I don't think I've been in a facility (Venice, CA) that is more deliberately designed to be TOTALLY…read moreINACCESSIBLE to people with mobility, vision, and audio disabilities. I can assure you none of the pleasant 5-star reviewers are people with disabilities or thought for a moment about people with disabilities while writing their review. Facility ingress/egress, floor to floor, room to room, fixtures, and furniture either inaccessible or un-adaptable to people with disabilities. Really shocking and shameful!

Codesmith is the type of program where every student leaves as a transformed version of the person…read morehe/she came in as. The most obvious transformation is one's exponentially expanded software engineering knowledge and experience, but students also leave with a radically broader grasp on empathy, the kind of empathy you gain from intense pair programming sessions and grinding through 12+ hour days with your Cohort-mates. The curriculum is always evolving and is updated as a result of student feedback and/or the ever continuous momentum of the industry. Over my 12 weeks (13 including a prep/gap week between cohorts) Codesmith presented daily opportunities for 'aggressive expansion' of my engineering and problem solving skills (for anyone thinking of the scene from The Dark Knight, there is never any battling , though Ping Pong games can get intense). You go deep in JavaScript, by the end you can truly develop a web application that includes a database, RESTful API based server, and powerful front-end (using Vanilla JS, React, Angular, or whatever you desire because you have to mental tools to learn anything new). You learn about more than just JavaScript at Codesmith though. Daily, you will experience the exciting challenge of a new algorithm problem, you learn data structures, engineering best practices, and possibly most important of all you will grow tremendously in your technical communication. Anyone who has tried to solve a highly technical problem in a team setting will relate to how important technical communication is for the project's success. At every point throughout the program you will either be asked to communicate to your pair-programming partner when you are not actively typing, or with the Engineering Fellows during code review, and ultimately all of these experiences result in a deeper understanding of the material and an ability to explain your code that is highly valuable to teammates and employers. Attending a coding bootcamp is a major life decision, and I have not once regretted choosing Codesmith over any of the other options in LA or elsewhere. You receive full devotion during and after graduation and I wholeheartedly believe there is nowhere better to begin the next chapter of one's life.

I've never heard of this school until driving by and stumbling upon this precious jewel. I have had…read morethe opportunity to attend their health fair and job fair and have found great success in this school. I have not once seen any pregnant teens, gang members or any of the other things that has been mentioned in someone else's comments. I have taken varies classes just because I was bored and I come to find that the school work relieves stress. All the courses that I have taken here has been great. Instructors are fun with a sense of humor and also strict at the same time. The instructors make sure that their students finish their education and let them know that it is not a waste of time. Great job Skills keep up the good work.

My experience in Venice Skill Center was amazing. In 7 month I prepared and passed the HiSET which…read moresolved a big issue in my life.If I had not passed the HiSET, I could not have gotten into my sound engineering training program. The staff and teachers are fantastic. Thanks so much to Sybil, Erika,Theo and Rosalie.

I am really rating the campus from an outside perspective as I'm not a student. I use the track…read morethat SMC has and honestly it is one of the best tracks in Santa Monica. It's usually clean and spacious that so many people can run around the track all at once. The community is also very respectful and the people that use SMC tracks are all very nice. Now that the are renovating the tracks, it is hard to find a track similar to what SMC provided. Still, the campus is a great place to run at even if there is no more track currently. I hear a lot of good things about the campus and everytime I visit, I think they either have built something new or renovated something !

This schools counselors really fucked me over, I've gone to multiple and have not received the…read moreproper guidance. I told one of the counselors for the school program my dilemma between work and school and they immediately resulted to blaming me even though I've talked to 6 different counselors for its program. This school has no idea on what the fuck is going on bro. Two of these counselors literally said, "Well damn that sucks" after making me take unnecessary classes. They fucked up time and are messing with my futur

I had the pleasure of participating in a tight-knit cohort for my Product Management Class under…read morethe guidance and instruction of Lenworth Gordon. For those of us who are wanting to level up their own skills sets so that they can enhance their career (and progress upwards into new possibilities), this is a great fundamental class that introduces you to the product manager style of thinking. What enriches the class are the in-class discussion topics on trends and sharing of professional and personal experiences. A key take away is to understand the different point of views that people are expressing themselves. Point of views are influenced by experiences, culture, and circumstances, and its always great to have this insight. I also did enjoy Lenworth - he made it relatable and he was quite approachable. Good times.

First things first: School is about what effort you put into it!…read more That being said, I give five stars to Product School for two reasons: The Instructor and The Cohort. These two items are critical to your success, in addition to what you put into it. I have taken 2 courses so far: Data Analytics and Product Management. Both instructors (Andy Chu and Lenworth Gordon) have been outstanding - they really make Product School worth it from a teaching stand point. Both are established Product Managers and make the course more than the material. Andy specializes in Data Analytics and gives you a good analytical approach to Product First Thinking. Lenworth is on the money in terms of Product Management principles and helped us outside of class to network and grow professionally. Both instructors get you focused for a possible job transition if you put in the effort. I highly recommend both instructors if you see a class available with either of them. The cohorts have been good and the teams focused on classwork. I think we meshed well for the most part and it is good for networking outside of class too. The only downsides about Product School: The courses are fast! You have to put in the time and effort to get every dollar out of them. The teachers will help, but make sure to invest all your available resources to get that value out of your time. Also, the classroom we had was not good. They should use another location (I told them that directly). Additionally, the course material for Data Analytics needs to be built out a little more. Andy really helped to make the course material a better product and deliver true value (see what I did there :)). Just to note, I will be taking 3rd course in Digital Marketing.

