Epicodus bills itself as "a vocational school for aspiring programmers". Its students typically take four five-week classroom courses, do two weeks of job and internship prep, and finish their studies with a five-week internship. Tuition is $4,800.
Epicodus is serious about applicants demonstrating teamwork and having tried programming before attending. They are the core components of their application and the reason why is apparent throughout their curriculum. Like many other bootcamps, they prefer that you have tried to learn to code before. They want to make sure that you know what you are getting into. They think it's in your best interest and we agree!
Each week students should expect to spend some time (they say about 20-40 min) on the weekend watching videos from a curriculum created by Epicodus. These videos introduce the concepts that you will be using in the upcoming week.
Aside from this video curriculum, you should expect to spend all of your in- class time pair programming. Well, aside from a 5-10 minute stand up at the beginning of each day to discuss any insights from the past day. While this may seem inconsequential, many development teams use this tactic to kick off a day of work on a project and its great to get in the habit as a beginner.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Epicodus bootcamp is the internship. For the last 5 weeks of the program, students intern with software companies to learn how development works in the real world. Participating employers come in all types, sizes, and missions: they've had employers range from a one-person startup to a Fortune 100 company to a non-profit.
If you apply through this link and specify that you found out about the school through Bootcamp Finder, you will receive a $150 scholarship directly towards your tuition. Before applying, make sure that you have thoroughly read Epicodus' website and FAQ's.
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Epicodus programs
| Programs | Cities | Duration | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program: Web and Mobile Development | Cities: Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle | Duration: 27 weeks | Cost: $4,800 |
Epicodus is nothing like a traditional classroom: it's 100% hands-on, building projects and writing code all day, every day. There are no lectures, breakout sessions, lightning talks, or anything like that. The best way to learn coding is to code, and that's what Epicodus students spend their time on. All Epicodus bootcamp instructors are Epicodus graduates themselves, and offer their experience and knowledge during a 25-week intensive in Portland, Oregon. Another unique feature is that within reason, students can design their own tracks and also complete an internship for bootcamp credit. Popular topics include Ruby, JavaScript, Rails, .NET, Java, Android, PHP, Design, and Drupal. |
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Epicodus reviews
Verfied answers from graduates of this school will include this badge 
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Not recommend if you have "0" experience coding. Learn by yourself first in those websites like codeacademy.com, udemy.com, etc. And after are year I maybe recommend go to programming boot camp.
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I had a mixed experience at Epicodus. I enjoyed pair programming and my internship was awesome. But I do have some issues. Epicodus has not been that helpful with job placement. Yes, we worked on a resume, did a mock interview, and the like, but there was no solid guidance in the job search or worthwhile connections to companies like New Relic, which is practically across the street. When my career counselor saw my Epicodus approved resume, she was shocked and immediately made me rework it. Demo Day was very disappointing. A few "employers" (New Relic was NOT one of them) meandered around the room looking at projects. I had to aggressively flag them down to present my project to them. I don't know anyone who landed a job from Demo Day. I also don't feel that the instruction prepared me for a full-time coding job--there's lot of hands on coding, but nothing about optimizing code or anything about coding methodology, e.g. functional programming versus object oriented programming. The code reviews are kind of a joke. I didn't really get very useful feedback--it's mostly positive, but nothing specifically related to the quality of my code. To get a good score all I had to do was read through the week's lesson and follow the directions. My main problem with Epicodus is that they sell you on the dream of changing your life with a coding job--anyone can do it--just complete our program and you'll be a programmer. Companies need Epicodus graduates to fill open positions! That has not been my experience and I know other Epicodus graduates who would agree with me.
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I was attracted to Epicodus because of the low cost but I truly regret making that decision. I should have paid either shelled out more money for a better school, gone to a four year university or ideally found a bootcamp that doesn't take my money and run (like Epicodus) but rather takes a share of my first salary. Epicodus basically dumps graduates with very little development skill into a extremely oversaturated market in Portland. (60+ graduates every 3 months floods the market). I was literally taught by students from the previous class who had been hired to be teachers in order to boost the successful grad numbers of the school.
