Engineering Flex

If you have are interested in making a career change and are looking to work in the web development industry, Thinkful is the place for you. With very limited exposure to programming in the past, I was able to create two full-stack applications and several other web apps. This program is certainly challenging and at times frustrating(*debugging*), but it is every bit worth it if you have a passion for programming and solving puzzles. The career training I received from this program as well as the knowledge I obtained over the course of 8 months, has allowed me to pursue a career in web development. I was able to get a job within this industry just three months after graduating. I am very happy and grateful that this program was referred to me. If you're looking to turn your career around, take a look into Thinkful's programs. See if there's a fit!

I choose Thinkful because of several reasons. One reason was that I was looking to learn to React as the framework in their curriculum and this program was one of them. And then learning about Node, Express, and Postgresql was amazing. I also liked to structure of how the curriculum is designed. It is expected that you know the fundamentals of JavaScript, HTML/CSS before you start and if you don't, they have prep for that. Once you get a hang of the fundamentals, the real learning begins then. That was the curriculum I wanted. The second reason was the schedule. Since I still had to work and with my commitments to my family, I knew I had to sign up for a part-time program (they call it flex there). It was more self-paced than part-time. There are no live videos, and you do not belong to a set cohort (they had registration starting every Wednesday) but other than that you get to have everything the full-time students. they are also on a set schedule (something like from 8 am to 6 pm every day etc.) I liked the self-pace because I could spend as much time as I want on a new subject, learn the ins and outs, and practice as much while I can practice and glance at the topics I already know. Don't get me wrong, there are checkpoints in almost every step, and more than enough assignments are graded. So you have to pass them to move forward. Now comes the last part (or rather the first I listed in the title), the support. I started with the 15-day trial they had and even in that trial, they assigned me a mentor on the second day and we were expected to meet once a week (this becomes twice a week once you are done with the trial and register). Honestly, I am very grateful for the mentor I had, he was somebody who had 20 years of experience in the field (their mentors are engineers that work at other companies who chooses to be a mentor, and they are located anywhere in the world). I got a mentor before even I started to pay, can you imagine. I felt that they value support more than anything else. Then you have technical help, you use a chat tool to ask your questions (within the work hours but it was like 7am to 10pm) and almost always somebody answers. (I said that because I had answers to all of my questions but I heard people sometimes not getting answers). Then they have office hours (had I should say because near my graduation they removed it) where you could just join a video call and ask your question about the pre-determined subject and the lead will help you find a solution. They also had workshops and student presentations you could join anytime and just listen and learn a few things. Their AMA sessions were my favorite. (Again, they decided to re-design that concept near my graduation so it may not be there anymore). Another support and was really my go-to one was the Slack group. All the instructors, coaches, mentors, students, and alumni are on their Slack group and you could just ask a question and there is always somebody answers it, most of than not, it was other students which was great for peer learning but alumni jumped in and helped from time to time. On slack, you could also learn about personal experiences from alumni and how their professional life is after the program. Lastly, you have one assigned Academic Success Manager and they are your last resort if you couldn't find the support you needed and my ASM was awesome, she got what I needed sometimes faster than expected. You also check in with your ASM every month and bimonthly to go over your progress and graduation schedule and if you have any concerns.So for those reasons, I am so grateful that I chose Thinkful and I am so happy to know that I graduated. Onto the job search now

I came from a fine arts background with no coding experience and landed a job 10 months after starting the program. If I could do it, any one can! The Software Engineering Flex program at Thinkful was very challenging and pushed me to learn quickly. To be sure, this program requires a lot of self-motivation and determination; this is faced paced and can have a steep learning curve, especially for someone with little or no experience coming into it. However, Thinkful provided guidance, resources, and help that made it totally worth the cost.I think the strengths of Thinkful and some of the reasons I chose this bootcamp over others were: the ability to do it part-time and on my own schedule (though it was a 30+ hr/week commitment and had an overall timeline to follow), the curriculum (focuses essentially on one fullstack approach, but it is applicable and comprehensive), having a mentor to check in with twice a week (a huge positive! My mentors not only helped me here and there when I was stuck with coursework, but also gave me lots of insights on breaking into the industry), the job guarantee (which I ended up not needing, but was a relief/assurance mentally), and the career search support after graduating. The only criticisms (small!) I had were a general lack of opportunities to connect in person with other Thinkful students (yes, there is a Slack channel, but no events to go to pre-pandemic), and no formal opportunities to collaborate or work in a team-setting (this may be different for full-time, on-site students).Regardless, I highly recommend the Thinkful program to anyone considering a bootcamp. Whether I was successful or not was up to me, but Thinkful provided all the tools I needed to get there! 

