Engineering Flex

Thinkful has been a great course so far! I am about 2 months in, and have really gotten into the flow of the course. I chose Thinkful because I wanted a course that I could complete without actually having to show up to a physical classroom. The great thing is that you still get a massive amount of support. Between mentor meetings, classroom hours, and the community of students, I never feel overwhelmed or stuck. There is always somebody who can lend a hand and give insight to a problem. I tried learning all of this on my own before, but quickly got overwhelmed with the mass amount of technologies and information that is out there. Thinkful lays it all out for you, so that you can focus on learning the skills in an organized, efficient way.

  I have been learning with Thinkful for the past three months and it has been amazing. I was nervous first starting because I havent wrote any code in over ten years. But with your mentor and program manager always there to help there is nothing to worry about. The community itself is great and with the slack channel you can get help around the clock. Making the decsion to study with Thinkful is one of the best ones I have ever made. 

I have been enrolled in the Full Stack Flex course for a couple of months and have found the curriculum extemely stimulating. One aspect that I didn't anticpate, but is as valuable as the content, is the relationships you forge with your program manager, mentor, and peers. My program manager, Mayank, has been supportive in my growth not only as a software engineer, but also as an individual. My course mentors help me to understand difficult concepts and challenge me to inspect a problem from a variety of viewpoints -- a crucial skill to critical thinking. 

The structure of the material is intuitive because the technology supports one another. The mock interviews are great because they are ensuring i'm prepared to add new information to my knowledge base. Finally, I firmly believe the curriculum is setting up their grads to not only graduate but get employed. 

I had experience in the tech industry as a marketing guy, and I decided I'd rather make things than tell people about them. 

I taught myself webdevelopement for about 3 months before deciding on a boot camp. I chose Thinkful's Full-Stack Flex program because it was remote, at my own pace, and the offered a refund if I didn't get a job in the industry within 6 months of graduating.

I really liked my mentor (who I did code review with twice a week), and I wound up finishing the program ahead of schedule. I credit, learning on my own before starting as a big part of that. I highly recomend doing some video courses before you start so you can hit the ground running.

Also, they started doing more in person stuff about half way through my program. They're actively seeking to improve. 

Just got a job as a software developer. Totally worth it.

I've been trying to learn how to code for some time now, as I have gone through some of FreeCodeCamp, Harvard's CS50, as well as a JavaScript course on Udemy. Although I learned a lot utilizing those free resources, it was frustrating when I would get stuck on a problem and couldn't find a way out. Frustration quickly led to demotivation, and I found myself questioning if a career in programming was really for me. I then realized that although I had gotten quite far on my own, I absolutely needed some sort of rigid structure for learning how to code, if I seriously wanted to change my career. So, I thought about the idea of attending a bootcamp. After doing extensive research on coding bootcamps, Thinkful seemed like the best option due to high reviews, a job guarantee, and the ability to still maintain my full-time job, as I'm enrolled in the Full Stack Flex program.

Upon enrolling, Thinkful pairs you up with both a Program Manager as well as a mentor. The PM is responsible for overseeing your graduation plan and makes sure you are on track. The mentor is (usually) a seasoned developer that you'll meet with twice a week via video chat. In addition to these resources, you'll have an entire community of mentors and students alike that you have access to via Slack. There are also Q&A sessions that you can attend where you can share your screen with a mentor and ask any questions or try to fix a program that you're working on. 

Whereas I would get stuck and demoralized when I was on my own, it's nearly impossible to get stuck and stay stuck with all of these resources at your disposal. Oh and by the way, if for some reason your mentor doesn't work out, Thinkful will pair you up with someone else. It didn't work out with my first mentor as he was often late and straight up no showed me one time. My second mentor, however, has been nothing short of stellar. 

The Full Stack program is broken up into a few parts:

Web Development Fundamentals (Intro to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery)
Asychronous client-side apps
Server-side programming (Node.js)
React
Computer Science Fundamentals

After each section, you will be required to complete a capstone which is a program that reflects what you learned in that section. You'll also conduct a mock interview where one of the mentors (also via live chat) will ask you behavioral and technical questions in addition to asking you to do live coding exercises. You are required to pass both the capstone and mock interview in order to advance to the next phase.

The curriculum is very, very reading intensive. I wish that there were some videos to go alongside the material. But even so, I think the curriculum is great. Sometimes you're encouraged to go out and learn about topics outside of Thinkful, and I've done just that.

