Chegg Skills

I strongly feel your courses including its structure works and so glad I found this site. In addition, your staff contains real people whom I could talk to and understand people (case in point--I had the need to study front-end with Javascript and I was given free access to that course and my mentor drilled me for my job interview and that worked! I got the job as a Sr. Web Developer close to home). I knew I could do the job--it's just that lots of gray areas in my full stack skills and that's where you guys came in--fill those gray areas and expand my knowledge more in the same way I teach myself and that is to actual projects.

I am almost 6 weeks into the course. So far I am very pleased. This program sets you up with great resources. I meet with a mentor 3x a week for an hour. I attend a lot of the workshops to get my questions answered. The Slack community is also a great way to get help. The curriculum can be lacking at times but mentor sessions can make up for that. Also this style of learning teached you to research on your own. I'm finding that being a good Googler is an important part of web development. It also teaches you to communicate what you are struggling with to mentors. 

I have had no problems with any of the mentors. I also have been hellped by students that are further in the program. Overall a great experience. Do not regret enrolling.

I am 6 weeks into the Web Development Career Path Course, and I'm very pleased with my experience thus far. The coursework is challenging at times, but meeting with my mentor 3 times per week, and checking the Slack student thread have helped me during the times where I get "stuck."

I haven't really gotten to see the full extent of the job assistance component of the program, but I recently had my first "mock technical interview" (I think there's 1 per month as part of the course). The mock technical interview was the perfect way to test/gauge my progress in the course, and also helped familiarize myself with the technical interview process that will come later on down the road.

If there's one suggestion I would make to improve the course, it would be to include some supplemental video resources/tutorials. Some of the concepts can be heavy on technical lingo, and thus pretty complex (especially for those new to programming), so having videos could help reinforce/explain those concepts. 

 

 

Thinkful's Programming in Python course has been a reliable way to move from advanced-beginner to intermediate and to start building a portfolio. After learning the basics of Python through courses from sites like Treehouse, Coursera, and Udemy, I was interested in moving into more advanced work, but unsure how. Thinkful has provided the mentorship and curriculum I needed to improve my style and start writing code I'm proud to show others. The program is flexible enough that I've found that I can make progress while still holding down a fulltime job. At the same time, the weekly mentor sessions (and the high price) have been motivation enough to put in all the time I can and make continual progress. My favorite part of the course has been the freedom it allows in project design: having everything evaluated by a mentor (as opposed to an algorithm) allows you quite a lot of flexibility in implementation. I've also been very impressed by my mentor and their feedback on my work. My least favorite part has been the cost. I'd recommend Thinkful to anyone who had spent long enough thinking about Python to have dreamt up a project or two that they would love to build but still didn't have the skills and felt they had 10-15 hours a week to spend making it.

I took the Thinkful full-stack Ruby on Rails program in Q4 of 2014. I had gotten about as far as I could manage with independent study, and I needed options for getting unstuck that were faster than StackOverflow. Between the Slack channel, "office hours" and weekly meetings with my "mentor" (really more of a tutorial relationship) I was able to level up pretty significantly. I was also able to get through the 3-month program in one month since I had already learned most of it on my own.

They have you use your own environment and your own GitHub, which is an advantage over dedicated environments because I didn't lose access to it afterwards. I also still had access to the materials for reference later (at least, last time I checked). This is really helpful, because eventually you have to look something up and it's much easier to review material than trying track down whatever you're trying to remember in a new resource. 

My only complaint is that a large percentage of their Ruby students drop out early, so I didn't have much in the way of a cohort and the materials were often out of date. But it's an economical way to level up for an industrious / self-motivated learner, and the logical next step when books / tutorials have not been enough. 

I had a quick look at Thinkful last year, and then moved on, thinking that they were a bit "light-weight", but boy, was I wrong!

The "Web Development Career Path" with the job guarantee made me realize that Thinkful had a stake in my success, which meant that they would teach me what I needed to learn, in order find a job after graduation.

I am so glad that I decided to join up with the "Web Development Career Path" this year, because now I can see that their course-ware is as challenging as it needs to be, given that they want to prepare me for a job.