I come from a sales background and fell in love with software development through self-study and getting to know engineers I had met through work. I chose to study with Thinkful full-stack flex because I liked that I could work as fast as I wanted and I liked the tech they were teaching. I thought since I had self-studied, I could finish much faster than the allotted six months, but oh boy was I wrong… You really have to put in major hours (>30 hours) a week to get through the course work, but I think my desire to have a complete understanding of each topic really slowed me down and could have played a factor in my slowness. Overall I finished in 8 months. The part that saved me was my mentor. I had a great relationship with him and he was able to connect with me on a level other than just “here’s how to code this”. I was able to talk through my stupid questions and even talk through imposter syndrome insecurities. Meeting twice a week via zoom really was the highlight of my week, but, I would recommend having a shared doc that you can write down questions throughout the week so there’s no wasted time during the meeting.  Having a mentor helped me understand that even though they were already a software engineer, they still had to google certain stuff and we spent tons of time debugging together.  The course work itself was very text-heavy but was written in a way that was easy for me to comprehend. I found that if I had trouble with a particular concept, I could pull up Youtube or find articles online that could help me (which is an important skill to have). If I wasn’t satisfied with what I found, I knew that I could write it down and talk it over with my mentor in a few days.  An aspect that Thinkful fails at (while I was there) was the community. They really push that the slack channel is a great place to connect with other devs, but I found that we were often on completely different parts of the curriculum so I couldn’t either find help with a topic or wasn’t able to chat comfortably on topics they were on. Also, there was no real “hang out” chatting—it was basically only tech help. (This improved as I was nearing the end of my time as I think they improved a bit on their processes with putting people in cohorts).  Another thing I wish they had spent more time on was teaching the very basic fundamentals of web technology. I learned how to use tools, but didn’t truly deeply understand what was happening underneath the hood. I’ve had to really push myself during my interview phase to look up and read a lot of material on some of the "why" things work.  Overall, I am very happy with my decision to attend Thinkful. It taught me how to find solutions to problems I was encountering, which I’ve learned is such an important skill on the job. I’m lucky to have been able to find a job as a front end developer within 6 months of graduating with the help of their career services—my resume always shined and I was confident I was putting my best foot forward. In the end, the mentor sessions were invaluable in my success as a student and I'll continue to carry those lessons with me in my first role. 

