How can I decide between Bloc and The Firehose Project for a boot camp?

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Joey Kirk

I’m a former student of Bloc’s Rails Web Development program and currently a Curriculum Developer in charge of the UX & UI programs. My experience as a student was worthwhile, allowing me to gain the skills I wanted to learn, while building several projects I’m proud of.

While both of these online bootcamps offer one-on-one mentorship, each differ in flexibility, curriculum, and pricing:

• Full-Time or Part-Time
  Bloc offers a variety of paces (12 weeks, 18 weeks or 36 weeks) to fit with any schedule, so students don’t have to quit their jobs just to gain new skills as a Rails developer. We also have a Full Stack Web Developer track that covers Ruby on Rails and Frontend web development. Firehose offers a 15-week bootcamp.
  
• Mentor-Based Learning
  Both Bloc and Firehose have one-on-one mentorship. With Bloc, all of our courses are tailored to each student. Each work with an engaged mentor who can customize the curriculum to fit their goals and interests. Bloc’s mentor community is extensive, featuring over a hundred highly experienced developers and designers to help teach you the skills you want to learn. Bloc’s mentors have a wide variety of experience and on average 10 years of development and design experience while working for major companies, startups, as well as freelance. Firehose’s mentor page features about 15 mentors from a variety of well-known companies.
  
• Curriculum
  I’m not familiar with Firehose’s curriculum. According to its website, students work to build five applications after learning the fundamentals. Bloc’s curriculum is in-depth, extensive and evolving. It features phases similar to Firehose, beginning with the fundamentals and then applying those skills to building projects. With Bloc’s curriculum, we have a team of dedicated curriculum developers who are in charge of maintaining, updating, and rewriting our curriculum to provide students with the latest industry standards. All Bloc students are entitled to lifetime access to the curriculum after their program concludes.
  
• Job Preparation
  At Bloc, students work with their mentors in conducting practice interviews and technical challenges to prepare them for the job market. Mentors help students create their portfolios and online presence to begin searching for jobs. I’m not aware of Firehose’s stance on job preparation services, since it’s not described on any of their landing pages.
  
• Student Success
  Bloc has numerous alumni stories that provide details about the student’s interest in attending one of our bootcamps, the quality of the course and curriculum, and what they’ve done after graduation. These success stories convey how unique each student is. Students who commit the time to learn their craft graduate with the job-ready skills. Firehose showcases select quotes from some of its graduates.

When choosing an online-based bootcamp, I find it’s best for potential students to align themselves with a program that fits their needs, goals, and schedule. At Bloc, we’ve created a guide to finding the best bootcamp to meet your lifestyle. I recommend reaching out to both Bloc and Firehose, and speaking with each of the teams to discover which best suits you.


I am a Curriculum Developer at Bloc, where we offer flexible and mentor-led courses and tracks in web and mobile development, as well as UX and UI design. We understand that not all people are able to leave their current job to seek a new career, which is why we offer courses at various paces so that you may pick one that fits into your schedule and helps you achieve your goals.

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