University of California Riverside Coding Bootcamp Guide | Career Karma
Riverside is a vibrant community located just outside of Los Angeles, California. This Southern California city is home to a diverse culture and growing tech sector. Most tech employment in the city relates to e-commerce and logistics, which has been a staple in the region’s technology industry for some time now. In addition to employment prospects, Riverside is also home to the University of California Riverside. This institution hosts nearly 20,000 students, along with several excellent alternative education programs. Recently, Trilogy Education Services collaborated with UC Riverside to develop a coding bootcamp, which aims to educate the local population with valuable coding skills. This comprehensive program, which isn’t one of the newest university coding bootcamps in the region, already has an upstanding reputation amongst students. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about UC Riverside’s coding bootcamp, along with where to go to prepare for enrollment.
Review
Coding bootcamps are a newcomer to the education scene, but they show immense promise as the future of career and technical education. However, the internet has existed for many years prior to coding bootcamps, and as a result, there aren’t too many review platforms available online for students to share their experiences. At this time, Course Report is the ultimate source for coding bootcamp reviews and information, and they have an entire page dedicated to the coding bootcamp at UC Riverside. Overall, the UC Riverside Extension coding bootcamp earns a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Course Report. Many students echo this positive sentiment in their reviews, such as one student who wrote, “It was a wonderful course! I really appreciate the way that they introduce lessons, the homework assignments are all really helpful, and the projects that we do in this course really prep you for job interviews when they ask you to show what you have worked on.” The aforementioned review pretty much sums it all up, and Trilogy did a great job working with UC Riverside to create this program.
Cost
Coding bootcamp pricing in the continental US varies widely, but typically starts around $8,000 and rarely exceeds $20,000. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why UC Riverside’s $10,995 program is an excellent value. Coding bootcamp graduates often increase their salaries exponentially, which explains why so many students attend the programs, to begin with. Both courses at UC Riverside advertise the same all-inclusive tuition price-which means what you see is what you pay. There are no expensive textbooks to purchase, as coding bootcamp curriculum is primarily paperless. This is a massive improvement compared to traditional programs, which often cost students thousands of dollars more in materials and fees. Coding bootcamps often aim to rid the education system of problematic practices, and this program is no exception. While the initial tuition price may seem high, it’s not necessarily what you’ll pay-there are plenty of excellent scholarships available for coding bootcamp students, so be sure to check them out here.
Instructors
Coding bootcamp instructors aren’t usually university professors, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be helpful. These professionals must be well-educated in their field, and capable of passing on their knowledge to a group of around 30 students. They also must be willing to answer questions and guide students along, as coding can be complex, tedious, and often confusing at times. Luckily, instructors aren’t left with the burden of an entire class. Trilogy coding bootcamps have teacher’s assistants who help pick up the slack, and students widely report success through this proven method. One student on Course Report wrote, “I enjoyed the instructor and TAs that I had. They were very highly qualified and knowledgeable in both front end and back end web development.” The positive sentiment echoed by this student seems to be the norm, as another graduate wrote, “The Coding bootcamp at UCR extension is an excellent course to take for entering the tech industry. It is an intensive course with excellent instructors and TAs.” Although you won’t know for sure until you take the course, we have every reason to believe that the UC Riverside coding bootcamp nailed it on instructors. Students seem very satisfied with the quality of education they receive, and we have little doubt this trend will continue.
Schedule
The coding bootcamp at UC Riverside offers two part-time courses, both of which are split up into modules. These programs offer evening classes during the week, along with another class on Saturday mornings. Unlike other programs, this Trilogy bootcamp won’t require you to show up every day of the week. Classes last for twenty-four weeks or six months. Classes are spaced out throughout the week, allowing students plenty of time for homework, university courses, or even a full-time job. It’s worth mentioning that this coding bootcamp isn’t reserved to university students only, as anybody can apply and attend. Both programs start in October, and students attend classes in Riverside. This is not an online coding bootcamp, which means students must physically show up to the building for class. Also, it’s imperative to attend as many classes as possible. This is not a basic course where you can get away with missing class. The curriculum here is intense and moves quickly, so even a single absence can set you back significantly. Luckily, students who attend every class usually have no issue keeping up.
Curriculum
As we mentioned earlier, the curriculum at UC Riverside’s coding bootcamp is intensive and thorough. For the full stack web development course, students learn a wide range of coding languages and web development skills. The course split this program up into two sections, with three major subjects in each section. Full stack developers will learn front-end web design, HTML5 web design, Node.js coding, JavaScript coding, MERN stack coding, C# coding, object-oriented coding, and much more. If the full stack curriculum seems intense, don’t worry-with the right amount of drive and focus, anybody can learn these programming skills within the 24-week timeframe. Cybersecurity students learn a different set of skills, including Wireshark, Kali Linux, Metasploit, Nessus, along with skills needed for CompTIA Security+ and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). Sounds pretty interesting, right? Many students think so, too, which is one of the reasons why Trilogy cybersecurity courses are so popular.
Many people choose Reddit to learn more about coding bootcamp programs. Reddit is an excellent resource for honest opinions, and many people take to this platform to discuss the reality of coding bootcamps. For many people, checking on a course’s Reddit page can add helpful insights that aren’t available on other platforms. In this case, there isn’t much on Reddit about UC Riverside’s coding bootcamp, though you can always check back another time to see if anybody has new insights.
Job Placement
Job placement is a major selling-point for coding bootcamps, especially in this rapidly changing economy. Unfortunately, Trilogy Education Services doesn’t currently advertise job placement statistics, so we’ll have to look for other sources of information. The first good sign is the free career counseling offered by Trilogy. While these services won’t guarantee you a job, they do teach you useful strategies to be more competitive in the workforce. Also, many students on Course Report (who attended various Trilogy bootcamps) report largely positive job search experiences. Your individual results will vary, just remember this: if you apply the same effort to the job search that you did during coding bootcamp, you’ll set yourself up for success in the competitive tech job market.
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Originally published at https://careerkarma.com on August 19, 2019.
