Case Western Reserve University Boot Camps

They say that no coding experience is needed for the data analytics boot camp, but students with no coding experience are at a severe disadvantage starting in week two.  Unfortunately, students are only allowed to drop during week one.  Students that have previous coding experience have no trouble getting through the material while those with no experience quickly fall behind.  By the time students that are new to coding realize that the course is geared towards more experienced students, it is too late to get a refund.  The time estimates for each module are very misleading as they are based on students that have some level of competency in coding.  Any potential students that have no prior experience should probably double or triple the time estimates.  Potential students should be extremely cautious about the one week drop period.  The first week is basic excel then the course goes straight into coding at break-neck speed. People that already work in this field or have a computer science background seemed to excel, while those of us that were new to this field got left in the dust.  It is very misleading that they claim no prior experience is needed. 

The camp was a really good experience, Adriana and Yuyang were a fantastic instructional team.  I think I would have liked a bit more focus in the curriculum on math/statistics, but I learned a lot about Python and machine learning and feel that the coding skills acquired will be very marketable.  The biggest asset of the course is the academic support available.  As mentioned, our instructional team was great and their communication with students was extremely helpful.  As well, the 24/7 tutoring slack channel was very valuable.

This program has many pros and some cons that go along with it. The biggest benefit you will receive is learning to re-wire your brain to learn to code. This can be the hardest part about coding if you see the foreign languages of different syntax on screen and get frustrated at first. You will learn to break down code and the best ways to best teach yourself to read and write it for any language you are learning in the future.
There is a major con to this course. With how quickly the world of development is evolving, the course curriculum is a step or two behind what the current job market is looking for out of a majority of candidates when it comes to what languages and applications you know. Companies are looking for developers with knowledge in Redux, Python, and C# or Java. These are languages you will not be taught in this course.  However, you will learn quickly as a developer that the moment you quit investing time into growing your knowledge base, the industry will start to slip past at a rapid pace. 
So I want to say, do not believe that once you take this course you will have a golden ticket to endless career possibilities. If anything, this is the first step, and the job-hunt grind that ensues may take some time and a tremendous amount of effort. If you take this course seriously, don't take the shortcuts that appear at times, and put in the extra hours (though they can be demanding), then you will be in a great position for getting your new career path jump-started.
 
The staff for this course is amazing. The instructor and the TA's are available whenever you need them and will walk you through any issues or questions you have, no matter how simple or difficult they may seem. 
Career services is OK. They really want to help you find a career, but its more of them teaching you how to job hunt rather than anything else. The instructor is your best solution for real advice when it comes to the job process as they all live it and currently facilitate it for their company.
Happy Hunting. You cannot go wrong with this course, but remember the golden rule post graduation, ABC (Always Be Coding).

The program was initially advertised as a sixth-month in-person full-stack Boot camp program designed to make the novice career ready.  Due to the Corona Virus pandemic and subsequent closer of Case Western Reserve's campus, the class became a remote learning experience.  This change in venue greatly devalued the program.  Classes were essentially lectures.  The instructor was resistant to questions from the novice learner during the lecture.  In fact, the instruction seemed geared more towards those in the class already in tech professions. The instructor often times went off on tangents during instruction that may or may not be related to the lesson.   I can only speak for my experience, but this format left me often time lost and hopelessly behind in the class.  On occasion, the TAs would pull the students into a breakout room during the instruction, once again creating an environment not conducive to learning.  The majority of meaningful learning, for me, took place by watching free tech coding videos on youtube.  At some points, additional resources were provided by the Boot camp administration, but this occurred infrequently and inconsistently (only 2-3 times during the six-month experience).  After successfully completing the program, I feel no more prepared for a tech career than when I began. 

Honestly this was a big waste of time and money. Though a bootcamp, there was never a chance to really go in-depth in certain areas and was never truly a reassurance that students understood the material. Most of my comprehension came from tutoring. The last part of the program happened to be during Covid which kinda made it worst due to the lack of focus. Overall I’m just not happy with my time and experience with the program. I feel there was some many scenarios or real like functionally of web development that could have been explained but weren’t. I just expecting more out of my investment.