Devmountain Reviews
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Jason Jones Verified via LinkedIn
DevMountain set me up for success
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I entered the Dallas DevMountain web development program with little coding experience. I had experimented as a teen (10+ years ago) with some very basic HTML. I'm technically inclined with computers but my previous work experience is largely food service, customer service, and team management. DevMountain's campus was excellent, the staff clearly enjoy what they're doing, and I loved my time in the program. Today I got the phone call I'd been waiting for: I got a job! DevMountain hosted a hiring event a few days after my cohort's graduation. This event put me in contact with recruiters and developers alike. This event let me create contacts with recruiting agencies and ultimately with the senior developer of the company now hiring me. The job prep workshops helped me establish my resume and take the skills from my previous fields and turn them into marketable, useful skills for my new field. I loved DevMountain; I recommend it to anyone looking for a bootcamp. My only complaint: some of the curriculum materials are not perfect. This is outside of the control of the staff working at the Dallas location. At the end of the day, it's the instructor's job to introduce you to the concepts and provide you with structure. Your job is to connect the dots and do the work to learn the material so I never found myself hindered by the curriculum materials. I believe the staff makes the difference and at DevMouintain they certainly did. Thank you Mykenzie, Katie, Brittany, Eric and Jacob! -
Rico Verified via LinkedIn
Mr
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hello, I’m a recent graduate from DevMountain. I want to take this time to say thank you! DevMountain was an amazing learning experience for me. For someone coming into coding from a new career, I’d say definitely give DevMountain a try. From the professional staff to the campus, not once was I discouraged. I was given great hands on experience with building projects as well as very helpful mentors who know the subjects. The course work was great and very understanding also. I especially want to give a round of applause to the PHX mentors Ms.Hatch and Mr.Kent who were able to step up to the plate through a difficult transition and still provide us students with professionalism and a good learning environment! THANK YOU ALL at DevMountain -
Bailie Ewell Verified via LinkedIn
Devmountain UX Design Immersive
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This was exactly the program I was looking for! They provided me with housing which was a nice benefit. I was in a small cohort so there was lots of personal attention, and it was a relaxed atmosphere to create, and ask lots of questions. I gained lots of experience presenting in front of people, and getting feedback on my designs. Collaboration was a big part of the program, I gained a lot of learning experience working with people. The outcomes department is great. They often reach out to me to see what they can do to help, and they are able assist with anything. Devmountain is a network of amazing people working toward the same goals who are willing to help each other along the way. It is a great environment. I would recommend this course to anyone. I love Devmountain. -
Austin Karren Verified via GitHub
Web Development Course
I am really enjoying the web dev course here in Lehi. I love the immersive experience that this course provides. There are times that it can be challenging but I enjoy the curriculum and I am excited to learn more. -
Joe Verified via LinkedIn
A Life-Changing Experience
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DevMountain provided the exact experience that I was seeking during my career transition. After spending roughly 8 months teaching myself how to code, I turned to DevMountain's full-time web development bootcamp to accelerate the process.
The bootcamp was extremely fast-paced and challenging, but the workload and relatively short amount of time forced us to truly focus and work hard to see results. The material that was taught helped me directly in my career, and I still use things that I learned at DevMountain at my job on a regular basis. I also gained valuable skills in regards to working on software with teams. Lastly, I found value in having mentorship throughout the process as well as career prep to close out the cohort.
The only aspect of DevMountain that I didn't really like was the location (downtown dallas). The building felt old and had a mothball smell, but the hackerspace and amenities were nice.
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Grant Verified via LinkedIn
Good Course, Bad Everything Else
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While I have no issues with the course and the instructors/mentors (they were great). My issue is with everything else about DevMountain. When I started I was moving from California to Utah. I requested housing and they told me they were full but the moment they had an opening (I was told when the class closest to graduating left there would be space) I was the first on the waiting list for a room. So in good faith I stayed with a friend in and started the class. Three weeks later a class graduates and I hear from classmates of mine that there are empty rooms available. I bring this up and I am told that those spaces are for people who need a room. I brought up that I was staying in a cramped location with no space for me to study and that I had moved here for this course. It took another 6 weeks of me complaining and talking to my mentors and student success for me to get a room. At that point I was about to quit the course because I was so anxious that I could not focus on my personal project. But once I got in the room everything was fine. I wish I would have had the room the whole time, I probably would have gotten more from the course. But I graduated and I completed all of the tasks required to badge. That's where the next issue happened. I had meetings with student success after the course ended to check up on how my job prep tasks were going. I showed that my LinkedIn profile, resume, and portfolio were to their standards and waited to get my badge. My third meeting with student success was rescheduled and then missed by DevMountain. I just contacted them again to check on my badge and was told they didn't have any proof that I had done my work and they would have to check it again. I am very disappointed at everything DevMountain is other than the course. I feel like I am getting the run around and being forgotten.
Followed up a month later, they wanted to go through the whole badging process again. They had forgotten about me again.
