Chegg Skills Reviews
Page 15
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Graham Walker
Great Online Bootcamp
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I wish I had done Thinkful sooner than trying to study on my own. The mentor sessions are crucial to excelerating your learning. The curriculum sifts out what you need to know, but allows you the chance to learn more in depth about a topic if you want to. I recommend you do. There are Q&A sessions with experienced developers multiple times a day. The slack channel is supportive and you'll always get help to a problem you are having. Remember to be specific. You won't regret taking this bootcamp.
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Tsehaye Habtom
Student
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I have being working as Statistician (Data Analyst) and programmer (statistical and database) for many years. I know I have extreme passion and patience in programming. I was looking for programming that can challenge me and mostly that I enjoy doing it. Last year, I heard about computer programming Bootcamps from a coworker and I did more research about the different computer programming Bootcamps. I didn't know nothing about Thinkful before . In the third quarter of last year, I filled my profile on switchup.org and they recommended me Thinkful. When I talked to Benjy from Thinkful on the phone, I knew I found the right program for me. I found it very convenient for me. I work full-time, take care my family, and learn modern web development.
Among the many things that I love about Thinkful is that they have a well-established learning platform(technology). Moreover, many people are involved in teaching and evaluating your skills throughout the program. You have a program manager, a one-on-one mentor, technical evaluator, capstone project evaluator, and career coach. The mentors are very competent. A big shoutout to Moosa Hassan who was my mentor for the first part of the program who used to sacrifice his time more than two hours of his time in every session.
I am almost half way in the program and I love everything of it. I can't talk about career placement as I haven't graduated yet, but as of now, I would definitely recommend the program to anyone who is interested to challenge themselves and learn everything about full-stack web development.
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Tony Brancato
Amazing Online Bootcamp
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Why Thinkful
In April of 2017 I decided that I was going to learn how web development. I had no idea what language(s) I wanted to learn or even what languages I should learn. So, utilizing one of the only useful skills from my degree in History, I researched.
And then I researched some more.
After spending some time with a free “learn to code” site, I found that I enjoyed it and could see myself developing web apps as a career. I consumed hours of Youtube videos on coding bootcamps, read the seemingly endless reviews from the various bootcamp review sites (like this one!), and reached out to people I knew working in the industry.
After all that research I concluded the following: Thinkful has the most employable curriculum - After all, getting a job is priority #1, right? Their full stack javascript curriculum is essentially what is gaining demand. Thinkful’s curriculum is built to change - This was one of the biggest factors for me. Knowing that Thinkful keeps tabs on the ever-changing web development industry means that what you learn is what is being used in the industry today. Thinkful has a job guarantee - They’re not the only ones, but they’re one of the few. Also, the guarantee does not apply to me, but the fact that they offer it and the fairness of their terms led me to believe that they’re putting their money where their mouth is. Longer Mentor Sessions - When I compared the length of the mentor sessions to Thinkful’s competition, Thinkful won by 30 minutes per session. Not a small number, especially since those sessions are the real selling point of the program.
Getting Started with Thinkful
I began working the Thinkful curriculum in mid-May of 2017 and began my mentor sessions the following month. Thinkful allows for up to a one month lead time on beginning the program. This was invaluable as I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
About a week before my first mentor meeting, I was assigned a mentor. My time with my first mentor was rather short (about a month) and I ultimately requested a different mentor. While my first mentor was a great guy and seemingly knowledgable developer, we just didn’t hit it off. And here’s the thing–unlike college/university, you get to choose who your educator is. Don’t like them? Ask to be paired with someone else, that simple.
Within a few days I was paired with a new mentor. I finished up the first piece of curriculum, fundamentals, about a week after meeting my second mentor. Then the real learning began.
As I progressed through the fundamentals of web development and then started on server-side programming, I truly began to see the value in having a mentor. Online videos and mass-marketed-subscription-curriculum will only get you so far–eventually you’re going to want to have a conversation about what you’re learning.
The Value
Curriculum
First, Thinkful’s curriculum is amazing, largely due to how succinct it is. It tells you nothing more than you need to know, and certainly nothing less. While the curriculum might seem limited at first glance, it is actually just well written and chock full of links to examples that put the subject into practice.
The People
I had a realization during my graduation call with my program manager; during my time as a Thinkful student, I never once felt like I was by myself. Sure, sometimes I (foolishly) didn’t reach out for help when I encountered a problem but the resources were always available. There are sometimes dozens of Q&A sessions available each day, their Slack channels contain innumerable useful tidbits about web development (often the Slack conversations are better than some meetups I have attended), and the mentors are an invaluable resource.
The students also play a massive role in each other’s courses as we are always helping one another. Nothing hones your skills as a developer more than assisting someone with their problems.
The Mentor(s)
While at Thinkful, I developed relationships with multiple mentors though I was only assigned two. This happens because every mentor cares about your development as a student, regardless if you are assigned to them or not. If they see that you need help, they help–simple. I had two mentors assigned to me over the course of the program and each was instrumental to my success as a student.
Additionally, the mentors make you work for an answer. Stuck on something? They’ll point you in the direction, offer clues, and tell you if you are warm or cold. In my opinion, that is one of (if not) the best teaching methods for learning this material. Coming to most solutions on my own–with guidance, of course–has made a huge impact on my confidence in my abilities as a new developer.
Career Services
From day 1, you and Thinkful have one goal–Get. You. A. Job (as a web developer). Also, from day 1, they’ve got an entire staff of folks to help you do just that.
After you graduate, you go to school again, except this time you are learning job hunting techniques that can make or break your search. Oh, and you get assigned to a career specialist that will help make introductions on your behalf. I mean, if that’s not value, I don’t know what is.
Was There Anything Bad?
As with everything in life, with the good comes the bad. Fortunately for myself and Thinkful, the bad is mostly negligible.
