Makers Academy

Makers has an incredible focus on teaching you what you need to be successful in working in software development, as opposed to just teaching you how to code. They have a fantastic set of coaches to teach you during the course with an added emphasis on EQ learning.

Once you've completed the course, the support in helping you find a job is amazing, from guiding you on how to write your CV / the perfect application, to having great deals with companies who will have job offerings exclusive to Makers.

I would 100% recommend this course to anyone interested in moving into the software engineering/developing industry. Gave me to opportunity to just throw myself in the immersive experience, and learn how to self-learn, lots of different technologies, work in agile and meet lots of great people doing the same thing as me! So definitely not alone. The coaches were supportive and worked in a way in order to encourage you to find your own answers, and we very supportive at the job searching stage. 

I am writing this on my penultimate day of training to code at the Makers Academy. I had high expectations of Makers, but what I didn’t expect is that they would exceed those expectations to a such a staggering extent.

This is an extraordinary course. You will be trained to be on your feet and ready to run as a coder, not just with textbook materials – although for the academically inclined there are indeed references to matters such as imperative versus declarative code, design patterns etc. right from the beginning and throughout. The materials are supremely practical – they put you right there in the thick of development work using advanced industry-respected tools and techniques throughout.

I have found the staff at Makers to be as they say they are on their website, which is a rare thing. Every individual, in every capacity has been a pleasure to engage with. Details clearly matter to Makers. As they should. People clearly matter at Makers. As they should. Community clearly matters at Makers, as it should. Everywhere you look, high standards and quality will be found. Not to mention a palpable sense of wanting to be even better and for this to be noticeable in feedback that is frequently collected from students, and from what I have seen, acted upon with haste and eagerness. I honestly couldn’t imagine a stronger passion for excellence. I love it here.

The approach is holistic. Emotional Intelligence / Emotional Quotient is, in my view, rightly presented as a key aspect of managing one’s well-being and progress as a learner and professional. Makers’ Chief Joy Officer, Dana, who delivers the EQ curriculum, I find to be a privilege to work with beyond any quantifiable measure that I can think of. As a passionate learner of personal development for decades too, I find her knowledge, application and the training she delivers to be outstanding in its breadth, depth, authenticity and immediate effectiveness. Learn not just to code, but also about who you are, fine-tune what makes you tick, and transform and optimise yourself under her coaching.

Do I recommend this course? Well, do you want to change your life? I mean literally, seriously? If so, and you are courageous, find that it’s aligning with your values, and are ready to make a very full commitment to a very intense but supremely fun and rewarding time: absolutely – even though that single word and this whole review, possibly still falls short of articulating how whole-heartedly I mean that.

Makers is incredibly intense, as expected of any bootcamp, but well worth it. Starting out it's new, which is both scary and exciting. But as you grow and develop with the work you're doing and the coaches to support you, the confidence will start to grow. Pair programming is scary at first, but quickly grew to be one of my favourite parts. As with anything for me, it's the people who help make or break experiences, and everyone in my cohort was lovely. I got on well with everyone and have made friends for life. Having to do weekend work was not terribly enjoyable, but ultimately the whole experience was so worthwhile. Changing careers can be a huge risk, and you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. If you're willing, Makers is incredible and absolutely worth it. Within 9 months of leaving my previous company, I have walked out the other side with a new job and entirely new career ahead of me.

Makers is an intense 16 week bootcamp, teching all you need to know about starting your career as a Software Engineer. The first four weeks of the program are aimed at getting you up to scratch ready for the next 12 weeks of the main course. Workshops are led by friendly and knowlegeable coaches and you will pair program daily to help consolidate the new techniques you've learnt. What gives Makers an edge is that the program also focuses on wellbeing and helping you develop soft skills. As well as technical workshops, there are emotional intelligence workshops with meditation daily and yoga sessions. Once the course is finished, the support doesn't stop there. You get assistance with job searching, writing CV's, workshops to help consolidte your learning further and a lot more. For anyone looking for a career change, I'd recomend this course and say it's the best decision I ever made to attend.

You won't believe how much you'll learn in such a short period of time. Due to its intense nature, it's normal to feel overwhelmed and you're reassured throughout that everyone is in the same boat. There were definitely ups and downs. 

