I had joined the 2nd cohort at MakerSquare in fall of 2013. Prior to MakerSquare, I had tried…read morelearning Ruby and JS on my own, through countless books and online tutorials. Having completed a few guides, I realized that my ability to learn "how to code" was hindered simply by my style of learning. I love interactive q/a style learning, which is what led me to MakerSquare. Of the different programs out there, the one thing I would urge others to consider is that they place a heavy amount of weight onto prework completed (how much work you've done ahead of time) and community-fit. If you're a solo worker and not a fan of collaborative environments, you may want to consider other programs. Anyways, long story short, I would whole heartedly recommend this program. As classmates, I had former programmers, retail store workers, a professional photographer and even a former elementary teacher. Out of the program, each of the students were working as professional front-end engineers (junior developers) within weeks of graduating. So safe to say, MakerSquare has a great professional network, and they know how to teach code. The classroom environment (the location on Congress ave) was a bit cramped at times. But from what I've heard the class size is now capped at 18, vs. 30 or so when I went through. All the 'issues' I had (space constraints, less than ideal student:instructor ratio, and focus on advanced concepts (algorithms and data structures) has been completely addressed. According to the staff, Cohort 5 is operating on an almost night/day difference of curriculum than what I had. So not only do I give the program 5 stars, I would (and likely will) retake the course to take advantage of their newest curriculum.

In short, I'm very happy! Though I'm not programming on a daily basis, I was able to get into the…read moreSt. Louis startup scene which was my main goal before enrolling at MakerSquare. I've also built a really awesome network of programmers and startup gurus in St. Louis and I believe that's thanks to MakerSquare! :-) I joined in Winter 2013-2014 (Cohort 3 Represent!). My reason for joining originally was not initially to become a software/web developer. Rather, I wanted to be able to communicate better with programmers that I worked with. I wanted to gain better access to the startup network. And most importantly I have a lot of ideas that I wanted to explore on my own - I didn't want to have to rely on finding a developer to build my ideas and turn them into a reality. I came out of the program having learned web-development with a strong emphasis on solid software development skills. Here's what I loved about MakerSquare: Curriculum: I was impressed by how much I learned. I literally had no experience in programming and I can now build web applications that ACTUALLY work. Not just simple interactive sites, but fully dynamic applications that work heavily with javascript on top of a rails framework. Moreover, all of this was taught with a very clear emphasis on test driven development (from the beginning) and solid software development principles. Instructors & Culture: They actually cared about the students and our progress and they were just all-around cool people. The culture at MakerSquare was actually a huge focus in the organization. I think what I loved most was learning how to learn all over again. I gained a new confidence that I've never had. The energy was also great, everyone had awesome ideas - from students to staff. Feedback: I would have liked to have more experience with Ruby and really learning how to code w/algorithms and such vs. w/Rails which is just teaching you the framework. From what I gather, Rails is now being treated as a detail vs. a core of what we learned. When we learned rails, it was about utilizing the framework for its ActiveRecord and quick-to-web functionality. MakerSquare still teaches web development (rails/mvc, http, javascript, etc) but now only after teaching other concepts that are applicable not just to the web, but to all software (test-driven development, SOLID principles, application boundaries, decoupling, databases, interfaces, software architecture, etc). I would have loved a deeper problem-solving skillset through exposure to algorithms. Looks like I was one cohort shy of that. MakerSquare now integrates algorithms and algorithmic thinking from day 1. Finally, MakerSquare was split into two nearby locations (Congress & Brazos). The extra space was nice, but it felt disconnected and I think it kept our cohort from being as close as some other cohorts have been.

Fabulous school, where the children's needs come first! The teachers are dedicated to providing…read morequality education with an emphasis on community and achieving goals. Love this school!

Exceptional education and commitment to student growth and self-advocacy. My dyslexic son thrives…read morehere and doesn't feel the pressure of learning differently being in a school of children who are also dyslexic.

This is such a cute reformer studio! The instructor was very sweet and the class was nice - it made…read moreme a little sore, and was the perfect chill workout. They serve matcha here too :)

Such an amazing/talented team of instructors. Amanda has built a beautiful space. I've seen Amelia,…read moreLara, Alex and Brittney and all have been so fantastic. Came with a back injury and they've worked with me at every stage I am forever grateful. Improved my physical and mental health tremendously classical Pilates is so worth it !

I can't recommend Vanessa enough! We originally sleep trained our son at 3 months because he…read morewouldn't nap for more than 30 min. That worked well but right around 5-5.5 months something changed and he had trouble sleeping again. We started rocking him to sleep again and it was so frustrating. We finally found Vanessa at 6 months and am so happy we did. Our struggles were naps and 530am wake ups. In just one week we saw such a huge improvement and those early morning wake ups started to fade away. We decided to add on another week to make sure we were in good shape for our upcoming vacation, and she was so invested in us it was amazing. She did everything she could to coach us and help us reach our goals with the tight timeline. (we leave this weekend, fingers crossed!) The time she spent with us was above and beyond, and I can say it's such a great value and investment, especially since we worked with someone else prior. I loved the sleep log and the comments she made daily to help encourage us along the way. Thank you Vanessa!!