The only thing that I believe Thinkful needs to work on is their growing pains. They are expanding rapidly, and it seems that sometimes their people are a bit overworked. That being said, I have never felt like the attention I received from a Thinkful staff member or mentor was anything but the ever-so-coveted, undivided attention. Whether I was in a one-on-one mentor session, a 15 person Q&A, or receiving a reply to an issue on Slack, I felt like I was being addressed. Now, this may not sound like a lot, but after spending 5 years at a university and an adolescence in the public school system, this feeling of always being one-on-one is exactly what I needed to succeed.
Well, looks like I managed to turn their one negative into a positive. What does that tell you?
Final Thoughts
While I am only beginning my job search this week, I can confidently write the following:
I built three apps from scratch, each one increasing in complexity. I understand the development process at a base level. I have a general understanding of computer science fundamentals. I can look at a design sheet or a HTML wire frame and make a functional, responsive, and mobile friendly web app.
I could not have written those sentences 7 months ago.
Ultimately, I was able to become qualified to be a junior developer while still working my 9–5 (more like 8–6) 5 days a week. The program flexed when I needed it to and I was still able to maintain my commitment and learn the fundamentals for a new career. If you feel that you have similar goals and situation, I urge you to contact the good folks at Thinkful and learn more.
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Ross
Great Experience
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Enrolling in Thinkful's Flex Program was one of the best decisions I've made for my career. They have a pretty comprehensive curriculum that gives you a solid foundation in web app development using some of the hottest modern web technologies. When I first enrolled I thought there were some things left to be desired in the curriculum, especially for people that were new to coding. But it was regularly changing and improving, which I thought shows their dedication to a quality education. They don't teach you every language or framework, but through 1-on-1 mentorships and interview practice, you really get a sense of what companies are looking for in a web developer. You're also able to make great connections with other students and mentors on their Slack channels and Q & A sessions. There is a wealth of resources available to you as a student, and the community is always there to help or just chit chat about coding or the industry.
One of the things that really stood out to me as I was browsing bootcamps was Thinkful's transparency and how they openly share statistics on student outcomes. That was really what lead me to choose them over their competitors. After enrolling and graduating I really felt the honesty and integrity that they have. The mentors and coaches really want you to succeed and are more than willing to accommodate your needs as a student even if you need extra time to deal with things in your personal life or need some extra boost in your knowledge or ego (coding can really kick you in the butt sometimes). There is a great community building around Thinkful all around the US/world and that will only help you as a student and as a developer starting your new career. -
Amanda
Great Online Full Stack Course!
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After I decided I wanted to learn web development, I did a lot of research before choosing Thinkful. I considered in person and online bootcamps, full and part time courses, 3 and 6 month programs, different technologies, etc. There are so many options and I am so glad I chose Thinkful's online Full Stack Flex bootcamp.
Why I liked Thinkful's Full Stack Flex course:
- Learn the most current tech - JS, Node, MongoDB, React, Redux
- Written course materials instead of videos - easy to go back and reference when working through projects
- Lots of examples and small projects to enforce the concepts
- Several options to get help - mentor, slack channels, Q&A sessions
- Go your own pace - it's online and you are not in a cohort with others so once you understand something you can move on
- Mentor to keep you on track and review your work
- Graduate with 3 projects and a portfolio to showcase them
- Career services to help you if needed after graduation
My one suggestion for someone considering the full stack flex program would be to take some HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery courses before starting. Yes, they teach it all in this course, but it was really nice going into the class and already having some prior knowledge. It made learning the rest a little less daunting.
I did the course full time, working 40-50 hours a week and completed it in 3 months. I really liked that you only have to pay for the months you use, so I was refunded for the other 3 months of the 6 month program. I graduated with a solid portfolio and was able to find a job within a month of graduating. I love coding now!
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Adam Rosenblum
Best Career Decision I've Made!
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I am a recent Thinkful graduate (11/30/2017) and I can honestly say that enrolling in Thinkful was one of the best career decisions that I have made. Before Thinkful I had tried a lot of other online courses, but had never been very successful.
What differentiates Thinkful in my mind is the mentorship, Slack channel, and Q&A sessions, so you are never alone. Learning to program is hard work and not having to learn it alone makes a huge difference.
After graduating I had an amazing career counselor that worked with me and I was able to find a job within a couple of months as a Front End Developer. My new career would not have been possible without the amazing people at Thinkful.
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Seth Brown
Great Program, Be Prepared to Work Hard
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I had a mostly wonderful experience at Thinkful. I did the Flex (AKA part-time) Full Stack Web Developer course, which requires you spend about 20-25 hours a week over the course of 6 months. I worked full time while I was in the program, and it was not easy! Be prepared to have minimal free time for many months. Also, there are post-graduation requirements to maintain the job guarantee, you have to apply to 7 jobs a week and attend 2 meet ups a month, so even after you finish, you don’t get a break until you get a job.
That being said, if you’re up to the challenge it can be extremely rewarding! I got hired within 3 months of graduating and nearly doubled my income with my first job!
Also, the guidance staff at Thinkful is incredible!! They were there for me every step of the way and always had my back. My mentors were such a valuable insight into the tech world, and my career coach taught me basically everything I know about job hunting!
Summary: if you’re up for a challenge, this program can be extremely rewarding, but don’t do it on a whim or if you’re not prepared to give up your Saturday nights.
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Marcy
EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS
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THINKFUL MORE THAN EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS. It provides the individualized help, support and sense of community that I’d previously thought were only available through an in-person program.
I really did my homework before settling on Thinkful’s online full-time immersive program.
The first program I looked into was ‘in-person’. I didn’t sign up because I didn’t feel the curriculum was ‘ahead of the curve’, and I felt my contact at the school was more of a salesperson than an educational advisor. Next, I found an online program that had the curriculum I was looking for and attended for about a month. While this was a very good experience, I wasn’t being challenged enough so I looked elsewhere. ( This school was very good about pro-rating and returning the remainder of my tuition. )
I enrolled at Thinkful because the curriculum keeps just ahead of the current industry and because of the amount of support the school provides. Besides having a dedicated mentor, several QA sessions with professional developers are available every day.
A big part of what made my experience so fantastic was my program manager, Theresa. When life events, conceptual stumbling blocks or other conflicts hindered my progress, she provided me with a variety of resources to help me through.