I see my mentor 3 times per week. He is a highly experienced developer who not only mentors aspiring developers, but also owns a web development business, which means that I get real world guidance, and invaluable insight into the industry, as it really is.

I've come across many developer courses, but I think that Thinkful has a good balance of course-ware, workshops, daily question and answer sessions, and great mentor assistance. They might need more workshops for beginner topics, which I had already been familiar with, before signing up.

I am almost a month into the course, and have found that most of the lessons are text-based, but very short and to the point, with coding challenges throughout, and a project at the end of each unit. I would have liked to see more of the content presented via video, since it would make the information more easily "digestible", thus a faster learning experience.

I have not participated much in their Slack community, but it seems to be very busy, so I'll eventually do that at some point. Having a mentor 3 days per week seems to be working well enough at this point.

All-in-all, my experience thus far, has been great. I am very excited about completing the course, and finding a job as a developer.

As a brand new student to programming, what I have enjoyed the most about Thinkful is the community. They offer plenty of tools to meet with new students and mentors whom are always flexible to share their knowledge and help you when you are stuck at some point in your course.

I believe motivation is a key component for all students and Thinkful targets this very well with fun projects yet challenging enough to create and strength solid skills in short time!

Another aspect I appreciate is their fast response with the support team and in general they are always looking to improve by actively listening to us: the community. 

I totally recomend it! 

I started the online-only course with some apprehension, but I was quickly relieved once I started my weekly meetings with my mentor. I love that the course is designed so that you can work at your own pace, which makes it great for people like me who work full time. On top of getting weekly video hangouts with your mentor to get feedback and discuss your work, mentors are also available via Slack and email throughout the week. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time, and I am already applying what I've learned to my design process. The Thinkful site is very well organized and the tools make it easy to keep track of all the coursework. Overall, it has been a great experience!

hi there,

I am really happy with the course so far, I'm learning a lot and this is exactly what I was looking for.

I have only one thing to share with you,

Obviously it might be only me, but I found the jQuery section a bit confusing. I didn't know anything about jQuery and JavaScript and I think the lesson covers too many things at the same time instead of giving a step by step overview of what you can do with jQuery and how to write it.

so, before going properly through that section, I studied all the jQuery lessons that W3s chool has to offer, I found them really helpful and easy to learn. After that, I came back to Thinkful and going through that section was way easier than before and I understood everything.

Obviuosly I don't know about other students, so maybe it's just me, but I wanted to share this with you.

Anyway as I already told you I really like the course so far.

Many thanks

Giuseppe

I have done the Front End Web Developer course and now I am doing the Angular course. Thinkful has got everything just right:

- one on one mentor

- course material that challenges you but you have assistance if you get stuck

- show you how to use real industry tools like sublime text and GitHub

- career advice

- price: great value for money

At the end of four months I feel confident in being able to change career path, what more can I say!

Studying at Thinkful was an invaluable experience. I am really happy because I have acquired much of new knowledge and I managed to create a small portfolio, demonstrating my new skills. The curriculum is written in a very clean and simple way and you have full guidance on your projects. Of course as the lessons go by you get to work more independently but there is always enough information and online help to walk through the challenge set. People at Thinkful were really helpful and caring, from my mentor to the Slack community! I hope I will come back to a new course soon!

I am finishing up the coursework today. Marius has been incredibly helpful and supportive and a great resource throughout the course. I've had a great time working with him and will really miss our regular meetings. The course has helped me really develop my skills and gain a great deal of confidence in myself as a developer, and I look forward to attending the workshops and continuing my growth.

I did 3 thinkful courses over about 8-10 months from late 2013 - mid 2014...and by the end of the 3rd course I had a fulltime job as a developer! I did the rails, frontend, and angular courses.

They recommend 10 hours per week, but really the amount of effort you put in dictates how successful you will be. Go to office hours, hang out on slack, etc. The mentors are the biggest value and you should really try to use office hours for code reviews of your work and let your mentor tear your stuff apart. Use office hours/other channels for support and troubleshooting.

Their courses do have things like typos, occassional missing instructions, but they are quick to help out if you get in touch. You really can't expect perfection because once you get into the industry, you'll see plenty of incorrect readmes, bugs, etc and you'll have to figure things out yourself.

