Hack Oregon

I've taken three classes at Hack Oregon (2 design and 1 development), and I learned a lot! The instructors were patient and knowledgeable, and Hack Oregon collected anonymous feedback from students, both in the middle of the course and at the end, so that they can learn from student feedback -- I felt listened to. As a volunteer, the projects were exciting, and I felt I had the opportunity to contribute meaningfully. I see other reviews here saying that the project teams were poorly organized, and there's some truth to that. But they're very clear up front that these projects rely on volunteers to step up and take initiative, and if you're volunteering and you see an organizational need, you're encouraged to step up and fill it! Its a great professional experience, and I learned skills that made me more attractive to employers. Plus, they're more than happy to vouch for you to get a job.

I’ve taken three courses from Hack Oregon: JavaScript Foundations, ReactJS, and Data Viz. These have increased my understanding of front-end development, and bolstered my confidence as a developer. All of my instructors were very knowledgeable about the subject matter. Given the amount of material covered in a short 8 weeks, the pace can seem daunting. My advice is to prep with online videos to get some basics down before class. The instructors will direct you toward additional online resources (videos, documentation, etc.) for homework. The culmination of all this coursework was my participation as a volunteer during Hack Oregon’s build season. I got to work on some open source projects, building React components for my team.

I took JavaScript Foundations from Hack Oregon. It was a great class for me because it picked up right where my Treehouse Front End Web Development Techdegree left off. The class covered closures, the module pattern, and other things I hadn't learned yet. It is not, however, an intro to JavaScript class. It assumes basic familiarity with the language. A second class I took, Modern CSS, suffered from a lack of focus at times, compounded by what I took to be irreconcilable differences in the needs of different members of the student group. I like being involved with Hack Oregon because of the civic mission (as manifested in their Civic platform) and the nonprofit nature of the organization. If that's not important or interesting to you, you might find your needs better served by a for-profit code school, but from what I see online you'll probably pay somewhat more for that. So, as with anything, it depends on your goals and situation. Hack Oregon offers great opportunities to work with very knowledgeable professionals on the projects, but that is not strictly part of the curriculum of the classes. Hack Oregon puts that opportunity in front of you, but you have to show up and put in the time outside of class to take advantage of it. I did that to some extent, but ultimately felt I didn't quite have the skills to contribute much in a technical sense, yet. I signed up to take a class on React this summer to continue the journey. I guess the best expression of my feelings about Hack Oregon is that I keep signing up for classes.

Hack Oregon was my first learners’ community for coding and I really bonded with classmates and instructors doing 9-months of JavaScript courses and volunteering for a build session. It’s a bit scrappy, but having worked with arts organisations and other non-profits, the non-glossy experience felt comfortable to me. I learned loads and felt challenged in ways I was looking to be challenged. I’ve since gone on to land my first dev job, which took we away from Oregon. Being in a new city, I sorely miss the learning/building/community dynamic I had access to at Hack Oregon and hope to find something similar in my new home city.

TL;DR Hack Oregon / Hack University provides a good combination of practical education (helped me get a job), opportunities for collaborative skill building, and a chance to work on projects that make a difference. I took the ReactJS Web Development course through Hack University, and while the amount of material we covered was a bit overwhelming, I learned the skills I needed to immediately contribute to a Hack Oregon project team. I then listed that experience on my resume and was able to show off my Hack Oregon work in an interview and get a job. (Fast forward, a year and a half.) I've been volunteering with Hack Oregon for 3 project seasons. Projects I've worked on have been included in discussions in the state legislature, Portland City Club, and the Portland Budget Office. It's very rewarding to see Hack Oregon's work help inspire action.