Updated in 2023
- What does Covalence do?
- Who is Covalence for?
- What does Covalence cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Covalence
- Alternatives to Covalence
- How does Covalence compare to Pathrise?
What does Covalence do?
Covalence is an online bootcamp that helps people develop the necessary skills to land a job as a software engineer. The full-time course lasts 3 months. Alternatively, students can finish the part-time course in approximately 7 months. The curriculum covers the essentials of front-end, back-end, database development, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ReactJS, Node.js, Express, MySQL, and React Native.
Students participate in recorded video lectures and walkthroughs, coding drills and labs, project-based assignments, webinars, code reviews, and career coaching. Through the online communication platform, participants receive real-time help from fellow students and Covalence staff. At the end of the course, students build their portfolios, which help them land jobs as junior-level full stack software engineers.
Besides the immersive bootcamp, Covalence offers 2 self-paced options, which they call atomic and molecular. Students in the atomic program learn full stack JavaScript by doing real projects, complete 50 labs, start building their portfolios, and get help from peers and staff.
Those who are interested in more guidance should enroll in the molecular option. That is because it includes the atomic plan’s curriculum as well as personalized lab reviews and priority support.
Who is Covalence for?
People who have no experience in coding and are looking to develop the necessary skills to land a job as a software engineer could benefit from the Covalence bootcamp.
What does Covalence cost? How much work is involved?
Tuition for the full-time and part-time bootcamps is $9,500. Those enrolled in the atomic and molecular options pay monthly. The atomic plan costs $39 per month for the first month and then $79 per month for each month after that. Similarly, the molecular plan costs $99 per month for the first month and then $199 per month for the following months.
In addition, financing options are available for students enrolled in the full-time bootcamp and the molecular monthly plan. Skills Fund offers low-interest, fixed-rate loans of up to $12,500. Rates depend on an applicant’s previous credit history. Students have 3 years to repay.
Ratings and reviews
The online reviews of Covalence are mixed, but generally positive. Grads on CourseReport benefited from the project-based curriculum and instruction, but felt that the bootcamp did not provide adequate job-seeking resources. In addition, one reviewer recommends trying “to learn as much about the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as you can” before starting the program.
Reviewers on SwitchUp said that the curriculum and instructors prepared them for landing jobs as junior developers, though one grad noted that “you are pretty much left to struggle unless you ask the TA or instructor for help.”
The Covalence CEO responded directly to a Reddit post in 2018 saying that the company was in the process of contacting graduates for more reviews. But, in a Reddit post from 2019, a prospective student reported struggling to track down recent grads from Covalence. In fact, they noted that the bootcamp did not offer useful information about its alumni.
Alternatives to Covalence
If you decide not to enroll in Covalence, there are a number of alternative bootcamps and online resources that can help aspiring software engineers.
- Students can also consider Kenzie Academy. A full-time tech bootcamp, Kenzie offers in-person and online courses in 2 tracks: software engineering & UX design and front-end engineering. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- Similarly, Actualize, devCodeCamp, Redwood Code Academy, Epicodus, and Code Fellows are software engineering bootcamps with on-campus and online options.
- One of the most well known bootcamps is General Assembly. They offer full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on a variety of topics like software engineering, data science, UX design, digital marketing, product management, and more. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
- App Academy, Nucamp, Hack Reactor, Fullstack Academy, Turing, Launch Academy, and The Software Guild also offer online and in-person courses for their software engineering bootcamps.
- Another option is Grand Circus, which teaches courses on Java, front-end, and C# .NET. Their campuses are in Michigan, but they also offer online options.
- Likewise, Tech Elevator is a software engineering bootcamp with online and on-campus options.
- Aspiring software engineers and web developers can also consider CodeX Academy, a self-paced coding bootcamp with mentorship opportunities. Learn more about CodeX Academy in our review.
- Codecademy is one of the most popular coding programs online. They provide free courses on many different programming languages. They also offer membership options ranging from $20 to $40. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
- For students looking to defer payments, Lambda School and Rithm School offer income share agreements to finance their bootcamps.
More alternatives
- Another option is Codesmith, a software engineering bootcamp with online intro courses and on-campus immersive programs in New York City and Los Angeles.
- Flatiron School, Coding Dojo, Byte Academy, Zip Code Wilmington, and Altcademy offer tracks in software engineering, as well as other subjects.
- Similarly, Nashville Software School has courses in full stack web dev and data science.
- Or, consider Kal Academy, which works with women and underrepresented groups on software engineering, web dev, and data.
- edX is one of the largest online learning platforms. They have courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT as well as big tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
- You can check out Udacity and Springboard. They are online educational platforms that students can use to brush up on the basics or advance their current tech skills. Read more about Udacity and Springboard in our reviews.
- People who are interested in using online education tools to advance their current skills can check out Udemy, Coursera, Treehouse, Ruby Koans, egghead, and Pluralsight.
- SoloLearn, freeCodeCamp, and W3Schools are free alternatives for people looking to learn programming languages.
- You can also check out Bubble no-code bootcamps to learn how to make products without coding. Learn more about Bubble in our review.
How does Covalence compare to Pathrise?
Covalence is a bootcamp for people who are interested in learning how to become a software engineer from scratch. At Pathrise, job-seekers in our program should already have some background in their field of interest so that they can participate fully in our industry workshops, which prepare students for the questions they will see in their technical interviews.
Pathrise helps you land the best possible job. Our mentors have years of experience on both sides of the hiring table. Fellows receive 1-on-1 support every step of the way. Pathrise focuses on technical and behavioral interviewing, as well as resume and LinkedIn optimization, portfolio building, reverse recruiting lessons, and negotiation guidance.
Our program is flexible. There are only 2-4 hours of sessions per week. Fellows can schedule 1-on-1 sessions as needed. We personalize our curriculum to target each fellow’s specific needs. The Pathrise income share means fellows don’t have to pay anything until they start working at a job they love and we never require upfront payments or deposits.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that helps people land their dream job in tech through 1-on-1 mentorship. If you are interested in working with any of our mentors to get help with your technical and behavioral interviews or any other aspect of the job search, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
