RefactorU provides 10 weeks of intense web development training. What you put in, is what you get out of it. You are accountable for doing your own work. Having said that, the lead instructors are fantastic at helping you understand concepts throughout the whole program.
Pros: Course content/coursework: The overall structure and content of the bootcamp were great. The MEAN stack is in demand, and I found it particularly useful learning AngularJS concepts, and am excited to delve into other JS libraries such as React.
Instructors: The lead instructors are very talented and motivated to see you learn and succeed. Not only were they highly supportive of their students, they were consistent & thorough in their teaching of concepts.
Classmates: I have met some truly incredible people in this class which I can confidently say will be life-long friends & helpful peers as we dive into our professional tech careers. Since instructors were often busy assisting other students (which is great, as the instructors took all the time necessary to address individual questions/problems) I found my fellow students to be a goldmine of knowledge and it was very encouraging to see other students working together and helping each other. In addition, every student in the class found their own strengths & interests in the class. For example, some students really delved into Node.js, while others spent hours and hours perfecting artistic creations on the front-end.
Model: The number of coding bootcamps has exploded over the last couple years, and this immersive model is here to stay. As a long-time fan of alternative education, RefactorU has hit the nail on the head in terms of providing a specific high-demand skill-set to anyone with the grit and determination to become a software developer.
Location: RefactorU's location in Boulder is great for those interested in working in the start-up scene in Boulder. The Denver/Boulder metro area is an emerging tech hub and a prime gateway to enter a tech career. This was also helpful for attending the many Meetups, workshops, and conferences in the area.
Cons: Student to teacher ratio. We had three instructors for a class of 33 (we are the largest class yet). This is in contrast to 18 students in the prior cohort, and there were 11 graduates in the cohort prior to that. The classroom was far too small for this many students.
Individualized attention: while the instructors were fantastic, and true champs in terms of being overloaded with students, many of us felt that we did not receive as much individual attention as we would have hoped, and this is largely attributed to the very large class size. There simply weren't enough instructors or hours in the day to get assistance with the 1:10 ratio in our class. A huge shoutout to the instructors that showed up and gave their best every day. They were as enthusiastic about seeing us succeed in week 1 as at the very end of our program.
Class distractions: with such a large class it was an exercise in zooming in on our work and blocking out distractions. The overall classroom atmosphere was far louder and more distracting than I had anticipated. While each of us is responsible for doing whatever we needed to do in order to concentrate on learning, I was hoping for a more professional (and quieter) work/study environment. Students wanting to socialize and those needing a quiet space to concentrate often clashed in the overcrowded classroom.
Constructive criticism for the school: I am aware that the school plans to hold two concurrent cohorts for the next set of students, but a campus expansion/relocation would greatly serve to benefit the students, and with the high growth of RefactorU, the organization as a whole. Smaller class sizes are a must, or reducing the teacher:student ratio. I have high hopes for RefactorU moving forward, and I anticipate seeing great things from my fellow classmates. read more
