Dev Bootcamp Reviews
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Anonymous
Good intro to Web App Makin'
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Dev Bootcamp is good for beginners wanting to learn how to code. I liked the environment, very friendly towards diversity and soft skills. The curriculum is good, but the instructors do not do as many lectures as they could have. We had to ask for lectures, which was odd for me because I expected there would be lectures on almost every new topic. They have a "hands-off" approach style of curriculum, which is good for some with previous experience, but as a beginner I would like to have lectures prior to doing assignments. They are very accommodating, as they change the curriculum and get feedback every week on how to improve. The mentors are sometimes more knowledgeable than the instructors which was kinda weird. Most of the instructors are very knowledgeable, but they need to hire more people who worked in the industry for a longer time. The engineering empathy was fantastic, I like the emphasis of people skills especially when working on teams. I liked that they promoted agile methodologies. They have events in the space a lot which was great. Overall experience was okay, but if you're looking for a job right now I'd recommend learning the MEAN stack and to choose a school using JS for front end and back end, if you are looking for a great intro to Web Dev + programming using Ruby I'd recommend Dev Bootcamp.
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Anonymous
Software Engineer
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Pros: The best thing about DBC was the teachers and mentors. They were well-qualified, friendly, and motivating. The second best thing was the curriculum. I felt that the exercises and projects that were required for us to complete were good at illustrating important concepts and building real skills relevant to web development. The third best thing was the environment set by my cohort. Many of them were my healthy competition, as well as fun and interesting people to be around.
Cons: They need to hire a really competent OM. Some times, events and the space in general seemed disorganized. Further, there needs to be more emphasis on data structures and algorithms while students are going through the program. It could be really simple - like just requiring that students solve one algorithm problem per day.
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After graduating, the careers team really went above and beyond to help me. I was motivated by their hustle to work hard in my job search, and it paid off. BOOTCAMP =/= JOB. You CANNOT coast. You must, MUST bust your ass, but hopefully you already knew this.
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Anonymous
Misleading
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What Dev Bootcamp does not tell you upfront is a large portion of the students don't complete the program because they get kicked out for not passing an assessment after 6 weeks. In fact, many do not even make it to the onsite portion of the course. Yes, they tell you in some fine print on the website and when you sign documents that some students may need to retake a section, but they do not make it clear what percentage of students actually get kicked out. If they were clear about that you might go to a different bootcamp and then they would not get to keep a portion of your tuition, something like $2500. You get an email saying "you've been removed from the program, effective immediately" and there's no further discussion about it.
The first 9 weeks is taught by TA's who have never taught before having just finished the course and are managing dozens of students online so the student to teacher ratio is really high. They do this to keep costs low and maximize profits. Your time to ask questions is over an online chat with a dozen other students asking different questions about the curriculum. It's a little chaotic and it's all wrapped up in this 'empathy' mask.
This is the real problem with Dev Bootcamp (an many bootcamps for that matter), a total lack of transparency. A 90% hiring rate sounds sexy, but that can mean a lot of different things. It means an internship after 6 months, working as a TA partime for the bootcamp, a job you get through your cousin's friend's company in a role other than programming, or freelancing here and there. It's very misleading. Yes, it may work out for a good number of people after perserverance, but I'm betting there's a lot more people it doesn't work out for. Its a very lucrative business without a lot of transparency or regulation. Be very careful what you think you're getting here. Keep your expectations in check.
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Anonymous
An Exciting Challenge
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This was one of the most mentally and emotionally challenging things I've done in my life, but also one of the most rewarding. I was ready to put myself on a new career path that would ensure that I was always challenged, and always growing. Dev Bootcamp's immersive program crams a TON of development fundamentals into your brain in a short amount of time. You're always being pushed beyond your comfort zone, which when you're able to look back and see how much you've learned, is an excellent approach to teaching. As you near the end of the curriculum, they'll take the training wheels off and much of your progress will be up to you in terms of area of focus (languages, frameworks, industry of focus, etc). While this was frustrating at first, it became apparent why that was the case as I began my job hunt. After recently landing a job as a software engineer, knowing how to research and continue learning seems as important as the basics they teach you. Overall, a great experience. If you decide to enroll, work as hard as you can and own your education.
