Student Reviews & Testimonials

It was a life and career changing experience. I researched the success of prior graduates, which helped me make a decision.

The program is fast and teaches the basic concepts of web development. People still need to take their own personal time to go above and beyond what is taught, that is the real challenge. I have learned a great deal and really allowed me to gauge what I can be good at. I went in the program to help me switch career paths and so far it has opened up opportunities for me that is different from what I was doing. I like the change and hopefully this will lead me to a better, happier balanced life.

I wanted to switch careers into something more exciting for me — tech is very interesting and web development seemed like an ideal place to start. The program was challenging but fun, very educational, and allowed me to pursue something that I genuinely enjoy as a career. My new role as a Junior Web Developer with very little experience already has much better compensation than my previous career, and I actually enjoy the work I’m doing. Overall, the program has definitely impacted my life for the better.

This bootcamp was an amazing opportunity for me to switch careers and do something I love! I was able to move into a Software Engineering role through my same company that I worked for during class, and I am so glad that I took the leap with the career change.

I was in a point in my life where I was working in the tech field for many years, but in a nontechnical role. I wasn’t in a position to be able to leave my job and go back to school full time, so I felt like the bootcamp program was a way to give me an edge and potentially allow me to move into a different role at my current company or begin to look elsewhere. This class worked with my schedule and came highly recommended from friends who had also taken the course and had found work afterwards.

It was great to learn more technical skills as well as expand/start my network in a new technical field. I met a lot of people that I will keep in touch with for many years to come! I would like to help those that come after me that will attend future programs! I would not have gotten this opportunity if it was not for Trilogy’s extensive network!

I chose to attend to make a career switch from accounting to software/web dev. Considering I got a job, I would say it worked! It has impacted my life by allowing me to make a career switch without having to go back to school for it. Of course I plan to continue learning and I am still considering going for a secondary BS in CS or perhaps a masters to further my career, but this way I can gain experience in the field without having to put my life on hold for a degree.

I needed a career change, it gave [me] an opportunity to have a better job.

The boot camp gave me the technologies and confidence I needed to kickstart my professional career in the tech industry.

I attended because the job that I wanted required the skills taught in the boot camp. I knew I would be able to apply these skills immediately. I was also able to start this new role while enrolled in the boot camp. I am now able to work from home (pre-COVID) and have more flexibility.

I had been working in web and design for nearly 10 years prior to entering the program. I was largely self-taught in development. I found myself needing a new challenge and really desiring to dig in and spend some time more formally learning development and then pivot my career from running a small freelance shop to being a full time developer — which brought me to [the] bootcamp. It was a great experience where I reengaged my love of learning, gained excellent hard skills, and refined my soft skills!

I wanted to add more tools to my belt in how I can analyze data. I was just using Excel before and wanted to take my data analysis to the next level. Plus I noticed a lot of the job descriptions I wanted to apply for mentioned Python and SQL. So far I’m much happier with the day-to-day in my new job — being able to be taken seriously as an analyst and not having other tasks that aren’t as interesting to me.

The program was great!!
The instructor Andrew Hoang is amazing.
All the TA very good.
Matthew Rodgers the career coach was great as well.

I did a 4 years jump in my career within only 6 months

[I] chose to attend because I couldn’t have gotten these kind of jobs before — I couldn’t get into interview rooms without a degree or certificate of some kind. The program definitely helped me advance in my career.

It was a really great experience. The content was very interesting and I learned a lot during the program. This was a very intense program where we covered a lot of topics in a very short time. This means that we got a quick introduction to a lot of topics/tools instead of studying one in depth. However, I liked that because that exposure allowed me to identify the topics I was really interested in and would like to study further. Actually, after the program I became really interested in continuing developing my Machine Learning skills and are now looking forward to enroll in ML-specific program (probably ay UCBE again!).

