RefactorU is closed

This school is now closed. Although RefactorU is no longer accepting students or running its program, you can still see historical information and RefactorU alumni reviews on the school page.

refactoru-logo

RefactorU

Average Rating4.1
30 Reviews
17 Courses

RefactorU is a selective, 10-week, hands-on, immersive web application development bootcamp in Boulder, CO. Students will create applications and build a portfolio of projects to share with employers while developing a peer and advisor network for life. RefactorU collaborates with students to find jobs they love. Before, during, and after students' 10-week experience, RefactorU's career team works very hard to introduce students to hiring managers in the Denver/Boulder area as well as in other technology hotspots across the country.

RefactorU's curriculum is composed of a combination of front end, back end, and other technologies, tools, and skills. Graduates of the program will leave having mastered HTML5, CSS3, AngularJS, Node.js, JS, Sockets, MongoDB, JSON, command line skills, source control, deployment, pair progamming, Agile/Scrum, behavior-driven development, Sublime Text, interviewing, and more.

As of February 2016, RefactorU now offers Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits.

30 RefactorU Reviews

Schools can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Course Report never suppresses negative reviews
Sort by
Filter by
  • Alex
    Alex
    Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development • Boulder
    Nov 07, 2015
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    10 Weeks to Success

    <!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->

    In short, RefactorU has changed my life for the better as I now have a job as a Software Engineer, a job that I truly love.   RefactorU is hands down the BEST bootcamp in CO! Best bang for the buck, awesome curriculum delivered by instructors that genuinely care about seeing students succeed.   In a mere 10weeks, I was able to successfully transition ...
    Report
  • Peter
    Peter
    Programmer • Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development • Boulder
    Aug 14, 2015
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Great Educational Experience

      RefactorU provided an excellent opportunity to learn full-stack development from start-to finish from some great instructors experienced in the field. The atmosphere was always positive. Everyone (students and instructors alike) were very friendly and helpful. It was easy to get questions answered. I would recommend RefactorU to anyone looking to learn web development.
    Report
  • Kevin S.
    Kevin S.
    Web developer • Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development • Boulder
    Aug 06, 2015
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Excellent bootcamp experience

    RefactorU provided an unforgettable experience during my time there. They offer a one of kind learning environment with extremely knowledgable and helpful instructors and staff. Their support is second to none in providing students with everything they need to be succesful regardless of their knowledge coming into the program. 

    The location in Boulder also offers plenty of non-coding amenities like hiking, great restaurants and lots of brewery’s. I w...

    Report
  • Eric A
    Eric A
    Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development • Boulder
    Aug 04, 2015
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Far exceeded every expectation, in every way.

    I could not imagine the course being more comprehensive and astronomically useful. I left Boulder with a formidable arsenal of knowledge that has drastically changed the landscape of my career. I am returning to a position I already held with a confidence I did not fully expect, and the ability to fulfill so many roles in my day to day.

    The course was phenomenal, but the staff was paramount to the experience as well. The assistants were tirelessly helpful, patient and excelled at...

    Report
  • Jonathan S
    Jonathan S
    Full-Stack Developer • Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development • Boulder
    Jul 30, 2015
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    RefactorU Review

    Amazing curriclum with great instructors. After 10 weeks at RefactorU I have a better paying and more fulfilling job than I did after 4 years of college. RefactorU gets your there quick, but doesnt take shortcuts. In my opinion there is no reason to spend 6+ months at other bootcamps when Refactor can help you reach your goal (getting a job) in 10 weeks. 

    Report
  • Sean
    Anonymous
    Student • Full-Stack Web Development • Boulder
    Sep 13, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    "Not worth the money"

     

    Pros: 
    - Get your feet wet and a basis of what it takes to create websites

    Cons: 
    - Totally disorganized 
    - No job support after you graduate 
    - Poor TAs 
    - No accountability (you can ignore all the exercises and activities and no one will probably notice or care) 
    - Accepts students who probably shouldnt have been accepted (In the last two weeks of the cohort there was a student in our class who still couldnt write b...

    Report

    Ed Powers of RefactorU

    Chief Operating Officer

    Sep 21, 2016

    We’re sorry your RefactorU experience did not meet your expectations. While we may not agree on every point you make, certain issues you raise have concerned us as well. Below are some improvements we’ve made since then.

