Chegg Skills Reviews
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Meghan Allen Verified via LinkedIn
Designer Track - UI / UX Design
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This was a very inclusive and well rounded educational journey done virtually. I was facing a lot of challenges last year (as we all were) in 2020 and at some point down the line decided that I needed to try something new,: learn and polish up some new and existing skill sets. Thinkful (A.K.A Bloc.io) coursework fit right into what I resonated with. The mentors, Academic Success Team, and connections with other "classmates" via Slack made everything even more inclusive even without it being in-person.
Even when I was facing some pretty heavy life circumstances, my mentor and Academic success team helped me through while making me accountable. So understanding and supportive.
As for the coursework, it was self paced and seemed to be inclusive of all learning styles. It was a good mix of hands on, readings, and videos. There was also group sessions available almost everyday for your to jump in if you just needed to watch, listen, or have another expert help you with a project or module you were working on.
Not only that, but Thinkful had an expert chatroom that would connect you with a curriculum expert on the fly if you weren't able to jump into a group session.
After graduation, you will still have connections with the Career Sucess Team to land a job and polish up your interviewing skills.
So many options to be successful and reach your goal.
Thank you, Thinkful.
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Peter Verified via LinkedIn
If you enjoy development but find yourself needing structure, a bootcamp might be right for you.
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I signed up for the course after going the self-teaching route for a few months. While self-teaching I would often find myself going down various rabbit holes or jumping between languages or frameworks thinking that I somehow had to cram massive amounts of information into my brain. Here's what I've come to realize - there's more information in the world of programming than you could possibly master in a lifetime, and most developers only really grasp small pieces of it at a time in order to solve a problem at hand.
That brings me to where I found value in the course: it focused me on understanding the fundamentals of one aspect of programming, developing applications for the web browser. There's a sizeable market for this particular skill right now, and Thinkful did the work of figuring out which technologies are in-demand and guiding me in practicing them. There's a much higher value proposition in mastering one specific area of development than in trying to be a jack-of-all-trades.
The curriculum is well-written, well-paced, and well-structured. It was definitely the highlight for me. I didn't use the lectures or Q&A a whole lot, simply because there are so many high quality resources available on the web already that are hard to compete with. I found I understood something better by reading the MDN docs than by listening to someone talk about it on a video conference. However that might be particular to my temperament - someone else might prefer to talk to someone.
Mentor and Program Manager meetings happened weekly and were good for accountability, as well as for forcing me to clarify my understanding of concepts into words. I tried using the Technical Coaching a few times, but found that in the time it takes to explain a technical problem to someone it's usually faster to just figure it out for myself. I also engaged in discussions with other students on slack, which I often found to be valuable. If there's one thing I'd change, it would be to emphasize pair-programming more in the course. So learn from my mistake, and drag some fellow students into pair-programming sessions.
TLDR; I had a good experience with Thinkful. They provided me with solutions to my weaknesses: structure, focus, and marketing myself to HR departments. But definitely start with self-teaching and be absolutely sure that you enjoy spending hours of your day working on code and figuring things out before you sign up for a bootcamp. A bootcamp won't make you a developer, but it can be a useful tool in your journey to make yourself a developer. -
Kelley Buccieri Verified via GitHub
Engineering Flex
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If you have are interested in making a career change and are looking to work in the web development industry, Thinkful is the place for you. With very limited exposure to programming in the past, I was able to create two full-stack applications and several other web apps. This program is certainly challenging and at times frustrating(*debugging*), but it is every bit worth it if you have a passion for programming and solving puzzles. The career training I received from this program as well as the knowledge I obtained over the course of 8 months, has allowed me to pursue a career in web development. I was able to get a job within this industry just three months after graduating. I am very happy and grateful that this program was referred to me. If you're looking to turn your career around, take a look into Thinkful's programs. See if there's a fit! -
Keith Verified via LinkedIn
Fullstack Dev
It's pretty good. It's a fair bit of work, but it prepares you well. The job assistance is really spectacular. The non-educator middle management bureaucrat scumbag employees are the only concern I would go in with; that and the very strict and limited absence policy. Otherwise, it is a really good program that I do legitimately recommend. -
Nick Evelson Verified via LinkedIn
Great Experience but seriously study before starting
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My overall experience with Thinkful was fantastic. I really enjoyed the coursework and felt like I learned an incredible amount in 5 months. I was also paired with a great career coach who really helped me get a job (during covid!). One caveat about my experience though is that I had previous experience coding. I'd been doing it for about two years full time in Java when the primary language for the Bootcamp was Javascript. I felt like my prior experience really helped me spring board my learning. If I didn't know how to code prior to the camp, I worry that I would have spent a lot of sleepless nights and not absorbed the information they gave us as fully as I did. If you are thinking about starting this Bootcamp, I highly recommend studying heavily beforehand. The instructors and mentors are very supportive and will help, but nothing beats raw coding experience. Knowing the basics will save you a lot of all-nighters and help you focus on learning architecture and data structures/algorithms.
Finally, my only complaint was with one instructor in particular. I don't think it's his fault because the Bootcamp allowed his methodology but this one instructor LITERALLY JUST POSTED A VIDEO OF HIMSELF CODING and that was his lesson. He did not answer questions for long periods of time (probably afk) or even appear on camera to say hello. Our cohort was fortunate enough to only have him for a couple of days before switching to someone else, but this was NOT OKAY. I paid for a curated education and support system. If I wanted to just watch videos, then I would have just bought Youtube premium and saved myself $16000.