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Anonymous
Successful Career Change
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I'd been in positions dabbling in code for 10 years or so, and I entered Dev Bootcamp wanting to learn more and change my career to focus on coding and development more seriously. It was an intense 9 weeks, but one of the most rewarding of my life. My cohort was small compared to many others, but we bonded tightly and took care of each other to make sure everyone made it and understood all the concepts. We invented extra projects, gave each other additional breakout sessions, and later helped each other through the tedious job search process. The instructors were incredibly passionate and engaged. The whole experience helped me break down a lot of my difficulty with asking for help and seeking feedback -- it's still difficult sometimes, but I've grown a lot as a person in general from being in a place with that emphasis.
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Anonymous
Absolutely. Do it.
DBC has a thoughtful curriculum with a roster of impressive teachers, who prepare you for a career as a web/software developer and also a life-long learner.
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Anonymous
Had fun and started a career
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Dev Bootcamp is well worth it if you can handle the difficulty. It won't be a walk in the park, mind you. There were plenty of nights when I'd come home brain fried and there was plenty of drama with my cohort-mates during final projects.
But I made new friends, learned a new difficult skill quickly, and got a high-paying job out of it. For that, I'd say it was well worth the price tag and sort of paid for itself. If you're damn sure you wanna be a web developer, I would take the plunge with DBC. It's well-taught and if you apply yourself you'll get a nice new career with a shiny new salary out of it.
I consider Dev Bootcamp one of the best decisions I have made in my life.
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Anonymous
not worth it.
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I really shopped around and read a ton of reviews before choosing a Bootcamp. It is a huge decision, financially and otherwise. I personally do not think Dev Bootcamp was worth what I paid. You constantly feel like you are being rushed through the program instead of actually being taught. It feels like you are just money coming through the door instead of a student that is risking so much to learn a new trade. The assessments are not indicative of what you actually know. It is easy to look at past work or Github's and pass the assessment. The skills you learn here do not set you up well for a new job. Period.
Now, I did get a job as a junior dev shortly after graduating the bootcamp but this required SO MUCH EXTRA WORK where I basically taught myself everything. I feel like I could have taken the months I spent at Dev Bootcamp, stayed at home and done web tutorials and would be MORE prepared than I was from the $$$ Bootcamp.
While I was a student the staff was going through some major changes which definitely affected my the experience. Multiple people quit, and the people that remained were constantly on vacation, sick or just gone for some reason. You get the feeling that they are not at all invested. Then you get stuck having to learn from a previous student who can't find a job and basically knows no more than you do.
What I will say about DBC is the career team is AWESOME. They set up an awesome week with speakers and workshops and really are so incredibly helpful. Special shout out to Molly who you can just tell really wants to help you and makes the job search exciting instead of daunting.
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Anonymous
DBC San Francisco
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Dev Bootcamp's model is essentially giving you too many problems to complete in a day while paired up with another boot. If everyone in the cohort is struggling on a specifc problem then the instructor will go over it, otherwise they have done away with lectures altogether. I personally think $14,000 is a lofty price to pay to simply be handed some problems to work on with little to no instruction. I hope going forward that they will improve this model by being more involved. I've spoken to people who have attended other bootcamps where the morning is spent 2 hours in lectures and the remainder of the day is spent pair programming on relevant problems. I would do your research and make sure you know what you want out of a bootcamp and make sure their curriculum aligns.
I was also disappointed with the careers team, but really didn't have my hopes up in the first place. Other bootcamps post their stats on percentage of grads getting jobs after graduation and average salary, Dev Bootcamp doesn't and I think there's a reason for this.
Everything aside, the instructors are brilliant at what they do, it would just be nice if they were more involved (I don't think this is their fault, just think DBC's model doesn't allow for this).