    The job fair we hosted on June 16 was disappointing for all of us. We had over a dozen companies confirmed to attend, but many canceled at the last minute or simply didn’t show. The same was true for job seekers. Our career fairs typically draw 20-25 employers and 100-200 prospective employees from around the area, so these results were a surprise. We concluded that several factors impacted attendance at this event, most notably the timing during a popular summer vacation period, and the steady increase in competing requests for employers to participate. In response, we have renewed our strategy to hold fewer, larger job fairs and to collaborate with other partners (including bootcamp competitors) to produce them. For example, unlike the June event, the recent Denver Start-up Week job fair we promoted and co-sponsored was a tremendous success. 

    It’s important to note that simply attending career fairs, like responding to online postings, has limited effectiveness. We stress during every cohort that attending Meetups, networking, and directly approaching potential employers tend to be much more productive. 

    To address an increasingly competitive job market we have made strategic investments to help our students and alumni be more successful. We recently hired Gary Boley and Scott Bowman, veteran Career Services professionals with over 17 years of collective experience with schools like Arizona State, University of Wisconsin, and Florida Institute of Technology. They’ve revamped our Career Services education program and now provide 1:1 coaching from classroom to hire. They also support (at no additional fee) all RefactorU alumni desiring a change to tune up their resumes or brush up on interviewing skills. In addition, Gary and Scott are reaching out and building relationships with employers, large and small, to develop and implement faster, more effective ways to tap RefactorU’s talent pool. 

    You can reach our Career Services team here:

    Gary Boley, Director of Career Services
    gary@refactoru.com
    720-441-2633 x116

    Scott Bowman, Career Services Coordinator
    scott@refactoru.com
    720-441-2633 x114

    Regarding one of your other comments, we’d like to underscore another key point. RefactorU is not a traditional school. It’s self-directed, adult education in which students are accountable for their own learning. We provide quality instruction, challenging exercises, and comprehensive learning assistance. Unlike other coding bootcamps, we don’t “cut” students who fail to meet arbitrary criteria along the way. All students must meet our admissions criteria and final graduation requirements, but each gets gets out of the experience what they invest in it. The final project, which demonstrates the skills the student has acquired, matters most. When it’s a well-designed, technically innovative solution to a problem, employers take notice. When students meet only minimum criteria, employers are unimpressed. Once again, the choice is up to the student, as are the consequences that result from the decision. 

RefactorU Alumni Outcomes

100%
Employment Rate
96%
Graduation Rate
64,140
Median Salary
Of the students who enroll at RefactorU, 96% graduated. 88% of graduates were job-seeking and 100% of job-seeking graduates found in-field employment after 180 days and report a median income of $64,140. Below is the 180 Day Employment Breakdown for 75 graduates included in this report:
180 Day Employment Breakdown
DescriptionPercentage
Full Time, In-Field Employee93.3%
Full-time apprenticeship, internship or contract position1.3%
Short-term contract, part-time position, freelanceN/A
Employed out-of-fieldN/A
Notes and Caveats
This reflects data collected through the Summer of 2015. We will revise and update with 2016 statistics as data becomes available.
* These outcomes are not audited by Course Report. In some cases, data is audited by a third party.