Overall, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and was a great decision as to the first step in my career change. I feel that I've built good foundations in my knowledge and understanding of software development and I am confident in applying the transferable skills that I've learnt to the real working world. 

The job support has been great so far! It's obvious that the careers team love what they do and they will do whatever they can to help you find a job where you will thrive in.

I had a fantastic experience with the Makers Academy program and I am happy to say that I am a proud graduate and Software Developer. The program consists of a 4-week pre-course which helps bring you up to speed with Ruby(programming language) then the 12-week main course covering project-based learning, katas, and weekly programming exercises. I would say that the program is intense and incredibly rewarding but to get the most out of your experience you need to be prepared to dedicate a large chunk of your time for 16 week period. 
Makers follow XP principles which include pair programming and TDD which will give you a good foundation for the real world. Be prepared to lead your own learning which is beneficial as this is a key skill for a developer as learning never stops.

Job hunting support is decent with workshops and a career support team to help you navigate this process. It took me 2 months of consolidating my knowledge and 1 month of applying/ interviewing before I landed my first position. But it took me longer as I opted to job hunt outside of the available Makers Partners. Makers provide a regular list of available positions through their partners through an internal Hub. This allows for a much more streamlined process of finding your first job! I know some of my colleagues found jobs through Makers weeks after graduation! So it really depends on what you feel is right for you. I can say that I am really enjoying my first software developer job with the foundations provided to be by Makers!

I would highly recommend Makers for those who are motivated to make a serious change in their lives, ready to be pushed and regularly go outside of their comfort zone. It really is a good community and environment to meet and learn with like-minded individuals preparing to take the plunge into the world of software development!

It's an intense course but it's amazing how much you learn in just 12 weeks. The coaches run brilliant workshops to help you get a base understanding with key concepts which you then solidify with pair programming every day. Most of the learning is done when working with your peers while the coaches do a great job of guiding students along the right path. You gain valuable experience working on group projects, including a final project to finish the main course which you design from scratch. One of my favourite parts of the team at Makers is there attitude towards the mental health of all the students. From day one it was very clear that this was going to be a safe space which helped build strong relationships between everyone in the course which then also helped with everyones productivity.

If you are committed, interested in tech and have a drive to learn new things everyday along with a fantastic bunch of people, then Makers is a fantastic place to do study Web Development. Everyday is a challenge and before you know it, you will have a powerful set of skills to help you overcome them. 

The Makers Team are Experts in their fields and as supportive as can be. Changing careers is never easy, but Makers provides all the tools, along with a great atmosphere to help you achieve this. 

I worked in Education prior to joining Makers Academy. I had no prior experience in any stem related subject so was very nervous about making the switch and if I was 'smart' enough to do the course. Here are some of my reflections: 

• The coaches were kind and willing to explain things to you if you ask. I received help through slack messages and zoom calls if there was something I was stuck on after a workshop or a question I had whilst doing some self learning. 
• There is a heavy focus on pair programming which I found really helpful for practising new skills and understanding how and why certain things work. I was either learning from those more experienced than myself or helping/working with others on a similar level to me. 
• There is also a big emphasis on pair and team work and coming from a job that can be quite solitary I had to really work on my skills in this and with the help of Dana the lovely 'Chief joy officer' I was able to work really well in teams and talk about what I'm like to work with during interviews and sell myself as a good team member. 
• A good range of programming skills are taught. Whilst you only use two languages formally in the course, there is the opportunity to use other languages if you're familiar with them. You complete backend, frontend and fullstack projects and use relational and non-relational databases. 
• The weekend challenges are tough and time consuming but it did surprise me how much I could do and how far I could get independently as a beginner. 
• Finally the careers coaches are lovely! Candida and Hunor have really taken the time to guide me and offer support when I had an interview and they would always check in and ask how it went and follow up with me. 
• It is really hard to come in as a beginner as there is so much to learn and the pace can be quite fast. I think you need to be resilient, organised and really think about your personal goals and what you want from the course. Don't be afraid to try and to ask questions.

The course is well structured, but given there is a lot of material to cover, it's kind of intense, because you have to jump from one big key concept to the next one in a really short amount of time. Having said this, the environment is really friendly, the coaches are very supportive and knowledgable and the entire vibe is just wonderful. I also love how we as a cohort were immediately thrown group projects and had to do loads of pair-programming, it really mimics what it's like to be a real-life software developer. Highly recommended!