Le Wagon

Before joining Le Wagon, I was a fresh grad with a degree in Systems Engineering (ElectroMechanical Systems). I started exploring web development during my capstone project in the last year of my university where I have to come up with a web application to log data from sensors and displaying them. Even though web development was not taught in my course's syllabus, I found myself enjoying to learn the concepts of web developing on the Internet. Hence, out of interest, I had found Le Wagon to kickstart me towards that direction.

I had so much fun during the Bootcamp! Even though the Bootcamp was intensive, the instructors and my batch mates made it possible for me to enjoy every second of it. The Bootcamp also provided us with coding challenges every day to enhance our problem solving capabilities, which motivated me to try to complete every single one of them, and time felt like it passed so quickly.

The toughest part of the Bootcamp for me was definitely the final project, where all the concepts came together since week 1 and it was like an examination to come up with an actual viable product to showcase to the world. Initially, my product pitch in week 5 was simply a travel application which is able to plan and organize itineraries for trips. However, the idea evolved constantly throughout the rest of the Bootcamp, following feedback from my batch mates and the instructors. My final product called Trails is now a planning application which is able to collaborate with people to plan activities, with templated checklists (and delegate to people in your group), and is also able to map all the activities with locations on a single map.

Looking back at how much my initial idea has developed, I would say don't be afraid of coming up with ideas which may seem stupid at first, as you may never know how far can your idea grow. Quoting Prima, one of the instructors in Le Wagon: "Great products always starts off with crazy and funny ideas".I could not have imagined that it was possible to build a web application in just 2 weeks which I actually took close to 4 months to build back then in university! Overall, I would say the journey was not easy but definitely an enjoyable experience and an amazing opportunity to be the second batch of students to graduate from Le Wagon Singapore.

I was trying to launch a start-up and quite quickly bumped into the reality of costs constraints... How to move on, creating the product you wish to launch, and limiting costs?
And then a friend advise to join Le Wagon... Me? Was I the right person? Never written a single row of code before.....
I just siad to myself: "Ok, let's take up this challenge..."
I very quickly realized that I never had a better advice in the process of launching my own business. 9 intense weeks of coding program, to give me the essential understanding, knowledge and autonomy to build up a mock-up first (during the 2 weeks project of the bootcamp), and then the product itself.
A fantastic support in my project has also come from Le Wagon team. People that encourage you to follow the path you chose and are available to support in your journey.
It has been a great opportunity to join this course and I truly recommend it :) 

The Le Wagon coding bootcamp is so much more than a 9-week course. It starts with thorough prepwork, alumni get life-long access to the learning platform packed with video-lectures, slide-decks, assignments, career advise, etc. Students are diverse in experience, culture, and age, yet are bound by being highly motivated. After the bootcamp you'll stay connected with a great network.    During the bootcamp skilled teachers and technical assistants provide excellent coaching. Apart from Ruby, Rails, OOP, SQL, HTML, CSS, Javacript, you learn to work in teams, design products, pitch ideas, and demo prototypes. At the end, teams build products from scratch in only 9 days. It was amazing what we all pulled off at demo day.   I started working in the digital branche way back; in the last 15 years as a UX designer and user researcher. I felt a nagging knowledge gap with regards to actually *making* products. That's why I chose to quit my job and seek the adventure. Now I feel better equiped to go back to designing. But first I'll give it a go to become an entrepreneur and launch my own app.   The past months did change my life. Good value for money. 

I was a growth marketer working FinTech before I went to LeWagon. I've always liked the idea of being a developer and had been freelancing as a front-end developer at the same time. I felt that I needed to boost my skills and go full-stack to make any significant career changes. 

LeWagon's nine-week program provides a well-designed curriculum taught by a host of knowledgeable teachers and TAs. They were not joking when they said it was going to go by really fast - you learn A LOT over the course of nine weeks. While this may sound daunting, the teachers and TAs were highly knowledgable and experienced developers themselves. I felt like I was in good hands in the program. 

By the end of the program, I felt up to speed on what I needed to know to begin creating my own web applications. Even after the program, I'm in touch with my teachers and the entire network of alumni. I'm extremely happy with my choice to make the jump into full-stack development and I could not imagine a better program to have joined. 

PS: Do your flashcards.