As a note, in San Francisco I think employers are getting less and less open to hiring bootcamp grads, so if you are going to choose one, make sure you put in the time to get into the right one. At the end of the day they will always hire someone with a CS degree over a bootcamp grad.
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Anonymous
It's not the code school, it's you.
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I found Dev Bootcamp through a friend. Before I even considered it, he told me one thing that remains true to this day: you get out what you put in. After only a few days on site, it became abundantly clear who would go on to become a great developer and who would struggle. If you expect instructors to spoon feed you best practices, they won't. If you think you can coast through doing the bare minimum and then find a job, good luck. The people writing scathing 1-star reviews are struggling probably because they spend their time complaining and writing lengthy reviews instead of coding. That being said, here are some pros and cons:
Pros
- Their open teaching style allows students to focus on what they really want to be learning.
- Empathy Engineering helps programmers become better employees and hone their interpersonal skills (because, god, do some of you need it).
Cons
- Career prep is basically non-existent. It's one week of lectures that anyone with experience in the professional world already knows.
- They hire former students, kind of a conflict of interest in my opinion. One of the weakest people in my cohort struggled to find a job and then became an interviewer. How a person who could not get a job after Dev Bootcamp is qualified to vet prospective students is beyond me.
Cons about code schools in general
The fact that there is an entire website dedicated to just code school reviews should tell you something: there are a lot. There were not many at all just a few years ago. All these bootcamps popping up are flooding the market with inexperienced developers and employers are taking notice. I think the most useful apsect of any bootcamp is not the 'quality' but rather the fact that you took ~20 weeks to just code and nothing else.
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Anonymous
Great Experience
I graduated in October of 2016. As for my time here this was an amazing life changing experience. Not only have I become monumentally better at coding, I have made great friends along the way.
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Anonymous
Dev Bootcamp, Chicago
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I graduated from Dev Bootcamp in Chicago over a year ago and since then, it’s been an incredible journey.
After graduation, I kept in contact with a core group of friends and it’s been great to see each of us embark on completely unique paths. One friend started out her career in a Python shop, but decided to combine her love of teaching and community to become an instructor at Dev Bootcamp. Another friend built a prototype of an app at a hackathon, which led her to a incubator where she launched her own start-up. Another friend is currently working at a consultancy where she is receiving extensive training in multiple languages and best practices before working on client projects. I recently started my second developer job where I am learning Java, Swift, Rails and Node. We’re all women; we all come from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds; and we all started our journey at DBC Chicago.
I’ve referred multiple friends to DBC because finishing the program is really just the beginning. I continue to encounter DBC alums as speakers at conferences, leaders at hackathons, as project managers, bloggers, designers, community leaders, and volunteer instructors at events all over the city. And having access to this wide network of people -- many of whom are doing interesting, passionate things and understand what it’s like to go through the program -- is invaluable. I found my first developer job through a previous graduate, and I know I’ll be helping future grads in finding what’s next for them.
I went to DBC to learn how to code, but I now realize that it’s taught me how to professionally engage with the tech world at large.
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Anonymous
DBC Gave Me the Experience and Knowledge I Needed!
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Dev Bootcamp is an amzing experience for people who are changing careers or do not have the time or money to go to a traditional CS degree school. Not only will they give you the tools and knowledge to succeed in the programming industry, they will open your mindset to make you a more successful individual. If you are dedicated, determined and have the passion to learn how to code, DBC is right for you. Their Engineering Empathy program will teach you to trust yourself and learn to work with others by being able to give and receive meaningful feedback.
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Anonymous
Great way to learn development
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Coming from a background in educaiton, I have to say the pedagogy at DBC is the reason I wanted to go in the first place and it's the reason I reccomend you attend!
Research shows that they best way to retain information is to work on projects and DBC's whole curriculum is just that! Actually, I take that back... Dev Bootcamp doesn't ONLY focus on code; they truly teach the 'whole student' by having additional curriculum called "Engineering Emphathy" that tackles big issues in tech and helps you understand how to work in groups. Coming in to DBC, I thought I was really good at interpersonal things and couldn't get anything out of these sessions.... Well I was wrong; I became even better.