Even after graduation, Theresa and the careers team continued to support me until I got an incredible job. And now, almost a year later, I continue to refer to my coursework.
Attending Thinkful was not only, one of the best experiences of my life, was an invaluable investment in my career.
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Nic
Excellent course
The Thinkful Data Science Bootcamp is an excellent course. The curriculum is broad enough to cover needed topics without being touch-and-go (if I may call it so). It has a healthy dose of "do-it-yourself" exercises. Mentor was an expert. One thing that could be improved is sometimes a bit more clarity on the degrees of freedom of particular classifiers.
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Missy Tracy
Data Science Flexible Bootcamp
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I'm currently taking the Flexible Data Science Bootcamp and couldn't be happier with my decision. I researched various in-person and online bootcamps for a year before finally deciding to go with Thinkful. I was initially skeptical of bootcamps in general. Coming from a background in academia (environmental engineering), I was afraid I would be wasting my money for an intangible result. I was wrong! I'm only about a month into the program but am blown away by how much practical knowledge and coding ability I have gained in such a short time.
The online learning platform is great, as is the flexible schedule. The program has a very personal feel. You set a pace that works for you. I've also been really impressed with the entire Thinkful community. Having a personal mentor is a huge benefit and holds you accountable. I'm very excited to continue to grow my skills over the next several months.
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Matt
Lives Up To (And Exceeds) Every Expectation
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Attending Thinkful was probably one of the best decisions I've made. I've waited until I was hired as a developer before reviewing so that I could give a full review of the bootcamp, both the curriculum and the post-grad support.
To give some context - Prior to Thinkful, I had dabbled in several fields - academic research, law, and recruitment. For various reasons, they were not satisfying to me. In the spring of 2017, I decided to relocate to Seattle. Alongside the move, I decided to give software engineer a chance as I had always been interested in it and thought it was the perfect time considering the move.
I was looking for several things in a bootcamp - the ability to do it online since I was relocating, the opportunity to work with others, the opportunity to be taught by somebody who worked in the field, a solid structure to the curriculum that would guide me as I learned, a portfolio to demonstrate my skills upon graduation, and a guarantee that I would get a software position of some sort (or lacking that a solid history of placing people in a position).
Thinkful immediately stood out to me because, to my surprise, they met every single one of my criteria, including, the best case, the job guarantee. I'll review each of my criteria in a short (or long) summary of how Thinkful did and didn't live up to them. (Spoiler, they did).
Mentor - This breaks down into two, engineering mentor and career mentor. Thinkful's mentor support has been phenomenal. I worked with an engineer that knew his stuff, guided me when I struggled and, most importantly, let me struggle instead of giving me answers. Our relationship was tight over the 6 months I worked with him and I truly couldn't have asked for a better one. When I graduated, I was placed with a career mentor who guided me through the tough and draining application processes, always motivating me and helping me get better. The amount of resources made available to me was staggering. I truly wouldn't have been able to find a job as quickly as I did without her help. Thinkful absolutely shines when it comes to the mentor support.
Work with Others - As I did the part time, I was solo for most of the bootcamp. Thinkful offers extracurricular lectures and a very active community of other learners for you to tap in to. So while I wasn't mandated to interact as part of the part time bootcamp, the community was there and extremely helpful.
Curriculum - This was arguably one of the most important considerations. Thinkful's curriculum is not only excellent, but constantly updated to stay relevant. The Thinkful team was constantly improving on the curriculum and keeping active students informed of additions so that we could revisit the improved information. Aside from the improvements, the material itself was relevant, clear, and easily understood. It had a number of practice problems/projects that helped to refine my understanding and had a number of guided lessons to help. In addition, they constantly sought feed back to ensure that the material was error free and easily followed. The curriculum covers an extremely modern (and desired) stack and it teaches you how to teach yourself. So while the stack my go out of style in the future, the skills and methods you gain from Thinkful goes beyond just one stack but how to think like an engineer. However, their coverage of Computer Science fundamentals was extremely brief and in my opinion did not prepare me as well as it could have for interviews. This is probably the only criticism I can make of Thinkful. But, I cut them a huge amount of slack primarily because this is NOT a computer science degree or program. It is a web development program. So they focus a ton of effort for preparing you to be a web developer. And as I touch on before, they teach you to teach yourself. So they introduced basic computer science fundamentals and provided a cursory overview and I was able to supplement that information with my own research and study. Interviews are curious to know if you have a basic grasp of this information, so having a solid understanding of it is important to get through the initial interviews.
Portfolio - I sought a portfolio so that I could have real projects to show to prospective employers. As part of the bootcamp, you're required to develop 3 projects and a portfolio site (plug- https://mattpeebl.es). These projects are rigorously reviewed to ensure originality and mastery over the subjects. They also give you a ton of things to talk about during interviews. I was extremely pleased by the requirements they set and the feedback I was given to improve.
Job Guarantee - This was the clincher for me. A job in software development within 6 months of graduating or my money back, in full. This alleviated so many of my worries and was the deciding factor for me. Thinkful takes great care to ensure you do get employed and works tirelessly to see that you do. In my experience, this wasn't an empty promise but one of their core values that they strove to meet everyday.
There's a ton more I could go into - like the constant support I received from their support team, the ability to place the course on hold when life gets in the way, the project managers who were extremely available, their huge success in creating communities across the United States, their vote of confidence in not just their students but the tech community as a whole with their most recent fund-raising series and so much more.
Thinkful was, again, truly one of the best decisions I've made and gave me the means and knowledge to work in my chosen field, successfully. 5/5 across the board from me.
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L. Morales
Thorough Front End
Excellent experience with Thinkful's Front Web Development course. My mentor asked the best questions and always provided clarity on the coursework. Curriculum is no joke though---be prepared to work hard.