There was no job assistance when I did the courses, but I guess they offer that now. I picked thinkful because it was inexpensive, got me developer facetime when I was living in Asia and I could do it remotely. I still jump into office hours / hang around on slack because they are all really nice people and the mentors are brillliant resources who are always up to talk shop.

My experience with Thinkful was for the most part positive. The slack community was responsive, fun and helpful. The staff was/is friendly and understanding and the ciriculum was right for me.

The ciriculum started with the basics and then moved to more advanced topics such as frameworks, argparse, object orientated code. Knowing this was in-part why I signed up.

All that said, I signed up was assigned a mentor and left feeling much more confident in my web-dev skills especially in python. This is a great first step for enyone looking into starting web-dev as a career but wants to have a skilllike python that will be able to be used in multiple arenas.

When I say that the coursework is what you make of it, it truly is. If you spend time with the mentors online, ask questions and learn with their program, you'll be OK. If however you're shy or don't ask questions, you might be better off with something that's a bit lower in price. There are times that you have to bark in order to get help. This is rare but it happens.

At the time of my graduation, I didn't receive any job assistance however the skills that I learned were able to help me land a position as a developer. Job assistance just wasn't available when I was a student.

Pros:
Friendly staff
Fun content
Current & topical information for job hunting

Cons:
A lot of the time, I would be pushed to read the docs, even if I had already done so.
It did not feel the the mentor I was assigned was invested in my growth
Project Feedback was sparse
 

It is 2016,  I just spent a month stepping thru the Thinkful Front-End Development course.  While my mentor was helpful and talented,  the course-work was disappointing.  "Think of reading a book with many pages missing from the story" .   You are left with a feeling of confusion as too much essential subject matter is not provided by Thinkful coursework regarding HTML and CSS.   While the mentor can fill-in some gaps,  you must go to other websites to complete your answers to your many questions.    For a price of $300 to $1500 per month,  the student deserves more robust course materials to properly leverage their time spent with their mentor.  Unfortunately skilled mentors will not makeup for the flawed course materials.

I came in with the goal of admission to a bootcamp.  When I left I had admission to RefactorU, MakerSquare, and Hack Reactor.  So I accomplished my goal. 

I started out in their Front End Development course, but switched about halfway though to their MakerSquare Bootcamp Prep Course as it was more in line with my goal of admission to a fullstack javascript bootcamp.  Both expereinces were good.  I would recommend Thinkful, if you have a goal and want help getting there.  I took the Javascript codeacdemy course before entering and as a result I think I got more out of the javscript aspects of the course.  Along those lines I regret not also doing the HTML/CSS codeacdemy course beforehand, as I would have gotten more out of my thinkful course and my time with my mentor. 

One of the best parts of thinkful is their indivudualized approach to customer service.  When you need help with anything and they email you back, its not a auto-generated email, its a real person.  I moved once in the middle of a course and there were very accompodating.  Other little things popped up throughout my time with them and it was always handled painlessly, logically, and to my satisfaction.

When shopping for bootcamps, I was looking primarily at in-person programs, as I learn better in social situations. The cost of these programs were prohibitively high for me though. Thinkful seemed to offer a nice compromise with their mix of online cirriculum and weekly google hangouts with a mentor. The price point ($500 at the time, though they've changed up their programs/prices a bit since I began), delivered good value for the money. 

I did the Python program, which has a focus on backend web development. The cirriculum was decent. On par with Google's online Python classes- my only point of comparison for purely online courses. I didn't spend much time in the Slack channels or online workshops, though I did find them useful. Several times I got blocked and posted a question in the Python Slack channel. Each time someone from Slack answered my questions and unblocked me with a response time averaging ~1-15 mins. The real value of the program though came from my mentor (Tudor), who was excellent. In our always-too-short 45 min weekly sessions, I learned exponentially more per minute than when I was learning on my own. Also, having another human to meet with regularly held me accountable and kept me motivated. 

The average time it takes to finish the course is three months. I ended up taking four (for a grand total of $2,000), mainly because I chose a fairly ambitious capstone project (a Django site), which took much longer than expected (Django is awesome but hard!).

