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Not happy with the coding school I chose - No Name

Posted: Jun 27, 2011

I put a lot of research into my decision and decided to spend the extra money and go with a school that got a lot of great reviews and offered a format that I felt would fit my learning style the best. One of the benefits of this school was that you are assigned an instructor who is there to answer your questions whenever you need them, etc.

Well after getting a 1/4 of the way through the program, I am finding that my instructor takes a week to 10 days to get back to me. I handed in a test and it has been at least 10 days... I have received responses to my assignments that I handed in around the same time, but nothing on the test results, which is the actual coding part, the part I need to know if I am grasping the concept correctly or not before I move onto the next lesson.

I sit around and wait and wait and a week or 2 will go by and by the time I get my tests back and get to discuss anything I had gotten wrong, etc., I feel like I have lost a lot of the information I had gained to that point... because I couldn't keep running with it. If that makes sense. I am just so disappointed. I could have selected a school that was half the price and maybe would have had a better experience.

Anyway, just needed to vent. Thanks!

That's something you should discuss with them - NM

[ In Reply To ..]
Doesn't look as though you addressed this with them. Maybe you should before venting? Perhaps they don't realize that this doesn't fit your style? Maybe they are willing to adapt if you'd just let them know?

Probably not possible if there is nobody to call or write who ever answers - Not the OP

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm not the OP, but it isn't always that simple. Sometimes there aren't any real people to contact. Everything is 'automatic' or computerized.

It's easy to say to contact them, but what if all you get is a salesman when you call but you can leave a message, which never ever gets returned. You e-mail them and get a auto-reply.

Talk to the instructor's supervisor. Maybe they will get you a different instructor - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
In my school, you can always go on. There is always lots to do while you are waiting for a test to come back. Otherwise I would talk to the instructor's supervisor. They can either fix it or get you another instructor.

supervisor - Perhaps

[ In Reply To ..]
and most likely this is the culture of the school and there are no other instructors to change to. I mean, this is the way it is run, take it or leave it. Sometimes, also, it may feel risky to make waves...

Most schools have trouble finding a qualified coding teacher - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I would not consider taking a course that didn't have an instructor who has passed the CCS exam and has been able to keep a job.

Most schools want someone who is already teaching something else, like the medical terminology course, maybe an RN or LPN or medical assistant. They seem to think that anybody at all can teach coding, or maybe even someone who took a coding course once but just hasn't been able to find a coding job. If they have some kind of degree, in anything, a community college would most likely hire them over someone who is an actual working, credentialed coder who knows how to code. That's just my experience. I have a strong opinion about the qualifications of coding instructors. Schools are doing a horrible job choosing coding teachers who have never passed the CCS exam in their life, never kept a coding job, but they can teach it. That's ridiculous!

If the instructor isn't at least a CCS, you don't know if answers you are getting are righ - My Opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
How can a teacher teach something they don't know?

I mean, how can a coding teacher get his students ready to take the CCS exam if he doesn't even have it himself?

I think it's important for coders who are learning to dig out information for themselves and have an instructor who will call them out on it when necessary. If the instructor doesn't know what he's doing well enough to have passed that CCS exam himself, how is he going to prepare his students to do it? I know I would not have confidence that if I asked him a question, that the answers he gave me would be correct.

Even more important, you really can't get much of a coding job these days without a CCS, so if he doesn't have the ability to pass the CCS exam, who decided that he has the ability to teach what he doesn't know? It just doesn't make sense.

The OP - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
never said their instructors did not have credentials. It was a time thing in getting tests back.

You get to discuss what you did wrong? - My experience

[ In Reply To ..]
When I took my coding course, there was nobody to discuss anything with. You just entered the codes and it came back with the results, right or wrong, but you never knew why. I decided back then that I really dislike automated testing. Then there were obvious errors that even I could spot, but those never got fixed. It made me feel good if I got something right, but I also knew I wasn't learning anything that was going to stick with me.

Not happy - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
I feel your pain. I know what you mean. It is very difficult. How about if you ask a lot of questions in the meantime as you go along before or as you do the test, so that you are getting some kind of answers all along to ponder and just keep learning. It is very frustrating, but maybe you can adjust to it and just go on and then go back when the test gets back? I find with learning that most of the time the way things are taught do not suit me. I have to find my own way. Glad you can vent, sometimes that helps!

coding schools - grannieof1

[ In Reply To ..]
Are you willing to share the name of the school? I am looking at a couple and don't want to be in the same position as you are.
I agree I would go to the person above your instructor and complain. The school needs to know if there is a problem.

