Origin Code Academy

I started at Origin with only some HTML and CSS experience. So almost all of the curriculum I was not familiar with, and it was definitely eye opening and intimidating. I was also coming from a craft beer job where I was on my feet all day talking to people. Once I started to get into the rythm of things, and really get to know the teachers and other students things began to click a lot more. 

It was not an easy road, as I was hitting "blockers" and feeling like I wasn't built to do this. But I kept my head up with a good attidude which is what you will need day in and out. The reason web developers get paid well is because it's not an easy skill to learn for most! But with determination and positivity you can defintiely do it.

When you graduate the course you are not done, applying for jobs is another beast you will have to take on with the same grit. But Origin gives you the tools and resources to attack this as well.

I am now a graduate of the course that has an app in the iOS store, and just landed an awesome web developer job at a great tech company in Downtown San Diego. Big props to Justin in career services!

Bottom line - it's not easy, cheap or for the weak minded. Origin is not there to hold your hand, but to help guide you on your way to be a Jr Dev.

Bootcamps are a relatively new thing at the moment. It can be scary putting so much money down in hopes of graduating with the promise of a fulfilling job.  But Origin is a bootcamp that works as long as your dedicated and willing to put in the work. To explain I will try to describe my process so anyone who reads this will know what they are getting into.

My journey at Origin started with an interview from Ryan Dalton,  He’ll told me about the curriculum and showed around the office. What he was really doing was sizing me up to see if I was dedicated and if I was hireable.  When I say hireable, I mean he was looking to see if I presented myself professionally and that dressed appropriately( for the record developers don’t wear suits, the wear nice jeans and a nice shirt if they need to dress up).

After meeting with him twice I agreed to join the program.  I was told that it was not a standard 12 week course, but more of a learn at your own pace program to insure you learn at a rate that fits you best.  Don’t be deterred by this because you see ads from other Bootcamps that promise you a job in 12 weeks. There is a reason why they call these schools bootcamps, they are packed full of material, and the course work could easily become overwhelming if you have never coded before like myself.

In the beginning of the program, The instructors were very helpful to each question.  But as I got further into the curriculum they would help less and less, instead of showing you answers they would start to point you in the direction of where to find the answer to a problem.  This became frustrating for me because I felt like they should help me based on how much I paid. But at its core, being a web developer is not about how much you know, but how well you problem solve. As I worked though my projects with less and less help I became a stronger developer, and by the end of the course I finally saw the full picture.

It took me a little more than 5 months to finish the course. That's just me, I knew people in the class that got out in 12 weeks it really just depends on you. Once I was out I started working with Origin’s job hunter Justin Renfro, he handles the hard part, getting you a job.  He’s not a developer but from my experience he definitely knows what he's doing. I kept in contact with him and did everything he asked me to do, two months after I graduated I got hired by a company he put my in contact with.

I’ve been at my new job for about a month and I love it, I won’t discuss specific numbers but I’m very happy with my pay, It’s enough to live quite comfortably and pay off the loan I took out to go to Origin quickly.

If your looking to make a chance, your a hard worker, and can trust the process. I totally recommend this place.  They take care of you as long as you do what they advise you to do.

When I came to Origin I was initially a little bit hesitant to sign up. I had more of a technical background than some of the people signing up and I was wondering if I would be better off taking some cheap udemy classes rather than sit in a class for three months. I knew basic python, SQL, and I had been working close to a year as a healthcare software (epic) consultant prior to joining. After completing the program I can say I learned far more here than I could realistically achieve on my own with udemy/pluralsight/ect courses.  

The way the curriculum is structured helps you learn how to learn on your own. You are given a number of projects/courses that you need to complete on your own. Instructors are very knowledgeable and helpful and will point you in the right direction when you are stuck but will not solve the project for you. The last month is all group work using git where you will use version control/ branching to create software in teams. I'm using almost everything I learned at Origin at my new job.  

