Hi, I’m Brian, a former senior software engineer and now industry mentor at Pathrise. I have worked with hundreds of web developers and software engineers to help them land their dream jobs in tech. Check out my review of Microverse.
- What does Microverse do?
- Who is Microverse for?
- What does Microverse cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Microverse
- Alternatives to Microverse
- How does Microverse compare to Pathrise?
What does Microverse do?
Microverse is an online coding bootcamp that teaches people the skills they need to launch a career as a software engineer or web developer. Students participate in lots of stand-up sessions, pair programming exercises, projects, technical mentoring, guest lectures, career coaching, and more. The program is entirely remote and international. Students learn technical skills as they build polished web apps as well as develop soft skills to thrive on the job.
Their flagship software development course is full-time and lasts about 9 months. However, students should be prepared to dedicate a few months to apply for jobs after graduation, meaning the entire program usually lasts about 12 months total. Classes meet Monday-Friday from 7am to 4pm EST or 8am to 5pm UTC+1. 
The technical curriculum first covers front-end development skills like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Then, students learn to build and deploy web apps as they work with Ruby, Ruby on Rails, React, and Redux. The technical curriculum even touches on advanced topics like databases, algorithms, and data structures. Students also develop their soft skills every Friday as they work on networking, time management, remote work best practices, and a whole host of job search strategies.
At the end of the 9 months of full-time technical training, students move into the job support phase. A career coach works 1-on-1 with students on all phases of the job search, including resume writing, portfolio reviews, online profile optimization, interview prep, networking, and salary negotiation. Grads continue to work with career coaches until they land a job.
Who is Microverse for?
People with little to no coding experience who are looking to launch a career as a software developer could benefit from Microverse. Their program is especially helpful for people who are seeking a full-time online program with a hands-on curriculum. Students looking for extensive career services that go beyond graduation could also be a good fit.
What does Microverse cost? How much work is involved?
Students pay with an income sharing agreement (ISA) so they don’t owe anything until they land a tech job. Once grads earn at least $1,000 per month, they pay 15% of their income until they reach $15,000.
The admission process begins with a brief online form. Candidates then get access to the full application as well as optional pre-course work to prepare. After prepping or brushing up coding basics, candidates solve about 2-4 hours worth of simple algorithmic coding challenges. For their final hurdle, candidates are paired with 3 other applicants to build a collaborative project over 3 days.
Ratings and reviews
Microverse has mostly positive reviews. They hold a 4.89/5 star rating on Course Report where the program was listed among the best online bootcamps of 2020. A recent grad described the curriculum as “well structured” with a “good progression curve” for coders of any level. He also appreciated the “excellent support network”, noting that “every project that you make is reviewed by developers.”
However, the grad warned the course is “not for everyone” because “they don’t have teachers” or traditional lectures like many online learners have come to expect. While the staff provides support, it’s up to the students to self-learn a lot of the material. Another grad liked that the curriculum covers “a lot of different technologies” and includes “more than 30 projects.” However, she warned that students “spend more time learning and coding your projects than expected so it can take your weekends and some nights.”
The program also holds a 4.59/5 star rating on Switchup. Many grads appreciated that the curriculum is split up into “digestible chunks” to stay engaging for 9 months. However, one grad was annoyed with the self-learning and a “curriculum based on links to other websites.” They were frustrated with the lack of traditional lectures and described the program as “essentially paying for coding partners, and a stand up team.”
However, others felt that the self-learning included “excellent learning resources” that “allow you to be more independent” and develop important self-management skills while building hands-on projects. The program is also rated 4.5/5 stars on Career Karma, where students were impressed by the “well structured” and comprehensive curriculum that included “professional skills.” Other students praised the “collaborative” course style as well, preferring group projects to tedious lectures. Overall, grads seemed very satisfied with Microverse’s hands-on curriculum and supportive staff, though some students would have preferred a slightly shorter program with less self-learning and a less intense workload.