Emily of Devmountain
Director of Marketing
Oct 17, 2019
Grant, we're so sorry you weren't able to get into housing sooner, and I hope we can better serve future students. We appreciate your feedback and have already made some big changes to our housing plan. We want to be able to offer housing, included with tuition for full-time students, to all who are coming from out of state and need it, so we made a few changes. We have acquired 24 new housing units/beds since August to help make sure we can better accommodate housing requests. Also, the housing manager you were working with is no longer with Devmountain- the new person is an excellent communicator, and created an organized system to manage housing needs. Secondly, we really want to see you badge! Please respond to our emails and phone calls so we can work through this. -
Dawna Gravley Verified via LinkedIn
UX Immersive
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I loved my time at DevMountain. The instructors were great, and the Lead UX Instructor works very hard to get his students the most opportunities and experiences he possibly can. I feel like I have as well-rounded and thorough of an education as I could have asked for given the short time period. There's always negatives, and if I had to name some I would say I have the impression that the mentors in each program rotate often - I think this is a function of DevMountain hiring recent grads to help mentor, and then they move on to full time jobs when they find them. I personally didn't find a problem with the quality of the mentorship because of this, but I think it's just something to be aware of. I also know they are moving to the Lehi campus - my cohort was the last UX cohort to be at the Salt Lake City campus, and it was awesome. I have not yet visited Lehi, so can't give you any insight there, other than it is surrounded by tech companies, so that's a good thing. I would definitely recommend DevMountain to anyone, without a doubt.
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Megan Shepherd Verified via LinkedIn
Web Dev Immersive
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Absolutely loved my experience with DevMountain. I came into this experience with absolutely no prior experience with coding, and I was terrified I wouldn't be able to keep up. When I applied and was accepted I had two months before the actual courses started. They gave me pre-course work to complete and assigned me a mentor, and I was able to work as hard as I could those two months to try and get some sort of base knowledge. Having those 2 months to study was a huge boon to me, and I think I would have struggled a lot more in the bootcamp had I not taken the time and to put all my energy into studying beforehand.
The course itself and all of the instructors are fantastic. The coursework is laid out well, and the pace was great (for me). Like most reviews will say, you get out of the course what you put into it. And while I didn't stay up until 2 am like some of my classmates, (I need sleep), I still feel like I got the most I could. I put in a few extra hours most days either before or after class.Try to study the topic the lectures cover the night before, because that will also give you a boost.
Job prep wise, they do a great job helping you tailor your resume and get started with connecting to people on LinkedIn. As for getting an actual job, I'm starting that search now and hoping it goes well. They definitely do as much as they can (mock interviews, interview prep questions, resume critique, post grad resources) to help get you started in the job hunt. I definitely recommend DevMountain. -
Mathew Cook Verified via GitHub
Online Fullstack Cohort
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We started out with a great instructor for the pre-course Bryan Smith, he was engaging and really made sure we understood the material. I was under the impression he was going to be the instructor so I felt comfortable with my choice as Dev Mountain. When the actual course started they switched instructors, but I kept an open mind. After the first couple of lectures I felt I was getting more and more lost, and the curriculum wasn't nearly as in depth to fall back on to put together the pieces. The online curriculum really seemed to focus on the online meetings, and with a instructor give vary vague, not thought out lectures it was hard to follow. Two weeks before the 5 weeks checkpoint I stressed my concerns with not being able to pass the 5 week pass/fail assignment. All he did was told me to keep at it and not to worry I'll do fine. Long story short I didnt pass but kept contact with a fellow cohort member whom did, and he told me less than 20 percent of the cohort "graduated" and most felt lost throughout the whole experiance. They even asked me if I found anything better after he finished.Brandon Hassler of Devmountain
Director of Marketing
Jan 17, 2019
Hey Matthew,
So sorry to hear your experience at DevMountain was less than stellar. Unfortunately, Course Report limits our responses to be very short, so please refer to the review you left on our Facebook page. Thank you! -
Holly Lyons Verified via LinkedIn
Would 100% Recommend
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Tim Carter Verified via LinkedIn
Get ready to drink from the firehose!
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Great experience overall.
Pros:
- As long as you commit youself, you'll learn SO so much.
- Great enviornment.
- Great instructors and mentors.
- You'll leave with some cool projects to add to your portfolio.
Cons:
- Let' be real, $11,000 is a little steep for 3 months (but I've decided it's worth it).
- Sometimes small things feel a little unorganized, but overall the course is very structured.
- If you do it right, you won't have a life for 3 months (but what's 3 months for a full career change).
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Anonymous Verified via LinkedIn
Great and Tough
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The pre-admission stuff was doable and there was a great bonus of some basecamp material that gave an insight into what to expect, however the first few weeks accelerated fast and I felt overwhelmed by all the new concepts since we were learning something new daily. Halfway through the program things made more sense as I applied these concepts in a live project. There were several high points as well as frustrating moments and I can say that I experienced growth than I would have thought possible. I was reluctant to invest in a coding bootcamp but definitely think it was worthwhile, I can piece everything from start to finish, building a full stack app to tooling and hosting. Currently on my last week so no job yet but the career support department has been commendable. I would recommend this school.
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Alex Porter Verified via GitHub
Worth the time and money
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I attended the after hours web cohort and was at the Provo campus for 16 weeks. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I'm the happiest I've been in the work that I get do to now and learning at DevMountain was a blast. I've recommended it and have had a friend go and do the full time cohort since I left.
DevMountain isn't the perfect bootcamp. The pace is fast and the cirriculum isn't always in-depth. But that doesn't mean it isn't amazing.
