Become a Software Engineer in 9 Months or Less

Online Software Engineering Bootcamp with Wake Forest University SPS

Prepare With Hands-on Projects & a Full-Stack Capstone

Format:

100% online

Learn on your own time

Duration:

9 months

15 hours/week

Apply by:

To be announced

About the Software Engineering Bootcamp

Imagine a world shaped by your creations. As a software engineer, you're not just writing code; you're building the future. You'll design and develop applications, websites, and the technologies that power our daily lives, from the apps on your phone to the systems that run entire businesses.

The demand for skilled software engineers is exploding as companies across industries embrace digital transformation. This dynamic field offers competitive salaries, intellectual stimulation, and the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies.

Wake Forest University School of Professional Studies's Software Engineering Bootcamp equips you with the in-demand skills to thrive in this exciting field. You'll master the MERN stack—a leading technology stack in web development—gaining proficiency in JavaScript and building a strong foundation in full-stack development. The program culminates in a professional-grade capstone project, allowing you to showcase your skills and launch your career as a successful software engineer.

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Career in Software Engineering

There are a plethora of different career paths and specializations to choose from within software engineering. As you become more familiar with what it takes to create software, you’ll find yourself gravitating towards roles that utilize your skillset and interests. Below are possible job titles, fields and salaries that you may consider.

  • Software Engineer - $117,504

  • Front-end Developer - $85,248

  • Back-end Developer - $93,184

  • Full-stack Developer - $103,680

  • Web Developer - $86,784

Annual Median Advertised Salary. Source: Lightcast; Nov 2023 - Dec 2024; 0-3 years minimum experience required. North Carolina.

Software Engineering Bootcamp Curriculum

This bootcamp is designed to help you land your first engineering job. You’ll work through coding projects and exercises similar to the work that software engineers do daily. Plus, you’ll learn to collaborate with generative AI and code smarter, faster with a new AI learning unit. Preview some of the curriculum units below:

Unit 1: Understanding Web Development

In this unit, you will acquire a comprehensive understanding of web technologies. You will gain insights into the historical context and pivotal advancements that have shaped today's internet landscape, grasp fundamental web principles, and become familiar with modern development tools. This knowledge will equip you to navigate this bootcamp, from foundational concepts of web application development, to practical implementation using the most popular stack of tools - The MERN stack.

Topics Covered:

  • The Evolution of the Web

  • Web Mechanics

  • Introduction to Web Development using MERN Stack

Unit 2: IDE Setup

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, lightweight, and highly customizable source-code editor developed by Microsoft. This is your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that you will be using to practice all your code and build projects in this course. By the end of this unit, you would have set up VS Code on your machine and ready for use.

Topics Covered:

  • Installing Visual Studio Code

  • HTML and CSS Extensions for Visual Studio Code

  • JavaScript Extensions for Visual Studio Code

Unit 3: Command Line and MERN Stack Tools

Once you become a web developer, you will be using command line operations on a daily basis to customize your development environment, interact with servers and debug applications. Knowing how to work with the command line fosters a deeper understanding of system-level operations and empowers developers to troubleshoot issues efficiently. By the end of this unit, you would have gained a working familiarity with the command line interface and also used it to install some of the MERN stack tools you will be using going forward.

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to Terminal

  • Working with Terminal on Mac

  • Working with Terminal on Windows

  • Installing Homebrew, Node.js, MongoDB and PostgreSQL

Unit 4: Git and GitHub

Git repositories are the most widely used version control system by developers for tracking changes in source code during software development, collaborating on projects simultaneously by enabling seamless integration of changes, facilitating code reviews, and reverting to previous states, if needed. GitHub, on the other hand, is a web-based hosting service for Git repositories. In this unit, you will have gained ‘working familiarity’ with Git and GitHub. And also, going forward in this course, you will have enough opportunities to practice your skills by using GitHub to build and submit all your assessment projects for evaluation. 

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to Version Control

  • Working with Git

  • Working with GitHub

  • Working with GitHub Desktop

Unit 5: Intermediate JavaScript

This unit does the job of setting the stage for you to start using JavaScript in all the components of a web application, both frontend and backend. By the end of this unit, you will be equipped with conceptual understanding and hands-on knowledge of JavaScript features that you will be using everyday as a web application developer.

Topics Covered:

  • Error Handling

  • Algorithmic Thinking and Problem Solving

  • Basic and Advanced Data Structures

  • Asynchronous Programming

  • Modules

  • Object Oriented Programming (OOP)

  • ES6+

Unit 6: JavaScript and the Web

Now that you’re ready in terms of your Javascript competency required for working with web applications, the next logical progression is to learn how to leverage JavaScript to work with various components of a web application. In this unit you will learn how to use JavaScript to interact with the user facing components of a web application - the front end.

Topics Covered:

  • Working with Browsers

  • Working with Document Object Model (DOM)

  • JavaScript Events

Unit 7: JavaScript and APIs

In this unit, you will take the next step and learn how to use JavaScript to interact with the backend components of a web application. Once you’ve understood how the frontend and backend of a web application talk to each other, you are ready to envision how to build a web application from scratch. This is where understanding the MVC design pattern will help you. And while you are in this unit, it is a good time to start thinking about your Capstone project in which you will build a web application component by component.

