Founded in 2012, Coding Dojo is one of the first coding bootcamps to provide students with an alternative route to a traditional four-year computer science program. Since then, the bootcamp has established five campuses across the United States with a global reach online. It boasts over 8,000 graduates who have since launched their careers in tech.
Coding Dojo offers Data Science, Cybersecurity, and UX/UI Design programs, which can be done on a part-time basis online or onsite. Finally, its flagship Software Development programs are offered in a variety of formats (full-time, part-time, and in-person as well as online. The program covers a three-stack curriculum rather than the conventional one-stack approach. Students will find that the full stack program comprises Python, MERN, and Java or C#.
Unlike the other programs, the Software Development program can be taken full-time or part-time. Given this flexibility, you are likely to find a schedule that fits your needs and availability.
With all its offerings and accumulated teaching experience, one can’t help but ask: Is Coding Dojo a worthy investment for students? To give you an answer, in this article we will show you a few Coding Dojo reviews that will help you understand the school’s value proposition.
Coding Dojo offers full-time and part-time programs to help career changers and upskillers break into tech with a manageable time commitment.
Apply to Coding Dojo today.A Day in the Life of a Full-Time Coding Dojo Student
For full-time Coding Dojo students, classes start at 9am with an algorithm challenge review. In this exercise, students write their solutions on a whiteboard and then discuss them with the instructors. The difficulty of the algorithms increases as the bootcamp progresses along.
Lectures and discussions take place from 10am to 11am. The lectures walk students through daily topics, including demonstrations on how technologies and tools of the trade work. The next hour is dedicated to group activity. Coding Dojo believes that collaboration is a must-have skill for any modern developer. Therefore, students are encouraged to work on difficult group projects to strengthen their teamwork abilities.
Class breaks for a one-hour lunch break. During the break, students get the chance to play ping pong or foosball or interact with other students. Occasionally, “tech talks” are hosted over lunch, where developers from various companies will come to speak about their professional experience. Separately, Coding Dojo organizes a sports day so that students have the opportunity to go out, play, and get to know each other better.
Between 1pm and 5pm is “crunch time” at Coding Dojo. According to the school, this is when students learn the most. Students review course information, assignments, and projects for the next day. On some afternoons, Coding Dojo does live coding sessions in front of the students.
Later in the day, students can opt to stay on campus or work on the projects from home. Usually, students stay on campus until 8.30pm or even 10pm and come in on Saturday to get the most out of the bootcamp. Coding Dojo’s students have access to teachers for 12 to 14 hours of the day. If they need further assistance, online chat support is available until 7pm.
Alumni Reviews: Is Coding Dojo Worth It?
Jeremy Johns: From a Restaurant Manager to an IT Program Manager
Jeremy Johns, an IT Program Manager at DocuSign, used to work in the service industry, where he managed hotels and bars for 20 years. Although he enjoyed his work, Jeremy realized he needed a change in life. Incidentally, one of the bars Jeremy worked in was right by the Microsoft office. From them, he learned about coding bootcamps and eventually enrolled in Coding Dojo’s full-time Software Development program.
Jeremy admits that learning at Coding Dojo was hard. Many times, he doubted if he could finish the program, seeing that he had zero programming experience. However, the support he got from the Coding Dojo network helped him overcome his doubts. “I learned more than I thought I would be able to in that period. I learned how to balance a lot of things about tech and the learning of tech and progressing.”
Coding Dojo also shifted his mindset from wanting to know everything to pacing himself in learning new things. “It was a big wake-up call that I was like, no, you’re just not going to know everything about this. You need to take your time, learn what you can, and just progress. I’m going to learn more every day and get better at it.”
At Coding Dojo, Jeremy learned how to filter big amounts of information without being completely overloaded. The skill helped him to complete the program successfully by deploying three big tests. At the end of the bootcamp, Jeremy had built a website from scratch and used it as proof of his accomplishments in job interviews and chats with the people in the tech industry.
In the first couple of months after the bootcamp, Jeremy relates that he had sent out 60 to 70 resumes. Seeing that he had years of management experience, he felt that he had more to offer than just being an engineer and decided to apply for the program manager role. After a successful interview, Jeremy was hired as a program manager at DocuSign.
“I absolutely love it,” Jeremy enthuses about his job at where he has been for over a month. He notes that one of the great things about Coding Dojo was learning how to filter through overwhelming information. “It has really been a great process to be able to use it [the knowledge] already just in the month that I’ve been at DocuSign, going through their training material, going through meetings.”
Jeremy’s piece of advice for those who might be considering enrollment in Coding Dojo’s bootcamp is very straightforward. “Do it. If it’s something you’re even interested in, just do it,” he says, joking that the “worst-case scenario” is that you’re just going to learn something. “[But] that is not even a worst-case because it is a good thing.”
Enoch Strok: A Veteran-Turned-Solution Architect
Enoch Strok is a veteran who graduated from Coding Dojo’s Full-time Software Development program. Prior to enrolling, Enoch already had some tech experience working as a data analyst. However, he wanted to build his skillset to grow his career.
Enoch chose Coding Dojo to help him upskill, primarily because of how it allowed him to receive immersive training at an affordable cost. The bootcamp allowed him to use his VA education benefits to pay 60 percent of tuition costs, and it offered him flexible financing options to pay the remaining 40 percent.
Speaking about his learning experience at Coding Dojo, Enoch highlighted the convenience of Coding Dojo’s online learning program and the well-thought structure of the course. “They did a really good job on me managing that [the course]… I think the schedule was really good at Coding Dojo. How much you get absorbed, how much you absorb in such a little time is just fantastic.”
The skills Enoch obtained at Coding Dojo helped him offer custom solutions and earn a higher income. “It completely opened up the doors to providing solutions. I’m extensively writing an API server to pull data from SAS that we use…using what I learned at Coding Dojo,” says Enoch.
Now, Enoch works as a Solution Architect at SKIS Painting, Inc. His advice for those considering enrolling in the Coding Dojo course is “to get the most out of it” and “be okay with not understanding everything right away.” “It’s a big commitment, but it’s worth it.”
Break into Tech with Coding Dojo
Coding Dojo has a decade’s experience in part-time and full-time programs in Software Development, Data Science, Cybersecurity, and UX/UI Design. Going by alumni testimonies, one can see that the school is geared towards ensuring equal opportunities and access to interested candidates. Hence, the various options that have been designed to fit your needs.
Coding Dojo promises to have your back. So, if you, too, want to break into tech like Jeremy Johns, then Coding Dojo is a good place to start. Make that first move by learning more about Coding Dojo or proceed straight to the application, if you are already raring to start.
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