The trick, for me, was all about the time I put into the experience. I found that I got out of the boot camp what I put in. I made sure to always ask questions and get mentor help when I needed it. It was clear immediately to me that if I didn't ask questions, get more examples, and do some serious googling that I wouldn't leave with the knowledge required to land a job. Part time isn't enough time to not give it 100% of your best effort. The resources are definitely available for those who seek them. This is is the nature of the beast. Because you are trying to learn so much new material in a short amount of time, they can only do so much. You have to take the course and run with it, seek help where and when you need it, and really just never give up.
I think any motivated person would do well at DevMountain, put yourself first and commit to the program. It's too expensive and too valuable to your future to not make the most of it by taking it seriously. -
Michael Fearn Verified via LinkedIn
Hard and Beneficial
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DevMountain was a wonderful experience, but don't confuse wonderful with easy. The amount of material being taught is enormous and the concepts are challenging to rap you head around in the time you have. The curriculum is well structured and thought out which pushes your ability to retain more than you could believe. The people are amazing, the staff is great and you'll leave better than before. Along with teaching you skills you're also given a road map to follow to help push your abilities and hireability. I would highly recommend DevMountain to anyone that wants to take one of the first steps of getting into the development industry.
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Mira Jones Verified via LinkedIn
Great Course
I loved going to DevMountain. Super awesome environment, very encouraging.
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Jon Baxter Verified via GitHub
Great experience
I loved my time there. Class structure is great and it does require comittment. You need to commit to learning a lot to keep pace. A lot of self-motivation, but it was so much fun.
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Anonymous Verified via LinkedIn
Needs Job Support
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I was apart of the UX immersive bootcamp. The courses were okay, the teachers and mentor were helpful. I left feeling like I could have spent my money better elsewhere however. The job fair after the course had no support fo UX designers whatsoever. No one prepared us for what the job hunt would look like. Our whole class was confused after getting out as to what we needed to do next. This meant about a month before anyone was able to get a clear grasp of what to do. If we had been given more direction we could've saved some time. I felt the course would've been better if they taught us some HTML/CSS as well. It seems a lot of the jobs out there require experience in this area.
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Taylor Bills Verified via LinkedIn
Would Recommend
I enjoyed every second of this camp. Great classmates, smart and involved mentors, and hardworking staff all made me feel welcome and happy. 6 weeks of course work and 6 weeks of project work was a really good system. I wish I would have known about this sooner!
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Austin Verified via LinkedIn
Awesome School!!
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DevMountain is a great school for those wanting to learn straight up full stack web development. I was a student at UVU before I found DevMountain, and the program I was in was not teaching me what I wanted to learn with web development. I had a friend tell me about DevMountain, and I looked into it. After researching it for a bit I applied and signed up for there after hours web course. During the 4 months I was in the course, I learned a lot, but I also didn't feel like I learned all that I should have learned. It took me an additional 4 months to finish the group and personal projects, since we didn't do those in class. I got lucky and was able to work full time on finishing all the projects and job prep to get badged after the course had ended. I really learned all that I needed to while working on my personal project, and helping wiht our group project. But the work I did in class set a great foundation for me to understand what I needed to do for the personal and group projects. This is a great school and I would recommend it to anyone looking to go into this field.
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Brandon Verified via LinkedIn
Great Experience!
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I had a great experience at DevMtn. I decided to go to better myself and take advantage of the rapidly growing tech field. They have great instructors who are always willing to help whenever you ask. The mentors that stay with each cohort have been through the course so they know what you're going through! It's definately not easy but it's the best decision I've made. The first two weeks are the hardest but if you can make it through, you should be golden as long as you stay on top of it.
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Brett Seegmiller Verified via LinkedIn
DevMountain is awesome
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I am currently enrolled in the UI/UX immersive course and will graduate at the end of April. I have loved my experience and look forward to taking the skills I learned and turn them into a career. It's tough work but totally worth it in the end. If you consider yourself a designer and want to challenge yourself, the immersive UI/UX course is extremely rewarding. The mentors and instructor genuinely help to see you succeed and were extremely helpful in helping me step up my game. Thanks DevMountain!
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Haley Verified via LinkedIn
Devmountain is really great for independent learners and go-getters and not super great for those who like a more structured environment
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I ended up going to the first cohort in Phoenix in November and while I owe a lot to Devmountain I think this review will help other people learn from my mistakes.
Here are a few issues that I found while I was there:
1. There are no markers to which to judge your progress. You have afternoon projects to do every day and the only gauge you really have is if you understand the content or not. We kept being told "dont worry once personal projects come around you'll get it". However about two weeks before class ended we had a react assessment and all but about 2 people failed. They ended up giving us the other 3 tests to take home over the weekend because they knew most of us would not pass on the first try with those either. I feel like those tests would have been more useful before our personal projects so that we could know where we needed to improve before class got out. We all thought we were doing pretty well until we realized school was almost over and we couldn't build a simple to-do list. At that point there's not a whole lot you can do.
No one is going to tell you if you're behind. In fact, they'd probably rather not because deffering loses them money. If your mentor doesn't meet with you weekly make them. They know where your skills should be from week to week.
That being said though, study the crap out of things. Assume that if you don't understand something that you're behind. They don't give you homework besides 20 minutes of videos to watch so do some Udemy courses. Redo the afternoon projects. I realize now that I wasn't doing enough outside of class. Even if your classmates aren't studying do it anyways. You may feel like you're doing well but like I pointed out before we all thought we were too. Devmountain's instructors aren't always 100% effective but its beneficial to learn new things while you have access to mentors.