Right now, the video lessons are not the norm, but I asked my mentor, and it seems like the Bootcamp is experimenting with the approach. Let me just say that if they do with this approach, I would not recommend this Bootcamp. But as it stands now, I heartily recommend it. -
Yusuf Alp Verified via LinkedIn
Software Engineer
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I choose Thinkful because of several reasons. One reason was that I was looking to learn to React as the framework in their curriculum and this program was one of them. And then learning about Node, Express, and Postgresql was amazing. I also liked to structure of how the curriculum is designed. It is expected that you know the fundamentals of JavaScript, HTML/CSS before you start and if you don't, they have prep for that. Once you get a hang of the fundamentals, the real learning begins then. That was the curriculum I wanted. The second reason was the schedule. Since I still had to work and with my commitments to my family, I knew I had to sign up for a part-time program (they call it flex there). It was more self-paced than part-time. There are no live videos, and you do not belong to a set cohort (they had registration starting every Wednesday) but other than that you get to have everything the full-time students. they are also on a set schedule (something like from 8 am to 6 pm every day etc.) I liked the self-pace because I could spend as much time as I want on a new subject, learn the ins and outs, and practice as much while I can practice and glance at the topics I already know. Don't get me wrong, there are checkpoints in almost every step, and more than enough assignments are graded. So you have to pass them to move forward. Now comes the last part (or rather the first I listed in the title), the support. I started with the 15-day trial they had and even in that trial, they assigned me a mentor on the second day and we were expected to meet once a week (this becomes twice a week once you are done with the trial and register). Honestly, I am very grateful for the mentor I had, he was somebody who had 20 years of experience in the field (their mentors are engineers that work at other companies who chooses to be a mentor, and they are located anywhere in the world). I got a mentor before even I started to pay, can you imagine. I felt that they value support more than anything else. Then you have technical help, you use a chat tool to ask your questions (within the work hours but it was like 7am to 10pm) and almost always somebody answers. (I said that because I had answers to all of my questions but I heard people sometimes not getting answers). Then they have office hours (had I should say because near my graduation they removed it) where you could just join a video call and ask your question about the pre-determined subject and the lead will help you find a solution. They also had workshops and student presentations you could join anytime and just listen and learn a few things. Their AMA sessions were my favorite. (Again, they decided to re-design that concept near my graduation so it may not be there anymore). Another support and was really my go-to one was the Slack group. All the instructors, coaches, mentors, students, and alumni are on their Slack group and you could just ask a question and there is always somebody answers it, most of than not, it was other students which was great for peer learning but alumni jumped in and helped from time to time. On slack, you could also learn about personal experiences from alumni and how their professional life is after the program. Lastly, you have one assigned Academic Success Manager and they are your last resort if you couldn't find the support you needed and my ASM was awesome, she got what I needed sometimes faster than expected. You also check in with your ASM every month and bimonthly to go over your progress and graduation schedule and if you have any concerns.So for those reasons, I am so grateful that I chose Thinkful and I am so happy to know that I graduated. Onto the job search now -
Kristian Canler Verified via LinkedIn
Strong focus on coding/ML skills and constant, critical supervision
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What's incredible about Thinkful's process is what a strong emphasis there is on becoming a really strong coder, in SQL and particularly in Python. I spent about 90% of my time with Thinkful each week (which was a lot) hands on with coding, and pretty early on (I'd say at about the 1/4 or 1/3 mark) the significant majority of that coding time was in open-ended projects where I was expected to show a large degree of independence. At the same time, I was saved from wasting my time on bugs and other issues, beyond the first 20–30 minutes where working on the bug was actually informative, so that nearly all the time I was coding and working on projects I was building skills in an efficient way. There were data scientists available at all times to work with me personally on bugs, statistical questions, or any other issues, in addition to my bi-weekly meetings with Mark Peterson (a data science manager at Alliance Data) assigned to me. In addition, I worked with Jay Padhya (a data scientist at Fiat Chrysler) to critique each of my projects, and while for each one I had gotten the resources I needed to perform really well, he would also give me more suggestions for how I could stengthen my work or add depth in whatever way, be it with visualizations, hyperparameter tuning, or what have you. My mentor, Mark, was great not only with the details of ML and data cleaning, tools from Sci-kit Learn, etc, and pushing me to include more to make my projects more robust, but also being really clear about what's valuable about a project to a business or organization to make sure everything I was working from the get-go was creating value. All the time I spent with mentors was really high-quality because it was 1-on-1, which prepared me in a more direct way for a workplace context compared to the classroom setting typical at some bootcamps. I came out of Thinkful with way more expertise and confidence in my coding and modeling skills than I thought would have been possible, and the support they gave me basically made me more excited at the end of the process than at the beginning and eager to take on bigger challenges. -
Renata Dickinson Verified via LinkedIn
Engineering Immersion program graduate.
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My experience with Thinkful was really positive. I wanted a career change and I was lost on how or where to start from. I decided to start googling and checking to see what my options were since going back to a university wasn’t one. So in 2019 I have decided to start in a bootcamp. I was a Mechatronic Engineering dropout (years ago) and I had some contact with programming back in the day so programming wasn’t so uncharted territory. The question that I was stumbled upon was: which one? There are so many options out there! Well, it took me months and a lot of research to finally pick Thinkful and I will tell you why it was the best decision I have made. One of the things that was important for me was the technology itself that was being taught. I didn’t want to learn half old technology that I might use and half I would. On the courses I have seen on Thinkful they were all cutting edge and excellent for the market, as I researched openings in my area to see what kind of technology they were searching for. Secondly, I was deciding between remote or not. Remember, this was 2019, so no covid in site. Finally, what if I spend all this money and time and not get a job? The fact that Thinkful had guaranteed that if I finished and after 6 months searching for a job and not landing one, I would receive my payment back, for me, that was the turning point between all the other bootcamps.
Well, considering all those above mentioned I have decided to start the Engineering Immersion program. I knew it was going to be immersive, but oh boy I wasn’t expecting that much. I was extremely overwhelmed in the beginning! I truly believed that course wasn’t for me. Until I started to see how much I was learning. Even though content was being passed extremely fast, I was able to absorb some. After a month in, I saw I knew so much more than when I started! Not all were flowers and happiness, of course! I had my problems, my concerns, my share of crying and freaking out, but it was the best decision I have made, especially in a world full of uncertainty with covid around. I spend all those months dedicating my time to a career! -
Claire Hendry Verified via LinkedIn
Absolutely worth it!
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I came from a fine arts background with no coding experience and landed a job 10 months after starting the program. If I could do it, any one can! The Software Engineering Flex program at Thinkful was very challenging and pushed me to learn quickly. To be sure, this program requires a lot of self-motivation and determination; this is faced paced and can have a steep learning curve, especially for someone with little or no experience coming into it. However, Thinkful provided guidance, resources, and help that made it totally worth the cost.
I think the strengths of Thinkful and some of the reasons I chose this bootcamp over others were: the ability to do it part-time and on my own schedule (though it was a 30+ hr/week commitment and had an overall timeline to follow), the curriculum (focuses essentially on one fullstack approach, but it is applicable and comprehensive), having a mentor to check in with twice a week (a huge positive! My mentors not only helped me here and there when I was stuck with coursework, but also gave me lots of insights on breaking into the industry), the job guarantee (which I ended up not needing, but was a relief/assurance mentally), and the career search support after graduating.
The only criticisms (small!) I had were a general lack of opportunities to connect in person with other Thinkful students (yes, there is a Slack channel, but no events to go to pre-pandemic), and no formal opportunities to collaborate or work in a team-setting (this may be different for full-time, on-site students).
