Chegg Skills Reviews
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Bryan Spearman Verified via GitHub
Full Stack Flex Program Graduate
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Hello all,
I just graduated from the Full Stack Web Development Flex Program at Thinkful. It was both a great experience and a serious challenge. Although I had lots of feedback to offer the school about the program and ways that I believe the curriculum could be improved, I do walk away not regretting anything.
The program is tough and just because you pay thousands, doesn't mean anything is going to be served on a silver platter. It was not always fun and just like in real life, I got really frustrated at times with my code and the learning experience in general. But again, learning something totally new (and something seriously complex) is almost never easy. I speak for myself anyway.
It's worth noting that I came to the table with years of HTML and CSS experience under my belt however I'd never written one line of JavaScript. And despite me having the HTML and CSS experience, I found the Node and React portions of the course to be seriously challenging.That's where your mentor comes in and makes this particular program what it is. My mentor was an absolute jewl of a human being much less a jedi master with coding and he never grew tired of my stupid questions and/or helping me out of a bind. He coached, tutored, encouraged and at times coded along side me to make sure I did my best. That doesn't mean all mentors are like this. In fact I requested to change to a new mentor after a few weeks because I didn't gel at all with my first one and thankfully the school catered to this which ended up making a huge difference in my learning experience.
Being in the "Flex" program also meant that I was studying, coding and solving problems remotely. So if you go this route, you must learn to use the community!! For the first part of the course I didn't see a need to do this because I'm self taught and I generally read up on something or hack it to death myself to figure it out so going to Q&A's or asking questions in the forum just wasn't my thing. I later learned that that was a big mistake. The forum is filled with mentors and even talented students who can answer questions, analyze code with you and help to solve issues. When finally pressed into a corner with some Node.js code I began reaching out to the community and holy crap what a huge help. I should've been doing it from day one so that I was familiar with the other mentors and got to know people. People who "know you" online tend to be even more helpful I later learned.
Finally, I'll say that for those considering attending Thinkful, in my humble opinion it's worth it in the end. Just like you, I came to this website before making the decision because I wanted to know if it would be a sound investment or total waste of time. Now on the other side I can tell you that it's totallly worth it. And like me, you may find some things overly easy and you may find other things overly challenging. But if you work your butt off and really apply yourself, you can do it and you WILL benefit from it.
It's also just the beginning of my journey as pro developer not the end. I can't hang my hat on a Thinkful graduation and think it opens doors. It simply doesn't. It's knowledge and discipline. I learned how to learn and that in and of itself is a major part of this. I am personally light years beyond where I was when I started the program at Thinkful and I'm now applying for jobs that previously I had to skip because I couldn't even begin to measure up to the requirements.
So take it from a Thinkful graduate, it's worth the time, effort and money.If you have any questions feel free to drop me a line. I don't mind.
Sincerely,
Bryan
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Christina L Verified via GitHub
Go For It
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Thinkful has been a great course so far! I am about 2 months in, and have really gotten into the flow of the course. I chose Thinkful because I wanted a course that I could complete without actually having to show up to a physical classroom. The great thing is that you still get a massive amount of support. Between mentor meetings, classroom hours, and the community of students, I never feel overwhelmed or stuck. There is always somebody who can lend a hand and give insight to a problem. I tried learning all of this on my own before, but quickly got overwhelmed with the mass amount of technologies and information that is out there. Thinkful lays it all out for you, so that you can focus on learning the skills in an organized, efficient way.
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Mark F Verified via GitHub
Solid Data Science Foundation
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I was looking for a Data Science bootcamp because I wanted to be more competitive in the job market and learn some new professional skills. After some research, I chose Thinkful. For me, the best things about
the course were the mentoring and the careers support. I also met a lot of fellow Thinkful students
in my local area to network with. About a month after finishing the course, I got hired as a Data Scientist.
All in all, it's been well worth the investment. -
Vennie Verified via LinkedIn
Good Experience
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I signed up for Thinkful's Fullstack Flex program after hearing my friend graduated from the same program and landed a full-time web developer position that paid upward of $80,000 a year. Having no prior knowledge of programming (and no full-time job), I decided to jump into the coding industry and see if I could make a career out of it.
Thinkful's cirriculum and course materials are rigorous, well-planned, and full of information for beginners. I was assigned mentors for each different unit, and they really do care about helping you succeed. There is no hand-holding though, so most of the time I'd have to either research, or use their free Q&A sessions to come up with solutions if I was stuck. Do note that the courses are not easy, and will definitely become a challenge once you get to the full-stack phase.
From my personal experience, 20-30 hours a week is definitely NOT how much time you have to invest, regardless of what Thinkful says. I ended up spending around 35-40 a week just to be more confident about what I learned. Also, having a good mentor is the key to success in this program. Some of the mentors are not as trained or knowledgable in teaching, so it could be detrimental to your learning experience. Definitely switch mentors if you feel like you're not understanding the material.
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jeffrey Hoglen Verified via GitHub
Such a great school to learn with!
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I have been learning with Thinkful for the past three months and it has been amazing. I was nervous first starting because I havent wrote any code in over ten years. But with your mentor and program manager always there to help there is nothing to worry about. The community itself is great and with the slack channel you can get help around the clock. Making the decsion to study with Thinkful is one of the best ones I have ever made.
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Clayton Weller Verified via LinkedIn
Perfect for me
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I had experience in the tech industry as a marketing guy, and I decided I'd rather make things than tell people about them.
I taught myself webdevelopement for about 3 months before deciding on a boot camp. I chose Thinkful's Full-Stack Flex program because it was remote, at my own pace, and the offered a refund if I didn't get a job in the industry within 6 months of graduating.
I really liked my mentor (who I did code review with twice a week), and I wound up finishing the program ahead of schedule. I credit, learning on my own before starting as a big part of that. I highly recomend doing some video courses before you start so you can hit the ground running.
Also, they started doing more in person stuff about half way through my program. They're actively seeking to improve.
Just got a job as a software developer. Totally worth it.
