Choosing the Best Coding Bootcamp for You

Choosing the Best Coding Bootcamp for You

Insider Stories, Application Checklist, Career Tips

About the Book

This brief guide is a tool to help you decide whether to attend an intense, full-time coding bootcamp (you may also know it as hacker bootcamp or programming school).

It is a big leap to quit your day job, and enroll in a full-time Coding Bootcamp. Should you take the plunge? The decision to attend can be financially expensive, and personally disruptive. And there are other related questions on your mind: Does it make sense move to a new City? Will I have a job after I graduate? Who will my classmates be? Do I really want to work as a software developer? How good a developer will I actually become after a full-time program? Couldn't I just learn to program on my own? 

About the Author

david kim
David Kim

David Kim organizes Ruby Rookies and Product Management Fast-Track in San Francisco. As a San Francisco tech community organizer and an accomplished professional, David advises many people exploring a programming course.

David previously headed the business development at Hack Reactor where he interacted extensively with tech companies in San Francisco. More recently, David is helping to educate non-technical friends and MBAs through techproductmanager.com.

You can follow him on Twitter: @findinbay or Github: dklounge. Ask him a question on Quora, or read his blog.

If you would like to support my other writing efforts to promote technical education, please consider contributing via gittip.

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgement
  • Introduction
    • Preface
    • A Toolkit for Your Decision
    • Goals
  • 1 Getting In
    • 1.1 Coding Exercises
    • 1.2 New Exercise: Listen to Yourself
    • 1.3 Admissions: Learning From Those Who Went Before Us
    • 1.4 Geography: Does It Matter?
    • 1.5 Class Size & Your Day In Life
    • 1.6 About Changing Trends
  • 2 How to Learn
    • 2.1 Can You Learn on Your Own?
    • 2.2 Pitfalls and Doubts
    • 2.3 What Would a Senior Software Engineer Say?
  • 3 Profiles
    • 3.1 A Panel Gathering
    • 3.2 Coleman Foley, Hack Reactor in 2013
    • 3.3 Erik, App Academy in 2013 (San Francisco)
    • 3.4 Michelle Glauser, Hackbright in 2012
    • 3.5 Simon, App Academy (San Francisco)
    • 3.6 Dave Melin, App Academy July 2013 (San Francisco)
    • 3.7 Scott Rogers, App Academy 2013 (New York)
    • 3.8 Who Should Not Attend?
  • 4 What is the ROI?
    • 4.1 MBA vs. Coding School
    • 4.2 Beyond ROI
  • 5 On Getting a Job & Career
    • 5.1 What Do Employers Want?
    • 5.2 Do Job Descriptions Matter?
    • 5.3 How do I find an ideal team?
    • 5.4 How do I position myself?
    • 5.5 Interviewing tips & techniques
  • 6 Frequently Asked Questions
  • 7 About the author
  • Appendix: Applications Checklist
    • Checklist of Things You Should Know or Ask
  • Appendix: List of Courses
    • AIT Learning
    • App Academy
    • Bitmaker Labs
    • Coding Dojo
    • DaVinci Coders
    • Dev Bootcamp
    • Epicodus
    • The Flatiron School
    • General Assembly
    • gSchool
    • Hackbright Academy (women-only Program)
    • Hack Reactor
    • Hacker School
    • MakerSquare
    • RefactorU
    • Starter League (Web Development)
  • Appendix: Prep Resources
    • Further Reading
    • Beginner Coding Tutorials
    • JavaScript Tutorials
    • Coding Blogs & Newsletters & Other Sites You Should Know
    • Massive Open Online Courses

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