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to HTTP

  • Introduction to REST and RESTful APIs

  • Introduction to GraphQL

  • Introduction to Model-View-Controller (MVC) Design Pattern

Unit 8: Building View(V) - React.js

In this unit, you will learn how to work with your first tool in the MERN stack - React. React.js is a JavaScript library that makes creating interactive and dynamic user interfaces (UIs) for your web applications easier with less code. 

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to React.js

  • JSX and Props

  • Building React Folder Structure and Components using Vite

  • State Management in React

  • Building Forms and Handling User Inputs

  • Routing with React Router

  • Advanced State Management with Redux

Unit 9: Building Model(M) - Databases

In this unit, you will learn how to work with your second tool in the MERN stack - MongoDB. You will do this one step at a time. First, you’ll learn about databases which hold all the data your web application needs. Then you’ll learn about traditional databases - Relational databases. Then you’ll move on to learning how to work with MongoDB and appreciate its superiority over relational databases. 

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to Databases

  • Working with Relational Databases and SQL

  • Working with NoSQL Databases - MongoDB

Unit 10: Building Controller(C) - Node.js and Express.js

Now that you have a good understanding of how the frontend is built using React and the backend is built using MongoDB using MERN stack, the next question to answer is how to make them compatible with each other. This is achieved by a layer of APIs between the two. In this unit, you will learn how to build APIs in MERN stack web applications using Node.js and Express.js.

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction to Node.js

  • Introduction to Express.js

  • Defining Routes and Handling Requests

  • Implementing Middleware for Request Processing

  • Creating RESTful APIs with Express

  • Authentication and Authorization

  • Sessions with Node.js

Unit 11: MVC Integration with Next.js

This is the unit where everything comes together. In this unit, you will learn how to put together the discrete components of a web application and make them work together. Software Engineering is not just about building applications but also building them in an effective and efficient manner. This is where CORS, GraphQL, TypeScript and Next.js will help you.

Topics Covered:

  • Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) in Node

  • Using GraphQL in MERN Stack Ecosystem

  • TypeScript Fundamentals

  • Using TypeScript with React

  • Integrating Frontend and Backend with Next.js Framework

Unit 12: AI for Engineers - Prompt Engineering (Optional)

Since the arrival of OpenAI’s GPT-3, there has been an increased awareness of the crucial

role prompts play in shaping language model outputs. In this unit, you’ll gain a deep

understanding of how language models like GPT-3 and GPT-4 work and explore the

relationship between prompts and responses.

Topics Covered:

  • Leveraging the power of context, clarity, and specificity in crafting effective prompts

  • Using priming and conditioning to guide language model outputs

  • Programming code into prompts

  • Prompt chaining to create interactive conversations

  • Generating structured responses

  • Real-world applications of prompt engineering in coding

  • Current trends and advancements in prompt engineering

Custom Capstone and Hands-On Projects

Demonstrate your skills through hands-on projects, and graduate with a professional-grade capstone, where you'll build a complete web application, which will be the centerpiece of your portfolio. View a description of the portfolio projects below:

  • Capstone project

    In this project, whose steps are distributed across the course, you will build a complete web application using MongoDB as the database, Node.js and Express.js for creating the API layer and React.js for building the frontend.

  • Jeopardy

    Build an app to recreate the jeopardy game.

  • Pokedex

    Create a pokemon application with a custom user interface, which is an encyclopedia of various information on Pokémon (a Pokedex).

  • Space Travel

    Build a futuristic app to plan space travels by maintaining and tracking the details of all our spacecrafts.

  • Dog Adoption Platform API

    Design and build RESTful APIs for a Dog Adoption Agency. 

Fit Learning Into Your Life, With Industry Experts in Your Corner

Learn on your own time and study on your schedule. Stay on track with mentors and peers to keep you accountable.

  • Personal mentor with regular 1:1 video calls: Your mentor will provide feedback on projects, help you overcome blockers and can give you career advice and industry insight.

  • Student advisors: Call upon your advisor for questions regarding accountability, time management or anything else that comes up throughout the course.

  • 1:1 career coaching sessions: these optional career units can help you navigate the stages of your job search.

  • Online community: Start discussions with your fellow peers about the work you're doing and receive feedback.

Meet Some of Our Mentors

Having a personal mentor will help you build your skills faster and advance your personal growth.

Is This Software Engineering Bootcamp Right for You?

  • No knowledge of programming is necessary! If you don’t know how to code, you’ll learn everything you need to succeed in the Foundations+Core version of the program. All backgrounds are welcome.

  • If you already have basic skills in HTML, CSS and JavaScript you can test into an accelerated Core version of the curriculum.

FAQ

More Questions About the Program?

Schedule a call with our Enrollment Team by applying now or email Carolina, our Enrollment Advisor, to aid in your decision.

Email Carolina

Request Syllabus