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Ryan
Thinkful Flexible Program
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I am currently finishing up my second month of the program. They provide you with everything you need to learn from a blank slate. You will have a mentor, a program manager, helpful developers that host q and a sessions, and a community on slack eager to assist. It has been a great experience so far and manageable with my full time job. If you are very serious about getting into this field, this is a great avenue to take. I had no prior programming experience before this. I simply like technology and enjoy problem solving. None of this program has felt like school. I would encourage you to explore this field and see if it interests you. If it does, Thinkful is a great option.
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Jinesh
Excellent program, great mentors!
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I made the decision to apply to Thinkful's bootcamp back in September 2017. It's now January 2018 and I can confidently say it was a great decision. The amount I've learned in only a couple months is amazing. This course is very fast paced, but it's also extremely rewarding.
I've had two different mentors, one for the Web Development Fundamentals part and one once I entered the Full Stack part of the curriculum. Both mentors had distictly different teaching styles, yet both were extremely knowledgable and helpful when I was stuck or struggling to grasp a concept.
Another great thing about the course is that they not only teach you Full Stack Web Development, but also teach you ways to get involved in the tech community around you through meetups. They are dedicated to making sure you have the skills to be a developer and they are also dedicated to teaching you ways to network.
I have not gotten to the Job Assistance part of the program yet as I am still working through it, however, I have talked to a career advisor who has been extremely helpful in helping me decide on places to look at once I finally reach that part of the course. Also, my career advisor provided me with resources to look at for my future job search while I work through the course. The support provided by all the people I've experienced at Thinkful has been great and I look forward to continuing the course! I would highly recommend Thinkful, but keep in mind that you have to be dedicated to the course and put in the time to succeed. You will invest a lot of time and effort, but it is definitly worth it.
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Caleb
Thinkful Full Stack Flex Bootcamp
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I enrolled in the flexible bootcamp option, intending to do it after work each day. A week later I ended up losing my job, and thus was able to do the 6 month part time program in closer to 3 months. I should finish early February.
Thinkful is so transparent with what they ask of you as a student, and there are always at least two people you can go to for answers about those larger, career minded questions.
As far as the curriculum goes, it’s a very well rounded and well thought out curriculum compared to others I’ve tried. It won’t teach you everything a 4 year university will teach you, but you’ll get a solid base and have a portfolio to show for it. How good your portfolio looks is completely dependent on how much time you put in. Towards the end of the program, there’s time to go back to previous projects and edit them or polish them a little bit as your knowledge expands, but you won’t really need to.
They lay everything out so well that it’s super easy to follow along and have a clear vision of where you’re going. -
Jeff
Great Curriculum and Community
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I'm really impressed with Thinkful so far. I've been enrolled in the flex web dev bootcamp for about two months and have learned a lot. The curriculum is laid out really well and my mentor Nathaniel has been a really nice person to learn from -- he clearly has a ton of experience and does a good job of explaining the concepts.
I tried a bunch of different things before Thinkful including freeCodeCamp, Viking Code School, and a bunch of courses on Udemy. The difference with Thinkful is that they do a good job of providing a polished learning experience from beginner to junior developer. Also, it's really encouraging knowing that I'll have 6 months with a career counselor after I finish the curriculum. This coupled with the consistent check-ins and mock interviews make me feel pretty confident that I'll be able to find a job after I'm done.
I would highly recommend this course for someone who has been learning on their own (or is just starting) and feels a little uneasy without a clear path to work through on the way to getting a job. There are some amazing resources out there, but this is the first thing I've done that has allowed me to be less stressed about if I'm spending time on the right things as I learn.
Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in this sort of program.
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Carly Sierra
Truly Flexible
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Overall, I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is looking for a big life change and enjoys the work. I love that I can do it from home and the schedule flexibility it offers. The curriculum is in depth without being too much for a total beginner to grasp. It can move quickly at times, so some prep can be helpful starting out (Codecademy, freecodecamp, etc). Reach out and utilize the resources you're paying for!
Some cons are: The curriculum can be (intentionally) vague at times. The intention is to encourage self-research, reaching out to others for help, and solving problems independently. It can be frustrating, but leads to realistic preparation and expectation for the type of work. Also, the mentor selection is random so the match may not be the best for individual needs. There is an option to request a new mentor, though, if it does not work out.
This program will help you in whatever direction you want to go. The mentors, community, and lifestyle changes are easily worth the cost.
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Jorge Rodriguez
I love it
I love that there is so much flexibily with this course. With everyone being so busy, it helps that I can set my own schedule, and having mentors guiding me every step of the way is a major plus. If you are serious about web develepment, this is a great stepping stone to get the career that you desire.
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Richard Greene
The Future of Education
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My time with the iOS course has been not what I expected and I mean that as a good thing. I was aware that I would have a capstone project to finish at the end of the course but what I didn't know is that the project is where I would be learning the most about Swift. My mentor was a valuable asset to have to guide me and was the highlight of the course. As such, this review will be mostly about my experience with my Capstone project and my mentor while using the course as reference and materials.
I would say the Capstone made up 75% of my Thinkful course length and the fact that there is no set limit to how long you can stay enrolled was perfect for that. The course was basic enough that I was able to implement things I learned and recheck the sections in order to properly add or troubleshoot features pertaining to my app. Though I wish there was a feature that let you dive further into a certain subject like game development and using web services in other instances. My mentor was extremely kind and helpful as our sessions evolved from reviewing what I learned in past sections and introducing the next section(s) to guiding me to make my app better. Even with our near 12-hour timezone gap, we were still able to send emails back and forth and set time for sessions. We would spend our time troubleshooting problems I had that the course materials didn't go over and were slightly too dated to answer.
Overall I would have to say that the 1 on 1 mentor sessions were the best parts about my Thinkful course as it gave a human face and mind to the course materials you would work on throughout the week between them. I only wish I could've been able to schedule more than one session per week as I would've been able to get more done getting questions answered and being introduced to new subjects. Thinkful is exactly what I needed for someone who didn't wish to commute every day to a classroom to learn a new skill. This is the future of specialized education.
