Berkeley Boot Camps

I started attending UC Berkeley Data Analytics program on June 2017 and I am in a first cohort of students for this course.  I took this class because I was looking for a part-time course that cover web development, programming and data analytics since I work full-time.  This course is Data Analytics course so the class focus mostly on technologies and skills on how to get and store data, how to analyze data, and how to visualize data but you also get learn introduction to other technologies too as well as currently hot technologies such as machine learning and big data.  This is the first class being offered so I was cautious in the beginning but it surprised me in a good way.  The class is very organized and structured in a way that you learn technologies in logical order.  I think all the skills I learned are very useful because I’ve seen those in majority of job descriptions when I was googling for jobs online and the mini-projects(homework) that I have to do are also fun and interesting to do because you get to practice what you learn in class and also you get to apply those skills in your own project too.  

In term of instructors and TAs, they are all very knowledgeable about what they are teaching.  I have to say my Instructor Pavan Katepalli, I have never seen an instructor who is passionate about programming, data analytics and very knowledgeable as well as great at teaching. He really wants to see his students succeed so you can ask question or schedule 1:1 with him anytime on anything.  And also, I think all the TA are amazing too because they give really good feedback (they are the one who grade your homework). And you can schedule 1:1 meeting with TAs and tutor or instructor which I think is great if you don’t understand stuffs in class or want to go over more on the materials.
Another best thing about the class is that it is always updating based on you feedback and they apply your feedback fairly quickly too so anything that you think which might enhance your learning they quickly get incorporated into the course.

In Career assistance side, they offer zoom session where you can call in to ask any questions and get answer right away as well as you can do 1:1 with career coach to go over any concern and get advices.  Also, they have special classes on interview practice and strategies so I think those are really helpful.  And there are career homework which are designed to make you organized and ready for job search, which I think is really good because they give you feedback on how your good resume is or what you needed in linkedin profile to be better and etc... Another thing I like is that they have people who work in the industry come to our class or remotely present share their experience with us, teach us new skills and get to network with them and ask questions.

Overall, for me I am happy with this course because with no background and having no idea where to start on learning about data analytics, I learned a lot from this course both on technologies as well as the analytics field.  And also, this is fast paced class so it covers a lot of materials but the class offer a lot of resources so if you are motivated you can learn a lot.  Also, it is a lot of fun working with classmates to learn these materials since I learn a lot through my classmates too.  I think this class covered a lot of materials and you can be successful if you can review and practice what they teach in the class and also it gives a lot of extra resources to learn on your own too.  This class gave me a really good foundation on programming and data analytics so I feel that if there are new skills that needed to learn, I feel that I can learn on my own in the future too.  I can’t wait to graduate in a month to continue practicing my new skills and start applying those skills in the data analytics field. 
 

• Broad curriculum that would give me exposure to a large set of tools.
• 24 weeks duration, not too long and not too short.
• Could be completed remotely 100%.
• Recognized University in the tech industry.
• Right price and payment scheme.
• Career Services aimed to help me find a position within Data Sciences.

My overall experience would be a 5-star if this review was based on the superb instructor and strong curriculum. It was certainly a great class and would love to do another if time permitted the intensity. 

Before starting this bootcamp, I had recently left my prior position as an Accountant with some programming experience and was looking for a general programming school. Application into the school itself was a tad too simple and rushed. Though if not rushed, I would've missed the amazing instructor and the friends I made afterwards. 

My instructor Jerome Chenette, who is a professional within the web development field was extremely caring and well versed. He's simply the best and most passionate teacher I've ever seen. He takes time to ensure students are all caught up after each section, and takes time after each class to help students catch up (especially if he sees the effort you put into practicing and learning). I can not imagine where I'd be without his guidance and push towards excellence.

The course itself is dauntingly fast and thorough, with some portions that I wish were covered. Although TAs can seem frightening at first, once you interact and raise your hand the TAs are amazingly helpful and patient. TAs are often the friendliest and top of their prior cohorts. You'll receive new information crammed into ~4 hours inclass every day. With the expectation that you stay after hours to either work with others or do homework. The recommended amount of time to learning inclass (20hrs) and outside (40hrs) of class is 60 total per week. You will definitely get back what you put in through those grueling nights. (Yes, I counted my hours to an average of 60.)

