Chegg Skills Reviews
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Benjamin Johnson Verified via LinkedIn
Thinkful Goes Above and Beyond
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# Some Good Title In June 2016 I started Thinkful's (TF) part-time web development bootcamp. I can easily and honestly say that this has been one of the better decisions that I have made in my life. Here I am one year out, employed full-time in an exciting job with enormous career opportunities with a company that treats me like I'm a valued asset rather than simply another cog in the machine. And all of this due to the amazing crew over at TF. Quick background: I did half of TF's program, dropped out (although technically I graduated early) to take a short-term job, and then after the job completed the rest of the curriculum. In April 2017 I started TF's career services. My program manager told me that I had them in the bank when I finished back in November. So when I came back this April they let me pick up as if I had just graduated the program! This is just a single example of the folks over there going above and beyond. Here's a few things that I think set TF excels and sets themselves apart. 1. Cost & Financing Bootcamps can get to be very expensive, but my experience in financing TF has been relatively painless. When I enrolled in TF I was a poor college grad and because of the financing opportunities I never felt like the cost was too much of a burden. It's no the cheapest bootcamp out there, but you get what you pay for. In comparison to going back for a CS degree, I saved thousands of dollars, and I felt like I got a good foundation on which to continue learning. 2. Flexibility The primary thing that made TF doable for me was the ability to enroll in a part-time bootcamp. Sure, it takes longer (about 6 months), but this meant that I could continue working valet to pay rent while I taught myself the skills to become a developer. It's the difference between starting on your career change now and starting after you've saved up enough to take 3 months off work. It should also be noted that they also offer a full-time bootcamp, if you are able to take off the 3 months to expedite your career change. 3. Remote Also, in addition to making TF work around my schedule, I could attend my meetings and do my coursework from anywhere. This made integrating TF into my life all the more simple. 4. Mentorship One of the best things about TF is that they follow the mentorship model. Rather than throwing 10-20 students in a classroom with a single instructor and a few TAs, they assign each student a personal mentor, typically a senior engineer working for TF on the side (this is important! Your mentor is actually working on production code on a daily basis, rather than teaching full-time). For the part-time program, you meet with them 3 times per week. Having that personal touch to guide you when you're stuck or want to study something outside of the curriculum (gasp!) is the extra push it takes to speed up the learning process and separate yourself from the rest of the pack in an extremely competitive field. 5. Career Services I have yet to see another bootcamp offer continued career services as comprehensive and effective as TF's. To be honest, I feel like Career Services is its own little bootcamp. I started Career Services April 2017 with little knowledge of how to network, present myself confidently, or make a sales pitch for myself as a candidate. 6 weeks later I had two competing job offers and I feel like I've gained the networking/job-searching skills so that next time I need to find a job in the future I will be well-equipped and confident. 6. Community For being a 100% remote bootcamp, TF has a killer community. They have a Slack channel for all current students, alumni, and mentors. Usually when you're stuck on a problem there's at least one person on there that can get you unstuck quickly. In addition, TF puts on multiple workshops per week on a wide range of topics, all of which are accessible to students. Some people complain about the curriculum, but to be honest, I feel like the mentor relationships are more important anyways (TF is also very good about updating problems in their curriculum quickly). But the real learning happens from the mentors — they're the ones that show you how to teach yourself (because TF's curriculum isn't gonna be there when you need to learn the custom framework being used at your new employer) Also, online learning is not for everyone. For myself, I found that the online experience was refreshing and TF has done an amazing job of blending the automated, online approach with the personal touch. All in all, 100% worth it. Every. Single. Penny. Decide whether online mentor-based learning is your cup of tea, if you're more of a brick and mortar type then it's definitely not for you. But talk to the people there because it's a life-changing decision and Thinkful's doing an excellent job of equipping people for the next step in the their career. -
JP Earnest Verified via GitHubWorth It For Me
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I graduated Thinkful's Full-time Web Development Bootcamp in January 2017.
After spending a month working on my portfolio, resume and personal portfolio projects, I started the job hunt. Thinkful was with me the whole way.
I started at my new job in late April 2017, doing exactly what Thinkful trained me to do. I love the company and the people (and the paycheck), and the web development work I now do.
Do you need a bootcamp like Thinkful in order to get into this industry? Absolutely not. Everything you need to know you can learn for free. But Thinkful makes the tuition worthwhile:
-course material is streamlined, clear and concise. You spend your study time effectively. I bounced around through online tutorials before joining. Thinkful helped me focus my efforts.
-when you get stuck (and you will), Thinkful mentors and faculty are only a few clicks away. You will need to learn how to work through problems on your own, and Thinkful helps show you where to look or where to ask.
-there are a lot of tools out there. Thinkful introduces you to many of them, and shows you how to develop an efficient workflow.
-javascript proficiency is not the same as fluency. I could read and write javascript with some hesitancy before joining Thinkful. Midway through the program, it became second nature. But I didn't become fluent until tackling data structures and algorithms at Thinkful. The code review and refactoring that faculty lead me through proved invaluable.
Thinkful is not perfect. It's composed of people after all. The biggest challenge I saw with it was were growing pains. A few newer faculty were not be as well versed in the course material, or able to answer your questions as well as others. But they will not hold you back. There are lots of very well-versed faculty and mentors on hand to help you through the hurdles.
The only other criticism I found with Thinkful was in their course material. Most of it was very clear and easy to follow. But, a few places needed flushing out. Fortunately, they have been, and continue to be. Thinkful's course material is always being revised, updated and augmented. This continues being relevent after the program, since graduates maintain lifetime access.
Like everything in life, you will get out of Thinkful what you put into it. I put my undivided attention into the program throughout, and focused just as intensively (maybe more) on perfecting my job application materials for six weeks afterwards. It was one of the most rewarding investments of my time and money yet.
This is not a get-rich-quick-scheme. You cannot buy yourself a job through Thinkful. But, if you're willing to put the work in, Thinkful will deliver.
Web Development job search suggestions:
-have a blog, sharing problems you ran into in your projects, and how you solved them
-spend time on your portfolio and your portfolio projects. Make them look good and work well. Create documention for your portfolio projects.
-take an interest in continuously learning new skills, and showcase them in your blog and/or portfolio.
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Christopher B Verified via LinkedIn
Absolutely Worth It
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I was an 18-year military veteran transitioning to the civilian side after being let go due to congressional sequester budget cuts. Without any prior knowledge of JavaScript and only a basic understanding of HTML/CSS I successfully completed their 6-month course and landed a full-time position in 4 weeks after graduating at $60K+. My course mentor guided me through their curriculum focusing on topics that would improve my ability to land a job. After graduating, I entered their job assistance program and received outstanding personal support.
This isn;t easy. No one is going to spoon feed you the answers. You are going to have to do the work. But if you dedicate yourself to completing the course, understanding the material, and getting a job. You will be successful.
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Mike Constantino Verified via GitHubAmazing mentor, awesome strategy.
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First off - let me say this: I put going to pursue my four year degree on the backburner to attend Thinkful.
I already had prior experience and a good coding knowledge, but needed direction and mentorship more than anything. I could tell from the moment I enrolled at Thinkful that everyone was there to help to their fullest capacity.
I have progressed relatively quick through the course due to my past experience, but my mentor has been a tremendous help on advanced topics and workflow. The guy seems to know literally everything about everything.
Additionally, Thinkful comes with a job guarantee for certain cities. The strategy they roll out to help you get the job is amazing. It forces you to make real world connections and not just shotgun your resume everywhere. While I'm not 100% in the career services phase yet, the contact I have had with them so far shows that they are completely committed and very knowledgable in what they are doing.
I highly reccomend Thinkful even if you're an absolute beginner. The value of a mentor and a team devoted to you in priceless.