Recent RefactorU News

Imogen Crispe
Imogen Crispe
Updated July 16, 2021
  Welcome to the November 2016 Course Report monthly coding bootcamp news roundup! Each month, we look at all the happenings from the coding bootcamp world from new bootcamps to fundraising announcements, to interesting trends. This month we cover a big bootcamp rebrand, the UN getting involved with coding bootcamps, the debate about CS degrees vs bootcamps, ethics in programming and how t...
Imogen Crispe
Imogen Crispe
Updated November 14, 2016
Jon Dyson was a Civil Affairs Operator in the US Army, and founded his own manufacturing and import business before he decided to learn to code at RefactorU. Coding had always been a hobby of Jon’s. He built the website for his business, but wanted to formalize and polish his coding knowledge. As a veteran, Jon chose RefactorU web development bootcamp in Boulder because he could use his G...
Imogen Crispe
Imogen Crispe
Updated February 07, 2020
Should I do a coding bootcamp? This is a question we hear all the time, and for good reason. As more coding bootcamps launch (not to mention the rising media coverage), you’re probably wondering, “should I jump on the bandwagon and learn to code?” A recent TechCrunch article implored you not to learn to code unless you’re ready to put in the work to be great, whereas President Obama wants...
Lauren Stewart
Lauren Stewart
Updated September 23, 2016
Jessey was a second-grade teacher in Jordan and a church children’s director before learning to code at RefactorU in Boulder, Colorado. Unfulfilled in her job, she packed up her family and moved from Illinois to Colorado for the 10-week coding bootcamp. But her family’s sacrifice was all worth it in the end, and Jessey now has a job as a QA web automation engineer! She tells us about the in...
Imogen Crispe
Imogen Crispe
Updated August 15, 2016
RefactorU is a coding bootcamp in Boulder, CO, offering 10-week full-time immersive programs in full stack JavaScript. RefactorU has recently announced a new diversity scholarship to help close the diversity gap in the tech industry, and give opportunities to people who may otherwise not be able to afford it. Diversity in Tech Only 16% of people working in computing and mathematical j...
Imogen Crispe
Imogen Crispe
Updated August 01, 2016
Welcome to the July 2016 Course Report monthly coding bootcamp news roundup! Each month we look at all the happenings from the coding bootcamp world from new bootcamps to big fundraising announcements, to interesting trends. This month the biggest trends this month are initiatives to increase the diversity in tech, some huge investments in various bootcamps, and more tech giants launching t...
Imogen Crispe
Imogen Crispe
Updated July 01, 2016
Clayton had a career in hospitality and real-estate, when he decided to rekindle the passion for coding he’d had as a youngster. After trying to teach himself to code, and attending unhelpful courses, he enrolled at RefactorU’s Boulder, CO coding bootcamp to learn MEAN stack. Now Clayton is excited to be working as a junior developer for real-estate social media website Bigger Pockets. He t...
Liz Eggleston
Liz Eggleston
Updated March 14, 2016
Rob Camp graduated from the first cohort of RefactorU and got two years of experience at a dev agency before circling back and becoming an integral part of the RefactorU team. Now, as an instructor, Rob is involved in curriculum planning, lecturing and supporting students. We chatted about his journey into web development, his teaching style, and what students can expect from their 10 wee...
Liz Eggleston
Liz Eggleston
Updated February 08, 2016
Ilana Horowitz decided to take the leap and attend RefactorU coding bootcamp after feeling burnt out in her job as a legal assistant. She had to decide between doing a CS degree or a coding bootcamp, but after starting the degree, she chose to switch to a bootcamp, allowing her to upskill very quickly. Ilana tells us about her path to starting a bootcamp and why she chose RefactorU over o...
Liz Eggleston
Liz Eggleston
Updated April 07, 2014
Sean Daken comes from a startup background and genuinely loves helping people pivot into careers that they love. So in 2013 he founded RefactorU, a Boulder-based bootcamp that specializes in Web Development. We talk with Sean about what he looks for in potential applicants, why JavaScript is their teaching language of choice, and what's next for RefactorU.   Tell us your story- how ...

RefactorU Alumni Reviews Summary

Overall Experience
4.1
Instructors
4.1
Curriculum
4.2
Job Assistance
3.6
Write A Review
More Information
Guarantees Job
Job Assistance
Includes Housing
Offers Corporate Training
Accepts GI Bill
Licensing
RefactorU offers Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits.
FAQs

How much does RefactorU cost?

RefactorU costs around $13,500. On the lower end, some RefactorU courses like Getting Started as a Web Developer cost $9.

What courses does RefactorU teach?

RefactorU offers courses like Advanced Backend Web Development, Advanced CSS Development, Advanced JavaScript Development, Advanced Node.js Development and 13 more.

Where does RefactorU have campuses?

RefactorU has in-person campuses in Boulder. RefactorU also has a remote classroom so students can learn online.

Is RefactorU worth it?

The data says yes! In 2015, RefactorU reported a 96% graduation rate, a median salary of $64,140, and 100% of RefactorU alumni are employed.

Is RefactorU legit?

We let alumni answer that question. 30 RefactorU alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed RefactorU and rate their overall experience a 4.1 out of 5.

Does RefactorU offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?

Right now, it doesn't look like RefactorU offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.

Can I read RefactorU reviews?

You can read 30 reviews of RefactorU on Course Report! RefactorU alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed RefactorU and rate their overall experience a 4.1 out of 5.

Is RefactorU accredited?

RefactorU offers Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits.

Get Free Bootcamp Advice

Sign up for our newsletter and receive our free guide to paying for a bootcamp.

By submitting this form, you agree to receive email marketing from Course Report.

Get Matched in Minutes

Just tell us who you are and what you’re searching for, we’ll handle the rest.

Match Me