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TK
Thinkful Experience
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I graduated from Thinkful in August 2017. I thrived from havinig a cohort sized at 8 because it felt like a space where I could comfortably ask questions or discuss with classmates when I didn't understand concepts. I walked away from Thinkful knowing how to do a lot of "things" in javascript on both the front end and backend. It was during the career services portion of the course I realized I was closest to becoming a developer because before the program ended I still couldn't imagine it. Building Javascript 30 applications, a suggestion of one mentor, gave me a better understanding of the foundational curriculum Thinkful jumpstarted us with. I had an ally from the class that I worked through problems daily in a safe space where we grew from our mistakes implementing solutions. I also had a career coach that helped me identify my weeknesses then provided pointers to strengthen them for my next interview or project. I liked most that when I was interiewing, mentors were ALWAYS available to double look over assignments, clarify concepts, or give me a confidence boost with helpful feedback. This tremendously helped me grow and learn that my work as a developer only enhances with conductive criticism. The connections that the career coaches made with Thinkful's existing partners was so helpful. It ultimately led me to multiple offers and my ability to choose my the best fit for me. If you're thinking "I can't", you definitely can... because you'll have a whole team rooting for you and encouraging you through the gruesome and vunerable interview process.
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Mila B
Data Science Prep Course
I definitely did my share of researching online offerings before deciding on Thinkful’s DS prep course. It’s been a positive experience and I’m learning a lot. It is a solid alternative to in class studies and the pace is self directed. Thinkful has some amazing mentors and I’m looking forward to enrolling in the bootcamp.
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Michelle Barker
Currently enrolled in the flex program
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I am taking Thinkful's full-stack flex program now. It's definitely intense, but I'm amazed at how much I've learned in just a few short weeks! My brother works as a developer here in Atlanta and has been in this field for 20+ years, and I'm learning things he only learned in the past year! A few times I actually knew about something he never even heard of, so I got to educate him a little bit! Because I'm doing this online I really appreciate the fact that they offer free classes every week so I have the opportunity to sit down in a classroom-like setting and have some of the concepts explained in further detail. You also get between 3 and 6 hours a week with your mentor, so there's help available should you need it. I'm so glad I made the choice to do this and can't wait to see what comes next!
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Jon
Awesome experience. Get ready to work
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I chose Thinkful because I was sold on the fact that they update their curriculum based on what's popular in the industry. So at the time of my experience, React and Node were the two big guns, and now I feel pretty comfortable after my months of hard work and motivation.
Thinkful's best asset is its mentorship. You get to have a 1-on-1 meeting with someone in the industry who knows his/her stuff. During my weeks of React, I got someone who is amazing at React. During the Data Structures week, I got another guy who exceled in that. I would also like to mention having a boot camp that has time spent in Data Structures and Algorithms will REALLY benefit you come interview time.
Basically, you never feel alone, despite this being an online/remote experience. I struggled learning to code because I didn't know where to start or who to meet. Thinkful put me in front of the right people and more importantly, kept me motivated, because face it: you have to do this yourself!
Oh, and I got a job pretty quickly after the course finished. They take their career services pretty seriously as well :-)
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Kristoffer Panahon
A+
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Short Version
I was spooked by the whole remote thing. I wasn't sure about who I'd be working with or what the quality of everything would be. If you're on the fence about this school, don't think twice. This is a great program that's been well thought out, and it's going to get you to where you need to be. I have zero regrets dropping $14k on the full-time program.
Long version
WHY THINKFUL?
Prior to Thinkful, I went to App Academy in NYC. I made it to three weeks and then quit. I commuted 4 hours from the burbs, and slept 3-4 hours every day. I couldn't retain knowledge, my brain tapped out.
After leaving, I set out to find a school that eliminated my biggest issues with App Academy — pace and commute. After much digging, I found Thinkful, and it turned out to be more or less what I was expecting (which is a wonderful thing), after Benjy and Bhaumik fielded my bajillion questions about the program.
CURRICULUM
The quality of Thinkful's curriculum was the biggest unknown to me, and I'm happy to report that it's legit. You could tell it was crafted with care and attention to detail. Sure, I'd find typos, but if you can get over that, the high quality is apparent. Only once or twice did I need to reference outside resources, but I always heavily favored Thinkful's interpretation of a topic (as opposed to some half-baked or outdated tutorial on the web). The biggest compliment I can give to Thinkful's curriculum is that it reminds me of a textbook — it felt like the foremost authority on the topic at hand.
Other than teaching us the skills to confidently be called Web Developers, we learned how to discuss programming topics with others, which I found to be essential in forging the sorts of relationships that would later turn into job opportunities.
STAFF
With the staff that you work with on a daily basis, you quickly learn that these folks are 100% invested in your success. They genuinely care. I'll go into who I feel were the heroes in my experience.
Instructors. I can't understate the importance of the instructors. They create/maintain the learning materials, present them, and are a resource themselves. All of our instructors demonstrated an airtight command of their topic, and they were always available to take questions. (Shout out to Rich, Chris, Joe, Tauhida, and Ray!)
Program Manager. Invaluable to me is the person who's running the show, and managing the cohort's day-to-day. Thinkful assigns this person the title of Program Manager. Our PM, Theresa, was exceptional. I can't thank her enough for creating a synergistic, organized, personalized, and human experience. On a daily basis, we submit our thoughts to her (kinda like a diary), and she shrewdly makes adjustments based on your reflections. In the end, you're left with an experience that optimizes your learning and mitigates any peripheral hurdles. She was someone you could go to for anything and everything — positives/negatives, suggestions, questions, complaints, etc. In a remote program, I feel like this was a huge deal. And she was always very quick to respond, even on weekends, or late at night. To me, things felt seamless, but I'd guess a big reason for that is the Program Manager. Thank you, Theresa!
Mentor. Your mentor is a big deal. My mentor and I quickly established a rapport and that meant I could reach out to him for questions all the time. This was essential in my development throughout the course, because that meant I'd have minimal logjams, and additional enrichment on top of an already solid foundation. Considering the pace of the course, this is so, so important.