I was just going to ask the same thing. I would love to know which school. - me

[ In Reply To ..]
I've been looking at different coding schools, as well, and would like to know the whole truth.

Feel your pain, but . . . - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
It does sound as though you should discuss this with them just because your expectations do not match theirs. If this was a college course, your test would have been graded by computer but your results might not have been released until everyone in the class took the test, which can take weeks. Even if you did get results back instantly, your might be stuck with the grade even if the computer was wrong. Or maybe if a person graded it they only went by a key that noted only which multiple choice answer was correct. You say you can discuss questions? If you GET a personalized response, you are way ahead of most courses out there. If you can discuss, that's very unusual.

I want to point out something about the statement that you feel you lost a lot of information because you couldn't keep running with it. We lose what we learn if we don't review it over and over. I think this school is doing you a huge favor by waiting a week because it's forcing you to review. The problem is that you aren't recognizing this need on your own. I think they are trying to show you, but you aren't getting it.

If you can only remember when you "keep running with" it, what will happen on a certification test? What will happen on the job? What happens to all the skills you don't use every day? You need to develop review skills so that you can deal with a certification exam or some on-the-job coding that you haven't seen lately. You can't get exempted from job performance standards because you haven't seen something in a couple of weeks. "Sorry, I can't code this because I haven't done one of these in a month." You might not have seen it in a month, but you review real fast and refresh your memory. I think that school isgiving you an opportunity to develop that review skill.

The problem isn't with when you're getting the test back. It's that you aren't recognizing the need to do something to deal with the forgetting. Also that you aren't seeing the job skill aspect of this.

Perhaps you can accept the need to review when you get the test back. Reviewing helps us retain what we learn. Can you organize the material better so that you can review it faster? Maybe you can make notes on what you did on the test so that you can remember later. All of that would help you retain this longer.

Hopefully, - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
the OP can adjust to this and find a way to keep learning. One thing that strikes me is that if the school raves about and bases its superiority on the fact that they have individual instructors for their students and that pulls people in, it can be quite disheartening when you find out they really meant that you will get your answers to questions and tests results in 7-10 days. Perhaps the individual instructor aspect should be absolutely clear in the "sell."

Assumptions - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I wouldn't assume they were not clear about it.

This is unrelated to having individual instructors. This student isn't complaining about not getting instruction when she gets her tests back -- she even says there is discussion -- she's complaining that she's forgotten the material by the time she gets the test back.

That's why I think she needs to talk to them about it. They might be willing to go back to grading her stuff instantly if she cannot accommodate a delay.

Getting results back fast, but not worth getting at all - My opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
I just wanted to add that some of us have had courses where we got very fast results, but they were worthless. I've also taken a college course where they never noticed that I was there, ever. They didn't notice when I signed up. There was no help available when I didn't understand something. There was no teaching involved. The tests were worthless, because they didn't give any instructions on what they wanted, and they didn't do anything other than mark your answers right or wrong. No explanations at all. No availability of instructor if you wanted to question your grade or find out why something was wrong. In fact, I don't think the instructor really did the grading. I think another coding student did that. Just a guess based on the fact that it was just checked right or wrong with no explanation. Anyone could do that. They also didn't notice when I left.

I was complaining about this to someone who was taking an on-campus community college course. Her instructor reads the book to them, word for word. I think this happens more often than you might imagine. It seems to be the trend in coding classes because I recently heard of another coding course that was taught that way. I think it would be funny if in the tests, the students got to read their answers to the teacher in class, word for word to see how the teacher likes it.

The college course I took was so bad that - How bad was it?

[ In Reply To ..]
I wasn't able to even ask a question and I had questions about how to submit the first test. That didn't work out well. I think they cancelled the course after that, but all I got was a book. I learned nothing.

A friend of mine took a different college coding course and he found out later that they were teaching him wrong. The teacher didn't know how to code! He felt sorry for the teacher when he figured it out, but it cost him time and money, and then he had to relearn everything.

Coding is becoming the "matchbook career" of the - 2000"s, just like MT in the 1990s.

[ In Reply To ..]

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