I was not in a career that I could be excited about or even see a future in.

I was making just over minimum wage in a kitchen when I learned about the program and was able to come out of it with a certificate and within a short amount of time, a career.

I am extremely excited to be in development and can’t believe I was able to achieve what I have in such a short amount of time and relatively small amount of cost.

I [chose] to attend because I have always been in a technology role, however Cybersecurity interested me.

A friend had taken another of the Boot Camps when I realized … the first Cybersecurity Boot Camps opened up at UNCC. I then decided to make a change and take the program.

I have now switched gears and am in a Cybersecurity career.

The experience is definitely no joke and is a true test of your mental toughness and dedication. I enrolled in the program because I was pigeonholed at my current job and they capped my salary and told me that I could not be promoted due to my location.

I realized my original career choice was no longer satisfying to me so I did some soul searching and realized I wanted to combine artistic and logical aspects in my career and landed on coding and web development.

It is a frustrating yet rewarding field and it’s refreshing to have the mental challenge. This course has allowed me to have opportunity and potential in my career again along with a higher salary.

I chose to attend the Boot Camp since the school I was attending did not offer a Computer Science program that I could complete at night or remotely.

The part-time Boot Camp allowed me to pursue my career by offering evening sessions. Now, working in a role that I had thought was out of reach is a reality.

I was interested in coding and decided to make a change and take coding seriously.

I had looked at different resources and programs, however Coding Boot Camp was the right fit for me in terms of duration and cost.

I can only say that this experience has been amazing and intense. I have [learned] a lot of information in a short period of time. It gave me all the tools, necessary skills, and knowledge to get a foot in the door towards being a programmer.

While the program was tough, making the decision to attend was very simple. In my previous role, I came to the conclusion that no matter how well I performed, how much money I made, or how high I climbed, I would never be genuinely excited to go to work or fulfilled when I came home. So making the investment to try something that I knew I liked in hopes that it would turn into a career made total sense in my mind. Looking back, I’m happy with my decision. It went even better than I thought it would, to be completely honest. I thought that at best, I would learn valuable skills and regain some child-like excitement, but that most of the material would be difficult to grasp completely in a short amount of time and that getting an entry-level developer role would require more than just a boot camp. This was a risk I was willing to take, though.

To me, it is better to struggle with something you love than succeed in something you hate. As it turns out, thanks to AGDATA giving me an opportunity, my job search did not last as long as I was preparing myself for. I am certain that my experience in a boot camp and the projects I completed during it had a huge impact on how I was valued as an applicant. Beyond the lessons and skills learned from the boot camp, the most valuable takeaway is the relationships. I still keep up with many people from the boot camp and will be working with three classmates at AGDATA. In truth, the connections gained from the boot camp, whether it’s the instructors and TAs, or classmates and career services, are what I will cherish as my career advances—I think we all want each other to succeed and will help each other do that.

This boot camp has been one of the best educational experiences I have ever had. It is fast-paced and challenging, but in the end, you’ll have all the necessary skills required for the Charlotte job market. The amount of resources and support from the entire team is unrivaled. I’m amazed at all the skills I gained in this course and even convinced a buddy of mine to take the boot camp. I highly recommend this boot camp to anyone pursuing a career as a developer.

I went to The Coding Boot Camp without any knowledge about code or programming. It was the best experience I ever had, the teaching and student support staff are amazing, the program is unique and constantly getting updated to fit the current market needs in Charlotte area. The Boot Camp gives you the tools and skillset to become a great Full Stack Web Developer. However, it is not easy, you have to put in a lot of time to reach your goal. You have to be prepared to work in the team, learning, Google-ing and have fun!

Like other reviewers have mentioned, this is a legitimately hard course. Depending on your background, this may be one of the harder educational ventures in your life. However, in my opinion, it is absolutely worth it. If you put in the time and effort, you will definitely come out of this program with the skills necessary to succeed in the marketplace.

That being said, you must approach this program with the proper attitude. If you do the bare minimum, your chances of breaking into development post-graduation are slim. That may sound harsh, but it’s the reality of the situation, and if you know this going in you are far more likely to succeed. The good news is, you are constantly  surrounded by people who truly want to push you and help you to achieve your goals. TAs, instructors, and career services are committed to helping you every step of the way. I can honestly say this is one of the few times in education where I felt everyone in the organization went above and beyond in terms of guiding me.

So, is this course right for you? If you thrive on a challenge and know coding is the career path for you, then I would wholeheartedly recommend this program.

The Coding Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte taught me many of the fundamentals of Web Development in a short six months. The program was tough at times, and easy at other times. Through the skills I learned during both the technical curriculum, as well as the offered career curriculum, I was able to procure a position about a month after graduating the course, with having absolutely no coding knowledge prior to signing up. The instructor was amazing, and a great developer with a sense of humor and passion for teaching that really helped during the tougher sections of the class.

The course itself had a few hiccups (my class was the first of its kind at UNCC), but the staff seem dedicated to observing students and listening to feedback in order to smooth out bumps over time. Most assignments have an easy or hard version to help students pace themselves. There was also always someone available to help, whether it was over a dedicated chat system with the peers and instructors, or during office hours before and after class.

My class had a variety of backgrounds and ages; there were folks already in the field trying to sharpen their skills, and beginners like me trying to find a new career. There were three main projects in the course that were done in groups, where we chose our own path and subject of the project, based around a set of guidelines and required technologies set forth by the instructor. We were assigned groups for the first two projects, I think based on apparent skill level and/or our individual preferences for front- or back-end (make it pretty, or make it function, basically). The last project was much more loose on whether we worked in groups, or who we paired with if we did, and was much more of a final real-world showcase of what we had all spent so much time learning. Together they built an impressive start for our portfolios.