Regardless, I highly recommend the Thinkful program to anyone considering a bootcamp. Whether I was successful or not was up to me, but Thinkful provided all the tools I needed to get there! -
Aaron Barton Verified via LinkedIn
Overall great program
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As much as anyone thinking about joining an online boot camp I was skeptical and trying to figure out if it was the right thing to do. The career help and tuition reimbursement was definitely a big help in my decision-making process. I took the UX/UI Design Flex Program. The flex program gave me the opportunity to have a more flexible schedule juggling a full-time job and school. The Flex Program is the same program as the immersive program just a longer course due to it being on your time. The Mentors are great and really help tackle different concepts to help you see things from different angles to make sure you fully grasp the subject. The Success Managers are great also they are always there if you ever have any questions pertaining to the course and always making sure that your putting in the work to stay on track for graduation. I only had one con with the program and I can only say this for my particular course. That is when getting grading feedback for a project you will have revisions to do to pass which is great until a different grader looks at your revisions and decides to add more revisions on top of you already did. That can get very annoying especially for time purposes but last I brought this up I heard they are looking into fixing this problem. Other than that the course was great. The curriculum was very in-depth to help understand the particular subject. It has modules to read, videos to watch, and workshops to do to help solidify what you learned. Hope this review helps with your decision process of taking this course. -
Holly Rogers Verified via LinkedIn
You get what you put in
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I enjoyed my experience as much as you can enjoy school, but it was a very difficult course. I found that even though there is a curriculum to work through, you definitely get what you put in. I put in extra work, asked lots of questions, and spent time outside of the assignments working on code. I went in with zero coding experience and gained a lot from the curriculum, feedback, mock interviews and the mentor I worked with. I appreciated that Thinkful covered data structures and algorithms, since they are common in interviews and not every bootcamp covers them. Thinkful is one of the more expensive bootcamps, but I think it was worth the money. Plus, they do have a job guarantee and work with you weekly after you graduate so that you get a job. I was in the Nights and Weekends Engineering Immersion - it's part time but I ended up spending about 30-35 hrs a week on the course. -
Anthony Hill Verified via LinkedIn
Mentorship === success
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I come from a sales background and fell in love with software development through self-study and getting to know engineers I had met through work. I chose to study with Thinkful full-stack flex because I liked that I could work as fast as I wanted and I liked the tech they were teaching. I thought since I had self-studied, I could finish much faster than the allotted six months, but oh boy was I wrong… You really have to put in major hours (>30 hours) a week to get through the course work, but I think my desire to have a complete understanding of each topic really slowed me down and could have played a factor in my slowness. Overall I finished in 8 months. The part that saved me was my mentor. I had a great relationship with him and he was able to connect with me on a level other than just “here’s how to code this”. I was able to talk through my stupid questions and even talk through imposter syndrome insecurities. Meeting twice a week via zoom really was the highlight of my week, but, I would recommend having a shared doc that you can write down questions throughout the week so there’s no wasted time during the meeting. Having a mentor helped me understand that even though they were already a software engineer, they still had to google certain stuff and we spent tons of time debugging together. The course work itself was very text-heavy but was written in a way that was easy for me to comprehend. I found that if I had trouble with a particular concept, I could pull up Youtube or find articles online that could help me (which is an important skill to have). If I wasn’t satisfied with what I found, I knew that I could write it down and talk it over with my mentor in a few days. An aspect that Thinkful fails at (while I was there) was the community. They really push that the slack channel is a great place to connect with other devs, but I found that we were often on completely different parts of the curriculum so I couldn’t either find help with a topic or wasn’t able to chat comfortably on topics they were on. Also, there was no real “hang out” chatting—it was basically only tech help. (This improved as I was nearing the end of my time as I think they improved a bit on their processes with putting people in cohorts). Another thing I wish they had spent more time on was teaching the very basic fundamentals of web technology. I learned how to use tools, but didn’t truly deeply understand what was happening underneath the hood. I’ve had to really push myself during my interview phase to look up and read a lot of material on some of the "why" things work. Overall, I am very happy with my decision to attend Thinkful. It taught me how to find solutions to problems I was encountering, which I’ve learned is such an important skill on the job. I’m lucky to have been able to find a job as a front end developer within 6 months of graduating with the help of their career services—my resume always shined and I was confident I was putting my best foot forward. In the end, the mentor sessions were invaluable in my success as a student and I'll continue to carry those lessons with me in my first role. -
Codi Martin Verified via LinkedIn
Review for Thinkful's Data Science Flex
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With no hope in academia I decided on a career change and signed up for Thinkful's Data Science Flex course. The one-on-one mentorship was stellar. I learned so much and was able to land a data scientist position within two months after finishing, even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic! However, I think it's important to note that I have a graduate degree which definitely helped boost my resume.
I wish there was a bit more SQL in the curriculum, along with more stats; otherwise, I thought all of the material covered was fantastic; there were even job-focused modules that focused on networking, cold outreaching, resume writing, etc. You really need to put in a lot of work and effort to be successful. Even though the "Flex" version of the course is part time, it's very easy to fall behind if you are not careful. Taking this course was one of the best decisions I've made in the last decade. Thank you Thinkful!
Codi
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Anais Nesheim-Sanchez Verified via LinkedIn
Data Analytics Immersion
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This program really helped me out. I learned everything I needed to know for my new job as a data entry clerk. I suggest to everyone writing out notes and saving every assignment as this program moves very fast. Also, never be afraid to ask questions to a anyone- mentors, other students, teachers, and TAs. The most helpful part of this was the paired sessions, the mentosions and the resume help. The career coaching helped me stay on track in the job search. -
Ellen Hoffman Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Flex Review
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I chose to study Data Science at Thinkful because they offered a remote, flexible program and a tuition reimbursement if I didn't land a job in 6 months after graduating. Remote study is definitely challenging, but I felt supported by Thinkful's staff throughout. I was especially impressed with my mentor, who I met with biweekly, and the other Data Scientists and Analysts who provided feedback on my projects and mock interviews. The team is great! The curriculum is good too. After completing the program, I have a working knowledge of a variety of data science solutions. Delving deeper into subject matter is definitely up to the student. My mentor was great at expounding on areas I wanted to learn more about, and of course there are plenty of resources online to supplement. If I could change any part of the curriculum, I would add more opportunities to practice SQL. Ultimately, I had a great experience at Thinkful, and I would recommend the program to anyone interested in preparing for a career in data science or analysis! -
James Higgs Verified via LinkedIn
Engineering Flex Review
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Deciding Between Bootcamps:
If you feel that you can manage your own schedule and be persistent in regards to holding yourself accountable and keeping on track then I would say Thinkful is the bootcamp for you. The cost is very reasonable when compared to other bootcamps. You'll absolutely have no problem at succeeding if you're actually determined to make a career shift.
My Background:
I was working as an architectural drafter/designer for roughly 7 years and I had no software engineering experience prior to Thinkful except experimenting with Codecademy and freeCodeCamp. I was disappointed with the industry I was working in and decided to change careers. To give you some perspective, I was 32 years old when starting this journey. I'm now 33 and employed as a front end developer.
School Structure:
- The curriculum is very upfront in regards to when assignments are due, when your mentor and manager sessions are, and where you need to go to get assistance. The biggest advantage of being in a bootcamp is that it provides you structure. For most people, learning this material on your own is very difficult.
Time Management:
- For this program they recommend a certain number of hours per week but that number was actually way under the amount of time I should have been spending. I quickly learned this as I was falling behind within a month of the course. You really need to treat this course as a full-time job if you want to finish on time and obtain the "job guarantee" (graduate within 6 months).
- If you plan on working full-time and take this course you will not graduate on time unless you are one of the the 3% of people who power through, doing 80 hours of work per week. I learned this the hard way by having to purchase extra time to graduate.
- If you do fall behind, you can use your "pause weeks" strategically to make up for lost time.
Curriculum:
- This is extremely fast-paced, but they did structure it so that everything is broken down into readable and maintainable parts. You will be learning relevant tech stacks that employers are looking for, which is incredibly important.