This program's intended purpose is to enable students to become ready for a job as a full-stack developer in 6 months. It allows you to go your own pace and is all conducted online. Thinkful provides both technical curriculum and information/assignments related to getting prepared to get a job (e.g. building a portfolio, updating resume, crafting your LinkedIn profile, essential networking skills). The personnel they provide for your direct support includes an academic success manager and a coding mentor which you meet with for 45 mins, twice a week.I do not feel qualified to assess the relevancy of their curriculum - what technologies and concepts to include and what to leave out based on the current needs and demands of the tech industry. From the research I have done, the choices they made seem to align with the general trajectory of web development.As for the quality of their curriculum. I think much of what they have is solid. There will be times where outside resources will be helpful - YouTube, medium articles, any developer friends you might have. Their curriculum is kept up to date - but is static in nature. It is words and images - not voices and videos. The medium may be a bit old school - but it worked for me. There were times where you could see gaps in their ability to teach. For example, they had an entire module where they assigned difficult coding challenge related to algorithms and data structures, but did not provide solutions to the problem set. There was no grading or direct feedback in this segment of the curriculum which makes it impossible to know what a more professional, efficient, clean coding solution might look like.The focus was definitely on the frontend (JavaScript, HTML, CSS, jQuery, React) which left me wanting to know more on the backend. I do not feel prepared to do anything beyond the more rudimentary server-side tasks. My experience with my coding mentor was lacking. There were more than a few times where they would cancel last minute or just not show. Mine had a focus on Java and backend development which doesn't really align with the focus of the program itself. I am sure they were very competent at what they knew best, but there were quite a large number of times where I would ask questions and receive answers something like "In Java I would do this and that... But I'm not sure how that works in JavaScript". It is possible that your experience would be different - it depends on who you end up being paired with.Let me speak more broadly now about my experience and recommendations. Was it easy? No. Was it worth it? For me, yes. Would I recommend it to a friend? Probably not... but it depends.It was hard. It was lonely. It was frustrating. It was dense. I feel exhausted from it all. BUT, I do feel ready to obtain a position as a frontend developer. I am a much more competent developer than before I started the program. And I feel like my job hunting artifacts (resume, portfolio, LinkedIn) are more solid than ever.I do not think everyone would succeed in this program. I have an engineering degree and am quite capable of thinking deeply and understanding complex concepts. I am able to use available resources online to learn and resolve most blocks I run across without someone holding my hand. I am motivated and probably could have learned these skills without Thinkful. I imagine there are plenty of people who would not be able to handle the work load, pacing, required discipline, and/or lack of hand-holding. To be clear, I don't say this from a place of judgement - everybody has their strengths and weaknesses, and their preferred learning styles. But it is meant as a warning. For many, I would recommend choosing a different route. Maybe in person? Maybe a program with a smaller, more focused curriculum?My best guess as to why this was effective for me was that I committed when I put my money down to graduating this program and I really knew I wanted to become a developer. Also, having the curriculum was so helpful because it narrowed down the endless possibilities of what I should learn next. There are so many technologies and concepts one could explore in the realm of software development. To have a path laid out for me prevented me from becoming overwhelmed and paralyzed. I imagine this is somewhat like having a personal trainer develop a workout plan for you. All you have to do is what s/he is telling you. You are freed to focus on simply executing instead deciding what to do. This was what Thinkful provided.I more than likely would take this path again if I were granted a do-over. But there is a chance I could have gotten similar results without Thinkful and saved a lot of money. Before choosing Thinkful's full-stack flex program, I would recommend you explore your options. If you do decide to go with Thinkful - really commit. Trust their curriculum and process. And don't be afraid to ask for what you need (e.g. a new coding mentor, time off to recover before restarting).May you find the path that works best for you and your goals. Good luck!

Deciding Between Bootcamps:If you feel that you can manage your own schedule and be persistent in regards to holding yourself accountable and keeping on track then I would say Thinkful is the bootcamp for you. The cost is very reasonable when compared to other bootcamps. You'll absolutely have no problem at succeeding if you're actually determined to make a career shift. 

My Background: I was working as an architectural drafter/designer for roughly 7 years and I had no software engineering experience prior to Thinkful except experimenting with Codecademy and freeCodeCamp. I was disappointed with the industry I was working in and decided to change careers. To give you some perspective, I was 32 years old when starting this journey. I'm now 33 and employed as a front end developer. 

School Structure:- The curriculum is very upfront in regards to when assignments are due, when your mentor and manager sessions are, and where you need to go to get assistance. The biggest advantage of being in a bootcamp is that it provides you structure. For most people, learning this material on your own is very difficult.
Time Management: 

- For this program they recommend a certain number of hours per week but that number was actually way under the amount of time I should have been spending. I quickly learned this as I was falling behind within a month of the course. You really need to treat this course as a full-time job if you want to finish on time and obtain the "job guarantee" (graduate within 6 months). 
- If you plan on working full-time and take this course you will not graduate on time unless you are one of the the 3% of people who power through, doing 80 hours of work per week. I learned this the hard way by having to purchase extra time to graduate.  
- If you do fall behind, you can use your "pause weeks" strategically to make up for lost time.

Curriculum: 

- This is extremely fast-paced, but they did structure it so that everything is broken down into readable and maintainable parts. You will be learning relevant tech stacks that employers are looking for, which is incredibly important.- Some of the curriculum is sloppy however with typos and inconsistencies. They will sometimes jump to conclusions showing you how to go from A to B but failing to mention that you need to incorporate C ("C" being something that you learned two months previously in the course but they do not remind you how to implement it). 

