General Assembly vs Makers Academy vs Founders and Coders vs Flatiron
By: Jenny Judova
Tags: Code Newbie, Programming, General Assembly, Women In Tech, Bootcamp

General Assembly vs Makers Academy vs Founders and Coders vs Flatiron

As I started telling friends and colleagues that I am starting a Bootcamp a question that kept popping up are: which one are you going to and why GA?

I did the breakdown of Bootcamps a while back so the research I did to choose a Bootcamp was heavily influenced by the one I did in April. Also at around the same time, a friend whos opinion I trust was doing her due diligence on Bootcamps.

Flatiron

After the acquisition by WeWork Flatiron was not even on my radar. I have heard amazing things about the original school in America but I heard nothing about the UK version. Nothing good, nothing bad, and that is suspicious. Also, the only person who I have met who went through Flatiron was such a rare douchebag that thank you no thank you. Courses should accept only nice people.

Makers Academy

Makers for me was out very quickly mostly because their website has zero useful information. And when you do find the curriculum it’s very fluffy. This lack of a coherent syllabus was against them, as was the peer to peer approach to education. But what got to me was that most of the learning happens via paired programming. I know that it’s a common thing IRL but I want to learn to code by my lonesome, I am very content doing things solo.

I cannot overemphasise how much I dislike group projects at early stages of learning. If I am better than someone I have to slow down to accommodate someone else. And when I am slower (I am dyslexic and my reading pace is glacial) I get pressured into speeding to accommodate someone else. I like learning on my terms on my own time.

Maker’s had one thing going for it and that is the job guarantee. The downside was again the lack of information. Do I get a choice of placement, do they help negotiate a salary, what is the salary? Will I be pressured to take a job I don’t want at a salary I don’t like because they are being paid recruitment fees?

The final nail in my decision to avoid Maker’s was running into a highly unlikeable male with no concept of personal space who spent way too long going on about how awesome they are but when asked about the syllabus he shrugged and said that all Bootcamps are the same. His company worked with Maker’s, and that marked them as ‘avoid’. I am a female in tech being able to identify safe spaces is why I still enjoy tech.

Founders and Coders

Founders and Coders — this was my first choice for a very long time. I loved their website, the energy, people I trusted talked very highly of them. The pre-course workload felt challenging. I went to a good few of their Monday meetups and to be honest though I enjoyed the energy I found them not useful. Everyone was encouraged to work in groups something that in the early stages of learning I find unnecessarily challenging (see the section on Maker’s). The disappointing part was when I asked the teaching assistants for help there was no guidance. I would ask for help and then after not getting the guidance, I would just continue googling and searching stack overflow for a solution. I know that TAs are themselves new developers but some guidance would be nice.

In the end, what made me decide against C&F was the lack of a syllabus and the rumour that the course is asking for donations. I am uncomfortable spending months of my life not knowing what I will be studying and how much it will cost me.

General Assembly

GA was not my first choice, it wasn’t my last either but it was not a leader in this race. Like any good relationship, it took a few weeks for me to go from ‘Meh maybe’ to ‘YES!’

I have friends who had success with GA. I also took one of their free workshops to see if their teaching style will suit me — it did. The lecturer was amazing and someone who has gone through the Bootcamp I wanted to go through and working at Asos. The people in the class seemed nice, and more importantly the demographic looked similar to any tube carriage in London which is a plus in my books.

I also enjoyed the teaching method they were using online. The syllabus suited me, and I liked the classroom teaching method. Also although they don’t promise a job at the end of the course, the career coaching and help to negotiate the salary sounds promising. The help continues until the moment I find a job.

My admissions manager was fantastic. And I received a partial scholarship so that sealed the deal.

Conclusion

It’s week 2 of my General Assembly Immersive Software Engineering Bootcamp so for I love it. I like the teachers and TA’s, like the teaching methodology, I like my peers. Special shout out for the great onboarding process.

But then ask me again what I think in December, and if I find a job by early 2020.

I chose the course that felt most transparent and told me upfront what I am paying for.