SUPPORT
You have SO many support avenues at Thinkful. Firstly, throughout the day, you have the TAs. Our TAs were stellar. I'm talking about Elias, Sidharth and Joshua. They're teaching us not only the solution to problems, but how to think about solving problems, and how to think about the bigger picture. Slowly but surely, their problem solving habits become our own, and to be given that skill is important for any uncharted territory that you have to tread later on. My only complaint is that on some days, there would be a significant wait because of students in the queue, but most of the time it wasn't bad at all.
I already covered mentoring so I'll move on.
There's always email and Slack, and folks in the full-time program get back to you within a day at the very most. Often, you get responses instantly. There's also a general "front end web dev" channel where you can post questions, but it's hit-or-miss.
You can also ask questions during the daily workshop (where the instructor is presenting the new material). Or you can catch the instructors before or after the workshop, which I did several times. Or, sometimes instructors would stay and help you well after end-of-day (looking at you Chris Klanac). They are the most knowledgeable in their particular topic and they were pretty easy to get a hold of.
When you get support, everyone's got a positive attitude (which was helpful for my sometimes negative/angry attitude lol). You never feel like you're rushed or wasting someone's time. You never feel punished if you're wrong. You're given help by an intelligent, polite, tactful person that's just trying to get you on board with the day's concepts.
My one major gripe I have with Thinkful are their Q&A sessions. This is like having office hours throughout the day, every day, even on weekends, on several (if not all) topics being taught in the course. In theory this is great, but I encountered firsthand what happens if you aren't aggressive about getting your question answered — sometimes you get cut in line! This is frustrating after waiting for 30+ minutes. I rarely used Q&A after that. It would be a boon if they had a queue function built into the session, and even better, if you were notified when it's your turn so you don't have to sit through a question that isn't relevant to you. CAREER SERVICES I was fortunate to get a job days after completing the program, so I didn't get to work with Career Services a lot. But I'll say that the time I did spend with them left me encouraged and feeling positively about the job hunt. I also think it says something about the school that I was able to get a job so quickly after graduation.
WRAP UP
The program isn't easy and you reap what you sow. It's important to understand that no one at Thinkful is going to force you to learn, or force you to work hard. They do a lot to keep you accountable on a daily basis, but ultimately you gotta decide how much you get out of it. There are no tests; there's nothing to keep you in fear of failure or dismissal. But as long as you can work hard every day, you'll be fine, because Thinkful will set you up to succeed. -
Nick
From No Experience to Employed
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I completed the Full Time Web Development course at Thinkful a little over a month ago, and have just been hired as a Frontend Developer at a startup in NYC. The cirriculum and people involved are both fantastic. They very clearly care about the success of their students, and do everything possible to get you hired.
You continue to build applications throughout the coursework, each getting more and more complex, until you have a full sized portfolio to help you get a job. The mentors along the way were excellent, helping with any and all problems I had.
Careeer Services begin after you have completed the course and last until you get a job. With daily and weekly check-ins with a career coach, you are actively working on your approach and job hunt, rather than just sitting around.
It worked for me, and it was work for you too.
I definitely recommend Thinkful to all!
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Paul
A Great Experience
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I enrolled in the Flexible Web Development Bootcamp because I work full time and have family. What I liked about it was it's at your own pace and you aren't forced to graduate by a certain point with half-baked projects. The plan was to make a career change from sales into becoming a web developer. Studied curriculum during 2016, so my viewpoint may be different that what's currently on the program in terms of curriculum. Graduated in 6 months time while dedicating on average 20 hours a week. It took me about 5 months to get a job in the Bay Area after I graduated. DISCLOSURE: Getting a job in the Bay Area out of a bootcamp is VERY HARD! There's a ton of talented competition out here, so bootcampers often get sidelined. Not impossible but difficult. I leveraged my previous experience combined with my new web developer skills to find a job that utilized both.
I came into the program with my feet wet on HTML, CSS, and a little JavaScript. That helped a bit as the curriculum and examples can be difficult to follow at times. A couple of times I took it upon myself to sign up for a $10 Udemy course on the side for specific topics to better my understanding. Curriculum was heavily text based, which is fine but I would have liked some diagrams or videos integrated.
The best part about Thinkful is the mentor program, which is where you meet 3x a week with a personal mentor who's already a web developer to talk through challenges and explore topics. Where the curriculum lacked, the mentor program filled the gap. I loved having my mentor and felt he gave me a wider perspective on what was being taught.
I really enjoyed building capstone projects which are portfolio pieces you'll need to show when job hunting. I probably spent more time that I needed to on some of them but the work paid off.
Career services was excellent and very supportive. They helped keep me on track with job applications and refined my resume and LinkedIn to shine in the best possible light.
The last section of the course focused on Data Structures & Algorithms. Kind of a minor focus in scope compared to the rest of the course but important to know. After finishing the course I took it upon myself to purchase a textbook on the subject and get better at it in prep for interviews.
I would recommend Thinkful to others! Very happy about my experience as a whole.
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Christopher
Thinkful 1.5 Months In
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Thinkful has taken my web development to a whole new level. I studied on my own for 6-8 months and decided I needed more structure. After only 1.5 months I have learned more than the entire time I was doing it on my own. Thinkful’s mentors, program managers, and curriculum are all top notch. The projects Are great at applying what you learn and building up to more advanced concepts. I know I will have a job after completing the course, and I will owe that all to thinkful.
-Chris
-Thinkful Student
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Josh Kuhar
Product Manager
The best way to learn programming is to build something. With Thinkful, you will build a lot of programs, to the point that you start thinking in larger terms of architecture and code maintainability.
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Jacqui Dow
Best Introduction to Data Science Out There
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I have been around the block in terms of learning basic python learning (in the hopes to get some data science chops): I've dabbled in Code Academy, General Assembly intro classes and a few free resources. The main issue I kept running into is integrating Python skills with Data Science. All other courses out there will teach you basic Python syntax, but getting the context-- how do I use this in real life and to solve data science problems-- is hard to get a grasp on.
Thinkful's prep course is the best introduction to Data Science out there. It teaches you the basics of Python in the context of data science -- so you are learning programming with purpose. The curriculum is well-written, witty, and engaging-- with plenty of opportunity to practice as you go. Though I haven't taken the full bootcamp (I don't feel it's the right time for me right now) I would absolutely go to Thinkful in the future to pursue Data Science further.
