Lighthouse Labs

I loved everything about this program. The teachers and mentors where amazing at breaking concepts down and gave me the confidence to start my career as a developer.

The course is definitely a challenge, but one I found exciting and even when I felt stuck there was always someone available to help out. The community around Lighthouse Labs has continued to be a motivating, empowering resource even five years out with their focus on continuing to support alumni education and development.

​If your willing to put in the work Lighthouse Labs is 1000% worth it. decision

It was honestly one of the best decision I've ever made. I was in my late 20s and not happy at my job in the service industry.

I learn best under pressure and with a little guidance (and I have no self-discipline). If this sounds like you, then a bootcamp is definitely worth the investment. No coding experience required (although they give you a thorough pre-bootcamp test to complete before being accepted). The greatest asset that the bootcamp provided were the mentors who helped me in all of my projects. They answered all my questions, took the time to explain the concepts I didn't understand, and explained step-by-step along the way. This kind of mentoring is really hard to come by in real-life situations, so I'd take advantage of their knowledge while you still can.

The career support throughout Lighthouse Labs' network in Canada is also great and extensive. You can still reach out to their services after 5 years of taking the bootcamp so it helps if you plan to work in Canada.

A bootcamp is not for everyone, so please ask questions to alumni students to see if it fits your lifestyle. A bootcamp is a sacrifice and takes commitment to complete. "Learning to code" will not solve all your career problems if you don't work for it.

Also, I gave 4 stars in the curriculum because I wish I would have had more time with React JS. And I wouldn't have cared much for Ruby on Rails, but that's just a personal preference.

Being unhappy with the traditional school system, I started looking for alternatives and found Lighthouse Labs. After a bit of research I decided to go with them for no particular reason, other than I liked their website. After all, most coding bootcamp websites all advertise for the same thing.

The sheer amount of knowledge and understanding about high-level programming they gave us in such a small amount of time, is invaluable. We, the passionate cohort I was lucky to be a part of, gave all of our time and dedication for those 10 weeks and they supported us throughout this learning experience.

Yes. 'Supported' us. As I wrote previously, I was dissatisfied with the school system I've been a part of all my life and so, this was refreshing. They taught us early on, how to learn, how to be curious and assertive. Of course, no one understood everything, so the mentors were always there at the ready, to help us either look through documentation and code more carefully or come up with a different explanation of the problem, while never revealing the answer!

As fo the curriculum, it was heavily dependent on javascript and on week 7 we did a ruby project. We did many projects using different stacks of technologies, all the while learning how to use git and Github for good workflow. The last 10 days were the craziest, most exhilarating days of the bootcamp; we had to team up in teams of 3 or more, come up with a solution to a problem, have a good team workflow, and do a full-stack application with our newly acquired knowledge.

We also had some networking events with employers, where we could talk with them, ask questions and even potentially get a job. Overall, we learnt how to present ourselves in a favorable light to more easily get interviews and later on, a carrer.

Since I didn't have any prior notable work experience, it was a risky but life-changing decision.