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Travis Callahan Verified via LinkedIn
Full Stack Flex
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I've been trying to learn how to code for some time now, as I have gone through some of FreeCodeCamp, Harvard's CS50, as well as a JavaScript course on Udemy. Although I learned a lot utilizing those free resources, it was frustrating when I would get stuck on a problem and couldn't find a way out. Frustration quickly led to demotivation, and I found myself questioning if a career in programming was really for me. I then realized that although I had gotten quite far on my own, I absolutely needed some sort of rigid structure for learning how to code, if I seriously wanted to change my career. So, I thought about the idea of attending a bootcamp. After doing extensive research on coding bootcamps, Thinkful seemed like the best option due to high reviews, a job guarantee, and the ability to still maintain my full-time job, as I'm enrolled in the Full Stack Flex program.
Upon enrolling, Thinkful pairs you up with both a Program Manager as well as a mentor. The PM is responsible for overseeing your graduation plan and makes sure you are on track. The mentor is (usually) a seasoned developer that you'll meet with twice a week via video chat. In addition to these resources, you'll have an entire community of mentors and students alike that you have access to via Slack. There are also Q&A sessions that you can attend where you can share your screen with a mentor and ask any questions or try to fix a program that you're working on.
Whereas I would get stuck and demoralized when I was on my own, it's nearly impossible to get stuck and stay stuck with all of these resources at your disposal. Oh and by the way, if for some reason your mentor doesn't work out, Thinkful will pair you up with someone else. It didn't work out with my first mentor as he was often late and straight up no showed me one time. My second mentor, however, has been nothing short of stellar.
The Full Stack program is broken up into a few parts:
- Web Development Fundamentals (Intro to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery)
- Asychronous client-side apps
- Server-side programming (Node.js)
- React
- Computer Science Fundamentals
After each section, you will be required to complete a capstone which is a program that reflects what you learned in that section. You'll also conduct a mock interview where one of the mentors (also via live chat) will ask you behavioral and technical questions in addition to asking you to do live coding exercises. You are required to pass both the capstone and mock interview in order to advance to the next phase.
The curriculum is very, very reading intensive. I wish that there were some videos to go alongside the material. But even so, I think the curriculum is great. Sometimes you're encouraged to go out and learn about topics outside of Thinkful, and I've done just that.
I still have a couple months left, but from my understanding upon completion you are then paired up with Career Services and their job is to assist you in finding a position as a Developer. As mentioned before, Thinkful offers a job guarantee, which you can read about on their website. Overall, my experience has been wonderful and I think this is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have learned an insane amount over the past few months and I am looking forward to continuing the program, graduating, and changing careers!
Finally, I'd like to mention that Thinkful is completely transparent about what percentage of their students graduate, find jobs, etc. If you're serious about attending this bootcamp I'd recommend checking out the below link.
https://cirr.org/
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Oscar A. Reyes Verified via LinkedIn
Full Stack Flex
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I have been enrolled in the course for about 2 months and have found the curriculum very valuable. It is definitely guided with the intention of having their grads not just graduate but get employed. The mock interviews are great because they are ensuring i'm ready for the last and final step of the application process. Q&a sessions are extremely helpful when looking for a quick fix to a problem I might have. Most importantly, the mentors are the most valuable asset to any students success in the bootcamp. I am definitely excited to continue the next unit, knowing that I'm not alone in the journey.
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Michael Verified via GitHub
Very Good Experience Overall
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Overview:
I recently graduated from Thinkful's Full Stack Flex program and I'm currently applying for jobs (will update). The program was challenging but I've learned a lot and I feel fairly well-prepared for an entry-level web developer position. I had the luxury of being able to work on the program full-time, but it still took longer than I anticipated, largely because I spent a lot of time on my capstone projects. These projects are a valuable and unique aspect of the program that teach you a lot and leave you with a great portfolio, but designing, building, testing, and styling these projects from scratch can eat up a lot of time.
Community:
I was suprised that the community was one of the most valuable aspects of Thinkful. Emma, the program manager for Portland and Seattle, is amazing and puts on Thinkful Family Dinners every two weeks. These in-person events are a fun way to get to know other people in the program and often brought in speakers who presented on topics like networking, game development, and hackathons.
The Slack community was also great and quite active. It was a useful place to get feedback and have questions answered. Q&A sessions (open online office hours) were fairly useful, but I didn't end up using them very often. There is often a line of students waiting and it often takes quite awhile to get a question answered...some sort of quota or ticket system could help make these more valuable. TJ was a standout Q&A mentor and also leads great workshops on a variety of interesting topics almost every day.
Instructors:
I had great mentors throughout the program. Thinkful had to switch my mentors twice for administrative reasons, which was disappointing, but I got along well with each and they were all very knowledeable. Alanna was an excellent guide through the fundamentals portion before Lawrence took over for the majority of my program. He was instrumental in helping me choose projects, troubleshoot bugs, and understand difficult concepts. Ali was my mentor for the final month of the course and did an excellent job stepping in. He helped me wrap up my final capstone and was a great help practicing for technical interviews.
Curriculum:
Overall, the curriculum was thorough, provided good code examples, and covered the latest development technology. I'm sure it's a monumental task keeping up with constant updates for all the tools, software, and platforms they cover, but at times, it was sometimes frustrating to run into broken instructions (especially on Windows). The material is almost completely text and code examples, which are well-written. It frequently encourages you to use official documentation, which turned out to be a great skill that served me well as I moved through the program.
The major missing element was a search feature. The curriculum is very large and paginated by Unit, Section, Lesson, etc. It can be a challenge to find that one line you're thinking of without being able to search the whole curriculum.
Job Assistance:
Throughout the course, you complete mini career lessons, such as building a resume, optimizing your LinkedIn page, and how to network. These were helpful and I feel well-prepared to look for jobs. As soon as you graduate, you're paired with a career coach who you meet with weekly to check your progress and answer questions. Thinkful isn't going to necessarily find and get you the job you want, but they'll do a lot to prepare you to do it yourself.
