Makers Academy

You've had a dabble learning a programming language and decided you enjoy it - so the next step according to the internet is to get a portfolio, start contributing to open source projects and networking. If you are reading this review, then you likely feel there is a step (or 10) missing. The job requirements you've looked at all ask for a computer science degree or 1-2 years experience for junior developer roles. As your internet search desperation grows you begin to consider the validity of bootcamps but do they overpromise, are they a scam, are they glorified recruitment agencies?

- Makers breeds confidence. A makers mantra is they teach you how to learn. A successful graduate will come out of the bootcamp feeling they are able to learn any programming language/framework and have the tools to debug any error in their code.

- Makers prioritises good practice over results which in turn promotes long term stability and improvement. You will be writing Test Driven Development and learning important principles from day 1 which adds an additional step to your initial learning but is intended to form habits that you will use throughout your career.

- Makers reduces fear and allows you to try. There are no penalties for getting things wrong so you are encouraged to attempt and give your best effort. Coaches and your fellow students are supportive.

- The Makers course is unashamedly hard but absolutely achievable. The pace is rapid (which is a sign that a lot of material is crammed in) and you feel uncomfortable for almost the whole 3 months. Each week introduces something new, so just as you begin to feel comfortable you move on and are learning a fresh concept or language. The only time for reinforcement and practice are weekends and evenings, so you have to prioritise between the extra work or rest, which is just as important to well-being and overall success.

- Makers places the responsibility on you. 10-20% of the course is coach led workshops to introduce new concepts. The rest is self learning and pair programming. It's the equivalent of paying a personal trainer who shows you where the cross-trainer is and hands you an instruction manual. The concept is clear, you will only progress if you are committed and there will be a time when the trainer is no longer around so you need to be able to understand how to continue alone.

- Makers won't make you a developer or guarantee you a job. There is so much work you have to do for yourself. It is very unlikely you will complete all the course material within the time frame but Makers gives you a platform to build from and to continue learning and strengthening your skills. Completing a bootcamp gives no indication of your ability as a programmer so you will likely still need to build your own personal portfolio to showcase your development as well as prove your ability in interview.

- Makers is a valuable resource for finding a job. During the course you will undertake tech test pratice (as long as you want to) and have code reviews so you are constantly improving those future skills. Post graduation you have access to hiring partners who will hire bootcamp graduates as well as fellow alumni for networking and job vacancy links.

- The remote learning does work but is not perfect. One reason you might be considering Makers is the focus on wellbeing with yoga and meditation sessions but these add more screen time to a schedule where you might be at a screen for 7+ hours. Pairing remotely also ties you to a screen for longer periods than you might be comfortable with. I imagine if I had studied in location it would have been a more well-rounded experience due to the social aspect and activites outside of the programming, but I would have had less time to devote to studying. 

Going through Makers was the best decision I've ever made. It's life-changing. 
Not because they are teaching you how to become a software developer but because they are giving you everything you need for becoming one on your own.
I found great support and collaboration. I had the opportunity to constantly work with my cohort mates. When I got stuck, I always found someone helping me out.
I learned things that I couldn't have learned from a book or an online course: working on group projects, following agile methodologies, performing code reviews, giving and receiving meaningful feedback ... and much more!
Last but not least, meditation and yoga sessions truly made a real difference in regards to my mental and physical wellbeing during the course.

I started this year as a pastry chef, having fallen into the food industry after leaving university. It has a low roof, and I knew I wanted a job that had more mobility and options. I started the year as a pastry chef, and will end the year as a software engineer for a major player in the tech industry. This would absolutely not have been possible without Makers.
  Whilst the course teaches you a lot in terms of technical scope, the greatest asset is the way that Makers primes you for the tech world, and it opens doors by having the name, and the hiring team, backing you in the job hunt. More than that, having the support of other Makers is invaluable - Makers gate-keeps so that only those who are really engaged and excited attend the course. It creates an environment that values good mental health (baked into the curriculum), but also intellectual curiosity. 
  Makers won't spoon-feed you all the knowledge you gain, but  hopefully, you will end the course as excited as I was (and continue to be!) about the technologies that exist and about starting a career in tech!

Ultimately I would recommend Makers as the best way to quickly get into the exciting world of software development. If you’re someone who loves learning and is excited to work hard at something new, then this course is for you!

Pros

No background in coding needed.

Cheaper and quicker than a degree.