I still have a couple months left, but from my understanding upon completion you are then paired up with Career Services and their job is to assist you in finding a position as a Developer. As mentioned before, Thinkful offers a job guarantee, which you can read about on their website.  Overall, my experience has been wonderful and I think this is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have learned an insane amount over the past few months and I am looking forward to continuing the program, graduating, and changing careers! 

Finally, I'd like to mention that Thinkful is completely transparent about what percentage of their students graduate, find jobs, etc. If you're serious about attending this bootcamp I'd recommend checking out the below link. 

https://cirr.org/

I enrolled at this place because of the personal mentoring. I read the negative reviews and knew going in that the mentor would make or break the experience. I decided to trust Thinkful, that even the worst mentors could not be that bad. I was wrong. Among the mentors I've had: one was completely useless - he would show up to our sessions like he was high. I would have to repeat myself several times before he attempted to answer my questions otherwise he was silent and staring at the screen for the next hour. He only got upset and started berating me when I tried to log off because he probably wouldn't get paid for the session. Another mentor I had kept bringing up my gender. How, as a woman, I need to have more confidence - every session I've had with this ahole started off with a lecture about how I have impostor syndrome when I just wanted someone to help me troubleshoot an error in my project. I tried to placate him and agree, but he would not move on until he finished his 15 minute speech. And yet another one would make passive-aggressive remarks about how women should be in the kitchen ha ha

I ended up on slack more often because my mentors would not respond to my emails and learned more from the grads online. I eventually confided in others that I did not feel comfortable because of my mentor and boy was I surprised when I found out that not only was this normal, but that no matter how many times students complained about the lack of professionalism and the lack of knowledge (there are mentors that don't know a single thing about js, despite it being the principal language for your projects), the offending employees could never be fired. One of the mentors was even caught giving wrong answers to his student several times so the student would have to spend extra weeks figuring out what happened, only for the mentor to insist there was a "misunderstanding" at the next session. That's an extra $35 per hour for the mentor and weeks lost to the student. Easy way for the student to fall behind and pay another $2000 to extend the program and mentor access - good for Thinkful and explains why this mentor hasn't been fired.

The curriculum itself is set up so that if you don't have some background in programming, you are going to fail to finish in 6 months. html and css are easy to bypass which is why they can afford to offer the trial period but once you get to js, you are rushed through everything with no foundation. The exercises are limited and the content becomes overly vague. Thinkful offers outside resources in the beginning, but stops around js and in turn, slack is always full of requests for outside material because nobody understands what's going on. You have no teachers if you do not get a good mentor. You are reading and doing everything by yourself. Every section has a button for reporting spelling errors and issues with set up or unclear instructions. You do not get alerted to content changes and even mentors on slack will be surprised at how something was deleted and not know when the content was changed.

Thinkful also offers office hours and workshops and if they aren't cancelled last minute with no explanation, you take a gamble and go to the session. The good tutors have a long line, the bad ones are practically empty because they never know how to answer questions.

The interviews after every section are a joke. The reading does not prepare you adequately and the interviews ask more in-depth questions that do not reflect the rigor in the curriculum. If you fail the same interview twice, they give you an exercise to do but I have seen several students post the question and get the answer on slack.

The only winners here are the company taking your money and the predatory mentors who take advantage of the students and Thinkful's perks.

As a current Thinkful student, I must say that I truly would recommend this program to anyone interested in coding. The structure of the program is balanced for both those with no coding experience and beginner-coders. When I first began with Thinkful I had no prior coding experience but as I have continued with the program, it has prepared me with the appropriate soft skills and technical skills to handle live coding challenges and to communicate clearly with other coders. Thinkful also has a great mentoring program, an active slack community and engaging sessions during office hours. Whether a hobbyist or looking for a career change I truly recommend Thinkful as  your place to begin on your coding journey.

I have been enrolled in the course for about 2 months and have found the curriculum very valuable. It is definitely guided with the intention of having their grads not just graduate but get employed. The mock interviews are great because they are ensuring i'm ready for the last and final step of the application process. Q&a sessions are extremely helpful when looking for a quick fix to a problem I might have. Most importantly, the mentors are the most valuable asset to any students success in the bootcamp. I am definitely excited to continue the next unit, knowing that I'm not alone in the journey.

Overview:

I recently graduated from Thinkful's Full Stack Flex program and I'm currently applying for jobs (will update). The program was challenging but I've learned a lot and I feel fairly well-prepared for an entry-level web developer position. I had the luxury of being able to work on the program full-time, but it still took longer than I anticipated, largely because I spent a lot of time on my capstone projects. These projects are a valuable and unique aspect of the program that teach you a lot and leave you with a great portfolio, but designing, building, testing, and styling these projects from scratch can eat up a lot of time. 