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Annah Verified via LinkedIn
Full-stack Flex Review
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Overall, I had a pretty good experience at Thinkful. Thankfully I spent about 6 months learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before starting, so I was able to get through the fundamentals section really fast which helped me to graduate on time. I know quite a few people who weren't able to graduate on time, which really doesn't surprise me since you do have to devote a LOT of time to studying and working on projects.
The curriculum was good but really only covers the basics, and it's all readings (no videos or anything). For example, they gave you kind of a short tutorial on React, which definitely was not enough, so in addition to that I also had to read all of the React documentation, do a Codecademy React course, and watch some youtube tutorials. But they give you enough to get started.
I also found the Node section to be extremely lacking, and I know a bunch of other people who feel the same about that.
Also, I had four different mentors. My first mentor was very good, but unfortunately they only assigned him to me for the fundamentals section. I then got assigned another mentor who was terrible and didn't even know Node or React, so I switched. I then got assigned another mentor who was great, but had a VERY strong accent and it was very difficult to understand him, so I switched again. Then my last mentor was ok.
But my husband, who is a full-stack developer, is the one who would help me the most. Sometimes my mentors would spend our entire session trying to help me figure out one of my problems, and they wouldn't be able to solve it, so I would have to ask my husband who would literally solve the problem is under 5 minutes. Sometimes even like 30 seconds. It was crazy.
The Q&A sessions are also not very helpful, and I only went to a few of them. A few times they were able to help me, but mostly they weren't much of a help. Unfortunately there can sometimes be like 6 other people in the Q&A so they have to be fast with helping you. There are definitely some good Q&A mentors though, like Luis and TJ. They're really good!
But overall, I definitely learned a lot. I still don't really feel like I'm that great of a developer, but I know that takes time, and I'm going to have to keep learning and doing projects on my own. I just graduated though and am hoping to find a job soon!
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Alex Webb Verified via GitHub
Full Stack Flex - Thinkful
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Very interesting course that covers a lot of ground. Excellent place to test your abilities and push yourself farther than you had before. I came in to the course with some knowledge of C#, Ruby, and JS. This course pushed me to complete projects and then improve and make them professional looking. The mentors are a nice bonus but not as valuable as the reviews and practice interviews which will test your mettle and reveal your weaknesses. If you can afford it and have some experience and are looking to get serious about web development, give it a try.
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Jt Verified via GitHub
Web Developer
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First of all, I'm only giving this a 2* mainly because the mentor. I first enrolled in Thinkful's flex bootcamp. It said you need about 20-25 hours a week to complete the program which in my opinion without any coding background is completely inaccurate. You meet with the mentor for 1 hour 3 times a week. Although the experience of having a mentor can be great, Thinkful makes it sound like they will always be able to help you. A lot of these mentors do the teaching as a side job and are incredibly busy with their own jobs as well so don't expect much help from them outside of the mentor sessions.
Next, their course curriculum was pretty mediocre and can be a bit confusing (After the program I bought many Udemy courses which I thought were far superior). I was constantly using google and youtube to get a better understanding of anything and everything.
Lastly, I believe Thinkful themselves is still a growing company and therefore vastly short on employees. When I was a student they changed the program when I was directly in the middle of it without any of my knowledge and I had to go back and complete extra parts of the curriculum. I had to go through about 3 mentors and 2 program managers which is completely ridiculous. In the end, I felt completely cheated of not only my experience but my money I paid for the program. They make it sound great and promising in the beginning but in reality I was constantly left alone talking with a few students from slack. Don't comit this much money if you can't put a minimum of 40 hours a week into this program. In my honest opinion, save yourself the money and either try a different bootcamp or buy courses on Udemy.
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Kyle H. Verified via LinkedIn
Full Stack Flex - Thinkful
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I'm currently enrolled in the Full Stack Flex Bootcamp and I'm very much enjoying the process. It's tough so far, but it's been a great experience with my Mentor, Program Manager, and all the other enrolled students in the Slack groups. I always feel like I have support through the process (even late at night or early in the mornings, someone's in the Slack just like me) and I can always bounce off code or issues with my classmates. My mentor has been great, he's always available for a video/screen share and when I've been battling with something he helps me see where the issue came from but also reframes the problem and potential solutions in ways that make sense.
I'm excited to keep working away at my course and would highly recommend this course, and Thinkful, to anyone looking to extend their knowledge or make a full pivot into something else (like I am).
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Rebecca Posner Verified via GitHub
Full Stack Flex
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I'm currently enrolled in Thinkful's Full Stack Flex program, and I'm really enjoying it so far! I recently graduated from college with a minor in computer science, and I wanted to get more experience with web development specifically to increase my chances of getting a job. I feel like I've learned lots of good coding skills since I've started, and my mentor (who is amazing!) has also given me a lot of helpful advice on interviewing and networking. The local program manager (I'm based in San Diego) has been very friendly and she organizes events periodically so people in the program can meet in person.
So far the curriculum hasn't been too overwhelming or difficult for me- however, I had a decent amount of previous coding experience before I started, so your experience may be different. The lessons are well organized, and they also provide links to many additional resources if you want more background info on a specific topic.
Overall, my favorite parts so far are probably the mentorship aspect and the fact that the curriculum is fairly project-based, so you end up with a good portfolio of projects that showcase the skills you've learned.
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Miguel Niblock Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Los Angeles- Great so far.
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Hi all! Im a Data Science student with Thinkful. It's been about two months since I started the program. It's been a great experience overall.
The application process was straightforward. My first contact with Thinkful was at a workshop for interested applicants. I had some great conversations with the people I encountered that day. They gave me access to a two week free-trial of the course. I then formally applied, had a phone interview and was admitted for the fundamentals course.
The course has been a great match for my background, while still being challenging. I have experience as an accountant in the film industry. I had coding experience with excel and was losely acquainted with Python through some Edx courses I attempted before Thinkful. The reason why I joined is that I wanted an actual commitment, which I didn't feel toward free online courses. The first parts of the fundamentals course were a bit of a steep curve on the programming side, for me. But after I became used to the basics, everything else fell into place gradually. I had more knowledge of statistics/math than programming, so take that into consideration.