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Sean Jun Verified via LinkedIn
Life Changing Experience
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About a year and a half ago, I was like you. I was reading through these course report reviews trying to decide on which bootcamps to take. After reading hundreds of reviews (literally), I decided to take Thinkful's Full Time Web Development Course. There were couple of deciding factors:
1. Ease of Enrollment
While some might argue that a good bootcamp needs to be hard, I wholeheartedly disagree. I think a good school needs to be able to take someone whose level is at absolute 0 and be able to teach him/her all the skills required to become 100. For this reason, Thinkful was perfect for me. They gave me a 2-week assignment to follow, which I was able to finish with little difficulty. Then, I had some skype interviews to talk about my goals, personalities. After that I was admitted and ready to learn. However, don't let this fool you to think it's an easy course. I got employed within 2 months of graduation. That tells you how complete this course is.
2. Contents
Speaking of the 'completeness' of the course, Thinkful definitely surprised me. At the time of searching, Thinkful was the only bootcamp that made all of its course materials end-to-end. I'm talking about chrome extensions, skype-like video lecture room, bootstrap-themed responsive course notes that you can view from your phone, easy-to-follow lecture slides, etc. You also get life-time access to these contents even after you graduate (and they get updates as well). It's different from other bootcamps where it looks like they ctrl-c/v some notes from wikipedia or blogs into craiglist-styled webpages. If the content makers were that dedicated to creating their own contents full-stack, I knew I could trust them into making me a full-stack developer.
3. Mentors
Unlike other bootcamps I was searching at that time, Thinkful offered what's called a 1-on-1 mentorship (on daily basis). I knew that I learn best when I have a person to interact with. So, I decided to go with Thinkful. Although I was only given 30-40 minutes of mentorship everyday, my mentor, Jason was very generous with time and effort. We would work on concepts, problems that I did not understand during lectures/projects. The instructors are also extremely dedicated to helping students. When I requested some 1-on-1 tutoring (other than mentorship) outside of course, everyone was willing to devote their time into teaching extra. Obviously, you have to show effort, but when you do, teachers will match your enthusiasm.
4. Size of Classroom
This was an important factor to me because I wanted to be appreciated as a student. I didn't want a course where I have to wait hours before someone could answer my question. At the same time, I didn't want a course where my only interaction is with a teacher (not enough pair programming experience). To me, the ideal size of classroom would be somewhere aronud 10 students. That way, you have mutual interaction between teachers and students. At the time of enrollment, Thinkful's course had maximum of 8 students (they refused to accept more due to same reason). By the end of the course, I made some life-time friends and mentors, whom I still reach out to.
5. Career Support
Before researching on coding bootcamps, I thought to myself, "If a bootcamp does not have a great career support, I might as well be doing a self-study." It was already intimidating to spend thousands of dollars on learning something I wasn't familar with. I wanted to make sure I get some kind of fail-safe insurance. Thinkful provided 6 months guarantee, which is a promise of full refund in case of unemployment 6 months after graduation date. Most of top-tier bootcamps didn't provide this option (probably because they wanted to advertise that they can 'confidently' place students in jobs without the 'insurance'). Truth is, getting a job isn't all about a student's excellence. Sometimes, it's really about how lucky you are. I've seen students (from Thinkful or other top bootcamps) who are miles better than me struggling to get a job for months. I have no doubt that Thinkful will prepare you to become employable by great companies, but it shouldn't hurt to have a back-up plan, just in case that takes longer than 6 months.
As for the actual career support, I cannot recommend the program enough. Thinkful takes career support like its own course. After you graduate, you will immediately enter what's called a 'career-search' mode. You will have industry-styled agile scrum meetings every day with career mentors (these are different from your code mentors) who will help you with every career related issues--building resume/portfolio, preparing elevator talks, interview questions, etc. I felt like I was supported by the whole team throughout the day. Plus, the career team usually has pretty big network of recruiters, which was crucial at landing my first job.
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That being said, I don't want to give impression that Thinkful works for everyone (that would sound like an ad). It's certainly designed for specific group of people. If you are someone who cares about all the factors listed above, I highly recommend this program. If not, there are other bootcamps (or even self-studies) that will meet your need. As for myself, it worked perfectly. I got my first programming job (working for Intel) within 2 months of graduation.
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Bryan Swagerty Verified via LinkedIn
The Catalyst to Level Up
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If you're like me, motivated to pickup the skills needed to be a developer but lacking the discipline and structure to commit, Thinkful's part time bootcamp will likely be the perfect program for you.
This truly is one of those things where you get out exactly how much you put in. Do not enroll expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting for you. Do expect to get paired with an expert mentor who is more than just an instructor, but a confidant and Jedi Master who will push you along your quest. Do expect other smart, talented mentors who offer office hours for answering anything from technical questions to industry tips. Expect to engage in a community of hungry developers in training and help eachother out. Ask questions as well as answer questions in the Slack channels from your peers (see the rubber duck debugging).
Thinkful proved, for me, to be an amazing experience and a real game changer. Towards the end of program track I began to put my resume out and apply for jobs. Derek, my program manager was very flexible allowing me to pause my mentor sessions and was really supportive, even getting me in touch with career counslors before I finished. Within a week I was landing interviews and was fortunate enough to get an awesome offer from a company where I love to go to work everyday.
Changing careers and becoming a developer is not easy, but it's extremely rewarding. With a little guidance and the right support, it's very doable. I recommend Thinkful to friends all the time, it's that good.
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DY Verified via GitHubOverall good experience
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I enrolled Thinkful's online flexible bootcamp in December 2016, graduated in May 2017, found a Front-End Engineer job in June 2017. Overall it was a good experience and has toally changed my life. I was paired with who I think is the best programming mentor ever. We had 3 sessions every week and each session is for an hour. That being said, you pretty much need to teach yourself and learn how to learn programming. That is also my favorite part of this bootcamp experience.
After I graduated, they gave one 1-hour session every week to chat with me about my progress on job hunting and gave me some tips on how to write a resume and how to interview. Just like learning programing, hearing someone talking about it one hour a week is not enough. To ace your interview skills you'd need to spend much more effort on it. In terms of job search you're pretty much on your own and it's definitely NOT as easy as how every coding bootcamp advertises. What I really appreciated was that after I received a job offer they were very prompt on assisting me with salary and benefit neogociations.
Thinkful as a coding bootcamp has grown very fast in the past one or two years and they have, I think, over 100, if not over 200, programming mentors working with them. I have talked with about 15 mentors at Thinkful at their Q&A sessions. To be very honest, none of them were as great as my own mentor, in terms of knowledge, the ability of explaining things, as well as patience and attitude. So you'd have a really great experience with Thinkful if you're paired with the right mentor. But if you're less lucky when they assign you a mentor, I'd be a little worried.
Overall, if you are willing to commit and put in very hard work, I think Thinkkful is a great place to learn coding and pivot your career. I would recommend it.
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Peter Szujewski Verified via GitHubChallenging and rewarding experience
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I completed the full time program and found a job pretty much right away. That is, however, not always the case for everyone, so if you do the course make sure you are prepared to spend at least 3 months looking for a job. It's really a matter of luck and being at the right place at the right time. If you treat looking for a job like a job though you should be able to find something.
My advice to anyone considering this program is to first spend a good amount of time working through free online materials to make sure web development/ coding is a good fit for you. I spent about 5-6 months working through codecademy and free code camp before committing to thinkful. I learned how to work with html, css, JS, jQuery at a beginner-level on my own. I went to a couple tech meetups in my area to see if I had similar interests with people already in the field.
Besides preparing me to be successful for thinkful's program, doing the prep work confirmed that this was somethig I actually wanted to do. If you have a good time working through those tutorials and you enjoy working on small projects with jQuery, you will be successful in the program. Read about nodeJS and reactJS and see if it really interests you. Good luck and enjoy the process!
