On July 10th, 2014, I heard for the first time the word "Ruby" used as a name for a programming language by a cofounder of MakerSquare. On August 25th, 2014, I started my first day as a MakerSquare student. On November 17th, 2014, the Monday after the Friday I graduated, I became employee number 2 at an Austin-based startup writing Ruby code for a living. A very quick transition to coding for a living is absolutely possible, as I'm a testament of it. Looking back on the time and money I've spent to learn, MakerSquare is the investment that unquestionably impacted my future as a developer to the largest degree. To anyone looking to become a developer for a living, here's some insight into my personal MakerSquare experience and some advice my reflections leave me with: 1) The only way to learn is to act on your desire to learn. From mid-July to late August, I did nothing but learn the basics. I did every Code School course, I did the Complete Web Developer Course by Rob Percival on Udemy, I read the Pickaxe (Programming Ruby), I read all the way through HTML & CSS and JavaScript & jQuery by Jon Duckett, and I completed every single exercise (even the optional ones) of the pre-work, so that by the time I got to class, not only did I have a small foundation built for web development but I was in the habit of learning rapidly. You hear "You get back what you put in," a lot around MakerSquare, and applied to this, there really are no better words to describe the investment you make. 2) Big investments are scary, as is the future, but the reward quickly outweighs the risk. I saw a great review of MakerSquare online (much like this one) and took a leap of faith on the organization. All it really took was for me to act was my want to learn and for me to allow myself to be convinced by an online review. But, while I didn't personally know anyone in or around the organization to give me an inside perspective at the time, the investment was guaranteed to pay off because I knew I would do everything I could to come out an exceptional (and employable) developer. I found out in the first week that I had made the right decision, which leads me to 3). 3) The interest to learn a similar subject brings about a community that could've otherwise never have existed. MakerSquare isn't just where I learned to code. MakerSquare is where I found the guidance and support I needed to be an exceptional (and again, employable) developer. During the course, I lived with MakerSquare students, I rode the bus to class with MakerSquare students, I ate lunch and dinner with MakerSquare students and faculty. I went to meetups and happy hours with MakerSquare students and faculty. I stayed up until the wee hours every night at coffee shops sitting across the table from MakerSquare students. For a year after I graduated, my roommates were MakerSquare students, the Lead Back End Developer of RoverPass (the startup I still work at) was a MakerSquare student. MakerSquare (at least for me) isn't just a place to learn to code, it is and always will be to me the place I found a community of people eager to learn to code, and eager to support and encourage others to learn to code. If I write anymore, I fear you wouldn't continue reading. So, I'll finish by saying, my decision to join MakerSquare made sense for me. So often, people ask me if they should join MakerSquare or a similar school for coding. My answer is the same to you as it is to them. MakerSquare built the road, it's your job to walk down it. If it feels like the right path, then the chances are it is. If you've come to the decision that you want to learn to code and you want a career out of it, then as someone who has completely first hand knowledge of that situation, I give my full recommendation into MakerSquare. It gave me everything I wanted and more. read more

I graduated from MakerSquare back in 2014. Not to be overly dramatic, but it was a transformative experience full of incredible people. I have no regrets investing in my education with MakerSquare, since it brought me to the awesome career I have today. Of course to get there, require 110% dedication and lots of struggle and hard work. Here's why MakerSquare was stellar: - MakerSquare cares about your success. Their hiring network is great and vast. Career staff is on point, and there to support you on this rough journey to your first coding gig. My first job after graduating, the company had a former MakerSquare instructor on my team and learned a ton from him and the team there. A few months after that, we hired 2 more MakerSquare grads and they were great team members. I imagine I'll just have more and more opportunities to bump into MakerSquare alumni in my future which is is nice. - Amazing classmates. Of course, your experience may vary, but I absolutely loved my cohort. We grew very close and now fast forward almost 2 years later and we still stay in touch. I'm constantly amazed by my peers and where they have ended up in their careers. And I'll mention that many of them continue learning and improving their craft. I think this is a testament to the commitment of students that MakerSquare brings in. I recall one of the mentors said "It's not about whether you can code, because anybody can learn how to code. But it's whether you will stick with coding or not." All of my cohort still passionate about coding are slaying it at their careers. - Good on selecting students that are committed to code journey. I was surrounded by peers who were willing to put in effort around the clock. This is important because even just one person who is not committed could bring a group's learning down. And choosing students who are not collaborative and willing to help each other learn also can bring down that dynamic. - Constantly iterating and improving the program. Which mirrors the super fast pace in the industry. This is SUPER important because it's the only way to stay relevant and ensure students get placed in the appropriate jobs the industry demands. For example, my cohort in 2014 learned Ruby/Rails+JS, and now it's 100% JS. And in just the last year and half, I see the job landscape changing (I'm always curious about the jobs out there). So it's really nice to see MakerSquare constantly evolving the program to match what the industry needs. - Curriculum focuses on coding. That's like a big "duh" but the instructors understand that constant hands-on coding is the way to learn. Instructors are highly invested in the students learning and success, and were super helpful and encouraging. I won't mention details of what the curriculum was since it will naturally evolve (see my previous point). MakerSquare is a phenomenal program, but is not for the faint of heart. It requires 100% commitment, not just for three months, but for the next chapter of your career. Those who are serious about changing their career to something more fulfilling, I say go for it. read more

Think of software engineering as a trade and of Hack Reactor as a trade school. Sure, everything you learn at a trade school you could teach yourself, but you'll end up spending a lot more time and effort, probably go down the wrong path more than once and pick up quite a few bad habits along the way. Hack Reactor teaches you the tools of the trade, i.e the front- and back-end frameworks and libraries that are in demand in the job market now. They will also teach you some CS fundamentals, offer excellent tutorship during the 12 week program, and prepare you for the job search afterwards as well. But what you get out of Hack Reactor will largely be what you put into it. You can put in the bare minimum effort and make it through, but you would only be doing yourself a disservice. Your 12 weeks at Hack Reactor offer you a chance to put everything you have into learning this new trade and starting your new career. If you give it everything you've got, at the other end of it all, you will probably be very well prepared to find a job and to perform well in that role. You will at times feel like you've made the wrong decision, you won't understand what you're supposed to be teaching yourself, you will feel like you're spinning your tires. Those are the times when you struggle your way through, then you go back for more in order to solidify the concepts in your head. It will be at times very stressful, but at the same time very enjoyable, because you are challenging yourself and overcoming. I attended Hack Reactor Austin from January to April 2018, during which time I applied myself more to one end than I ever had before in my life. Within a month of graduation, I had gotten two job offers for three times as much money as I was making at my previous job. It was easily one of the best decisions I've made in my life up until this point, and I am not infinitely happier at my new job than I ever was at my old one. I want to go back and shake my old boss's hand for having laid me off, because he set a chain of events in motion that put me where I am now, at an excellent company with a great culture and fun co-workers who also genuinely enjoy what they're doing. read more

My name is Hudson Carlton and I am an engineering manager at Paypal. We hired two MakerSquare graduates to fill a couple roles: an application engineer role (non-junior) and one junior level role. In hiring, I typically look at LinkedIn, local meetups, and recent graduates. I decided to look at MakerSquare and found qualified candidates that have the skills to learn quickly. The graduate that I hired has on-boarded and is currently working on a project built with our KrakenJS stack. http://krakenjs.com/ Lastly, I was asked "would I look at MakerSquare for future hiring?" My answer: Yes, I definitely will look at MakerSquare graduates when we are looking to hire again. read more