London’s Coding Bootcamps 2019: A Comparison
Some notes to help you find the right place for you
Changing careers is a massive decision. If you want to fast-track your career into tech, you’re wise to consider training at a coding bootcamp as it can catalyse your introduction into companies who are hiring.
There are various options in London and last year we outlined them here. This year, we’ve updated that info. We know that Makers isn’t for everyone, which is why we wanted to list some of the other key players.
As always, we run a number of events to bring you onto the Makers campus and so do our competitors. This is probably the best way to familiarise yourself with the various options: meeting the teams, interacting with other students, and experiencing each specific atmosphere in person.
In 2019, we introduced She Made It —a new event series designed to help women take control of their career destinies. You might not even be seriously considering learning to code right now, but you want to get a feel of the Makers campus (and maybe you want to bring a friend! Who isn’t interested in coding at all). We host these events regularly — find out about them here.
Choosing where to train is a personal and important decision, so equipping yourself with as much data as possible might mean going to events at multiple campuses to see which resonate with you.
Codeworks
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Codeworks is an immersive coding bootcamp with campuses across several cities worldwide. You can attend their courses in-person at one of the available locations, or remotely from wherever you are. Programs include 8-week and 12-week full-time software engineering and full-stack web development courses.
Read more about Codeworks in EU-Startups here.
General Assembly
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General Assembly offers a range of full-time, part-time, and self-paced courses. They have a number of financial assistance options available including loans and scholarships. For many of the programs, students are given a career coach and the opportunity to attend various networking events.
Watch this video about GA in the Financial Times here.
Le Wagon
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Le Wagon is an intensive, full-time international bootcamp geared toward entrepreneurs who want to gain coding skills. Participants complete 450 hours of coding in 9 weeks, which includes building their own web app. After completing the program, students join an international alumni network of 3,150+ for career support and community.
Read more about Le Wagon in Techcrunch here.
Founders & Coders
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Founders and Coders offers a 16-week immersive, full-time coding bootcamp. The program is task-based and peer-led, enabling students to take turns delivering workshops, running code reviews and managing projects centered on JavaScript stack (JavaScript and Node.js) with relational databases, as well as UX design.
Read more about Founders & Coders in the Guardian here.
Flat Iron
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Flatiron School is an outcomes-focused coding bootcamp that offers Full Stack Web Development and Data Science programs on its NYC, Washington, D.C., London, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle and online campuses. Flatiron School has led the bootcamp industry on outcomes, backing its 97% job placements rate and $76k starting salary with annual independently-verified jobs reports. Flatiron School also offers several free introductory courses, including Coding and Data Science Boot Camp Prep.
Read more about Flatiron in the Evening Standard here.
When it comes to reviewing Makers, we recently created a new video for those who are curious about what makes us tick:
We thought it best to quote our graduates directly. Below is a word-for-word Switchup Review from Ben Reynolds-Carr of October 2019:
“I decided to move into software engineering as I was looking for something more challenging and focussed on problem solving. I was recommended Makers by a friend who already worked in engineering; he worked alongside Makers Alums who had been hired by his company after the course, so I knew going in that their methods worked.
The Makers course encourages you to get into the learning mindset, without being punishing if you don’t understand something straight away. The early weeks consist of pairing with other members of your cohort on weekly challenges, which have multiple ways of approaching them (walkthroughs, reference materials). If there are concepts you don’t understand in those early weeks, you’ll continue to encounter them in different contexts going forward, so there’s very often a realisation a week after you’re introduced to a concept as to how it can be applied, as well as a really supportive coaching team who will unblock you if you feel you’re struggling.
Makers focusses on Ruby at the start of the course, as opposed to JavaScript, which is more standard in the industry, however Ruby is a comparatively simple language for learning object-oriented programming and test-driven development, and they also teach you how to effectively learn new languages based on your understanding of an existing language.
Along with coding, you’re also learning effective communication and Agile team-working styles that are used in the industry. You’ll have seminars on effective communication and empathy alongside how to develop good algorithms, and yoga to destress after a long day writing code.
By the end of the course, you’ll have a strong portfolio of work, a process for developing code and you’ll be able to work effectively in teams, taking a final project from ideation to demonstration in just two weeks.
After the course, you get access to monthly jobs fairs with the Makers hiring partners. You also get a great support structure from the careers team from CV reviews and mock interviews, to offering you support if you are feeling disheartened.”
The focus on agile and test-driven development is often quoted as a reason why Makers stands out from other providers, as well as having the largest alumni network of software engineers in the UK.
However, there are also other common reasons cited, like our emphasis on holistic development.
You can read posts from our Chief Joy Officer Dana here: she supports Makers through emotional intelligence training and regular yoga sessions.
As recent Maker Ruth Baker wrote:
“IMO the things that work most in Makers’ favour are:
- careers support
- behaviours practiced during the course
- momentum of exposure to technical content
- the community”
For more about “the most vibrant, supportive, diverse and fun alumni community in tech”, read more here.
