The Best Coding Bootcamps in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, and the city has a tech sector to match its behemoth size. Though the Bay Area may get more attention for its tech community, there are plenty of great companies that call LA home. If you want to start a tech career with one of them, here’s a guide to help you get acquainted with the best Los Angeles coding bootcamps today.
The Los Angeles Tech Scene and Job Market
Los Angeles is a cultural hub in the United States, and plenty of tech companies enjoy the warm weather and status of having an office in the LA area. The city has such a high concentration of these companies that its western area where they congregate is called Silicon Beach.
The City of Angels and nearby suburb Santa Monica are homes to streaming service Hulu, video game developer Naughty Dog, dating app Tinder, Snapchat creators Snap Inc., and delivery company Postmates. There are many other companies centered in this area that you use every day.
Like any other tech center, these companies are constantly looking for workers to help them stay ahead of the curve. They’re willing to pay top dollar for the best employees.
Los Angeles Tech Salaries
If you’re looking to start a tech career in Los Angeles, you’ll be joining a high-paying field that touches lives nationwide. According to Glassdoor, software engineers make an average of $91,469 per year in LA. Cyber security professionals make around $68,886 per year, and DevOps engineers make a whopping $109,437.
The DevOps engineer salary is 10 percent above the national average, but the others are about in line with salaries in other tech centers.
This is just a small sample of the jobs that keep this cyber city running. There’s an army of programmers, engineers, and UX/UI designers, among others, that make sure apps are usable and attractive to consumers.
If you’re looking to make a living in tech, you have your pick of great training platforms in Los Angeles. Below are plenty of coding bootcamps that will prepare you to enter the lucrative tech field in short order.
The Top 5 Los Angeles Coding Bootcamps in 2021
Courses Offered | Software Engineering |
Program Types | Full-time and Part-time; Immersive and Remote |
Cost | $18,800 - $19,350 for Full-time; $19,350 for Part-time |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Monthly Installments, Private Loans |
Scholarships Available | Scholarships available for Women, Minorities in Tech, LGBTQ Members, Prior Bootcamp Graduates, and Veterans |
Codesmith is a bootcamp provider that offers courses in LA and New York City. Their bootcamps are designed to transform beginners into professional coders in 12 weeks. All of their courses are online at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but you’ll still be learning from their tried and true lesson plan.
You’ll learn how to operate as a full-stack engineer with JavaScript and computer science lessons that get you started building sites in just three months. Companies like the aforementioned Snap Inc. and Hulu have hired Codesmith graduates, contributing to the bootcamp’s 80.6 percent job placement rate.
LA-based Codesmith grads who secure full-time jobs report a median base salary of $115,000. You have the opportunity to take their full-time course at a discount until March 1 before their prices go up.
DevMasters
Courses Offered | Applied Data Science, Data Science for Professionals, Project Based Learning, Mastering Applied Data Science with Deep Learning |
Program Types | Full-time and Part-time; Immersive and Remote |
Cost | $9,995 - $14,995 for Full-time, $4,995 to $5,995 for Part-time |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Payment Plan, Private Loans |
Scholarships | Community Scholarship, Student Scholarship, Hardship Scholarship, Founders and Startups Scholarship, Diversity Scholarship |
The DevMasters offers something for everyone. If you’re looking for an organization to handle the data analytics for your business, they offer those services. If you’re an individual looking to make your way into data science, they have a host of classes that can get you started.
This company’s offerings are relatively unique among coding schools. But when you think of the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data that are created every day, it starts to make sense. The big companies in the area need someone to help them maintain their reams of data and keep it safe.
By focusing entirely on data science instead of having courses for aspiring web developers, DevMasters provide a unique, quality education for data pros. They also offer machine learning courses as part of their full-time bootcamps, so you’ll be equipped for anything employers will throw at you when it’s time to handle their data.
Courses Offered | Software Engineering Immersive, Data Science Immersive |
Program Types | Full-time and Part-time; Immersive and Remote |
Cost | $17,980 for Full-time, $17,980 for Part-time, Free Prep Courses |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Income Share Agreement, Private Loans, G.I. Bill |
Scholarships | We Stand Together Racial Equity Scholarship, General Scholarship, Galvanize and Iterable Scholarship + Paid Internship |
Galvanize offers a couple of 12-week courses on their Los Angeles campus. These courses prepare you for the road ahead in a few short months by packing in a surprising amount of content.
Galvanize recently purchased prominent bootcamp company Hack Reactor, and they’ve combined the best parts of their courses to give you an experience that’s twice as good. You have the option of learning full-stack JavaScript and app design or studying Python, machine learning, and natural language processing.
These offerings don’t come cheap, but there are plenty of great scholarships that can mitigate the cost. The most enticing of these scholarships is probably the Galvanize and Iterable scholarship, which starts by paying for your bootcamp while providing a stipend.
After you graduate, this program places you in a paid internship at the cross-channel marketing platform, Iterable. This is a unique opportunity to learn and grow while setting up a path for your tech future.
Redwood Code Academy
Courses Offered | Full-Stack Web Developer |
Program Types | Full-time and Part-time Immersive |
Cost | $13,500 for Full-time; $13,500 for Part-time |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Monthly Financing |
Scholarships | Women Who Code, Veterans |
Redwood Code Academy (RCA) is an Orange County-based bootcamp provider that focuses mostly on web development using .NET. This academy exclusively operates in Southern California, so they have a great handle on the tech landscape in the area.
The full-time course lasts 12 weeks while the part-time course lasts 24 weeks. Despite the difference in duration, both cover the same material. You’ll start by learning the building blocks of web development: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. After you’ve conquered those tools, you’ll progress to database management and front-end web development tools to complete your skillset.
RCA spends the last week of the bootcamp preparing their students to go out and find jobs after graduation. You’ll be ready to join the ranks of LA’s best coders after these classes.
Courses Offered | Coding, Cyber Security, Product Management |
Program Types | Online |
Cost | $9,995 - $12,495 |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Income Share Agreement, Private Loans, G.I. Bill |
Scholarships | None |
The University of California, Los Angeles has developed a bootcamp curriculum that’s suited for professionals looking to make a change. UCLA’s courses range from 12 to 24 weeks and give you a headstart on the competition.
The school’s immersive programs have moved online much like everyone else, but rest assured that you’ll still gain access to the same quality content. The full-stack web developer course prepares you to build sites from the ground up while focusing on Python, Java, C#, and the ever-popular Amazon Web Services platform.
If you want to become a cyber security engineer, the cyber security program gets you a good footing to start keeping data safe.
The real star of the program, however, is product management. The product management course prepares you to launch a product from start to finish while handling technical aspects along the way.
If you go with the bootcamps at UCLA, you’ll be getting an education from a name that carries a lot of weight on Silicon Beach and beyond.
What Is a Coding Bootcamp?
A coding bootcamp is a fast-paced course that’s designed to teach students everything they need to know to start working in a certain tech field. The bootcamp that’s right for you depends on your interests, circumstances, and availability.
There are part-time bootcamps for busy people who can slowly make a career change over time. There are also full-time immersive bootcamps where your entire focus is learning to code. As we’ve discussed above, there are plenty of options for Angelenos on any schedule.
Is a Los Angeles Coding Bootcamp Right for You?
A Los Angeles coding bootcamp is right for you if you aspire toward a career that takes advantage of the amazing opportunities in the city. Few municipalities in the country have as high of a tech concentration as LA, and all of these companies need workers to fill voids.
So, choose your bootcamp and take the plunge. Your wallet will thank you.