Community:

I was suprised that the community was one of the most valuable aspects of Thinkful. Emma, the program manager for Portland and Seattle, is amazing and puts on Thinkful Family Dinners every two weeks. These in-person events are a fun way to get to know other people in the program and often brought in speakers who presented on topics like networking, game development, and hackathons.

The Slack community was also great and quite active. It was a useful place to get feedback and have questions answered. Q&A sessions (open online office hours) were fairly useful, but I didn't end up using them very often. There is often a line of students waiting and it often takes quite awhile to get a question answered...some sort of quota or ticket system could help make these more valuable. TJ was a standout Q&A mentor and also leads great workshops on a variety of interesting topics almost every day.

Instructors:

I had great mentors throughout the program. Thinkful had to switch my mentors twice for administrative reasons, which was disappointing, but I got along well with each and they were all very knowledeable. Alanna was an excellent guide through the fundamentals portion before Lawrence took over for the majority of my program. He was instrumental in helping me choose projects, troubleshoot bugs, and understand difficult concepts. Ali was my mentor for the final month of the course and did an excellent job stepping in. He helped me wrap up my final capstone and was a great help practicing for technical interviews.

Curriculum:

Overall, the curriculum was thorough, provided good code examples, and covered the latest development technology. I'm sure it's a monumental task keeping up with constant updates for all the tools, software, and platforms they cover, but at times, it was sometimes frustrating to run into broken instructions (especially on Windows). The material is almost completely text and code examples, which are well-written. It frequently encourages you to use official documentation, which turned out to be a great skill that served me well as I moved through the program.

The major missing element was a search feature. The curriculum is very large and paginated by Unit, Section, Lesson, etc. It can be a challenge to find that one line you're thinking of without being able to search the whole curriculum.

Job Assistance:

Throughout the course, you complete mini career lessons, such as building a resume, optimizing your LinkedIn page, and how to network. These were helpful and I feel well-prepared to look for jobs. As soon as you graduate, you're paired with a career coach who you meet with weekly to check your progress and answer questions. Thinkful isn't going to necessarily find and get you the job you want, but they'll do a lot to prepare you to do it yourself.

Overall, I had a pretty good experience at Thinkful. Thankfully I spent about 6 months learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before starting, so I was able to get through the fundamentals section really fast which helped me to graduate on time. I know quite a few people who weren't able to graduate on time, which really doesn't surprise me since you do have to devote a LOT of time to studying and working on projects. 

The curriculum was good but really only covers the basics, and it's all readings (no videos or anything). For example, they gave you kind of a short tutorial on React, which definitely was not enough, so in addition to that I also had to read all of the React documentation, do a Codecademy React course, and watch some youtube tutorials. But they give you enough to get started. 

I also found the Node section to be extremely lacking, and I know a bunch of other people who feel the same about that. 

Also, I had four different mentors. My first mentor was very good, but unfortunately they only assigned him to me for the fundamentals section. I then got assigned another mentor who was terrible and didn't even know Node or React, so I switched. I then got assigned another mentor who was great, but had a VERY strong accent and it was very difficult to understand him, so I switched again. Then my last mentor was ok. 

But my husband, who is a full-stack developer, is the one who would help me the most. Sometimes my mentors would spend our entire session trying to help me figure out one of my problems, and they wouldn't be able to solve it, so I would have to ask my husband who would literally solve the problem is under 5 minutes. Sometimes even like 30 seconds. It was crazy. 

The Q&A sessions are also not very helpful, and I only went to a few of them. A few times they were able to help me, but mostly they weren't much of a help. Unfortunately there can sometimes be like 6 other people in the Q&A so they have to be fast with helping you. There are definitely some good Q&A mentors though, like Luis and TJ. They're really good! 

But overall, I definitely learned a lot. I still don't really feel like I'm that great of a developer, but I know that takes time, and I'm going to have to keep learning and doing projects on my own. I just graduated though and am hoping to find a job soon! 

I am a current student at Thinkful Full-stack flex program, and I can honestly say that I've never enjoyed learning as much as I have with this program... granted, I wasn't the most eager student growing up. I fell into web development just like most stories you'll hear, it just sort of happened and the timing couldn't have been better. So to give you a quick but hopefully helpful summary, keep on reading. If you enjoy skipping to the end of the book... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ATTENDING THINKFUL CODING BOOTCAMP, it's an excellent, well-thought-out program and (here's the catch) as long as YOU put in the work, you can get so much out of this course.  