My background is somewhat different from the usual student of a coding bootcamp.

I was trained as an engineer, and have worked in research and development, designed and built production grade software for a couple decades. But it was all very niche - to take a car analogy I was an expert at making the most efficient pistons, but barely litterate with engines, and clueless with vehicles.

To put it in simpler terms, I could write software, very good software, but not an application.
This had been a frustration for many years - many ideas not pursued for lack of knowing where to start...

I could have turned to online courses and learn yet another handful languages, but from my practical experience there is no substitute for dedicated mentoring, and the experience of working on projects as a team. Both of which are cornerstones of Le Wagon bootcamp.

So after closing a chapter in my career, I decided to enroll in Le Wagon in Tokyo.

The program is every bit as good as others have commented on this site. Curriculum is very solid and well designed, up to date, well adapted to complete beginners, and certainly very efficient at turning them into competent junior developers by the end of the course. From the point of view of a seasoned veteran, watching that metamorphosis felt like a little miracle - while the result of very hard work from both students and teachers.

Speaking of which, the teaching staff in Tokyo is excellent - competent, dedicated, available, and friendly. I was lucky to have extraordinary teachers in my university years, and I am happy to say the guys at Le Wagon are very much up there counting among the best!

Also of note was the strong sense of camaraderie and cooperative mindset among students of our batch.
The feeling of belonging to Le Wagon's network of alumni and staff is no small part in its successful formula.

I will admit that at times I had doubts if I had made the right choice enrolling in the bootcamp, especially at the beginning when the learning curve was still gentle for a veteran coder.
By the time team projects started (7th week onward), they were gone - replaced by the thrill and passion of building actual products with young and talented teammates.

Long story short: I highly recommend Le Wagon. Even at a later point in ones career, it's a great place for old dogs to learn new tricks.

The hardest, most intense and fun experience of my life.

My experience in Le Wagon was really life-changing. They provided me with the tools to start a new career or even combine my previous Business skills with the new technical skills I acquired. 

The teachers transit from super serious to fun in a heartbeat, creating a highly productive and enjoyable environment.

It's no pick-nick! If you're not 150% committed to this, you won't stand it! The intensity starts even before the classes begin, with the prep course. Be prepared! Take one month off before the course starts to be able to make the most of this prep which is crucial to your success during the classes.

The results are REAL. You will come out the other end with the necessary tools to start your career as a programmer. You'll also be part of a global community of alumni and you'll make friends for life. Make no mistake, though: it's still a long endless road after that...

I definitely recommend Le Wagon.

Beware that you will not leave this program as a fully operational/experimented Dev. That takes months/years of learning and practicing. 

That being said, Le Wagon Lille gave me all I needed to do complete the first steps to understand programming, gave me key knowledge in Ruby, SQL, HTML, CSS, Javascript so that I can now build some cool shit. That's what you get from Le Wagon : the necessary knowledge and tools to keep performing/learning on your own or in your future team. 
Of course there is still a long way down the road, but damn it was great to learn all this.

The staff kept pushing us to be better, to learn to do our research, I met some great people. Hard to grasp how much we learned in those 9 weeks (because that is A LOT) but my only regret is not doing Le Wagon earlier.
I recommend it 100%!

Before Le Wagon, I was majoring in Chemistry, and at the end of my 2nd year of university I realized I would not enjoy working in research nor academic field. I didn't have a good unified field theory of career selection or passion, so I explored a lot to assess my strengths and develop interests. From taking classes outside my major to competing in business case and marketing competitions, and finally ending up on the Le Wagon website. My university is a technology university, but becoming a developer or working in the tech industry almost never crossed my mind because the way they taught us in my "Introduction to Information Technology" class in freshman year instantly killed my interest in programming. However, the start-up culture and presence is really strong around me, I realized that almost every solution to today's problems involves programming. So, I told myself to give programming another shot, because often times you hate something only because you don't understand it. Thanks to Le Wagon, I never thought learning how to code could be this fun, it was still challenging, but the teachers and the curriculum helped me to re-gain my love for learning. I was surprised with how much I enjoyed coding and wanting to learn more and more day by day. With Le Wagon, it is not just about learning how to code but you also have the chance to develop your entrepreneurial and leadership mindset. During the bootcamp, we worked in pairs so we got accustomed to working with peers or pair-programming. Having a buddy who was better than me accelerated my learning process, and helping a buddy who was struggling, deepened my understanding and helped me to develop higher quality code. I learnt that having a great team is so much more important than having a great product idea. I think Le Wagon is a great investment to kick start your tech career.