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C.C. Verified via GitHubChallenging, supportive and worth it!
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Thinkful provided me with just the program I was looking for. At the time, I was working full time as an engineer in the chemicals industry and I was unhappy with my role and really wanted a change. Through Thinkful's program I was able to keep my job while working through the program online on evenings and weekends. I was a grueling time commitment juggling both, but it turned out to be a great decision and I'm so happy I went for it. I met with my mentor 3 times a week online and in enabled me to learn to code faster than the online tutorials I'd worked through on my own. Being on the outside of an industry looking in, I found it incredibly valuable to to have access to skilled developers and live online QA sessions where you could ask questions and benefit from the developers' years experience and while also getting a feel for the latest tech and industry practices. Also when it can time to interview, a mentor recommendation meant a lot. Thinkful also does a great job with career support. Initially, I thought this would just entail someone helping me polish up my resume and portfolio, but it much more. In career coaching sessions we would talk though how to strategically approach job searching, applying and interviewing, which was very helpful. They are also very proactive in connecting you with potential employers, wherever your location. They worked with me to help me connect with employers in the city where I wanted to relocate. There can be cons to learning online, but it worked out well for me in the time I could commit. After the program, I was able to switch industries and land a job as Jr. Software Engineer. I'd highly recommend the program!
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David Gonen Verified via GitHubThinkful delivered exactly what I was looking for
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I am a serial entrepreneur who has worked extensively with developers in the past as a project / product manager. Made the decision it was time to learn to code myself, with the goal of increasing my independence in starting a project or building a quick prototype. I researched and spoke with graduates of several of the well known bootcamps. I wanted a path towards learning React & React Native. And as I looked at various bootcamps and their curriculums, I realized I preferred a remote bootcamp. I have never done as well sitting in a classroom compared to learning on my own. But I had already realized that learning to code on your own is very difficult, there are so many pitfalls and ways of getting totally stuck at. Those reasons are why Thinkful's approach appealed so much to me. It allowed me to self-study as much as I like, with regular mentor session available for me to ask all my specific questions of where I was confused or stuck. Also it was somewhat early days for React, but they worked with me to modify their curriculum at the time to fit my goal. Bottom line is I didn't find any other bootcamp that was flexible enough to fit my schedule, allow me to learn from anywhere, had the right curriculum, and allowed me to learn on my own as much as possible.
After the bootcamp I started building a few of my own projects, building on the Javascript & React fundamentals I learned at Thinkful to pickup redux, react native, & firebase. I have now used my new skills to create several live apps (mobile & web). And working with other developers is a totally different (better) experience, much easier to communicate and stay on task.
Next time I am in between projects I am thinking of advancing my knowledge using thinkful (either a backend developer course or perhaps design/UX)
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Brian McMinn Verified via GitHubLife Changer, job in 2 weeks!
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Thinkful changed my life. I spent nine years in a career I hated. I was in sales, making great money but never felt any enjoyment out of my life. I dealt frequently with Software Engineers in my career and always wanted to be on their side.
I was shocked when I heard you could attend a bootcamp and better yet do it remotely. After months of research, I decided I would enroll in the Full Time Web Development Bootcamp. At first, it was hard, I wanted to quit. I stuck with it and was so glad I did. I learned more in the past 4 months then I probably have learned in the past 10 years. I went from not knowing what a variable or loop was, to building full stack applications using Javascript and latest Javascript frameworks. Not only do you learn in the Thinkful, but Thinkful teaches you how to learn for the rest of your life helping you continually build on your skills.
The special thing about Thinkful in addition to their curiccullum is something you cannot get from an Udemy or Pluralsight. It is the Thinkful community you are surrounded with. I spent 10 hours a day, 5 days a week and some weekends with the same 12 people in my cohort. We grew close as developers and also made some great friends / potential colleagues one day. I also grew close with the staff and we talk regularly even after the completion of the bootcamp.
The mentoring in Thinkful is second to none. I grew close with my mentor and he helped me every step of the way. There is no substitute from 1 on 1 mentorship and Thinkful has hired a great team of mentors to help students like me along the way. The mentorship alone is reason enough to enroll in this course.
Enrolling in Thinkful does not mean you willl get a free ride. You truly get what you put in. It is not easy, you must study and eat, sleep and breathe coding all day to truly become ready to enter the job market. But if you listen to them and "trust the process" I guarantee you will be a competent developer by the end and more skilled than people from many other bootcamps.
I started Thinkful in January and Graduated in May. It is now July and I start a job this week as a developer making almost a $100K income. I cannot thank Thinkful enough and highly recommend this program to anybody on the fence.
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Nick C. Verified via GitHubThinkful Grad - ReactJS Developer
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Yes ... going through the program got me a position as a Front End Developer coding in ReactJS. I couldn't have got there with out them. Thinkful is amazing ... They stuck with me through it all and were absolutely decidated to my success.
For full-time, the classes are live online and you work in a collaborative, pair programing environment with students around the US using tools like Slack, Screen Hero, and in a live tool similar to Google Hangout. You have a dedicated mentor that you meet with every weekday evening to help you with anything you didn't quite understand. And, they also have multiple live mentor Q&A and workshops every day. The curiculum was focused around the MERN stack (Mongo, Express, ReactJS, Node) in and using Javascript ES6/ES7 ... so, is very current and applicable to the current job market.
After graducation, we had daily career meetings where they helped with anything I needed (extra mentoring, reviewing code when job interviews required projects, advice, and encouragement) to weekly one-on-one meetings with a dedicated career coach to advise me on everything from my resume to how to search for a tech job to understanding what was working/what wasn't.
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Dom C Verified via GitHubSuper Flexible Bootcamp That Wont Break the Bank
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Thinkful has been an awesome experience. I joined after taking a few primers on web development through Udemy/Udacity and I found that it was the best deal out there as far as web dev bootcamps go. What sets Thinkful apart is that you are really left to your own devices when it comes to solving problems so it really teaches you how to be resourceful and ask good questions when you're not meeting with a mentor. You're also not on a rigid in-person schedule like most bootcamps so this is great for people who are changing careers but dont have the ability to dive in 100% just yet.
They also do a lot to prepare you for networking, interviews, code challenges and beyond. The projects you build go right into your portfolio and its totally on you as to how far you want to take your projects. You can also slow down any part of the course due to its flexible schedule and proceed when you understand and are ready.
As for price, you get the most bang for your buck with Thinkful, but you have to be somewhat disciplined yourself in order to get the most out. You really get out of it what you put in so give it your 110% and you can get all the quality of a $20,000 in person bootcamp without spending 12 hours on site.
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Mike Verified via LinkedIn
Life Changing
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I came into Thinkful's Full Stack Web Development Flex program with very minimal knowledge of coding beforehand. What I learned by myself in 3 months, we covered in 3 weeks at Thinkful. My mentor is amazing and put in extra time when I needed it. I went from being a broke musician, driving for lyft, to being an employed frontend developer in 8 months! I could not ask for a better experience.
Be aware, that you will probably have to put in more time than they say upfront. The curriculum is pretty good, but they are a few sections where additional resources are needed ( you can find them for free ). Everyone learns at a different pace, but I averaged 30-40 hours a week in the flex program, so be prepared to kiss your social life goodbye for 6 months! But if you are willing to make that commitment, you will not only get a job when you graduate, but you will crush it at your new job!
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L.J. Verified via GitHubA Great Program
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I was incredibly skeptible of bootcamps. The claims of becoming job-ready in x months seemed too good to be true. I started learning on my own through some of the free resources but I couldn't stay motivated. I got back in touch with my old friend, Elias, who's a mentor at Thinkful. Testimony from an individual I trusted helped nudge me in the right direction.
