Three Reasons to Learn to Code Online

Coding bootcamps like Flatiron School are a relatively new development in education. Bringing that experience online is an even newer frontier, and different schools doing it very different ways. We’ve written before about what we think is great about our Learn.co platform, but we wanted to hear from the people who know our platform best: our students.

We spoke to a few Flatiron School students and alums from our Online Web Developer program about what they love about learning online with us. Here’s what we found.

The Flexibility of Self-Paced Learning

Students appreciate the ability to balance their studies with their lives, whether they are working a full-time job or traveling the world. 

“I love that it’s self-paced. I know quite a bit about coding fundamentals (a lot of the intro was very similar to the Java course I took a few years ago), so I can breeze through those sections and spend more time on sections I have trouble with.” – Gabe Jackson (Online Web Developer Program alum)

“Learning online 100% worked for me. When I first started I was still working full-time, so I could do Flatiron School coursework around my working hours. I used to get up in the morning at 6:00am, log onto Learn.co to do a couple of hours before work, sneakily do some lessons/labs at work, and then more in the evening when I got home.” – Danny Dawson (Online Web Developer Program alum; Full Stack Developer at PwC)

“I loved the online aspect of Learn. I had been traveling through South America and across the US and the ability to plug in and work on school anywhere totally rocks.” – Lucas Moore (Online Web Developer Program alum; Platform Engineer at Ibotta)

Flatiron’s Proven, Open-Source Curriculum

When considering online programs, the students we spoke to found comfort knowing they would be learning the same rigorous Flatiron School curriculum that we’ve taught and honed on our NYC campus for years. 

“I love that I can actively contribute to the open-source curriculum. I’ve submitted approximately one million pull requests for small changes (mostly grammar) to the curriculum (probably annoying the hell out of the curriculum team!), and it’s really playing nicely into my obsessively pedantic side.” – Gabe Jackson

“The Online Web Developer Program on Learn.co was essentially an online version of the Full Stack Web Development Program that Flatiron School offers on-site in New York. The course had the exact same curriculum, so obviously it had been tried and tested for a few years beforehand. It was very well-developed, and you could tell based on its depth.” – Danny Dawson

“I really loved the lab-based flow of the program. Learn’s structure has you work through every lab by passing tests written specifically for each task. Programming is hard. The small victories of passing each test help you stay focused and avoid frustration. It also reinforced how critical testing is to development. In my current job, I’ve even referenced the Learn labs for structure and syntax when writing my own tests.” – Brett Heenan (Online Web Developer Program alum; Web Developer at CareerFoundry)

“I liked having the projects, and how Learn doesn’t tell you exactly what to do to solve them; you have to put some work into figuring it out.” – Tucker Bohman (Online Web Developer Program alum; Web Developer at Pick Your Plum)

“The most exciting part of Learn for me was when we started digging into how to utilize APIs. There is so much data freely available online and learning how to interact with all of it felt like a huge breakthrough. I feel like I can build anything now.” – Lucas Moore

Learning with a Community

Above all else, Learn.co students love that even though they’re learning online, they’re not alone. 

“My favorite part of Learn is the community and the instructors. The instructors and staff have helped me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. And even though it’s likely you will never meet them and/or other students in your cohort (though there are several meetups in big cities), everyone is extremely supportive of each other and no one feels like a stranger to me.” – Shana Moore (Online Web Developer Program alum; Software Engineer at Verve Mobile)

“It’s really cool to figure something out and then almost immediately be able to apply that knowledge in helping someone else through the ‘Ask A Question’ feature.” – Gabe Jackson

“There were instructors available for online chat/help if you needed them. If you needed someone to bounce ideas off or guide you to the answer without giving it away, there were mentors there for that. We also had a Slack community for Flatiron School, where we’d all keep each other updated and encourage each other. Although you’re on your own, you never feel isolated – there are always instructors available, it’s easy to start study groups with fellow students, and there are live lectures you can join about three times a week.” – Danny Dawson

“The online community on Learn.co is incredible. Avi was present throughout the entire course. He gave lectures multiple times a week and knew everyone by name. I really felt like he was personally invested in my growth as a programmer. The platform’s structure also allows you to identify the other students who are at the same place in the curriculum as you. You’re therefore able to ask other students questions if you’re stuck. Some of us even started virtual study groups together.” – Brett Heenan

“I also really enjoyed the community of people on Learn. It was great getting to chat with other people who were also learning how to code about how to approach various problems.” – Tucker Bohman

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Interested in trying our online learning platform for yourself? Get started with our new Bootcamp Prep course today.

Disclaimer: The information in this blog is current as of November 2, 2016. Current policies, offerings, procedures, and programs may differ.