TLDR; Attend. It's worth it.
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Anonymous
Unregulated
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Instructors are rarely, if ever, regulated and given the authority to make executive decisions on a whim. Expect to operate in an environment similar to your high school social scene. Educationally, if you go anywhere else, your return will be significantly greater. Unless you want to (possibly) be forced back through the 'gauntlet' of the worst nightmares of your high school career, attend a different bootcamp. Again, completely unregulated with regards to instructors.
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Anonymous
Solid way to learn to code.
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It's an intense but supportive environment. Expect to put in long days if you want to get the most out of it, but the focus on pair-programming really sets you up to learn a lot on any given day. I was sceptical about the pairing before I started but I converted to it very quickly. It really is a great way to ensure that everyone learns all of the material at the required pace.
The curriculum is very well-planned but it moves quickly. Most people will have stretches where they feel like they're falling behind or struggling to get everything. It is a LOT to learn in a short period of time so just be ready to work stupid hard for a couple months and you'll get through it.
You will definitely learn to code more than you learn Rails. People come out of this program and land in a pretty good spread of development jobs. It really does give you a solid fountation to reason about code, and the skills you need to self-teach any framework or langauge you need to pick up afterwards.
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Anonymous
My thoughts about this program
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Devbootcamp was good before, that is the fact. Up until Kaplan bought devbootcamp, everything fall apart. I am not saying Kaplan is a bad company, it is a good company. It is just not as good as my peers told me as before( 2012-2015).
First of all, during phase 0, I thought we were supposed to get some feedback on the homework. None received. The phase 0 instructor seems to just get everyone through phase 0 without asking too many questions. I feel like asking question isn't encouraged during phase 0. I dont' feel like their part time instructor wanted us to succeed. I am not sure if the phase 0 instructor understand that we quit the job, pay 13k and hand our faith to them? That is a question for them. I just want a botocamp that care about students' success. we are supposed to understand the materials rather than rushing through the program and finish it, right? devbootcamp. Maybe a lot of people dont' understand, but I think they should. Bootcamp is what we made out of it but not just by finishing it. Yeah... exactly.
Secondly, majority of the interviewers are really nice and knowledgable and passionate about what they know. I give them a 5 stars. While.........some interviewers from devbootcamp isn't really knowledgable about what they teaches you or interview you. I asked them if they know what c++ is.....they dont' know. And then I just dont' know what to say. This is just one of the fact. This is my personal thought, please dont' judge what I write here devbootcamp. This is just my thought again.
Conclusion: devbootcamp was good before kalplan bought them. That is what I am going to say. I decided to attend another bootcamp because I don't know if they actually care about students' success.
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Anonymous
An Amazing Experience
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Dev Bootcamp really was a life changing experience. If you are looking to become a web developer in 19 weeks, this program will really help you.
First off, do your research and make sure you really want to get into web development. Do you enjoy solving complex problems and troubleshooting errors? If you do, you'll be fine. Otherwise, you'll want to look into a different profession.
The first half of the program is remote and allows you to continue working as you learn the basics of HTML, CSS, Ruby, and Javascript. Office hours are there if you need some extra help, but you'll be in contact with so many other students that are willing to help others. There is an assessment at the end of what is called phase 0. If you do not pass, you are given the opportunity to repeat the phase to get ready for the assessment again. If you've done all the challenges and gotten through the practice assessments, you'll make it through.
The truly fun but also difficult part was the immersive phase on campus. Core hours are M-F from 9-6 but many of us worked at least 12 hours a day and put in time on the weekends as well. If you like learning and coding and bonding with your classmates, you'll love this phase. You'll be able to get your own website with a database to store information up really quick.
In this phase, you'll notice the most successful people are the ones that really put in the time and effort to learn as much as they can. You'll be supported by Dev Bootcamp but your learning will ultimately be up to you. The instructors are always there to answer questions. There's even counseling and yoga offered once a week as part of your tuition. There are so many people there to support you. You just need to make sure you really give it your all each and every day.