When I enrolled with Thinkful, I had a beginner's understanding of HTML, CSS and jQuery but I had no idea how to apply these skills to real-world applications. From the beginning, the curriculum is written in a way that the materials being covered can be easily-translated to the real world.
Working with my mentor, Rachel, has been fantastic. Both she and my project manager challenge me to perfect my projects and assignments. Rachel gave me direction and guidance from the early stages of the Front-End course which prepared me for the later courses like React.
There is nothing new or original about Thinkful's curriculum. They are not reinventing the wheel, nor should they. The value comes from the experience. I meet with Rachel 3 times a week, there are Q&A sessions multiple times a day which are run by mentors and open to all students, there is a Slack channel for students to get in touch with mentors and other students, and career counselors. All of these resources help me to see other perspectives on how to do things and connect with fellow newbies. I am building a network while I am still learning, which is priceless!
I have been enrolled with Thinkful for a little over 3 months now and I am very happy with my decision. I would recommend Thinkful to anyone looking to get serious about a new career in Web Development, as long as they are willing to commit to the time and energy it takes to complete this or any bootcamp.
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Dustin Verified via GitHubA Not-So-Good Experience
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I joined Thinkful's Flexible Bootcamp last November. It was very good at the beginning and I felt as though I was learning a lot. Once the course got to Node, I started to fall behind and I couldn't understand the lessons very well. My instructor, M____(want to keep his name anonymous), was definitely a good guy and very flexible with scheduling, but oftentimes would do things for me and not explain why he was doing things. There was a bit of a language barrier, too, which made communication difficult at times and limited his ability to explain.
I admittedly didn't have as much time as I would have liked to work on programming (averaged 15-20 hours/week), but I did go over the course material over and over to no avail. I found the Thinkful course material lacking, especially starting at Node and for React. There's a lot that's just glossed over. I guess you're expected to seek out the materials yourself but that's a bit unfair considering how much you're paying for the course.
I'm 2 months over the expected 6 months at this point after project requirement changes mid-course that also stalled my progress. For instance, you're expected to make a landing page for your projects now, a requirement added in at random. I understand they want us to have the best portfolio possible, but it's annoying when you're not given these expectations up front.
Two of my projects keep breaking at this point and I tried scheduling a time with my program manager but he blew me off yesterday. Not sure what to do at this point. I think most people would be better off self-learning through Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight, and Stack Overflow, to be quite honest. I wanted to belive in Thinkful but I was pretty let down.
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Jami Verified via GitHubDynamic, authentic online flex bootcamp experience with Thinkful
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It's difficult to know where to start with an update on my review. I just recently graduated from Thinkful- because I was hired as a Junior Developer. SO much is going through my head as I write this review, but I will start with this: If you are considering bootcamp, Thinkful will help you reach your goals!
I started this program with a little experience in HTML & CSS. I didn't really understand either of them, if that helps you know what "a little experience" means, but I loved learning it. I was an elementary teacher, looking for a way to help provide for my family, love what I do, and not spend 70-80 hours a week trying to keep my head above water. I loved my students, but the workload was unsustainable. I wanted to connect my love for learning with my new-found fascination with writing code.
I knew that I could not truly learn to code and change careers on my own with the job I had, family, and other demands for time. I began looking into bootcamps, and was quickly discouraged at the time commitment and cost. But then I stumbled across part-time, or flexible, bootcamps. Thinkful was one of many that I considered and interviewed. Ultimately, the staff, their system, and the job guarantee won me over. Every staff member with whom I spoke was helpful and informative. The system is set up for students to succeed. I found very few bootcamps that offered the amount of support Thinkful did- from 3 one-on-one mentor sessions weekly, to a program manager available any time, and career services to boot.
I spoke with career services very early on, and the person I spoke with strongly encouraged me to network. That is not something I enjoy or do well. However, because of the way she helped me understand its importance, I jumped out there and tried it. Eventually, it led to my first interview as a developer. And a position as a Junior Developer in a company I love.
I could not end this review without mentioning my incredible Mentor. My journey has not been all rainbows and cupcakes- I held down a full-time job, took care of my family, and often on my days off traveled to do teacher trainings. While learning Javascript. And jquery. And Node. And React. And so many things I thought I would NEVER actually "get". My mentor walked me through it, gave me specific exercises to help me understand, encouraged me, and told me when I needed to put forth more effort. On our last call, when I told him I appreciated him and could not have done this without him, he said, "Oh you definitely could. I was just here to be your sidekick and help you know you could." He is truly one of the greatest teachers, because he stuck it out with me even when I wasn't sure I could do this.
I am grateful for this experience and the opportunity to begin this exciting new career where I can, and will be expected to, learn constantly, be on a team making tools to share with the world, and solve incredibly complex problems. If that sounds exciting to you, call someone at Thinkful now!!
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Avi Zajac Verified via GitHubA Darling Full-Time Web Development Bootcamp Experience
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I want to disclose that the reason I am a current student at Thinkful is made fully possible through a full tuition scholarship recipient from Out in Tech. It has been a wild adventure to get to this point of my life and it's something I wake up every day to going, "Oh golly this really is still real and happening, that's so darling."
For anyone else like myself who really loves to break and find things, it truly is worth finding out how the folks who design the things that you like to break think. It also is most certainly helpful to be able to actually build that same thing from scratch beginning to end and ask yourself: is this actually secure, am I part of the problem, too? It has been an extroardinary experience working through that which I accept as a very happy challenge to myself.
Going into this program I knew I'd be going into a structured program with the trendy/popular full stack they're gearing students towards. What I didn't expect was for my mentor to figure out how I learn best, how I think or see problems, and use that to help me get a much richer and fuller understanding than the course itself alone. I'm a massive generalist so to have my mentor reach into my security and hacker community backgrounds to connect everything I know and the course together to fill in the gaps I do have has been absolutely wonderful.
The mentors are by far what truly make this program what it is for me. That's not to say the instructors and TA's aren't, they are most definitely that other huge chunk. Yet it really is up to you to decide on what path you want to take, what you want out of the program, and your mentor will be there to help guide you down the way you want to go.
Before I forget if you're in a Thinkful city like DC there are a lot of meet ups plus dinners for students and mentors together! They're absolutely darling and I highly recommend going to them even if you're not a registered student (for the regular public meet ups of course).
The full time program is intensive. If you come from prior experience, however, you may end some specific days during certain parts of the bootcamp earlier than expected. Especially if you know what '1=1' is for times you focus on databases. On the other hand you make up for it by helping other pairs understand it, working with your mentor on more advance concepts, and working on other things.
Paired programming is something I never got to truly experience growing up messing around in the way we work in the full time program. There is a really lovely mix if folks in my cohort when it comes to prior experience. Getting a chance to work with everyone whether they have a comp sci degree or are a former lawyer is really exciting to see what they bring with them to the program.
You learn a lot about yourself, I don't think I've self reflected nearly this much about myself in how I interact with people in a long while.
There's so much I want to talk about alas I think this is a long review already. If you really want to talk more about the program with me it shouldn't be that hard to reach me! Hope you all have a darling day. -
Tommy M. Verified via LinkedIn
Level Up your skills
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I have been in the Thinkful Flexible Bootcamp for a little over a month now. I have learned so much within this short period of time with the very thorough curriculum, mentorship three times a week to help me work through my most recent problems, and the community that Thinkful has around it to propel me as a lifelong learner and student of software development. I took a lot of thought into picking a coding bootcamp that helped me accomplish my goals and flexible enough to give me the opportunity to grow as a programmer.
I highly recommend Thinkful for anyone who wants to level up their skills. Whether it's server-side programming, learning asynchronous programming, or learning how to solve software problems with algorithms and data structures. I have been coding little over a year now. Since being in this program, I have learned invaluable advice from some of the best in the field. With all this said, this bootcamp gives an individual everything they need to succeed but it's up to the individual to apply and grow to acheive what they desire. Good luck and happy coding!