I'm not a first time mom so I thought I had this whole baby sleep thing figured out and apparently…read more*NEWS FLASH* I didn't! I used Vanessa's "pick my brain" help when my baby decided it was time to wreck havoc on the wonderful nightly pattern I thought we had going. We needed a fresh set of eyes on our situation to give us some clarity on what the root of our discourse was, and that is exactly what she provided. We tweaked what she recommended we tweak and lo and behold it worked! And everyone's sleep became markedly better in a matter of a few days. Thank you Vanessa for helping us get back on the right (and well rested) track!!

My daughter and son have both participated in classes/camp with Adderley. Alana is pure magic, she…read moremakes everything fun for the kids and they all love her. My shy daughter gets up on stage and performs with confidence, and my son who resisted going to acting camp this summer was sold after his first day-he declared Alana crazy and fun (which is high praise in his book). They had their camp performance yesterday and it was amazing what all the kids accomplished in two weeks.

Alana is wonderful with kids. Two of our kids have done a musical with her and it's truly magical…read morehow she handles them and caters to their strength. It's neat to see your kids grow in confidence and find their voice. We have loved it so much that we've put our 7 year daughter in 3 musicals now with the Adderley school. It's now her favorite activity to do. Would highly recommend!

Don is great -- the best photographer in Austin. I needed some corporate headshots in a hurry…read more Don was able to give me three times that worked for him and we booked the appointment. He texted me the address - we drove to his studio and he was right on time. He took a bunch of shots and my wife and I decided on three of them. Then we picked the best one. He did his photoshop magic and we were done. Copied two versions of the file, one high rez the other for social media. The process couldn't have been easier. Highly recommended. If you need the best guy in Austin for photographs, Don is your man. Walt and Bettye

From the owner: Business Portraits Are Usually Your First Contact With New Clients. Make Sure They Are The Best!…read more Business Portraits On Location In Your Office, Outdoors Or In Your Home. Don Is A Master Craftsman Photographer With 36 Years Experience To Make You Look Your Best. Don Is An Expert In Photoshop For Those Needing A Little Help. Don Is A FAA Licensed Drone Pilot For Any Of Your Aerial Needs. If You Are Looking For One Of The Best Family Portraits Photographers, You Have Come To The Right Place.

Great people and staff. Made everything easy to sign up and schedule while learning from very…read morerespected professionals in the industry !

If you have an itch you need to scratch...and that itch is to hone your DJ skillset, then you can…read more"baby scratch" your way into ATX nightlife stardom! Or of your like me and the only way you drop sick beats is throwing records on ground, this is still an awesome place to get your turntable learning on! I came in to audit an intro class here one evening and it was the most fun I ever had learning how to do something waaay out of my knowledge and comfort arenas. The equipment here is state the art and each station has dual turntables and a mac so you can track your beats and your progress. The instructors are not only pros in the business, but their passion is contagious! They are a non-profit and work with a lot of youth programs, which I think is awesome for community engagement and being another fantastic Eastside staple only adds to the character of this place! By the end of the class, I was not only simon-says baby scratching on both turntables, but felt like I could walk out and confidently nickname myself DJ Madame Magic Touch!

Do not use this school unless you want to test drive a flintstone mobile, the Leo guy is the…read morerudest, disrespectful and racist person at that establishment, the lack of proper communication about whats needed and the slow process of getting anything done, i would never recommend anyone to use this place

I would never want their jobs but they do it and for an affordable rate. There are a 1000 reasons…read moreto not be your child's ONLY driving teacher. Yes you schedule only a few lessons at a time but every week is different anyway and I have NEVER not had at least 2 lessons available after our LATE school release in a week available for driving as well as the second hour for observing. Highly recommend the driving portion here.

Erik and Consuelo are great salsa teachers. The ladies will love it. Best place for salsa lessons…read morein south Austin

Just finished my first private salsa lesson with Erik, and I can't stop smiling! The new studio…read morespace off of North Lamar is airy and pleasant, with wonderful light but a private feel. Erik has a splendid teaching style that really put me at ease and felt very natural to understand. Of course, he started the lesson asking what I was looking to get out of it, and he truly delivered! It was the perfect combination of technique that I needed and some really fun partner dancing where we focused on how to follow a lead. I would definitely recommend a private lesson to anyone playing with the idea. I look forward to all that Impulso dance studio has to offer!

The instructor made the class really interesting; I thought to myself multiple times 'how could the…read morelast few hours have flown by so fast?'.