Orange County Code School

I'm going to keep this review short and sweet. Making the commitment to go to OCCS was the best decision I've ever made. 

Quick background about me: I realized I wanted to switch to a career in programming about 1 year ago. I began to try to teach myself, by spending a few hours each day after work watching videos and doing tutorials. However, after a couple months, I realized that 1. I was going at too slow of a pace and 2. I was beginning to plateau. I realized that if I was to achieve my goal, I would need a little more push and direction. That's when I started to research different bootcamps, and after reading countless reviews, I decided to apply to OCCS.

I was very excited when I got accepted, but I couldn't have imagined how great of a program it would be. Some big highlights for me: 

• It was very well structured. You alternate weeks of learning new things with weeks of building your own projects.
• The instructors are amazing. Ron, Tim, and Victor were all super experienced and knowlegable.
• Small class sizes mean each student will get plenty of help from the instructors.
• Unlimited coffee!
• Most importantly, the job-hunting help was awesome. Learning all that information was cool, but at the end of the day, the goal is to land a job (which I did shortly after the program ended). From helping me building a brand new resume, to mock interviews, to consistently sending different job openings, they were with me every step of the way through my job search.

If you are looking to get a career in softwar development,then I highly recomment OCCS. As long as you're willing to put in the work, it could change your life.

I was a member of the 9th Cohort. I graduated in August 2017 and have since then landed a position at a major company, content with my new line of work and grateful for the experience that OCCS has given me. Having been out of the program for more than 3 months now, and being where I want to be in life, I am writing this review with my wholehearted gratitude. 

In the prelude to going to OCCS, I remember being unhappy with where I was in life after I graduated. Having no real direction or prospects after having graduated from UCI with a degree in Economics, I was making a poor living working in fast food and did not feel that I was living up to my potential. I barely earned minimum wage and was barely making enough for myself. Yet out of a stroke of luck, I heard about OCCS through my parents' friends during a luncheon. Their daughter had attended the program and had landed a great position at a notable company in a very short amount of time, having avoided college and gotten a job straight out of the program. Initially, it sounded too good to be true, but going nowhere at that point in life and not seeing my life prospects brightening, I decided to give OCCS and programming some investigation.

Originally I had taken a few programming courses at UCI, but I failed many of my courses, having neither the maturity nor the urgency to take the subject manner seriously. I had been developing a few programs at a non-serious and personal capacity, but never imagined myself . However, having come to a fork in the road in life, I decided to give OCCS a shot. I ended up meeting Ron at an information session, having been the only person who attended. After talking to Ron for about 10 minutes, I realized that Ron and the school were THE real deal, and decided to take it seriously. Ron, with his near-lifetime of experience in programming, and his extensive experience in multiple sectors of the tech industry, knows the way around to get you where YOU want to be in life. Knowing that he was my ticket to help realize my potential, I applied and was accepted to enter the program. 

From day one, you're in the gauntlet with your fellow cohort members. You take intensive cycles, typically 2-3 weeks between learning about features of Modern Javascript and related technologies such as React and Redux that are in real demand in the industry and then another 2 weeks of project building, typically utilizing what you learned during the previous cycle of events. The instructors will go around along the way to make sure that you understand in-depth the concepts being taught, as well as dispense both technical and life wisdom. As you learn more, your projects will only get better and better as you incorporate more learned materials and technologies. At the end of the 12 week intensive, you'll end up with 3 of your own projects that you can proudly say you created. Everything that you learn from the program and your self-projects, and from Ron puts you way ahead of your competition of junior developers when the time comes to hunt for a job.

Now the ultimate goal is to land that position in the tech industry.  With his boatload of connections and his knowhow around the hiring and job hunting process, Ron provides heavy assistance to making sure that you stay on target after you finish the program. He arranges job workshops to dispense knowledge on how to land and smash the interview, as well as personal sessions to work on your resume so that you give the best impression of yourself to the interviewer. He along with Celeste provide job leads and places to meetup so that you can investigate leads of your own. I ended up getting many interiviews and eventually landing the position that I am in now thanks to Celeste finding leads for me to follow. If you listen to what Ron has to say and you maintain a steady amount of job apps filled on a regular basis, it is only a matter of time before you land that job. 

I ended up writing a very long review, but having been out of the program for a while and with my job now, I only have many, many good things to say about OCCS. I have never looked back and have no regrets, only having the utmost praise for Ron and the program. It is rather unfortunate that I can only rate this school 5 stars at the most, otherwise I'd have given OCCS an infinite rating. I definitely recommend the program for anyone with the appetite to learn, and the persistance to really achieve what you want in life. If that person is you, then go to OCCS and your life will change for the better forever!