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Jacob A. Verified via LinkedIn
Game Changer
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I would like to admit that I was a big skeptic of bootcamps and people claiming 'it was a life changing event for them', at first. Seemed like propaganda to me.
One day a friend came up to me and said that he had joined Thinkful, out of the blue mind you. Of course, this had me a little more interested in bootcamps, because now I had an inside voice and a test dummy for me. Win!
After hearing him talk about how great Thinkful is and showing me all that he has built in less than a month, I was in.
I knew I had to make a change in my career soon, and Thinkful did that just that and more for me.
After about 4 months in this course, I am still amazed how much I have actually learned in 4 months. 4 MONTHS. That is nothing realistically. But hear I am developing FULL_STACK apps, by myself and with others (pair programming is an indispensable skill to learn)!
Even though I am paying a tuition, I still think I won't ever be able to repay them for everything I have accomplished. From becoming a developer to all the way to learning how to work better with others, it is all thanks to them!
So if you are like I was, a skeptic, I would highly recommend you check out Thinkful.
If you have any questions about my experience at Thinkful or just want to talk more, please feel free to reach out to me on twitter: https://twitter.com/jacoboutlaw or on my LinkedIn ^
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Hazel D. Verified via LinkedIn
Awesome learning experience
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Before my first day of learning at Thinkful, I had minimal knowledge on programming. I dabbled with some exercises in Free Code Camp and Codeacademy, but I felt that I would personally benefit from a mentor who could help me further understand the logic of the code, answer my questions, and recommend best practices. I looked through a variety of online and on-site programs and thought that Thinkful fit my needs: it offered a flexible track (which was ideal since I worked full-time), emphasized the mentor-mentee model, had a supportive community both online and on-site, and a team from career services to guide you on the job hunt.
Curriculum:
I found Thinkful's curriculum to be organized and straightforward. They lay out the basics and take you through advanced lessons with examples and exercises. They also have assignments and capstones that help you really solidify what you have learned while being creative with your personal projects (which is always fun!).
I will say that there were some topics that I thought could have been explained clearly and thoroughly. With that, you would need to constantly use Google, StackOverflow and other resources to research topics that may seem unclear. To add onto this, you have your mentor, Thinkful/Slack community and Q&A sessions hosted by mentors on a variety of topics that you can turn to for questions; they are usually very responsive and helpful.
As many reviews here have said, this curriculum will be difficult at times. Given that there is so much to learn in a short amount of time, it is completely understandable that anyone can feel frustrated or overwhelmed (I know I did!). But don't give up! Throughout this track, you would need to stay patient, dedicated and willing to work hard. It will pay off nicely in the end, especially when you complete those capstones.
Instructors/Community:
Students get an hour-long mentor session three times a week. Mentor sessions could include anything from curriculum Q&As, coding exercises/pair programming, or interview prep. My mentor Aleksandar Grbic has been nothing short of amazing. As someone who comes from a background completely unrelated to tech, I first felt intimidated by all the new information. Alex has helped me better understand programming concepts by offering clear explanations. For instance, I started off from "What is an object??" to building projects that use them. He has been patient, thorough, understanding, and would offer advice on real-world expectations in the world of web development, which is extremely valuable.
This may vary by city, but we have a local Thinkful group managed by the awesome Peter Kim in Atlanta, GA. We meet bi-weekly to meet other Thinkful students and mentors, showcase capstone projects (and gaining feedback), go through coding challenges, and ask mentors questions. We also learn more about the local tech industry through meet-ups/events or job opportunities shared by mentors and students. I love my Thinkful family and their passion for coding. I would say that our meetings have truly enriched my experience.
Job Assistance:
While I am not yet at the point of working with the career services team, I have participated in a web conference that interviewed Thinkful graduates about their experiences on finding jobs. Overall, it seemed like a positive experience. I could also note other instances where people from the Thinkful community have assisted in making the job hunt easier. On Slack, students would post their resumes or portfolio pages for review and receive feedback. In my local Thinkful group, we would share opportunities to attend recruiting events together. There were also some mentors who would assist you in finding leads in some companies.
Overall Experience:
I'm currently on my fourth month of the flexible web development track, and looking back, I have to say that I definitely learned so much that I can now confidently create awesome projects that I am passionate about. Because of its dedication to student success, I would highly recommend Thinkful.
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Jeremy A. Verified via LinkedIn
Why did I wait so long!!!
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Background:
A close friend of mine at work very randomly one day said to me "Jeremy, you are way too smart to be stuck working here for the rest of your life. I was reading an article about computer coding a couple days ago, I think you should check it out." To say computer coding was not on my radar, would not even give that under statement a fair shot as an under statement. Let's more accurately describe my knowledge/interest in computer coding ..... I have never one time in my entire life given it an iota of thought, until Kenny approached me with the suggestion. So, self-inventory time, as I'm sitting at home, a few hours after Kenny had unkowingly changed the path of my existence. Wife-yes, Offspring-yes, Mortgage-yes, Work Stability-yes, Great Friends-yes, Basic Needs Met-yes, Good Health-yes, Complacent-yes, Lackadaisical-Yes, Indifferent-Yes Uninterested-yes. Immediately all neon arrows were pointing to the only part of my life that wasn't seemingly perfect, causing the last 4 inventory items to be Yes. I had been working the same brain-dead job for 7 years, and I was wasting away mentally without realizing it. So, yeah .... let's give computer coding a shot.
The Course:
Currently, I am 35 years old. The first 25, I spent nearly the entire year freezing to death, in nowhereville Michigan. The last 10, I have spent nearly the entire year sweating to death, in nowhereville Florida.
The above statement at first glance, will more often then not, be perceived as a negative statement, because of three words. Human nature teaches us that freezing and sweating, and of course death, are not good things.
Currently, I am 35 years old. The first 25, I spent nearly the entire year cozied up next to the fireplace, in nowhereville Michigan. The last 10, I have spent nearly the entire year basking in the beautiful sun, in nowhereville Florida.
Not so bad after a couple replacements were inserted, eh?
I've been in the Flexible Web Development Bootcamp for just over 2 months. I quickly learned that if this is not something that you very very very very much, deep down, have the passion to apply/challenge/dedicate/sacrifice/trust yourself, to name a few ..... then you're going to view this job field as the first description of FL/MI. But, for me ... a fire has been lit. I have never been so enthralled and full of life, in my life. This short journey has already brought back so much of what I forgot I had inside of me, LIFE! I'm alive again, not some dope wandering through every single day, waiting for the yearly vacation. My wife asked me, "Honey, why did you wait so long? You are a different person!" That's a good question, but I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.
It's all the things that you would expect from a career with endless potential in a multitude of different arenas, nothing will be handed to you on a silver platter. This is something you take, you go get it, and you take it, and you don't slow down or stop until you get it. I'm not there yet, but I will be, .... oh, I will be.
Mentors:
B. Bowers is my mentor. He is one of the coolest, most laid back, unfair to the rest of society level of brilliant dudes that I have ever met. I have only known him for a little over 2 months and I look forward everyday, to our time spent intensely obsessing over whatever we are working on at the moment, both of us so locked into working the problem until it's solution is found. Then we enjoy a tiny shared victory, and right back in we go. He's the epitomy of the calm during the storm, he'll repeat the same thing to me as calm and slow the 7th time as he did the 1st. time he said it. Geniune care and concern for my well-being, and for the well-being of my future and that of my family, oh and btw, he is also brilliantly and seamlessly walking me properly/purposefully/perfectly into one of the most thought invoking, complex, detail oriented, do it right or don't do it at all careers in the world.
Job Assistance:
That will come, of this I know!
Overall:
I could not be happier if I tried.