Good course materials, you will learn loads in a short space of time, and have more material than you can possibly get through so you can choose bits that interest you. If you missed bits during the course, the material is always available to you after the course.
You learn how to code in a workplace to make you as employable as possible. You’re taught Test Driven Development, Version control, good code fundamentals, how to pass interview tech tests and how to code as part of a team which are all really useful.

Makers have a great team of coaches/staff that are lovely, both during and after the course. They are open to feedback, which has resulted in the course evolving over the years. The coaches are happy to help with problems if you’re struggling. I found the post-course coaches to be the most helpful, they have a wealth of knowledge and resources to help with all job hunt aspects.

Emotional wellbeing focus - there is a dedicated person to provide emotional support, there to listen and help if you’re finding it stressful (and a career change can be pretty stressful). Meditation and yoga are great if you’re into that.

Amazing network of active alumni that help out with problems and will link to mid/senior roles for later in your career
This course is good for people who are willing and able to work hard. You don’t need to be super smart, just able to deal with situations where the work is tough and no one is providing you solutions straight away.

There are projects to get involved in after the course to learn additional skills while you job hunt, the teamwork never has to stop!

Macbooks provided while on the course.

Cons

It’s not easy. Your brain will work hard to put all this new information into it. And it doesn’t end once you land a job - you never stop learning. Be prepared.

The course is best for people who like to work with others - you will be pairing or in teams every day on the course. If you prefer to work by yourself, this is probably not the course for you.

The course is currently remote due to the current world situation. You will have to work a little bit harder to get to know your cohort, however there is plenty of time dedicated to working with your cohort so bonding really does happen. Also remote courses work best with a reliable internet connection for all the zoom calls.

Course is mostly in Ruby with some Javascript, which is lovely for beginners, but there are not so many jobs in Ruby. You have to be willing to work after the course/at the start of a new job to pick up something new (this is much easier with the skills you learn from the course).

As of September 2020, the job market is just picking up after Covid, and Makers don’t currently have as many hiring partners with open roles as they did. There are still roles, but most people will get jobs from outside of Makers. Be prepared to spend time dedicated to jobhunting after the course.

The job offer guarantee refund isn’t automatic - to get it you need to apply to ~20 jobs a month and put in learning hours after graduating. Talking to coaches can give you flexibility and help you find a structure that works for you. If you take the refund, you will lose help from coaches so it’s not the right option for everyone.

Graduates in Comp Sci will know more than you, especially on software and hardware background. Learning about algorithms is an option course for makers grads whereas Comp Sci grads often cover it early on. To get jobs, you have to be able to market yourself in other ways, explain non coding work experience is relevant, show you know how to code in the workplace and have made cool projects during your time at Makers. Absolutely do-able and Makers will help you do that. Makers have a good reputation in the industry which works in your favour, but there are some jobs that will favour uni grads.

Makers provided a really great environment to learn how to become a professional software developer. It catered to all styles of learning and had a good balance between directing our learning and forcing us to learn by ourselves. Experiencing this process with a group of like-minded people also created a fun and supportive environment which helped to maintain motivation throughout the course.

Makers also offered amazing support after graduating to help us find a job. I attended free workshops to further my coding skills, a hackathon and I participated in a group project that was lead by one of Maker's coaches. Makers also offered loads of 121 support with coaches, interview practice, and so on. Job hunting during a pandemic was tough at the best of times, but Makers put in a lot of effort to help us be successful despite this.

