Berkeley Boot Camps

Be me, complete coding noob turned coding aficionado in 12 weeks.  

This class blew my mind like a category 5 hurricane. If you take this class,
 make sure you're on hella coffee or Red Bull because the curriculum is fast, and that's the only way you are going to last.  
You learn the basics of coding as quick as a flash. 

That said, enter Professor David Hallinan. 
One in a million? More like one a googolplex.  Armed with a plethora of knowledge, he is the compass that guides you through the dark. Taking concepts that were as clear as mud and slaying the confusion.   He can break down complex ideas into easily digestible tidbits (a rarity in the tech world nowadays).  David truly cares about his students and goes the extra mile to give them additional time and learning material.  For you 90's kids- he's all that plus a bag of chips.

Sometimes, concepts in coding... like algorithms... can be as dry as a bone.  This is where Davids charisma kicks in. He's got an entertaining side.  You'll just have to take the course and see for your self. 

And, for a proper full course review, I can't forget my student success manager, Shani.  She's was also pivotal in helping me succeed with tutoring and answering every question I had and my career coach, Kim Black.  Together, these people set all the other courses, schools, and curriculums apart. 

To err is human; to edit, divine.  Take this class, it'll change your mind. 

GL HF DD
(Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die)

I took the Full Stack immersive(full time) at the UC Berkeley Extension. This program was, quite honestly, way more than what I was expecting.  And that's a good thing. The material was really comprehensive and well presented. The curriculum for this program is adjusted to reflect what technical skills are currently sought in the job market.

To get the most out of this program you should basically clear your schedule and be prepared to put in a lot of after class time(80+ hours a week).  

Although many of the concepts can seem daunting and complex, the instructor, David Hallinan, presented everything in a really relateable and fun way. David is, hands down the best CS instructor I have ever had. The cohort that I was in had a blast every day thanks to David's teaching style.

Along with the teacher our cohort had 2 TAs who were incredibly helpful and were always willing to take whatever amount of time was necessary to help us find solutions to our problems.

I just finished the UC Berkeley Extension Data Analytics and Visualization 6-month bootcamp and here are my take-aways:

Pros: Awesome and knowledgeable instructor; a LOT is covered so you are constantly learning; you learn data science specific tools, which wouldn't be covered in a fullstack engineering course.

Cons: Perhpas too much is covered and it becomes overwhelming and difficult to explore any particular tool in depth; the cost - it really should be about half of what I paid ($10k); although you *can* take this class while working full time, it's not super reasonable since you spend every waking hour outside of work doing classwork; there is not enough support - office hours were inconveniently scheduled and the one TA we had who was actually helpful had to stop coming because of work obligations a couple months before the class ended; career services is completely useless because it's not tailored for this particular kind of work, but is offered to all UCB extension classes (so, if you're already a working adult who knows how non-technical interviews work, their "advice" is not new).

In the end, I learned a tertiary amount of information about a lot of different languages and tools, but not enough to work in the industry. I'm planning on attending Hackbright full time over the summer so I can actually get a job because 1) I am now convinced it is super important to just completely immerse yourself in this to learn quickly and well, 2) they have a tuition program that is dependent on your employment in the field, 3) they have a much better support system - you are paired with a mentor, as well as having a regular check-in with an instructor who isn't your own to ensure you're comprehending the material, 4) the program itself seems much more structured and sensical, and 5) really one of the most important things: they want you to find the *right* job, not just "a job."

So, if you're a woman reading this, please look into Hackbright. I really wish someone would've offered me that advice.

I recently graduated from the 24 week, part-time Full Stack Web Development course offered by Berkeley. Overall, this course was an incredible value for me. Our instructor, a veteran in the industry, brought a lot of real world experience to the class while teaching us while both of our class's TA's made the learning process enjoyable and easy.

I walked away from the course with a well rounded skill set in front-end and back-end technologies along with a renewed confidence to continue my learning on my own. 