2. The job prep, at least in PHX, was really rushed. A lady came down for a day and a half and put on youtube videos of how to apply for jobs. We also had to email our resumes to some people in Utah and they gave some feedback. I didn't find it overly helpful and I definately would have liked that time to learn instead.
Other general advice:
- don't go during the last third of the year. I think someone else said this but almost no one hires november-january. It can be really demoralizing to be broke and jobless over the holidays
- There's a bunch of bootcamps popping up all over and the market is being saturated with Jr Devs. Make sure this is something that you really want to do before you invest. The industry is growing, but at least from what I've seen on job boards and slack channels most people need mid-senior level developers.
All this aside, I did have a lot of fun while I was there. Our cohort was all very chummy and the housing was A++.
I do have a great job now too doing software QA in Boise. While I'm not making a huge developer salary yet I love going to work every day which is not something I've had at my previous jobs. I graduated in the middle of November and I started my new job Feb 1. I think a little more than half of my cohort has jobs now too.
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Steven Skola Verified via LinkedIn
There and Back Again: a UX Hobbit's Tale
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THE GOOD:
• My instructors and the staff at DevMountain were easy to get along with and talk to. I really appreciate them!
• I learned a handful of skills and tools for the trade.
• I got to listen to and participate in presentations and QandA sessions with quality guest speakers.
• The downtown Salt Lake City Campus is close to public transportation and there are monthly-paid-use parking lots nearby.
• DevMountain regularly provides tasty (mostly unhealthy) snacks and soda (always available). It's also close to a lot of quality eat out locations.
• I'm now working as an intern and finding opportunities to work on side projects with seasoned designers/researchers (no pay).
• I'm optimistic that I will land a paying job as I continue to build on my experience and portfolio (but this could take up to a year).
• DevMountain offers and after hours course so that you don't have to quit your day job while you gain the experience you need to get hired.
THE BAD:
• I have been out of the program for 2 months and I still don't have a paying job. All of my peers are in the same position (two of them received offers but the offers were ultimately reversed).
• I love everyone I worked with but some personalities made projects harder to complete.
• Nothing I designed was ever produced in the real world... This is not good for a portfolio. It would be ideal for students to work with student developers to produce an actual product.
• DevMountain students have been presented with the same problems to solve cohort after cohort. This doesn't look good to employers who see DevMountain student applications.
• I was told that this course would qualify me to become a Junior UX designer (they typically make 35-60 thousand a year)... I've applied for these positions and I get rejected immediately, not even an interview.
THE INDIFFERENT:
• This program seems to be the most beneficial to students who already have a college degree and/or for students with STRONGLY related experience.
• We received help creating our portfolios on Medium. It would have been better to learn how to create one with a personal domain.
• The guidance we received on creating resume's and Linkedin profiles was rushed and seemed mostly geared to developers. Since finishing the program I have had to revise these heavily.
• To get a job in this industry you have to be a fairly good people person, you probably won't land a job by applying on job boards. You have to make personal connections.
• I feel like I didn't have enough time to practice things that were taught. The program is very rushed. Learning about things without having enough time to practice them isn't the best UX.
I sincerely hope that this review benefits prospective UXers and the team at DevMountain, and (like Bilbo) I bid you all a very fond farewell (until we meet again).
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James Verified via LinkedIn
DevMountain++
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I have been eating and breathing DevMountain for the last 7 months (first as a student and now as a mentor). I can remember reading through the list of reviews when I was deciding to come, and it's a little surreal to leave a review now.
During my cohort, DevMountain launched a new curriculum. I've been told it was a huge improvement over the old curriculum. This kind of seems to be a pattern at DevMountain -- continual problem-solving on the part of the company to make things better. The asking for feedback is incessant. It was really refreshing to see and experience. There is also a lot of learning science at play, you'll be amazed at what you can do if you treat this like a real bootcamp and work, work, work. There is also a lot of genuine commitment on behalf of staff and management to make for good student outcomes. In other words, I don't get the sense that the staff directly involved with students are just in it to collect a paycheck.
I think as far as bootcamps go, you can't really do better than DevMountain in terms of value. Some things to keep in mind that might be helpful for some people:
- Other bootcamps may have better connections to big coastal hubs (SF, NY). I was looking to land in Utah after graduation, and that's where DevMountain's connections seem to be the strongest (which totally makes sense). Utah is not a bad place to land, by the way. There is a huge amount of demand for web developers currently. (Google Silicon Slopes if you haven't heard of it.)
- While you will likely be able to code as well as a graduate of any 4-year Computer Science program, that does not mean that people looking to hire a junior developer will equate your bootcamp experience to a 4-year degree (even if they should). Unfortunately some bootcamp devs have been ill-prepared for interviews, etc and made it difficult for good bootcamp grads. Some companies have decided they just won't look at bootcamp grads because they are "hit and miss" whereas grads from CS programs always work out.
- On the other hand, there are companies that have a pipeline from DevMountain and always look at DevMountain first, before anywhere else.
- I was told starting salaries for bootcamp grads are averaging 55k, which comes in lower than I was expecting. Just set your expectations accordingly.
- Hiring dies between Thanksgiving and New Years. Plan accordingly.