To sum up, the approach at Makers is to help you learn to learn better. You will not be spoon-fed, they will teach you the basics and from there it is up to you to find the answers where you do not already know them. This is important, as one of the aims of the course (although not stated) is to get you to a point where you feel comfortable being uncomfortable. A point where you feel comfortable not knowing something and then being able to use the process they give you to find the answers. This is better than other courses that follow a 'we demonstrate and then you replicate' approach. You will be constantly stretched throughout the course, simply because of the time constraints. As soon as you think you are getting to grips with a concept, you have to move on to the next thing. You cannot hope to learn all the material available on the course and one of the toughest things was to be at peace with that.
The curriculum is good overall. They start you off using Ruby due to its accessible nature, you then move onto learning JavaScript which is a fairly smooth transition because of most of the things you know from Ruby translate to JavaScript. You also look at other areas such as databases and the HTTP response cycle. In our course, there was a two-week project that used Ruby on Rails which I personally felt was wasted time. Although there are plenty of companies using Rails, two weeks would almost certainly be better spent building a full-stack JavaScript application using a framework like React or Vue. These skills are simply much more in demand. There are other technologies or concepts that would be great if they could include in the curriculum but I think considering the time constraints it is a very useful and complete grounding in web development.
The coaches are all very personable and are genuinely determined to make you better. As I touched on previously, if you can't work something out, they won't give you an answer, they will start by asking you what your process is and making you go through the process so that you can arrive at an answer. For sure this is the right way to go about things. Occasionally, however, you simply just don't understand a concept, you've tried your best to find out the answer and you really need someone to explain it to you like you are a dummy. I found the coaches could be a little blind to that, and on occasion somewhat resistant to helping. Indeed there were some frustrated conversations where we wondered what we were getting for our money as we may only get 3-4 hours worth of workshops in a week, and otherwise, we were teaching ourselves everything (again I acknowledge self-teaching, overall, is a pro of this course). I also think that the coaches are a little overstretched. It could take a while to get feedback or help with something. I believe there are some moves being made to get some extra coaches in, which should help this. 
All Bootcamps are naturally intense experiences and one of the things that Makers do best is look after you. There is an emotional intelligence curriculum to help you manage your emotions better and also to work with others. The coaches are all very empathetic and approachable but there is also a coach dedicated to the emotional well being of students who gives fantastic, constructive methods so that you can finish the course without excess stress. I know for a fact that Makers supported people who needed substantial help to overcome some serious difficulties and for this, I cannot commend them enough.
The careers team is great and very supportive. You feel they are genuinely in your corner and rooting for you all the way. Again I think they could do with more technical coaches for post-course but I believe steps are being taken to increase numbers here.
A final minor point is there were a couple of moments where I felt that political opinions were given by Makers staff which I felt were shared in the assumption that everyone would agree with them and whilst I don't think organisations have to be apolitical, I think care should be taken over this. 
Overall I would definitely recommend this Bootcamp. The curriculum is good, the coaches are great and I've definitely made some good friends who I've shared the experience with. I mentioned that at points we wondered what we were getting for our money. The price tag is hefty (but cheaper than some others), but so much of the value of that is being put with a group of fellow students who share your ambition. You drive each other on. By being with like-minded people you are so much more likely to achieve your goal rather than going it alone. I think there are things to improve upon and I have had no problem with writing my critiques publicly because as an organisation they are very open to constructive feedback.
If you want to change career, this won't be easy, but commit to it and you will get the rewards.

Having programmed as a hobby for around a year before joining Makers, I couldn't say I was completely new to software development. Everything was self taught up until that point and I had wanted to make a career switch from Structural Engineering to Software Engineering.

After failing a few tech tests before Makers I realised I had quite large knowledge gaps and needed a way to fill them. Having spoke to a graduate of Makers from around a year and a half ago, I decided to go all in on Makers. What attracted me were 3 things:

1) learning best practices
2) careers fair
3) Job offer guarantee

What followed was 1 month of learning on site and the 2 last months was spent entirely remote working.

The 1 month spent on site was honestly the best experience I ever had learning. You are on site with other people who are aiming for the same goal and there is a sense of camaraderie as everyone encourages and helps one another. Plus, there is a kitchen and there is a table tennis table. The  time spent playing table tennis and eating peanut butter in the kitchen is sorely missed!

The last 2 months were spent being entirely remote. It was difficult to adjust at first. Having experienced how good Makers was on site, the first 2 weeks spent remotely just felt like a major bummer in comparison. It helped to remind myself of a dream of mine, which is to travel and work at the same time so I tried to see this as training for that dream. The coaches still provided lots of support and everyone was getting better with remote working as the days went by. So in terms of the level of education you'll receive, it is still consistent with being on site. Though whether you feel you can work better on site or remotely entirely depends on yourself. I will say that working remotely seems to be the present and the future so getting some experience with working remotely is a great opportunity you'll receive at Makers. 

The course was entirely self led which is important because things move very fast in this industry and you need to learn to learn. I can understand why some people may be frustrated that coaches won't always just give you an answer to your question. It's like "I paid so much money, why can't I just get an answer?". Just realise that the indirect answers you get is on purpose and it is to make you find the answers by yourself. That is an important skill to develop and I feel Makers tries their best to promote that.