I am a proud member of the 7th cohort at the Orange County Code School.

Background

I graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering. I had a year of experience working on a rapid deployment medical laboratory software team, and about half a year of experience working in the entertainment sector at AT&T in a non-developer role.

Motivations

During the last few months at my previous job, I had a strong feeling that I needed to make a change. I was dissatisfied with the direction my career was going, and one day I was unfortunately let go. I spent hours and hours reading reviews and articles online about the right types of bootcamps, attending many seminars and demonstrations, and talking to people about their experiences.

Previously, I had worked with HTML/CSS and JavaScript through FreeCodeCamp.com, but there is so much out to learn that I felt extremely overwhelmed. I understood the syntax of the language, but had trouble putting it all together when it came time to build any sort of web application. It was at that point I realized that I needed guidance.

Ron, the primary instructor, has a very impressive technical background, and it was evident after speaking with him that he is truly passionate about what he does and has the best interests of his students in mind. To anyone interested in attending a bootcamp here in Orange County, I highly recommend that you talk to Ron; he is the real deal.

The Full Stack Experience

Make no mistake, this course is no walk in the park. This is a 40 hours a week, full time commitment, and you need to be prepared to give 110% of your effort for every minute that you spend here. There will be times that you will feel lost, and times that you will be banging your head against the wall in frustration, but Ron and Tim will be there to help guide you in the right direction.

I highly recommend taking the time to sit down with Ron and Tim both inside and outside of the class to ask them about their experiences in the industry. They've been in your shoes before, and the advice they give is extremely valuable.

The curriculum is structured in a logical and cyclical manner. Each month, two weeks are spent learning the basics, while the last two weeks are spent working on a project. You will be surprised at how much you will learn when you build something from scratch; learning JavaScript and applying it are two totally different beasts. Ultimately, these 3 projects you create will be a part of your personal developer portfolio that you will then go on to show off to prospective employers.

During my time in the 7th cohort, we spent our time building JavaScript full stack applications from the ground up with React & Redux on the front-end, Node & Express on the back-end, and PostgreSQL as the database of choice.

The Job Search Experience

The bootcamp experience doesn't just end after the 3 month learning period. In fact, Ron takes it upon himself to leverage his professional connections and help you find a job. He will assist you with bolstering your resume and LinkedIn profile to garner the most attention. It took me about a month after the course to find and lock down a position at a great company in Irvine, and I couldn't have done it without Ron's connections with key people in the industry.

I recommend OCCS ten times over. I can't say I'm a JavaScript expert, but Ron and Tim have instilled in me the ability to learn and succeed on my own, and that's more than I could have ever asked for.

I came into the course after almost a year of drifting through free online courses and a few JavaScript books. I was familiar with a lot of the basics, especially HTML and CSS, but hadn't been able to put it all together or push through that beginner level. Programming as a career was a big change for me, and I was both excited and nervous about actually making the leap.

Ron starts his curriculum fast right out of the gate. He knows that there is more to learn than can possibly fit into 12 weeks, so there is no time to waste, or to coddle egos. Some of it was review for me, and if I could go back and give myself any advice, it would be to take those moments to deepen my understanding or move forward. It takes more than just coming to class and putting in the hours. One needs to be driven to make the most of the class time and outside of class time. There is definitely a balance that each person will have to find between school and life, and between coasting and burning out. Find that balance.

There is a lot to be gained just from the practice of sitting in front of the computer 8 hours a day and using the various pieces of software (the same software you will be using in the professional world). The terminal, the editor, chrome dev tools, git(hub), etc. The particulars of which exact tool you use are not important, don't get hung up on that (Atom/vsCode, bash/zsh/iterm). Just use them, learn them, if you can't figure it out, look it up. 

Learn to research independently, if you don't already know how. Ron will tell you what the best sources of knowledge are. Listen to him and then learn to use them. Don't copy and paste code. If for no other reason than the fact that writing it over and over again will help you learn it, help you become familiar with the syntax and rhythm of the language.

These are just the few of the lessons that I took from the class. Lessons that continue to serve me professionally. Attending this course is a big decision, and I worked hard to make sure I wasn't wasting time, mine or Ron's. I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about getting into this industry and willing to work as hard as they can to make it happen.

