definitely recommend Makers to anyone looking to move into software development. The curriculum and learning materials are rich and useful, the quality of coaching is really high, and the post-course support for the job hunt is fantastic as well. The course is also run attentively - when my cohort had problems, there was no hesitation in adapting the curriculum and the course structure to suit everyone better and it felt like those running the course were always open to discussion. The workload is intense and full on, so I would recommend that anyone looking to do Makers spend enough time beforehand to feel prepared, and to feel secure that software dev is the right path for them. I would also recommend doing research beforehand into the nature of the job hunt, how long it might take and what kind of jobs are available, so as to have realistic expectations. I was lucky enough to get hired by a Makers partner pretty much immediately, but the process can be less straightforward. However, at every point Makers provides incredible support, and I had an amazing time doing the bootcamp. I now have a skill I hope to take forward and develop through the rest of my career, and Makers gave me the foundation necessary to do that.

I definitely recommend Makers! It was intense and required a lot of hard work, and it was definitely worth it. I was a bit dubious about 'learning to learn' and pair programming, but I ended up loving both of them - especially pair programming. Stumbling through coding challenges with someone who doesn't really know what they're doing (just like you!) was a great way to learn and get to know people. Having the course entirely online worked out really well for me, as I didn't have to commute to London from Cambridge, and I ended up getting to know people really well. The emotional support is great, and also necessary, as it is pretty hard going at some points. I definitely felt like I was thrown into the deep end sometimes, but it all worked out!

 Makers was an awesome experience and it helped me get my first software development job! For anyone looking to learn the rudiments of programming, build lots of projects and get the foundations for a career in programming (as well as meets lots of cool people) this is the place for you.  The course covers a lot of ground, is very fast paced and very intense. It is also not a typical learning environment where you are handed all the material on a platter. Instead it is very much a self-led learning course where you are taught to search for and understand what you need to know to build your projects and get your code working. You will be frustrated, elated and occasionally driven to despair, but the feeling of getting a program working is magical!  Makers does very well in a couple of areas: 

• Teaching you how to teach yourself and how to solve coding problems (as well as maintaining a positive outlook - crucially important). 
• Pair programming and Group Projects
• Test Driven Development
• A diverse range of technologies (in a short space of time)
• The makers careers team is fantastic and they have lots of relationships with different companies, through which they offer exclusive junior dev jobs to Makers Graduates (that's how I got my job, while job hunting they were regularly posting new opportunities). 
• I did the course remotely and I thought it all worked very well.
• An extensive alumni network
• Great peer community and great coaches

 

Areas of concern/things that may be helpful: 

• The curriculum needs updating in some areas (but this is a continual process they go through), and it would be good if Makers could introduce a little bit on cloud based technologies, and perhaps a bit more about how the industry works. 
• Given the nature of the bootcamp (and probably all bootcamps), people are at different levels when they join, some having done a bit more prior learning than others (Also some people learn faster than others). This can sometimes affect how you progress on projects and cause some concern. I do not think this is an issue, as ultimately what is important is learning how to code (debug, TDD, etc...), not necessarily the specifics of how each technology work (you will have plenty of time in your career to pick this up. But, I raise it as it can introduce frustration...
• Although most bootcamps are advertised as you don't need to know any / very little coding prior to starting the course. I heartily recommend trying to spend a few months (I am talking part time here not full time learning) before the bootcamp, learning how to program (e.g. Ruby, HTML, CSS, JS), try and build some simple console apps, do codewars, Codecademy, code out of a book, etc... I think this will help you get the most out of the course, as you can move quickly on from learning the syntax, to focusing on the course learning objectives. In my experience those who had spent more time coding before the course, seemed to get more out of it. 

 

Some more specific factual details - correct at the time I did the course (Feb to end May 2021 - Remote)
 
The course is split into 3 parts:
 

• The first part is 1 month of pre-work where you cover the basics of Ruby and Git, to ensure you are prepared for the course. This is solo work (although you are introduced to your cohort)
• The second part is the 3 month course itself. This was kind of split into two, the first 7 weeks where you focus on learning Ruby and Javascript, completing weekly pair programming tasks and a weekend challenge, you also complete two group projects. The second part is two longer group projects, the first with Ruby On Rails and the second is the final project (you can do anything you want - I did a React.JS and Ruby On Rails web app).
• The third part is the post course, and this is where the makers coaches will help you cement your learning, give advice and coaching on job hunting, prepping for interviews and tech tests. Most importantly this is also where the fantastic Makers Careers Team come into the light and they have established relationships with various companies over the years giving exclusive opportunities to Makers grads.

 

During the course I covered/used the following:
 

• Languages: Ruby, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL (Minimal)
• Frameworks: Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, various Javascript Libraries, React.js (optional for final project).
• Tools: Git, Github, Heroku
• Testing Tools: RSPEC, Jasmine, Jest
• Programming practices/fundamentals: SOLID Principles, Pair Programming, Agile Working, HTTP, Web Apps, SQL Databases.
• Remote working - entire course was done remotely.

During my time at Makers I was actually one of the rare cases where people actually complain. I an ex engineer I was used to  very structured learning and I will strive to understand everything before moving on. I was warned that this would conflict with my style but i pressed on nonetheless. In fact these 2 EXACT things were warned about: You will NOT be able to understand everything and thats fine AND there is no textbook to reference, the learning structure is your own (certainly after week 6).

I was unhappy as i felt there were not enough learning materials (by makers) from which to learn ( a lot of it is self led), coupled with being made to do A LOT of group work (which over zoom is quite exhausting). This was in week 7/8 and I had been worn down by lockdowns and everything else. I kept asking myself "well what am i paying for? "  In hindsight, now I have landed my first job and seen just how far i have come. I can see what Ive paid for.  And am glad I stuck with it. 

To be completely honest, as I have only taken 1 bootcamp I cant really comment on value for money. Makers is on the expensive side. But if asked "do I think Makers makes good programmers?" I would have to say ABSOLUTELY YES. 
The struggle of having to get yourself out of a jam all by yourself(with google) and is pretty much what development is and the hardship of learning this way has made me a very confident programmer. I can now go out and learn whatever technology i want confidently, using the skills Makers teaches. Inevitably this will be fraustrating but it is necessary, along with the emphasis they put on testing code( you will see ). 

Makers also has very high quality staff and support, everyone is freindly and helpful. The way they gradually lead you through and take away the assistance is great for learning. If you need support they will help (I tended to get myself fraustrated by not asking for help). After the course you will find pretty much the same routine as you switch by job finding, and the help here is also extensive (youre not just paying for the course).

In summary, if you can deal with not understanding everything, having patience and some logical thinking you're probably in very safe hands with Makers. 

Makers helped me go from having zero experience in coding to having a job as a Software Developer in 8 months. The course is intense and hard work but completely doable if you have the ambition to succeed in it. It is the type of course that you get out what you put into it. 
Even doing the course remotely I never felt isolated, or left to fend for myself. The coaches and your assigned cohort are all amazingly helpful and make the course 10 x more enjoyable. Couldn't recommend it enough if you're looking to change career paths.