Hi, I’m Brian, a former senior software engineer and now industry mentor at Pathrise. I have helped hundreds of software engineers land their dream jobs in tech. Check out my article with the best coding bootcamps in San Diego.
Over the past few years, the tech sector in San Diego has rapidly diversified, with the help of increased VC spending. Thanks to the sudden influx of startups and tech companies in industries such as robotics, SaaS, and self-driving cars, more people are heading to San Diego to enroll in coding bootcamps and launch their software engineering careers.
But, with so many bootcamps to choose from, picking the right one can feel overwhelming. To help you get started, we have created a list of coding bootcamps in San Diego to help you find the program that best matches your learning goals and objectives so that you can launch your software engineering career.
Best coding bootcamps in San Diego
1. Thinkful
Thinkful is a tech bootcamp with a full-stack software engineering program in San Diego. They offer 2 options: immersion and flexible. People in the immersion program meet for 50-60 hours per week for 5 months, while those enrolled in the flexible option meet for 25-30 hours per week for 6 months and can create their own schedules. Students work with mentors, instructors, and teaching assistants to learn web development fundamentals (HTML/CSS & JavaScript), server side programming with NodeJS, and front end development with React. They also brush up on computer science fundamentals, including data structures and algorithms. To get a head start on portfolio building, students create interactive web applications. Career coaches meet with students for the duration of the program and offer 1-on-1 assistance with resume optimization, portfolio building, interview prep, and more. Thinkful offers quite a few financing options, including loans, monthly payments, and an income share agreement (ISA).
2. General Assembly
Another tech bootcamp, General Assembly offers a 12-week software engineering immersive program in San Diego, which meets Monday-Friday from 7am-3pm or 9am-5pm. Students study web development fundamentals such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as more advanced topics and tools in front end and back end development, including Python, Django, Ruby on Rails, React, Angular, and SQL. The bootcamp teaches a wide range of skills so that students can learn how to build interactive full stack applications using a variety of frameworks and stacks. In the final weeks of the program, students meet 1-on-1 with career coaches, who offer guidance on resume and portfolio building, interview prep, and other components of the job search.
3. LEARN Academy
A San Diego-based web dev bootcamp, LEARN academy has full-time courses that meet Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm. Their 16-week program features 2 components: 12 weeks of classroom instruction and a 4-week internship program. The classroom component, which focuses on individual learning and pair programming, covers JavaScript, React, Ruby on Rails, Postgres, MVC, SQL, and other in-demand tools. Students spend the first 6 weeks mastering the fundamentals and learning new tools. In weeks 7-12, they build 2 apps independently, including a full stack asynchronous React and Rails application (with testing calls to an external API) and a full stack application with user login functionality. Working in small groups, they create 1 full stack web application as well. Students also spend the second half of the program meeting with career coaches to workshop their portfolios, prepare for interviews, and build their professional networks on LinkedIn. They further develop their job-seeking skills by interviewing with 2-3 local San Diego tech companies, who provide bootcamp participants with 4-week-long, unpaid internships.
4. LearningFuze
Aspiring software engineers in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Irvine can also check out LearningFuze, a tech bootcamp with full-time and part-time programs in web development. Before starting the 12-week, full-time program, students enroll in a 2-week live online prep course that covers basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. After completing the prep course, which meets on evenings and weekends for a total of 6 hours per week, students can begin the full-time program, which meets Monday-Friday from 10am-6pm. The curriculum features exercises, prototypes, presentations, and hands-on projects that teach a quite a few tools and concepts, including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript & jQuery frameworks, PHP, MySQL, MVC, Github, and design patterns. Students have 1-on-1 sessions with career coaches to discuss resumes, portfolios, and interview techniques until they land their first web dev job. On the last day of the bootcamp, students participate in demo day, which gives them the opportunity to impress potential employers.
5. San Diego Code School
A flexible, part-time web development bootcamp, San Diego Code School is a good option for people who need to work part-time while enrolled in their program. Prior to starting the 9-week course, students complete an online self-paced prep course that teaches basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Bootcamp participants choose from 3 tracks: front end, back end with node, and back end with C#. The bootcamp, which requires a time commitment of 30-40 hours per week, is a good fit for those who are self-motivated, as students participate in unstructured hands-on exercises and group projects. Lectures are pre-recorded, and not live, so students can learn at their own pace. While students are required to attend class in-person on Saturday and Sunday from 9am-6pm, they create their own schedules during the week and can either work from home or on campus. In small groups, students spend weeks 7-8 creating a full stack app for a local San Diego business. In the last week of the program, students receive career coaching, participate in mock interviews, and attend a career fair with local tech companies and startups. After the bootcamp ends, students continue meeting 1-on-1 with career coaches until they land their first job as a web developer.
6. Nucamp
Like San Diego Coding School, Nucamp offers flexible web development and software engineering bootcamps with in-person and online components. People who are looking to take their courses onsite in San Diego can choose from 2 tracks: front end web & mobile development (17 weeks) and full stack web & mobile development (22 weeks). Those in the front end track, which is project-based, learn how to use in-demand tools such as bootstrap, React, React Native, Microsoft Visual Studio Code, and Git & GitHub. Besides teaching the same material as the front end track, the full stack program covers important tools and concepts in server-side development, including back-end with NodeJS, Express, databases with MongoDB, and storage. Both tracks include an online component. Students spend 6-14 hours per week working through recorded lectures and exercises at their own pace. For the in-person part of the program, students meet Saturday from 9am-1pm to discuss projects with peers and instructors. After completing coursework, Nucamp grads are invited to take the bootcamp’s 6-week career development course, which covers the nuts and bolts of resume building, LinkedIn optimization, and interview prep.
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