Ruby-on-Rails, Le Wagon, a review
Le Wagon coding bootcamp : why
BootrAils could be something that will help you after the coding bootcamp is over. Before this, let’s see why you should enter the arena.
Are you considering a new career path in the tech industry? Do you want to learn how to build an application from scratch or improve your coding skills?
During the past years, many companies have developed new educational programs that aim to train and develop the coding skills of students that are new or have basic knowledge in the matter. These programs are usually referred to as Bootcamps, as they offer a full time and immersive learning experience that guarantees you will get the aimed knowledge in a short time (usually between 7 and 15 weeks).
Application and prerequisites to dive into Le Wagon
In my case, I decided to join the 9 weeks Web Development course at Le Wagon. The reason is, having a business background and working in a Fintech company, I wanted to have a better understanding of how back end applications are built and maintained. I chose Le Wagon because I liked their syllabus approach and they have a good reputation in the industry.
The admission process was quick and straightforward, after filling in my online application I had a personal interview where I was asked about my career prospects and to what extent I was familiar with the tech industry and coding. After that, I received the preparation work, which consisted of learning the basics of Ruby on Rails through an online platform. This process was mostly practical and included some self assessments to track performance and progress. Once I finished this, I had a second interview where I was asked some easy technical questions regarding the preparation work such as:
- “What are variables used for and how do you declare them?”
- “What is a method in Ruby?”
Immediately after this interview I got a spot confirmation and I received some extra learning material to prepare before the start of the Bootcamp, which was optional but I highly recommend doing.
Structure of a Le Wagon course
The goal of the Web Development course is to learn how to develop a user interface from scratch using best practices in the industry.
During the first weeks of the course you learn how to code with the chosen programming language, in this case Ruby. The classes are very practical, first you attend a lecture of about 2 hours where all the theoretical aspects are explained, and the rest of the day you focus on solving different exercises in groups and individually.
The following weeks you will still work following this lecture-exercise structure, but focusing on the different challenges of developing an application (database, back end, front-end) and learning the related languages (html, javascript, css).
And finally, the last weeks are dedicated to developing full projects working in teams and emulating real life development work environments. You should be able to build and pitch two projects, the first being a copy of an existing web interface, such as Airbnb or Netflix, and the second a free project proposed by the team.
Side note if you want to know how to start a Rails app from scratch, see how to use the “rails new” command.
My personal progress
During these weeks of intense work you can clearly see how your technical knowledge improves very quickly. Learning a programming language and the basis of web development is not easy, but the daily structure really helps to interiorize the concepts. I realized that even if the topics were getting more complex I was able to understand the logic quicker every day.
The project weeks are a great challenge and each project is the perfect way to integrate all the previous learning and understand how everything merges in order to create a user interface.
One of the main takeaways of the projects was the experience of working in teams and using the industry tools to align and organize work. Getting used to interacting with the computer’s console and working with Github. Learning how to create repositories and create and update code by using branches, pull and push requests, which is key if you want to work in tech oriented teams.
Additionally, while learning to develop an application, you also get the chance to practice and improve your presentation skills as the projects are presented in different stages, from the “elevator pitch” to the final showcase of the app/web.
My own point of view about Le Wagon
Doing a Web Development Bootcamp is a great opportunity and can add great value to your career if you want to work with technical teams, in the digital and startup industries or even if you want to be an entrepreneur and start your own business.
I really recommend the course at Le Wagon because it is very practical and the program is very well structured. Plus, the intensive learning is supported with a complete and very useful learning platform which contains unlimited access to resources and working tools. Moreover, it gives you the chance to meet new people with similar interests and join a worldwide network of professionals and entrepreneurs.
There is one important thing though that you should know before joining any Bootcamp. As far as it is of great value if you want to launch your company or for hybrid job positions (which include business, product and technical tasks), if you want to become a developer you will have to keep working on your skills after the Bootcamp.
Conclusion
To sum up, we all know that every new and existing product or service is shifting towards digitalization. Being able to understand the logic behind the technology and to identify opportunities is something that definitely is worth investing time to learn and explore.