Constructor Academy

The Full-Stack boot camp at Propulsion delivered everything they promised. The curriculum was quite demanding and covered enough of all major parts of web development to enable me to create useful web applications and let them run. When I graduated I was not done learning about the technologies and tools but I had a solid basis to build on. Also, more importantly, through my final project, I got an internship as a software engineer. My experience at Propulsion allowed me to quickly getting up to speed with the (completely different) tech-stack at my new position and I got hired as Junior Software Engineer after the internship.

After having graduated from ETH in mathematics and 4 years working at Deloitte as Forensic technologist, I did the data science bootcamp at Propulsion Academy. I can definitely say that these 3 months were some of the most intense and exciting learning experiences of my life and I couldn't have possibly imagined the extend of knowledge and skills I'm able to absorb in such a short period of time. And this is mainly due to the extraordinary teaching, the overwhelming extend of all the material and the inspiring atmosphere among the motivated group of students.There so many things I loved about the Propulsion Experience, but I would like to highlight two things that in my opinion make this bootcamp truly unique.

1. The energizing atmosphere:

From my own experience data science is not something you learn by watching youtube videos and going through online tutorials. You have to get your hands on code and invest a lot of time in it. And to keep yourself motivated for doing that and keep your focus on the relevant aspects, it is essential of having great people around you. This highly energizing atmosphere around super motivated people from various differen backgrounds is exactly what Propulsion provides you from the first minute. During exciting weekly group challenges you don't just learn to code, but also work as a team and be as pragmatic as possible to get these riddles solved in incredibly short time frames. These are the moments where you realize how much you learn in such a short time.

1. Industry Focus:

Propulsion doesn't just issue a shiny certificate at the end and push you out of the door. Already during the program, through coaching sessions from the CEO himself, interview preparation and especially during the 3 weeks industry capstone project we were provided with a great entry into the world of data science in industry.Moreover, I experienced first hand that Propulsion is the perfect place to start your own business. Our Startup idea RevealApp started as a vision during the final project phase. With intensive coaching and help from the instructors, in just 3 weeks we managed to create a prototype of our software.About a year later today we are a team of 5, build up a business from scratch, established a great work culture and built a product now being brought to the Swiss market. During this long experience we knew we were never alone. being coached, guided and through developing the frontend for us Propulsion continuously supported us on our way and helped us getting there where we are today.

My time at propulsion academy was a truly unique experience. The curriculum was very robust and engaging. I was able to learn all the aspects of Full-Stack software development from turning an idea into a fully-fledged and functional application. 
The program is very demanding as you learn about the most relevant and in-demand technologies, then transition into using them to create real-world applications. The Propulsion team and their group of talented instructors provided my peers and I all the support and tools we needed to grow. 
With my team's capstone project and Propulsion Academy network of tech companies, I was able to land an interview during the bootcamp which eventually turned into a full-time role as a software developer at a start-up just two weeks after graduation.

Having worked in IT Operations for over 9 years in a multinational, I decided to expand my professional and technical skills by learning how to code and decided to go for Propulsion after numerous recommendations from previous students.

The full-stack program is intense, challenging and well thought out, covering up-to-date technologies used in full-stack development. You learn and build upon the previous lectures and exercises that really fortify learning. Group exercises and projects enable you to understand how it is like to develop with multiple developers. Since this is a very intensive course, Propulsion expects incoming students to complete pre-work which give a solid foundation before the course starts.

The support you get from the knowledgable lecturers and teaching staff is incredible. They are patient, professional and know how to clarify subjects and issues.

Propulsion really focus on ensuring all their students are able to get a job, organising networking events, speakers and dedicated sessions on the job market and support in building your CV and LinkedIn profile. This happens even after the course and encourage alumni to keep connected.

If you are thinking of taking a software development bootcamp in the Zurich or Berlin area, look no further than Propulsion Academy.

I attended the Data Science Bootcamp at Propulsion Academy to grow professionally and to give my career a new direction. I am really glad I took this step, because I probably learned more in the last few months than ever before within such a short timespan. The course covers everything from statistics to python programming, machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing, and includes also an introduction to SQL and machine learning engineering.