With that said, the one area I feel they could improve is the mentorship experience. I realize it's a tough nut to crack--matching the right people together, and quickly-- but there needs to be some more centralized approach to improve quality. For example, my mentor didn't really help guide my Final Project for the prep course based on the criteria that I was being graded on. He coached me through Python issues I was having, but ultimately my project ended up being less "data sciencey" than was expected of me.
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Alina
It's going great!
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I just started my 7th week with the Thinkful flexible bootcamp, and it has gone smoothly thanks to everything Thinkful has in place. If you're pretty motivated and can hold yourself to a schedule, this is probably the least stressful choice. My learning is all online and fits my schedule, but the 1-on-1 skype-style meetings with a mentor 3 times per week have helped me to discuss what I'm learning in the correct terms, and how this sort of project would work in a team setting. It is also great to have someone look at my code and take the time to tell me how it looks, and how I'm doing overall. When I'm stuck in between mentor sessions, there are Q&A video chat sessions I can jump into most hours of the day and run it by a Thinkful programmer. I imagine this support is what most of my tuition is paying for, and it's been really valuable.
I've already been encouraged to attend meetups and talk to a career coach, although the real coaching is supposed to start once you've 'graduated' the curriculum. The curriculum wastes no time; it explains only what you need to understand about a subject, but provides great resource links for when you do want more detail. I'll let you know about the job assistance once I get there :) -
Neha Kaura
My experience with User Experience Bootcamp
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My experience with Thinkful has turned out to be a very knowledgable one. The curriculum is straightforward and systematic. Interaction with mentors is encouraged. I was looking for a good introduction into the UX design techniques being a full stack developer wanting to get more into design.
Anna Mendoza is the mentor assigned to me. She has been a great help. We go over each assignment and the next steps in detail. She is always encouraging and goes the extra step to explain a concept.
To conclude i would recommend anyone looking for a good introduction to the core concepts in user experience to try out thinkful. I do believe the program is expensive and can be made more affordable. -
Robby
Full Time Web Dev Bootcamp
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Where I am now:
I figured it'd be good to start with where I am now to qualify my review. I currently work at a local 5 year old startup where we build software for other companies. I've been at my current position for about 10 months and have primarily been a mobile developer having done projects in React Native, Swift (ios), and Java (android) with a short time in web with MeteorJS and React.
My Review:
I enrolled in Thinkful's Full-time Web Development Bootcamp 2 years after graduating college with a degree in Architecture. I worked in a call center for a year before that and took 1 programming course (C++) in college in 2010. My experience with Thinkful was overwhelmingly positive and I was able to go from doing random lessons in Codecademy to building full stack web application to now, almost a year later building applications in different languages, working with scripting continuous integration, AWS and etc.
While there are many, many other bootcamps out there, one of the primary reasons I chose Thinkful was their transparency in their statistics and reviews. I saw many, many great reviews but also some mediocre ones which told me they did not censor reviews like I've seen other bootcamps do. I was also part of the second ever cohort and thought that they had a LOT of stake in me as a student. If I failed, they fail -- so it gave me much confidence in their ownership over my success.
The bootcamp is open to people of any and all backgrounds so if you've never coded in your life, you can still enroll in the program. Given this, the curriculum and assistance daily is very good. They provide TAs that are available during the projects and the actual written curriculum is broken down and constantly being improved. The TAs and curriculum writers are also relatively accessible and are able to clarify and assist. On top of that there is a mentor you meet with 4 of 5 weekdays to get more individualized assistance.
Read if you have programming experience: While this is really awesome and allows for you to learn from the very beginning, the curriculum can feel pretty slow at times if you have experience. Because I came in with some programming experience, I felt like the material could move faster and found ourselves finishing early on many of the days. One thing I wish would have been improved is having supplemental material or "challenges" to challenge those who come in with a little experience.
When it comes to the instructors, they're incredibly helpful and dedicated to our success. Not only do they help us with the material and concepts but they instill in us industry standard practices and try and stay on top of what the latest tech trends are. While many bootcamps were still teaching Angular 1.5 and etc. Thinkful saw the trend moving towards React and planned accordingly. The bootcamp has so many mentors from around the world that you can find a mentor for any language or framework you're working on.
When it comes to job assistance, they provide you with a career mentor that helps you build a resume and figure out your job hunting plan. Throughout the bootcamp, they have you do mock technical interviews and help you build your portfolio. My experience with the career mentor was pretty good overall with a couple of hiccups in the beginning. Overall, they provided assistance in helping find a job but really, this portion is on you and your initiative. I was very heavy on networking and applying to just a couple jobs and was able to get two offers within two months of graduating. Thinkful provided mentors and extra coursework to learn different frameworks to prepare for the technical aspects of the interviews.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with Thinkful and would recommend anyone to enroll and join the programming world!
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Jeremy S.
Thinkful definitely delivered for me!
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Nervous and skeptical is how I felt as I approached my first Thinkful intro session.
Could I really learn coding? I didn't know the first thing about HTML or CSS...
Would it be worth the money, time, and energy...?
Now that I've finished, it sort of makes me laugh at all the challenges that I feared would undermine my success. None of them actually happened.
Overall, Thinkful knocked it out of the park for me! Paid work started to become available even before I finished the course.
The #1 reason for my accelerated learning was my 10/10 mentor, W.N. One of the many things he did so well was to figure out where the limites of my knoweldge were, and then he would help guide me to the next step... week after week... month after month. Patient and diligent, he helped accelerate. Honestly, he went way above and beyond the specific terms of the mentor/mentee contact and was clearly personally invested in my learning.
Working together online from the same screen, going over the code, and having someone to guide me right there when I was stuck was invaluable. Mentor sessions were just a lot of fun too. We will be friends for life at this point.
My program manager was another all-star in my time with Thinkful. With every call he had awesome perspective from a few steps beyond that of pure development. He shared about the industry and helped motivate my entrepreneurial under pinnings to help really fan my fires to keep going. Big props to him D.F.
