CodeOp

I’ve studied full stack development at CodeOp. The course was very practical, after the first 5 weeks of theory, we had 5 weeks of projects, where except of the daily whiteboarding and 1:1 meeting with the instructor, we also had some flash lectures. There was a technical support channel on Slack to ask for further help with the projects, if needed. The last week was a career week with presentations on how to get in to the tech industry and practising for technical interviews.

The instructors are really great, with a lot of patience and focus on teaching problem solving. I am happy that I took the course with CodeOp. Except of the high-quality course, it feels like belonging to a community and they provide all the support during and after the course.

I was always skeptical about bootcamps. The huge turn-off for me moreover, was online course.
Aside that, I have years of working experience in IT industry and knew that organising work from home is not so easy, specially when the team is not matured enough but I have to say, CodeOp proved me absolutely wrong.
I was impressed how fast the teachers could organize remote classes and how efficient they were.
It was an amazing experience. Although difficult sometimes (really difficult) but it changed my life.
Pros:
1) Teachers: teachers are very good and even the ones that are trainees/assistants. They give vivid explanations and are able to understand the mind of the student (hello Emefa!)
2) Schedule and class structure: I liked that we had schedule for lectures and exercises and could plan our day accordingly
3) Curriculum: logical daily challenges, data structures and algorithms, Vue… Easy stuff you learn in the pre-course, hard stuff you learn in class.
4) Support chat: if you are stuck on something you can get help here, even after the class, even on weekend, sometimes even at night! But of course it depends on people availability.
5) Career week: Real HRs come to help to write your CV, prepare for the interview and answer your questions. Imagine my surprise when I realised that with one of the HRs training us I had an interview 2 years ago! Plus career coaching, mocked interviews and presentations from different people (we had a very interesting presentation from Head of IT in Siemens Energy!)
6) During the projects phase you have an option to attend lectures of other groups on different topics if you wish
7) Location and office (if you go for offline bootcamp when we are out of quarantine)
Cons:
1) I wish flesh lectures schedule was pre-planned or we had a list of the available ones (although they list of the lectures is growing all the time)

I was attracted to the course as it was the only Bootcamp aimed for only women that I had found. Having had a difficult time in the tech world in the past, I felt I needed the extra nurturing and support of an all female learning environment. The course itself was well designed and put together, giving us a strong grounding in Javascript fundamentals and taking us through quite a fair bit of algorithms and data structures that you might find ona University CS programme. However, this was much more practical, with all tuition centered around the latest tech stack that the majority of companies are adopting: namely node.js, express, React and MySQL. On top of that, there was the opportunity to learn additional trending technologies that was more tailored to our projects and the needs of the group. Most valuable of all however, we were given incredible jobseeking support, with lots of lectures and presentations by recruiters, and people in industry who have already ventured far into the world of tech. Also the means of communication and structuring of the day gave us a good insight into working in a tech company, as we got used to Agile methodologies, daily stand-ups and weekly review meetings to feed back on how things were going with us. The pace of the course is nevertheless intense, and it is strongly advised to carry out all the pre-course work and to study as much as possible prior to starting the course. Emefa, our course leader was incredibly kind, patient and organized and the whole team was supportive, caring and eager to help us especially as we worked through the pandemic lockdown and were doing the course 100% online for the first time. Despite all of these issues, everyone was incredibly positive and business as usual and I didn't feel as if the course suffered for being online. Katrina, the CEO, is an amazing person, who was seriously encouraging and engaged, her passion and positivity is infectious and she is incredibly supportive of all her students. I would recommend the course to anyone. I didn't want it to end and would love to go back and do the data science one someday.

Super contenta amb l'experiència a CodeOp, és un curs intens, d'11 setmanes, però molt, molt recomanable. Val la pena fer la pre-work que t'envien abans de començar el curs, això et permetrà no anar tant perduda quan comencis el curs. El programa és molt complet, intens, ràpid, molt ràpid, però val molt la pena, aprens moltíssim!
La xarxa de suport tècnic durant tot el curs és espectacular, en tot moment et pots posar en contacte amb companyes i professors/es per tal de resoldre dubtes.
Si tens ganes d'aprendre i de treballar fort per fer un canvi a la teva vida, no ho dubtis! :)

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Super contenta con la experiencia en CodeOp, es un curso intenso, de 11 semanas, pero muy, muy recomendable. Vale la pena hacer la pre-work que te envían antes de empezar el curso, esto te permitirá no ir tan perdida cuando empieces el curso. El programa es muy completo, intenso, rápido, muy rápido, pero vale mucho la pena, aprendes muchísimo!
La red de soporte técnico durante todo el curso es espectacular, en todo momento puedes contactar con compañeras y profesores / as para resolver dudas.
Si tienes ganas de aprender y de trabajar fuerte para conseguir un cambio en tu vida, no lo dudes! :)

I had been contemplating a transition into tech for a while when I decided to google for a tech bootcamp. I had two challenges – time and money. As a working mother of three there were demands on my time and monthly budget. I had initially dabbled in free online classes; at one point I had even paid for an online course. Juggling work and family and finding time to study, it was very easy to fall behind and not keep to my study schedule. I needed something I would be able to commit to for a period of time - 10 – 12 weeks was manageable and I needed an institution that could provide not only a scholarship but a fee payment plan as well that would not make me overstretch my finances.
Code Op checked the two boxes and in addition, the fact that it situated in Barcelona Spain the weather was perfect and the visa process painless: two key considerations if you come from Africa (or maybe it’s just me.)

The curriculum was intense and engaging. In the first 6 weeks, one gets to understand the fundamentals in morning lectures and as well as put into practice new knowledge in the afternoon working on assignments.
Monday through to Thursday typically would involve problem solving sessions from 9 – 10, then lectures for about 2 hours and review of the previous days coding assignment then the afternoons would be spend working on coding assignments. Fridays involved, guest sessions and weekly tests to gauge comprehension and application of things you learnt during the week. Week 7 – 10 was fun, the climax in my book of the bootcamp. It was all about putting all we had learned , in the previous weeks, into projects, creating your first minimum viable product (MVP) then adding a feature to a fellow student MVP and lastly the group collabo project, where you had to work with fellow student to create a product from scratch, separate responsibilities in delivering the final project and showcasing your finished work.

During the period of the course, you have one on one sessions with the career coach and networking opportunities. Week 11, the last week, is career week and you have chance to improve your white-boarding skills, work on your CV and LinkedIn profile and prepare for the real world.

Code Op uses Slack to keep us connected to the lecturers and mentors as well as ourselves as students. Two months after graduation, I am still part of the community and I am also able to be there for new and incoming bootcamp students and still get support in the job search and navigating life after bootcamp. We discuss coding, big up projects but also share cool resources and job links that we may come across… there is even a mouth-watering recipes channel.

Code Op have an open door policy, you are able to access support from the staff when you need it. To be honest , it didn't have to be code related...it is 360 degree wholesome support. The staff is approachable and non judgmental. The fact that a number have transitioned careers and understand the pressure of going through a bootcamp makes the engagement with them meaningful and fulfilling.

CodeOp is housed at Cloud-works co working space, this provides an atmosphere to mingle with a great start up and take part in tech and business networking opportunities.
Overall experience: 9/10 . I recommend CodeOp specially given that it is inclusive and non ageist! I was embraced as a 45 year old , renaissance woman , mother of three. I thrived and I am better for it. …you are never too old! If you are thinking about it - #JustDoIt