- Some of the curriculum is sloppy however with typos and inconsistencies. They will sometimes jump to conclusions showing you how to go from A to B but failing to mention that you need to incorporate C ("C" being something that you learned two months previously in the course but they do not remind you how to implement it).
Instructors:
- I had five different mentors (instructors). My first mentor wouldn't show up for our meetings. I then got assigned another mentor who was competent but due to no fault of his own, he was from Spain and had a very think accent and it was difficult to talk about these often complicated concepts. I then got assigned another mentor who was great but he eventually left to pursue a new job working with AI. I then got assigned another mentor who was competent but he really did not put in any effort to assist me. I then got assigned my last mentor who was very knowledgable though he often had to reschedule our meetings.
- Thinkful also has "office hours" where you can seek assistance from a mentor but you're in a session with other students as well. This is really hit or miss. I've found some mentors to be very helpful and go out of their way to help every student that attends the office hours. I've also seen some mentors who don't even show up to their own office hours.
- Thinkful also has "technical coaching" which is conducted over Slack and is not very helpful roughly 80% of the time.
Job Assistance:
- My experience with Thinkful Careers was incredible. I was lucky to have an awesome coach who gave me a lot of great advice and was very willing to give me constructive feedback in regards to my job search and the various techniques I was using.
- She was also very empathetic to us graduates who were looking for an entry level job during a pandemic!
- I ultimately got a full-time job as a front end developer with the assistance of Thinkful Careers and I think they do an incredible job at guiding you through the job hunting process.
Overall Experience:
- The curriculum can be very difficult and frustrating at times. This is good to go through however since the experience on the job is somewhat similar in regards to having to continually learn new concepts in a software engineering position.
- It's affordable, convenient, and transparent.
- There are times where you will feel like you're lost, give yourself time, and know that it will click. Software engineering is not an easy career it really takes time and perseverance. -
Joseph R Verified via LinkedIn
Engineering Immersion Bootcamp Experience
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I want to preface this by saying that I started in the February 2020 cohort and had mild programming experience before joining the Bootcamp. The biggest thanks I can give to Thinkful is the monthly stipend I was approved for, as that allowed me to dedicate time to the Bootcamp as I would a full-time job.
Before joining the Bootcamp I had learned some HTML and CSS, with the basics of JavaScript. I had been jumping between Udemy courses and other sources like TeamTreehouse and FreeCodeCamp since the summer of 2018. Albeit I did learn how to develop very simple websites, but nothing where I needed to be to be job-ready. I had been looking at bootcamps over the past few years and Thinkful always stood out. I decided to go with them as they had 2 main things I was looking for: Full Stack JavaScript AND Remote experience. Especially with all the concerns over COVID-19 now, the remote experience will be a huge benefit as well as focusing in on one programming language and focusing more on concepts.
The teaching structure of the course is definitely well-structured and you can tell they have a good team behind that. From guiding you from front-end development to back-end with some data structures & algorithms practice, the Bootcamp gives you what you need to grow into the role you're most interested in. That along with the support from your fellow classmates, instructors, and mentors, there is no way you can't go without getting the help you need. And THAT was most important in helping me be job-ready. Prior to learning newer, more in-demand technologies in this bootcamp, I realized that I lacked the confidence that I wasn't able to find just learning these concepts on my own. Having a team of instructors with years of experience helped me actually put confidence in myself that I could indeed be a software developer.
Overall I'm more than grateful to have taken the Engineering Immersion Bootcamp. I've developed important soft skills, made relationships that I'll carry on to my new career, and got the opportunity to spend hours upon hours of coding that have given me the confidence to work in the field. I only give the Job Assitance rating 4 stars as I've only done the job preparation modules while a student in the course and those alone have helped me get my name out there more. As a graduate, I'll be paired with my own Careers Coach to help me along with the job search portion of it. I couldn't recommend Thinkful enough! -
Austin Tumlinson Verified via LinkedIn
Software Engineering Immersion Program
Full in depth course, fast tracked, zero to hero. Great classes, curriculum, and especially mentorship! I would not be where I am today if it was not for my mentor and career coach with all their help! -
Crystal Yang Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Flex
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I was looking for a data science program because self studying wasn't doing it for me - I lacked motivation and self discipline. I picked Thinkful because it was cheap AND had good employment rates after graduation. Having to meet with a mentor twice a week was enough to keep me motivated and on track. The curriculum gives you a good foundation, but there were some areas I felt I needed to supplement material (SQL and stats in particular). While I was in the program, they were actively changing the curriculum though, so hopefully this has been improved. Something I especially appreciated was all the career related help they offered during the program. This means working on your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile in addition to multiple mock interviews. The mock interviews were nerve wracking, but they really helped me breakdown what I did well and what needed improving, so when it came time to doing a real interview it wasn't too bad.
After graduation, you are paired with a career coach and this was amazing. In the data science/analytics program, you get to meet with other data grads who are also job seeking and share advice/links/stories with each other. I definitely enjoyed connecting with other grads since it made the job hunting experience less lonely. Thinkful really encourages you to develop your own network and connections, but they do have people behind the scenes working their own connections. This is how I got my job offer even in the midst of the pandemic (July 2020), 4 months after graduating Thinkful.
Overall, if you are looking for a career change/finding a job, I'd recommend Thinkful. -
Megan Dibble Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Flex Program
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I definitely recommend the data science program at Thinkful! I enjoyed doing the flex one specifically because it was less money and more flexible so I could learn at my own pace. Being paired with. Mentor really helped since it was basically self taught. Wouldn’t recommend this specific one though if you have a hard time being self motivated or are not used to learning/troubleshooting on your own. -
LaBarin B. Crosby Sr. Verified via LinkedIn
LaBarin B. Crosby Sr
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I Want the world to know about My School Thinkful, for a person that had minimal experience working with Excel and Powerpoint, I took on a beast when i encountered the immersion program at Thinkful my Academic Success Manager Encouraged me from day one, (Cali Stephans) and all of the Mentors (Jay Padhya) TA's Instructors After hours Teachers (Jason Flick, Teddy Aronson, Walter Shields, Adam Spannbauer ) and lets just say the staff as a whole gave me the tools necessary to complete the course with minimal to almost no real struggle, if you really apply yourself, they will be there to assist you, to equip you with a life changing skill that will literally change your Life. Again I want to Say Thank you to the Thinkful Staff for guiding me through this Rough Rough Journey God Bless, I will make all of you Proud of my accomplishments. -
Katya Verified via LinkedIn
Digital Marketing Immersion
Joining a boot camp was one of the best investments I ever made. The education they give you is practical to today’s world, and it is the latest marketing insights and trends you can find! -
Kristine P Verified via LinkedIn
Supported and Structured
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The support system is stable, and the community is excellent. Regardless of which Bootcamp you picked, the curriculum would be similar. It will give you the basics and different degrees of complexities. The thing that you can't fabricate is the community. I met excellent and supporting friends in my journey that I was so proud to be a part of it. The instructors and staff are my cheerleaders and therapist. You see, I'm working full time and a single mom, and you could imagine what type of hurdles comes my way. You won't be successful if you not have a sound support system with you. Thinkful has it all. -
Christy Liner Verified via LinkedIn
Good experience with data science
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The pros:
I enjoyed my time at Thinkful and learned a lot. The instructors and TAs were great and really invested time in ensuring the students understanding and success. Dennis Tran was especially awesome - he's a wealth of knowledge and a FANTASTIC instructor. Genevieve with career coaching was very helpful and had me do a Crash profile which helped me land a job.
