Student Testimonials & Reviews

I have been a teaching assistant for the program since February 2019. The program exposes students with the latest web technologies and effectively prepares them for the job market in San Diego.

Upon graduating from the program, I have been able to secure a full-time job within four months. The career services and teaching staff team have been instrumental in my success in the program. I believe that the true value of the program comes from the dedicated support staff.

Coding is hard for someone with no prior experience. I was only able to make through the rigorous program due to the support not only during class but also post-graduation support. Continuous support and consistent number to students returning to contribute to the UC San Diego Extended Studies Boot Camp have helped build an invaluable community and network of support.

Ultimately, if a student dedicates themselves, they will find success through the program.

My name is Leeland and I am a graduate of the April 2018 cohort for the part-time full-stack flex program. This program prepared me technically and mentally for my career jump from a restaurant manager to a software engineer. I had no prior experience with coding and I was taught the necessary tools in order to apply to developer positions.

The curriculum is top-notch and involves a modern tech stack. They go through the MERN stack and there are multiple full-stack applications that are built throughout the program. It is crazy to believe that I went from creating a static HTML page to buidling a React app. The best part about the program is how invested the instructional team is to your success.

My instructor prepared us with knowledge and best practices that will be relevant in our job hunt. The TAs are also very knowledgeable and willing to help when you get stuck (trust me, I got stuck a lot). I believe that those who continue grinding out and work hard will succeed in this program.

I had no relevant experience, but I was able to land a job a little over halfway through the boot camp. The instructional team helped me by asking mock interview questions as well as whiteboard questions. It is great that we learn modern technologies, but the difference with this program is that they teach you how to learn and solve problems with code.

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime” could never be so true! I would highly recommend this program to anyone trying to make a career switch!

Hello! my name is Goose and I’m a recent graduate from The Coding Boot Camp at UC San Diego Extended Studies, graduating in September 2017. My focus was to learn and challenge myself to become a full stack engineer. The boot camp provided me with all the tools and knowledge that I needed to know to achieve my goal of becoming a full stack engineer. Coming from a computer science background with some technical professional experiences in software development, I  still learned tons of professionally-used technologies and [the program] challenged me to think differently. I tried almost everything to learn how to be a full stack developer, from online YouTube videos, books, and Udemy classes but I felt that I was copying code instead of learning how to use the concepts.

UC San Diego Extended Studies’ Coding Boot Camp forced me to not only know the syntax and technology, but also the proper use of it through homework challenges and projects. For me, my favorite are the projects that we had to start from scratch. Rather than just copying sample code, we had to start from ground zero to a working MVP web application. They also taught us how to research and think differently in terms of computer science, what algorithm to use, and smarter solutions to a problem.

The Coding Boot Camp also offered career help. From one-on-one practice interviews and whiteboarding, to job search and advice. When I had trouble finding a job and was intimidated with job descriptions, the career counselor helped me a lot from the resume revamp to accepting an offer, and up to negotiating pay. I am now starting a full stack career this November with an awesome starting pay. Thanks again to The Coding Boot Camp UC San Diego, Division of Extended Studies. I hope some day I can be a TA or instructor with my professional experience.

I was referred to this course by a previous manager, and I jumped at the opportunity because it was a field I’ve always been interested in. After enrolling and completing the pre-work, the months quickly went by and it was time for the class to begin.

The first day of the class, we jumped right into it. I remember soon after starting, we were writing HTML pages and making our own simple websites. CSS, HTML, and a little JavaScript were introduced (and were continuously utilized and built upon throughout the course). The early lectures were also geared towards addressing learning anxiety and dealing with the complications of trying to learn a new skill.

I had a slight background in JavaScript and knew a few scripting languages and it really helped me at the beginning of the course. I was able to complete the first few homework quickly, but rather than spend my time being unproductive, I decided to host study sessions to try to explain the material to my peers. This was my best decision throughout the entire course. Not only did I build my understanding of the material, but I also made friends that would eventually become project partners later in course.

As the months went by, the material progressed. Before I knew it, we were being taught Node.Js to create web servers to add functionality to our websites. We went deep into different types of databases and frameworks. After a few months, you get comfortable learning new things. You learn that there is too much to learn – but that’s ok. You don’t need to know everything. You just need to know how to use your resources to find anything.

The career portion of the class progressed too. We got awesome tips on our portfolios, and it was even an assignment to complete our resumes. This was where I felt I was lacking the most, so I would bug Stacey (our career director) all the time for help and advice.

We practiced our technical skills in a practical way with the homework, so what better way to practice our career skills than by interviewing? I let my Career Director know that I was interested in looking for positions and she told me that she would shoot me opportunities that she felt were a good fit. I applied on my own like crazy, sending out my newly polished resume and ready to try out my new interview skills.

I got a call back from a tech company that my Career Director had referred me to, and I got an interview. When interview day came around I was slightly nervous but only with excitement. I wanted to try everything we had learned in class. This was an entry-level web development position and the technical interview consisted of questions that we went over in the early days of the course.

I answered the questions that I could and provided examples of times I had used the technologies (whether it was in class or as homework). Some questions I didn’t know – but after explaining to my interviewer that I didn’t know, but would love to learn, they happily taught me right there in the interview.

I was offered a position, but my current company latched on to me with a promotion and a raise (as a result of the course) – so I was sad to decline the job offer. I was happy to learn that the career advice was solid and I could find a job in the field if it came down to it.

The class continued, projects came and went. The course ended just as quickly as it began, and it’s weird to think of the position I was in six months ago. I now have technical skills, people skills, and career skills that will help me in my career for the rest of my life.

Having recently graduated, I can say that the boot camp assisted and played a role in fully transforming my outside interest in tech and innovation into a full-on career in the field. I had aspirations for a long time before taking the course, but it was ultimately the step that I NEEDED to take to advance myself.

If you’re worried that you don’t have enough of a technical background to get started, FEAR NOT. I started the course quite literally at a blank slate (barely knowing the difference between HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, for reference) and within a few weeks of struggle and patience, became “comfortable with being uncomfortable,” which is something the instructors always preached. Ultimately, you will gain a lot out of this program if you stick with it and think long-term.