The 10 best coding bootcamps

If you’re looking to beef up your developer teams, don’t discount talent from coding bootcamps. Many bootcamp graduates are eager to make a career change, get back into the workforce after a leave or simply add to their existing coding skills. But how can you gauge the quality of coding bootcamps to ensure you are hiring talent that has the chops to excel? The best measure may come from students and graduates themselves.

Switchup.org, a review and ranking guide dedicated to providing objective information about bootcamps, has examined thousands of alumni reviews to determine price, location, job support and instructor quality at a wide range of coding bootcamps. CIO.com has narrowed the list to ten, focusing on bootcamps that offer an online option or are based in the U.S. Here’s our list, along with location, average user review and courses offered so you can be certain your talent is top-notch.

The top 10 coding bootcamps

1. Ironhack
2. AppAcademy
3. General Assembly
4. Bloc
5. Thinkful
6. Flatiron School
7. The Tech Academy
8. Hack Reactor
9. Tech Talent South
10. Epicodus

1. Ironhack

Ironhack is a global tech education school with locations throughout Europe and South America, as well as a U.S. location in Miami, Florida. All courses are taught in person, and the school offers full-time and part-time programs. Curricula focuses on web design and UI/UX design specifically, but an extensive global network of corporate partners and career services can help ensure that graduates land a job after completing the program.

Location: Miami

Courses offered: Full stack web development; UI/UX design and development

Cost: $11,000

Average trainee rating: 4.86/5 (510 reviews)

2. AppAcademy

AppAcademy is a full-time, full-stack developer training program that spans 12 weeks. No previous coding experience is required. Students use hands-on projects to build Ruby on Rails and JavaScript applications and learn the ins-and-outs of web development in a completely immersive environment.  AppAcademy offers a tuition deferment program, in which students pay only if they land a job within 12 months of completing the program.

Location: Online, San Francisco, New York City

Courses offered: Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, React.js, algorithms, advanced algorithms, CSS, SQL, UX, HTML, design principles, JQuery

Cost: $17,000 (optional four-week bootcamp prep course available for $2,999)

Average trainee rating: 4.71/5 (505 reviews)

3. General Assembly

General Assembly offers a number of full-time, immersive programs in a range of in-demand skillsets, including coding, web design, UI design, product management, digital marketing, front-end development and full-stack web development. In addition to the curriculum, students have access to a career coach, networking services and resume writing services.

Location: Online; Dallas; Providence, R.I; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; NYC; Washington, D.C.; Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; Atlanta; Denver; Chicago; Boston; Santa Monica, California

Courses offered: Coding bootcamps, web design (UX/UI), data science, product management, digital marketing, full-stack web development, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails

Cost: $14,950

Average trainee rating: 4.25/5 (540 reviews)

4. Bloc

Bloc offers 12-, 18- and 36-week immersive courses in full-stack development, front-end web development, iOS and Android development, and UX design. Students get one-on-one mentoring (no video tutorials) and hands-on training to build their own apps.

Location: Online, San Francisco

Courses offered: UX design, full-stack web development, front-end web development

Cost: $8,500

Average trainee rating: 4.85/5 (277 reviews)

5. Thinkful

Thinkful’s job-ready model offers programs in web development, design and data science. Students are paired one-on-one with a mentor and are guaranteed job placement after graduating from the data science and full-stack development programs. If you’re not hired as a developer within six months, Thinkful refunds your tuition.

Location: Online; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Houston; Portland, Oregon; Dallas; Los Angeles; Phoenix; San Diego; Atlanta; Miami; Tampa; Chicago; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Denver; Boston; San Francisco; Detroit; Salt Lake City; Seattle; Minneapolis

Courses offered: Engineering immersion, data science immersion, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, NodeJS, Python

Cost: $9,500

Average trainee rating: 4.75/5 (218 reviews)

6. Flatiron School

The Flatiron School offers part-time and full-time courses in web and mobile development, including a program to provide tech education and training to underrepresented groups without a college degree. The Flatiron School offers twelve-week immersive courses — online and on-premises in New York City — in full-stack web development, JavaScript, Ruby, iOS, HTML/CSS, Swift, React and an introductory bootcamp prep course.

Location: Online, New York City

Courses offered: AngularJS, CSS, Git, HTML, JavaScript, jQuery, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SQL

Cost: Online web developer program: $12,000; New York web developer program: $15,000

Average trainee rating: 4.89/5 (188 reviews)

7. The Tech Academy

The Tech Academy is a 26-week, self-paced bootcamp with campuses in the Pacific Northwest and Denver. There’s also an available online option, and the program offers rolling enrollment all year. At the end of the program, students participate in a live project and receive job placement training. Tech Academy graduates have the skills to land junior-level software development jobs.

Location: Online, Denver, Portland, Seattle

Courses offered: Software developer bootcamp, Python bootcamp, full-stack web development, HTML, CSS, SQL, JavaScript, C#, .NET Framework, databases, computer science fundamentals, software development basics, version control, Git, GitTub, jQuery, Visual Studio, ASP.NET MVC, agile, scrum, project management

Cost: $11,700

Average trainee rating: 4.8/5 (163 reviews)

8. Hack Reactor

Hack Reactor, acquired by Galvanize in July 2018, is a 12-week immersive coding and web development bootcamp with various geographic locations as well as the ability to take classes online. After 800 hours of curriculum, students graduate as full-stack web developers and software engineers. Alumni are placed in mid- to senior-level positions at tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Salesforce, and earn an average salary of $105,000.

Location: Online, Austin, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco

Courses offered: Full-stack web development, algorithms, AngularJS, CoffeeScript, CSS, data structures, Express, Git, HTML, jQuery, MongoDB, MySQL, Node.js, SQL, React.js, Blockchain

Cost: $18,000 (scholarships available)

Average trainee rating: 4.7/5 (152 reviews)

9. Tech Talent South

Tech Talent South offers regional part-time and full-time immersion programs across the southern and southwestern United States. In addition to coursework, TTS offers guest speakers, company tours, and networking events for students and graduates. TTS also offers flexible payment options, including a 10 percent up-front discount and installment plans.

Location: Asheville, N.C.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Houston; New Orleans; Phoenix; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Antonio

Courses offered: Web design, coding immersion, data science, JavaScript, Rails, DevOps, iOS development

Cost: Varies; $4,750 for the Coding Immersion program

Average trainee rating: 4.7/5 (140 reviews)

10. Epicodus

Epicodus not only offers bootcamp courses geared towards preparing students for programming careers, but also helps graduates put together a portfolio, practice interviewing and places select students in internships with partner companies like Livingsocial and Cloudability. Currently, Epicodus offers five 27-week tracks: Ruby and Rails; CSS and Design; C# and .Net; PHP and Drupal; Java and Android. The courses are offered only in-person in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash.

Location: Portland, Seattle

Courses offered: Ruby on Rails, CSS, C#, .Net, PHP, Drupal, Java, Android, iOS

Cost: $6,900 per course

Average trainee rating: 4.74/5 (131 reviews)