I came in as an online entrepreneur who had built a few wordpress websites for clients in the past. I just felt like there was so much I was missing. I knew nothing about coding, programming, what an API is or even the difference between back and front end development.
After my experience with Thinkful, I feel like a better informed person in this age of the internet. And it's not just about the coding, It's about learning to work collaboratively online and using the tools of the web to build and work through the web.
You can't learn everything from Thinkful, but that's not the point of web dev. It's more about devloping the tools to think about coding and web challenges. Once you have those skills, you can dive into documentation from different tools and technologies of all sorts and you will be better suited to pick up and use all sorts of skills that you had never needed until the next project moved you in that direction.
If you have the ability to commit to a path of study week after week and month after month, your return on investment for your time and energy in Thinkful will be more than worth it.
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Christopher
Thinkful Web Development Flex Program
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I am part way through the online program at thinkful. So far I could not ask for anything more. The resources and support available to you are awesome. There is always someone there 24/7 that is able to do their best to help. I have learned so much in a month and I have quite a bit to go. It has been awesome so far and look forward to working with career services to find a job!
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Kelsey Butler
Awesome Program
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I did quite a bit of research before applying to a software developer school. I wanted to make sure that I would have time to work full-time while I attended school. With the flexible schedule I have through Thinkful, I am able to do just that! My mentor always provides me with multiple options for our pairing sessions and understands that my schedule varies week-to-week. Additionally, I wanted a program that was worth the cost. I have always enjoyed teaching myself and asking questions later rather than a classroom setting. With the one-on-one teaching style, I am able to efficiently work through my own problems and have support along the way.
Even though the course work can be difficult at times, my mentor and extended thinkful community have been very helpful with my questions. I can see how much the thinkful staff cares about their students and our future success. I am excited to move forward in the program and start looking into my career as a sofwatre developer. Keep up the good work, Thinkful!
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Michael Klear
Effective Remote Data Science Bootcamp
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While I would prefer to attend a physical class, I'm never in one place for long enough to get through a class. I was so glad I found the Thinkful data science bootcamp! I just completed the bootcamp prep course, and I've already learned so much.
I'm a self-taught programmer, but without any guidance, I was unable to focus on developing specific skills. That's exactly the piece that Thinkful has been able to provide. With one-on-one attention from my mentor and a well-structured course, I've already developed basic data analytics skills and I'm eagerly working towards becoming a full-fledged data scientist.
The prep course itself was an intense bootcamp experience. It introduced me to a lot of new topics and tools and asked me to use them in a capstone project at the end of just three weeks.
The Thinkful staff went above and beyond in making sure that my capstone project met their standard of quality before admitting me to the full course. I appreciate their effort to prepare me for the course - they would rather have me do a good job than take my money and admit me into the course unprepared. That means a lot to me.
I would recommend Thinkful to anybody who is unable to attend a physical bootcamp. This is the next best thing.
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Azizul Hoque
Thinkful - A perfect choice
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I have recently enrolled myself into Thinkful Flexible Full stack Web Development Bootcamp. Thinkful has a solid curriculum tailored for peaople with little to no coding experience. Each unit involves extensive material, exresices, drills and projects to make sure you learn how to code most effectively. Additionally, I have 3 times a week mentor sessions and endless access to Q&A sessions run by all Thinkful's amazing mentors. My Program Manager is always available for me to make sure I have everything I need to succeed. Fruthermore, I have to go through in total of 5 mock interviews to make sure I am prepared for the real world technical interviews. I have recently signed up for my first mock interview and very excited about it. So far, I am having an exceptional experiece learning how to code. Thinkful has created a wonderful curriculum and made all assistance available so I can be a successful Web Developer. Finally, job assistance option is just the cherry on top.
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Stephanie Chamblee
Great Program!
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I recently finished the iOS Swift course by Thinkful. The curriculum is simple to follow and taught me how to build an app from scratch, with hardly any prior coding knowledge. There are also meetings for Thinkful students in the Atlanta area which I found motivational in learning to code. My weekly meetings with my mentor were helpful when I got stuck or wanted to learn how to do things that were beyond the curriculum.
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Karina
Front-end Development Course
It was a fun but hard course for me. HTML and CSS were a breeze but make sure you make time for JavaScript!!! Q&A's helped a bunch!
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Mike Haslam
Flexible Web Development
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I am really happy that I joined the Bootcamp. Prior to coming to Thinkful, I enjoyed courses on FreeCodeCamp, Udemy, Codecademy, Watch and Code, Ray Wenderlich, and read some books. The courses with an online community were the best ones. All these are excellent resources, for the dedicated self-learner. in hindsight, I probably would have learned more, if I was more active in the communities. I did learn a fair amount but I was not focused enough. I found many a rabbit hole.
After a long time of deciding where to focus, I decided to focus on Javascript and React. Again after a long time checking where to study I picked Thinkful.
Having been in the Bootcamp for 3 months now, I initially discovered that after using Bootstrap before coming to Thinkful, and then asked to code the HTML and CSS from a design I realized that did not know as much CSS as I thought, don't get me wrong Bootstrap is a great framework, but by learning the fundamentals of CSS I understand more how page layout works. Another thing I discovered in my first mock interview is why it is really important to be able to explain concepts and that comes from a good understanding. Yes, I found I need a lot of work in this area, but I feel I am on the right track.
The next amazing thing I discovered was working with a mentor. I found that pair programming really helps me think more and not just look up answers. I got really lucky my mentor makes me think. Now I am writing code in ES6 using models and I feel I have a better grasp of debugging and reading code. Slowly getting better at reading documentation.
Also, I think it's really cool that there Q & A sessions, Slack and Workshops available pretty much several times everyday.
The curriculum has been great, but some things that I think would be more helpful would be more CSS projects where no frameworks allowed. Also, I think that more time spent using dev tools, for learning how to debug and also for learning to read and understand code better, would be very helpful.
I can't comment on job assistance yet but I have a good feeling so far.