There is a career week after your final project week which is really useful. Dev Bootcamp is really involved in the development community and you'll constantly be in contact with people who could potentially offer jobs down the road. I was approached by a potential employer during our demo day. This was all thanks to Dev bootcamp. You'll also get advice on how your resume and linkedin should look as you go into your job hunt. I did not find any prejudice against me for being a bootcamp grad instead of a CS grad during my job hunt. It all comes down to your own abilities and how you display them. I am currently in the final rounds of interviews for a large tech company (Google, Apple, IBM etc.)
My overall experience at Dev Bootcamp was great. I learned how to become a web developer, made some friends, and most importantly had a lot of fun.
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Anonymous
The Most Brutally Honest Review
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This is the most brutally honest review, and remember the truth is usually ugly. To start off there are 3 harsh truths I had to learn:
1. They say they can teach anyone to code. No, they cannot. I don't even have to explain it - just think about that logically. Think about the different types of people in your life, with their varying personalities, interests, and intelligence. Can you honestly say they can ALL learn to code? in a few weeks? And if you need any further proof, yes this place kicks people out.
2. There is no demand for dbc grads and dbc is saturating the market with them. Yes there's a huge consistent demand for developers just like there's one for doctors. But who would you go to if you had the choice? A doctor with literally 0 years of experience and somehow learned to be a doctor in an accelerated 1 year program or a doctor that went to all 4 years of medical school and have at least 5 years of experience? exactly. And that's the cruel reality you'll face after you graduate and start searching for jobs
3. The rampant sexism. If you're an attractive girl - actually, just a girl, you'll be fine. But guys prepare to get ignored and graded on a harsher scale. I understand the benefits of affirmative action and equality and that we need more women in tech but letting them slide and ignoring the men is not the way to do it
-- And just a honest warning - if you're introverted - FORGET THIS PLACE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. If you are introverted you will be ignored, uncomfortable with the noise level and general cultural environment, and you have no chance at a job afterwards, because their career plans is exclusively reaching out to strangers and soliciting them for a job. And like other reviewers said, forget any job support or any connections from dbc.
Also, let's not forget the favoritism, drama, and gossip. Everything is fake. half of it - yes you're learning how to code but I guarantee the other half you're going to be entrenched in petty gossip. Like the other reviews have said the instructors say they're there to help but are usually nowhere to be found - especially on Fridays when they take the entire afternoon off to get together for a "meeting" where they just talk shit about all the students. Casey who's as saccharine as it gets; Baker only talks to girls since hes "feminist as fuck"; and Leon is the fakest of them all. Of course they're all fake, since the entire concept of dbc is just a facade especially after Kaplan bought them and now its a for profit pump and dump factory. dbc used to have standards on who they let in - their application used to be extensive, with multiple questions and you were required to create a video of yourself teaching a skill. now if you'll notice, its just 2 questions - why do you want to go to dbc, whats your weakness and strength. great. they'll let anyone in and thats why instead of meeting cool creative people, you end up meeting a lot of people who are just in it for the superficial reason of money. Like someone else mentioned, do not trust Erin the counselor either. And I agree with other reviewers that engineering empathy was horribly facilitated and a complete waste of time. it just frustrated people.
I did everything right post graduation - i kept up with the weekly updates with the career coach, did cold outreach, endless coffee meets, meetups, etc. Still dont have a job and never will in this field. There is little room for someone who's only been programming for a few weeks. I know people who read this might think I'm just a naturally jaded person - I am not. I am in all honesty trying to save anyone from making the same expensive mistake I did. its more than 13K. Add all the thousands up from the living expenses in the 3 months you're there, plus the thousands during the job search. Try a conservative 20-25K
if youre truly interested, keep your job and do online courses. talk to your company and see if you can make a move to an entry level tech position, keep learning. go to meetups and work on projects independently. a lot of established developers ive talked to learned their skill on the job.
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Anonymous
Graduate - DBC Chicago
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Good experience. I was struggling to learn how to write code on my own for about two years before attending DBC. I definitely learned things at DBC that I never could have figured out on my own. DBC is great in that regard. Also, the instructors are all very knowledgable and helpful. The overall environment is positive and encouraging.
