CarrerFoundry Full Stack Web Development Review
A Quick Verdict on CareerFoundry for Your Career Change:
If you are looking to transition from a different career into web development, my experience suggests the CareerFoundry program is an excellent option. The course offered significant flexibility with its part-time remote model and cost around £3500 at the time of enrollment was one of the more affordable options available on the market. Most importantly, they provided robust support including mentors, tutors who review your code weekly, a job guarantee scheme, and access to a career coach for CV reviews and interview preparation.
About Bootcamps in General
Taking a break from our regular stream of smart tech reviews I thought I’d share something more personal as this site is very much a hobby for me. By day I am a web developer however, this was originally my career path before making the switch roughly 2.5 years ago largely thanks to finding resources like CareerFoundry Full Stack Web Development bootcamp in the online market today.
In this blog post I’ll share my experience and perspective of the part-time fully remote web development bootcamp offered by them specifically. To understand what a bootcamp is, generally speaking it refers to an intense and fast paced learning program where you focus on one specific skill area very quickly with high intensity. Over the last 5-10 years loads of these educational opportunities have come onto the market for anyone interested in coding.
You will find that some programs are full time while taking place inside a physical classroom, and others offer part-time learning models designed to be fully remote over the internet. This approach gives you a huge amount of flexibility regarding your schedule but they’re not cheap with many courses costing around £12,000 for enrollment alone.
The CareerFoundry programme is one of these affordable ones at the time I completed my studies and it cost me about £3500. Please note that prices in education can shift so slightly now compared to when you first check their pricing list but there are often savings available if you sign up directly through any of their official promotional discount pages.
Why Did I Choose This Course
Prior to choosing the CareerFoundry course over alternatives, I spent a significant amount of time researching into bootcamps exploring full-time and part-time options alongside in-person versus online choices specifically. In my initial research phase regarding costs, I found that financial expense was a deciding factor so wrote off courses such as Flatiron’s Academy programs or The Maker Academy due to their pricing structure alone.
Alongside cost concerns, I wanted three key things from the course provider itself and they delivered on these points:
- I needed part-time scheduling capability because paying bills is important while maintaining a full-time job alongside learning skills
- I required career support to make a successful transition from my existing background in youth work into professional coding jobs without needing total reinvention of who I am as an employee
The third point was crucial for me: A course where you would have ongoing support alongside just the technical content curriculum which is standard. When CareerFoundry offers enrollment to anyone they provide access to a mentor and tutor who both work professionally in programming roles currently so their feedback reflects real world standards.
In researching I also found that CareerFoundry had established a job guarantee scheme for students enrolling under certain conditions if you completed the course but didn’t find employment within 6 months after graduation, then eligible to get a full refund of the tuition fees provided. There are other schools offering these types of guarantees but CareerFoundry’s specific terms seemed to have fewer hoops compared to competitors which suggests confidence in their courses and ability for graduates to change careers successfully.
Coding Experience Before Starting
In the interest of being fully transparent about my background I want to share that prior to taking this bootcamp with CareerFoundry, I wasn’t completely new to coding concepts entirely but rather had foundational exposure. Whilst my 15 year career before the course had been primarily in Youth Work services for organizations helping young people grow and understand themselves better, a lot of our school sixth form courses back then were computer based classes so we learned basic programming skills early on.
I created personal WordPress sites during that time usually for charity work projects or whatever small organization I worked with when available. This meant my status prior to the course was by no-means considered experienced as a senior programmer but wasn’t new to code syntax at all since writing logic before is essential knowledge in this field.
Prior to enrolling in bootcamp training, I also went through a good portion of freeCodeCamp curriculum materials which are widely available on the internet for learners who want guidance. This helped me decide if web development was truly what direction I wanted my life and career path to take going forward after leaving Youth Work behind.
The logic here is that investing in a bootcamp involves real monetary cost so you absolutely must be sure about how you are spending your money on training yourself for better future opportunities. If you’re thinking about getting into coding professionally I’d strongly recommend doing the same verification step before committing financially to any course provider.
The freeCodeCamp material is excellent as a starting point because they break down complex topics into bite sized pieces that anyone can understand without prior professional background in computer science engineering specifically needed for entry level roles generally speaking nowadays these days.
CareerFoundry Full Stack Web Development Course Details
The CareerFoundry web development course is officially structured as a full-stack program which means it covers both frontend and backend technology areas extensively so you can build complete applications from user interfaces down to server logic. When I say “Frontend” this refers specifically to the visual stuff users see when they look at websites including buttons, forms and layouts while “backend” involves all of the magic that happens behind scenes regarding data storage.
This explanation is a bit simplified but it covers most concepts effectively for someone starting out. When you come to programming there are many different web development courses teaching slightly different languages across stacks which might confuse people initially looking into options available in market research phase specifically about curriculum content offered by various providers currently offering online training globally.
They all start with HTML, CSS and JavaScript required for frontend work regardless of path selected but the backend language choice changes often. Some programs teach Python while others use Ruby or Go depending on where they are focused geographically since languages vary across regions sometimes without impact quality overall learning outcome necessarily though some do prefer one over another based company culture specifically.
CareerFoundry teaches JavaScript which was actually a major reason I chose their course for my studies personally. This enabled me to go deep into a single program language rather than just learning little bits of several things simultaneously without depth in any particular area. Javascript is the backbone so mastering it allows you to use libraries and frameworks built on top easily.