Job assistance was top notch. I was invited to interviews early on and landed an offer a month before graduating. If you finish the program and put the work in then you will most likely get an offer soon after you graduate. 

The only thing I would mention as a con (could be a pro depending on the person) is that very few people complete the course in three months. The people who did had some combination of previous experience, long hours (12+ hours a day ), or are smart enough to be a rocket scientist. I had some minor programming experience and IT experience and I completed the program in 4 months. I came in almost every day and worked 8 to 10 hours. There is a lot of content in the program and I saw people who spent 6 months or more completing the course. For most people who put the effort in and have no technical experience, I would expect you to take closer to 6 months to complete the program.

I had a great experience at Origin Code Academy. If you're looking to make a career change into software development and you're serious about doing so, definitely check this place out.

I spent 4 months working through the curriculum and after around 4 weeks of searching I received two awesome full-time job offers from two awesome companies. Origin is well connected to San Diego tech companies and they host a monthly job fair for graduates. Plus, they have a career counselor that is extremely helpful and resourceful in regards to finding a job and preparing for interviews.

The office is nice and clean, there is a fridge and microwave for food, and plates and cups as well. I would recommend talking to their Admissions manager -- Ryan Dalton and seeing if a coding boot camp would be a good fit.

I am a graduate of Origin Code Academy. I attended OCA about a year ago. I went through the entire 12 weeks of the bootcamp and it was an okay experience. I say "okay" because of how expensive it was.

They taught me alot but I was paying them north of $350 a day to teach me how to code. I thought it was an investment because in my mind I thought I was going to get hired as a developer within a week of graduation. After I graduated I was applying to jobs every day, every new developer job I saw I applied and followed up with emails. I got a few interviews but I was too inexperienced. I met with jeff (jeff is the founder of OCA) a few times for "job assistance." I did however after 7 months landed a minimum wage job... but it was NOT a software/web developer job. I was content with the job because it was a job that paid.

All in all, for the money not worth it. In retrospect I should have not done the Origin Code Academy bootcamp. I should've done a monthly subscription course such as teamtreehouse.com, pluralsight.com, and udemy.com.

I don't want to bash OCA but I want to tell people my story and have them think before they get themselves in a financial struggle like me.

Origin Code Academy was one of many coding bootcamps that I considered to attend after deciding it was time to make a change professionally. My goal was to shrink the learning curve, absorb knowledge, and most importantly land a job in software engineering in the shortest time possible.

It was important for me to understand what I was getting myself into so I stalked Origin Code Academy and its founders online, met with Jeff, Cameron, and some of the students personally, and got familiar with the curriculum and how it’s taught. My research showed that out of all bootcamps considered, OCA offers the clearest path to employment upon graduation. OCA makes it a point to stay connected with the community of developers and employers, they know what technologies are being used in the industry in San Diego and they align their curriculum with technologies most in demand.

The 12-week course consisted of several parts. Starting with the backend and .NET technologies we learned the fundamentals of application architecture, database schemas, and how it all comes together in Web API applications. From there we moved to frontend technologies, combined it with backend technologies to create full stack web applications. The course culminated with a final project - an application that you build to show off what you have learned. Cameron is a caring, patient, and tough mentor. He made sure that I have an understanding of the fundamentals that I will be applying in my future work.

The coursework was done, now it was time to dive into the job search. This was one of the toughest things I had to face professionally. I was a brand new developer with little experience. The imposter syndrome was a real impediment. Fortunately, Jeff’s support with building a solid resume, having weekly check-ins, spreading the word about me and other graduates to employers and recruiters, and preparing us for the interview process, gave me a significant push towards reaching my goal of obtaining the desired software engineering position at the desired salary. Mentally, this is a taxing process. Jeff and Cameron were talking me through each step of the way.

