‘World’s Best Coding Bootcamp’ Le Wagon Launches Dubai Campus

Dubbed ‘the world’s best coding bootcamp’ thanks to consistently high reviews and its presence in nearly 40 cities across the world, France’s Le Wagon has announced its first campus in the MENA region, as they prepare to launch their unique coding courses in Dubai in September 2020.

With over 3000 positive reviews, and having just announced their Series A investment round, bringing in a whopping $19 million after years of bootstrapping, Le Wagon has certainly cemented itself as a frontrunner in the tech-education industry, with its unique nine-week full-stack web development course promising to turn students with no technical background whatsoever into junior web developers. Students can also choose to take this course on a part-time basis, stretching it to 24-weeks. The first full-time course at their Dubai chapter will start on 27th September 2020, and costs AED 30,000. 

“The motivation to learn and the willingness to work in teams are the only criteria tested before joining Le Wagon. The result is a very strong, bounded and diversified community all over the world. Students are supported by experienced teachers who push them to always work together and help each other out. Every week, they get to meet alumni at the numerous social events or are introduced to successful startups and firms from the local community. At the end, Le Wagon helps them find their path through career coaching,” explains Le Wagon Dubai’s General Manager Charlotte Margus tells StartupScene. “The Middle East is by essence a dynamic, young and cosmopolitan region that is exactly what Le Wagon is looking for. We want to take part in the expansion of the tech community here with diverse people motivated to learn and grow.”

Looking to replicate the success their bootcamps have had across the world in Dubai, Margus proudly notes that their alumni who have gone on to start their own businesses have raised over $70 million in funding, proving that their unique modes of teaching and learning could seriously change the course of your career, and indeed life. In fact, by week seven of the nine-week full stack development course, students are tasked with building a clone of a complex, existing web app from scratch to truly test what they’ve learned so far, before going on to create a unique product in groups - and this is when the magic truly happens. “An example I really like is that of QuitterieMathelin-Moreaux who joined Le Wagon (Paris) in March 2016 with an idea in mind: to simplify the daily life of restaurant owners,” says Margus. “She wanted to modernise the way restaurants process their orders and manage employee schedules. She met her future associate during the bootcamp and they built the MVP of Skello for their final project exercise. Skello now employs 150 people, has raised a total of $7.3M and changes the lives of 80 000 professionals across 4000 restaurants, every day.”

Though Le Wagon’s campus model usually depends on student’s physical presence, Margus clarifies that in the current circumstances, the team is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the UAE and the region, and is prepared to pivot to a hybrid or online-only model if needed. “From a professional standpoint, the COVID-19 situation has actually created a great opportunity as it reinforced the need for people to reinvent themselves: they are looking for more mobility and for digital transformations, which are at the heart of the ‘new normal.’