TL;DR:

I finally decided to enroll after years of working an unsatisfying Engineering job. Today, I'm happily coding all day for a Cybersecurity company with salary and benfits. OCCS made this possible.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:

Leaving my job with steady pay to go through a coding bootcamp without another job lined up was intimidating. The three months of learning web development at OCCS was fast-paced and very challenging. Conducting the job search afterwards was a grind. But landing a job and getting to code professionally was a HUGE payoff.

CURRICULUM:

The material covered in the cirriculum is modern and relevant to today's job market. On top of learning the core principles of web development, this course introduces you to a modern technical stack which you will be able to use to build entire applications. You'll be exposed to software culture and best practices as well.

INSTRUCTORS:

Ron and Tim are excellent instructors. Not only do they have deep knowledge and genuine passion for software development, but they are exceptionally adept at explaining difficult concepts.

JOB ASSISTANCE:

Ron helped me refine my resume and hone my interviewing skills. More importantly he provided me with leads to hiring companies in the area. The job offer I got after graduating was through a connection Ron set up.

ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS:

Understand that this only works if you do. Having a passion for coding, in my opinion, is necessary; I wouldn't have gotten this far otherwise. Outside of the course and now outside of work, I readily work on personal projects and read programming books which has gotten me a long way.

Don't fall behind in the course. You don't want to be playing catch up. Spend time after class if you dont understand something fully.

Your portfolio projects are really your only leverage when applying for a job after graduating unless you have some previous software experience, so make them impressive. Also, this was not really covered in my cohort but I think it would have been very useful to have had experience with cloud infrastructure. A lot of the companies I interviewed with were looking for that experience.

Learn to problem solve, find resources and teach yourself. I think this is the most valuable skill. Sure Ron and Tim are there to help, but only use them if you really get stuck or need general direction. Remember, you won't have them to lean on when your working a job, so you'll have to be good at debugging your own issues.

On December 2015, I embarked on an amazing journey to learn programming and hopefully transition my career into software development. After 1 year of self-teaching, I 've learned how to read code but I didn't really know how to connect all of my knowledge together in creating a full-stack application. I knew, from that point on, I couldn't do this alone and I need to seek help.

Fast foward to early 2017, I saw an ad for a programming bootcamp in Orange County. The curriculum was run by Ron, who has over 17 years in the software industry. With the wealth of knowledge he has, I knew I could trust his immersive program so I quit my job and enrolled.

My Thoughts

• Ron and Tim are excellent instructors.
• You don't just learn to read code, but understand how to solve problems and read documentation.
• The people from your cohort will be your best friends. For 3 months, you guys stress together and learn together.
• I've amazed myself when I built 3 web applications. Raised my confidence tremendously.
• Learning doesn't stop after finishing the bootcamp. You're just getting started. Ron helps you out by beefing up your resume and running through mock interviews with you so you can get a job. Coding never stops.

Overall, I highly recommend it.

When I first started my journey into being a web developer I was completely wet behind the ears. I knew people who had coded and heard lots about how Coders make good money, but had no idea what I was getting into. I self-started by taking a few free online courses and quickly realized I wanted the high paced boot camp experience and needed one-on-one time with a seasoned instructor. I needed to make the choice to quit my job and enter a bootcamp, or continue in my current career. After graduating with a BS in Political Science I became a part-time high school teacher, which was essentially a default career. Teaching quickly became a struggle since I wasn't making great money and I started losing the passion for teaching. Managing a rowdy classroom and spending long nights grading papers didn’t offer me the challenging and rewarding career my college professors had promised.

I decided to speak with some of the people I knew in the Tech industry about coding. No matter who I asked I kept getting the same response; “If you want to learn code and make really good money, get really good at JavaScript.” I scarcely knew what JavaScript was, so I started digging and researching. I found some random resources through online courses, but they barely scratched the surface on the JavaScript iceberg. I needed the bootcamp experience. There were plenty of bootcamps to choose from: some were 6 months, some were 3, others taught Python, and others C# or some other random languages. I was completely lost on which to choose, but because I remembered what I heard from my Tech friends, I narrowed it down to the ones that focused on JavaScript. 

In my hours of searching an ad for the Orange County Code School caught my eye. I immediately noticed the school offered web development with a focus on JavaScript and promised to transform new students having no JavaScript knowledge to “job ready’ coders in 3 months. What a promise! I decided to show up to an information session and that was when I first met Ron Perris. Ron is the director of OCCS and the reason it's one of best bootcamps. At OCCS, Ron takes personal responsibility for the success of the students, every single one. The school has a well deserved 100% student employment rate thanks to Ron’s infinite knowledge and mentorship of each cohort.

