Margaret Berry

Review of Epicodus

I am very thankful for my time at Epicodus, and fo...

I am very thankful for my time at Epicodus, and for the opportunities it has opened up for me. When I started, I had very little programming experience aside from a few online tutorials. I learned an amazing amount in 6 months. As a developer, you'll need to learn new skills and technologies quickly, and Epicodus gives you great practice!

I think pair programming is a very effective way to learn, and it gives you a taste of what it's like working on a development team. You get to know your classmates very well, and walk away with new friends, and a strong professional network.

Learning is self-driven, with a teacher providing support, but mostly letting you work through problems with your partner. It was definitely stressful and difficult at times, but also fun and interesting. The weekly code reviews give you a chance to assess what you understand and what you need to study. Most of the time you're creating projects from scratch, which gives you a clear understanding of what all the pieces are doing, but not a lot of experience diving into an existing codebase. I thought the curriculum taught relevant skills, with Git, JavaScript, JavaScript frameworks, and SQL being particularly valuable.

Epicodus provides help with LinkedIn, resumes, cover letters, interview practice, and also with the demo days several times a year. You start using Git on day one, and will have a solid GitHub profile by the end of the program. I had a great internship experience, but they do seem to vary. You may not get a job through your internship, or immediately after graduation. I had to apply to a lot of jobs, and it took a few months before I got a paid development internship, but I did get there! Overall, Epicodus is a great value for your money. I highly recommend it!