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Was a good program for learning the basics. When I attended they only had one track which was javascript/ruby/rails. The lesson plans were mostly great and never felt under/overwhelming. Overall the experience taught me enough to land a development position. The cost was also lower than the other bootcamps in my area and I felt like I walked out with as much or more knowledge than the other bootcamps in Portland.
Answered by graduate
John Cech
on August 17th, 2016
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It was a tough journey. Every Wednesday they had lunch speakers of people who worked in the industry, it gave us a lot of insight on what it's going to be like.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 17th, 2016
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I sent an email back to the requestor of this survey. I really didn't care for my experience. I was bored to tears, the instructors we're graduates of previous classes and new to programming. The material consisted of waching videos ( I could have done that at home ). I think a student would be better off just finding a mentor and following tutorials online and making 10 projects for themselves.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 17th, 2016
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Epicodus was a great starting point for my career in web development. I loved the intensive 40-hour a week immersive format, and the "learn-by-doing" approach to instruction. The culture was welcoming and inclusive, and the tuition was indicative of their commitment to making the program available to as many people as possible, regardless of financial status. The internship program was invaluable and was what got me in the door of the company where I still work as a software engineer. Highly recommend Epicodus.
Answered by graduate
Robin H
on August 16th, 2016
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Great career move. You need to be self disciplined. Pros: community, speakers, technology (big monitors, fast internet), access to computer lab 24/7, technical assistance, some teachers (Mike, Diane), support after graduation, company/CEO's ethics (explicit guidance on inclusivity), administration's willingness to use student input and ideas for the growth of the company. Cons: disorganized and sometimes unprofessional administration, teachers are pulled from the previous student pool so mentorship quality (ability to teach, technical skill) is hit or miss.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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I liked it overall, but there were some difficulties with my class in particular, since our original teacher left 2/3 of the way through. His Java curriculum was really good. JavaScript was decent, but we spent a lot of time on Ember, a js framework that doesn't seem as useful/relevant as something like Node. Our new teacher (aka the director of the school) threw away the old teacher's Android curriculum and basically just pointed us towards the docs, so that section was pretty lacking, but it's my understanding that they've redone everything at this point, so I assume there's a real curriculum now.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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Epicodus is an amazing bootcamp that not only teaches really important technical skills, but also instills a mentality of lifelong learning. They have support staff that have been extremely helpful with meeting our needs as students and graduates. The bootcamp really focuses on in-class coding, so homework happens the night before and you spend the entire day pair-programming with a partner trying to work through the day's challenge. The school really teaches you how to deconstruct a skill so that by the end of each week you feel competent enough to put together an individual project. The program really instills a lot of confidence in people and sets them up for a successful start to their coding career.
Answered by graduate
Keir Staple
on August 15th, 2016
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I quite liked it. I learned a ton. I loved the people who were in my cohort and I loved the teacher. I learned that I'm not very good at coding and could probably use far more work.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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Good people, but the format left a little do be desired. It was extremely self led and I would have appreciated a little more "by hand" coaching. I do appreciate their "struggle to learn" methodology - but I would like some more one-on-one instruction.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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Overall, I had a fantastic experience at Epicodus. My cohort was great, I learned a lot in very little time, I loved my internship, and the instructors and staff were on-point. All this for less than half the cost of what other bootcamps in town (and elsewhere in the country) were charging for roughly the same amount of time and content coverage. It did what it said on the tin: I learned how to learn and now feel confident picking up just about any web technology on my own, I built a base skill set that transferred directly into my work life, and I'm now gainfully employed in the field. I still visit from time to time and the staff is always happy to see me and asks how I've been. If I had one cautionary thing to say, it'd be that coursework can be in flux often times. This is more due to the nature of the technologies being taught than the school itself, however, as sometimes the tools themselves will go through somewhat violent change. Ember.js had a massive update in the middle of my cohort, so curriculum on it was hot off the press. I'd say this was ultimately a good thing, as it accurately reflected what it's like in the field when a part of your stack implements breaking changes.
Answered by graduate
Andrew Brennwald
on August 15th, 2016
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Epicodus provided great tools to get my career restart going. They fostered an environment for productive self learning as well as collaborative. With several contacts in the local area, I was quickly able to transition into a programming job upon graduation.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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Epicodus was an incredible value. In 4 months I went from a prospective programmer to a programmer. The faculty and environment worked very hard to create a fantastic learning environment.
