I learned so much during my time at Claim.  I was provided with all the training needed in order for me to transition to a career in software development.  It was truly a life changing experience.

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The instructors at Claim Academy were the best part about the course. They were extremely helpful and kind to me and all of the other students. I knew next to nothing before the class, but they did not seem frustrated or angry with me at any point. My only complaint would be the overall organization. They had moved to a new location, and this definitely showed during my class, especially for the first few weeks. As we progressed we all got more comfortable and organized. A few classes also were cancelled, one when the instructor was sick and another when he had to leave to repair something on his house. Can't really hold this against either of them though, sometimes stuff happens. 
Definitely a good experience, and I am very happy with my new job.

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I was a member of the first .NET cohort, so it's possible things are different now than they were when I was there. Overall, this was a good experience for me. I was not happy with my current job and really wanted a change, and this opportunity came up, so I went for it, since software development was something I'd always been interested in.

We had three teachers that were excellent and one who just wasn't particularly well-suited to teaching, but he ended up parting ways after not real long anyway. The curriculum was a little scattered, but I also allow that this is kind of an impossible field to cram into three months. I think they really did their best and it's certainly no fault of the teachers.

The process for placing graduates is I believe different now than it was when I was there, but when I was there the process needed work. I don't believe doing this course is 100% guaranteed to land anyone a job, but what I did here definitely helped me get my current position. I still had to do a lot on my own to find a job--Claim did help as much as they could but when I was there it seemed like they were still working on establishing the proper contacts.

For anyone considering this, it's a lot of work and you have to be really self-motivated. Consider the monetary cost and definitely also explore other options, and realize what you'll be getting into. This course isn't perfect but it's a good option if you're certain that a coding bootcamp is the way you want to go and you want to stay in the St. Louis area.

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I had an academic background however lacked the exposure to industrial practices and challenges. I was introduced to the latest technology stack and after the program was placed with an excellent opportunity! Life changing experience. Would highly recommend it! 

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I was working as a junior software developer when I decided to learn a new language and get some good training.  I was self-taught and needed some guidance, and Claim Academy seemed like a good choice.  I decided to moved from Florida to take the course in St. Louis.

This was a true mixed bag.  While many of the things we learned are directly applicable to my current job, it was in spite of Claim Academy and not because of them that I succeeded and learned.  

Instructors:  

We had 2 really awesome teachers and one teacher that was completely unprepared each class.  When he was teaching, we basically learned nothing.  You may have a different experience, as none of the same teachers were used again.  Management was told multiple times about the poor performance of one teacher, but nothing changed.  Don't get me wrong: every teacher was kind, smart, and meant well.  The big break was preparation.  I am glad to know all three of them.

Curriculum:  

There was definitely a plan, but we veered off in a very unorganized way. This was supposed to make the program more organic and fit our needs, but ended up kind of wasting a lot of time.  Also, because of the aforementioned teacher, we basically learned no SQL during the SQL week (Good thing I learned a lot of that before hand).

Job Assistance:  This was a cluster-cuss.  They  partnered with a company that was hiring out people who graduated, and that company pulled out at the last minute because Claim Academy was not providing good enough people.  Very disappointing.  Most people ended up being taken care of, but the entire session was full of anxiety and insecurity due to this massive change.

Overall:

This is great if you have 3 months to dedicate to learning something new, and you MUST be very driven to get the most out of this.

I am very glad I did this, but if I had to do it over again, I would have moved somewhere else.  Also, the fact that the teachers were not paid what the owner agreed really put a bad taste in my mouth.  I hear the president (Ola Ayeni) has gotten city money and has made many improvements, but I still keep in touch with my professors and they have yet to be paid.

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I am a former student who had little background in programming and am now Full-time developer! A lot of learning that pays off!

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I'm currently attending. It's a great decision and I'm glad I did it! Check Out My blog chrisatclaim.blogspot.com

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Claim is great place to have a career change to the tech field. It is an amazing experience to go from a place of no tech/ coding background to developing a web-biased program app. The teachers are very helpful but they will challenge you. Claim also has a great learning environment.

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Central location, Reputable instructors, and a comfortable study enviroment.

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I was a student in the Java Cohort that completed in November 2016.

Before I get into the details of the program, I would like to say that I received a job offer about a month after graduating. I think it's safe to say that it would have taken me longer to get my first job in the field if I had continued to just learn on my own rather than enrolling at Claim.

Strengths:

For me the strongest part of the program were the get-a-job aspects. I completely overhauled my resume and went from a barely existing LinkedIn profile to an impressive one. This really helped me get in touch with recruiters. The recruiter I ended up getting hired through found me on LinkedIn. Claim also sends a really nice promotional email to prospective employers on your behalf.

As opposed to learning on my own from home, I really liked having things structured. Deadlines helped motivate me to be more productive, and it was helpful for me to be in another setting than my home.

Areas of Improvement:

The teaching could be better. I felt that one of the teachers usually didn't have much of a plan for class. This caused lectures to be very disorganized and confusing. That's not to say that I didn't like him. He was a great guy, but it was difficult for me to learn from his teaching style.

We didn't have much direction outside of class. I thought the program would be difficult because we would have so much reading to do, so many assignments due, and so many projects to complete. There were some times when we were overwhelmed with projects. However, much of the time the main difficulty for me was knowing how to spend my time outside of class. We didn't usually have much we were supposed to read or complete. We were just expected to learn about topics from class on our own without guidance. If I had had a textbook or outline of what information was most important that I should be studying, this wouldn't have been a problem for me, but it's very difficult to know what you should be reading/doing when you don't know specifically what you should be learning about. I would have benefited from more structure, but others with a greater awareness of the field might have been fine.

Overall, I didn't learn as much as I think I should have (even though I put in a lot of time and effort). I didn't know as much as I feel like I was expected to know when the school started, even though I met all the prerequisites for admission. This made the learning curve incredibly steep.

Minor areas of improvement:

We didn't write very much code in class. There were a handful of lectures where we wrote a decent amount of code, but during most of the lectures we didn't write any. I think we would have learned a lot more if we had, but instead we spent a lot of time in class discussion or going through PowerPoint slides.

We didn't have as much time with mentors as had been advertised. I expected the mentor scheduling to pick up as we went but it never really did. If I had complained, we might have gotten more time with mentors. Looking back, it would have made things a lot easier.

Communication needs improvement. The teachers alternated days but they rarely seemed to know what the other was covering.

Before you go to Claim Academy, I would make sure you ask about what resources you'll be using, how much time you'll get with mentors, and how many students will be in your cohort.

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Claim Academy was an excellent learning experience. We all had different backgrounds and experience levels, and the curriculum and the instructors adapted to handle that variety so that we all learned from the course. The instructors were both knowledgeable and approachable.

It's a bit early to fully evaluate the job assistance, but that has been excellent so far. We have been provided interview coaching and excellent resume instruction and review. Our career coach does not specialize in technology jobs, but the other instructors are happy to fill in any gaps.

The few things that detracted from the experience are either issues that already have resolutions for future courses (for example, new financial aid opportunities will reduce the likelihood that courses will be delayed), or things that will improve as time and resources allow.

Overall, Claim Academy was a good experience, and I'm glad I attended.

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I gained loads of experience at claim. from java logic to user interface development. Special thanks to all the instructor and mentors who devoted all their time into helping us become good programmers.

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