Code Fellows

My journey with Code Fellows in Seattle was incredibly rewarding, largely because of the modular structure. The built-in repetition really helped cement coding and whiteboarding skills into my muscle memory. I started with the 101 course, which I loved, then moved straight into 201 and 301. After a six-month pause to focus on personal life and work, I returned for the 401 level. Opting for the night track extended the program slightly, but it was the perfect fit. It allowed me to keep earning an income and gave me the extra breathing room to digest the material without the frantic pace of the full-time day track. A major highlight was securing a scholarship, so definitely apply for aid if you have the opportunity—especially if you are a person of color. I even leveraged my employer to get additional support, making the investment well worth it as I could immediately apply my new skills on the job. Towards the end, we did follow some platform tutorials for projects, which was fine and actually boosted my confidence in my ability to tackle other frameworks later on. I didn’t cover Angular, but I’m confident I could pick it up now. Ultimately, the whiteboard practice and collaborative team projects were the biggest value-adds. I’m so happy I had the chance to learn alongside my teammates that I felt compelled to share this experience.

Attending Code Fellows in Seattle was the perfect launchpad for my career in software development. Unlike traditional college programs that focus heavily on theory, this program provided the hands-on industry experience I needed to step into a professional role with confidence. The greatest takeaway for me was mastering the art of self-directed learning. In a field where technology evolves so rapidly, knowing how to quickly adapt and pick up new skills is far more valuable than any single framework, and Code Fellows made sure I had that skill locked in.

I went to their orientation, hoping I could take a course in a particular language I want to augment. It's a ubiquitous language that assist in programming the biggest ecommerce platform in the world, so you would think it could be part of their curriculum, certainly as much as Python. Javascript, of course, made sense to me that they were teaching that, although they alluded that Node.js came first in the general courses. OK? I was told they graduate people in iOS, javascript, and Python only. They said this was because these 'stacks' were the best ones in which to get hired.. They also said a lot of their instructors were former students which kind of reminded me of MLM. They claim a 90% six-months after graduation placement rate. While I was there, a guy who was friends with someone else who graduated came in, and it turned out his friend was not working yet. They were moving out of the center of Amazonia, which was giving them great advertising, but maybe it wasn't appreciated by the powers that be. Their new office is still downtown, but much less 'cool'. My biggest issue was that the structure. The 101 level is $99 for the day(since this is an intro day only, set up MAYBE to scare off newbies, you would think it could be less). Still, not much for instruction, unless you find out it was utterly pointless and are desperate. After that, however, 201 is $3500, and 301 is $4500, but you don't start an actual specialized track until the 401 level, which is $12000. You're basically paying $8000 for some sort of fundamentals which are supposed to prep you for jscript and/or iOS. Seems to me 8k could get you some pretty good tutoring to five straight into either jscript or IOS, or you could go into a community college program, or grind your way through an online course for much less. Its not that 20k is too much to pay if you actually end up programming jscript or iOS, but I had an issue with paying that 8k upfront just to ramp up, although they claim you can test past these levels. Again, this didn't make sense either. What do they test you on? CSS? They claim to have a great success rate, and the vibe seemed professional, especially their claims to prep students for interviews, as well as networking, but how do you know that until you see it coming out the other end? Lot of money, and the orienteer made it clear they were for profit, and this was why they needed to protect their reputation. They also said it was really hard to place at Amazon, and mentioned the same three companies over and over, and none of them were the majors, minus one big travel company. Go to the orientation and see for yourself, but there are no shortcuts. Still, maybe its possible these guys can get you your money's worth. As I said, forking over 8k without knowing what track I'm on was a real issue for me.