The only concern I have, which does not really pertain to DevMountain specifically but to the industry in general, is that the more graduates that get pumped out, the more competition there is for jobs, and the power shifts back to the hiring companies, who can pay lower starting salaries. I kind of wish that all bootcamps would cut their enrollment in half, so that the scarcity of developers keeps the value of my skills higher. Also, all of the cool tools that make our jobs easier are also cumulatively making it easier and easier for more people to code. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that if the picture you have of the industry long-term feels too good to be true, it probably is. It's going to take work and skill to have the kind of life you're probably picturing.
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Vincent Palmer Verified via LinkedIn
Thoughts on DevMountain
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I loved my time at DevMountain. The course in not easy, but the mentors there are amazing and always willing to help. Sure, they don't always know the answers right when you ask, but I think that that really helped me grow as a learner because they taught me how to solve my own problems and rely less on them.
The curriculum is very fast paced. There were often times - especially in the beginning - where I would lay in bed at night trying to fully wrap my head around what we were supposed to be learning. It was hard and it was stressful, but each day is designed to push you to your limits. Pretty soon you start subconsciously writing code that you didn't even know you knew, and then you realize just how much you actually have been learning.
On top of all that, the teachers there even take the time to go through job prep with each class, to help us break into the industry.
It's an amazing program, and I'm so glad I went through DevMountian!
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Mackenzie Clark Verified via LinkedIn
Life at DevMountain
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DevMountain. Where do I start?
I came in as a business graduate who didn't find luck in the job field. Within my first two weeks, Matt, the campus director, took me and another student out to lunch to get to know us. He said that even thought he was in the admin office, he still wanted to get to know students. Despite being a bit separated from actual coding, the staff here interact with the students daily, and host mini-events to get to know everyone better, whether it's smores out back or an impromptu ping-pong competition.
Another thing about the administration of DevMountain: they take student success seriously. As a woman, sometimes there are uncomfortable comments, remarks, or questions. The administration takes any and all of this seriously. For example, after hearing about some jokes male students were making about wishing they could be a woman to find a job easier, Matt sat down with each female student at DevMountain to talk to them about it, and addressed the situation with the students making the comments. Everything about the way they handled it made me feel comfortable, respected, and valued not only as a student but as a minority in the tech field.
The curriculum is rough. It will test you. It isn't easy. But it is so, so, so fufilling to see your code work, to get a project done, to put another notch on your belt. If you study, if you prepare, if you put every ounce of strength you can into this program, you'll be rewarded. If you don't... well, this may not be the program for you.
I really enjoyed our instructor. One thing I love about DevMountain is how quickly feedback is implemented. For example, one mentor (basically a TA) used a quiz website for a review, and everyone enjoyed it so much that the instructor began implementing this website into his lecture every day to check progress and basic concepts. Student's reviews are taken very seriously here, and it shows.
I enjoy the curriculum. It, too, is always changing and adapting to students' needs. It's exciting learning a technology and reading about it on twitter and talking to people about concepts. Nothing is stale.
But maybe the best part about everything is the job prep week. You come into a boot camp knowing you'll learn to code, but DevMountain also helps you build a developer resume, optimize your LinkedIn, learn to network, learn to whiteboard, and learn to answer interview questions. The entire final week is dedicated to prepping students for the job field.
In summary, my time at DevMountain was revolutionary to my growth as a web developer. If I could, I would enroll again!
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Daanish Nasir Verified via LinkedIn
My Entire Honest Experience
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My Entire Experience
Before I went to DevMountain, I was doing consulting for 3 years at a software company out of Austin, TX. I was making good money and on top of it; it was a super laid-back job. Everything was chill.
Until I got bored of it.
The work got repetitive, I felt like my mind was going numb from boredom, my career projectory was ok but not high enough to where I wanted it to be. I wasn't happy going to work everyday.
That all changed 1 day in Arizona
I was working a client in Phoenix for a few months and met up with an old friend from high school. He was a software engineer at Amex. He was doing really well for himself. Long story short here, he knew I was a smart guy and thought I would make a good developer if I tried. We sat down, grabbed a few brewski's and a laptop and he showed me some basic Ruby (this was way back in 2014 when Ruby was fire)
I immediately got hooked.
After that for about a year, I put in probably 2 hours a week learning HTML/CSS on code academy. Learned some JavaScript too (super basic) but I was more infatuated with CSS. I was still working the same boring job.
Early 2015, I decided to step up the pace and completed Thinkful's Frontend course. Not going to dive into how that was but in summary I thought it was whatever. I marginally got better. Kind of a waste of time and money.
In 2016, I took a lengthy break from learning any code (still didn't know that much to be honest). To really force myself to learn JavaScript I took a night course at Hack Reactor in Austin, TX. Now this actually did help. It was 4 nights a week for a month straight. I got accepted into Hack Reactor but thought it was too soon to jump ship from work.
Time passed to early 2017.
The JavaScript gods finally told me it was time to quit my job and take a leap of faith. I narrowed down my choices to Galvanize, Hack Reactor, and DevMountain. Galvanize looked super dope tbh. They have a huge modern space in downtown Austin, TX. And it was 6 months versus 3 months. However that was looking like 30k in expenses! Hack Reactor at the time (not sure what it is now) was known as the cream of the crop boot camp, but even that would put me back 20+k in expenses for only 3 months.
Obviously I ended up choosing DevMountain – Dallas.
It was about 10k when I applied and it COVERED housing. No other school does that. You don’t have to worry about rent, electricity, or any housing bill at all. Plus the housing IS IN THE SAME BUILDING as the Dallas Campus. It’s literally a full immersion experience.
