Bootcamp recommendations?

Bootcamps lie and greatly exaggerate their numbers.

Not to mention you don't need a bootcamp.

Hi James, Boot Camps are a tricky subject. Personally I like the concept of a Boot Camp enough that I've done a little bit of researching myself. What I learned is that many of them go to great lengths to deceive potential recruits about the quality of their programs. This does not mean that there aren't any good ones, it just means you should really dig deep before committing to one. If you find one you like you should go to its physical location for a visit to scout it out before you sign any papers. Personally I've learned too many negative things about them so I'm no longer pursuing going to one. That said, I do understand the need for human interaction while learning to code. I would recommend that you network with other programmers through a site like meetup.com where you can get together with other programmers at designated locations. If things go well you could work on projects and hone your skills with others who are interested in the same technologies. With an external group of programmers that you can meet with you may find that the Treehouse Tech Degree is a better option than you originally thought. Also, You can start building experience by hiring out for basic gigs on platforms like upwork.com.

Hi Arleigh, I spent months researching both online bootcamps and brick and mortar bootcamps both near me (in NYC) and in other states. I just recently decided to sign up for Thinkful's online program. They have both a Full Time Intensive program that is about 4.5 months long and a Flexible Part Time program which should take about 6 months. Between the two, the curriculum and programming languages are the same. The main difference is the learning format. In the Full Time, there is a morning lecture (online) followed by pair programming with another student throughout the day. The Flexible is more of an online instructional for students who can't commit to 40+ hours a week. My main worry about the online bootcamps was the potential lack of support since I would be working alone- not with instructors that may be available at the brick and mortar bootcamps. After taking Thinkful's prep course (required for the Full Time) however, I learned that there really is a ton of support in case you get stuck with your coding. They provide several sessions with your mentor per week, they have many online Q&A sessions throughout the day with instructors where you can screen share (this is extremely helpful when stuck), and similar to Treehouse, there is an online community on their Slack page where you can post questions.

I was also looking for a structured curriculum. Unlike some of the free coding sites, the program is structured and project based. In the end you'll have several projects to show potential employers. Also, the languages they teach are supposedly in high demand. Front end is HTML, CSS, Javascript, J Query, React/Redux and back end is Node.js, Mongo DB, DB Express. They used to teach Ruby on the back end but switched to Node.js as the demand for Node grew and the demand for Ruby declined over the last few years. Most bootcamps still teach Ruby as their back end language. So it's mostly a Javascript based program.

There's also career support at the end in which they guarantee a job or your money back. Another company, Bloc, that has an online program also offers a job guarantee or your money back however their guarantee is based on a very long list of requirements in the fine print in order to be eligible for a refund. Thinkful's requirements are not nearly as stringent and lengthy. It's more simple and transparent.
Checkout their website to find out more about it. I hope this helps and that I didn't come across like an infomercial pitch. I'm just happy I finally selected a structured program that really seems to be a good fit. I'll be starting in early Sept. Best of luck to you Arleigh. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I know this is a bit outdated, but I’m putting in my two cents. I did a bootcamp, and I learned a lot, but man, my cohort, for the most part sucked. We were a diverse bunch, a good mix of young and old, male to female ratio was excellent, and the racial mix couldn’t have been better. The company I chose put forward a ton of effort to get us to learn, and were great, but the students, with a few exceptions were completely unwilling to help each other.

If you’re looking for some sort of interaction with other students, going for a program that isn’t full time is probably for the best. By the time my cohort finished, we were all zombies because of how tired we were from the work put in, and it didn’t need to be that way. At least not that bad if people had actually helped each other.

This advice isn’t necessarily directed at the original poster, since he seems to have straightened his schooling out, but to anyone who decides to do a coding bootcamp. Also, some companies stigmatize bootcamp grads, because some don’t learn. Finally, I learned JavaScript from Treehouse because my teacher and tutor were confusing me.