Excellent course! Easy to follow. They really explain things…read morewell. I love the videos the most. I passed my California exam first try!

Online courses can be difficult but I'm so glad I took this crash course. Mr. Nomara had great tips…read moreand advice for taking the test. The practice tests helped so much. I would have never felt as confident going into the exam if I had just studied my course notes on my own.

Before attending Hack Reactor, I had anxiety and imposter syndrome. I wasn't sure if I was able to…read moresucceed in computer science. However, after the first day of the program I was immediately supported by the HR faculty and my cohort mates. Every Hacker in Residence (HiR) who had gone through the program before had a similar story and experience to what we were going through and assisted us with understanding and kindness. The instructors were always encouraging and extremely knowledgable. By the end of the program, many of my peers had become some of my best friends. THE COURSE The program consisted of two halves. The first half consisted of JavaScript and computer science fundamentals such as Big O Notation, JS 'this' binding, and functional patterns. Some concepts were picked up faster by certain people, which caused a positive feedback loop of assistance between peers. An extremely important skill that was hammered into us was autonomous learning. Even though HiRs were readily available to assist us, they supported us attempting to search for answers on our own because this is an extremely valuable skill to have as a software engineer. And unlike many other fields of study, computer science and web development resources are bountiful and easily searchable. The second half of the course consisted of two projects where we were split into groups of 3-5. During this time, we gradually increased the amount of interview practice along with learning some industry practices and technologies. Some valuable technologies/concepts they had taught us were that of Docker containerization, system design, AWS tools, and Agile Methodologies. This portion of the course was essentially a ramp up to let us out into the real world. Autonomy and time management was a key portion because of the freedom gained in the second half of the course, so self discipline and motivation is definitely key. If you did not have the motivation and self discipline to apply yourself in this part of the course, you were more likely to not absorb the material. Since it is largely self-motivated, several people who were not as focused struggled in this aspect. The last week of the course consisted of job coaching from resume/cover letter writing to behavioral interview practice and even as far as negotiating a job offer. This instilled an extremely high level of confidence in my job search process and helped me interview. I would also like to state that not all of the technologies and format may be correct if you were to attend now. Hack Reactor rapidly iterates their curriculum to keep up with the changing demand of skills in the web development field. One such change is the implementation of Docker. When we had an alumni panel, one of the alumni had stated that Docker was not incorporated into the curriculum when he attended the program a year before I had attended. With this, you can confidently be reassured that Hack Reactor are constantly on the lookout to make you the most desirable software engineer possible. OVERALL Why did I remove a star? Unfortunately, not many of my cohort mates were as lucky as me - someone else mentioned it already, but Los Angeles is not a great market for junior devs. If you are considering HR, I highly recommend you expand your job search to be outside of LA. I found a job because I moved to Seattle which had more junior dev openings than LA. Another cohort mate was able to find one in Boston. The 2nd half of the program, since it was largely self driven, felt like we were all headless chickens trying to program. I sincerely wish they could have taught us more in the time since a lot of time was wasted. Upper management for the LA HR group was also lackluster and felt disconnected from the group as a result. Overall, I would highly recommend Hack Reactor as a coding bootcamp. I gained so much confidence in myself both technically and socially because of this software engineering immersive, and have even obtained a job as a software engineer within the average time expected of a Hack Reactor grad (3 months). WHO IS HR FOR? Attend HR if you are able to be self-driven, motivated, and have a strong work ethic and passion for coding. I do not recommend this course if you are coming in half-assed and are expecting a fat paycheck to be handed to you at the end of the course. Many of my cohort mates and I have had to slave away for months applying, interviewing, and coding to be successful. Although HR does try its best to help you get a job, at the end of the day, that will be up to you on how much you want to apply yourself and how much you're willing to sacrifice sleep to succeed. There is only so much HR can do for you. They can teach you the skills, but the rest is up to you.

I graduated from Hack Reactor Los Angeles campus on July 2019. As a graduates, I can confident say…read moreHack Reactor has great learning atmosphere, efficient and powerful curriculum, employees are extremely reachable and helpful. After I graduated, I am very confident in job searching process, the career counselor is here for you when you need help or advice. I got an offer within a month after I graduated. I am really appreciate about choosing Hack Reactor, and it is a successful career path change for me! Thank you Hack Reactor LA!!!!

It's 8:36AM (the day of my appointment) and I received a text from an unknown number regarding my…read moreappointment and a reschedule request. I'm not a difficult person, was simply asking questions to try and accommodate. Read the attached image of the text exchange between the annoying staff member and myself. I immediately cancelled because of how rude the person was with me. No thanks. I hope this person is trained to speak with customers in a kinder matter ASAP.

Wonderful and extremely knowledgeable! Thank you for your help and always being available!read more

My daughter has taken a few kids classes and loved them…read more I did the intro to sewing and was so impressed with what I made, having never used a machine previously. We were taught how to make the I item look pretty professional.

Love love love Moving Thread. I have done a parent/child class where we each made a bag. Was…read moreempowering to learn how to use a sewing machine and actually make something useful from raw materials. My child has done the Fashion Camp in the summer twice and loved it both times. So cool for her to be able to design and then create her own clothes. Has opened up a whole world for her. I intend to take more classes for myself to refine my skills. Super fun, and super valuable.