I’m not alone, there are 39 developers more who got a fully-funded Front-End Diploma at OpenClassrooms by Facebook in 2019, and I am very lucky to be one of them. Today, I am going to tell you the Complete Story on how I received this Scholarship and how you can apply for it too.

What is Facebook Developer Circles?

Developer Circles from Facebook is a program designed to create locally organized communities for developers. These communities educate and provide a forum for discussion and knowledge sharing around topics that are top-of-mind for developers in a particular market. Furthermore, Facebook Developer Circles is one of OpenClassrooms’ Partner and they offer a Scholarship (100% Funded) on Front-End Diploma at OpenClassrooms.

There are 3 available scholarships at 3 different paths:

  • Deep Learning at Udacity
  • Data Science at DataCamp
  • Front-end Web Development at OpenClassrooms

In this article, I will only cover the Front-end Web Development Scholarship.

Eligibility for Front-End Diploma at OpenClassrooms

To be eligible for consideration for the OpenClassroom Premium Plus track, you must have met the following criteria:

I’ve completed those courses. submitted the 3 courses certificate of completion.

Those prerequisite courses might change in the upcoming year.

Timeline

  • Applied on the Front-end Web Development Path at OpenClassrooms (Don’t really remember the date 😅)
  • On 2 November 2018, I got selected at Phase #1 and received 3-months access (Premium Solo Membership) at OpenClassrooms (Worth €60)
  • I completed the 20 hours of the 3 prerequisite courses, uploaded the 3 courses certificate of completion, answered Phase #2 Application questions (Deadline was 1 December 2018)
  • On 21 December 2018, I got selected at Phase #2!!!
  • I’ve completed the 9 required projects on 22 December 2019!
  • On 28 December 2019, I assigned with a Career Coach

I am currently having my regular mentoring sessions with my Career Coach. Will add new updates to this timeline!

How I got this scholarship?

Instead of keeping it specific to my experience, I will keep it a little bit general so you can come back to this article later.

was thinking a lot about the best way to tell you my story, so you know everything about the process to do it yourself.

1) Join a Facebook Developer Circle

There is no fee to join. All you have to do is finding the nearest Developer Circle to you, apply online, and answer some questions. Each Developer Circle might have different questions!

Here’s a map of all Facebook Developer Circles in the world

2) Select your Path & Submit Phase #1 Application Form

Facebook Developer Circles offers 3 different paths:

  • Deep Learning at Udacity (Added in 2019)
  • Data Science at DataCamp
  • Front-end Web Development at OpenClassrooms

I selected the Front-end Path, completed the 1st Application, and here’s a full snapshot of my answers (Yes, I wanted to share this with you):

Facebook Developer Circles - Phase 1 Application

3) Start Phase #1

On 2 November 2018, I got selected for Phase #1 and received A Free 3-months Premium Solo Membership at OpenClassrooms (Worth €60):

Facebook Developer Circles - Start Phase #1

As mentioned, in order to complete Phase #1 and enroll in Phase #2, I have to do the following:

  1. Complete at least 20 hours of the prerequisite courses (and accompanying quizzes and/or tests) on OpenClassroom including any of :
    • Learn to code with JavaScript (10 hours)
    • Build Your First Web Pages with HTML and CSS (10 hours)
    • Build Web Apps with ReactJS (20 hours)
  2. Submit Phase #2 Application form before 1st of December 2018

4) Submit Phase #2 Application form

I completed 2 prerequisite courses only, and I didn’t complete the 3rd course. Also, I have mentioned why I didn’t waste my time on the 3rd course, and here’s my Phase #2 Application:

Facebook Developer Circles - Phase 2 Application

5) Start Phase #2

Finally, Facebook Developer Circles selected me as one of 40 accepted DevC around the world. The plan was 14 applicants only, but DevC expanded it to 40, only 4 Egyptians got selected and I was one of them. Here’s the wonderful email that I received from DevC:

Facebook Developer Circles - Start Phase #2

And I started my Front-end Web Developer Diploma at OpenClassrooms on 21 January 2019!! 🚀

Mentorship Sessions

This is the best benefit you can get at OpenClassrooms. You will be assigned to a Technical Mentor from day one until you complete all the projects and present them. You will have 4 sessions per month ~ 45 minutes each session. The welcoming session will be recorded and sent to OpenClassrooms. After that, your sessions won’t be recorded, and your mentor will be like a friend, who wants to help you complete all your projects, and learn as possible as you could during those 12 months!

Sometimes, you might get assigned to a mentor you don’t like or you couldn’t benefit from the sessions with him/her. No worries, all you have to do is to contact OpenClassrooms and they will re-assign another mentor, no questions asked – unless you want to clarify the reason.

Furthermore, after completing all your Diploma Projects, you will be assigned with a Career Coach (Non-Technical Mentor) for ~ 2 months to help you land a job!

Project Presentations

In order to complete the OpenClassrooms Diploma, you don’t need to watch the courses itself, you need to submit the projects, and pass them. Your mentor’s main job is to guide you and make sure that your project meets the required criteria. If everything is good, he will announce that you’re ready to present your project, and OpenClassrooms will assign a different Mentor to validate your project.

Project Presentation must be via Video Calls with a different Mentor. If your project didn’t pass, that’s fine. The Project/Mentor Validator will send you more information on how to pass it next time, and you will have to re-present this project again. The more your Regular Mentor is knowledgable about each Project Requirements, the higher the chances your projects will pass during the presentation.

All Project Presentations are recorded and will be available in your OC Dashboard.

Sometimes, you might get assigned to a mentor you don’t like or you couldn’t benefit from the sessions with him/her. No worries, all you have to do is to contact OpenClassrooms and they will re-assign another mentor, no questions asked – unless you want to clarify the reason.

Furthermore, after completing all your Diploma Projects, you will be assigned to a Career Coach (Non-Technical Mentor) for ~ 2 months to help you land your dream job!

I am currently at this stage. Will update this article regularly!

Final Words

Many colleagues completed the Diploma within 3-6 months because they just wanted to complete it before anyone else. They apparently lost their mentors after those 3-6 months. My advice is to not be in a hurry, you’ve got access to a Weekly Mentorship Session with a Technical Mentor which is a privilege not everyone gets, use it to its max.

Try to discuss technical topics with your mentor, questions like: “Should I learn React or Angular or Vue?” which isn’t a project on its own, but your mentor can save you a ton of videos/articles you might consume to get a good answer for these questions. Ask your mentor about everything you might be thinking of, treat your mentor as your old brother/sister who knows better than you, in terms of Technical Knowledge & Life Experience!

Usually, I build Side-Projects and I ask my Mentor to give me constructive feedback to improve them, and he was always welcoming, and friendly to give me such feedback.

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Do you have any questions? Write it down in the comments below!