Instructors: - I had five different mentors (instructors). My first mentor wouldn't show up for our meetings. I then got assigned another mentor who was competent but due to no fault of his own, he was from Spain and had a very think accent and it was difficult to talk about these often complicated concepts. I then got assigned another mentor who was great but he eventually left to pursue a new job working with AI. I then got assigned another mentor who was competent but he really did not put in any effort to assist me. I then got assigned my last mentor who was very knowledgable though he often had to reschedule our meetings.

- Thinkful also has "office hours" where you can seek assistance from a mentor but you're in a session with other students as well. This is really hit or miss. I've found some mentors to be very helpful and go out of their way to help every student that attends the office hours. I've also seen some mentors who don't even show up to their own office hours.  - Thinkful also has "technical coaching" which is conducted over Slack and is not very helpful roughly 80% of the time.
Job Assistance:- My experience with Thinkful Careers was incredible. I was lucky to have an awesome coach who gave me a lot of great advice and was very willing to give me constructive feedback in regards to my job search and the various techniques I was using. - She was also very empathetic to us graduates who were looking for an entry level job during a pandemic! - I ultimately got a full-time job as a front end developer with the assistance of Thinkful Careers and I think they do an incredible job at guiding you through the job hunting process.

Overall Experience:

- The curriculum can be very difficult and frustrating at times. This is good to go through however since the experience on the job is somewhat similar in regards to having to continually learn new concepts in a software engineering position. 

- It's affordable, convenient, and transparent.  

- There are times where you will feel like you're lost, give yourself time, and know that it will click. Software engineering is not an easy career it really takes time and perseverance. 

Overall the program was good! The curriculum was fast-paced and self-ran. My first mentor that they paired with me was really excellent. However he left eventually and I went through 4 more mentors who were not good at all. It was really unfortunate my first mentor left. Also, my program manager gave me misinformation regarding my program's end date, which ended up costing me another $1000+ to finish the program. There was very little ownership or recompense on Thinkful's part. I'm glad I did it, and after a few months out of it, I'm still hoping it pays off, but it wasn't without its major hiccups. 

If you're here, you're probably wondering, "Will this actually work? Is it worth the money? Can it land me a job?"Here's your answer: After 12 years as a journalist, I quit my job and committed full-time to Thinkful's full-stack flex program. Today, just short of nine months later and at age 35, I had my first day as a professional web developer.I'll spare you details about the learning platform (which is top-notch) and the resources available to students, as they're covered in depth in other reviews and in Thinkful's literature; suffice it to say, it's all legit. You have tons of resources at your disposal and my mentor/program manager/career coach were all delightful people who are great at their jobs.What all that can't really communicate is the night-and-day difference in my experience as a job-seeker and employee. I'd known long before I left my former employer that I was going to; I gave them eight months notice and conducted a nationwide job hunt with the goal of getting out of the state and out of the field. I sent out ~150 job applications. In six months, I got zero interviews. Not a one. This despite having a resume that, I've been told more recently, is actually pretty impressive. That failure led me to the conclusion that I needed help — which led me to Thinkful — but it also led me to another conclusion: Even if I was successful, I was going to wind up living wherever there was work. I felt — probably accurately — that in that position, I had very little agency over where I could go and what I could do with my life.I graduated from Thinkful in late April. By mid-June, I'd had interviews with four companies and got offers from two — this amid the worst economy the U.S. has seen in most people's lifetimes. My pay is higher than it was, and will only grow. Instead of paying ~$150/month for health coverage, the company's paying for it — and the plan's much better. All tech is provided. Instead of working in an office with a moldy, leaky ceiling, I'm working from home or a spacious office suite in a business district. Instead of 90 minutes, my commute is 20 minutes — or zero minutes. Instead of working in a dying industry, I'm working in a thriving industry. Instead of worrying about layoffs, I can see a future rich with opportunity. Instead of trying to fit my life around a job, I can find a job that fits into my life.If you do the work, Thinkful will change your life. It will materially improve it, it will make you smarter, it will make you savvier and it will better help you understand how the modern world functions. 