The curriculum is very current and appears to evolve class to class as new technologies appear, so I felt that what we were leaning was the most applicable at the time.

My only critique would be the career services. Many of the required lectures and 1 on 1 times occured during weekday business hours which conflicted with the part-time 12 week program's target audience that works full-time during the week. I would have liked more flexibility in the schedule. In addition, it wasn't fully clear what services we would receive beyond general guidance on resume building, which I did not need.

To summarize, if you are on the fence about taking one of these courses, know that this was a great value to me and exceeded my expectations.

I entered into this boot camp with zero background in coding and a lot of trepidation about my ability to follow along the many languages we were set to learn. From day one our instructor, David Hallinan, put my mind at ease. His ability to relate to the students, to break down complex code into relatable terms, and his eagerness to help us succeed made coming to class every day enjoyable. David was consistently supportive and very giving of his time, and you could tell he genuinely cared about our successes. Highly recommend this course and David as your instructor!

I never thought I will take someday a Coding Bootcamp, but I did! Before that, I didn't have experience at all! And now after 12 very intensive weeks, I can write code and build these amazing apps. We were told that we have to put about 40 hours beside the class. First I thought that's not possible but I really put this time into studying and doing homework! In this 12 weeks, you get less sleep, don't have a social life anymore but you will develop valuable skills! The class was every day from 10am-2.30pm, for me it was a perfect time because as a mom I still could take care of my kids and in the evening doing my homework. I mean not every day was easy and not every day I understood everything, but we had really a great instructor David Hallinan. There was always a lot of help from the instructor David and the TAs Peter and Alex. I really enjoyed every day of the Bootcamp! 

Before coming into this bootcamp, I didn't have any experience in coding. I couldn't imagine me writing more than a few lines a code before I started. I also heard it was very challenging going into it and it actually was. BUT, now that I'm down with the program, I've written easily hundreds of lines of code and even though it was more challenging than I expected, I'm glad I went through it.

Not only did I gain valuable professional skills, but, 1. I met great people, 2. Even when things got tough, I pushed myself on a regular basis--but, I wasn't alone, there was plenty from peers, TAs and from David(teacher) and we all came out of it better because of it 3. I now have a great portfolio I can showcase to other professionals and prospective employers. 

Special shout out to David Hallinan for his tremendous support, in-depth knowledge of the material, excellent teaching skills and humor. Kept us engaged all the time. Funny guy.

Prior to attending this bootcamp I attended Dev Bootcamp in SF, which was also Full Stack but heavy in Ruby. I decided to go to another bootcamp because I wanted to futher my skills. I was very excited to be learning Javascript and React because those were the two things I have been wanting to learn. The class was great and I'm very happy I went with this program. My teach David Hallinan was amazing! He knew exactly what he was doing and taught the class well. Not to mention just an easy going, fun person. He was very helpful through the class and if anyone didn't understand something during lectures he was explain futher until it was understood. David, along with the TA's would stay and extra 30 mins after class to help with anything any student had questions with. The support was better then I imanged and would defintely recommend doing the 12-week full-time program with David if you have then chance!

Before register this full stack and full time boot camps, I just had a little bit of experience with HTML, nothing else. After this three months, I have learned so much and grown a lot. Especially I had a great time with our instructor David! He won't let you feel it is a boring class, you can talk to him with anything you like. Sometimes there are some jokes around the class as well, which make you won't be too tired after few activites. Very important thing is, David is a supper patient and professional guy. So, don't worried about asking questions during the class! 

Base on the full time student in Berkeley, everyone can tell the classes go very fast and every day will have new things to learn. It is very intense! However, you can ask for tutors if you think you are kind of behind! Or if you are not ready for the pressure, you should take part time instead. By the way, I cannot say the job assistance will be supper helpful, but part of them was very professional. 

To sum up, I really enjoyed it even the classes were very intense! I guess I will miss everything there!