I feel this course could get you within "striking distance" of a junior software development position, if that's your goal. It teaches you enough about some fundamental technologies (Python, Flask, databases (Postgres), Heroku, basic front end stuff (html, css)), that you can build real-world applications. I didn't take advantage of their career services, so can't review those. I'm currently doing some basic freelance web development work I got through a friend and looking to keep building and learning.

Would (and have) recommend Thinkful to people looking to pursue coding without quitting their day job, or just looking for a more economical learning experience. 

 

 

 

 

A good overview of what the world of Data Science is like. This is a great course for someone looking for beginners' knowledge with a little extra. The plan to finish within the recommended time frame (12 weeks) is a little unrealistic, especially if you have other commitments, such as full time work. However, it is absolutely worth it to invest the extra time. The mentorship you get is invaluable as being introduced to coding for the first time can be overwhelming and a more hands on approach by a mentor can make this seem less daunting.

Keep pushing through the content! The last unit will introduce machine learning, which is very interesting. Don't get burned out at this point, it is a LOT to go through!

My background: Degree in Comp Sci 6 years prior to starting the course. Acquainted with HTML, CSS, JS.

My goal: To gain relevant skills so I can get a job in web development.

My reason: Thinkful offers flexible, self-paced, and guided curriculum which fits my schedule since I have a full-time job.

My result: Gained a full-time job as a developer before finishing the Front-End Career Path Course

My experience (in summary):

I had a great learning experience with Thinkful. Your experience will depend a great deal on your mentor. So if you think you're not paired with the right mentor, ask for a change as soon as possible. Fortunately, my mentors were great developers. Like everything else, just because you can do it, doesn't mean you can teach it. The same applies to Thinkful mentors. It's up to you to pick their brain. Be proactive by asking questions, explanations, helps, and clarifications.

One notable mention is Derek. Derek's not my mentor, though I wish he was. There is hardly anybody as interested or as hard working in helping me as Derek. From advice, to extra mentor sessions, to extra curriculum. Anything that will aid me in accomplishing my goal.

I highly recommend Thinkful, but please realize that it's not a utopia for dev bootcamps (I can bet you that no place is). You'll learn to think and solve problem as a developer.

My time at Thinkful started when I was quite aware that to pursue a career in Freelance Web Development I needed a reputable institution as a reference point to future employers. I had some previous experience coding, intermediate HTML & CSS skills, but no javascript knowledge - even said that javascript was uneccesary and too complicated to implement in my, then, web projects. By the end of this course I thought I'd never say the words: "Javascript IS necessary and fun!" I had a great mentor, a guide along the dark alleyways fo learning a new language, and a fantastic, closely-knit, community of fellow classmates, coders, and eventually friends. Within two months I had grasped not only an advanced level of Javascript, but honed my HTML & CSS skills to the MAX (yes I know, my name is Max, pun intended)! By now I'm a season programmer, with many projects under my belt, a whole new skillset, and the ability of utilizing this new found knowledge to pursue that Freelance Web Developement that I was so desperately in search of! Come one, come all, join me at Thinkful!

My background includes more than two years of QA and Test Automation experience working as a contractor for various companies in northern Colorado. My focus had been to write software that would test against web sites, meant to ensure sites wouldn't break and user experience remained high. My goal with Thinkful's FEWD career path was to help me transition into the development side of things and not remain just a tester. 

Success with education is always left up to the student, whether you go to a university or choose Thinkful, it is up to you the student to get what you want out of the experience. If you intend to get a junior or entry-level web developer role then Thinkful's FEWD career path is a great option considering they will show you what web developers go through on a day-by-day basis (yes this includes - using Google, StackOverflow, code reviews, debugging, test-driven development *hopefully*, refactoring). 

Every concept you will use as a web developer is taught in this curriculum, so my advice would be to not focus so much on the tools being used but rather the concepts and reasons for using the tools (version control, build processes, testing, design, MVC frameworks). Learn and practice daily even if for only 20 minutes - it adds up over the 4 to 6 months you're in the program.