Ive done great advancements and am excited for the next part of the program. Im currently finishing my capstone report for the fundamentals course and Im impressed at how much I accomplished in just this past month.
There's an active Thinkful community in LA. I've been going to several gatherings organized by Thinkful for its students. They are aprox every other week. I've met some awesome people there and learned stuff as well, since they all have discussions or presentations. My favorite was a "Sunday Brunch and Mimosas at the Park" in West Hollywood :).
My mentor really makes a difference. I meet with a mentor online twice a week for 45min per session. Thinkful has its own videocall system where you can share your screen with your mentor while calling. Then I write code and follow his suggestions for improvements, etc.
I would recommend.
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Shane Verified via GitHub
Loving this program
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I’m about halfway through Thinkful’s full stack flex program. It was the best decision I’ve ever made for myself. The curriculum is solid, but the mentors are game changers. I’ve met a handful and they are wonderful people with a passion for helping others. Don’t get me wrong, this is hard work and takes patience and discipline. It’s worth it!
The cost of the program may seem like a lot but I can tell you it’s worth every penny. You get a lot of bang for your buck. If I could go back in time, I would’ve joined sooner. Do it!
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Michael Crane Verified via LinkedIn
Full Stack Flex Graduate
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I am a graduate of the Full Stack Flex program at Thinkful and would difinitely recommend the program to prospective students. The program is full of many high quality features and benefits designed to help you throughout the learning process. In addition to 2 weekly 1-on-1 meetings with a dedicated mentor, you also have access to several on-going live Q&A sessions as well as a dedicated slack channel where you can turn to with any questions or challenges you're facing. Aside from these, the curriculum is very well structured, and the program interface is very well designed, creating a smooth user experience from start to finish. Overall, I am very satisfied with my experience and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to advance their career as a developer.
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Mohammed Almahbashi Verified via GitHub
Full Stack Flex
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I have been doing Full Stack Flex program at Thinkful for almost three months now and I have learned so many things. One of many things I like about Thinkful is their on going/live Q&A lead instructor sessions. Through out the day and night there are available sessions where students can join and as questions or get help with their capstone projects. Another point I like that makes Thinkful special is their weekly mentors. I meet with my mentor whose really knowledgeable and knows how to teach, twice a week. We go over examples but pretty much they can answer those difficult questions that you can't find in your own or need further explanation. I also appreciate having the slack group but want makes it special is those local groups where students can get together for activities or study groups. Over all, I am glad I joined them !
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Rahul Vaidya Verified via LinkedIn
Full Stack Flex
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The thinkful coding bootcamp experience was extremely helpful to someone like me with no professional experience or coding experience. I was able to complete the bootcamp while working (delivery driver) and got 4 portfolio projects to show for it. I believe this is what is helping me land interviews and code challenges. Also the mentor they pair you with is very experienced and helpful. I still stay in touch with him to this day.
After graduating there is job assistance that is super helpful. My coach has helped with resume and linkden (invaluable for someone with no experience in the area) and we meet weekly to discuss goals -
Dameon Mendoza Verified via LinkedIn
Student
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Hello World,
I chose Thinkful because of Course Report. After I committed myself to learning development, I spent 3 days reading and using Course Report to get a sense of how students felt about their time in a particular program, what would fit my schedule, my budget, and what I felt I needed for resources to be successful. Course Report has all of that, so read up and see what fits you and start your coding career.
To start, learning something new is going to be all about "YOU". The time you put in and the drive you have to learn the material will be what makes this program successful for new students. Thinkful will provide the opportunity if you provide the hard work and dedication.
Thinkfuls Engineering Immersion course was a daily 9-5 coding experience. Plus studying at night and at times on the weekend.
Engineering Immersion provides daily stand ups lead by an Industry Certified instructor giving a material overview and explanation of the the days exercises. Paired programming throughout the days exercises to work along with someone. T.A.’s to help during the day to resolve any issues your pair runs into. One on one mentoring sessions to review and share the skills learned from the exercises, and guidance given for better coding practices. Q and A sessions that have a specific technology focus to help get in-depth answers. Workshops to introduce you to new technologies or to learn programming tricks and secrets. Program Managers that go out of their way to make sure you are getting all the resources needed to be successful and that your goals are being met. There is a lot of Active Slack channels. Some are where your group discussions turn into ideas. Tech specific channels to get late night answers. Career channels where alumni recruit new students for employment, and City channels to get to know your community of developers and hear about events in your area.
After this experience, I am excited to take the next steps in my career. Here is a link to my portfolio => https://www.dameonmendoza.com
Thank you Course Report, and Thinkful for giving me this opportunity.
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Matthew Eubanks Verified via GitHub
Not Worth It!!!!!!
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Thinkful has a lot of information and there are good people there but to find them you have to sift through all the mentors and helpers on their Slack channel that think you should already know everything from the curriculum. The curriculum is good for people that learn from nothing but reading. I however have to build applications to truly understand the material. I have had two program managers during my entire time at Thinkful and I have only ever spoken with my first mentor and that was only twice. The first was my introduction and the second was when my mentor quit in the middle of my introductory course. That is a total of 5 out of the 6 months with no contact. I am a project manager at my current job and if I had team members that were not on track to meet their goals I would be reaching out to their mentor and asking them why not. What is the Mentor's plan to get the team member back on track? Has the mentor talked to the mentee about their schedule and about how to help them learn? What goals have the mentor set with the mentee for this week? Did the mentee meet their goals for the previous week? If not what was missed and why? What needs to be done differently to ensure the mentee meets their goal? As a leader we have to take responsibility for everything. I am a leader and I take responsibility for not meeting all my goals but if I was the Program Manager I would have monthly skip level conversations with the mentees to ensure that my mentors are performing as expected, and that the mentees understand where they are and motivate them to succeed. I say there is a lot lacking in the Thinkful model and most of the issues come from the top down. As leaders all failure is a reflection of our leadership.
