So you graduated from a coding bootcamp, landed a job working as a developer, and you're looking to level up your skills so that you can take your career to the next level. Enter HackerYou's Full-Stack Masterclass - a 57-hour, nine week part-time course designed to fill the gaps in your programming knowledge, push you to level up and ultimately narrow the gap between you and the Full-Stack Developer you admire most. Thinking of applying, but not sure if it's right for you? We caught up with Emma Koza, HackerYou bootcamp grad and Development Team Lead at Uberflip, who is a recent graduate of the program, to hear more about her experience.
HackerYou (HY): First things first, what actually made you want to take this course?
Emma: I feel like more and more Front-End dev positions require knowledge of at least one JavaScript framework and though there are a lot of great resources out there like online courses or tutorials, I really appreciate having the support of a class and being able to ask questions in real time. Also, learning computer science fundamentals at Nascent was a great added bonus.
HY: What kind of knowledge/skills do you need to have before taking the course in order to be successful in it?
Emma: You should definitely be comfortable writing vanilla JavaScript, specifically ES6, and have a understanding of how JavaScript works so you aren’t playing catch up and can focus on learning React, Node and Express.
HY: What’s the in-class experience like?
Emma: The in-class experience is a lot fun! You’re going at a fast pace, but having the week in between each class gives you a lot of time to practice what you learn and prepare for the next class. Time management is challenging - balancing the class work, a full-time job and other adult human responsibilities - but definitely still doable. I would say still a lot easier compared to the bootcamp, even though the material is technically more challenging, because you’re better equipped with the skills to learn about development and pretty familiar with process and environment at HackerYou.
HY: Do you feel like what you learned is helping you in your current role and is going to help you in your career longer term?
Emma: Yeah definitely. I think having some baseline knowledge on computer science fundamentals and what happens inside your browser/computer is especially valuable for bootcamp students because that’s where our knowledge gaps are. This class has definitely given me a good foundation to continue learning more about full-stack development and I feel a lot more confident in my JavaScript skills!
HY: What’s your favourite thing you learned/built in in class?
Emma: I really enjoyed learning about and working with Mongo!
HY: Would you recommend the course? Why or why not?
Emma: It’s a big time and financial commitment but if it’s something you can make work then it's 100% worth it. It’s a really great and supportive learning environment, the lead instructors Ryan and Simon are fantastic teachers and honestly it’s pretty wonderful being able to immerse yourself in learning something and to be back at HackerYou. :) Interested to follow Emma's lead and join our Full-Stack Masterclass? Find more information and start your application here!