Coding Boot Camps in the San Francisco Bay Area
So, you’re fresh out of high school and considering what kind of career you want to pursue. Perhaps you’re fresh out of college and have come to find that your major in liberal arts isn’t opening many job opportunities.
Or maybe you’ve reached a point in your career where you’re not feeling fulfilled and want to seek opportunities elsewhere. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you fall on, there are a couple of things to consider when choosing your career path and a coding boot camp may be of immense value in that process.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Career in Coding
1. Job Availability –
In my opinion, this tops the list of things to consider when choosing a career path. With the ever-changing market and economy, you should pick a career that’s “future proof.” Is this an industry that will still have a lot of job availability in 20 years?
There are rapid technological advances happening daily, and artificial intelligence is becoming more and more intertwined with our society. You can bet that our world and the way we communicate and go about our daily lives will look much different within the next decade.
We all know industries like healthcare will always have longevity because people will always be getting pregnant or sick. In this day and age, I’d say that a coder has equally as much future job security and maybe even more. Who’s going to program all the robots of the future? Coders.
2. Passion –
Marc Anthony was quoted saying “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” There couldn’t be a truer statement! There’s no better feeling than going to bed excited to wake up the next day to get to work. Loving what you do is essential to an enriched quality of life.
3. Personality Type –
Are you familiar with Carl Jung? Well for those of you who aren’t, he’s considered the father of analytical psychology. He theorized that there are 16 personality types that basically determine where your interests lie, things you’re innately talented at, and so forth.
I won’t get into that any further, but you can take a fun test to find out your personality type by clicking here. If your results come back as being a person with introverted traits, I can already tell you coding will be a great career path possibility.
Coding Languages You Should Learn Right Now
Coding is defined as “the process of assigning a code to something for the purposes of classification or identification.” In regard to how coding relates to computer programming, code is a language that can be understood and executed by computers.
There are many different coding languages that all perform different functions. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are entry-level languages that can provide an initial understanding of coding. These languages are not technically considered to be a programming language, but you should have a basic understanding of them if you want to have a successful career as a coder.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) – a standard for describing document structure and attributes for the web.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) – a language used to provide styling instructions (font size, font color, and so forth) for a web browser.
JavaScript – a scripting language for web pages. JavaScript is read, interpreted and executed in the web browser client.
Having an understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript will build the foundation for your success in a career as a coder. Now you’re ready to move on.
Here Are the Top 10 Programming Languages Coders Need to Know
• Java
• C Language
• C++
• C#
• Objective-C
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• JavaScript
• SQL
The tech sector is exploding. You see the evidence of this everywhere you look. Sitting at a restaurant, it’s highly likely to see an elderly couple in their 70’s sitting there playing with their smartphones while waiting for lunch, whereas 10 years ago, that same couple was still using a phone book directory like the yellow page as their go-to source of information.
Things like the Yellow pages are archaic remnants of the past and are great to use in a variety of ways like a door jam or a booster seat for your 3-year-old child if there doesn’t happen to be anything better around at the time.
As a result, people with coding skills are highly sought after, with coding jobs becoming one of the highest paying jobs in the world of tech. Even outside of the tech world, familiarity with at least one programming language will stand out on your resume and make you more of an asset to any company you work for. That’s why coding boot camps are popping up left and right.
Why Becoming a Coder in the San Francisco Bay Area May Be a Great Option for You
Now that understand the skills required to be a coder, let me explain to you why and how it could be an awesome career path for you. At the beginning of this article I briefly touched on the job security you’ll have once you’ve acquired the skills of a coder.
As the tech world continues to evolve, more and more coders are going to be needed. In fact, at this time there’s a significant gap in employers looking for coders and not enough skilled coders out there to fill the needs for those employers.
“Companies are struggling with a widening tech skills gap, particularly in computer programming skills. In a 2017 Career Advisory Board tech skills survey, 60 percent of employers said most job applicants lack the technology skills key for success in their career,” stated in the article by Udemy
So aside from the growing need for coders and the unlimited job opportunities you’ll have once you acquire these skills, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of why being a coder is an awesome career choice, and that’s the $$$ you can anticipate even as an entry-level junior coder.
How Much Do Coding Specialists Make in the San Francisco Bay Area?
There’s varying information on this topic because not all coding jobs are the same, so it really depends on the industry in which you will be performing your coding/programming work. Indeed.com lists the average starting salary of a coder in San Francisco, California at around 67k annually.
Glassdoor.com shows that medical coders make around 43k per year. I am only speculating here but I believe these are likely the median salaries of self-taught coders. I say this because personally, I know junior coders in San Francisco starting at 100k per year and up, so I’m not sure about the accuracy of the data these sites provide.
And here’s a perfect opportunity for me to segue into the benefits of going to a coding boot camp, so stay tuned.
Benefits of Going to a Coding Boot Camp in the San Francisco Bay Area
1. Networking –
While attending a coding boot camp you will be meet a lot of like-minded people with the same ambitions. Coding boot camps are usually pretty intense and will require you to put your entire life on hold for 3-4 months depending on which boot camp you join. During this time of strenuous work, you build camaraderie with your fellow students that could last a lifetime and lead to future joint endeavors.