I'm overall very happy with my decision to join Thinkful. Could I have learned it all on my own? Sure! But I wouldn't have had the same level of mentorship or support that I received through Thinkful. Some notes if you're thinking about joining: 1) The curriculum is very text-based. As a visual learner, I did have to supplement a fair amount of the material with YouTube videos. However, I think this is ok because I knew going in that I'd have to put in work on my own. 2) I felt that my mentorship sessions were not always as beneficial as they could have been. I think this was mostly my own fault though, and I should've come to my mentor sessions with more questions prepared. --- In the end, I feel that I definitely got my money/time's worth out of Thinkful and feel very prepared to dive into my new career. The tuition reimbursement guarantee also makes me feel great knowing that Thinkful stands behind their program. 

Thinkful is very good if you're willing to put in the work. When you start the program they estimate that you will need to work 20-30 hours a week in order to graduate. I think that this is a decent AVERAGE, but what they don't tell you is that some weeks you will work 50 and others you will work 20.There were days during my time with Thinkful that I was frustrated with different aspects of the course, but in the end it was totally worth it. I learned a whole lot that I would not otherwise know through self taught development.By far the best part of the course is the 1 on 1 mentor time. I was fortunate to get a good mentor, and they can help fill in the gaps that the curriculum leaves.At the end of it all, I am a much, much better developer than I was before I started.

I was hesitant to start a bootcamp when there were many indications that the field was saturated with bootcamp grads, yet I went through with it and can say that it was well worth it. The Thinkful bootcamp was great and informative and I learned a lot. There were times when it got rough and I lost focus but my mentor and my academic success manager helped me through it and I got to where I am today with their help. The community is great as a whole and I've made a few peer connections that I hope will help as I go about my coding journey. They have so many great resources and people there to help you out that I didn't for once think about withdrawing. I'm starting the next phase, the job search, and they have even more resources available to help me with that. If you are looking at bootcamps, I would highly recommend giving Thinkful a shot.

I completed Thinkful's Engineering Flex program in November 2019. Before the program, I had done some freeCodeCamp lessons and completed a few projects, but I was still a novice. It took me about 7 months to complete the program, and while I was a student the company went through some changes that probably affect the current accuracy of this review. With that caveat in mind, here's some thoughts:Mentor Program (Great)Thinkful has a one-on-one mentorship program that was immensely helpful. I met with my mentor twice a week and she gave me complete attention and specific assistance on things I needed help with. This individualized attention to each student's learning needs is what attracted me to Thinkful in the first place. I was lucky to be paired with a mentor who synced with my learning style, but had it been a bad match I would have had the opportunity to request a transfer. I also had a great Program Manager (they're called something else now) who helped me keep track of my progress.The Curriculum (Not-so-great)My biggest complaint about the program was the core curriculum. I think they have begun to revise and update it, but I experienced poorly designed instruction, insufficient tutorials, incomplete explanations, and no videos. Pretty much the entirety of the curriculum for me was text-based, and this text was poorly written. It contained countless grammatical/mechanical errors, confusing syntax, and faulty metaphors. Thinkful needs to standardize their instructional design according to pedagogical best practices and they desperately need to hire a copy editor. With all that said, I've heard they are revising and updating the curriculum, and adding videos to supplement the text. So--this might be an outdated criticism.Assessments (Great)The program was project-based, so I graduated with a portfolio of work to help me get hired. This was so so so valuable. The grading team was thorough in making sure my projects were portfolio-ready and followed industry standards. Thinkful also used "mock interviews" to assess my advancement through the curriculum. These helped in preparing me for the job search, but also in bolstering my ability to execute my new skills under pressure, and sharpened my ability to articulate technical concepts. The mock interviews and capstone projects were great.Additional Learning Resources (Great)Beyond the mentor meetings, Thinkful offered a bunch of additional resources for extra help. I regularly used the live Q&A sessions as well as the technical help through Slack. These helped me almost every day. Throughout the program I had constant access to additional help and support. Loved it.Career Coach (Great)After graduation, I was assigned a career coach who helped with the job search. Thinkful's career team is an excellent group who really know what they're doing. My career coach made my transition from student to graduate smooth and steady, and I couldn't have been more supported through the job search. Not only was my career coach effective and helpful, but she was also super friendly and made me feel confident and sure-footed during a nervous and stressful process. Throughout the program, the career support department was noticeably on-point.Price (Depends on the buyer)There's no denying that this is an expensive product. I would recommend any prospective students to carefully evaluate their financial situations before making a decision. Thinkful offers financing, which is a nice option for people without a chunk of cash, but any way you slice it, it's a fat price tag. Thinkful offers a tuition reimbursement guarantee, but this is conditional on the graduate meeting a list of requirements that, to me, seemed near-impossible. This ended up not mattering because I got a job, hence the guarantee.  Meetups (Good)The Thinkful meetups I attended were fun and a great way to humanize the experience, but I did not attend more than a couple.Culture (Great)The people I interacted with were friendly, knowledgeable, and encouraging, and I always felt like they were devoted to my success. I always felt supported and never had a bad interaction with anyone.Pacing (A doozy)While I was a student at Thinkful, I had a full-time job and a toddler at home. This. was. hard. I thought I would be able to devote 3-4 hours a day to coding but ended up spending considerably more time on it. The pace was FAST, which has its benefits, but sometimes I struggled to retain information. They offered several weeks of "pause time," which I used, but I still spent most of the program behind the projected schedule. This pacing made the experience more stressful than it probably needed to be -- however, by the end of the program I felt confident in my grasp of the material and I had several projects to show off my work. So, maybe it boils down to this: it's difficult, sometimes VERY difficult, but doable if you are committed. The fast pace would be much more tolerable if they revised the core curriculum. Final Takeaways Not every learning platform is perfect. While Thinkful's core curriculum could use some deep revisions, the overall program was an excellent experience for me, and well-worth the money and time. It was difficult, but it delivered on what it promised: within 3 months of graduating I had my first job offer. I recommend this program to people who are self-motivated and ready to challenge themselves on a daily basis. You learn web fundamentals, JavaScript fundamentals, React (with context), Node/Express, PostgreSQL, JWT authentication, and some of the common data structures and algorithms you'll likely see in a technical interview. You learn how to present yourself to the industry and how to successfully position yourself in the job market. I do have a few suggestions for improvement, but regardless, I am a very satisfied customer.