The frontend developer Career Path program created by Thinkful is an excellent program for the aspiring developer. After 6 months working one on one with a professional developer, I was able to land a job almost immediately after completing the program. Thinkful's modern curriculum and professional mentors create a unique and effective learning experience. The Career Path is project-based and each project addresses a different real-world programming challenge. Whenever I hit a wall or had a question, I had immediate access to a professional mentor who would  answer my questions and provide valuable feedback on my work. I would recommend this program for anyone who is interested in starting a career in web development.

The front end career path at Thinkful is exactly what it sounds like: a course intended to help you land a job via tech skills. Thinkful recommends allowing six months to complete the course with a mentor. By explaining to my mentor what I wanted, and by dedicating myself to the course, I landed a job within a month of starting the front end career path!

I currently teach AP programming ,created a "Start Up" course based on tech innovation, and I'm designing the school's computer science curriculum (hello oculus rift programming!). I also have the fun title of Director of Academic Technology, and I am currently helping the school build an innovation building. I get to seek out edtech pitch competitions, go to them, and work with a startups to push the school to frontier.

I was able to shift the course to my needs, interests, and projects. This was critical in the learning process. My mentor was key in helping me succeed. I loved the one-on-one aspect of the course- rather than committing to a physical space and inflexible times. I treated this course like I was designing and attending my own coding bootcamp. If you are a hard worker, and are serious about learning to code, you will. If you depended on others as your driving force, I would not recommend. I like being in charge of my learning, and having a course that adapts to my life and needs, rather than the other way around.

I'm currently working on my own side project of creating a native app (can't spill the beans on it!), and looking at accelerators to fund my own edtech startup. The key is that Thinkful empowered me to enter the tech workforce, and has shown me that I can learn whatever it is I need to do what I want. Thinkful offers a monthly subscription to partake in as many side courses as you like. This is nice, because a little help goes a long way. Plus, the price is right.

 

My only regret is not starting this course earlier. I love Thinkful and taking this course has given me the knowledge, skills and portfolio to work as a developer. I still talk to my mentors, refer back to my course curriculum, and hangout in the Slack community. Since I graduated I will be able to pay off the course cost at the end of October - 2 months all with side code projects I've booked in the last few months. It takes a lot of commitment and time, more for total newbies like myself, but it has been worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

The quality of mentors here are not that great . They might be good developers but definitely are not good teachers . Unable to explain concepts well.

I needed to switch out my mentor and a month later they had not yet assigned me a mentor and kept billing me . I was so frustrated

Also cutomer service is horrible. No punctual replies at all , no matter who you contacted to sort out the whole mess. 

NOT RECOMENDED !!

This review is regarding the FEWD course.

I had a weird scheduling issue so I was with my first mentor for two months and am halfway through the last month with another mentor. My first mentor was amazing and geniunely wanted to help me improve my skills. He would talk me through issues and explain exactly what was going on. There were also awesome mentors in the office hours, chatrooms, and workshops. 

My second mentor has been a different experience. He's told me more than once "there's no easy way to do that". I understand it may be difficult, but it would be nice to maybe have an explanation. Also, I did some googling after our session and was able to find a solution and implement it in five minutes for one of the issues without an "easy solution". I asked about suggestions for a freelance clients website and he mentioned using Wix or Squarespace. I'm here to learn and I think using Wix isn't the proper way for me to improve my skills.

The main reason I signed up for Thinkful was for the mentorship and having finished projects. The curriculum is good and during my time they've introduced the library and workshops which is awesome. I wish they had that when I first started. I believe there's now a cheaper option to have access to the library and workshops only. I haven't gone through the job assistance yet, but I have my exit interview scheduled for next week. 

Overall, it was a good experience and the projects helped me have a goal and level up my skills. The community is exteremely helpful. I'm greatful I had an amazing mentor to begin with or I wouldn't know where I'd be. You can't select your mentor so it's all in the luck of the draw. 

I took the thinkful front-end develoer course part-time to bone up my work skills. While I walked away with some knowledge, I ended up abandoning the course about halfway through. My instructor was kind but didn't seem very worldly and would often take our calls from in bed (!) which was both unprofessional and awkward. The material was often out of date from the current version of Chrome. I ended up using other resources through Udemy that were a fraction of the cost of thinkful and got more value. Not recommended.