Like starting a new business, changing to a coding career successfully requires learning from the best. You have to learn the best coding practices and secure a job after you complete it to make it a successful career change. This is where coding bootcamps come in.
With the right coding boot camp, you’re able to learn how to code easily and get set up for job opportunities with top tech companies, regardless of your work history. Here’s our take on the best free and paid coding boot camps for career changers.
1.freeCodeCamp
Like an all-expense paid trip, freeCodeCamp is a completely free coding bootcamp for anyone looking to learn how to code. freeCodeCamp offers interactive lessons on CSS, JavaScript, SQL, HTML, Python, and Linux and checks out as anultimate boot camp for web developers.
After completing lessons on freeCodeCamp, the bootcamp assesses your coding skills by providing projects that you have to build successfully and turn in a step-by-step report of the process.
freeCodeCamp’s projects are based on what each lesson has taught you. Sometimes the projects are tricky, and you may need to re-do the lesson to understand and implement what it teaches you. Nonetheless, the difficulty of these projects will form and harness the foundation of your successful career change.
If you’re familiar with some level of code, you’re able to opt out of starting from scratch and continue from the lesson you’re comfortable with. However, to earn certificates and badges after completing the bootcamp, you have to pass the projects for all the lessons, including the ones you skip.
2.Fullstack Academy
Fullstack Academy is one coding boot camp that recognizes the diverse nature and schedule of career changers. To cater to them, the bootcamp segments its training programs into different sessions, including part-time classes, a full-time course, a completely online program, and a bootcamp for women in tech.
you may consider Fullstack Academy as a boot camp that’s tailored to how you want to learn. However, their programs hold for a duration of 17 to 31 weeks, so there’s quite a time factor. Also, Fullstack Academy is not free. All its programs are paid for, ranging from $17,000 to $19,811, as of August 2023.
While its services are not free, its payment options, benefits, and scholarships are quite flexible. Fullstack Academy also encourages veterans to learn to code with very rewarding benefits and scholarships.
Furthermore, if you live in the US and prefer learning to code in a campus environment, Fullstack Academy runs an on-campus coding bootcamp in New York.
3.Actualize
Actualize is a paid boot camp dedicated to helping people master the art of coding. It provides a practical learning experience by grouping people who want to learn how to code. Within the groups, there are individual projects and group projects that stimulate learning and working individually and with teams.
This effectively positions career changers to have options between working independently and with others. Actualize’s bootcamp runs for 17 weeks, divided into five weeks of Prework and 12 weeks of Live Training.
They also go a step further by offering support until you bag your first coding job with or without the help of their Job Hacking System.
4.SkillCrush
Another coding boot camp that’s totally free is SkillCrush, and their offer doesn’t just stop at teaching you how to code for free. SkillCrush is also a bootcamp for learning UI/UX design, as it checks out when evaluatinghow to choose UI/UX Design Boot camps.
This bootcamp recognizes that UI/UX design and coding go hand in hand and aims to teach you how to apply them independently or together. SkillCrush’s syllabus for both tracks is designed to give you all the knowledge you need to be equipped for an entry-level job in either career.
After signing up to SkillCrush, you’ll have free access to six classes for UI/UX Design and 12 for coding, which include HTML and CSS, JavaScript Fundamentals, Introduction to JavaScript React, and Coding Responsive websites.
5.Codecademy
With Codecademy, you can choose to learn to code for free or take up advanced courses for a fee. While the paid programs come with additional perks like practicing your coding skills on a mobile phone, you can always use the free version to learn valuable coding lessons.
Signing up for Codecademy’s free bootcamp gives you access to learning resources that are part of an organized syllabus designed to equip you with knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, SQL, Python, ChatGPT, C++, and so on.
While there arereasons why you shouldn’t learn to code with Codecademy, it remains one of the best free boot camps for learning how to code.
6.Springboard
This paid coding bootcamp teaches other courses in addition to coding, like data analytics and cyber security, if any of them ever pique your interest. Their program is flexible and designed to run from 6 to 9 months with a timetable tailored to fit your work or school schedule.
At the beginning of Springboard’s coding BootCamp, you have to complete a quiz-like survey that helps to evaluate your knowledge of coding.
One feature that influences the success of Springboard’s coding bootcamp is its mentorship program, which assigns a specific mentor to each student. Your mentor is tasked with helping you navigate through all the coding resources available to you, as well as supervising your progress when you undertake milestone projects.
Springboard prides itself in being efficient, so much so that it has a six-month money-back guarantee that offers you a full refund if you don’t get a job upon graduation from the boot camp.
7.Flatiron School
Flatiron School is another bootcamp that offers both free and paid programs for you to learn how to code. Its free tech prep is a program that aims to equip you with introductory knowledge of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, SQL, and JavaScript.
If changing to a coding career seems like a lot to take in, you should give these introductory classes a try as they can simplify coding for you. In Flatiron School, you can opt to learn how to code in 15 weeks with full-time participation or 20 or more weeks of self-paced learning.
8.Hack Reactor
Hack Reactor by Galvanize is a coding bootcamp put together for career changers, military personnel, veterans, and anyone who wants to learn how to code. After passing Hack Reactor’s Technical Admissions Assessment (TAA), which is an assessment for admission into Hack Reactor, there are three coding programs you can choose from.
The Full-Time Beginner Bootcamp, the Full-Time Intermediate Bootcamp, and the Part-Time Beginner Bootcamp. The Full-Time Beginner Bootcamp lasts 19 weeks and is most suitable for you if you have no prior experience with coding.
On the other hand, the Full-Time Intermediate Bootcamp will suit you better if you have some knowledge of coding. And the Part-time Beginner Bootcamp will be your best pick if you’re still working a job and desire to learn to code on a part-time basis.
Switching to a Coding Career Made Easy With Bootcamps
With structured curriculums, mentorship packages, and access to a community of other people learning how to code, coding bootcamps help you transition into a coding career easily.
You don’t have to worry about breaking the bank to learn how to code, as there are free and paid coding bootcamps available for you. Some of these coding bootcamps have up to 80% job placement rate upon completion, so you have a lot to forward to.