I think Thinkful genuinely opened doors for me. I have been able to find a new job with better pay and better future opportunities, and I know I would not have gotten my foot in the door without my time at Thinkful.It is very much so a case of “you get what you put in”. You could skim by and do the minimal and finish the program and have learned very little, or you can attend Q&A sessions, do all the study material, and really come out knowing what you are talking about. I think my time was really valuable, personally, and the support after you graduate is pretty out standing. It took me about 2.5 months to find a job but I am extremely happy with where I am now.

I decided to take this course because I believed there was something missing from my skills set. One of the greatest decisions I have ever made. I was taught valuable industry standards I use everyday at work. The course was challenging at times and well done. I love that you get a great mentor to help you along the way. The course is setup in a great and easy to understand way. With tons of resources to help when needed. 

Thinkful's Engineering Flex Program is amazing. It is a LOT of hard work, but you gain the skills that will make you extremely desirable in the job market. The way the curriculum is written is easy to understand. My favorite part about the whole program is the mentorship. You get paired with an experienced mentor who is there to help you every step of the way. I honestly cannot put a value on this. Learning from someone in the industry is priceless. Not to mention the technical coaches who are available via Slack...you will never be without help during this program. Students are required to do mock interviews, which is so great. By the time you get to real-life interviews, you will be ready and have a head start on your competition. And then, when you graduate you are paired with a career coach. Again, this part is a lot of work, but the coaches give you so much support and help you stay positive. I was paired with my coach in mid-February, and I had an offer less than three weeks later. Of course, I had already been applying, but the coach really helps you get polished and navigate the job search. I would most definitely recommend Thinkful to anyone considering a boot camp.