You wake up => elevator downstairs => class => study => elevator back up stairs => sleep. Repeat for 3 months.
If there is one thing to take away from finishing DevMountain it’s this: it really really really really comes down to how much work you put into it.
Stay up late and code. Seriously, it’s just 3 months and it will pay off in the long run. You’re going to get tired, you’re going to get burned out; you’re going to want to nap and watch Netflix (which is totally needed sometimes) but try your best to keep pushing yourself. There were students in my class who I thought weren’t that strong to begin with but had put in so many more hours than I had that they finished the program way more ready than I was. I really can’t emphasize this enough.
Curriculum
When I completed the web-dev program; the curriculum was mainly in Angular, Node, Express and postgreSQL. I had a great instructor with Dallin Crane and 2 mentors who could have just as easily been instructors. After the first week, everything I had learned up until DevMountain was blown away with how much new knowledge I was absorbing. Having someone by your side every time you hit a hurdle was huge. Crazy thing though, even though I had learned Angular at DevMountain, I ended up taking a React Front End Job (Once you learn JavaScript, you can learn any JS framework). The frontend curriculum today is now React based. I herd its fast paced but done well.
Job Outlook
DevMountain does not guarantee a job. Their main mission is to teach people how to code from all backgrounds. They will do their part with teaching and helping you out when you’re stuck but it’s up to you to find a job. They do have hiring events with employer’s but ultimately it will come down to a few things in order to land that golden ticket (in my opinion, other people may say differently).
60% personality 40% Coding Ability.
You could be the greatest coder in the world but if you’re a douche bag; no one will hire you (at least not at the company I work at). If you’re a social person and you can code well; you will do great (again in my opinion). If you’re worried about being too old starting this, don’t be. If you think DevMountain is some magical escape to get a job – it’s not. DevMountain is not easy. If you are a logical thinker & good with problem solving, you’ll probably fly through. It’s really important that before you enter any boot camp you know that coding is what you wanna do. Do code academy first, then do an Udemy course online (Colt Steele has some good ones, did his web dev program before I started DevMountain and it really helped). If you’re still interested and find yourself wanting to keep learning then do DevMountain and take the leap. DevMountain is by far the best bang for your buck. I’m certain the top students at DevMountain would be comparable to any top student at any other boot camp.
Life After Graduating from DevMountain.
I was lucky enough to be selected as a Mentor for the cohorts after mine had finished. I stayed on as a Mentor for about 4-5 months helping students fix their errors and teaching where I could. It was a great experience and made me into a much stronger developer. The company I’m working at now came to the hiring event and we got along well. I was also referred by another student they were interviewing (really important to get along with classmates and help each other as much as you can, it will go a long way in the future).
About 6 Months into my Current Job
The first week in, I had major imposter syndrome and I think that’s completely normal for most bootcamp grads. Looking at a huge code base was daunting and it took some time to adjust. Eventually I got comfortable and it’s awesome now.
Things I would have done differently looking back.
Learn as much JavaScript as you can before starting any boot camp. Learn methods map, filter, reduce, and arrow functions (if this is too much for you, don’t worry about it; it would just really help). Get comfortable with loops. Don’t worry too much about HTML/CSS coming in; just focus on JavaScript. Also build as many side projects as you can during the bootcamp – big or small doesn’t matter (hell build something before you start DevMountain if you can). Take at least 1 Udemy course (or pluralsight or front end masters) before starting as well. Lastly talk to recent graduates and ask for advice.
I could honestly keep going here with my experience but this post is becoming too long. If you have any questions find me on LinkedIn or email me at daanishnasir@gmail.com. Don’t be shy in asking any question, doing a boot camp is a huge investment and you should know as much as you can about it.
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Eric Ludlow Verified via LinkedIn
DevMountain Set my Trajectory
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Honestly, I didn't look that closely at other bootcamps, because once I started looking at DevMountain and talking to other alum, I knew it was the program for me. Aside from being one of the least expensive, full-time, iOS programs at the time for the duration of the course (housing included), it was located in one of the most vibrant tech-industry-growth areas in the country, and everything I heard about it was positive and real.
One of the greatest things about DevMountain was that they didn't pretend to be something they weren't.
They didn't pretend to be a Computer Science degree replacement program. But they did go over some of the most basic CS concepts, like memory allocation and types and Big-O notation and complexity, so that we could spend most of our time learning iOS specific frameworks and patterns, but also understand enough of what was going on underneath to make smart programming decisions.
They didn't pretend to be the fountain of all iOS knowledge. But they did put us on the right path by teaching us the basics of iOS and of good, clean code and good patterns common to all programming. And they also showed us what we needed to know to continue to learn and develop after we finished the program.
They didn't pretend to be a guaranteed door to a job. In fact, one of the best things they did was to help me realize that the accountability was mine alone, and that "I would get out of it what I put into it" wasn't just a cliche. But they dedicated themselves to giving me all the learning and career resources and time and attention they could to help me rise at the pace I was setting for myself.
And now, as I submit this review from the desk of my great programming job where I've been for the last year and a half, I know that I got here from my own hard work. But I couldn't have made it without DevMountain.