It’s been over a year since I graduated. I’m happily employed as a Full Stack Software Engineer at one of the coolest companies in San Diego that develops its own products. I feel very fortunate I have met Jeff and Cameron. I wish them and OCA nothing but success

I heard about Origin Code Academy (OCA) as I was randomly eating in a Mexican restaurant.  I had just moved to San Diego and did not know what I was going to do for a job.  I knew I did not want to go back into the hardware side of IT / Computers, and I had just missed the deadline to apply to a 4 year school to finish my bachelor's degree.  Vowing to not return to my old type of job, I figured, "Let's try it."  I fully admit the commercial had a very informercial feel / unrealistic vibe to it, but I had no other options at that point.  I had shied away from CS initially in college as I was very intimidated by the difficulty that was associated with CS degrees.  Little did I know it would so positively change the rest of my life.

Going into the course I had done Team Treehouse and Code Academy courses for pre-work, which helped a significant amount throughout the duration of the course at OCA.  The one thing about not just OCA, but any programming boot camp, or even a BS in Computer Science, is that you will only progress as much as you push yourself and drive yourself.  Programming overall is extremely difficult and time consuming.  Nine times out of ten, if someone is complaining about a progamming school or academy, it is because they expected to have their hand held 100% of the time.  OCA goes above and beyond helping students become great programmers, but if you do not do any work or put any effort in yourself, do not expect to learn anything.  It would be a waste of your money if you go into a coding school without a decent amount of research and pre-work done - you HAVE to be tenacious.

The instructor that taught my cohort was extremely knowledgeable and helpful not only during class hours, but after hours and on the weekend.  I have even occasionally reached out and received help with my coding after I graduated.  What a lot of people do not know is that, specifically with OCA, you are gaining access to an amazing network of resources that will help you grow as a programmer, obtain a job (not just your first job, but developer positions for the rest of your career), and life long friends.  OCA is not only the best thing to ever happen to me, but to almost every single alumni that has attended OCA that I have ever talked to.

After many jobs focused around business management and data analytics (think Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations), I decided to take a risk by making a career change and trying out Software Development. I couldn't be happier that I decided to jumpstart this change by attending Origin.

I was in Cohort 7, taught by Cameron Wilby. He's an amazing instructor who, despite his crazy knowledge of extremely complex subjects, is able to easily come up with analogies to help us understand. He answered any and all questions/concerns I had and is extremely open to feedback on how to teach more effectively. He also kept the curriculum flexible so that we could spend extra time on subjects that people were struggling with. I also asked the other instructors, Sean and Mike, for help when Cameron was busy, and they were helpful as well. I didn't spend 12 weeks with them like I did with Cameron, but any experiences I had with them were very positive.

The curriculum is tailored to whatever employers are looking for in San Diego, so I know it had been updated for our Cohort (more Angular,.NET, MEAN stack focus than previous Cohorts) and has been edited even more for Cohorts after me - this makes sense that they constantly tweak the curriculum, as their #1 focus is to help get you your first job as a developer after the 12 weeks. The first 6-7 weeks was mostly individual projects where everyone in the class helped each other out, which maybe an hour or 2 of lectures in the morning, and the rest of the time spending coding. Learning by doing is most effective for me, so this was a great fit personally. The next 2 weeks were group projects where you learn how Agile development and how to conduct a Sprint. Then the last 3-4 weeks was our final project where we worked with local companies to develop something for them.

The #1 reason I chose Origin over other boot camps in the area was their focus on job placement after the 12 weeks, and they definitely delivered. I was lucky enough to start in a software development role less than a month after graduating. Most of my classmates have accepted positions already, or at the very least have gotten numerous interviews. That's pretty impressive for boot camp grads, all of which had no previous development experince on their resumes before Origin.