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Michael Dolan Verified via GitHub
Having a personal mentor is hard to beat!
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I've been a self-taught programmer for many years with dreams of taking my skills and enthusiasm into the progessional setting, so I was excited to find out about Thinkful's Full Stack Flex program. They work with you on a curriculum to give you today's most marketable skills like ReactJS and Node as well as professional coding practices you might not pick up on your own like testing frameworks and using Git.
Beyond the curriculum and coding practices they instill, the real power of Thinkful's program is the mentors. You get twice weekly meetings with a mentor who has a successful background in bringing web applications to market. They guide your through tough to understand content, trouble shoot with you while you are stuck and help you build and refine your projects. I looked forward to my meetings with my mentor because he could always help me get unstuck, explain important concepts and clear up misicues with patience and understanding. He also helped keep me accountable and pushed me to try more challenging things and be a better programmer. Additionally, when you aren't working one-on-one with your mentor, you have access to other mentors in multiple daily Q+A sessions on all sorts of topics, live Family Dinner events with students and local mentors/program managers and a Slack channel.
At the end of your time at Thinkful, you will have a personal portfolio website with at least 3 polished web applications that you built from the ground up. You'll be able to speak about your experience designing apps from the back of a cocktail napkin all the way to deployment with continuous integration. The experience is powerful and much more inline with professional experience than just doing online tutorials.
Finally, Thinkful offers career services that go into deep detail - whether it be updating your resume and cover letter to networking strategies. Additionally, they push you to try new strategies that you might not have thought of or otherwise do to help you secure a job. At the end of each unit, Thinkful has you do live mock technical interviews to help you practice for the real thing. They definately do not feature push over questions- you are expected to know your stuff and perform underpressure. As someone whose only gone through standard interviews in the past, exposure to what a technical interview could be like was an extremely important part of the developer job search. -
Tyler Stirtz Verified via GitHub
Full Stack Flex
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Thinkful is awesome! I had a great experience. Everyone at Thinkful is dedicated to student's success and the ultimate goal of getting a job as a developer. There is always someone available to help, whether it is your mentor, another mentor via a Q & A session or a mentor or another student through the Thinkful Slack community. As an example, I was having an issue with my first capstone project late at night so I jumped on Slack and asked a question. Within seconds a mentor replied and as we chatted back and forth he realized it was a quick fix kind of problem. We ended up doing a video chat and he helped me for 2 hours (we didn't finish until 2 am his time). That is how dedicated everyone is to helping the students succeed.
Throughout my time at Thinkful I had 4 mentors. This was due to a scheduling conflict with one of my mentors. Thinkful is great about finding the right mentor for you if request a new mentor.
As far as time commitment goes in the Flex program I probably spent on average about 30+ hours working on the curriculum while working part-time. I will be honest, it is not easy and if you are working at the same time you won't have much of a social life. It is 100% worth it. I love what I do and I am really glad that I chose Thinkful.
Thinkful gives you the tools you need to get a job as a developer and the skills to learn technologies quickly and efficiently. The industry changes very quickly and that is a vital skill as a developer. Overall I would 100% recommend Thinkful to anyone who is passionate about becoming a Web Developer. -
RC Maples Verified via GitHubRecommended for the Self Motivated
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Overall the Thinkful experience has been pleasant. I really enjoy my 1-on-1 meetings with my mentor. The feedback, guidance, and challenges my mentor present have made the program worth while.
The curriculum is decent, but I sometimes get lost in the assigments and reading material. I do wish it was laid out a bit differently, I think there is room for improvement in that regard. Another thing I've noticed is that you really need to pay attention to the recommended resources at the end of each lesson. Those additional resources are super hepful in driving the topic home (at least for me :) ). The additional resources are well curated, but this student wishes some of those items were integrated into the native curriculum. Chasing down external links and keeping track of all of them can be a bit tedius.
Thinkful offers a student Slack environment which is occasionally helpful, but you've got to be patient due to the sheer number of participants. Another very helpful 'community' type research are the open-sessions held by various mentors and Thinkful instructors. I've found that the instructors genuinely want to help you learn and aren't afraid to answer questions. I find the mentor sessions and open-sessions to be very helpful.
I believe Thinkful is better geared towards individuals with a strong sense of self-motivation and resourcefulness. There are often times where you need to refer to various documentation and the program definetely rewards those who can find answers on their own. There is a lot of reading, which can be a bit monotonous. For me personally, I do wish there were a few video lectures sprinkled through the reading material. I think that would help tremendously - seeing things demonstrated live (or recorded) and hearing someone explain what they're demonstrating is very helpful for some learners.
On the whole, I've enjoyed my Thinkful experience and have seen a marked improvement and progress towards my goal. I still have a little bit left to go in the program, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to individuals looking to jump start their software development education.
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Rashad Bayram Verified via GitHub"If you know "what do you want" and you want it Online, Thinkful is the choice!"
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I tried to study by myself, i tried to study with tons of free resources out there ... but it did not work for me. Conceptually with Thinkful you are still learning by yourself, but with one huge difference, there are always either mentors or/and Q&A sessions available for you when you need them. This makes learning process less stressful and demotivating when you stuck. This lets you move forward and not to procrastinate. Thinkful model is very good fit for those who works full time, has family and other things in their life at the same time and also wants to learn Full Stack :). Go for it! you won't regret it.
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Tanner G Verified via LinkedIn
Great Course!
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I started off with basically no coding experience at all and was a little nervous starting from scratch - but from day one everyone at Thinkful alleviated those concerns! It starts right from the basics and builds on top so even a beginner can do it if they work at it hard enough. My program manager helped introduce me to the way the course works and is always checking in to see how I'm doing, and my mentor is invaluable in helping me along with the technical side of things. I would definitely reccomend this course to other people like me who are looking for an alternative to college or for anyone wanting a change in careers.
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Michael John Kessler Verified via LinkedIn
A Strong Move for the Motivated
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The biggest obstacles to my decision to learn coding, statistics, and data science had been lack of a functional curriculum and access to knowledgeable staff who can guide, counsel, and assist when I get lost or stuck. Thinkful's Data Science program has provided both.