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Andrew Drechsel Verified via GitHubAfter Hours is and Afterthought
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DevMountain has a great reputation for their full time, 40 hours a week courses. However, that wasn’t doable for me, so I took the after hours course, knowing that I’d need to be extra dedicated and a self-starter to really benefit from the program. The program had a lot of strengths, with clearly knowledgeable instructors, and a decent curriculum. But, over time it became clear that our class wasn’t really a priority. Instructors seemed to show up, THEN look at that evening’s curriculum. Some teachers wouldn’t even use the curriculum, instead preferring to wing it, ask us questions, then have quiet study for the last half of class. Once we got to the tail end of the course, all class time was devoted to working on our capstone projects. This is when both the instructors and the students kind of checked out. In fact, one of the students just stopped coming, since there were no more lectures. I think the course would highly benefit from stretching the curriculum to last the entire 12 weeks, while allowing for more capstone time in the final weeks. Having no curriculum for the final weeks was pretty demotivating, especially when it was clear that the instructors didn’t really want to babysit us for 3-6 hours. And why would they? It’s way better when there’s structure and a plan for the evening. I hope they make those changes. If I had paid for the class by myself, I definitely wouldn’t feel like I got my money’s worth. In addition, their website was tough to navigate, and had several bugs, which is insane for a company that teaches web development.
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Porter Lyman Verified via GitHubYou get out what you put in
Great mentors, good facility, and all the help you need. -
Emily Verified via LinkedIn
DevMountain
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Attending DevMountain was one of the best decisions of my life! I majored in one science in college, but wished that I had majored in computer science after taking some beginner courses. After a year of self-study, I attended DevMountain. I met some of the greatest people ever, I learned more than I thought possible, and I clearly loved it because I stayed on as a mentor. Their approach to education is incredible, and really emphasises each student truly learning and excelling, rather than pushing students through to get revenue. And the job prep is incredibly useful. It is an exceptional program!
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David Fischer Verified via GitHubGreat Teachers!!!
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As always there are pluses and minuses about every decision. I loved my time at DevMountain. The students and the teachers in particular. Morning coffee and breakfast on Fridays were huge for the budget conscience among us.
Firstly, I wish I had taken 1 to 2 months working on React, Javascript, and CSS before starting the course. I felt like I was constantly behind when we hit React and I couldn't catch up.
The guarantee that I could come back t retake the classes is one reason I pushed ahead and didn't take an extra month to study. Also a huge reason I went with DevMountain was they were so close for me.
OK what could have been better...
I felt like the classses were geared to the fastest learners rather than the middle. We did no peer programming. The first two weeks were way too easy and after the third week I never felt like I could catch up... I was putting in 12-16 hour days and it was very draining. The "job prep" was telling us to find a portfolio template that we liked and write a resume and put it online. There was help to ensure it looked good and was professional but I wass hoping for a week of mock interviews and whiteboard problems. I mean maybe the resume is more important but thats not what I was worried about. I also wish we'd done more projects that were (portfolio worthy but small).
I have only been graduated for 1 week and I feel that once I get my portfolio and resume put together and I begin applying to jobs I will have a better overview of how prepared I am versus "how I feel". So, the caveat here is that I felt like I wanted to take another 2-4 weeks learning React but ended up deciding to keep pushing through to graduate. So me not "feeling" ready is also on me because I could have stayed on in another class. It was MY CHOICE to fly solo a bit early. I will "audit" a few classes while job hunting and I will continue making projects so if I am interviewing in 2-4 weeks I think thats where I should be.
Also I think they have great job fairs and really work hard for their students there. I look forward this next step in my career and life.
As I final note I thought seriously about trying to be a mentor/teacher at DevMountain because do think they are a great school. Also they did some major changes to curriculum on the last few classes so I think they care about being the best. I heard they have peer programming and I like the way the curriculum is laid out now. Everyone says it and I'll repeat it. The squeeky wheel gets the greese, let them know you need help, ask and ye shall recieve... ;) Good luck DevMountain is a great school. If I can update this I will in a few weeks!
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Paul Adams Verified via LinkedIn
iOS Development Immersive
Twelve-week, 600-coursehour program that taught practical programming skills. Mastered critical competencies such as Cocoa Touch, Xcode, Swift, Objective-C, UI/UX design, architectural patterns, data, SDKs, and debugging. By course end, I published both an individual and a group app on Apple’s App Store.
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spencer Verified via LinkedIn
Web Developer (full-stack)
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I attended an after hours web development in Salt Lake City, Ut. I finished the course 6 months ago.
The most concise I can be:
I was self-taught for 3 months before attending the bootcamp (about 20 hours/week.
I worked part-time during the bootcamp putting in about 30 hours/week.
You will learn how to put together web apps, and you will learn the basics of coding. The knowledge is presented well, with lots of practice. I woud've prefered to learn react instead of angularJS, but even with that small criticism the overall 'how-to' knowledge I gained prepared me to continue teaching myself (learning from others), which is what programming and gaining expertise are all about
I reached a competent and comfortable skill level at around 1200 hours of total programming exposure (about 1 year of programming 5 days a week for 20 hours/week). I've learned the most working on larger apps that involve putting many pieces of web-app architecture together (front-end frameworks, backend, hosting, database, testing, error handling... etc).
Attending Dev Mountain's bootcamp accelerated my learning. It was worth the 5k I paid. programming requires hard work and constant exposure and can be done by most anyone (or such is my opinion).
Job assistance has more to do with the quality of work you can show and after hours students must meet certain requirements to obtain some of the same perks as their full time counterparts.
