UC Irvine Boot Camps

Let me start, the instructors and support staff were great from top to bottom - Michael, Ben, Kyle, Teresa and Sammy.  My apologies if I forgot anyone.  But the curriculum is sorely lacking and absolutely none of it prepares you to be a full time developer.  It starts off great but they need to focus more on fundamentals.  They dive way too deep into node packages that can be learned in a day.  Stay away, stay very far away.  Do not be fooled by the affiliation to UCI.  Most of my cohort has not found a job.

I attended the part time coding bootcamp from March-September this year.  I found the Instuctors to be outstanding.  Ben and Michael really knew their stuff.  The TAs Kyle and Tim were great too.  They were helpful throughout the course.  The cohort covers a lot of ground.  So, be ready to put in your time studying.  They recommend 20 hours of outside class study time each week.  In my experience, it's absolutely necessary if you want to absorb the content and keep up.  

Jenna was very helpful in the career services department.  Although, it seemed like she was in the position of a very cometent person being streached very very thin.  I've heard that the school is bringing on additional resources and personel to support her in the future.

This program is very new, and so I can see a few flaws but this is a really great fit for me. I was extremely nervous about dumping a lot of money in a coding bootcamp, but if you want to get into tech this is definitely worth it. Let me start with my main that I had.

This, along with a lot of other coding bootcamps definitely seemed like a scam to me. For this program, I really wish that they didn't make it feel like such a scam. The whole phone ""interview"" and "You have been accepted!!" is really bogus. If you want it, you'll get accepted. Why lie about it? I believe this program would get so much better attention if they were just honest and straight up. Here's the cost, here's what we expect from you, and here's what we give you. That kind of honesty will bring more people than trying to make everyone feel like they're so lucky!! 

That being said, this program is definitely worth it. Since it was only the second cohort ever, I only had to pay 8,500. I did A TON of research on coding bootcamps in general before making the decision to drop all this money. But I found that 8,500 is relatively cheap. Anyone who goes through these coding bootcamps will get a job, due to the high demand for programmers in the field. So it is a cheap price to pay for a 6 month path to a whole new career. 

One of my biggest fears was how I could do this coding bootcamp while working full time? If you are working full time, and you are concerned about not being able to do this, trust me. THIS IS POSSIBLE. I was thinking that if i work 40 hours, class is 10 hours, AND they recommend atleast 20 hours outside of class. That's 80 hours of work a week! It's not that bad. If you're like me, and passionate about learning to program, programming outside of work is really not that stressful. It feel more like a hobby, then it is work! You get to build cool games, meet really cool likeminded people, and collab on them to make creative projects. I am legitmately excited to come to class! So if you are full time and worried about the time crunch, do not worry! I highly recommend this to anyone who has to work full time to pay the bills and still wants a career change. 

Another big concern that I had, was why choose this program over a Online Coding Bootcamp? I was actually looking a the Viking Code School as an option, it was considerably cheaper. I think it came down to roughly only 4,000 but demanded more hours. After going through the pre-work, I quickly found that doing things online just simply cannot replace the in person experience. You overlook all the little things about having an in person class that matter so much. Meeting and learning from your peers, getting to know your teacher and TAs in person certainly feel a lot better. I just felt that doing it online would not help me nearly as much as doing it in person. Which is tough, because there isn't many in person PART TIME coding bootcamps out there. If there are, they typically are short and specialize in one language (and are very expensive!)

It is now August, and I have to say I am really impressed with the program. At the end of the day, almost every coding bootcamp will find you a job if you really want it. I think that's important to note because you shouldn't be trying to pay 20k for a program just because you're concerned about not getting a job. If you want a job, and you put in the work, you will find one.

As for this class curriculum, it is very well rounded. They are definitely full stack, and the career help start right away! They have counselors always there ready to listen to any of your concerns. They also host awesome events like tech panels where employers come and talk! It's a lot of fun, and we are currently just starting the group projects. The teachers for each class both have a lot of experience, and are very nice and helpful! There are two classes (forrest and Caeser). I feel like they could train the TA a little better, and have more organization, but I certainly don't blame them since the program is so new. At the end of the day, I am learning A LOT and i'm already feeling very comfortable coding. 

5/5 would recommend to anyone! I'm just trying to give an honest review to anyone out there. If you're worried about the career change, scared of dumping the money, and fear that everything is fake out there. Don't worry, I was in your shoes. I can tell you though, the job marketing is extremely well. And this course will definitely give you the guidance if you're like me and scared to learn on my own. If you take this program, you will find a job! The career service team will even help you find a job in another state if you request, they are very accomodating. 

I hope this helped anyone who is curious! I apologize if my writing is all over the place, i'm going off the top of my head right now. 

I would caution against even filling out an application. Like others, I did the easy little tests and phone interviews. I was "recomended for enrollement," and then they emailed a poorly worded, hokey credit card form asking for my $2500 hold money. They worded the email in a way that made you think you owed them money, so pay the invoice and hold your seat in the class! In a separate email they sent a auto-fill form -- with just a couple clicks you accepted all the terms of enrollment, and were bound to the company. 

I never filled these forms out and never accepted or signed a thing. I even spoke to the rep confirming that I did not actually owe anything and that until I actually enrolled I was still in decision-making mode.

So, after reading enough about the company and weighing my options, I simply emailed the rep a "Thanks but no thanks," letter explaining that I declined to enroll and would pursue my coursework online via Udemy and Udacity, and that I appreciated their time.

