My Rocket Academy Experience by Jerome Chua

About Myself

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I was previously involved in data science projects & worked with Python and SQL and had close to 2 years of coding experience in Python. I also mostly completed an Udemy web development bootcamp prior.
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As of June 2021, I graduated from Rocket Academy's 6-month full-time bootcamp, which was fruitful & enjoyable. Thereafter, I was a teaching assistant for their 6-weeks Basics course from July to August while applying for jobs.

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And as of August 2021, I managed to receive a handful offers and settled down in a software engineer role at Gotrade, a YC Fintech company.

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Researching SWE bootcamps

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My research for a choice bootcamp was primarily in the US, namely: Lambda School, Fullstack Academy, & Hack Reactor. Reason being, I have had acquaintances who did so and doing well in engineering roles. I also reached out to alumni on Reddit & most of them had good to say for the 3 mentioned above. In short I did not choose them because of time difference & cost.

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How did I find out about Rocket Academy in 2020? Very interestingly it was through a sponsorship logo they had on a Shopee Code league. Then, I remembered googling them up, and it resurfaced later down the road.

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Prior to contacting Rocket Academy, I reached out to a Rocket alumni who graciously shared on his own bootcamp research, and he himself was certain Rocket would be a good place for growth.

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What really helped me solidify my decision was the open curriculum they had which signalled a proactive learning style - focused on the student's desire to learn (where I really believe true growth comes from). I contacted Kai soon after and the rest was history.

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The Journey

General Perception of My Instructors

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Kai 

From the start, Kai has been meticulous in selection of incoming students yet does it in down-to-earth in manner which just by observing one can learn so much. His teaching of complex topics was always clear and I really like that he cares about the quality of projects & pushes students to be accountable on their progress. Kai was pivotal in me getting good interviews as well & keeping on the journey.

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Akira 

My main instructor throughout both Basics & Bootcamp, Akira has a knack for being able to sift out the real question behind my questions. Akira is highly gifted in educating. Through his teaching, he has taught me how to learn & even teach myself better. He demonstrated great passion & patience in ensuring students pick up the material well, & has genuine interest for them to grasp the material.

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Rocket Academy (1-month Basics)

This was a 1 month part-time program, where we had to create 3 projects in total. Focused on JavaScript. The HTML & CSS were present but not vital. Which allows the students to focus on the essentials of coding.
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Total of 4 hours a week in-class, where it would be further divided up into 30 minutes of lessons, 60 minutes of pair programming and recaps. It was a solid foundation for us to build on moving into the 6-month full-time bootcamp.
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This was also a good time to see if the learning style suited me, and whether I wanted commit.

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Rocket Academy (6-month Bootcamp)

A total of 5-6 projects were done. Ready to show case to potential employers and enough to be proud of accomplishing. There was also a group project that helped made us very familiar with Git & Github. Amazingly helpful when on the job.

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Technologies used were mainly JavaScript (React, Express, Third-party libraries), PostgreSQL, Heroku, Netlify, AWS. By the end of the 6 months you would be very familiar on creating full-stack web applications along with real-user data.

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Support as usual was great. Both from the instructors and community. All this while also having check-ins on our data structures & algorithm familiarity.

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Rocket Academy (2-month Post-Bootcamp)

I was surprised at the level of support I received from both Kai & Akira. They are genuinely interested in the welfare of their students. Not just for me, I saw this displayed in their approach to each student under their care.

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I have been to other bootcamps before and although post-bootcamp support was sincere it was only a one-time affair. However, at Rocket Academy there were constant check-ins, referrals, advice and encouragement.
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On top of that, both of them gave me lots of their personal takes on interviews, work and general life. So it was really more than a 6-month thing. And they were prepared to go all the way.

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I was fortunate to be in Batch 2, because Batch 1 had all found jobs. An alumni Jit Corn, whom I reached out to was extremely helpful as well. And it makes a world of difference to have someone already gone through that journey and giving good advice on hindsight.

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Closing Thoughts

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With the current support of our Singapore government to become more tech savvy, it is a great time for non-CS or non-engineering degree people having strong interest in building a career in tech to join bootcamps.

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I highly commend what Rocket Academy is offering - strong curriculum, dedicated & personal instructors, like-minded & friendly community, and strong post-bootcamp job-search support.

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Have further questions? Please feel free to reach me at jerome.chuame@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn. You can also read more about Rocket Academy's latest $1.1 million funding on Forbes.