My instructors and TAs, specially Drew Hoang were extraordinary and they really helped us to go through … the materials. They really put [in] the extra mile to help … us during the program. I also met a lot of eager and talented classmates during the program. The team projects were great not only to use our newly acquired skills but also to know better our classmates. I built a strong bond with my project teammates so much that we keep seeing each other and exchanging our experiences even after the program.

I really enjoyed the program and now that I got my certificate I [feel] really confident in my skills and I’m sure it will help me to find a job where I can use my new skills and continue developing them.

[I] attended the Bootcamp because I had already finished my undergrad in an unrelated field, but I wanted to pursue IT and security.

The Bootcamp was the first step in my real career.

I’ve learned a lot and I’ve met different and interesting people. This program helped me in my search for a job and I’m very happy and excited that I found one.

The coding program was excellent and I am glad I completed it. While I did not pursue a position as a web developer after completing the program, the skills I learned are very relevant to my current position and I feel much more confident working alongside my engineering colleagues.

The boot camp experience was great, a ton of that positive experience is attributed to my excellent instructor Michael Bethencourt. I chose to attend the boot camp because I was seeking a career change. I had been learning some web development on my own on and off for two to three years and was seeking some guidance to take my skills to the next level. I wasn’t sure how much learning I would really accomplish in a six-month, part-time program and was very happy with the knowledge I gained.

I recently got a two-month contract position for a backend developer role with the opportunity to go full-time if the MVP does well and seed funding is obtained. The boot camp has allowed me to really understand programming from a full-stack perspective much faster than I expected. I’d say the material and concepts I learned would have taken me two or more years on my own to grasp.

I really came to the program to get hands-on with coding after a hiatus of about six years from the tech industry. I chose this program since it was an intense prep program and also because I wanted to learn new technologies and this fit perfectly with my schedule and dates. I had a fantastic experience. The instructor, David Hallinan, is an amazing teacher. I learned a lot in the class and also outside the classroom in terms of projects and online resources.

I made some amazing new friends and contacts and loved the projects that were part of the program. As I started to prepare for interviews, this experience made me go beyond the course and learn more advanced web technologies. As I came from a systems programming background, I was open to various prospects after completing the boot camp. I ended up with a role at Apple, as both the position and compensation were attractive.

I loved my time at the UC Berkeley Coding Boot Camp. I wish I was still attending class. The program has changed my life in a few ways:

1. Confirmed my life’s passion
2. Helped me land a job at a top tech company
3. Improved my self-confidence
4. Helped me create a great portfolio in a short amount of time

I had decided to get hands-on technical training when I first moved to the Silicon Valley as a senior business development director. In the new world order, even if you are in managerial positions, you need to be on top of recent technological developments. I searched for the right bootcamp for some time and until I found Berkeley, none of the bootcamp’s fulfilled my requirements. First of all, I was looking for a serious and challenging training beyond just having a certificate. Second, I was looking for a serious organization capable of handling the support required to be provided to a number of people who are all new to the technology to a certain extent. Berkeley bootcamp ticked all the boxes for me.

I had pretty high expectations from Berkeley in terms of quality of the content, which was obviously met, but honestly I was not expecting instructors who have so much practical hands-on proficiency. I thought the instructors would be very high caliber but not with a lot of practical industry expertise. To my surprise, all instructors not only have great technical capabilities but also armed by hands-on development expertise and of course backed by Berkeley’s attention to detail for quality. Berkeley defined the whole curriculum literally minute by minute.

My advice is to really do your homework before you select a bootcamp. The investment is serious, so you should only make such an investment with an organization that you can rely on.

Berkeley Boot Camp delivered a top quality that is expected from its brand and exceeds expectations in terms of fun and practicality of the program. I strongly recommend Berkeley programs.

I decided to go to coding boot camp when I became fed up with trying to build my own website using online courses. I stumbled upon the UC Berkeley Extension Coding Bootcamp and haven’t looked back since. From the recruiting phase to completing the program, I have had people from various tiers of the organization supporting me along the way.