Shout Out: Noel, I think for 1 month a year, Noel should be sent on a vacation of his choice, wherever, with money filled pockets(not his money) I counted a little bit ago in my email. During a 4 month period, from his reply to my first horrified email, to his last reply, introducing me to my mentor.(ending with 'hope to hear from you soon') From a standpoint of what I needed from him, in his over 20+ replies to every single of my emails, he never missed replying to one of them mind you, he absolutely could not have given me a more perfect/relevant/timely/information rich/calming/reassuring/confidence boosting response in regards to what my previous email was requesting of him, ever. He was overly perfect at getting me exactly and usually more than what I needed. Noel, brother, you are an amazing amazing man for what you do, and with the passion that you do it with over and over and over and over for all of us. You're never stale, it's always fresh, sincere and real. For that, I will forever be in your debt for guiding me through the process to get here.
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Casey B. Verified via LinkedIn
Sub-par
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Background:
My previous full-time job was completely unrelated to programming. I had a few hobbies that surrounded computers (gaming, computer building) and I had spent some previous time with self study using free online resources and taking a couple community college CS courses. I had tried teaching myself C++ as a young teen and quickly realized how difficult that was, thus abandoning my early CS career. My current job was very stressful with long hours and no appreciation and little to show for it. So I can to the conclusion something had to be done and decided to look back at something that had interested me enough to attempt self learning with C++.The Course:
I spent 3 months in this Front-End Web Development course. At that time, it was said to usually take 3-4 months for most students. The material was not that deep and kept mostly to the surface of various web development topics. This was helpful for beginners and was nice to get a overall foundation, however, you soon got to a point where you needed more advanced knowledge in order to actually do anything real world related and the course did not have support for that. In addition, the course would almost always refer to outside resources for their course content. I understand that they did not want to reinvent the wheel when a wheel was already perfectly available; it still gave the nasty taste of a company charging heavy fees to just point you to the Internet. Obviously, this material is not easy, and if you're expecting something simple and fast, you're looking in the wrong field. Having said that, this course would be great for early beginners. Though, when it comes to job application time, you will not be prepared to land a job. The skills you gain in this course are insufficient for being employed and the projects are too simple and too superficial to be of any use for anyone or to showcase necessary skills.Mentors:
Initially, I was matched with a mentor who did seem very intelligent but not completely integrated into the Thinkful process. She was on the older side, which is perfectly fine, except she didn’t seem in touch with the most recent web development tools and frameworks, which was severely limited since that’s what the course was made for. She was never prepared for our meetings and only relied on me to ask questions. This was a super frustrating experience for a new developer because I did not know what I did not know and was very much relying on my mentor’s expertise to help guide the way. If I just wanted to teach myself and ask questions when I knew I had them, I would have just done freecodecamp and stackoverflow. Ultimately, I should have switched mentors to see what else was out there.Job assistance:
Unfortunately, at the time of me taking this course, Thinkful promised assistance with job placement, however, they did absolutely nothing in this regard. I received no help, no communication, and no offer of assistance during my entire time in the course and since. I was very disappointed with this as even just reviewing my portfolio/online presence, or technical interview prep would have been great.Overall:
This course was sub par even considering it cost less than other bootcamps. The material is challenging in that its a new field, but you do not dig very deep, they constantly link you to other materials, career services was non-existent for me, and my mentor was not helpful. The course may be different now, but my experience was not positive. -
Walter Bottlick Verified via LinkedIn
Great Course
I took the Frontend Web Development course, and I found it to be great and my mentor very helpful. She was always willing to walk me through the various processes that I wasn't able to learn on my own in order to accomplish the course goals. The one on one meetings were much more valuable than the larger classroom settings I've been a part of in the past.
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Jim Strother Verified via GitHubOverpromised, Underdelivered
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I signed up in November of 2015 full of hope and excitement for my future. I enrolled into the front-end web development courses and also the node course. My first mentor was great and we got along very well. Then in March, 2016, I was suddenly assigned to a different mentor without any prior warning. I logged in to the usual session time and was told that somebody new was going to guide me through. At first, everything was going well, but soon he started missing sessions with no notice. I should have asked to get another mentor, but felt I was very close to finishing so I continued with him.
In July, 2016, my program director told me that he was confident I was ready to graduate and when I sent him my portfolio, he said that it was good enough for him and had me start working with a designer to polish it up. She gave me a few pointers to make my portfolio better. The issue with her was that she kept telling me to use my design skills, even though I never took design courses. I told her that I hadn't taken those courses and was only a developer, but she kept telling me to "use your design skills, use your design skills!"
After three months, THREE MONTHS, of this, somehow another program director got looped into the discussion and he told me that my portfolio, the very same portfolio approved by the first program director, violated Thinkful's own standards for graduation portfolios. At this point, I had now been enrolled in the 6-8 month program for a full year and he wanted me to redo each and every single one of my projects in the portfolio. When I told him that it had been approved by the other director, and that I had been in the program for over a year, he said I only had to redo two of them.
From November to December of 2016, I worked on it and the second director was telling me that everything was looking good and he would have somebody from career services reach out to me. All through January, 2017 I was getting this promise until one day I told him that I was tired of being strung along and either I would have contact with career services or get a refund of my tuition. Finally, I was put in contact with career services and started what was supposed to be six months of career placement assistance.
She bailed after two months telling me that she would have to seek approval for more sessions with me. The problem with that was when I signed up, at this point, 18 months prior, I was given a promise of six full months of career placement assistance. Understandably, I was rather confused as to why she would only work with me for two months.
I worked my tail off each day while I was taking my courses, coming home from a full-time job and putting in several hours in the evening, and several more Saturday and Sunday as well. I did what they asked of me and trusted them when they said I was ready to graduate and my portfolio was good enough to go. Now, I'm stuck in limbo, not having the promised career placement help, and they aren't responding to my emails. If I had to do this all over again, I would have chosen somebody else such as the Odin Project, where they don't charge tuition until after you get a job, or even Free Code Camp.
Thinkful broke every promise they made to me. Every single one. I truly regret going through this bootcamp.
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Connor Ericson Verified via GitHubFull Stack Flexible Bootcamp
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Background:
My full-time job was completely unrelated to programming. I had a few hobbies that surrounded computers (gaming, computer building) and I had just started working on the front-end portion of a free codecademy lesson (HTML/CSS). I was looking for another career that would challenge me everyday and could give me a way to be creative and design experiences for people for a variety of reasons. This career also has the benefit of bringing in more money than I was making at my other job.The Course:
I've been in the 6-month flexible full stack course for about 4 months now. I have learned more practical technical skills in that time than I ever thought possible. With that said, this course is not easy, and if you're expecting something simple and fast, you're looking in the wrong field. The course is written to challenge you and force you to work through problems using skills its shown. It also challenges you to use the most important resource known to any developer: Google. I gave the Curriculum a 4/5 because at times I am frustrated by it, but that is remedied by the one-on-one attention I'm given from my mentor.Mentors:
Initially, I was matched with a mentor who did not seem completely onboard with the whole process. I'm not sure if he was new or burnt out, but our first two conversations weren't what I was hoping to get out of the course. I spoke to my program manager and he was immediately willing to move me to another mentor, the one I currently work with, without very much prompting. I was very happy with how flexible he was willing to be to make sure I got what I needed to learn. Just being able to be open and honest with the manager has been a huge help and my new mentor is also responsive to my needs as a learner. My program manager is also always willing to meet during times available on his calendy. This is a HUGE benefit because it affords me the contact of multiple professionals in the field, giving me that much more mentorship. On top of that, Q&A sessions are available from a variety of other mentors during specific times, during which I'm able to ask specific questions. Funny enough, my mentor is very much into server-side coding, and my manager is the biggest CSS/front-end enthusiast I’ve met. Having both of them to teach and guide me has been absolutely amazing.Job assistance:
Although I haven't even reached the end of my time in Thinkful, I’m already able to work with local mentors to start a job search. It is extremely important to attend meetups if they are available in your area, as these provide opportunities to network and meet other professionals, some of whom may be hiring. At one such meetup, I made an arrangement with a Thinkful manager to showcase one of my projects and to meet some professionals in the field at a company nearby.Overall:
This course is for the dedicated and determined, but it's not like college or another school. You’re working with real professionals in the field who can teach you exactly what you need to be successful. -
Robert Schamhart Verified via GitHubMy Frontend Web Development Course Experience
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Recently I completed the Frontend Web Development course (individual skilled course) after a period of 3 months, spending about 10/15 hours a week on the learning materials and exercises. Much more time, however, was spent on my capstone project in which you apply all you have learned.