The only complaint I have about DBC is that I believe the average starting salary they advertise is higher than what companies are current willing to pay for a junior developer with no experience. This is based on my own job search (which included two offers) and conversations I had with my classmates. They tell you a junior developer in the Chicago area should make around $55,000 - $60,000. But based on my experience and conversations with classmates, it's lower than that.
Overall, I'm still very happy with my decision to attend DBC. I learned more than I thought I would and the instructors genuinely do want you to be successful. Maybe the economy is just a little sluggish right now.
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Anonymous
former student -- lack of prospects after
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I graduated 5 months ago and close to no one in my cohort has a fulltime job. This seems to mostly be the norm in NYC. The experience was fine but I only really did it to get employed. I would recommend if you have another job or if you do not have the financial ability to dedicate close to 6 months after the fact to look elsewhere. Close to all of the bootcamps teach ruby on rails and it is no longer the most popular framework. You will just basically be applying to a ton of positions that will exclude you immediately because there are tons and tons of candidates just like you. DBC does not publish their job statistics anymore and for obvious reason. Like I said the experience was fine but I would seriously urge against going here if you do not have an extreme passion. Even if you do, I would recommend applying to a more selective camp (hack reactor, app academy), it will force you to put in the work prior to applying which will give you insight into whether it's something you really enjoy, and will also let you gauge your own skill.I would also reccomend freecodecamp.com, save yourself 13000. The job market in NYC is very stale without experience and is going to only continue to get more bloated.
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Anonymous
Student
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Overall, I'm really happy that I took the plunge and enrolled in Dev Bootcamp. I learned an insane amount of material in a short period of time. It was exhausting but also pretty cool to test the limits of my learning capacity, and I realized that I was capable of a lot more than I realized. I lucked out and got great teachers during my time (Iuilia, Sam, and Pan), and was also part of a cohort that was more than 50% women. I felt supported at DBC by my classmates, mentors, and teachers. If I needed help with a coding challenge, I was usually able to get it quickly.
I think they can improve on a couple of things. 1) Admission: I understand that DBC needs to make money off of tuition, but there were some students in my cohort that were not up to the challenge. 2) Job Placement: I graduated from DBC when there was some turnover in the careers department, so I didn't feel like I got a lot of help in my job search.
I get the sense that the market in NYC is starting to get flooded with Jr. Devs, and it made me feel a little helpless for awhile. Regardless, I ended up getting a job in a field I love at a dream company I never thought I'd be able to work for.
TLDR: The time I spent at DBC was challenging and there are things they can improve on, but it was worth it in the end.
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Anonymous
A Noob's Experience at DBC
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I had a wonderful experience attending Dev Bootcamp! When I started, the only experience I had programming was a college course in C++, and it had been 10 years since then. The staff, fellow students, and alumni worked together to create a supportive environment. It's been over a year since I graduated, and I'm still amazed at how much I was able to learn and grow in just a few months. They didn't just teach me how to program in Ruby, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They taught me how to approach learning ANY programming language. I didn't truly appreciate that until I was asked in my current position to rewrite a code script in 8 different languages...only 1 of which I had any previous experience writing in (Ruby). The fact that I was able to complete this daunting task with only months worth of experience programming is a huge testament to the dedication and skills of the Dev Bootamp teachers, as well as to their challenging curriculum.
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Anonymous
DBC San Diego
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Deciding to go to Dev Bootcamp was hands down one of the best decisions I have made. I was part of the first San Diego cohort, so I may be biased but they have the best staff in the best city. The instructors put their everything into it and make sure you're learning and growing as long as you put in the work.
Having Phase 0, the remote, part time portion was a nice intro into what DBC would be full time. I was able to work and get through phase 0 and get my feet wet a little for the full time portion. It is fast paced, but not too fast for retention. Dev Bootcamp also has a great presence in the community and encourages the same of the students. Because of this and help from the careers team I was able to get a job just a few weeks after graduating.