The curriculum is well structured. Not only does it offer easy to understand examples of every lesson along the way. But it also increases the complexity of those examples and slowly introduces concepts into the code that you as a student have to go figure out for yourself, which as it turns out is a critical component of surviving in the tech industry.
Having access to regular Q&A sessions online augments the bi-weekly hour long mentor sessions that keep my on track and progressing toward each milestone. Perhaps in time, the Data Science program will have more industry professionals who can give more Q&A sessions like is present for Full Stack students.
If you want to learn but simply lack the infrastructure in which to learn, this "boot camp" is a solid move. Its cost is reasonable and will likely pay for itself in the first year alone. The community is full of hopeful, intelligent students who are all just trying to break into a growing, lucrative industry. And the lessons themselves are very challenging while keeping you near to guidance that has kept me going when I thought I would never be able to grasp some of the concepts and code.
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Andy Ly Verified via GitHubThinkful, A Helping Hand
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This has been a very good experience in pushing me to take a step out of my comfort zone. Along with going to Meetups to meet up with other fellow coders, I also get good practice mock interviews with those experienced in the field. The assignments themselves point you in the right direction and it's built step by step.
Some issues is that parts of the course may be out of date or recommended resources link broken/out of date. Though, I find the next couple days that a new lecture is added to cement more of the concepts.
Instructors are very knowledgeable and tend to know a lot of tips and tricks. I had two instructors, one that is newer, but had a lot of zeal for teaching which I enjoyed. After the introduction phase, was introduced to an older instructor where I have a little more trouble associating with.
Currently still taking the course and working on my serverside capstone project.
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Christopher Whiteman Verified via LinkedIn
Online yet fully committed
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tl:dr;
I enrolled in Thinkful's full time web development program in Feburary and graduated in July. I am currently about to go into the careers phase of the program, but I already have one job interview scheduled for next week (they had actually been telling us to begin to apply for jobs about after 14 weeks into the program). My overall experience with Thinkful has been very positive and I would recommend them to anyone seriously considering an online bootcamp to learn full stack web development.
The details: (for those of you considering Thinkful)
I'll try to write this in a way to be as helpful to prospective students as much as possible. A lot of it may be me just rambling about my personal experience, but I hope it will be useful for prospective students.
About me- I taught myself how to code for roughly a year before entering Thinkful and had completed a significant amount of Free Code Camp. This meant that I had a head start and found the boot camp relatively easier than other students, many of whom found the boot camp very challenging; quite a few struggled and dropped out. With this said my experience of the bootcamp is going to be more relatable to people who have prior self-taught experience. I also strongly recommend people considering boot camps who don't have any prior coding experience to spend a few months teaching themsleves before considering a boot camp- this comes with multiple benefits: firstly, you actually know very well whether or not this is what you want to do (sounds silly but you'd be surprised how many people just jump with both feet into boot camps), secondly you will be leagues ahead of your peers- and this actually puts you in a good position because the curriculum is designed around the average student and if you are above average, you are performing well and in a comfortable position and... thirdly this will improve your chances of getting not just a job- but a better job outside of bootcamp since you will be far better than you would've if you went through the boot camp without experience. FreeCodeCamp is a great place to learn on your own.
Applying to Thinkful & The precourse
When applying to Thinkful, you will schedule a phone call with a program manager who will assess whether you are a good fit for the boot camp or not (no pressure at all, just a phone call). After the phone call, you will be given access to the precourse and a mentor who you will schedule two video chats a week with to help you through the precourse. The precourse teaches basic HTML/CSS/JavaScript knowledge/skills that you will need to begin your journey in the bootcamp with. At the end of the precourse, you will have to undergo a technical evaluation that judges your coding ability, for our cohort of students this came in the form of 5 JavaScript coding problems to solve within an hour (this is how Thinkful ultimately is able to gauge whether a student has a shot at succeeding in the full-time bootcamp or not. This is very important to other students really, because you will be working with other students and you want to be working with other students who aren't going to hold you back... many other boot camps don't even control the quality of their students and let them be weeded out during the boot camp rather than prior to it, so you can consider this a sign of a good boot camp).
First Two Weeks
The first two weeks covers REST API and jQuery- you will make your very first project at the end of the two weeks. The instructor for these two weeks really convinced me that I had selected the right boot camp, he was perfect. The assignments he provided were well thought-out and fool proof yet with enough challenge that a growing developer could improve on.
Weeks 3-7
This week included a 1 week break, so really it was just 4 weeks. These 4 weeks were about learning Node.js and database technologies such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB. This is the part of the course that really picks up, and unfortunately our cohort in particular seemed to be the subject of testing for a new node curriculum (I might be wrong, but it seriously felt that way). The instructor would edit the assignments we were working on... on the day of it while we were working on it. This caused quite a bit of frustration in the students despite the instructor's ability to teach. Despite that, we all came out learning everything we needed in these 4 weeks (except a lot of students still felt uncomfortable with PostgreSQL, this resulted in almost all students favoring the use to MongoDB in later projects instead, a large part of this to blame is that many students faced technical difficulties during the PostgreSQL week).
Weeks 8-9
This week is dedicated to learning React.js, an advanced front-end web development framework. Many students truly enjoyed this part of the course as they liked coming back to the front-end and doing many cool things with it. I personally found it a challenge since I had used jQuery for so long, unlike other students whose minds jQuery was beginning to slip out of since they had only used it for roughly a little more than a week. For an experienced jQuery user, React can take some time getting used to.
Weeks 10-11
These two weeks are dedicated to creating your very first full-stack project. You will do everything from front-end to back-end; the structure of your database, how the server communicates with the client (visible web page), the design for it... everything. This is the point where afterwards we saw a huge amount of students drop out of the program from our cohort. This is really the part of the program that is the true test to see if you currently have what it takes (and if you don't manage to succeed, it probably just means you need more time to learn, but the boot camp isn't going to wait for you). Thankfully for those students who felt they needed more time after these two weeks, they were able to swap over to Thinkful's Flex program rather than drop out, so they could continue the boot camp journey at their own pace instead.