The cons:
The technical coaching was generally unhelpful. They were usually slow to respond and generally didn't actually answer the question in a way that made sense. The mentors were OK--some times a lot of help, but towards the end, unable to provide much support. The academic success manager was non-existent.
Conclusion:
I'm glad I pursued data science with Thinkful and am incredibly grateful for the instructors that supported me as I learned the field. The job search post graduation was difficult. I found that most jobs were looking for years of experience and masters level+ education in a quantitative field. I have a BS in mathematics and an MBA, but found that this was just too little education for most jobs I applied for. If you don't have a data science background or adequate education, you really have to put yourself out there (cold calls, heavy follow up) to land a job. If you're willing to do something like Crash.co, you'll be able to land a job, even if you don't have an extensive background or education. -
Lily Verified via GitHub
Great instructors and TAs
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I started the engineering immersion course in January (with prep course work starting in November) and I had only completed Codecademy and a handful of other free guides before beginning Thinkful. It was a ton of work with students expected to put in work after (or before) "class" hours as well as on weekends, but you learn a lot and build a good junior portfolio by the time you graduate. I wish there was some more focus on testing, as much as students don't like it, it's a good way to get an entry level job in the field. Also, some sections felt quite imbalanced, like some days would be an impossible amount of homework and other days in the same week would have half days. But, overall the curriculum is very up to date and not the same information available on other free courses.
While I heard a few bad stories from some classmates about their mentors, most of our mentors (including my own!) were amazing resources that push you to solving problems and branching out to new things outside of class.
One piece of advice that I took during Thinkful was to spend the time to apply for jobs WHILE you're in the program and not wait until afterwards, it's what helped me find a job during a pandemic! -
Greg Araya Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Flex Success
I was provided enough support to make it through the class on my own time, while working a full time job, and then ended up with a new job within a few months after completing the course! Would recommend this bootcamp to anyone. -
John Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Flex
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Hello Everyone! I just finished my online bootcamp with Thinkful, specifically the Data Science Flex program. Honestly, I had an awesome experience with the program overall, and I was able to find job placement fairly quickly thanks to this program.
A little background on myself (for context): I am a mathematics and computer science major, and while my formal education was robust, it was mostly theoretical (which I love!) and I didn't see myself finding work quickly, at least not without a graduate degree. I had heard about some online bootcamps that teach practical skills to get the student job ready within x amount of time. After doing some research, I found that most bootcamps offer similar programs, and have similar payment options. That made choosing quite difficult. I had decided to go with Thinkful because a friend of mine had started the program in Software Engineering, and had only great things to say about the program. I'm glad I did!
My particular program was the Data Science Immersion, particularly because I had interest in Machine Learning and potentially Artificial Intelligence. Thinkful does a great job of touching all the key topics and theories that you need to know to get a solid foundation in Machine Learning. They start off with an in depth Python and SQL course as that is the language mostly used in the course. They follow that up with web scraping and a brief overview of accessing APIs. I felt that this was very beneficial as it allows students to learn skills that can be applied to roles other that "Data Scientist". Just being totally honest, not everyone is going to land a machine learning or data science gig from the get, and its good to have skills that can be applied in analytics and engineering roles as well.
After the Python and SQL course, they start going into the data science workflow, starting with data extraction and cleanup and then covering Machine Learning concepts. This for me, was the best part of the course. They go VERY in depth into how the algorithms works, going as far as giving in depth explanations of the mathematics behind concepts like Logistic and Linear Regression, Clustering, etc. The math nerd in me loved this, and it helped me really understand what was happening underneath the hood of the algorithms being discussed. For the folks out there that aren't so mathematically inclined, most of the highly rigorous maths are optional, but I would strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with the concepts. After every topic was covered you completed a capstone or project that had you combing the internet for data that you can apply machine learning principles on.
I will give one caveat to the learning done at this stage. While the lessons are quite in depth, Machine Learning and Data Science in general are such expansive topics that Thinkful only scratches the surface and establishes a solid foundation in these topics more than anything else. A LOT of personal research and education will have to accompany the program to learn the more high end stuff. Also, while the program does provide links for optional learning, I still recommend students doing research on their own to expand their knowledge on the topics covered. I do appreciate the fact that the program is quite transparent about this.
Also, all of this learning is done under the guidance of an experienced mentor, and this is arguably the best part of the program. The mentor provides real world perspective and teaches you all the tips and tricks that comes from years of work in the industry. They help provide context and clarity to a lot of the highly theoretical topics that the course touches on. Honestly there were time that I was incredibly stuck on a problem or capstone, and my mentor was the only way I was able to find any kind of clarity.
All in all, fantastic program. If you are an aspiring data scientist, I strongly recommend this program with the understanding that THIS PROGRAM IS NOT EASY, and there needs to be a lot of self motivation in order to be successful. The results however, are more than worth it!
Good luck to everyone! -
Tricia Verified via LinkedIn
Top Notch Mentorship
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I just graduated from the Engineering Flex Program and I can't say enough great things about Thinkful. I originally chose Thinkful because I needed the flexibility to continue working full time. Thinkful was the only bootcamp out there that I could find that offered a fully remote, part time program in addition to one-on-one mentorship.
The mentorship was hands down the most valuable aspect of the program for me. I had 3 different mentors over the course of my program who each had their own areas of expertise and I loved them all. Although there is an option available to switch mentors if you find that you aren't clicking, I never needed to do so. The last mentor I was paired with, and who I worked with for the majority of my program, was incredibly talented and had tons of industry experience. No amount of curriculum can replace the years of experience that they bring. It was truly a rewarding and invaluable experience!
The curriculum is also really excellent. It is constantly updated with the latest technologies in mind and you can tell that it is designed to give graduates a leg up. They really strive to teach you industry best practices and hold your portfolio projects to a high standard so that you are prepared to be a strong candidate by the time you come out. Developers that I have interacted with outside of the program have been impressed by the quality of my code and the fact that my projects are hand built with vanilla CSS – two things that I owe to the excellent curriculum.
The only word of caution I have is that the flex program, which is intended to be part-time/self-paced, is actually a major time commitment that is realistically more like another full time job. I worked full time at a fairly demanding job while completing my program and I found that 6 months was not enough time to get what I wanted out of the program. Of course they do give you some pause time to use as you wish and my program manager was always there to give guidance and answer questions. I've also seen plenty of other students get through the 6 months with no problem, so I'm sure it depends on each person's situation and needs. I ended up extending my program month-to-month until I finished and invested most of that time working on my portfolio projects.