The course was a great experience and very rewarding to me:
- The web portal is very user-friendly;
- The learning material is not dry and strikes the right balance between theory and practical hands-on examples;
- Being paired with a mentor, though is in my opinion, the real key to the success of Thinkful's course concept as it will motivate you to stay on track and in case stuck there is help out there. My mentor Andrew was amazing, very experienced, great communicator and very flexible in case life got in the way. He provided me with many great (re)sources which I (will) consult on a regular basis going forward. Also brainstorming with him about my capstone project was fun and very helpful.
This course did not feel like any other course in the sense that pretty much from day 1 you will be hands-on with quick results. All exercises are interesting and for the more elaborate exercises (interactive quiz, capstone project) it is up to you how to fill them in, as long as it meets the given requirements.
The course felt definitely more as a "hobby" than a "tedious" learning experience.
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Maria Verified via GitHub
Thinkful: one of the best decisions I've made in my life
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If you're currently reading this review it's probably because you're considering Thinkful among other web development bootcamp options. Based on my experience, I highly advise that you seriously consider choosing Thinkful.
I finished the flexible full-stack development program around 2 months ago and I am now working as a Front End Engineer. For me, this is simply incredible! a year ago I wouldn't have dreamed of having this position and all the skills and knowledge that I now have thanks to the program.
Even though my experience in Thinkful was fantastic, I will list the pros and cons of the program.
Pros:
- Working with an experienced software engineer as your mentor is incredibly valuable! Not only will they help you when you're stuck and explain to you the curriculum, but they will teach you best practices and give you insights about the industry. My mentor was simply amazing. Our sessions were fun, interesting, challenging, and motivating. I would always look forward to our sessions! And he would always help me when I got stuck with my projects even outside of our sessions through Slack.
- Apart from your mentor, you have a large support network. I got a lot of support from my program manager (who is also amazing), especially in the final stages of the program. After I completed the program, other Thinkful mentors were very supportive with my job search.
- The curriculum is very thorough and up to date with industry standards. Learning React gave me a huge advantage in my job search!
- When you complete the program, you have a portfolio ready to show to employers.
- The program's flexibility is great when you have a job or cannot dedicate yourself full-time to study.
- After you complete the program, you are assigned a career coach who helps you write your resume, cover letter, and prepares you for interviews. The team at Career Services can also introduce you to companies and potential employers. I found the sessions with my coach to be very helpful in my job search and without a doubt helped me to land the job that I wanted.
Cons:
- Since it is online, you don't meet people in person, so its hard to make friends and/or study peers.
- You need to be very disciplined with your hours of study. This is really not a problem if you love coding, but you should consider it if you're committing to take the program.
- Unless you have previous experience in coding and/or you have a natural ease for coding, you will spend a lot longer than the time estimates given to complete each exercise.
- Sometimes the notes are not very clear and/or thorough. That being said, the curriculum is updated and improved on a continuous basis.
As the title of this review states, Thinkful is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I would definitely recommend taking this program!
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Nadia Brown
Disappointed and left feeling cheated.
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I enrolled in the Thinkful Software Engineering Bootcamp (now known as Chegg Skills) with high hopes, but my experience fell short of expectations. Here’s a breakdown of my key experience:
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Time Commitment Misrepresentation: The program advertised that I would need to commit at least 30 hours per week, but in reality, the projects and lessons took much longer to complete. If you request an extension on the program, you lose the refund guarantee.
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Ineffective Support: On multiple occasions, I spent hours working with chat support, only to receive answers that didn’t solve my problem. This was incredibly frustrating and wasted time.
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Mentorship Challenges: My mentor stopped showing up to scheduled meetings and didn’t respond to my emails. They only communicated when I reached out to Thinkful.
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Lack of Help with Projects: I got stuck on a project, and despite seeking help, no one was able to assist me. Realizing that I wouldn’t be able to complete the remaining lessons and projects on time, I made the difficult decision to withdraw from the program.
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Program Changes: After I withdrew, the original program was replaced with a new one that advertises a time commitment of 10-15 hours per week and covers basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—skills I had already learned in the old program. This made me feel cheated, as I didn’t receive a certificate for my efforts, even though I would have with the current program.
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Time Commitment Misrepresentation: The program advertised that I would need to commit at least 30 hours per week, but in reality, the projects and lessons took much longer to complete. If you request an extension on the program, you lose the refund guarantee.
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Cass F
Awful tests, outdated material, waste of money
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I do not recommend Thinkful. The test system they have called 'mock interviews' is so bizarre and seems like it was created as a gatekeeping device. For most of the final exams set up like these mock interviews, you have several coding challenges and you have to make all of the coding problems become fixed so that the Qualified tests pass. You get two attempts at exams and then dropped. The exams are pass/fall (as in, get all answers correct, one mistake will result in a total fail). The material is often outdated and honestly much worse than what you can find for free online with Odin Project. This was a waste of money. I wish I hadn't signed up for Thinkful because I didn't learn relevant material for today's software engineering market. The actual prestige of Thinkful is nonexistent so nobody in the job market cares if you get a certificate from here. I hope others can avoid this place. -
Naomi M.
UX/UI Flex
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I would not recommend this boot camp - especially to anyone who does not already have design and/or computer science knowledge. I'm writing this to hopefully save someone else from spending over $7000 on a boot camp that (in my experience) does not prepare you for real-life UX/UI work.
The best part about this boot camp, by far, was the mentor that I was lucky enough to be matched with, and my career coach post-graduation.
The curriculum was subpar at best, with not nearly enough practical and relevant information. There were several occasions where I found incorrect information that I had to ask my mentor about, and after clarifying the errors, would tell me that I'm not the first one to bring things like this to her attention.
There were ZERO team design projects while I attended. Even though the curriculum called one module 'Team Design', it was actually only team design in theory, with fictional team members built into the projects.
The Tuition Refund Guarantee is only applicable to students who have not moved during the boot camp (I lost mine because my partner lost his job and we had to move), and after graduating, students have to apply for at least 10 jobs a week for 6 months to be eligible for the refund.
They provide helpful career coaching but simultaneously push you to apply for as many jobs as possible immediately after finishing the program.
Instead of applying for a ton of random jobs (that the program did not prepare me for), I decided to take on two UX/UI internships and focus on continuing education, aiming to fill the knowledge and experience gaps that Thinkful's curriculum and overall experience left.
Bottom line - I would definitely choose another school to invest your money in. There are far too many growing pains still occurring in this one. The sub-par curriculum, lack of practical projects, and total of 0 real collaboration opportunities is not worth +7k. -
Navila Hossain
Best schooling, virtual or not, I’ve ever experienced
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The Thinkful community is supportive, helpful, and compassionate. Ever class I felt safe to ask questions of any caliber and not feel any ridicule. Also, Thinkful was the most supportive schooling I’ve ever received. From TAs, Academic Success Managers, Mentor, to my career development specialist- I’ve felt nothing but people rooting me on to fulfill my full potential and success. Thinkful is a completely legitimate alternative to college for the tech space- and can help you pivot current skills to match the entry level experience. Highly recommend to anyone considering a virtual boot camp. Not to mention their stipend option! Thinkful is revolutionizing what our notion is of academics today. -
Erica
Data Analytics Immersion
Great experience with challenging projects. A great support system and career services are superb. -
Nikki
UX/UI Design Immersive - Highly Recommend!