Week 12
Break week~ a lot of students used this time to keep polishing their projects and review.
Weeks 13-14
Data Structures & Algorithms- This is where you learn computer science fundamentals and coding challenges that job interviewers may pick your brain about. This is the part of the curriculum that gets you ready for interviews at even heavy-hitting job interview companies. The instructor for this part of the curriculum was a really tough instructor but an outstanding one. She would single students out and call them out to present their work and/or their thoughts about how to solve a particular coding problem. I'm pretty sure she scared the living heck out of a lot of students but we all loved her for it- she was an outstanding instructor as she was also a tough one.
Week 15
This week is dedicated to your 3rd capstone project- a full-stack project that uses a data structure to create a learning-based application using spaced repetition theory. You will be assigned a partner for this project who you will then divide the work up with.
Week 16
"Flex Week"- during this week you can choose a technology that you personally would like to learn (perhaps your specific area has lots of jobs for Python for example and you want to learn it). Many students opted to learn React Native, which allows React developers the ability to create mobile applications for both Android and IOS simultaneously.
Weeks 17-19
These Three weeks are dedicated to working on the final capstone project. Our cohort was divided into teams of four. During this time I got along really well with my partners as we created our most polished project yet. Our project not only included a web application but also a mobile application. I felt very good about these three weeks.
Weeks 20-21
These two weeks are dedicated to getting ready for the job hunt. You will work on and finalize your portfolio in these two weeks and submit the portfolio for review and get ready to graduate.
Overall, my experience at Thinkful was a great one and I fully don't regret spending the large amount of money on it. I feel confident and ready to start a career as a web developer... and I have my first job interview just a week after my graduation!
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Molly Jean Bennett Verified via GitHubTotally Transformative Experience
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I come from a humanities background and began the Full Stack Flex program with almost no coding experience at all (just a handful of CodeAcademny lessons a teeny bit of HTML/CSS familiarity). Like a lot of people here, I was initially suspicious of intensive online learning. I thought if would feel transactional and impersonal. And at first, I struggled with how to best use the time with my mentor. But as I progressed through the course, I became more comfortable with my mentor and extremely grateful for his expertise. I’m a big fan of Thinkful’s project-based approach. While many of the lessons felt sparse at first, I was always able to deepen my understanding while building out a full project. In addition to the (essential) mentor sessions, Thinkful offers lots of ways to get help on projects, like a very active Slack community and frequent video chat Q&A sessions with professional developers. Most important, for me, was Thinkful’s IRL Portland community. Throughout my time in the program, I was able to meet up multiple times per week with other Thinkful students for dinners, workshops, and study sessions (both Thinkful-organized and informal). While all of Thinkful’s coursework is technically online, this additional local community provided me with an essential support system and resources for further learning. If I were to do it all over again, I probably would have put in more time self-studying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript fundamentals prior to starting the course. Because I was only working part-time while in the program, I hoped to finish at an accelerated pace, but ended up needing the entire six months. Other than that, though, I have no regrets. I finished Thinkful with a strong portfolio and a totally new skillset. I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting my work was to potential employers. I interviewed at a number of local companies and received an initial offer three weeks after graduating from Thinkful. Just this morning I just signed an offer letter for my first job in the tech field—a full-time frontend dev position at a small creative agency—and I'm very excited to begin this next chapter! -
Joanne Lin Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Bootcamp - The formula works!
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I chose Thinkful over other online progams because of the mentorship, the community and the cost. Thinkful delivered in those aspects! I was paired with a great mentor who walked me through the lessons when I got stuck, I attended any Thinkful event I could and met other amazing students, mentors, and Thinkful staff, and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to pursue a different career path (There's a scholarship for women!). I was able to find a job before my graduation date!
Unlike the web development bootcamp, I would say that prospective students should have some background in statistics and programming before coming into the course, or be willing to put in the additional time to learn more. (This is probably true in any data science course.) Before becoming a Thinkful student, I had a decent background in statistics and some (mostly self-taught) coding experience in Python. My last job was doing data analysis. Because the field of data science is so broad, there is a lot to cover. The more you can bring into the course at the get-go, the better. And this include time! I personally would not have been able to do this course while having a full-time job.
Also, data science as a field is relatively new and constantly changing. Thinkful's data science lessons, while robust, only scratch the surface of what is out there. This is why the project-oriented nature of the program is so important. Working on projects allows you to put what you learned into practice and expand on the course material. Having a mentor to guide you offers another way to learn beyond the material. While data science concepts are important, one of the most important things you will learn in this course is how to Google effectively and how to troubleshoot your code.
You do not need to enroll in a data science bootcamp to become a data scientist. There are plenty of resources out there that are less costly. It depends on your learning style! I knew I would benefit from a mentor that could talk me through difficult concepts and hold me accountable when progressing through the course. As someone who struggles with networking, I knew it was important for me to pick a program with a supportive community. This community eventually got me a job offer! For me, Thinkful was the right choice.
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Ian Avery Verified via LinkedIn
They Came Through
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The curriculum was tough, and at times I either wanted to quit or thought there was no way it was going to work out, but I kept at it and sure enough, 2 months after graduating I landed a job as a Software Developer. I had absolutely no coding experience prior to the bootcamp, so that really shows the quality of the curriculum and the dedication of the Program Managers, Mentors, and Career Services people.
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Sam Gould Verified via LinkedIn
Engineering Immersion
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If you can afford to take the time to commit 5 months to the program, I strongly recommend it. The two aspects of the program that I think helped me succeed throughout my time as a student and now as a graduate were the length, and the community.
For an immersion program 5 months can feel like a long commitment, but it allows you to dive deeper into the concepts that may not come as easily to you. I found that at various times throughout the program certain people in my cohert were putting in more time depending on how confident they felt about a given concept. Also the longer program allows you to produce on more projects in various group dynamics (solo, partner and small groups of 4 or 5), which is extremely helpful when interviewing for jobs. I found that potential employers were as interested in hearing about my experience of balancing work on a team of 5 people, as my technical experience.