****side note: if you want to follow along in my journey, subscribe to my youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Rgy6MBNl2M2fLgNpa2ohw?​ ******

And now for the full review, based on my personal experience: 

starting point: a few months of self-taught code. (HTML, CSS, some JavaScript) (FreeCodeCamp, CodeCademy, Youtube)
end goal: to become a front-end developer to work closely with designers to turn their skills into functionality; and to be knowledgeable in full-stack, so to build better work relationships and conversations with all departments, especially those affected by a project (directly or indirectly)

Pros: 
1. Q&A, Q&A, Q&A, Q&A, Q&A!!!!  there are ongoing info sessions touching all topics of all levels. This means you can hop onto a live chat with an experienced coder at virtually any time. This will help you advance faster, as you don't have to "wait until the next class or your next scheduled mentor session". These sessions are key to building a community of other coders who are often at the same level as you or are willing to learn from you and/or help teach you. The experienced developers are motivated, and willing to either help you get unstuck or help guide you in the right direction, so you can figure out how to 'unstuck' yourself. The experienced developers are also very eager to help you outside of the suggested Q&A time. I recommend attending as many as you can. The live Q&A sessions are soo, extremely helpful and make Thinkful's coding bootcamp truly unique and worth it.
2. One-on-one mentors. You will get paired with a mentor, which is undeniably one of the best features a bootcamp can offer. In my opinion, this is a  valuable one-on-one time that you wouldn't get at an on-campus bootcamp, as I feel like other students would be fighting to meet with the teachers after classes. The mentor sessions allow you to gather your questions (big or small) and spend as much or as little time as you'd like on that particular question until you're sure you've understood it. Your mentors are also very friendly and are motivated and willing and eager to help you out. You can ask them anything from debugging your code to what life of a developer is like to career advice. Take advantage of your time with your mentors - they're there for you!
3. Program managers! Omg this is so incredibly helpful. They're your "big brothers", your "annoying parents that care about your success", and your "middle school principal that, despite only seeing them occasionally in the hallways, somehow knew that you weren't paying attention in class". You don't meet with them that often but it's a scheduled time APART from your time with your mentors and lessons, that is dedicated to your success and progress. Be honest with them, as they are also there to help you succeed, they genuinely want you to do well, and they will work with you!
4. The curriculum - wow I still don't know how someone had the patience and the knowledge to plan each lesson of the program, including everything from the layout to the challenges, to the big projects. It is an easy-to-follow curriciulum that guides you smoothly from one task to another. Each section is balanced between readings, challenges, quizzes, and reviews. So far, I see it as a fail-proof way to learn
5. The flow - What do I mean by this? The natural flow of the program, and the 'speed' in which you are guaranteed to move through the lessons, prepare for interviews, look for jobs, and become developers. It really is incredible. Just remember, you MUST put in the time and the effort
6. It's online. You can spend the next six months in pajamas or your birthday suit if you wish ( just make sure to dress appropriately during your live video sessions!) Also, if you have the chance, TRAVEL TRAVEL TRAVEL, take advantage of this time in your life and take the course on the beach in the Bahamas, because why not? 

Cons 
1. money, money, money - must be funny, in a rich man's world (sorry, big fan of ABBA here). So here's the thing: money is obviously the biggest deciding factor, as it is a great chunk of money that you're putting into the program, but here's the most important thing I can say - if you believe this is something that you truly want to perceive, then consider the cost as an INVESTMENT. It's an investment to yourself, an investment to your future, to your skillset, to your bank (let's be real, if you do this right, you should eventually be finding a job that will allow a growing salary with time). So again, if you're serious about attending, invest in yourself - even if it means working one more year at that crappy job and having to deal with your crappy boss ... just one. more. year. Save up and do it. (this is coming from someone who currently has - no joke - $122 in her bank account and moved back in with her parents at the age of almost 30. 
2. time - listen, guys, I'm gonna repeat myself but this is an INVESTMENT. If you are serious about this, you have to make sure to COMMIT fully to this program. If you know you have something that will be distracting in the next 6 months, then postpone but make sure you make this your priority. 
3. Sometimes you just have to find your learning groove and that may take some time. This course is not something to take lightly and studying should be your top priority. Just like the others, this isn't really a con, it's just a matter of taking the time of figuring out what it is YOU want. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: spend time getting to know your goals and level of commitment, once YOU'RE ready, sign up for Thinkful coding bootcamp, once you're signed up and ready to go just hit the floor running and enjoy every minute, every missed semi-colon of frustration, and every new online-friendship you get, because it truly is a POSITIVE life-changing experience. 