Answered by graduate
Jake K
on August 15th, 2016
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After attending Portland code school in 2015 , Epicodus is light years ahead I am forever grateful!
Answered by graduate
Ben casalino
on August 12th, 2016
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The curriculum was well thought out. I learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence in myself in terms of coding skills. Michael the CEO of the bootcamp is an awesome guy, who drove out 5 hours each way to help me deal with a VISA situation.
Answered by graduate
Jay Sivakumaran
on August 12th, 2016
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Mostly very positive, Epicodus gave me the tools I needed to reach my goals and get a high-paying job. They are good people, who genuinely seem to care. My instructors were talented and patient, hardware is top-notch, facility is clean and modern. Student services are great. Only critiques are wait times to get help from instructors and some of the lessons were a bit incomplete (i.e. occasional go watch this video someone googled being an entire lesson). I understand the culture of self-initiative they're tying to create, it's a trait you need to be a good programmer, but some occasional instructor lead discussion would have been nice. They also seem to be expanding quite rapidly with an ever-changing model. Slowing down a bit and focusing on refinement would be my advice. Great program overall, definitely recommend.
Answered by graduate
Brandon Seroyer
on August 12th, 2016
Talk with Epicodus graduates
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- How would you describe the culture at Epicodus?
- What advice would you give a new student?
- How effective were your instructors?
Bootcamp grads love to talk. We'll find students from Epicodus to answer your questions.
Verfied answers from graduates of this school will include this badge:
Very casual with emphasis on the students. 95% of the people in the program took it very seriously and made the daily pairing process very enjoyable. I always felt comfortable while pairing with someone that had a deeper knowledge of programming than myself and never felt intimidated.
Answered by
graduate
John Cech
on August 17th, 2016
Hard work pays off. If you put in the time to understand the concepts it will pay off. It's a face paced environment and the curriculum moves fast.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
Boring, mediocre, puppy mill mentality to pump out as many "programmers" as possible.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
Welcoming and inclusive. The leadership at Epicodus was very active in ensuring that the culture did not fall into common tech-industry patterns of white "bro" culture and absolutely made diversity and inclusiveness a priority.
Answered by
graduate
Robin H
on August 16th, 2016
Cooperative, creative, focused Wow guys, crappy survey design. Is a short answer truly worse than none? Because that's what you'll get with this survey design.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
I was in a no-men-allowed class, which I think helped make for a more supportive and less judgmental environment. Everyone was pretty much always eager to help and learn from each other.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
The culture at Epicodus is very inclusive and supportive. The founder, Michael, has really instilled of a culture of inclusion that permeates throughout the entire experience. Epicodus wants to open doors for people of any race, gender, sex, age, orientation, etc. to feel comfortable entering the tech world. The school also wants to create life-long learners, so the mentality is to focus more on the process of learning a new programming skill rather than stress too much about the specific language you're learning.
Answered by
graduate
Keir Staple
on August 15th, 2016
The culture is really great. We work together in pairs four days a week. Everyone is really helpful when you run into an issue. There's great camaraderie there.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Solid culture - people seem to really get a long well with one another, though there are always a couple outliers. For the most part, however, it was a great internal experience.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
The culture at Epicodus was highly collaborative and interpersonal. The emphasis on pair programming ensured that students got to know each other, and naturally they became invested in each others' success. Cohorts were large, but with new pairs almost every day, we all got acquainted very quickly. There was also a huge emphasis on building things. Everyone was creating or tinkering with something. The focus was very much on pragmatic, practical skills and I would spend hours and hours every day using those skills. I took it upon myself to learn the theory and computer science practices on my own time. Class time was all about putting that knowledge to the grinder and making things out of it.
Answered by
graduate
Andrew Brennwald
on August 15th, 2016
Progressive. Epicodus will continue to grow and advance. Their mission is to help you and they will do everything in their power to make you a success.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Epicodus is more of a vocational school than a bootcamp. There is no pressure that you MUST learn everything in 4 months. If you need to retake a course, you retake the course. The program is designed with the intent to be accessible to everyone but challenging enough that if you make it through, you are employable.