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J. Poemape Verified via LinkedIn
10/10 Would Recommend
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I would highly recommend attending the Web Dev immersive program to kickstart a new career. I had a bachelor's degree in Spanish when I applied to DevMountain, and I had very little coding experience. Now I have a full time job making 3-4 times more than I was before.
The first 6 weeks are very fast-paced and require dedication and scrifice to study and prepare for class. However, the second 6 weeks are possibly even more important than the first. This is when the information and concepts really got cemented into my brain.
If you decide to attend, push yourself. Don't take the easy road for the projects, or you will regret it.
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Russ Verified via LinkedIn
From WebDev to UX/UI
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DevMountain, as a "technical" bootcamp, is the only bootcamp I've attended but its worked well for me thus far. Four years worth of college feels like a heavy financial burden for such an expensive "receipt" as I like to call it. Although most coding/technical bootcamps are not "cheap", I would say that my experience with DevMountain far surpasses any I've had with two or four year universities.
My situation was unique in that I started in the Web Development, but didn't have the enjoyable experience I was hoping for. It just didn't feel right, even though I was learning a lot. I eventually asked if I could switch from Web Development to the UX/UI program, and I was SO glad I did. I absolutely LOVE the content, and the lead instructor for UX/UI (Brandon) is an amazing guy! He is well versed in the field, and has a deep knowledge and passion for teaching the next generation of UX/UI designers. The curriculum is solid, and I've learned a lot, but my only complaint (a small preference more than anything) is that some of the tools they use to organize the curriculum feels a little "loose", and unstructured. For me (not the most naturally organized person), I need more structure on dates/times/due dates, and that for the most part, has gotten me lost on more than one occasion. That aside, I figured out how to work with my weakness and be proactive in making sure I was on top of my own education.
As an additional note, after switching to UX/UI, I became quite ill. I found out that I had a chronic illness that was the cause of a litany of health problems, and I deferred. The Student Relations counselors, and the Lead Instructor were very understanding, and allowed me to focus on getting better before I came back. Now I'm back and I'm grateful for their patience, and DevMountain's ability to have that kind of flexibility. I consider myself lucky to have gone to DevMountain and dealt with so many caring and professional people. They have a no-nonsense policy on missing class, but they're still providing me the flexibility I need to finish out my treatments, and still continue to learn and grow from their incredible curriculum.
Many thanks to everyone I've worked with at DevMountain. I couldn't be more proud to become an Alumni of such an awesome Bootcamp, and professionals that care about my educational pursuits!
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Brennon Schow Verified via LinkedIn
Redefinition... redefined.
I'm a completely new person because of DevMountain -- in almost every aspect of my life. DevMountain reinforced the idea that not every company is out to just make money, not every employer is looking for a mindless puppet. Tech is exciting! DevMountain does a really good job of sharing in that excitement, and introducing newbies to it. 10/10 would definitely recommend.
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Jessica Mitchell Verified via LinkedIn
Life changing
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DevMountain was an amazing experience for me, I was looking for a career/life change and it gave me everything I needed to be a successful Web/Software developer. The key was I learned how to learn quickly, but more specifically how I learned personally. My instructor was patient and understanding, as were the mentors; which is great because not only did they complete the bootcamp beforehand, they were also chosen because of their ability to sympathized and understand the struggles that you are going through as a student. The faculty is supportive and will do everything in its power to make sure you are a success, not just in bootcamp, but when you get out into the real world trying to find a job. It's a fantastic community of students and alumni.
DevMountain also makes the process of immersing yourself in the program very seamless, if you are out of state or live far away, housing is provided, which reduces stress on you while you are in the program; money wise. I came in with very little knowledge of the tech field and now I actually work in it as a Software Developer. If you do the work, the assignments, are willing to be frustrated, willing to struggle, willing to do things over and over again and still get them wrong, willing to work with and support your peers, do the entire process all over again, and realize that you will always be learning; you will succeed at DevMountain. I'm where I am in my career because I decided that I was going to work hard and because DevMountain was there to help me every step of the way to get to my end goal. DevMountain's bootcamp experience is all about your drive and what you put in it, nothing is handed to you, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
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Lloyd Grubham Verified via GitHubGreat start into Web Dev, personalized pace.
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The Fulltime web development course at DevMountain is a great spring board into the web development industry. It sometimes feels like you are drinking out of a fire hose, but the information is well presented and reinforeced. For every topic covered in lecture, there is ample time to cover and practice it so the infromation and skills stay.
DevMountain is also always updating their curriculum to meet the job market demands.
Also, in the case that the content of the course becomes overwhelming, there are several options for studying at your own pace and/or starting over at no extra tuition.
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Ian Schoen Verified via LinkedIn
Graduate
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DevMountain was, by far, the best educational experience I have ever had. For two years I pursued a Computer Science degree which naturally involved quite a bit of programming. I loved programming, but nothing that I was learning was applicable in the workforce and I soon realized that I would be in school for another 2 years before I could make anything of it! I decided to look into bootcamps and shortly thereafter found out about DevMountain. I considered other schools, but the amazing reviews and the affordability of DevMountain towered above all the others.
I learned more during my time at DevMountain than I did in two years of college. Heck, I would even say that DevMountain completely changed my life. I am forever grateful to all the instructors, my mentors, and my classmates.
If you love to code and want to make something out of it, DevMountain is the place for you.