She called me a day later, and "Congratulated me on pursuing my education in code." I was a little confused becuase she made it sound like I enrolled in the school. I told her thanks and sorry I couldn't go forward with UCI extension. I told her if things ever changed I would let her know. She acknowledged this and said it was ok and she understood.

A week later on they send an email (probably automated) as follows:

"Dear Natalie

This is a notification that your card will be charged in 2 days.

Thank You"

I don't know if this was an atuo email, but it seemed pretty shady. From the enrollement email to the weird "Congratualtions" phone call to this... it's like they were trying to play dumb and act like I was enrolled.

Just avoid this type of annoyance and find some other bootcamp. Learning Fuze in Orange County has a pretty good reputation. Go there. Stay away from these shady sketchy people.

There were red flags all over, but I failed to reconize them till it was too late. Now, I find myself obligated to WARN others before they fall victim to this shady business scam. So many false promises made. First big warning flag was the easy test they give and make you feel like you have the skillset to be successfull in the bootcamp. Secondly, on the first day they have you sign a waiver, exempting you from getting any refund. Now think back when you first started college, did they make you sign a waiver? Please be aware that this is a scam and not a ligit learning center. They are not interested in your ability to finish this bootcamp, only to get your hard earned money and string you along as far as possible. The career services is a joke...nothing you couldnt do on on your own. I found it very odd how both lead instructors ended up leaving after our class wrapped up and they relocated for new jobs. Like I suggested to a potential student a few months ago, if you really are interested in persuing coding I would recomend online learning such as team treehouse that is a fraction of the cost or any other way. They are over charging for a false promise and I dont know how they are able to continue this in our community and especially abusing the system by hiding their name under UCI and other big universities, such a shame our leaders are allowing this to go on. 

If you decide to enroll, please don't be fooled by their marketing strategy where they will have you look up all these job postings and salary range for the Full Stack Web Developer. They are just trying to get you to enroll. Even though they said that they have a test and interview process before they accept you into the program, they are doing it as a due diligence. Even if you can't answer any of the question they asked you during the interview, they will still let you enroll. All they wanted is your 12K tuition. The curriculumn is all over the place. Don't expect to be job ready by the time you're done with the program. Career services is also a disappointment. They don't really help you connect with any employers. They just make you write your resume and apply online. When you start questioning them about job placement rate, they will divert the question. They know that the job placement rate is very low, so they don't want to talk about it. Instead, they will make it sounds like you are not trying hard enough yourself and that is the reason why you could not find a job. DO NOT WASTE YOUR $12K ON THIS. It is not worth it. 

The Good:

The curriculum was heavy and fast-paced - definitely the hardest schooling I've ever done. It grinded me in JavaScript which produced some pretty awesome projects. The instructors and TAs where pretty good and were always available to help for the most part.

The Bad:

Concentrated way too much on Node.js and ignored core web development languages like .Net, Python, PHP and more. The job assistance portion of the post program is lame. Help with resume and cover letter but after that it's all about you becoming a socialite and doing free work. Lots of canned responses that don't really help answer specific questions.

The Ugly:

Irvine is flooded with qualified Web Developers. Employers don't seem to care that you've attended a UCI bootcamp. They want 3-5 years of development experience with proven growth because they can get it - even for Junior Web Dev positions. The very few responses you'll receive back from applications will ask you about your experience in some technology you don't have - and it's different every time.

Result:

Save your money by learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript through all the free certificate courses out there. Start a website of your own to practice with and become better and fight to get someone to give you a chance as an intern or junior developer. Bootcamps are a dime a dozen these days and employers know it. If you feel you need to spend $10K+ to crunch out a few nice projects in short timeframes, then bootcamp is for you.

I recently enrolled for the Coding Boot Camp at UC Irvine Continuing Ed in partnership with Trilogy Education Services. The enrollment process has been smooth so far and everyone has answered all the questions I have asked at both UCI-CE and Trilogy. I was at first skeptical about it since technically this is a Trilogy Education Service program that is run at UC Irvine along with many other Extension and Continuing Ed programs across the country. I did a lot of research and looked up reviews at all the other schools to see what the feedback was and almost all of it is good. The UCI program only started this year so there hasn't been a cohort to finish yet but UCLA has had good sucess so I would look at that program as I imagine it will be very similar to UCI's. There are also some good reviews and feedback on Reddit too if you want to look them up. The current instructors they have are getting great feedback from the current students from what I have heard.

Like everything in life you get what you put into it, so if you aren't willing to do the work outside of the classroom I would look elsewhere. What really sold me on the program was the part-time 24 week program. I work full-time and the class schedule will work well with my schedule and family. There isn't any other part-time programs in the area that cover the Full-Stack, I only saw one other one that was a 10-week course and only covered the Front-End. I also like that spread out over 6 months instead of cramming it all in 12 weeks which is much better suited to my learning style.

I'm looking forward to getting started on the pre-course work and diving in head first come September. I'll update my review a few weeks into the course.

Make no mistake. This is an extremely intensive course (speaking of the full time course). You will work and study like crazy in and out of class.

I believe the rewards are well worth it. I came to this class as an experienced non-web developer and learned a lot. I can't wait to apply it but first I'm going to spend a solid week or two reviewing everything I've learned. 

The instruction team is top notch as is career support. The question is do you really want to do this? I suggest you visit Scratch,  a site that teaches kids to program. Get an account and try to create something simple. This is a UCI Coding Bootcamp pre-class assignment. If this frustrates you DON'T ENROLL. But if you keep at it and enjoy it, consider taking the next step.