You also learn specific libraries as well such as jQuery, Node.js runtime environment for server side scripting using Express framework which handles requests efficiently within web apps developed under their guidance curriculum path specifically designed by instructors experienced in industry. You will encounter React library popularized widely throughout the tech world alongside react native app frameworks enabling cross platform development with mobile skills.
You learn those main technologies thoroughly but you also get a tiny bit of Vue.js and Angular framework concepts which are different alternatives available for frontend application building if you choose to pivot later on in career path without needing total restart experience entirely from zero starting point again completely fresh after finishing bootcamp studies there with CareerFoundry support team.
The course operates as part-time commitment requiring regular engagement but not all day every day. You can complete the program over 7 months depending on your own pacing if you use their flexible enrollment options correctly so I recommend doing around 20 hours per week generally speaking for balanced schedule between study work life balance.
I found this weekly time block was about right and there was opportunity to go at your own pace which meant I could do more assignments when I had free time off or less during busy weeks without penalty applied to my progress through modules specifically tracked in their portal system used for student enrollment management purposes generally speaking online across all major web platforms offering course hosting services.
The CareerFoundry Support System
CareerFoundry also provides you with three key areas of support which made a huge difference during my own study journey specifically regarding success metrics tracked in job placement reports released annually by their career team after graduates start new positions at various companies worldwide across multiple sectors.
Your Tutor
This person is someone who works professionally within tech industries and has worked for minimum 5 years before becoming tutor assigned to you typically. They are your first port of call whenever you get stuck with code errors or logic problems that cannot be resolved through standard tutorials available online on forums like StackOverflow usually.
I found they also look at every single line of code throughout your modules regularly which means a real human is checking whether your approach to problem solving aligns with modern standards for software engineering best practices adopted globally by major organizations currently hiring in 2017 onwards specifically since market shifted heavily toward cloud computing adoption trends recently.
This support structure ensures someone there helps you when stuck on assignment tasks without giving answers directly but guiding through debugging process effectively which makes learning stick permanently rather than just copying solutions blindly from internet tutorials generally speaking available free of charge anywhere online easily accessible these days nowadays.
My tutor was fantastic! They were genuinely enthusiastic about my progress throughout the program so encouragement mattered a lot to me personally when I encountered difficult challenges during coding sessions regularly scheduled weekly check in meetings specifically designed by mentor team for this purpose across all cohorts enrolled globally simultaneously currently at one time roughly speaking as of course start dates usually available on their website main portal enrollment page.
Your Mentor
The role of a mentor is different from tutor although similar sometimes depending how company defines roles specifically within career structure models adopted by various education organizations offering bootcamps globally across regions including UK based providers mostly focused here at home for our local market needs. The person who looks through your big project submission file usually at end of each module review cycle.
You have video calls with mentor throughout entire course duration allowing you to look over work done together visually but also discuss questions about career change process and gather tips from them specifically regarding job search strategies they employ personally in own experience working professionally currently today across industry sectors relevant for graduates entering web development field generally speaking starting now.
In my case my first mentor went AWOL during early modules so I ended up with two mentors throughout course duration. The second one was excellent full of helpful advice regarding interview questions and career portfolio building strategies which helped me prepare significantly better than expected overall outcome for job placement success rates post completion regardless specific cohort number typically handled by each assigned instructor staff member.
This dual mentor support system meant I had extra backup person to help if primary assignment dropped out unexpectedly. Both were good generally speaking but second one excelled particularly well as someone who genuinely cared about student outcomes after finishing training specifically tailored for career transition programs designed with this goal in mind by management team overseeing curriculum development decisions.
Your Career Coach
This final piece of support is given when you finish your bootcamp entirely so you can start job hunt phase immediately afterwards without losing momentum gained throughout learning process over previous 7 months specifically covering technical skills acquisition as well as soft skill interview training components included in their comprehensive package offerings.
You are then handed access to a career coach and the full CareerFoundry career course platform which helps prepare your CV, LinkedIn profile page updates, online portfolio GitHub repository links etc so you present professionally before walking into room with hiring managers looking for next hire specifically within engineering departments of companies who care about diversity backgrounds like mine from youth work sector originally.
This person looks through every detail and offers advice tips on where to focus energy first since time management is vital when applying for jobs simultaneously while potentially still employed full-time currently during transition period. They might even do mock interviews with you before big rounds which really helped prep me significantly better than I expected at all originally thinking about what questions might be asked specifically.
The coaching provided here by CareerFoundry career team members is excellent and offers resources beyond just basic resume templates available online for free elsewhere generally speaking without cost involved so it represents value added service included with tuition fee amount paid previously before course started initially. My own coach was truly great because they treated me like professional peer rather than junior employee needing guidance which created confidence boost when facing rejections earlier in search process.
Course Content Delivery
The vast majority of the course content delivery consists text and image based modules hosted directly within the Learning Management System used to track progress made across curriculum weeks specifically outlined for each phase starting from basics through advanced project work submission requirements included as graduation criteria at end.
This platform approach ensures consistent experience regardless if you are using laptop mobile phone device type generally speaking since it runs responsive web design standards adopted by modern browser engines supporting accessibility options built into system architecture designed inclusive user base needs including visually impaired users who rely on screen reader software technologies currently utilized across many organizations worldwide seeking diverse talent pipelines specifically now.
The CareerFoundry portal interface is intuitive with navigation menus clearly labeled for students looking to access new lesson material or previous assignments needing revision before submission deadline approaching generally speaking as weekly cycles turn over month by month during course duration typically running 7 months total length specified in program description found on homepage listing specifically under ‘Courses’ tab usually.