When I first started in the camp I was a terrible coder, I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of information. I had no idea what was going on, couldn't keep up and I struggled on a daily basis, but I made it and am so glad I pushed through! At OCCS Ron shows you the best practices and because he's been in the industry for so long, he's one of the best teachers JavaScript has to offer. You aren't getting random instructors that come and go, or previous students who become the new instructors. Ron's school has a tried and true philosophy that if you put in the work, it is a guaranteed formula for success. OCCS is the best JavaScript boot camp in the OC region to date. The lasting benefits that extend beyond just the three months of code camp are Ron’s industry expertise, his professional contacts and his relentless mission to get all his students a job as a coder, that makes the school worth every penny. I have my job thanks to Ron and every day I use things I learned at OCCS. I don't think I would've gotten that elsewhere. Just be prepared to put in the work.

Coders in the Tech industry use the analogy of drinking water from a firehose to explain the coding bootcamp experience, and they're right. Although it was tough, looking back now, I am so glad I made the choice to do it. Today I'm a full time front-end developer at a local startup, working on exciting technology on a daily basis. I am also a teaching assistant at UCI’s coding bootcamp. I would not have made those connections if it weren't for Ron and OCCS. All that I learned there, the coding skills and the skills of learning how to adopt the right mindsets, are invaluable to my foundations as a successful coder. Mostly, I'm grateful to have found a career I'm passionate about where I can make good money, that's not an easy thing to accomplish these days. OCCS helped me get there.

If you want to write code, make cool projects, and ease your way into the vast oceans of programming knowledge; OCCS is your gateway to it all. I can't stress enough how awesome the instruction is and how quickly they catch everything that you are doing right and wrong to make sure you are only working on good habits.

It wasn't easy but if you are prepared to put in the work and immerse yourself in the code then you will do well. It is not for everyone so I recommend checking it out online and reading up about it to make sure that this is what you really want to do.

The instruction was very well thought out and explained to each student clearly so that you knew what you were doing. However, they will also encourage you to have your own thoughts on how to solve every assignment.

I had written 0 lines of code before I came to this school and I walked out with a job in hand doing full stack development.

For those that have some experience i overheard a classmate say "I've taken 2 years of Javascript courses at a local school and I've learned more in 1 week here than I did then entire time there."

It was a fantastic experience for me.

Whatever you might expect you should expect to write a lot of code. 9am on day 1 Ron walked and and simply said "Ok, you're going to write a lot of code in the next 3 months, let's get started", and off we went. 

I found the instructors to be super knowledgable and super helpful, they always got me to think about my code and a new way. I was always intimidated to write code but they helped me be ok with knowing that the code I write is going to break, that's part of the process.  

Like any school, you get out of it what you put into it. Show up, work hard, embrace mistakes, embrace the unkown. I don't really feel like I'm going out on a limb to say that this is the best code school in Orange County.

Thank you Ron and Tim. 

This school and its instructors helped me go from a state of confusion to a state of clarity. 

About me:

For 15 years I had worked in retail like many people. I never got a college degree which can make getting into a higher position let alone a new industry difficult. I discovered my passion for software when fiddling with HTML, CSS, and only a bit of JavaScript. There are so many online resouces for "How to code" but I felt so lost. I didn't know what would get me a job as a developer. That all changed when I interviewed with Ron at OCCS. 

The experience:

Firstly, I love that OCCS is so clean. There is no clutter to distract your mind. The "computer room" is like a place of zen. It is quiet and perfect for focusing.

The curriculum is fantastic. I feel like I got a mental reset in the beginning. As time went on, the projects got more challenging and so did the materials. What is brilliant is that you will learn something, then apply it. This really helps to solidify newly gained knowledge. One of the best parts about the instructors is that they will guide you to finding the answers to problems instead of just giving you the answer. This is really essential to becoming a professional developer, which is learning to solve problem on your own. There are many tools that are introduced that become essential in your dailly life as a developer. 

Class ends:

The idea that bootcamp ends is really a misconception. It is only the beginning. As long as you are a developer, you are always a student. Go to as many meetups as you can, you never know who you will meet. Follow the recommendations from OCCS about how to look for a job, it works. Don't be afraid to call yourself a developer. In fact, you should be able to talk about what you do as a developer when meeting new people.

