How to Prepare for Devmountain

Table of Contents

• The 2-Step Devmountain Application Process
• What to Expect in Devmountain’s Technical Challenge
• The Soft Skills You Need to Get Into Devmountain
• For Applicants with No Coding Experience: Coding Basics

As the Director of Admissions at Devmountain, Jaclyn Anderson understands the effort it takes to enroll in and succeed in an immersive bootcamp. Devmountain’s 2-week application process assesses each applicant’s career goals and skills to ensure potential bootcampers enroll in the program that best suits their needs. No experience in coding? Not sure where your skills would best apply? Jaclyn explains what applicant’s can expect in the admissions process, and the tech skills an applicant needs to enroll at Devmountain. Plus, learn how Devmountain’s Coding Basics gives incoming applicant’s an edge in the admissions process!  

This article was produced by the Course Report team and sponsored by Devmountain.

The 2-Step Devmountain Application Process

The application process at Devmountain is pretty straightforward:

1. Submit a free online application, so we can learn a bit more about you. You’ll be prompted to schedule a consultation with our admissions team for a 30-minute call. We’re excited to get to know each applicant’s goals, where they’re coming from, and what inspired them to look into the program and the career change. People come to Devmountain from different stages of their careers. Some meetings take on more of a consulting call in the beginning stages, while others with more experience may have more specific questions we can answer. This call is a great opportunity to get a feel for the program and decide where to go from there. 
2. Applicants then complete a skill review. The skill review assessment helps our team understand an applicant’s programming aptitude and self-drive. An admissions counselor reviews the skill assessment, and then determines if the applicant moves on to admission.

Our UX Design and QA Software bootcamps do not require applicants to complete a coding skill review.

How long does the application process typically take?

Since people come to Devmountain from such diverse backgrounds, the admissions process time can vary. On average, it takes an applicant about two weeks to go through the process, especially for those applicants who are new to programming and want some time to gear up for the skill review.

How selective is Devmountain?

Devmountain is beginner-friendly! One reason why we don't publish an acceptance rate is because we aim to meet every applicant where they’re at and encourage them along the way. The only people who don’t make it through to bootcamp admission are those who choose not to take feedback or overcome setbacks. 

Is there an ideal applicant for Devmountain’s bootcamps?

We embrace people coming from all kinds of backgrounds. An applicant is ready to apply for Devmountain when they've taken some time to do some self-exploration. Applicants should have a good idea of what they're looking for in a career, and what they want to prioritize. This will help when they’re speaking with our admissions team, so we can dig into that and help them find a path that's best for them. We want to tune into their overall goals so we can mutually determine if our program helps meet that, and if it does, which specialty they are looking for. In general, students at Devmountain skill up with what they bring into the bootcamp, so applicants who have previous exposure to HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript will go a long way. 

Do applicants need technical experience to apply to Devmountain?

Applicants don’t need to have technical experience to get into Devmountain, but some exposure to basic coding, like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will support them in getting the most out of the bootcamp. 

What to Expect in Devmountain’s Technical Challenge

Most applicants will be invited to take a 30-minute, technical skills assessment. This technical quiz is broken down into different categories that increase in difficulty the further along you go. 

This gives our admissions team a good window to see where an applicant is at with their technical knowledge, what their strengths are, and compare it to what we're looking for.

In the technical challenge, the top three skills we’re looking for are: critical thinking, HTML, and JavaScript. There are a few questions on self-efficacy to assess an applicant’s ability to work through problems and how they feel about the nature of their problem-solving process. 

What’s your advice for an intermediate coder who wants to enroll at Devmountain?

Even if a bootcamp says it’s “for beginners,” we know that students who teach themselves some code before a bootcamp have a better chance of a high salary and a great job. Having some coding knowledge will make the admissions process and the first 8 weeks of the bootcamp really smooth for you and will help you then focus on what specialty you want to go into. 

All applicants must take the technical challenge, and all students start with the 8-week foundations curriculum. Even if a student has some intermediate coding knowledge coming into the bootcamp, we find that each student is introduced to something new in the 8-week foundations portion of their program.

What happens if an applicant doesn’t do well on the technical assessment? Can they re-take the tech skills quiz?