I came out with the confidence and knowledge to find a dev position and also got to meet and collaborate with some truly kind and thoughtful people. If you're in San Diego and are thinking about it, talk to Kimbra ASAP.
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Anonymous
Best coding bootcamp in San Diego
DBC is a great bootcamp that not only teaches you how to code, but it also teaches you how to be a great programmer. With pair programming and engineering empathy classes, you learn how to work with different personalities, give and receive feedback, and you learn about the tech industry as a whole.
The teachers and staff are awesome!
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Anonymous
Amazing!
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The San Diego location of DBC is awesome. Great view, space, and arrangement. The staff here is friendly and courtious while providing all the support needed to help you through the program.
The challenges are tough and time consuming. Expect to be here 7 days a week for 10 to 12 hours a day (you won't even realize where the time goes). The direction for your learning is provided but to actually learn the concepts/material, you need to put the time and effort into it. There were many times that the teachers would stay late to help people with challenges and questions they have (even though they don't technically have to). You can tell that all the staff truly cares for the success of each individual that comes through the doors.
Definitely prepare yourself for the journey and it will be hard (especially on relationships outside of DBC). The outcome and transformation is absolutely worth it and I would do it again if given the chance/time/money.
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Anonymous
Disappointing Experience
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I had a really bad experience at Dev Bootcamp. l found the teachers to be unhelpful and in a rush to leave at the end of the day. They told us that they are available to help, but when I asked, they never had time. 13k is a lot of money to be on your own throughout the program.
A lot of the material is rushed through, so it’s hard to pick up the concepts and retain them. They let you repeat phases, but tend to ignore you even more if you have to repeat a phase. I didn’t feel like the instructors cared about my success.
The environment is very clickish. The instructors have their favorites. The environment is also hard on introverts or anyone who thinks for themselves. They say that they are open to feedback, but they will just tell you that “maybe this place is not for you” after you forked over 13k and quit your job, if you question the lack of help you are getting or question anything at all about Dev Bootcamp.
There is not a lot of support to find a job. The curriculum is not very unique, and is largely self-directed, so I would recommend doing free tutorials online and going to meet ups, and looking into other paths to learn code. Definitely make sure to do your research. It can be a very costly and disappointing experience.
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Anonymous
An Intense and Satisfying Experience
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Pros:
+ They use specific languages and technologies to learn "how to learn" quickly in the ever evolving world of tech.
+ The goal isn't just to make you an engineer, it's to make you a better person.
+ The instructors, mentors, and staff really care about your learning and well-being. The program is intense and everyone pushes you to your limit, but they also know when and how to help you decompress.
Cons:
- You get in what you put out, but your experience is also impacted by individuals who don't care about the Engineering Empathy, being respectful to others, dealing with difficult conversations, or providing feedback in a constructive manner. There isn't much that the mentors and staff can do about individuals who act rude or pridefully outside of class or when the mentors aren't around.
- Some topics could have used more focus or been taught in a way to provide more effective emphasis, like JavaScript and testing.
- It would be fantastic if each cohort were slightly smaller and each session lasted a week longer.
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Anonymous
Maybe Going Downhill
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The program I think worked well when there was a considerable dearth of talent in the web dev space and programs like this could easily provide developers that companies could train. That being said, in more recent times, Chicago has becoming saturated with Jr Developers coming not just from DBC, but GA, HackReactor, etc.. The neccessary reaction by these programs is to escalate their quality but I don't think DBC has done that. Instead, they've pursued quantity over quality. The result is that now every 3 weeks DBC graduates roughly 18-30 grads who are entering a job market where companies now can ask for much higher demands of their jr devs than in previous years.
Overall I wouldn't say I regret doing a bootcamp, but given the current tech environment, I don't believe DBC adaquetely understands the challenges facing current grads, choosing instead on focusing on getting as many students through the door as possible.
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Anonymous
previous student
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In reference to the Chicago location.
Dev Bootcamp tries to show that they're different from the rest of the bootcamps out there due to their engineering empathy classes, but its all terribly fake. I know, I was in these classes.
