Top Coding Bootcamps in London Right Now

While it may have taken the market some time to embrace coding bootcamps, attitudes are certainly shifting in bootcamps’ favor—making them a great option for people hoping to shift into a career in software engineering. According to Hired’s 2019 State of Software Engineering report, more than three in four bootcamp graduates reported that the program helped them to prepare for their software engineering role, and 57% of current engineers said they would hire someone from a bootcamp. 

If you’ve decided that a bootcamp is your next career move, you have many great options to choose from. Here are four top coding bootcamp options if you’re based in London:

Maker’s Academy

Maker’s Academy offers a 12-week, full-time, onsite bootcamp course for £8,000, which includes four weeks of pre-coursework in addition to the three months of onsite training. Women and gender minorities can receive a £500 tuition discount. 

The average graduate from Maker’s Academy earns £32,000 just after completing the program, and £45,000 one year later. Maker’s graduates have landed jobs at top UK companies including Monzo, Trainline, and The Financial Times. 

Further, Maker’s Academy includes a job offer guarantee, which means people who complete the bootcamp and are unable to get a full-time job can receive a refund on their tuition. Of course, this comes with conditions (like proving that you’ve made an effort to find a job over the course of the program), but may be helpful if finding employment post-bootcamp is your top concern. 

General Assembly

General Assembly is a global player in coding bootcamps, which gives the program a particular strength in its employer network (19k+ companies worldwide!) as well as from a brand recognition perspective. GA’s full-time program also lasts for 12 weeks, but there is the option to join remotely online rather than in-person in London, as well as a part-time course for people who’d prefer to learn on evenings and weekends.

The cost of GA’s program is £9,000 (or £8,650 paid up front), and participants may have the option to pay with a loan or in three instalments. Women and gender minorities may also be eligible for the See Her Excel scholarship, which offers £1,500 off of tuition for those who earn less than £28,000 per year. 

Le Wagon

Another popular bootcamp in Europe is Le Wagon, which has French origins but now offers courses in London (and in many other tech hubs across the world). They offer full-time (nine weeks) and part-time options (24 weeks), both of which cost £6,500. 

Le Wagon emphasizes the portfolio-building aspect of their program, with all participants building several web apps within a tech team as well as coming up with, building, and pitching their own personal idea. 

Udacity

If you’d prefer to be a bit more self-guided, have more flexibility, and potentially save some money, Udacity may be a good option. The online platform offers “nanodegrees” in pretty much any software engineering topic you want to learn about, and the cost depends on which courses you elect to take. The Introduction to Programming course, for example, costs £1,076 for a four month program, which also comes with a technical mentor as well as career coaching. Another potential benefit of Udacity is that there’s no application process, so anyone willing to pay for the program is able to access it.

Keep in mind that something like Udacity will likely take a bit more self-motivation, as you won’t have the structure of a classroom to encourage you. If this is more your style, however, Udacity might be a great fit. 

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Signing up for a coding bootcamp is a big commitment, so don’t shy away from taking your time to make the right decision. Many of the in-person bootcamps host events, and offer for you to stop by to meet the team or speak to someone on the phone, so do your due diligence before signing on the dotted line. Like any other degree program, a coding bootcamp can give you a network that lasts a lifetime, so choosing the right one for you is a matter of not only gaining the skills you need and landing a job, but also finding the people you connect with most.