Answered by
graduate
Jake K
on August 15th, 2016
The staff at Epicodus make a huge effort to make it an open and understanding culture. While there is a lot to learn and it is a bootcamp so as expected there is a lot of stress. But people are nice to each other and the whole pair programming concept works well in involving everyone and learning from each other.
Answered by
graduate
Jay Sivakumaran
on August 12th, 2016
Modern, self-driven, collaborative culture. Daily stand-ups, weekly check-ins, programming done strictly in pairs and then groups for big projects. It's a very positive vibe, cliques emerged a bit amongst our students, but overall everyone had great rapport. Inclusive environment, everyone is there to learn and improve, everyone was excited to be there.
Answered by
graduate
Brandon Seroyer
on August 12th, 2016
Come prepared. There was about a 2 month gap from when I enrolled to when I started. During that time I spent about 6 hours a week working through online tutorials. The other big thing is understanding that you know nothing about a very vast industry and that can and will lead to frustration.
Answered by
graduate
John Cech
on August 17th, 2016
Come in prepared and be ready to work hard. Mistakes are going to be made but you got to brush it off and keep moving. Pair programming is a good way to learn how other people approach problems.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
Find a mentor, pick a language, do 10-15 projects, look for your own internship. Give someone 100 bucks for a day a week of professional advice and guidance who has experience working in the business of what you'd like to do.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
Make sure you're comfortable with some programming fundamentals before you start class (if statements, loops, etc). It's so much easier to build on a solid foundation.
Answered by
graduate
Robin H
on August 16th, 2016
Study after class, don't try to work part time if possible
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Actually do the homework - it'll make class time way less stressful and give you more time to move on to more interesting assignments. And if there's a day where you haven't done the homework, at least pair with someone else who hasn't so that your partner isn't bored as you go through something they already did or so that you aren't lost if your partner speeds ahead.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
The most important advice Epicodus provided us was to just keep coding. A lot of people are paralyzed by imposter syndrome or they look too far down the road and get overwhelmed by the skills they haven't learned yet. Coding is like any other skill, where you're going to suck at it until you just keep practicing. Don't let your head get in the way of learning. Also, focus on coming out of a bootcamp with a few projects you are really proud of that you can put on your portfolio. Job seekers will know the skills you've learned based on the curriculum, but they want to see those skills put to test in a real-world project. Try to get creative and build projects that actually interest you and that inspire you to spend hours working on them.
Answered by
graduate
Keir Staple
on August 15th, 2016
The program has changed since I went there. Now, one must have far more programming knowledge to enter. If I had to do it over, I don't know what I would've done differently. I guess if I had more time, I would've learned more prior.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
If you are strong at being self guided, this will be a breeze. If you need more of a traditional educational environment: other schools may provide a better experience.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Realize that the point of just about every good bootcamp is to learn how to learn. There is absolutely no way anyone can hold your hand for 15-20 weeks and take you from zero to hero web developer without a huge investment from your end to meet them at least halfway. Epicodus is going to shoot you out of the barrel of a gun and say "you'll need to know these things at the very least, and we'll teach you how to teach yourself through them." The idea is to emerge from the course and your internship feeling like you can go pick up any web technology on your own, which is exactly what software developers do all the time anyway. Specifically for Epicodus, you should very much enjoy working with other people. If deep into the introvert side of the interpersonal spectrum, I would not recommend going here. You will be working side by side with at least one other person 4 out of 5 days a week for about 8 hours. If you feel you work better or more comfortably alone, there are other options out there (prepare to pay about twice as much, though).
Answered by
graduate
Andrew Brennwald
on August 15th, 2016
Be prepared to figure things out for yourself. The more hours you spend at Epicodus, the better. You will absorb knowledge by just being there.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Prepare. Do the precourse, then do it again. Learning programming is hard. You will need to spend upwards of 1000 hours actively programming to get to the point where you are employable. Epicodus will give you a chunk of that, but you need to fill in the blanks on your own time. That being said, its really fun, so why wouldn't you want to do it?