I started this program with broken promises. Before enrolling the school GUARANTEED  A FULL TIME JOB  OR A FULL REFUND. None of it has happened. The first month was great the easy stuff. The months moving forward I was assigned about 7 different mentors. Reasons being they did not know javascript or they would direct me to google.  A lot of times the mentors would complain about the low rate of pay. The Q & A sessions offered are even worse, the mentors pick and choose who they want to work with. If they didn't like you or if you did not meet a certain requirement they would again point you to google or say they don't know the subject matter.  About 75 % of the Q & A's I registered for were cancelled, no reason was given.  The curriculum is dated and old it is a lot of reading and more reading. The mentors are not experienced at all. They just come to collect  a paycheck and update their skills on the expense of the students. The school does not monitor the mentor sessions or the Q & A sessions which are just a waste of time. The slack channel your questions will go unanswered or if they answer it they will shame you and point you to an article on how to ask questions. I was not a professional programmer I was a student looking to learn.   This program is not designed  for students to be successful. Not a single assignment was graded or was any feedback given. I was given a pacing guide on month 8 of the program. 
 The statics show a 98% success rate  which makes sense. If you go above the 6 months they will forcefully withdraw you to keep the data looking good. 
Save yourself the time and money go buy the same course on udemy for $10 bucks. Employers do not look at education they look what can you build. The stuff learned here I was not even able to get a UNPAID internship. 

Very interesting course that covers a lot of ground. Excellent place to test your abilities and push yourself farther than you had before. I came in to the course with some knowledge of C#, Ruby, and JS. This course pushed me to complete projects and then improve and make them professional looking. The mentors are a nice bonus but not as valuable as the reviews and practice interviews which will test your mettle and reveal your weaknesses. If you can afford it and have some experience and are looking to get serious about web development, give it a try.

First of all, I'm only giving this a 2* mainly because the mentor. I first enrolled in Thinkful's flex bootcamp. It said you need about 20-25 hours a week to complete the program which in my opinion without any coding background is completely inaccurate. You meet with the mentor for 1 hour 3 times a week. Although the experience of having a mentor can be great, Thinkful makes it sound like they will always be able to help you. A lot of these mentors do the teaching as a side job and are incredibly busy with their own jobs as well so don't expect much help from them outside of the mentor sessions.

Next, their course curriculum was pretty mediocre and can be a bit confusing (After the program I bought many Udemy courses which I thought were far superior). I was constantly using google and youtube to get a better understanding of anything and everything.

Lastly, I believe Thinkful themselves is still a growing company and therefore vastly short on employees. When I was a student they changed the program when I was directly in the middle of it without any of my knowledge and I had to go back and complete extra parts of the curriculum. I had to go through about 3 mentors and 2 program managers which is completely ridiculous. In the end, I felt completely cheated of not only my experience but my money I paid for the program. They make it sound great and promising in the beginning but in reality I was constantly left alone talking with a few students from slack. Don't comit this much money if you can't put a minimum of 40 hours a week into this program. In my honest opinion, save yourself the money and either try a different bootcamp or buy courses on Udemy.

I still have a ways to go, as I am in the middle of my first capstone project, but so far so good. I contemplated enrolling in this program for several months before I actually decided to go through with it. I am very happy with my decision and wish I made it earlier! Web development always interested me but it was a little intimidating. However, what I have learned throughout life so far has taught me to not shy away from things that might seem intimidating. Ultimately, it is these things that help you grow as a person. Thinkful does a great job at making the task of learning web development feel more comforting than intimidating. They offer an abundance of resources - wether it be your weekly mentor sessions, Q&A sessions, or the Thinkful slack community. Honestly, I probably could take way more advantage of those last two that I mentioned. The fact that they are even an option though is helpful enough to ease the potential stress of learning this difficult topic. They truly want you to succeed and offer you enough resources that if you have the desire to learn and put in the work, it should be somewhat smooth sailing. Life is all about the journey or the process. I believe Thinkful has this in mind when developing its curriculum.

I'm currently enrolled in the Full Stack Flex Bootcamp and I'm very much enjoying the process. It's tough so far, but it's been a great experience with my Mentor, Program Manager, and all the other enrolled students in the Slack groups. I always feel like I have support through the process (even late at night or early in the mornings, someone's in the Slack just like me) and I can always bounce off code or issues with my classmates. My mentor has been great, he's always available for a video/screen share and when I've been battling with something he helps me see where the issue came from but also reframes the problem and potential solutions in ways that make sense.

I'm excited to keep working away at my course and would highly recommend this course, and Thinkful, to anyone looking to extend their knowledge or make a full pivot into something else (like I am).