Anyway, You'll still get workshops and you are encouraged to join the workshops. I've been to some of these workshops and they are well worth going to. A lot of knowledge can be gained from there and it'll definitely make you think! 

By far the best thing about Makers are the people in your cohort. You'll be pairing on problems throughout the course and this really is a fantastic experience. You'll also work on group projects and this is an opportunity to see what it's like to work in a dev like environment. You'll need to work as a team to create certain projects which is very fun!

And finally there is the demo day which will involve you and your team thinking of an idea and creating it! We had just over a week to make our own application. Given the time constraint we were under, we were under a lot of stress but it all came together at the end because of good team work. The moments spent creating this application I will cherish for a long time.

The careers support team are sensational really. They encourage you and support you all the way. One of the reasons I joined Makers was for the careers fair, as stated earlier. Because of the whole covid situation, we never got a chance to experience careers fair which I hear is an amazing way for juniors to get noticed by these companies. So that was a real shame and I hope Makers can make the whole careers thing happen again one day.

So even though the Makers course has moved remotely, for now, I still recommend Makers. Hopefully people can experience what it's like to work on site again but you'll still get the same level of support from everyone there. 

Thank you Makers!

I had such an amazing experience learning to develop at Makers. The program itself is high-paced, fun, social, and challenging, and you really do learn something new every single day. I actually am very confident that this is the best program for career changers out there, as it has a great reputation in the industry, but also I personally find that it prepared me really well for my software development apprenticeship. I can't recommend Makers enough if you are thinking of changing careers; trust me it really has a great reputation for a reason. 

I absolutely loved Makers, and the experience is exactly what they say it will be. There's something to be said for having a bunch of driven, likeminded people in the same room, and you instantly form a bond as you are working very hard to gain these new skills together. It is certainly intense, but there is support there for you both academically and emotionally. I would encourage anyone considering doing it to spend a few days (straight) coding, and see if you enjoy it. Because it is significantly different from what you experience playing around with CodeAcademy and the like, and it's important to be sure you enjoy it before taking the plunge. The only thing that I think could be improved is the JavaScript portion of the course (2 weeks out of 12), as it was slightly outdated and therefore not super well aligned with industry best-practices. The job support was brilliant, with coaches on hand to help with things like CV's/Cover Letters, and interview prep. They are also adding new services to bolster job support given that it has become a bit more difficult in the current circumstances. 

Incredible experience where you focus full-time on learning and practising something you love, with people that share the same passion. For me, it was an oasis of enjoyment, always looking forward to the next day and going home with a smile on my face. What makes Makers so special is the culture of the people and the energy and different background students bring to the place. I would highly recommend this course to a friend, as a chance to speed up your development experience in an agnostic way and meet some great people that will become friends for life.

The course is very comprehensive, but it is structured in a way that it is up to you how much you put in. No-one is going to push you to work or check on you, so it is important to take responsibility for your own learning and maximise the available resources as much as you can. The day is usually structured with morning lectures or autonomous learning and pair programming in the afternoon, with weekly goals to achieve around the main theme, like databases, object-oriented programming, or javascript design patterns. The interesting thing is that every day you pair-program with a different person, which massively helps you learn how to communicate with different characters and personalities and gets you to know better each one of your cohort-mates. By the end of the course, there are group projects, where you have the chance to simulate real-world work environments, work within a team, and give presentations in front of your mates. The ping-pong table is the most popular game for break times and it is the fun heart of the school.

There are four coaches that have different strength and again it is up to you what you can learn from them and how to interact in the best way, with physical questions or slack messages. It is important to note that most of the time they won't give you the answer you want, but they will probably answer with another answer, forcing you to do the research and get the answer by yourself, which is much more effective. Also, you get the feedback you ask for and no more.

A special person at Makers is Dana, who I believe is the most unique personality in the community. She is in charge of daily meditations, mental health, lectures about awareness and feedback, and yoga lessons for two days a week. I had never done yoga before, and for me it was a very pleasant surprise becoming a must-go-to event, even during the final project weeks, to release stress, nerves and simply feel better.

After graduating, every month, there are career fairs where you have the opportunity to meet companies, ask them questions, and apply to jobs directly through Makers, where you usually have higher chances to get called for an interview than external applications. You can also practise interviews with external reviewers directly through Makers, to improve your skills and exercise under pressure. 

The overall feeling I had at Makers was to be around people that decided to step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves. This naturally brought positive energy and created a special bond that went beyond programming.