Final notes:

I really want to thank Ron and Tim for being such excellent instructors. Talk about a wealth of knowledge. There are a lot of "bootcamps" out there but I highly recommend you sit with Ron and see if OCCS is a fit for you. A suggestion that I would make would be that you get to know your boot-campers. Lastly, just remember that you are there for you. You are the captain and how you sail through the seas whether rough or smooth is your decision. 

Bonus:

Bring food(donuts) to share in the mornings, you'll be surprised how fast you will make friends :)

First, it is important to acknowledge the man behind the school, Ron Perris. I rate him 100/100 as a teacher, mentor, and dude.

I am a member of the 5th cohort, so this review may not cover all the rad improvements the school has undergone, since. OK! Moving on to the review of OCCS...

Before OCCS

I was previously doing social media at a ‘unicorn’ startup in San Francisco. Computer Science and ‘coding’ always seemed like a thing only superhuman geniuses had a shot of doing. A few hours on codecademy.com showed me otherwise, and I was hooked.

Software development is a very deep field. I knew I wanted to know more about the subject, but I needed an efficient way to turn my newfound hobby into a legitimate career. I took some online courses and even participated in (two lectures of) a community college Computer Science/Java course. For me, online courses didn’t require enough accountability, and the college route was far too long and uncertain - I already had a degree, anyway! OCCS is a shortcut to the good stuff.

After some Googling, I discovered the coding bootcamp scene. I visited every bootcamp in the area, and it became clear OCCS was going to offer the greatest challenges and rewards.

Attending OCCS

Luckily, Ron accepted my application. OCCS has an insanely low acceptance rate. Employers love this. Ron and his team are only interested in producing solid developers who can contribute immediately. Getting in will be your first challenge!

Ron structures the class much like a typical day at work as a developer. You are treated like a professional dev. Show up late? Don’t do your work? Lie about your progress? Rely on your neighbor for help? Can’t keep your mouth shut? Distracting others? Smell bad? Make weird noises when you’re frustrated? ...You’re going to hear about it. Probably in front of the whole class.

Some people aren’t able to follow the simple guidelines Ron lays out. If you are a sensitive person, or feel like you deserve special treatment just because you paid tuition, then run as far away as you can from OCCS. However, if you take it upon yourself to follow along with the pace of the class and behave professionally, you will be treated with respect and have access to a tight-knit community of alumni (more on that, later). You’ll also be extremely prepared to join a real world development team.

You’re going to learn Javascript. You can do a lot of stuff with JS. There are tons of Javascript jobs out there. Unless the other local schools have changed their curriculum to copy Ron by now, you’re going to start out at a huge disadvantage learning oldschool tech like PHP. I’m sure there are successful LAMP stack devs out there, but the even PHP developers at my company agree Javascript is the language to know.

After OCCS

Your job search experience depends on a few factors: your expectations/desires, your skills, and timing.

Ron does his best to hook you up with hiring partners and folks in his vast tech network. If your plan is to accept the first job offer that you stumble upon, there is a chance you’ll be employed before the program is even finished. If you want to push yourself and find a high-impact role, or a job at a well-known company, you might be waiting a while longer before starting a job. Use common sense, and do your best to assign yourself an unbiased market value.

I don’t think my personal situation was particularly common, but I’ll share it. I applied to hundreds of companies. I received dozens of interviews, and a healthy amount of offers. I bided my time, and waited for an offer to come along that met my criteria of having a competitive salary, hot technology stack, located in OC, startup atmosphere, industry-leading perks, well-funded, and a team willing to mentor/groom me. About 3 months after graduation from OCCS I accepted an offer to become a legit Software Engineer at the #1 fastest growing company of 2015. Dream. Come. True.

Now, about 8 months into the job, I’ve skyrocketed in development ability, maturity, and confidence. Since OCCS teaches full stack development with a focus on HOW to teach yourself new skills, my employer can stick me on any unfamiliar project or team (front or back end) and get results. I’ve even started getting back into better physical shape, and I now have the resources to move into a slick apartment with the love of my life. I attribute ALL of this to Orange County Code School! Thank you, Ron and company.

Let’s talk about the OCCS community. As I mentioned earlier, Ron is very selective about who gets into and graduates from his program. I personally know everyone who has completed the course. We frequently chat amongst ourselves at our new developer jobs. This is a young and growing community, who I’ve already learned so much from and enjoyed many a good time with. Trust me, you want to be a part of it.

TL;DR:

- August 2016: Graduate from OCCS

- November 2016: Begin working as a Software Engineer at a dream company

- You should apply.