All in all an amazing experience that is worth all of the time, effort and money! -
Jordan Castillo Verified via LinkedIn
Full Stack Engineering Immersion
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I started this program being minimally self-taught, knowing the very basics of simple HTML and CSS. One month after I graduated from Thinkful's Full Stack Engineering Immersion program, I landed a full-time position as a Front-End Engineer with an innovative and diversified startup. I know without a doubt I would not be where I am today if I hadn't begun my journey with Thinkful. From the very first call I had with a Thinkful admissions rep to the last session with my career coach, I was consistently reminded that Thinkful genuinely cares for my success. This is what sets Thinkful apart from other boot camps - the PEOPLE. Every step of this journey, I was constantly impressed and blown away by the people I had the honor of working with and learning from.
I was a part of the full-time, full-stack engineering immersion program. It was 100% remote (I believe all Thinkful courses are), which means you gain the invaluable skills of learning to pair program and work on a diverse team in a distributed environment. This is HIGHLY valuable to the workforce today as we see a multitude of companies switching to a remote model. It honestly was one of the best selling points as I began my job search post-graduation. On top of the amazing people in my cohort I got to go through the program with, the Thinkful staff is a huge selling point for this course. You work with the best of the best, seasoned technologists that you never get to stop learning from.
During the course, you are paired with a mentor who you meet with two times a week. It's an amazing support system that helps you never feel alone. To this day, I keep in touch with my mentor and he has been monumental in setting my career in motion, both with the course material in the program and learning about the industry as a whole. You are also given even more support through the course TA's. These TA's are available to you throughout the program to ensure you're understanding the material to the best of your ability. And they are not just volunteering with nothing to give, they are top-notch individuals in the industry that are incredibly knowledgeable. If this isn't enough, Thinkful even has office hours open throughout the day to focus on certain parts of the course sections and provide assistance outside of normal class hours. I can't stress enough that if you use these support systems fully, you will make incredible strides in your time at Thinkful.
This is the key thing with coding bootcamps - the mentality of choosing one shouldn't be thinking "which boot camp is going to make me a pro in the shortest amount of time," it should be more of "which one is going to lay out the foundation that sets me up for success." Thinkful does its part. The material is solid, the community is inspiring. The only missing part is you. And your ultimate success depends on what you put into it. Don't expect to just show up and come out as a professional engineer. You must show up engaged, ask questions, strive to understand the root of the concepts, utilize the resources you're given, and NEVER stop learning. Thinkful reinforces that this is the key to success. You just have to follow through and do it on your end too.
All in all, when I look back to the time when I was searching for boot camps to join I remember endless researching and feeling so conflicted about where to go and what to choose. I am more than thankful that I went with Thinkful. The industry is constantly changing and I truly believe Thinkful does its best to keep up with those fluctuations. If you're still undecided or have hesitations, jump on to LinkedIn and search for Thinkful alumni. The Thinkful community is so strong and the majority of us are more than happy to share our stories and path of where we are today. -
Steve Verified via LinkedIn
Structured & Supported
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I recently graduated from Thinkful's Remote Flex Data Science course and was hired by a major company to do data engineering. I came into the program having completed Learn Python The Hard Way, some basic SQL, and signing up for DataCamp and HackerRank. I also have a strong math background which was helpful but not required for understanding the course's probability and statistics components. The Remote Flex course allowed me to work at my own pace through a structured curriculum, while also having access to 24/7 technical coaches via Slack and a twice-weekly meeting with my mentor. The course was definitely not easy, but I had plenty of support. The course starts you off by learning Python and SQL and then aims to provide exposure to many areas of data science including statistical significance testing, supervised and unsupervised machine learning, time-series analysis, neural networks, and big data. You're then able to specialize in a certain facet of the curriculum that you enjoyed the most.
After finishing the course though your work has only just begun. The job search is its own beast and this is where I think Thinkful went from good to great for me. I was immediately paired with a highly competent and experienced career coach who set really solid expectations on what I should be doing in my search. She also had a team of Thinkful career folks connecting with companies that were hiring. It was through one of these connections that I landed my job.
Overall, Thinkful provided me with a streamlined process for changing careers and I couldn't be happier with the end result. -
Annie Yang Verified via LinkedIn
Great Community and Program!
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Prior to the program, I had work experience with Excel and a little bit of experience studying SQL and Python. I really wanted to move my career in a more technical direction, but didn't know how to start. I had a little bit of exposure to Data Analytics, but not enough technical skillset to get the job. As much as I was eager to learn, for a technical job, you always need the experience to get the job and you also need a job to get experience, so I decided to sign up for this program!
I found it through a Google search and what drew me in the most was their tuition guarantee for a job. I am so glad that I found and finished this program. I was able to get hands-on experience in Excel, SQL, Tableau and Python and feel more confident with my data analysis and presentation skills. The program is very well-structured with an organized curriciulum. My Academic Success Manager was always quick to reply back to all my questions about the course. My current mentor is also very encouraging and offers amazing insights on real world application. I loved the Slack community, especially the technical coaches - they were so nice and always made sure my questions were thoroughly answered. While anything nowadays can be learned online, I feel like doing a bootcamp is better because of the certification and doing projects that are relevant that has been reviewed by someone who can give feedback is so important. I'll be moving on to the career phase of this program and I'm impressed so far about the resources they provide! -
Simon Hochmuth Verified via LinkedIn
Data science flex program
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I did the flex program which is essentially 100% remote. I worked a full time job during the program and managed to finish 2 weeks earlier than expected. I would definitely do it again. I did have a small amount of coding experience but none in the languages used in this course.
They give you a mentor who you speak to 2 times a week. Mine was awesome and I got alot of help from him.
You also have an online slack channel where you can ask questions , which I used quite a bit when I got stuck. This was all I felt was needed to complete projects.
The course was decently written and had some issues at times, but overall I had no problems with it. They are just teaching you what you need for an entry level job so I didn't expect them to go in depth on advanced topics.
I was able to get a full time job before I even graduated. This was definitely due to the program because my capstones were the focus of all my interviews. I would make sure to spend alot of your time on these.
Since I got a job before I graduated I never used the career services. I heard these are good, but I wouldn't take my word on it. -
Violet Verified via LinkedIn
Amazing Mentors and Coaches
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The thing that really made this bootcamp completely worth the money was the people that I had a chance to work with. From my technical mentor to my career coach, I really felt cared for and like they had my best interest at heart. It is definitely one of those things where you are going to get out of the program the amount of effort you put in, but if you are willing to put in the time you will learn so much. I have heard that there are a lot of bootcamps that just throw you out into the job search once you have completed the curriculum, but that is not the case with Thinkful. My career coach guided me through all of the steps of the job hunt and was always there to give me support when I felt like giving up.
All in all, I can't recommend this bootcamp enough. It is hard and at sometimes frustrating, but 100% worth the money. -
Anthony Z Verified via LinkedIn
An Excellent Bootcamp and Career Accelerator!
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I graduated from Thinkful's Data Analytics Flex program in late March and was recently hired for a new position -- I had an overall excellent experience with the program! The curriculum is comprehensive and rigorous, focusing on Excel, SQL, Tableau, and Python. These are core skills for any data analyst; Excel and Python are especially emphasized, and you will mainly use these to complete three capstone projects throughout the course. Although a little bit more weight could be placed on SQL and Tableau, i.e. requiring their use for independent projects, the curriculum provides a solid foundation for all of these tools; students could easily apply them to their own separate projects if desired.