I mean what else can I say... They changed my life. To save time if you don't want to read all of this I'll quickly say 2 things: 1. This program is not for the faint of heart. Prepare to be challenged, and feel completely lost the whole time.2. If you're up to the challenge then take this program. The curriculum is amazing, the projects you build are amazing, the mentors and people you meet are so supportive, and the amount of knowledge you learn in the time allotted is astounding.Now, to dive deeper. I'm going to layout 3 of the biggest things that Thinkful impressed upon me.1. The Mentor and Program Manager support team -- This is such an amazing aspect of the program that a lot of others don't have and something you'd never get self-teaching. These counselors help you with anything and everything you need and work with your schedule. The program managers are personable and are there to make sure you're doing okay mentally with the curriculum and that you're following the pace you want to follow in the program. The mentors are highly intelligent and experienced programmers that make time for meetings and can teach you easier ways to do things. Greatly thankful for the support I had during the program.2. The projects and capstones are as amazing as you want -- I came out of the program with 4 working, functional, and well-designed projects that helped me get my job. The amount of learning you do while working on these projects is insane. Towards the end of the program, you're kind of given free rein to build whatever you'd like which is really cool and allows you to become passionate about what you're building. My advice is to take time on the projects. They're your biggest leg up in the job market and can push you to learn more. 3. The curriculum -- This is sort of negative and positive. To put it plainly, the curriculum is vastly dense and can be difficult to follow at times. This results in a disconnect when assignments come up asking you to do something you feel like you've never seen before. That being said... That's the life of a programmer. The best skill you can learn is problem-solving, and the curriculum, being the way it is, inherently makes you get better and better at that. So, it ends up being a necessary evil that you're kind of thankful for by the end of the program. To sum it all up if you're hard-working, self-driven, organized, and have good time management you'll be fine during the program. I recommend anyone who is interested in programming to take the introductory webinar and spend a couple of weeks in the introductory material they provide for free. If you find you really like programming take the Thinkful course. It's an amazing opportunity and will change your life. They're the best of the best!

(I'm writing this review for the people who are stuck and/or trying to decide between Bootcamps like I once was - hence how long and descriptive)

If you're contemplating even going to a Bootcamp, just do it. The cost alone far outweighs the price of college in general. Not only that, but you will absolutely have no problem at succeeding if you're actually determined to make a career shift. 

My background: I was/am working in customer support, and I had no experience prior to Thinkful except dabbling and failing miserably at trying to retain information from Codecademy alone (resources like this are great and you can learn this way but it isn't for everybody). 

School Structure :

-  Everything is clear as far as when your assignments are due, when your mentor and manager sessions are, and where you need to go for help when you get stuck. This is why I highly recommend a Bootcamp in the first place, YOU HAVE STRUCTURE. It's hard to do it alone, and that's a big reason that people quit in the first place. 

- I really can't stress this enough, but there shouldn't be any reason that you are stuck for a long period of time with this course. They really put in the work to make sure that you're covered in all aspects to get you the help you need. 

Learning Curriculum: 

- This is extremely fast-paced, but they did structure it so that everything is broken down into readable and maintainable parts. You will be learning the current tech stacks that employers are looking for, which is pivotal. This topic is by far the most important, and as a word of advice, you should not only be learning the curriculum but researching on your own behalf (this will help you develop skills to learn at a faster pace, and know where to look).

Price and Course: 

- The course is extremely affordable (Only paying interest until I find a job, and you actually have an option to do the deferred program, depending on the specific program you choose).

- This is a great program if you have children, a full-time job, and/or a family. 

- It's 6 months of learning and 6 months of career advisement and help. This really made me feel comfortable. I can confidently say that I don't think I would've lasted long at a 12-week program, you don't really get to a point of retaining anything, and I feel like the imposter syndrome would be at an all-time high even at the end of your course (just my opinion on my own learning style). 

Mentorship: 

- I've seen a lot of people talk about there bad experiences with their mentors. For me, I've had nothing but a positive experience with my mentor sessions. The best part for you is that if you don't like your mentor or you have a schedule change in your life, then you have an option to simply request a new one that aligns with you. This is something they didn't have to do, so this is another sign of actually caring about the students that attend and not just the money. 

Time Management: 

- For this program they do recommend between 20-25 hours per week. For me, I spend about 40 to 50 hours because I have the time, and I really love doing it. You don't have to do what I do, but you really have to make sure that you are writing specific times to sit down, study, and be distraction-free. 

- Recite, Practice, Teach = The formula to fully understanding what you're learning. 

- Software Engineering has the same concept when it comes to Math, its either right or its wrong. You cannot fake this or procrastinate, because it will show, and you're ultimately doing yourself a disservice.