The curriculum is well-structured and the instructors are very competent. The Propulsion team has managed to move the teaching, group work and all the contents to an entirely online version to avoid interruptions of the courses when physical presence in the class room is not possible due to the pandemic. During the last month of the course, I worked on a real-world problem for a database provider, which was also relevant to my previous professional background. Propulsion goes to great lengths to maintain a broad network of companies and to link up students for suitable final projects.

In some cases, these projects lead to jobs after the end of the course. Propulsion also offers coaching for the job search and support in terms of interview preparation and making contact with employers. I'm starting in my new position next week, where I will be working with text data for a really cool organization (just two weeks after finishing the course).

Considering you have never worked in IT before, what do you imagine when you hear "Fullstack Web Developer"? Well, I can tell you that for me it just sounded very sophisticated. I always thought that this field of expertise would be too difficult to learn. During Covid however, I decided to do a career change, cause I wanted a new challenge. I heard about Propulsion Academy from a friend. What caught my eye, was the short duration of the course and the material that would be covered. In my head I thought, if the promise of learning Python, Javascript, Django, React etc... in 3 months is true, I have to grab this opportunity. What surprised me as well, was the fact that any person could start this course even without any prior experience in coding. I think this offers a great opportunity for all the people like me that need a "loophole" to get into a new business. The past 3 months were, exciting, intense and mind-challenging at the same time. That's why one needs a lot of self discipline, especially because the working days are quite long. What I liked a lot, was working in a team and exchanging study content. I feel this was a major factor that contributed in staying motivated. Furthermore, I cherished the help from the instructors a lot. Their patience made me always feel welcomed to ask any questions I had in mind. Something that was missing in my opinion, was the face to face contact with the students, which wasn't possible because of Covid. Despite that, the used communication tools were very helpful. I would recommend this class for any person that is motivated to do a quick career change in a short period of time, with not necessarily being experienced in IT, but in the end having the benefit of learning a lot. Definitely a great opportunity!

Taking the Full-Stack Web Development course in Propulsion Academy was the best choice I made since coming to Switzerland. I can say that I learned a lot about web development in the three months I spent at Propulsion Academy. Propulsion Academy is also one of the major factors that helped me jump start my developer career here in Switzerland.

If you are planning to learn more about Web Development or Data Science then I suggest you to check out Propulsion Academy.

Cheers!

When I was prospective student I didn't find Course Report particularly helpful or trust worthy since all the ratings were basically 5 stars. Seemed suspicious. Anyway, now that I've finished the program I'll give my honest review.
Overall, I felt that the program was extremely supportive of students and the teaching assistants were fantastic. The curriculum was great and well thought out. 12 weeks is not much time to learn Data Science and I felt like they did a good job of optimising the topics for the course length.

Sometimes for machine learning or challenging topics like neural networks you would have to suffer through for a couple hours before one of the teaching assistants was available to help you since they were attending other students. I understand that part of the program is putting the time in and grinding through the hard bits, but sometimes I felt that an extra teaching assistant would have been greatly appreciated by our class. 

I think the fact that most of the people find jobs afterwards is more indicative of the types of people that do the course rather than the academy doing an exceptional job of helping people find jobs. Sure, they do try and send you a few job openings they find that might be of interest to you, and they do have some connections that might help you bypass some company 1st level screenings, but overall it's pretty much 100% on you to find a job afterwards. To be fair, the CEO Laurent did give a really helpful 1hr lesson on optimising your cover letter and preparing for interviews.

Will this course help you get a job as a Data Scientist as soon as you finnish? My experience so far is that it's hard to get a job as a DS right out the camp unless you have a pHD for the big companies. Your best bet is to find startup companies  for DS positions.

I did quite a bit research before investing in this option for my career change. My main focus was on the return on investment. There are many ways you can measure the value of a bootcamp. Can you learn what they teach for cheaper? yes. Can you learn it faster? no. Can you get a broad understanding of the software landscape in as short of a time? no. You could do the same technical tasks on your own, yes, but what you don't get is immersion in the industry, confidence in your skills, a team of people who have been in the profession who can act as consultants on your path. This support system is invaluable. You are paying for expertise, and insider knowledge as well as what you get in the classroom. I believe that the personnel at Propulsion Academy are top notch and they are invested in your success. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have a job in industry, got an 80% raise from my previous position, and am really enjoying the challenge and it is all due to Propulsion Academy.