The instructors are great; you get paired with a mentor for 1-1 sessions twice a week, and an academic success manager whom you meet with every 1-2 months or so. Both my mentor and success manager were very helpful and responsive. After completing the curriculum, you get paired with a career coach for up to six months of career assistance; this stage requires you to apply for jobs and participate in networking activities. I did really appreciate Thinkful's job guarantee, as it demonstrates their confidence in landing new roles for their graduates. Thinkful is currently providing added support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which I also really appreciate and believe will be very beneficial to students and recent graduates.
All in all, I loved my experience with Thinkful and greatly appreciate the education, guidance, and support they provided me in my career transition! -
Peggy Sturman Verified via LinkedIn
Thinkful is a Wonderful Way to Upgrade Your Skills
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I attended Thinkful's Engineering Nights and Weekend course. I graduated in May 2020. I would not hesitate to recommend Thinkful. I originally chose Thinkful because of the tech stack that they teach (JavaScript, Node, React, Express, SQL). I choose that tech stack because that is most common for the jobs I see listed here in the bay area and what I'm interested in. I made a great choice. I learned a lot through blood, sweat, and tears. What else I really like about Thinkful is they really want to see you succeed. You are assigned a Project Manager as well as a Mentor. What else I loved was being in a cohort with other students. My cohort was amazing and I learned as much as I did with my classmates as I did with my instructors.
I feel I got a well-rounded exposure to a full-stack web environment in a supportive environment. In order to help you succeed here are a few things I wish I would have known going in:
* Have down the basics of JavaScript before you start. There is a JavaScript module, but you really need to go in having a good solid base. If you are new to coding or JavaScript, I recommend doing work (either from free resources or find a good low priced Udemy class) until you are really comfortable with the basics (writing a function, what is an object, array's, etc.).
* After each section, you will be tested. The test will consist of verbal questions and live coding. Make sure you are comfortable with both. I get very nervous so I wish I would have known that. That being said, while they can be nerve-wracking, they are exactly what interviews in a real-world environment are like so these are really helping to prepare you!
* If you get a mentor that you don't feel you connect with it is perfectly ok to ask for a different one. This happened to me. My original mentor while good, did not meet my needs. I requested a new mentor and I was assigned a new one right away. He was amazing!
* Make the most of your mentoring sessions. If you don't have anything that you want to ask your mentor for help with in a session, ask for drills that you can do, etc. Never go in without a plan of something you want to work on. While the mentor is there to help, you must drive your own learning. So if you don't need help, you could go in and ask, I want to get better at X, can you give me some drills to do, or can we talk about X.
* Coding is hard and you will swear and be frustrated often. This is normal. Just do not give up. Get up, take a break, and get back to it. If you are stuck you have mentors, classmates and technical coaches that are there to help.
* Get comfortable with troubleshooting and doing research. I see a lot of new students asking questions, such as "I can't get into X site". Did you open Dev. tools and see if there is an error, did you try a different browser, did you clear your cache, did you restart your machine, etc. If you are having problems troubleshooting getting into a site, how are you going to feel troubleshooting when your code is not working. I do realize this is a new skill for some people so it is not meant as a criticism. If you are new to tech and not really familiar with troubleshooting problems, I would do some reading on how to do that. It really will help you in all areas.
* Give as much as you get. There is a vibrant Slack community of students. Try to get to know other people and contribute where you can. I'm a big believer in giving back where you can. -
Don Verified via GitHub
Data Science Flex
The curriculum was well written, making new concepts easily digestible. The instructors were great at bridging the gap between my theoretical knowledge and what I would need to be successful professionally. The career assistance was very helpful when it came to preparing application materials and were directly involved in helping me land my first role. Overall a very positive experience. -
Sara Verified via LinkedIn
Great Experience with Thinkful/Bloc
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Overall, I can genuinely say that I had a great time while enrolled at Thinkful (Bloc was acquired). I used to be in Customer Success/Experience with early-stage startups and although I've been exposed to working in tech, there was still so much to learn about UX/UI Design.
Curriculum: Bloc/Thinkful had won me over with its reasonable price and robust curriculum. A lot of other bootcamps during the time that I was researching didn't offer to teach frontend fundamentals and Thinkful did. In addition to this, I liked the idea of it being self-paced which meant that I could finish earlier than the ideal time frame (they gave me a 12-month timeframe but I completed the program in 6 months).
The reading materials are easy to understand and follow. They also provide video for some of the modules which was perfect for me since I learned by following. Links to external resources have also been great to have (and I still find myself referring back to some of them) and are plenty.
You'll also receive guidance throughout the program in the form of a mentor. I think that this was incredibly important toward my growth as a designer. Luckily, I had 1 mentor, Mike Dekker, from start to finish (I've heard horror stories from others that they've had to switch or weren't happy with the ones they've been assigned with). Mike's someone who I thought was so inspiring and incredibly helpful - I mean, the guy's got around 14-16 years of UX/UI and illustration experience so it was great to have him teach me neat tricks and learn about the "real world" through his stories.
That being said, the program is not a walk in the park and you really have to put in the work. If you're the type of person who relies heavily on collaboration and hand holding, this program may not be for you. Although I did have a wonderful mentor, our meetings were limited to 30 minutes per week. Though Thinkful offers design critique sessions, workshops and technical coaches, I know for a fact that I still had to do a lot of self-study and research. Again, there's nothing wrong with wanting to learn from a teacher you see regularly and having content/instructions handed to you but it's crucial to know what you're getting into at Thinkful and if it fits your learning style.
Career Support: Just like the curriculum, I hit the jackpot again when I got Elyse Yarnell as a career coach. She taught me additional things that the job hunt portion of the curriculum didn't tackle and was really supportive through the entire job hunt process. I feel that Los Angeles is a tougher environment for junior designers so it meant a lot to me to feel like I had someone cheering me on and giving me advice.
Areas of Opportunity: I think that the experience would've been even better if Thinkful can find away for future graduates to be a part of some sort of remote internship since I feel that this would increase the student's chance of gaining employment faster after graduating. Tech coaches and graders could definitely improve by maintaining consistency in the way they grade projects/assignments and answer students through the Slack channel (I've found that some are on it and points me the right direction and others just question me and go around in circles). Last but not the least, I think that they should set expectations for students. I've found that a lot of students drop out because they aren't aware that the program mimics what is out there in the real world (no one really holds your hand and you have to seek answers for yourself). If this expectation is set clearly, it'll help filter students who are willing to put in the work and self-study and drive students who aren't willing to do so to another bootcamp that offers in-person teaching and immediate assistance.
Wrap-up: It took a while for me to get a job since I had several hiccups (personal reasons + the pandemic) but I recently accepted a position as a UX/UI Designer. We're going through such strange times that it feels odd to feel ecstatic but I don't feel guilty for saying this - I'm so happy to have gone through this experience with Thinkful and owe so much to my mentor, graders and coach for getting me to where I am today. -
Matt Childers Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Flex for Motivated Learners
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I just finished the Data Science Flex course and recommend it for any motivated person who wants to update their analytics skill set in a remote learning environment. The operative term is MOTIVATED. You have to self-discipline and motivation to get through the program because you are not learning in a class where you can ask instructors questions in real time and it’s much easier to fall of the face of the Earth in an online format. If you aren’t a self-starter and have the will power to keep yourself on task, you won’t make it through.
