Sergio Martin

Review of Hack Reactor

My Background: I am a electronics engineer that wo...

My Background: I am a electronics engineer that worked from day 1 after college in the oil industry, I had some code experience in college with assembly and c++, but nothing at a professional level, I decided to give a twist to my life and career to do something I love, code!, and didn't want to spend 2 years or more to make it happen, that's why i went for MakerSquare.

The program: It is challenging! even before you actually join. You will have to pass a tech interview, and a 6 week pre-course material. Then 12 weeks of 9 hour days of coding 6 days a week.

Believe me when I tell you this, you will struggle!, there are many things to learn in a short period of time, at some point one might feel that one is not catching up with all the information, persistence is key.

The course is divided in 2 sections, the 'junior' (first 6 weeks) phase, and the 'senior' (the remaining weeks). As a junior you will basically receive everyday lectures to introduce you to the challenge you're about to phase, that is 2 days code 'mini-projects' called sprints where you and another student will pair program.

On the senior phase you will be teamed up, to develop projects, emulating a real world job environment.

My Opinion: You will only get what you put in, MakerSquare shows you the way, meaning that they teach how to learn more than anything else, but there is no hand holding, it is up to you, your commitment and desire to be a web developer.

Pros:

- MakerSquare know what they are doing, they have a solid curriculum, and a solid team that supports it.

- They deliver, this is an non-traditional learn environment, it is fast phased, and I felt at times this was not what I expected, well, I can only tell you this, I have a job as a full time web developer and I can code. I don't believe I would have been able to accomplish this by my own in the same amount of time.

- They dedicate a lot of time teaching you the so called 'soft-skills', that will help you to be a better person, professional and will help you to land in a job.

- I did the fellowship program after graduation, that is 3 months being part of MakerSquare, this was one of the best experiences I've ever had, and I am really thankful that I decided to go for it.

Cons:

- MakerSquare is not perfect, and there are some things IMO that can be improved, the good thing is that the MKS team knows it, and they spend a lot of time and effort to make it better every day.

- You will be surrounded by people that as you will struggle, there is a lot of pressure behind, the vast majority of quit their jobs pursuing a dream, they are putting their lives on hold so it might get tense at times.

Final words: If you are a self-driven person, that likes to figure out things, you are serious about becoming a developer, go for it!, MakerSquare is going to give you the tools you need to land a job and continue learning afterwards.