Answered by
graduate
Jake K
on August 15th, 2016
The amount of code your write is a good proxy for how much better you get as a programmer. So I would recommend Epicodus in terms of helping you get better faster. Start out with an online mooc and get some of the fundamentals and if you have the time and money I would highly recommend Epicodus since it'll save you a lot of time and struggle.
Answered by
graduate
Jay Sivakumaran
on August 12th, 2016
You get what you put in. If you stick with it, keep showing up every day and use the resources at your disposal, then you will succeed. If you don't self-initiate, you will fail or have a much tougher road. This is challenging stuff, but if you put in the time, are resilient and have a good attitude you will succeed. Also, you won't be an expert when you leave, but you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Answered by
graduate
Brandon Seroyer
on August 12th, 2016
We had two full time instructors for a class of 60 people. But they were always available and a great resource. While they were there to guide you they never held your hand and helped prepare you for when you needed help in the real world. Asking questions like 'What have you tried already to fix this problem?' and 'Walk me through your debugging process.'. Both of these are great when presenting a problem to a more senior developer while working in the business.
Answered by
graduate
John Cech
on August 17th, 2016
They were good for the most part. They are also still learning and don't always have the answers. They do their best to point you in the right direction.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
I liked them personally but they were recent graduates of the program themselves, it was like the blind leading the blind.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
Our instructors had recently gone through the program themselves, so they were very capable of helping us over the common stumbling blocks of a person learning to code. They knew when to push us to search for the answer on our own and when was the right time to step in and give us a nudge in the right direction.
Answered by
graduate
Robin H
on August 16th, 2016
4/5
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Original instructor was great - very supportive and super helpful when we had questions. But he left 2/3 of the way through our 15-week course and the replacement (director of the school) was less available (since he had other non-teaching responsibilities) and he seemed to not really have much more Android experience than we did, so it was hard to get the help we needed, especially since he got rid of the old teacher's curriculum but didn't replace it with anything really..
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Our instructors were amazing and as effective as they needed to be. Each day we would work on projects to complement what we had studied the night before. Our instructors would be there to help us work through code problems, provide resources and answer any questions when we got stuck. There was no lecturing, so instructors were really more of a support system. All of them were Epicodus alumni and helped guide us through the challenges of a full-time, 5-month bootcamp.
Answered by
graduate
Keir Staple
on August 15th, 2016
I loved my instructors but it's not an instructor focused program. The idea behind Epicodus is that they teach you how to learn. Instructors are the last resort and they only point you in the direction of the answer.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
They were there, but perhaps not as present as I'd prefer. If you had pressing questions, you could certainly get answers - but it sort of felt like you were being a burden for asking.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
The instructors were great, and put a well-disciplined focus on getting me "unstuck" rather than feeding my pairs and I the answers. The were always going with the "teach a man to fish" approach, which served us all better in the long run. They were all personally invested in my success and I got plenty of personalized attention and guidance through check ins and code reviews. They were all previous students, so they knew the program and coursework inside out. I'm not one that believes instructors must be seasoned subject matter experts, they just need to know the material, the students, and how to be good guides and mentors, and that's exactly what they were.
Answered by
graduate
Andrew Brennwald
on August 15th, 2016
They did not know industry standards as they themselves were former students without industry experience. They promoted self learning and were available for questions.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
The instructors were incredibly talented at giving you just enough help to get you back on track to find an answer. They were former students so they understood the problems we were facing learning all these new challenges.
Answered by
graduate
Jake K
on August 15th, 2016
There wasn't a lot of instruction from instructors at the bootcamp. It was more of a follow along using the instruction made available online (also open sourced by them on learnhowtoprogram.com). And the TAs would come over and help when you got stuck. The requesting help system (only request help once you have searched on stack overflow and then list out what you have tried in fixing issues) is something I use at work now when dealing with tough bugs. Usually you figure it out on your own, especially near the end of the bootcamp.
Answered by
graduate
Jay Sivakumaran
on August 12th, 2016
Very effective when you could get their attention, super patient and smart. We had 2 instructors for 55-60 students. They were constantly being pulled in every direction, tough job, I would have liked a 3rd instructor for the class.
Answered by
graduate
Brandon Seroyer
on August 12th, 2016