They are really good at showing themselves as a great school by sponsoring meetups and events, showing they're helping the community such as women in tech meetups or people of color tech meetups. Its all an act to portray their beliefs. They are doing these things because its a huge advantage to advertise their school to the poor souls at these meetups.
I felt like an outsider at the entire time by the staff. They were very subjective in who they liked and wanted to help more. They emphasize the issues in the tech world such as the lack of women/people of colour, but then don't even manage the same issues in the classroom. They hang out with the white crowd, pull jokes together etc but look at you weird and walk away when you like to join in. Its funny how segregated it gets in the classroom. If you are a woman, be prepared to be talked over, ignored and automatically treated as a nobody by the males. Its quite difficult when you have to work as a group. If you raise this issue with the instructors, be prepared to be treated as a student from nursery "tell them to stop". Yeah sure, like I haven't done that already.
They assign you to an advisor in which you cannot change if you don't learn well from them. He was a brilliant programmer, but a terrible teacher and even more terrible person. I felt like I was a waste of time for him and he was getting frustrated with me. His personality was cold and impatient towards me. At first I thought it was due to his nature. But as I watched him with other students that are white, he was the cheeriest and nicest person I'd ever seen. What a great way to learn. Its hard to separate these issues and focus on the lesson at hand when they arise day in day out. There's a reason why they have a therapist in the classroom (which by the way doesn't keep anything confidential amongst the instructors). I felt unsafe in this environment.
I wanted to build my confidence as well as knowledge at Dev Bootcamp due to their views of the tech industry. But it was all the same. I left and found a better bootcamp that focuses strictly on the curriculum and none of the spewing of their "one love" anecdotes. Many of the students who aren't white admitted to me about this as well as not being able to find jobs. The whites were obviously oblivious and had no problem finding a job.
So if you're white, enjoy.
Kelly Arwine of Dev Bootcamp
Chicago Campus Director
Aug 04, 2016
Hi, we at DBC wanted to reach out to chat with you about your review. We are sorry for the experience you had during the program, and please know that your feedback is appreciated. While the content was obviously hard for many of us to hear, it triggered some internal reviews of our culture that we are taking very seriously. We value accessibility and inclusiveness as hallmarks of our company and hearing this feedback was very disturbing.
That said, one particular section of the review stood out to us as especially concerning because there are ethical issues that need to be considered, particularly around your claim about our onsite counselor. The disconcerting line states, "There's a reason why they have a therapist in the classroom (which by the way doesn't keep anything confidential amongst the instructors)."
Our counselor on staff is licensed and subject to HIPAA privacy rules when meeting with students one-on-one, and as a result confidentiality of counseling sessions is something that is taken extremely seriously by counselors at all DBC locations. We would like to learn more about your experience. Can you please contact us at hello@devbootcamp.com, so we can learn more? Thanks! -
Anonymous
Engineering Empathy
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I was at a civic tech hackathon this passed weekend called Codeswitch. It opened with a panel of speakers talking about inequities in the tech industry, especially around race and gender, and what can be done about them. The conversation ranged widely, and at one point the panelists were lamenting the lack of companies where the goal of bettering the world can be on par or even a priority over making money. One of the panelists said something like, "we haven't figured out how to hack human compassion yet..." implying that's why so many companies fail to benefit communities. In that moment I thought to myself, "actually... Dev Bootcamp is kinda doing that already with engineering empathy..." I wasn't sure how to articulate it effectively during the panel discussion, but I at least wanted to share the thought with you. I have to admit, going into DBC I was skeptical of the empathy stuff. After participating, I was struck by how the organization prioritizes its effort to teach empathy in the industry, and the way I could see that hacking compassion among students. Especially as coding bootcamps proliferate, I think it's really special that DBC is prioritizing empathy in such a big way. I hear about various organizations providing financial support to women or people of color who want to code which is great, but DBC is taking another necessary step that I think people don't realize is possible. I'm really glad I had a chance to see it in person, as I reflect upon it, I'm slowly figuring out how to share its value with others.