The Best Coding Bootcamps in Portland
Portland, Oregon is known for its beautiful surroundings and its openness to alternative lifestyles. If you love the environment and hiking, then it’s the perfect city. But in recent years, many new tech start-ups have popped up in the area. The overall ambiance of the city, famous for being weird, is now making a strong shift toward tech.
As a result, many students are enrolling in Portland coding bootcamps to fill the available tech positions. In this article, we’ll discuss our picks for the seven best Portland coding bootcamps in 2021.
The Portland Tech Scene and Job Market
The city is home to some top technology companies, with offices spread throughout the industrial corridor between Beaverton and Hillsboro in northwest Oregon. Due to this influx of new businesses, Portland has gained the nickname Silicon Forest.
In line with this tech boom, many organizations have also started offering coding boot camps and data science bootcamps in the area, including Tech Academy, PDX Code Guild, and Epicodus. Students who attend these bootcamps stand a good chance of getting hired on at one of the city’s new tech companies.
Tech Salaries in Portland
According to PayScale, the average salary in Oregon is $69,000 per year, but those employed in the tech sector make an average of $93,110 annually. This salary puts Portland 24th in the country in terms of tech worker salary.
Some of the possible tech occupations in the city include research scientist, network architect, programmer, systems analyst, customer support specialist, and network support specialist.
The Top 7 Portland Coding Bootcamps in 2021
Courses Offered | Intro to Developer Tools and Learning, Fundamentals of Software Development, Intermediate Software Development, Advanced Software Development in Full Stack JavaScript |
Program Types | Full-time Immersive, Online |
Cost | $24,000 |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Income Share Agreement, Private Loans, GI Bill |
Scholarships | $5,000 for Black Indigenous Women, $2,500 for Women |
Alchemy Code Lab is a top coding bootcamp in Portland. It offers a mix of introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses in software development. The standard 24-week coding bootcamp teaches skills such as JavaScript, SQL, and HTML.
The courses are taught by senior developers who are experts in their field. They will teach you all the skills you need to become a professional developer.
Courses Offered | C# and React, Intro to Programming, Ruby and React |
Program Types | Full-time, Part-time, Online |
Cost | $7,800 |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Income Share Agreement, Private Loans, Ascent Funding |
Scholarships Available | Full Scholarship for People From Underrepresented Racial Groups |
Epicodus offers a variety of online courses for students in Portland. They will study subjects such as C# and React, intro to programming, and Ruby and React.
Every course starts with an introduction to programming lesson, which includes an overview of JavaScript, back-end languages, and React.
Once students graduate, they will be placed in an internship with a tech company. Epicodus also provides students with job search support by teaching them how to write resumes and answer interview questions.
Graduates of Epicodus can expect to receive a median salary of $60,000 as they move on to jobs as software engineers, QA testers, front-end engineers, web developers, and teachers.
Nucamp
Courses Offered | Web Development, Front End Web + Mobile Development, Full Stack Web + Mobile Development |
Program Types | Online, Part-time, and Self-paced |
Cost | $1,880 - $2,292 |
Financing Options | Monthly Payment |
Scholarships Available | Scholarships in Partnership With the ReSkill America Laptop Initiative |
NuCamp offers a variety of enrollment options, including part-time, evening, and weekend sessions, and remote learning.
NuCamp’s courses are designed by former Microsoft digital learning experts and are taught by a local instructor. Outside of regular classes, students meet once a week for a four-hour workshop to apply what they have learned.
Students are also offered career coaching job placement assistance as part of a six-week career development program. Upon graduating, 78 percent of NuCamp graduates find employment within three months.
Courses Offered | Python-Based Developer, Advanced JavaScript, Intro to Front-End, Intro to Programming |
Program Types | Full-time, Part-time |
Cost | $8,000 - $18,400 |
Financing Options | Need-Based Discount, Cash Pay Discount, SkillsFund, Grants, In-House Payments, GI Bill |
Scholarships Available | $2,000 for Women, People of Color and LGBTQ+ |
PDX Code Guild believes in providing top quality tech education in a community-centered culture. Their team of instructors uses current techniques to teach programming and coding.
Classes are kept small so that students can get the most out of their lessons. The capstone projects in these programs are tailored to each student’s interest in a bid to improve their chances of getting hired upon completing the course.
Most graduates of PDX Code Guild find employment as software engineers, full-stack developers, front-end developers, backend developers, and quality assurance engineers. Some have even started their own business after graduation.
Courses Offered | C#, .NET, Data Science, Python, UI/UX Design |
Program Types | Full-time, Part-time, Online |
Cost | $10,980 for Full-time, $14,980 for Part-time |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment, Income Share Agreement, Private Loans |
Scholarships Available | $1,000 for a study commitment of 40 hours per week |
Tech Academy offers full-time, part-time, and online courses in web development, data science, Python development, and UI/UX design. Students can enroll year-round and can complete the courses at their own pace.
The academy’s programs are focused on foundational concepts so that students can develop their skills. Instructors assist students in training, code review, and debugging.
After completing a course, students will also work on projects based on real examples. These will help students prepare to join the workforce.
Tech Academy also provides job placement training in which students are coached on how to create professional resumes, apply for jobs, and answer common interview questions.
Courses Offered | Software Engineering, UX/UI Design, Data Science, Data Analytics, Product Management, Digital Marketing |
Program Types | Online, Full-time, Part-time, Self-paced |
Cost | $7,000 - $9,500 |
Financing Options | ISA, Deferred Tuition, Upfront Payments, Month-to-month Installments, Loan Financing |
Scholarships | $100 Per Month for Military, $600 - $1,200 for Women |
Thinkful’s bootcamps are focused on one-on-one mentorship and guidance. In these courses, students can train to become software engineers, UX/UI designers, data scientists, product managers, and digital marketers.
Thinkful provides $600 scholarships for its Flexible Web Development Bootcamp and a $1,200 scholarship for women who enroll in the Full-time Web Development Bootcamp.
University of Oregon Boot Camps
Courses Offered | Coding, Data Analytics, Cybersecurity, UI/UX |
Program Types | Part-time |
Cost | $11,995 |
Financing Options | Upfront Payment (Self-support and Fee-based) |
Scholarships | None |
University of Oregon boot camps offers dynamic tech learning experiences for students taught by skilled instructors and teaching assistants.
Through hands-on teaching, students will learn concepts such as data analytics, cybersecurity, and UI/UX design. The university’s student success and career services teams provide support to students along the way.
What Is a Coding Bootcamp?
Over the last couple of years, coding bootcamps have reshaped the way students learn technology. Unlike college, bootcamps are short-term programs that usually last between six weeks and six months.
Coding bootcamps prepare students for a promising career in the tech industry. In these intensive training courses, aspiring software developers are taught skills such as coding and other practical tech skills. Once you finish a bootcamp, you will have a solid understanding of essential programming languages and frameworks such as HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails, Python, Django, and JavaScript.
Another advantage of these bootcamps is that they are cheaper than traditional college degree options.
Is a Portland Coding Bootcamp Right for You?
Learning to code in Portland is a great idea if you are excited about starting a career in technology and want to make a decent salary while doing it.
If you’re still not sure if coding bootcamps are worth it, keep in mind that most of the bootcamps listed in this article guarantee job placement once training is completed. Recent graduates can expect to earn anywhere from $40,000 to $77,000.
If you are already in a tech role, enrolling in a bootcamp can help boost your income and increase your chances of promotion.
When trying to choose which bootcamp is best for you, check course guides for some of the bootcamp providers above to see which one most closely aligns with your career goals.