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I was skeptical about attending a bootcamp compared to a University but I am SO glad I did! I absolutely loved my experience at Thinkful and after working 7 years in the fitness industry I have finally made the career change I wanted. Post-graduating, I was nervous applying to jobs, thinking I might not get what I wanted, but I was patient, went after companies I really wanted to work for, and it paid off tenfold. In the end, I had 3 job offers, and landed the one I really wanted.
A few tips of advice:- Practice and research before enrolling. Get familiar with Figma (or Sketch/Adobe XD). The program is designed to teach you the processes and methodologies, NOT how to use tools. You will get basic instructions and tips and tricks but you will fall behind if you aren’t familiar with design tools.
- Though you have instructors, TAs, classmates, and your mentor, it is all up to you to actually learn the material. It’s up to you to keep your motivation high and hold yourself accountable. The program is hard, there’s a lot of work, but if you are fully devoted to it, manage your time well, and use the resources available, it’s actually not that hard.
- Related to the above, there is a high turnover rate. Maybe half of the cohort I was in graduated. My advice: know what you’re getting into (talk to someone who has taken the program), get familiar with the material beforehand, make sure you are able to dedicate the time, treat it like a full-time job, and know why YOU are there and what you want to get out of it.
- The real work starts as soon as you start applying for jobs. The job search is almost more intense than the actual program, so be prepared, start networking early, get your resume ready before graduating, etc. you will thank yourself later.
Positives:- My mentor was beyond amazing and is still my mentor even after graduating. The instructors were incredible, they know what they’re talking about and are all successful professionals in the field. They would relate what we were working on and how it’s applicable to how it actually is in real-life, which you don’t always get in an academic setting.
- I had fun every single day that I was in the program. I enjoyed all of the projects we worked on, enjoyed going through it with my classmates, and every day I loved it more and more. I’d wake up excited knowing that I get to do this as a career.
- You receive an abundant amount of resources to support your education and your career afterwards. They teach in a way that is more “here’s what to do” rather than hand-holding you with “this is how to do it” which is much more useful and makes you figure things out on your own.
- The careers team and my career coach post-graduating were extremely helpful! They put in so much work to help you succeed and find a job afterwards, which I did not expect. They know what they’re doing, listen to their feedback, and use them as a resource as much as you can.
Negatives:- They should have a more rigorous acceptance process. In most coding bootcamps they have to pass technical entrance exams and I feel this program should adopt a similar process. I feel like this could prevent the high turnover rate and ensure that the students who enroll actually want to be there, are a good fit, and are prepared. I felt bad for those who wasted their money and time.
- Not all of the checkpoints are graded and the ones that are graded are pass or fail. It was great getting feedback when working with a TA or mentor but I wish they would provide a little more in-depth and critical feedback on assignments.
- One thing I wish we would have covered was working cross-functionally with developers and how to hand off specs. Yes, that’s teachable on the job but most employers expect you to know this.
Of course nothing is perfect and has opportunities for improvement, but overall, I would highly recommend Thinkful's UX/UI Immersive program and I speak highly of it to everybody I talk to. Any program you decide to go with, it's what you make of it, and if you make the most of it, you will succeed. -
Theodore Jones
Get out of your own way and use ALL of your resources!!
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This program is amazing! Nothing is perfect but they definitely put in long hours to create the great content they have! If you’re new to coding like I was; it will take some time for you to grasp the concept of writing in a computer language. You will have to read things twice, you’ll have to talk to your group mates, you’ll have to put in hours outside of school to understanding this and to keep up with the course’s pace. There’s no slacking even in the slack channels! You will have to use your ASM, your Instructors, your TA’s, and connect with your cohort outside of class. Get in the grove of putting yourself out there as a developer even though you feel as though you have no idea what you’re doing. Last is you’ll have to tell yourself that you can do this every moment of everyday, even though you feel like you don’t belong! I promise you can make it. Everyone at thinkful is there to see you succeed. Sometimes the curriculum’s instructions are hard to make sense out of but when you work together with great minds you’ll always come out on top!! Go for it!! -
Nick
Engineering Immersion Program
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Extremely thorough... Thinkful provides the curriculum necessary to catapult your life in a completely different direction. From top to bottom, it was a fantastic experience. Ultimately, you will get out of the program what you're willing and disciplined enough to put in. There will be adversity, but the reward at the end is priceless if you persevere. I'm incredibly grateful and encourage all to trust the process; you won't regret it. -
Nayla K.
Digital Marketing Flex
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It is a very hands on program. You learn on your own time but you can connect with people that are in the same program and ask questions along the way. The mentor and ASM are absolutely amazing and helps you understand and navigate the program and everything else in this line. After you finish the basic part of training and graduate to the career coaching part it is stressful but your coach will guide you with passion and gives you so many helpful tips and goes over the interview questions every now and then. I highly recommend this. But if you can afford it I would suggest the immersion program -
Madeline
UX/UI Design Flex Program Review
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Overall my experience at Thinkful was great. I definitely recommend this course for anyone switching into the field and needs a solid understanding UX Design and portfolio projects. It took me just about 3 months to land a job after finishing the course- so it is 100% worth it! :)
But this course is no joke! It took me almost 9 months to complete and I worked 10-15 hours a week on it. The first project is the UX intensive which teaches you alot, but it is a pretty steep learning curve if you have never had any experience working through UX Design Thinking. I definitely recommend trying to learn about Design Thinking and the overall design process as much as you can at first. It took me sooo long to complete my first project bc that didn't really click in my head until after I finished. The final 2 projects went by way quicker and I had a lot of fun with it. So don't get discouraged! Try to reach out to other students on slack and get feedback or try to connect- it will help you feel less "lost in the sauce" so to speak! Use UI kits and don't try try to reinvent the wheel.
Overall I chose this course over other courses because of the following main reasons:
1) 1 on 1 mentorship 2x a week
2) 3 completed projects to put in a portfolio
3) Option to "specialize" (gain a deeper understanding) in front-end design, UI design, or UX research.
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Brianna
Grateful
I am grateful and thankful for Thinkful! The data analytics immersive program is a wonderful experience that I would recommend to anyone! The instructors are great, mentors really try and help you and I loved learning about this exciting field, which I'm grateful now to be a part of! -
Sam Bjoraker
Technical Project Management Flex
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Some positives, but overall it was a disappointing experience.
First, they didn’t tell me this when I enrolled, but the TPM program was brand new when I started, and was not even finished. Aspects of the program changed while I was enrolled, and there were a lot of typos in the curriculum. The “capstone” project expectations were also very unclear.
Second, they were not very forthcoming about what it takes to get in to project management. In my 5 months of applying to jobs post graduation, I was able to land interviews, but the roadblock was always my level of experience. Hiring managers were simply not impressed with the experience Thinkful gave me, even combined with my 5 years of retail management experience.
Third, I was most excited about the post grad career counseling aspect of the program, but this was really disappointing. My coach helped me with my resume, but as time went on she spent less and less time with me, and eventually stopped showing up to our sessions.
The most positive part was the mentor sessions. My mentor was very knowledgeable and taught me a lot.
I’ve seen reviews that the other Thinkful programs are better, so maybe consider those, but I can’t recommend the TPM program. Companies want you to have worked in tech before and have more knowledge of Agile and SDLC than Thinkful can teach you. This was basically a waste of $5000 and a year of my free time.