My Coding Bootcamp journey in Barcelona

As I started to go deeper into coding I realised that the online videos and challenges I was doing were not enough. I heard about coding bootcamps while travelling in Australia and went to a few open days to find out more. I did some more research upon arriving back in Barcelona and came across Le Wagon. Not only was it rated as the highest bootcamp in Europe, but the fact that it was aimed at creative people and those looking to 'Change your life, learn to code'. It seemed to be the best fit for me. 

I remembered that I had a friend who did the same bootcamp in Lisbon the year before and asked him what he thought. I read some articles on Medium that confirmed that. I booked meetings with various other bootcamps in Barcelona just to be sure. Compared to the other options for bootcamps I felt that Le Wagon was more personable, more international and would provide me with the most value for what I wanted to do - change my life and learn to code. Gus didn't spam me with emails not try to convince me to take the course in our meeting, he seemed to want the course to be a good fit for both of us. And so I booked up and a month later I had my first class.

The school was bright and open which I found to be a reflection of the people who filled it. No two people were the same, each with their own story and reasons for learning to code. The focus of the first day was for us to get to know one another and get our computers set up and ready for the following weeks. Each day we would be randomly assigned another student as a buddy and were encouraged to help one another, rather than just asking a teachers help each time. I really enjoyed having the chance to work with and get to know the other students well, and I think it really made an impact on the overall friendly, positive vibe of the whole experience. 

We would learn a new topic for a couple of hours in the morning and spend the rest of the day with our buddy tackling practical exercises to help us understand and see how and why to use the new information. We were encouraged to be independent and find answers on our own or with our buddy before asking a teacher for help, which is a great habit to pick up early on in our coding careers. 

The last 3 weeks were almost entirely practical as we formed groups and created two different applications, from thinking about the reason for the app, to building the 'user story' and flow, to the design and planning, building the web app and finally presenting our finished product. We did all that using the knowledge we had just learned in the past 6 weeks plus some added extras in the morning lectures.

It felt great to be able to show off our apps to friends and family at the end of the bootcamp and feel the sense of accomplishment within our group. Not only that but we are able to add these apps to our CV's, along with all our new skills. Gus helped us to spruce up our LinkedIn profiles and CV's, and we had presentations from recruiters to alumni giving us tips on the next steps for life after the bootcamp. As well as the extra resources, courses and lifetime access to all the lectures and exercises from the bootcamp we have the added bonus of the Le Wagon Alumni slack channel with more than 4000 people posting help, job offers and giving access to this worldwide community of coders.

I am now on the other side of the bootcamp with some interviews lined up and I have started building my website portfolio plus a new app idea of my own. I would not have been able to do this had it not been for Le Wagon's bootcamp and the help and support of Gus and the team here in Barcelona.

I would recommend the Le Wagon bootcamp to anyone, but most especially in Barcelona, where we have sunshine almost every day and different fun events every weekend, it was great to have a whole new group of friends to enjoy this beautiful city (and make hilarious coding jokes with!!!). Good luck!