My recruiter, Steven, was extremely, responsive, helpful, and encouraging during the application process. The instructional staff, which includes an instructor and two TAs, have consistently gone above and beyond to make sure none of us were left behind. I have never heard of any other coding boot camp that offers such ample after hours support. Our professor implemented new weekly one on one sessions with students upon receiving feedback that some were falling behind, and our TA volunteered to host weekly review sessions for the students. Both have been extremely helpful and appreciated by all of us. Further, knowing how intensive the boot camp is, the instructional staff makes sure to check in with students frequently not only on the academic component but also on our emotional and physical wellbeing.

In addition to the recruiter and instructional team support, we have a Student Success Manager, a complimentary tutoring service, and an entire career services team to supplement our experience in the boot camp. It is without a doubt that coding boot camp is one of the hardest challenges most will ever face. Without such a strong support system, I don’t think I would have done as well as I did. If you are considering going to coding boot camp, I would highly recommend applying to the UC Berkeley Extension Coding Bootcamp. You will be at ease knowing that you will be as prepared by a web developer as you can be with an entire organization backing you up. I truly feel that the staff at UC Berkeley Extension genuinely cares about our successes.

I truly like this course and it is worth it but it requires a lot of persistence and dedication. I would definitely recommend it and if you are considering the course you need to be aware of the circumstances that need to be available to you so that you can be successful. I don’t know what you’re situation is but you will need on average a minimum of 40 hours per week of self-study to be able to take advantage of all of the resources that they make available to you.

About Me: I have had an ongoing learning/working relationship with technology ever since the age of 13. It started with learning how to use and fix desktop computers for personal use to a couple years later teaching at a tech information school my dad had purchased and been the tech support for my town for years. I have always been very curious and interested in learning more even if it had to be on my own and I believe that has been my solid foundation that set the tone for my learning experience due to the great amount of self-studying involved in the course.

Overall Experience: I am very appreciative of the experience I have been given and the opportunities the course provided as well. My teachers, teacher assistants, and peers have been all key elements to heighten my experience. Teachers for providing the information with ease and the TA’s for always being ready to answer all of my questions, mind you that there have been an infinite amount of them, and lastly some of my peers that have pushed me further with each week to help test my limits and allow me to be the best student I could be. I am also grateful for the facility being available pretty much the entire day because that way I always had a quiet place to study properly and for the number of hours I saw fit.

Instructors: All my instructors had different backgrounds coming from different places and even work experience for that matter but they all had a vast knowledge of the material. They all had a lot of experience in the area but that didn’t impede them from making it as simple or as thorough as necessary to make sure that we truly understood what it was we were inquiring about. What I most liked about them is the fact that they weren’t just there to teach or give you everything in hand but the dynamic of their teaching is that they guide you and make you come to the conclusion yourself just as a mentor would.

Curriculum: This course’s curriculum is very broad which in this case is actually really good because you don’t necessarily go into only one aspect of development meaning you learn everything. Think of it this way, instead of learning something already ready and just implementing it, you learn from the ground 0 then mastering all aspects of it. You become familiar with all the ins and outs of becoming a well-rounded developer. If that doesn’t convince you, then just for the fact that you get double the amount of time that most boot camps offer for the same price allows you to get the most out of the course.

Job Assistance: Through the UC Berkeley Extension Program, we have career classes that are geared on helping us prepare for the workforce. Our Career Director helps us polish our LinkedIn profiles/Resumes to make them attractive to potential recruiters. They also offer company tours at some potential employers that allow us to get to know the work environment from the inside and getting real-life testimonials from people in the field. It also provides for great networking opportunities that could be very beneficial for future endeavors.

Just know that if a husband and father of a toddler can do it, you most definitely can too, just dedicate and invest in yourself.

I recently completed the 6-month variant of the UC Berkeley Boot Camp as one of the members of the very first cohort, and just this past week I accepted a job as a front-end engineer at a startup with a starting salary in the 90k range.