Although job assistance was minimal during the bootcamp, post assistance was fairly good. They gave a lot of pointers to improving resume and dedicate several 1 on 1 hours through online chat. Personally I would've loved if the bootcamp was a longer to accommodate job assistance, or lengthening the end of the cohort for students to discuss their search rather than online-only. However, I will admit with their assistance and a bit of luck, I managed to recieved a contractor role in my current company. 

I'm certain others will wonder whether it's worth the $13k and 3-month investment. Most definitely, even if you're not aiming to become a web developer, it gives you a foundation to begin studying on your own. Either to learn new languages or dive deeper into web, you'll be amazed at how translatable new information becomes. The 60hours a week are not a joke, as it will reinforce your knowledge with every struggle. Avoid taking the easy way out, such as completely copying from someone else. In the end, it's up to you to ask for help and your new found skill. Odds are you'll find some new friends like me.

If a data analytics / data science boot camp is for you, then the UC Berkeley (Trilogy) program is a great choice.  As a part-time, six-month program, it gives you some options – if you are making a career change, then you can put in a lot more extra time each week to build great demo projects and work on your job search, or if you need to earn some money you can work part-time and still keep up, although you will probably need more time to practice and get your project portfolio together after finishing. 

It is a bit unnerving for prospective students that Trilogy chooses not to publish outcomes, but from talking to other students as well as grads from other boot camps, the outcomes (at least for our cohort) seem at least as good as what other programs provide – a good number of people achieved their goal (new job, promotion, new skills) within a month of graduating, and most of the rest look like they will get there if they follow through in the coming months. 

The curriculum is rigorous, but the course material is a bit disorganized at times.  It pays to make sure your computer stays trouble-free, and you should be aggressive about installing software and getting it working ahead of time (you’ll be doing that all through the program).  The instructor was a superb teacher, and the support system is extensive, with multiple options for getting help.  The career services were outstanding – every time we went over and refined / revised my job search materials, I’d see an uptick in interest within a couple of weeks, and I ended up getting multiple offers a few weeks after finishing.  Getting the projects and online profiles in really good shape to show to employers really did make a difference.

The one downside is that with a slower pace, especially during group projects, you can get away with being passive and not learning.  The career services calendar also tends to fill up quickly and the meetings go by fast, so if you don’t do your part to actively seek out support and prepare, you won’t get the benefits.  Like all boot camps, this one isn’t a magical metamorphosis where you enter as your ordinary self and leave as a full-fledged Data Scientist, able to easily outcompete any five-year industry veteran for a super high-paying job.  Instead, it will provide a reliable path for you to make yourself more employable, more confident, and substantially more valuable, so that it pays for itself many times over. 

I don't want to start from beginning as other students already described that process pretty well. 

I took Full Stack Web Development course for 6 months. I was paying 1600$ a month and 2500$ upfront payment. 

Classes were three times a week. First 2 months went pretty well. They explained js, html and css. After we started jumping from one module to another yet nobody could understand them. There are group projects which supposed to help you to get along with people and learn working in a team.
But how are you going to work when only 10-15% class were catching up with instructor. After 4 months our instructor started drinking on fridays and missing saturday classes. He missed 4 classes and TA 's were not that professional to be able to explain the topics. 
I personally was doing uber and paying 1600 a month. Working 68 hours a week and going to classes. You couldn't imagine my face everytime I would make it class on Saturday morning after long uber driving night and see how Instructor isn't in class again.  When it happened 4th time - I lost all motivation and quit going to classes. I thought I will be remote at least to save time for myself. But remote classes were very low quality and most of the times translation was going off as it was unpaid subscription. 
School also supposed to have a Student Success Manager and within 2 months 3 different people came to class and represented themself as SSM and left. Honestly I never seen any of them again. So we didn't have SSM for the time we studied there. 

Also they promised to help with job search ---- Zero Help! 

After the course I talked to one of the directors in school and explained him everything. I explained him how much I worked to pay for school and what we were getting in the class. I didn't pay for 1 months  of school and they still haven't give me my Certification because of that. Even if I gained all necessary points to finish school. 

UC Berkeley ext (San Francisco) - literally broke my life in San Francisco. I feel scammed by this school.