Devmountain

Maybe I don't make great life decisions, but attending DevMountain was one of the best I've ever made. What do I mean? Well, maybe I shouldn't have gone to law school. Too late now. I dabbled in web dev during my undergrad, but for a variety of reasons didn't pursue it. I finished law school and tried practicing law for a year and decided it just really wasn't for me. Don't know why I couldn't have figured that out sooner. Oh well. I heard of people landing sweet jobs soon after DevMountain. So I decided to embrace the nerd in me who wants to build awesome stuff, solve buzzles, and sit in front of a computer all day and get paid for it. I attended DevMountain in Provo full-time from May to August 2015.

Are coding camps for everyone? No. And DevMountain is always looking for ways to figure out how to admit students who are the most motivated and the most likely to succeed. There are many individuals to whom programming principles will not come easy, or ever, no matter how hard they try, or not matter how hard instructors and mentors try to polish curriculum or devote individual time. So, of course some students will get super frustrated with the material. That doesn't mean they should quit trying after the program is over. And it also doesn't mean that the school is to blame.

There are myriad reasons it may be difficult for someone to get a job in web dev. Experience, portfolio, personality, interview skills, networking. DevMountain specifically states that they do not guarantee placement. Nobody except Hack Reactor does. But hey do promise job prep resources, which they had plenty of and they have more and more every day. Studies show most jobs are landed by way of networking, etc. I got lucky I guess, because I just landed a job from an online application, with the only web dev experience on my resume being from what I did at DevMountain, and working as a mentor for a couple of months thereafter.

For the person who is ragging on placement for DM4, my cohort, they should keep in mind that DevMountain's placement stats are based off of 3-months out, and based off of those who are seeking full-time web development positions. The 3-month mark doesn't happen until next week. I hope this review is helpful, and not too responsive to other reviews. I don't think this place should be a pseudo-forum.

My experience has been that the value DevMountain provides is unbeatable. Was everything perfect? No. Could I put together a list of complaints or things I would do better? Yes. But the 5 stars I am allocating for each category are based off of value. If you have any other questions, I can be reached at /in/mikkelrd

I went to DevMountain part time cohort in Provo. At the time they only had part time and there website stated that they had a 95% hire rate so I figured I would give it a try. It was hard and I put a lot of work into. I did not get a job out of it, and I worked on bettering myself everyday for nearly seven months while applying all over. A lot of the reviews have been stating that its becuase we are trying to better our selves and that we expected to get a job without putting in the work but I went jobless with a wife and two kids living at my in laws thinking Ill just keep putting in the work and it will work out. I did this for nine months and only getting one interview and they didnt want me for the lack of time I had as a web developer. My mentor was pretty good he did help a lot and I really enjoyed him. The first day of class was terrible, the teacher was all over the place and even told us the next day that he was in a funk and was sorry for not making much sense, which is ok mistakes happen, however he jumped right into the next lesson when no one understood the first lesson leaving many of us in the dust trying to figure out what to do, and when you just spent $4000 its probably not a good thing to be in a funk.  The teaching was ok, you got about half and half when it came to good teachers. The owner was by far the best teacher and whenever our class had him the whole class seemed to get back on the same page and progressed in our skills, and he seemed to really care that we succeded. They had lectures all the time for the full time class from people who worked at tech companies in Utah but part time never got any of that, I really felt they spent majority of there energy on full time and part time kind of got left in the dust. They also treat you like your not trying or spending enough time outside of class if your not doing well or if you write a negative review saying you didnt get a job, they make you feel like your the one doing their program wrong. Like I said above I went to the university and studied everyday for almost 7 straight months staying up on what I learned so its not becuase I didn't try hard enough. I did like Devmountain for a lot of things they did give me some pretty good skills. Also there is no job assitance afterwards, they had us all sign up for a website were they would post jobs for us to view and apply for and they did that for about a month with a handful of jobs and that was it for job assistance, once I finished DevMountain it was pretty quiet in the job assistance field. I didn't write this review to bash their were a lot of good things Devmountain did do but I have seen all the reviews and didn't like how everyone with five stars said the people who are giving lower stars is because they expected to get a job and didn't try hard enough. I've put a lot of time and energy looking for work and keeping up on the skills I was taught. I wouldn't go again but if your good at coding honestly it would probably be a good place to learn some things and help on your resume but for starting into it thinking i'm going to change my career and make a lot of money, it might not happen so think about it before you drop the money.

I got my BS in marketing a couple years ago and couldn't stand the shady digital marketing company I was working for.  My wife had come to DevMountain a year earlier and suggested that I give it a shot, as I was starting to become interested in web development myself.