2. Time –
Yes, for 3-4 months you will wake up, eat, practice coding, sleep and repeat. But when it’s done, it’s done and you now have the credentials and certification to stroll up to a company fresh out of boot camp and quickly land jobs. Whereas, going the self-taught route or going to college will take exponentially longer for you to start earning a good living. Years compared to months.
3. Job Placement –
Most coding boot camps in the bay area will help you find jobs. They have designated days worked into the curriculum where they hold a job fair of sorts for you to meet employers hungry and looking for coders fresh out of boot camp. This opens all kinds of doors for you to land a great paying job quickly upon completing the boot camp.
At this point in the blog, you’re likely salivating and chomping at the bit waiting for me to provide you with the top coding boot camp providers in the Bay Area. Well, you’re in luck because the remainder of this article gives you just that. Based on my research, personal experience and testimonies from friends and family, here are the best places to go in the Bay Area to get the training you need to start your career as a coder.
Top 10 Coding Boot Camps in the San Francisco Bay Area
1. App Academy –
The App Academy is located in San Francisco and boasts itself as being the number one coding boot camp in the Bay Area. They claim that their students earn a median salary of 105k after graduating their course. Also, they have a network of 935 companies looking to hire their graduates and have so far trained over 2,600 students in software development.
The duration of their course is 12 weeks and covers all of the main programming languages. I don’t see anything about HTML, CSS or Javascript so I imagine those are skills they’d expect their students to have prior knowledge of. To find additional information on the App Academy, click here.
2. Hack Reactor –
This coding boot camp has multiple locations all over the country but the one in the Bay Area is in the Soma district of San Francisco. Hack Reactor provides a bit of variety with course schedule offering part-time schedules, full time (on site) and live online courses. Cost for tuition is $17,980 and they offer financing options for students with a down payment of $2,000. Learn more about Hack Reactors curriculum by clicking here.
3. Coding Dojo –
Another a nationwide coding boot camp offering training all over the country. The Coding Dojo actually has two locations in the Bay Area, one in Berkeley and one in Silicon Valley. Coding Dojo’s course is a bit longer than average at 14 weeks. But that makes sense because their curriculum is for their students to become full stack developers, which means you’ll be able to work on the front end, back end and database.
This would probably be my first choice for a coding boot camp. Check out this page to see where the impressive jobs Coding Dojo’s Alumni now works at.
4. The Data Incubator –
This training provider is also a resource for companies to get additional training for current employees. They only offer online classes but do have a physical location in San Francisco. What intrigues me most about the Data Incubators curriculum is that it includes courses in artificial intelligence. Learn more about the Data Incubator by clicking here.
5. Codify Academy –
located at 535 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94105. I especially like this program the Codify Academy offers because it appears to really cater to someone who is just getting started in the world of tech with no prior experience. They cover all the basics of HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Also, the cost for their program is extremely affordable at only $2,250, and they even offer financing options. Plus, their story of being “3 broke guys that needed a leg up and somebody to believe in us,” is pretty cool too. Read more about their program here.
6. Academy X –
I really enjoy the formatting for the programs Academy X offers. They offer specific training on one topic at a time so it’s almost like a hybrid coding boot camp. They have scheduled dates for when training on that particular topic takes place, you pay a one-time cost and can go to just learn one thing at a time.
This is a great option for somebody who is already in the midst of their career, just needs to acquire knowledge of one particular thing, and can’t take 3 months off to do it. The cool thing about the programs they offer is you can also get training on other useful tech-related software like Photoshop and WordPress. Click here to view their upcoming course schedules.
7. First Step Coding –
Here’s another great option for someone just starting out in pursuit of a career in coding. It’s actually a coding boot camp prep that consists of 3 modules. The core of the training is done on-site, and the remaining 2 modules are done online. This program will give you a strong command of the first stepping stones to becoming a coder, HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
As I mentioned previously, I believe it’s essential to have a solid understanding of these style and script languages before moving on to advanced programming languages. If you’re like most people reading this article, I highly recommend checking out First Step Coding.
8. HACKBRIGHT ACADEMY –
This is a 5-week program whose curriculum is mainly geared towards the mastery of Python. The entire program is online, but I included it in this list because they do offer their students a visit their location on Sutter St. in San Francisco if they need additional help. The entire cost of the 5-week program is $675. Learn more by Clicking here.
9. Holberton School –
While not technically a boot camp I wanted to include it in the list because I personally know of a few people that have attended their two-year higher-education program and now have fantastic jobs. If you have the time and the money to dedicate 2 years of your life to schooling, this is an awesome place to go. Located in San Francisco, you’re guaranteed to become a software engineer master upon graduation.
10. Interview Kickstart –
I’m including these guys at the end of the list because they’re for the coder that already has substantial knowledge and wants to prep for an interview to get the job of their dreams. Interview Kickstart has a location in Sunnyvale and also offers training remotely. Their site is a little lacking in information so if you fall into this category of career seeker, click here for an invite to their program to learn more.
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Coding for Kids!
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