I dabbled with coding and online courses for years leading up to Origin, but the class gave me a framework to turn my dream of becoming a coder into a reality. I found myself happily devoting my life to development for these 12 weeks, and now, it's just a part of who I am. I'm so happy I got out of my comfort zone and started a career in software development, and I am extremely grateful for Jeff, Cameron, my classmates, and everyone else at Origin who made this possible. If you're serious about making a career transition into coding, or if you just want access to amazing resources for accelerating your career, I would highly recommend Origin.

I grew up with the internet and went to a techincal college to pursue a tech career but didn't pan out back in the early 2000's and ended up pursuing a successful career in retial management. I found myself not happy doing what I was doing and began to look back at what I wanted to do coming out of high school, so I looked up coding and found Origin Code Academy.

Let me tell you I had a long process before I took that leap of faith to quit my established career and try and become a software developer. I contacted Jeff the owner when the school was only teaching its second cohort in prospects of joining a night class, which eneded up not being available due to availablity. So I had to look back and see if this HUGE change of life and commitment is something I can do. Six months later after saving money and planning I quit my job and started going to school in September. I was nervous and anxious to go back to school after 10+ years out of it but I was signed up and ready to go.

What sold me about Origin was Jeff CEO went thru a similar experience I did where I finished school but had little to no help actually landing a job and feeling prepared for the real world. He tailored the curriculum to fullfill what San Diego companies need and want so it really felt like I was ready to tackle what the real world would throw at me. The course was great but more so was the atmosphere created by the staff and my fellow students. I couldn't be happier that I was hired within 3 weeks after graduation now working as a Web Developer for a great startup. If you have any questions reach out to any students or you can randomly find me at the school whenever I work remotely, I tend to just hang out there lol.

BUYER BEWARE!!! Origin has been ordered to shut down do not give them your money. You can read the citation and order of abatement by going to the Bureau for Private and Postsecondary Education.  Not only are they operating illegally they don't teach anything and took me for $13,000.  Aside from my obvious nightmare of an experience the citation should tell you all you need to know about the shadiness of the way this company operates.  They pulled  a bait and switch on me, completely lied to everyone in there and we all feel deceived.  Please do your homework and DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!!!!

http://www.bppe.ca.gov/enforcement/actions/cit_origcode.pdf

Origin Code Academy was a great choice for the training I needed to make a career change. I was looking for a program that allowed me to learn full-time in a classroom setting and cover a lot of curriculum in a short amount of time. Origin did just that. As a student, I had access to the classroom any time I needed. The school was in a great location in downtown San Diego. The curriculum covered a very full stack of languages and was adapted to the most marketable languages and skills for the San Diego market. The program is intense and they expect you to jump right into the curriculum which proved to be the best way for me to learn. Make sure to come to class prepared and pre-work completed as this will help to keep you from falling behind. 

Cameron was an incredible instructor and I would recommend everyone joining Origin to request his class specifically. He is so personable and really cares if you do well and understand the material. He is an incredible programmer, a wealth of knowledge and would take the time to learn a new tool or language if you expressed interest in learning more about something that wasn't in the core curriculum. He was my favorite part of Origin and I cannot say enough good things about him.

When I attended Origin, there were several transitions with administrative staff in the middle of the cohort. Even with the changes, the staff did a great job filling in and making sure that students had enough support. One of the biggest reasons I chose Origin Code Academy was the help that they offer for job assistance. While it did take several months to find my first development job, the additional help that I received from Jeff and the staff was exactly what I needed. It was Jeff's recommendation that ultimately led me to my first job offer. Realistically, students shouldn't expect to magically find a job the day after they graduate without any effort. Origin is good, but it's not that good! Expect to work hard to develop your coding skills, take time to practice your interviewing skills, be proactive in the job hunt and listen to Cameron and Jeff's advice. It can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months of searching before you find the right job.

I would have loved to have more companies show up at the graduation day presentations and more exposure to companies that are potential employers throughout the cohort to better prepare for the job searching process. However, with how well the staff takes feedback and actually does something with it, I am sure this is something that has already been addressed for future students.