- Use Google Calendar, Evernote (personal fav), and any other time management tools. This will help you in actually being accountable for your time and daily tasks.

- I also time my study sessions and have a study log to track my hours week by week. It gives you the chance to see when you need to pick up the pace or when you're exceeding. 

Overall:

- The curriculum is hard, frustrating, exciting and you're constantly at a learning curve. But I've come to realize that this would be your day to day at an actual software engineering position. 

- It's affordable, convenient, and transparent.  

- There are times where you will feel like you're lost, give yourself time, and know that it will click. Software engineering is not an easy career it really takes time and perseverance. 

- The curriculum can feel dry sometimes, but make sure to take breaks (Pomodoro Technique is what I implement), and look at other resources (Youtube) to see a different perspective. 

- If you put in the time and ask for help when you need it than I can guarantee that you'll succeed.

- This is the best Bootcamp that's come to light so far. They don't just hire any person that claims to be a senior dev to mentor you (some boot camps do it), and they have poured tons of time, energy, and money to make the students feel capable and positive that they chose the right decision. 

I hope that by reading this you can make a better-informed decision, about what path you want to take. Happy learning and wishing you the best! 

Olivia Davis :)

I found Thinkful to be well worth the money. It is such a great investment into your future! My main reason for choosing Thinkkful was that it was online, yet you still had support from mentor meetings and office hours. I never felt overwhelmed, since I knew that I had such a great support system. I did this while working full time, which is exhausting (you definitely have to put life on hold), but well worth it. I was able to master in demand skills that helped me land a software engineering position before graduation. The salary increase alone paid for the program several times. If you stay focused, which your mentor is there to help with, and put in the work, then you will be successful in the program. The course helped me gain confidence in interviews with thier set of mock interviews throughout. I think that was one of my weakest areas at first. By the end, I was a pro at selling myself and showing off all of the skills I have obtained. If you are interested in web developmet, I highly suggest Thinkul! 

I am about half way through the engineering flex program (previously full stack flex), and it's just ok. 

The major issues for me are threefold, as a total newbie to coding.

1. With the flex you are just being given a ton of information, not being taught it. Even if you are really applying yourself, its just a massive info dump with little to aid you in terms of actual teaching. You have to spend a ton of time researching outside resources in order to really teach yourself. I found they are very lacking in drills (and so I sprang and paid for Udemy courses and for the pro CodeCademy). 

2. There is a massive, MASSIVE, lack of peer group/less formal options for when you get stuck. It seemed like no one every really used the spreadsheet for peer work, and the online 'class' type things are often later in the day  (5-8pm) which I couldn't attend. My first mentor and I did not gel at all and that was actualyl horrible, but I then swtiched. The slack channels also don't seem to encourage people further along helping, probably as they are incredibly swamped in work, but it means you often just get help from the teacher on duty and that really slowed me down. 

3. The 6 month goal is great....but not personalized at all. All the projects that are given, aside from capstones, are really bland and generic, and it felt like as soon as we had completed one area, we just jumped to something totally new so it was really hard to retain the information. I felt like we rushed through HTML, CSS, JS, JQ and so on, and not really got any kind of solid foundation before we were onto the next, leaving me feeling like I was just passable in each area. 

Im considering moving into an immersion program, either with Thinkful if I can sort that, but if not then with another company in Phoenix, as I don't feel like the flex will give me the solid foundation needed to join the work force or work freelance right now. 

I'm currently in the engineering flex program at Thinkful, and I absolutely love it!!

The student advisors who tell you more about the school were amazing. I was a little worried that I wouldn't learn Python, but they assured me that it won't be terrible to learn after the bootcamp.

I'm currently almsot halfway done with the bootcamp, and I've had nothing but good exxperiences. They not only teach you front end and back end development, they also teach you how to learn code outside of Thinkful! 

The mentor program that they rate so highly definitely lives up to its name. They pair mentors and mentees based off of availability to meet, and if you don't think your mentor is a good match then they don't mind finding you a new mentor! 

The curriculum is amazing, and I already feel prepared enough to get a front end development job!

I would recommend this to anyone that asks me about this bootcamp!