Le Wagon has an amazing approach of teaching, based on intensive training and exercises all day long, led by a fantastic team of teachers and TAs. I've always been passionate about the start-up world, but always frustrated not to be able to code, or understand it.

Now, thanks to this 9-week intensive program, I can build a website from scratch, and the skills I acquired are absolutely precious. I never thought I would be able to achieve so much in 9 weeks.

So I can say without hesitating that applying for the fullstack intensive program was the best investment I've made so far.

I studied Mathematics at University and after graduating I wasn’t quite sure what career path I wanted to go down. I ended up working as a financial analyst for a government organisation, but before the two year mark I quickly realised this wasn’t where I envisioned my future. What I did know is that I wanted something more mentally challenging that also allowed me to be creative.

During my studies, I remember regretting not making use of the extra curricular classes that taught programming languages and so it remained on my list of skills I wanted to have. I started looking up coding courses that I could do in my free time, however it never really kicked off until a friend of mine recommended Le Wagon. We attended the Demo Day at the Google for Startups Campus in our home city London and were more than impressed. It was then that I started the Ruby Track on CodeCademy and realised just how much I enjoyed it.

I wanted a break from London, as well as better weather so I decided to apply to Le Wagon Bali. There was a part of me that questioned whether I was making the right choice, and if it would be better to do the bootcamp in my home city instead, however I can without a doubt say that I made the best decision to pick Le Wagon in Bali.

All the teachers, Guido, Eli, Prima, Gian-Luca, Rayhan & Sonia were fantastic and were really committed to the academic learning of the students as well as their mental well-being. They went above my expectations and would often stay behind after class to go over concepts or help with issues we were having so readily and happily. I learnt so much from them, but most importantly I re-gained my love for learning and a new found passion for web and application development. I feel confident and excited to now start a career in tech which I find absolutely amazing considering my position just a few months ago. I can honestly say Le Wagon Bali has been one of the best decisions to invest in myself that I have made in a while.

Before Le wagon I was a bit lost, I had just finished playing hockey having to step away because of injury & my mind was starting to go in a lot of different directions. When you spend so much of your time dedicated to one thing, a sudden change can really mess you up mentally & that leads me to explain my experience at Le wagons bootcamp.... It's quite scary being 21 from Canada travelling across the world to learn how to code; something which I knew absolutely nothing about. The first day was intimidating, seeing all these different classmates with prior business, product, and even programming knowledge that I didn't have. A lot of times you want to just give up and quit. I remember week 1 trying to 'iterate through a hash'... and thinking "I'm never going to be able do this I should just throw my laptop out the window", but with the help of the teachers and other classmates everything started to come together & FAST.  Le wagon's bootcamp may not be considered tertiary education in some people's eyes, but they provide you with connections and resources that you could never hope to find on your own. By the time week 9 came I truly felt confident in a lot of different things that I had no clue how to do before and that is all credited to the way the course is structured. For anyone who is a little bit lost in their life but has the desire to consume new knowledge Le wagon is a must. I learned it's not just about the code, there are so many other avenues & tricks that are taught at Le wagon to help you find the perfect setting for you in this rapidly expanding tech industry. For my final project our team worked on MilesX, an app that allows you to buy and sell airline miles for cheaper business class flights.It was a lot of work, there was a ton of web pages to create, and group disagreements we overcame. All in all I think that having to deal with those hiccups along the way made our project better. Any disagreement always spurred new discussions & having 10 pages made everyone work harder on the APIs, the design, and the basic structure. It turned out really well and I'm personally just happy that our group could learn as much as we did in a 2 week period. For anyone thinking about joining Le wagon, do it. If you have a creative attitude I urge you to explore code. I read recently that only 0.5% of the earths population know how to write lines of code; thanks to Le wagon I can now say that I am apart of arguably the most exclusive club in the world! Why wouldn't you want to join that club too.PS.This is of course my own opinion, but learning to code in Bali is unparelleled ;Reece Soukoroff, Batch 306 Bali