Have you ever felt that the career path you’ve chosen is no longer satisfying and you could have picked better?
Did you study sociology, law, agriculture or economy, but you feel that you’re constantly attracted by the wonders of modern technologies, science, and the digital field?
It’s never too late to dive deeper into the universe of tech and software development, as there are numerous programming languages, frameworks, and skills to get more familiar with. Also, the industry is changing at a faster pace than ever, so you’ll never feel you’re the master of your craft. If you’re passionate about gaining new tech skills and unleashing your inner “nerd” side, let’s talk about IT academies and coding boot camps in Prague, as possible next destinations to fulfill your 01100100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101101 01110011 (dreams).
The false image of having a proper IT-related educational background in order to start a tech career roots deeply in many of us. However, that’s not quite the case anymore. You don’t necessarily have to apply to your local university, pay expensive tuition fees and spend a good couple of semesters in auditoriums yawning, while listening to theory-based lectures, to start a tech career. Nowadays, there are numerous alternatives available in the form of IT academies, programming courses and coding boot camps that you can join and start walking the path of tech professionals.
There are certain aspects to consider prior to enrolling in any of the courses we hand-picked for you in this article:
- Is any of the tech academies near me worth to invest time and money in?
- What are the programming languages can I learn and what kind of training programs do the courses offer?
- What’s the environment like?
- What kind of job opportunities they can help with after finishing the course?
- How intensive is the course and do you have enough time to allocate to finish with shining results?
- And, of course, what’s the cost of the different courses?
To help your research on finding the most suitable coding academy, here are some of the best boot camps in Prague.
Coding Bootcamp Praha
Coding Bootcamp is a good example of an institution, where you can launch your programming career. Located at Táborská Street in Prague 4 area, Coding Bootcamp is ready to welcome new students to join their seasonal batches. We found it’s better to have some basic knowledge of programming languages, but if you have a strong motivation, you can start with even a minimal coding background. You can always choose one batch depending on a current season (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Batch) and apply – remember, the sooner the better, as there’s a limited number of students per batch; 16 to be exact. The program consists of three phases – The Coder, The Programmer, and The Developer phase.
After finishing these phases, you’ll dive into a 12-week full-time “journey” with senior instructors who have 10+ years of experience in programming.
You will start with some basic HTML, CSS, and Javascript, then you’ll proceed with the front-end languages.
Then, it’s time to dive deeper into JavaScript and PHP and get familiar with databases. While learning Laravel, you will start working on your Final Project, where teamwork is essential. During a hackathon, you will build an app by using React and API.
The final test will put you into the shoes of a full-stack developer, where you and your team will create and present a fully functioning project. Overall, students go through 7 projects – 1 individual portfolio web, 5 team projects during our hackathons and 1 team Final Project. After receiving your certification, Coding Bootcamp provides professional advice and cool tips for your job search as well. Sounds great, right?
Green Fox Academy
Another place to learn practical programming skills is Green Fox Academy, with 4-months programs. Green Fox Academy mentors spend 90 % of their time with their students, so you won’t be left alone with the exercises during the academic lessons. Fridays are dedicated to student presentations about their freshly-gained knowledge. Each group consists of 20 people, attended by students from all around Europe. Being in a multicultural environment is an additional benefit, right? The only thing you’ll need is your laptop and a good level of English.
Now let’s talk about the program structure. The education program at Green Fox Academy is divided into three parts.
A preparation module, where students study the basic tools and principles of web development applications.
An instructional part, aimed at smaller tasks. This module covers basic theory and provides online resources that are crucial for the upcoming progress.
Finally, the projects. Students get to work on real projects at the end of the course, where they have to use their management skills besides their newly gained tech skills. The most exciting part of the program is when students get to experience real working conditions.
When you successfully finish your studies and pass your final exam, you will receive an original certificate and gain the title “junior level of software developer”.
OAK’S LAB Academy
OAK’S LAB Academy is located right in the heart of Prague, on Old Town Square in particular. OAK’S LAB Academy is a part of a company of the same name, which specializes not only in software engineering but also in different areas like design, marketing, finance or management. Each of their courses lasts for 9 weeks, which means 136 hours of learning and working at OAK’S LAB Digital. Participants work on building real-world startups.
The courses are divided into three categories:
- Digital Product Design
- Product & Project Management
- Software Engineering
Going through the Digital Product Design course you will dive into the areas like User-centered Design, Market Research, Design, and Creative Thinking, Sketching and Typography. Get ready to put your hands on tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Sketch, Invision, Zeplin, and others. Students of OAK’S LAB Academy are working on are prestigious, real-life projects from Silicon Valley and London. It’s a great opportunity to build an excellent portfolio.
Product & Project Management will take you through everything you need to know to lead digital development teams. The main skills you will learn include Leadership, Effective Communication, Crisis Management, Roadmapping, Leading Meetings and many more. Lecturers also focus on every student individually, so they can work on their weaknesses and strengths while developing their projects into efficient products.
The main goal of Software Engineering courses is to engage you with the most useful technologies and languages like JavaScript and its libraries, HTML & CSS, Responsive Design, Testing & Debugging and more. Starting with the basics, you will gradually make your way through web development and apply all of your newly-acquired skills in practice.
There are other great benefits accompanying the OAK’S LAB Academy, including housing for students, dining every working day, extracurricular activities and hanging out together to have some fun and let off steam.
These are just a couple of examples of coding boot camps and academies out there, where you can take a “shortcut” and skip the traditional, 3-5 years of studying at a university. It’s never too late to hop on the tech train and institutions like the above listed 3 are fine examples of where to get started.