Also, I can't emphasize enough how impressed I was with the online community that Thinkful creates. I've grown to be quite close with the members of my cohert as we worked through this program together. The daily live classrooms and partner programming made me feel like I was never alone even if I was learning from the comfort of my own living room. The mentoring Thinkful provides, also helps to make the online experience feel very approachable.
I will acknowledge that it took a certain amount of financial privilege to be able to take 5 months off of work in order to attend their engineering immersion program, but if you have the flexibility and passion for learning software development then I strongly recommend attending Thinkful's Engineering Immersion Program.
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Quang Nguyen Verified via GitHubExcellent place to learn full-stack!
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I did not have much coding experience before attending thingful. I enrolled in full-time course which is intensive. I was struggling in the beginning as I was not very comfortable with pair-programing and fast-pace setting, but I tried to adpat quickly. I learned a lot from this program and could not believe that I could build React full-stack applications in a short amount of time. Capstone projects only allow one week to build with your classmates but it really helped me improved a lot of skills from planning steps, drafting wireframes, to creating components. My debugging skills also improved siginifcantly. Another nice thing about full-time course is I could access TAs everyday as we were doing daily assignmnents so it really saved me a lot of time debuggings. Their instructors are extremely knowlegable and their program manager (Theresa) is doing great job to support students in any aspect. Finally, their career service (Stephanie) is really helpful when it comes to the huting job phase, she provided me a lot of good tips on job search. However, in order to suceed in the course, you need to put in a great effort but you will see compound rewardings soon!
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Grayson Gilmore Verified via LinkedIn
Excellent education from high quality mentorship
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I attended Thinkful from Jan-May of 2017. To be honest, I had a lot of prior programming experience, which may not be typical of a bootcamp seeker - but the fine people at Thinkful always went out of their way to adapt to my needs. The curriculum was always well designed and executed, but parts of it were too simple for me, so they found ways for me to expand my knowledge. The mentorship system really sets Thinkful apart - I've been to dozens of meetups in Seattle and met with students from several other bootcamps and I always felt extremely grateful to have attended Thinkful rather than any of these other schools. That said, when I graduated Thinkful had not yet developed deep enough partnerships in the Seattle area so I found the job search long and excruiciating, though eventually successful. My job coach was wonderful and always did everything she could for me, but the market was really tough, and a lot of companies won't even look at juniors with CS degrees, let alone bootcamps. I stay in contact with my job coach and she assures me they are working hard to improve their connections in this area so future students should have a much easier time. If you are a prospective student in the Seattle area, make sure to ask about their progress on this front. You will get a great education and the staff will do everything in their power to motivate you and keep you on track, but help getting a foot in the door will make a world of difference.
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Nick Bingham Verified via LinkedIn
Worth the money if you stick with it
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The flex full stack bootcamp is hard to do remotely but worth it. I worked full time and put in about 15 hours per week and finished in 12 months, well beyond the 6 months. I think you finish in 6 months if you work park time, not full time. I learned the MERRN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Redux, Node), but I lucked out with a mentor who really pushed me to make architectural decisions in my apps, to push myelf, and use webpack. I got a got a job two months after graduating at a fortune 500 company and it is honestly my dream job. I would recommend this bootcamp.
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Nicole G Verified via LinkedIn
What I Could Have Hoped For
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If you put in the time, Thinkful will be an amazing return on investment. I highly recommend the engineering immersion program for that reason-- the teaching assistances were key to my success. We learned the MERN stack, but having some knowledge in HTML/CSS/JavaScript or another language will aid you prior to starting the course. Expect to spend 40-50 hours a week minimum studying, so try some coding on your own and make sure you enjoy it! I loved pair programming with other classmates and I found a job before I graduated.
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Sean Bray Verified via LinkedIn
Great Bootcamp, Great People.
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I participated in Thinkful's 6-month Flex Program and felt blown away by the results. Let me preface this by stating that I was a theatre major in college, so feel free to make any assumptions about my math ability from that. Thinkful's curriculum increases at a perfect pace to understand everything before moving on. I had several moments throughout the Bootcamp where I felt like I wasn't going to be able to grasp a topic, but without fail after 2 - 3 days learning about the topic I always came around. In short, this bootcamp is for people from all backgrounds and regardless of previous web development knowledge. After graduating I found a job working for Booz Allen Hamilton after one month.
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Brad Garner Verified via GitHubThinkful Engineering Immersion
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Thinkful’s Engineering Immersion program was just what I needed to effectively enter tech. The mentors and instructors were smart, experienced, and helpful. The curriculum (mostly Node and React) was fresh and relevant. And a full month of data structures and algorithms was one of the programs’s selling points for me. Thinkful taught me how to continue learning well after graduation and starting a job.
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Ryan Verified via LinkedIn
Thinkful Full Time Bootcamp
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I had an awesome experience with Thinkful. It was a lot of work, even more time, a lot of frustration but even more reward.
Chris, our instructor that led the node/express portion of the course was literally one of the best teachers I have ever had. The amount of support by the TAs and mentors is unparelleled. If you are struggling there is no shame in asking for help and help you they will, everyone that had given me their assistance stayed with me until I thoroughly understood the concept in question. I also really liked the way most of the course was put together with instructor led lectures, then you break off into pairs to practice what the lecture was about and then ended the day with help from TAs and a mentor session to cover anything still not fully understood.
That being said there were some things that could be improved. I really did not like the consitancy with some of the instructors using vim as a code editor instead of vs code (which is what all the students used at the time). This discrepency was very hard to follow especially when learning react. During a topic or two that was covered, I think the instructors could have spent a little more time with us during the lectures to go over concepts.
All things considered, Thinkful was definitely worth it in my opinion. You only get out what you put into it though! If all the resources are used that Thinkful offers (which is a lot) and you really, truley are attentive during lectures and put in the effort, the reward will definitely be a job of your choosing!
