RefactorU

RefactorU was an amazing experience. I came into with a small base knowledge, but with a hunger to learn more and it was exactly what I needed. The instructors are patient, kind, and truly want you to learn the material. It is definitely an experience that requires you to put yourself wholly into it, but if it’s what you want, and you want to be there, there’s no better place!

As I was deciding on what bootcamp to enroll in, I reached out to alumni and asked if they would go through the program again. The response for RefactorU was unanimous; all of the graduates spoke highly of their experience and said they would go through the 10 weeks again. That positive response, combined with the JavaScript-​based curriculum was enough for me to enroll in the program. Now that I’ve graduated, I join the chorus of alumni praise without hesitation.
Reasons you should attend: JavaScript based curriculum instead of Ruby; 10 weeks to achieve the same outcomes as 6 month programs; instructors who are passionate about both code and teaching; an incredible, positive learning environment.

RefactorU provides 10 weeks of intense web development training. What you put in, is what you get out of it. You are accountable for doing your own work. Having said that, the lead instructors are fantastic at helping you understand concepts throughout the whole program.
Pros: Course content/​coursework: The overall structure and content of the bootcamp were great. The MEAN stack is in demand, and I found it particularly useful learning AngularJS concepts, and am excited to delve into other JS libraries such as React.
Instructors: The lead instructors are very talented and motivated to see you learn and succeed. Not only were they highly supportive of their students, they were consistent & thorough in their teaching of concepts.
Classmates: I have met some truly incredible people in this class which I can confidently say will be life-​long friends & helpful peers as we dive into our professional tech careers. Since instructors were often busy assisting other students (which is great, as the instructors took all the time necessary to address individual questions/​problems) I found my fellow students to be a goldmine of knowledge and it was very encouraging to see other students working together and helping each other. In addition, every student in the class found their own strengths & interests in the class. For example, some students really delved into Node. js, while others spent hours and hours perfecting artistic creations on the front-​end.
Model: The number of coding bootcamps has exploded over the last couple years, and this immersive model is here to stay. As a long-​time fan of alternative education, RefactorU has hit the nail on the head in terms of providing a specific high-​demand skill-​set to anyone with the grit and determination to become a software developer.
Location: RefactorU’s location in Boulder is great for those interested in working in the start-​up scene in Boulder. The Denver/​Boulder metro area is an emerging tech hub and a prime gateway to enter a tech career. This was also helpful for attending the many Meetups, workshops, and conferences in the area.
Cons: Student to teacher ratio. We had three instructors for a class of 33 (we are the largest class yet). This is in contrast to 18 students in the prior cohort, and there were 11 graduates in the cohort prior to that. The classroom was far too small for this many students.
Individualized attention: while the instructors were fantastic, and true champs in terms of being overloaded with students, many of us felt that we did not receive as much individual attention as we would have hoped, and this is largely attributed to the very large class size. There simply weren’t enough instructors or hours in the day to get assistance with the 1:10 ratio in our class. A huge shoutout to the instructors that showed up and gave their best every day. They were as enthusiastic about seeing us succeed in week 1 as at the very end of our program.
Class distractions: with such a large class it was an exercise in zooming in on our work and blocking out distractions. The overall classroom atmosphere was far louder and more distracting than I had anticipated. While each of us is responsible for doing whatever we needed to do in order to concentrate on learning, I was hoping for a more professional (and quieter) work/​study environment. Students wanting to socialize and those needing a quiet space to concentrate often clashed in the overcrowded classroom.
Constructive criticism for the school: I am aware that the school plans to hold two concurrent cohorts for the next set of students, but a campus expansion/​relocation would greatly serve to benefit the students, and with the high growth of RefactorU, the organization as a whole. Smaller class sizes are a must, or reducing the teacher: student ratio. I have high hopes for RefactorU moving forward, and I anticipate seeing great things from my fellow classmates.

Everyone at RefactorU was great — the instructors, administrators, community engagement planners — they are all wonderful.
RefactorU throws a lot of information at you in a short time, but in a really well-​structured way so that you actually have time to learn it all, and learn it all well. I’m astounded by how much I learned, and how dedicated the instructors were to supporting our experience: from TAs who come in on the weekends to offer help, to being responsive when not-​totally-​kosher sexist jokes were being made in class (hey, it’s the tech industry, right?). They organize events with employers and recruiters to help you make connections. They know they only succeed when their students succeed, and they are all about that.
My only complaint is that, being as successful as they are, they have been growing a lot, and for my personal learning style, our class was too big. We had 33 people, so there were quite a few of us sharing the instructors’ attention. It was also often a very loud work environment (33 people in one room), which for me usually meant having to choose between leaving and going somewhere quiet to get work done, or being in a room where I have access to help from instructors and classmates.
Overall, I’m glad I went and really impressed by what they accomplish as a school. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others.

In short, RefactorU has changed my life for the better as I now have a job as a Software Engineer, a job that I truly love.
RefactorU is hands down the BEST bootcamp in CO! Best bang for the buck, awesome curriculum delivered by instructors that genuinely care about seeing students succeed.
In a mere 10weeks, I was able to successfully transition myself from life as a Soldier in the Army to being a contributing member on a software team. Not only does RefactorU teach you how to code, you also learn how to enter the industry via a parallel carrier services track. I followed the track to the ‘t’ and landed a job before the bootcamp was even over.
In just ten weeks I was able to exceed the stats of both Turing and sSchool all while maintaining a solid work/​life balance.
So, I learned to code and landed my dream job but there’s more. I made 32 really close life-​long friends, laughed more than I have in as long as I can remember. Peers help one-​another rather than competing. The culture at RefactorU is centered around individual success fostered through group collaboration. Coding is incredibly social (who knew?). Students are exposed to pair-​programming and working in teams early on, preparing them to work in industry.
I’m 30 and finally hitting my stride thanks to RefactorU.
Making the decision to attend RefactorU is the best decision that I’ve made in my life hands down.
A few words about the curriculum: Learning the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, and Node. js) is the most effective way to learn the BIG-​PICTURE. Principles learned at RefactorU can be applied to other languages/​stacks/​frameworks/​technologies. The coding challenges are extremely relevant to real-​world problems and aided me substantially during my interview process.
RefactorU transforms non-​coders into world class entry level programmers.
I’m looking forward to having you join the RefactorU Alumni network.

Simply an amazing coding experience. I graduated in fall of ’14 with a group of truly talented folks. I was drawn to RefactorU due to the focus on full-​stack, modern development languages.
Everyone found their own niche throughout the ten week course… some excelled with server-​side code, while others found their calling creating beautiful works of art based on front-​end design.
There are many coding schools out there, but you’d be hard up finding one that comes close to providing the education you’ll get at RefactorU.

I graduated from RefactorU just over six months ago, and I have to say, attending RefactorU was, decidedly, one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. I cannot imagine my life now without the skills and the friends I made and learned at RefactorU. I want to thank everyone there for being there for all of us in my cohort!
The course is first rate, and I wouldn’t trade my time there for the world. Chris in particular is an AMAZING instructor and human being, and the material presented truly did prepare me well for a real-​world job as a developer.
I made some great friends and got a great job (only took me 3 weeks after I graduated!), and I cannot tell you how happy I am. I solve puzzles every day, design beautiful websites, and go home every night happy (and well paid!). Thanks to everyone at RefactorU, I love what I do and do what I love.