Before coming to this boot camp, I had been teaching myself to program for about a year, but slowly, and had also been able to essentially intern (largely for free) for a company learning to write automated tests in Python. So, my experience with coding was an absolute beginner.

I knew I needed to find a way to elevate myself quickly to a professional developer’s level, and I knew that the quickest way to do this was to focus on a JavaScript – front-end to full-stack engineering boot camp.

After researching a number of them, I chose this one partly because it was among the least expensive by far, and also because of the name recognition (Berkeley). I was happy about the prospect of taking 6 months to learn everything I wanted as I knew I would need to work part-time and generally use the time to consume more information on my own.

This boot camp took me and my cohort through a curriculum that rivaled if not largely beat the curriculum of more famous and expensive places like HR, App Acad and Dev BC. This according to notes (and code) compared with my friends who attended each. They cover everything about the front-end from your first introduction to HTML/CSS to coding in JavaScript all the way through to React powered full-stack applications.

The instructors Michael and David were both excellent. Personable, kind, and (most importantly) genuinely engaged with the idea of transferring as much of their knowledge of the science and art of programming professionally onto all the students. Michael had a traditional CS background and a number of years of work while David was a grad of HR with a couple of years of working experience, which made them each compelling for their individual experiences. They are both excellent programmers.

The same idea carries throughout the organization. Rosa, the career director, cares for the concerns and roadblocks individual students might face, and Sam of career services is constantly involved in building your public profiles and presentational person for career services. Although, ultimately, this part of the program is perhaps the weakest, as their networks are not the same as your bigger and far far more expensive BC’s.

I also got a chance to meet Pavan, someone from the parent organization of the BC, a company called Trilogy that partners with universities throughout the country to create these boot camps for them. Pavan was also smart, kind, and committed to hearing about my experience as a student. They all wanted to see me thrive, and not just collect a check and pepper you with information only to leave you to “sink or swim” as the case in some other programs.

By the mid-point of the program we were already writing full-stack applications with our own server instances (Node.js), and using them to render templated views of custom sites which would both consume various API’s and also access our own SQL or noSQL backend data services. Students would voluntarily explore topics like user authentication with Passport.js or WebSocket enabled multi-user live interfaces. I dove into a Google Maps Api for my first (one of three) major projects and came away with a powerful new tool.

It was at this time that I started to peek at the work my friends had/were doing at the more popular BC variants out here in SF, only to discover that their body of work was tiny in comparison. Often not particularly broad. Nothing wrong with checking out the competition once in a while. Right?

Now, like any programming cohort there was a range of stories, many struggled HARD, and some essentially failed or gave up, but to those that did not, the experience has left them with a significant number of projects across the modern JavaScript stack and an overall broad knowledge of how the heck a modern web app is built from the ground to the backend MongoDB non-relational database. Sorry, bad programming humor.

Ultimately no Boot Camp can singularly guarantee you a great engineering education if you just sit there with your arms crossed waiting for the instructor to automatically funnel the information into your head, you have to do the work. And, not only that but rise to the occasion to exploit the technology introduced more deeply.

Having that attitude may mean that you will be successful at most any boot camp, but this one will introduce you and set the stage for a deep variety of topics that you will want to expand on and explore to secure a mastery.

As a student, I realize I may have been an exception with my incoming experience and devotion to extra learning on the side. I would constantly look to expand on the assigned homework and develop new and unexpected features not explicitly required in the assignment.

However, a number of my peers who I now get to call good friends had not touched code until starting this program, and through constant devotion to learning and playing with code they have all elevated their skills far beyond what I was able to achieve in my very first half-year of programming knowledge.

So if you are serious, want to learn a lot about the modern web, and plan to build on what this school offers you to stand out from the busy boot camp graduate field out here in the SF/Bay Area, then this school will help you prosper!

Best decision I have ever made! Can’t wait to get started with my new job.