As a former college professor who has taught both in person and online, I have been on the both sides of the learning experience and prefer in person courses because they are more conducive to higher quality learning. But, I was not in a position to enroll in a bootcamp in person nor was I in a position to take a full time course for 12 weeks. Thinkful was appealing for three reasons: it provided you with a mentor who was a senior data scientist and you would meet twice a week during the course, it provided a lot of other online support like virtual office hours with other senior data scientists and Slack channels with technical coaching support, and it was part-time with a flexible schedule.
On balance, I had a great experience and learned a ton. The mentor program is its strongest feature because with a good mentor you have someone whom you can regularly ask questions about anything related to what you are doing in the course (including career advice). Your mentor also keep you on schedule for two reasons: 1) you don’t want to waste their time, and 2) they can help get out of ruts when you are struggling with projects. My mentor was outstanding and helped me a lot. My biggest problem was often with syntax and python basics that I would forget and they always provided helpful code.
The material is text-based with examples and walkthroughs. They don’t provide lectures or seminars. You must be someone who learns by reading and doing to master the material. I am one of those people, but you may not be. If you prefer video instruction, you may not get as much out of the program. I, along with other students I was in touch with throughout the course went to YouTube for extra guidance or alternative explanations to help clarify some things. Be prepared, however, to do extra reading on your own on a regular basis. I think that you’ll probably do that in any bootcamp course you take.
You pay around $8,000 for six months in the program with 42 days of pause time. Once you sign up, you get a customized schedule with deadlines to help keep you on pace. Pause time allows you to temporarily stop the schedule for a period of time and push your deadlines back in case you are behind, work gets crazy, or you need to break to clear your head.
Other strengths:- Most of the material (80-85%) was accessible and focused on showing you how to apply what you’re learning. They provided enough theoretical and conceptual material so you got the big idea, but the highest quality materials made code accessible to newbies.
- Technical coaching support was always great. Coaches are patient and stick with you until the problem is solved, regardless of how long it takes to figure things out.
- Online office hours and other support: Mentors holding office hours were always outstanding and very helpful.
- “Pause time”: they give you 42 days of “pause time,” where you can pause your timeline and get deadlines pushed back. You might get behind at some point and this is your option to
- Administration: you get an Academic Success Manager who acts like a counselor throughout the course and is there for help related to anything but data-science specific issues. ASMs were always pretty good about supporting you through tough times that were outside of your control. For example, people got extra pause time during the pandemic.
- You choose a specialty at the end where you dig a little deeper on a topic of your interest and that serves as the basis for your final capstone project. This is something for you and your mentor to figure out together.
- Career Support: You get six months with a career coach to help you find a job, but they require a lot of work. I can’t say more since I am just entering that phase.
Weaknesses- Some of the material was not so clear. You would occasionally come across a subsection where the concept was not broken down very well or the code explanation was glib and you needed to do a lot of outside reading to figure things out. Or, the explanations about the concept and code were both pretty shallow yet there was a big leap between that and what you were required to do for the accompanying assignment. That didn’t happen often, but did so occasionally. Unfortunately for me, I specialized in NLP and the material was incomplete, requiring me to do read a lot of extra material to bring me up to speed. This caused me to take longer than I wanted to for the final project. It worked out OK in the end, but this was pretty frustrating. From my own discussions with other students, this does was not the case with other specialization modules, thankfully.
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Jacob M Verified via LinkedIn
Never thought I would...
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I was hesitant to start a bootcamp when there were many indications that the field was saturated with bootcamp grads, yet I went through with it and can say that it was well worth it. The Thinkful bootcamp was great and informative and I learned a lot. There were times when it got rough and I lost focus but my mentor and my academic success manager helped me through it and I got to where I am today with their help. The community is great as a whole and I've made a few peer connections that I hope will help as I go about my coding journey. They have so many great resources and people there to help you out that I didn't for once think about withdrawing. I'm starting the next phase, the job search, and they have even more resources available to help me with that. If you are looking at bootcamps, I would highly recommend giving Thinkful a shot. -
Elijah Verified via LinkedIn
Engineering Flex program
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I researched which boot camp to choose for months, overall I chose Thinkful primarily for two reasons:
1) If you complete the within 7 months (6 is the standard) and you do not get a job 6 months after that, your tuition will be reimbursed.
2) The mentorship.
After beginning Thinkful, getting ahead in the course, then falling way, way, way behind in the course, to finally finishing it by the grace of God. I will say that there are many more pros than I originally expected.
Pros:
1) The curriculum is amazing! I wish my textbooks in school were written with the simple, easy to understand, and straight forward style of Thinkful's curriculum. Some assignments are graded, which is awesome because it's helpful to get feedback on what you're doing wrong and when you're doing something right.
2) The mentor sessions were really helpful, being obligated to meet with a mentor twice a week holds you accountable and having an experienced developer who can answer your questions is also helpful and a great source of support. Also, if you don't like your mentor you can switch mentors, and they are very flexible with their schedules, I work an 11 am - 8 pm shift and surprisingly they were able to accommodate that with two separate mentors.
3) The structure of the course, this ties in with point number 1, but I have to stress this. I attended a university and was majoring in computer science, I know many types of developers and had been programming for years (Python, Java, C++, aka nothing related to web dev) before entering this course. One of the main reasons why I decided to go the route of "boot camp" instead of "self-taught" is because I had no clue about what stack I should learn, what exactly about these frameworks do I need to focus on, how to use git and just other simple facets of developing that they don't teach you in school and really isn't too important when you're doing things on your own. However, now looking back, Thinkful taught me all the tech and concepts that I needed. They set me on the right path and gave me strong foundations. No boot camp will take you from zero to Junior level, but Thinkful really put me in a spot to succeed! From the ordering of the curriculum that they teach you to the capstones (projects) that they have you complete and add to your portfolio. Everything that Thinkful has you do in the course to build your resume or your skills/understanding. There is no pointless/wasted time.
4) Program managers, along with mentors, program managers really help shed light on your progress in the course and will level with you on what you need to do to be successful in it. This was especially crucial for me since I fell far behind in the course (not because the content was difficult).
5) Pause time, Thinkful has a very generous amount of pause time (over a month worth of pause time I believe), not to mention the free Holiday pause time that will be given out.
6) Technical support, Thinkful provides support 7 days a week on slack. You can ask any web dev related questions and the technical support group will help you solve any issues with your code (installing software, issues with understanding a data structure, or help you deploy your website).
7) At the end of the course you have a professional portfolio (with projects), resume, LinkedIn page, GitHub with almost 30 repositories, and continued support from the careers coaches.
Cons:
1) The price, it's not cheap, although you get what you pay for. If you can dedicate the time, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to finish the course before 6 months is up (the sooner you complete the less money you pay).