Yes – this isn't a one-shot opportunity! We’ll look at that case by case. If an applicant doesn’t do well on the assessment, we will still consider them an active applicant. Since we have breakdowns of how we're looking at these challenges, we'll be able to give the applicant some focused feedback on areas for improvement. We will also offer them countless resources so they can improve their technical skills. We encourage applicants to study, improve, and take the assessment again when they feel more confident.

The Skills Assessment for UX Design And QA Software Bootcamps

The skills we look for in the UX Design and QA Software bootcamps are more niche to each program:

• In the UX design skills challenge, applicants are prompted to create a very basic flow of wireframes for a theoretical app that we ask you to build. We want applicants to think about what problem their app is helping to solve or overcome. This is a great opportunity for an applicant to get feedback from our team as well as feedback from others, such as family and friends on their designs. Part of this challenge is to process that feedback and what future changes they might make on their designs because of it.
• In the QA Software skills challenge, applicants are given access to an app we have created just for this exercise. We provide a description of the app and what the app should do. Their task is to perform some "test cases" and identify bugs they discover in the app. We provide the outline they need to document their work, and step-by-step instructions and resources they would need.

The Soft Skills You Need to Get Into Devmountain

When considering applicants to Devmountain, the soft skills we’re looking for are:

• Communication skills
• Curiosity
• Problem-solving
• The ability to overcome setbacks
• Attention to detail 

Since Devmountain offers so many specializations, our admissions counselors will help an applicant assess which program would be best for them based on their skills. For example, if you like communicating and working with others, you might want to look at UX design. For someone who has strong attention to detail and problem-solving skills, we may recommend that person enroll in the QA Software bootcamp. We want to look at an applicant’s array of soft skills to help them find the best career path. 

What are your tips to applicants who want to show off their soft skills?

Be yourself! Be authentic! We want to help you get the most out of your bootcamp experience, so being honest about what you hope to get out of the bootcamp will help us navigate with you. Showing you can communicate will also go a long way. Applicants can demonstrate this by being able to communicate if they need more time in an area or need feedback in the application process. Showing that you can keep a timeline will relate to your ability to be successful in class. 

Do applicants have access to the Devmountain community?

We have avenues and channels for our applicants to explore the Devmountain community, even before they’re in class. I am a big advocate of our applicants connecting with our bootcamp alumni, so they can have some insight on the program. We love working with the platform, Discord, to keep people who are remote connected in real-time. We have a Discord specifically for applicants — It brings them into our community. In the Discord channel, applicants can ask questions, meet staff and grads, and get immersed in a community.

For Applicants with No Coding Experience: Coding Basics

Beginners are welcome at Devmountain! It can feel really foreign when you're first learning these technical skills, but keep in mind that everyone starts somewhere. Devmountain offers a 5-week Coding Basics course, and many of our incoming students have benefited from taking Coding Basics before starting the 16-week bootcamp. The intro course is taught in real time online with a live instructor. Course Basics students work with their peers and classmates in our virtual classroom. 

In the Coding Basics course, students get an introduction to: 

• HTML basics
• CSS basics 
• JavaScript basics
• Basic website building 

Course Basics is especially appropriate for:

• People who want a way to explore this path before committing to a 16-week bootcamp.
• People who want to upskill. 

Does Coding Basics prepare applicants for the technical skills assessment? 

Dedicating the time to completing Coding Basics will definitely prepare an applicant for the technical admissions questions. Our skill assessment is in quiz format, not a coding challenge, but students will learn the concepts enough to do well on the admissions technical challenge.

If someone completes Coding Basics, are they immediately accepted into the bootcamp? 

The admissions process will be simpler for anyone who has completed Coding Basics because they will already be familiar with the material in our technical skills assessment. Coding Basics students will still have to submit an application and perform the skill review in order to be considered for the immersive bootcamp.

What is your advice for a complete beginner who wants to enroll at Devmountain?

If you're excited about learning a new skill set and it's something you feel like you can keep being excited and passionate about, don't give up on yourself! Stick with it, give yourself a chance to explore it, and see how it feels. We want our bootcamp students to come in ready to put in the time to explore and put in the work. The whole Devmountain team is rooting for each of our students — We want to help you be successful and we're all cheering for you!

Find out more and read Devmountain reviews on Course Report.