I first came across Flatiron School in the summer of 2016. The long summer holiday was an ideal time for exploring and contemplating career changes for a Montessori preschool teacher. After trying out some free courses on various coding platforms, which included Flatiron School’s Learn, Codecademy, and Udacity, I decided to enroll with the Community-powered Bootcamp (Full Stack Web Development Curriculum).
It made perfect sense for me to join this program March of 2017. It was a time of change, a transition period of getting ready to relocate from the history rich city of Philadelphia to Tampa Florida, the city of sunshine. It was a busy time of settling and re-establishing new routines, so I knew there would be many interludes, in which I would not have time to study. The flexibility to study at my own pace and only forking out $149 each month instead of the $1,500 per month for the Online Bootcamp made Community-Powered Bootcamp ideal for me.
Nearly a year and a half later, routines set & established and teaching career put aside, it made perfect sense to switch from Community-powered Bootcamp to the Online Bootcamp early August, this year. As the CPB curriculum covered is the same as that of the Online program, my completed labs carried over seamlessly.
Thoughts, experiences
Working on the labs without access to technical coach support and Learn instructor lead study group was not an easy task, especially when there were problemsin finishing up a lab. Ask a Question on the CPB and the CPB Slack group is not that active. However, the open Slack groups have been an excellent venue for getting help, especially when one is exasperated with not being able to setup rake console, which was coded exactly as effortlessly shown by Avi Flombaum on the Study Videos!
The major difference between the Ask a Question on CPB and Online was that the Online version is readily supported by technical coaches, including support via screen share if an issue is more complicated. Whilst on the CPB version, the only help you recived was from your fellow studens, some of whom, including myself, are on the program sporadically.
When I joined the Online program, it was like a breath of fresh air to discover the Learn instructors led study groups! I’ve lost count on the exact number that I attended… probably around 20 sessions in the 3 weeks since switching over. These study group sessions helped build my understanding of concepts learned while on the CPB track. In particular, the Sunday code challenge study group was very engaging, and solving problems with groups of my peers tested my abilities and encouraged me to hone in on my strengths and weaknesses.
Did you know that Portfolio projects submitted under the CPB track were not assessed by Learn instructors? That was another plus about the Online program, your portfolio projects were assessed. The experience gained from the assessment was great practice for the future, when I will be looking for a job. It prepared me for the one-on-one interview process of explaining my code and sharing my technical knowledge. I’m excited to re-submit my first Portfolio project soon.
I look forward to reviewing the labs I’ve completed and working on new labs with the support of Learn coaches and instructors. In particular, I look forward to the career service portion of the Online program.
This program strengthened my motivation to reach the career coaching stage and find a job as a junior developer.