Alternatives to Microverse
If you decide not to enroll in Microverse, there are a number of alternative bootcamps and resources to help aspiring web developers launch their careers.
- The tech bootcamp Springboard is also self-paced and includes a 6-month job guarantee. This learning resource helps people launch a career in a wide variety of tech fields, including software development. Students in their career tracks build over 14 portfolio projects with weekly mentorship meetings. Read more about Springboard in our review.
- Another popular bootcamp is General Assembly. They teach full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on a variety of tech topics including software engineering. Like Microverse, their program features a hands-on curriculum, a job placement rate over 91%, and an income sharing agreement (ISA) so students pay nothing until they land a tech job. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
- Similarly, Kenzie Academy is a tech bootcamp that offers an income sharing agreement (ISA). They teach in-person and online courses in 2 tracks full-stack software engineering & UX design and front-end engineering. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- Aspiring web developers can check out CodeX Academy. Like Microverse, much of their learning is self-paced and includes 1-on-1 mentorship opportunities. Learn more about CodeX Academy in our program review.
- Similarly, BrainStation offers courses in full-stack web development and many other tech topics. Like Microverse, BrainStation focuses on project-based learning and lots of 1-on-1 support. Their hiring partners include Facebook, Google, and more.
- Another popular tech bootcamp is Flatiron School. Like Microvere, their software engineering program features a hands-on curriculum, career coaching, and a job placement rate above 86%. Students can learn online or in-person, with both full-time and part-time options available.
- People seeking a self-paced course with mentoring can also look into Udacity. They offer free intro courses, as well as paid “nanodegree” programs for a more intense experience with greater support. Nanodegree students meet 1-on-1 with both a technical mentor and a career coach as they build projects. Learn more about Udacity in our review.
- Another affordable self-paced program is Udemy. Their platform hosts thousands of self-paced video courses on software engineering, web development, and many other tech topics. Classes only cost about $10 each and come with lifetime access.
- Bloc is a flexible remote program with mentoring. They host online courses in web development and web design, with lots of instructor feedback, a project-based curriculum, and 1-on-1 mentorship meetings.
- Another extremely popular online platform is Codecademy. They offer full-length coding courses for free. Students can learn web development, dozens of programming languages, and even data science as they work through hands-on projects. $20-40 monthly memberships are available for greater course options and support. Learn more about Codeacademy in our review.
- Students seeking affordable university courses can look into edX. Their online platform hosts thousands of self-paced university courses from top schools like Harvard and MIT, and even big tech companies like Microsoft. Students can choose to learn the fundamentals or take a deep dive into a specific topic, like JavaScript and object-oriented programming. Read more about edX in our review.
How does Microverse compare to Pathrise?
Microverse is a bootcamp for people interested in starting a new career as a web developer or software engineer. While minimal coding experience is recommended, their program is designed for new coders with pre-work to prepare candidates for their beginner-friendly technical curriculum. Pathrise job-seekers should already have a background in their chosen field so they can get the most out of our technical curriculum.
Both Microverse and Pathise help with all phases of the job search including resume and portfolio optimization, reverse recruiting, cold emailing, technical and behavioral interviewing, and salary negotiation. However, Pathrise also features a technical curriculum tailored to each fellow in our program. Our experienced mentors have already helped 900+ fellows land great jobs.
Microverse is a full-time technical bootcamp with extensive career services for grads. Pathrise is a flexible career accelerator. Fellows in our program only have 2-4 hours of group sessions per week and 1-on-1 sessions that they schedule as needed. Both programs offer income share agreements (ISA) so participants pay nothing until they land a job. However, Microverse’s ISA is 15% while the Pathrise ISA is only 9% of the first-year salary.
Pathrise optimizes the job search through 1-on-1 mentorship and personalized training. Fellows in our program can see their interview scores double and their application responses triple, landing a job in only 3-5 months on average. If you are interested in working with our mentors to land your dream job faster, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
