Sunday, August 17, 2014

FINAL POST!

Hey everyone thank you all for following my blog.

It's been officially 2 weeks since the end of the bootcamp and I am proud to say that I am employed full-time as a Full Stack Software Engineer.

I have my first official day tomorrow.

I couldn't be happier with the result of Coding Dojo's bootcamp experience.

3 months ago I took a dive into the world of coding without being fully certain as to whether I'll be employable as a developer in a matter of 3 months.

Now I am very proud of myself and many of my classmates who received job offers.

As of now, I believe about half of my classmates have received job offers and the other half are still working on getting their skills up to par. That's really the beauty of coding dojo. If you work a little slower than the pace of the class or if concepts take a little longer, you are more than welcome to stick around and make sure you are ready to enter the workforce.

On the other hand, there were some students that ended up voluntarily dropping out of the program for various reasons. Some thought that the curriculum didn't fit their learning style and some simply could not keep up with the concepts and new information. Coding Dojo definitely works hard at making sure that their curriculum is updated, however there will always be some students that don't do as well in any academic setting.


My best advice for anyone considering Coding Dojo are the following:
1. This bootcamp is not a joke. Expect to dedicate 70 hours a week to coding.
2. Notify your other priorities that you are not as available. Whether its parents, significant other, etc it's important that you set reasonable expectations for them.
3. The people that learn the quickest are the ones that have had the most exposure to coding. Do as much self-study as possible before coming for your first day. You don't have to know a lot, but it's important to be exposed to the topics and concepts.
4. Don't try to learn everything on the first try. Whenever I learned a new topic, I never tried to understand every little aspect of it on the first time around. Coding Dojo's curriculum is made so that you are to learn through repetition. With each iteration, you get better and better.
5. Take care of your body. The bootcamp is a marathon, you gotta stay healthy. Don't go out drinking or put your body in harm's way. Each day that you miss is a huge loss and you gotta dedicate some time over the weekend to catch up.
6. If you're not behind the curriculum, relax as much as you can on the weekends.


I have gotten everything I wished for in this bootcamp.

I have entered an exciting industry, I am getting a much better salary, and I have acquired many skills that are so valuable.


If you guys have any personal questions feel free to email me at twhang.dev@gmail.com

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for blogging this. pushed coding dojo up on my list

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  2. Hey Tae, do you know anything about Coding Dojo's remote course?

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    1. Hey Dan. I do not know anything about the remote course. However I honestly do not recommend any remote courses. The experience of being in the classroom with the teacher and classmates was invaluable.

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  3. Congratulations on starting a new career. I am doing Coding Dojo's online course and recognize the lessons and assignments described in your blog. Right now I am studying the MEAN stack and it is difficult, but yes repetition is the key. Thanks so much for detailing your experience at Coding Dojo. It's really helpful and inspiring.

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  4. Hi Tae! I'm really enjoying your posts. I'm in "week 4 weekend" so far of your notes. I'm from Argentina and I'm planning to travel to the USA and take one of this bootcamps.
    What I would really appreciate are the assignments they gave you, and if by any chance you still have them. I mean, as you mentioned, there is tone of material online to read, but almost any exercise.
    I'll continue reading your notes, I really like your storytelling lol.
    Cheers,
    Javier.

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    1. Hey Javier. Sorry for the late response. I highly recommend the courses that I mentioned in the first couple of posts in my blog. CodeSchool and Michael Hartl's guide of Ruby on Rails were my favorite.

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  5. Really appreciate the article! Where did you get a job offer and what are some of the companies that your class mates accepted offers at?

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  6. Hi Tae,
    I'm sure its in your blog somewhere, what city did you take class in?

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  7. Hi Tae do u recommend trying to work a job while in coding dojo program and how do I come across some of the material to study before the boot camp

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  8. I am curious about students who receive job offers with no previous coding experience. I took a UX DESIGN course and completed an intense program but after 3 months and over 200 applications haven't even had an interview. No experience no job.

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  9. Wow after 1 week you got a job, most applications i see require at least 2 years experience.

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