I couldn't be more pleased with the results.  DevMountain isn't easy.  You've got to dedicate yourself and hold yourself accountable for everything you learn as well as everything you don't.  I had no experience whatsoever with web development when I went in, but I came out feeling competent and empowered.  I spent my fair share of nights up until the wee hours of the morning breaking my code, debugging, and just about losing my mind over missing commas and misspelled methods, but it was worth every minute. My mentor and one or two of the instructors made themselves available outside of class hours, when they weren't even on the clock, to help me whenever I came up against a wall.  I've never been in another environment so nurturing and intellectually stimulating.

I currently mentor at DevMountain, but I do freelance work and work fulltime as a developer at an unaffiliated company in Provo as well.  Even though DevMountain was explicitly clear that they don't guarantee jobs, they gave me excellent assistance and helped me meet employers.  They gave me some contract work as well while I was still looking for a fulltime position somewhere else so that I'd be able to build out my portfolio.

The recent negative reviews I've seen here are almost laughable.  Many refer to DevMountain's "marketing team" and most don't give any actual information about the writer's (not writers', I suspect) experience with DevMountain.  Also, in response to another reviewer's question, I do in fact notice a pattern in the review dates, namely that there has been a huge jump in similarly-worded negative reviews in the last week or so after over a year's worth of positive ones.  Best of luck to you, friend.

I am so happy I chose to go through the program at DevMoutain. I've worked too many dead-end retails jobs, or sales positions that pay commission only. I really didn't know how I was going to give my family the life I wanted. So, after living below the poverty line for years, I was talked into considering programming. 

When I found DevMountain, I was really excited with the prospect of changing my life in such a dramatic fashion. I have a 4 year degree. I was taking on leadership positions, and working my way up with my current company, but the hours and pay were horrible! So of course the life of a programmer was really intriguing. And the success DevMountain has had with their students has been amazing.

Here is what I will say for the school:

OVERALL: I loved the experience! I thrive in the type of environment they have created. You have to work hard, and push through the stress, and the intense, accelarated learning curve, but if you do, the sky is the limit on what you can acheive! The top students are those who are putting in tons of extra hours, and really pushing the limits on what they are learning and doing. And I love being surrounded by people like that. It just helped me to push myself even further!

TEACHERS: I loved the teaching style of DevMountain. We would be taught a principle, then we would have a chance to put what we just learned to practice. It is definitely project-based learning, with a lot of hands on practice and experience. I loved it! It does tend to be a little harder for some people, but in the end, even those who have a different learning style than I were doing really well. It just takes pushing through the stress, and the hard moments when you feel like you aren't getting it. The teachers were really awesome programmers, and even though each have a unique teaching style, I learned so much from each one. I love that we got to learn from some of the top programmers in the area!

CURRICULUM: As I mentioned, the class is project-based. There are new projects everyday to work on to practice what was taught in the morning lecture. So each day I was putting to use what I was learning. The projects are relavant to what is going on in the programming world, and I often look back at my projects now, as a mid-level software engineer with a great job, to see how I solved certain problems, or set up certain things, etc. 

JOB SEARCH: This is an area that was really important to DevMountain, and you can tell they are working really hard to constatly improve student success after graduation. I know a TON of grads who are working as developers now, and are very happy with where they are at. I've seen some of the negative posts recently, where people have said that students aren't getting jobs, and that you shouldn't go to DevMountain. I don't think that some people going into a program like this realize that it may take a while to find that first job, and as the time gets longer, if they are not still working on projects, and practicing and learning, it will get really hard for them to find a job. Unfortunately, those people will probably give up, and then try and find someone to blame. From what I have seen, those who are putting in the extra time, and working hard in class, and continue to work hard afterward, and don't get discouraged, find a job within a couple months or so of graduating. That is most of the students, because everyone comes in to the program wanting to make the same changes in their lives. I can go on and on listing grads who are working, and are so happy about their new lives! Don't listen to the haters, and if you come to DevMountain, don't be one of the very few that don't put in enough effort, both in the class and after graduation, and give up on finding a job.

SUMMARY: After my time with DevMountain, I only interviewed with 3 companies, and I got fantastic offers from ALL THREE! I took an awesome job with a really fun team, and I am getting paid about $20,000 more that I expected coming out of DevMountain. I am only a few thousand dollars short of tripling my income. All within about 6 months of leaving my last job! 6 months! I have tripled my income, have awesome hours and benefits, and I wake up excited to work, and do what I do!!! I worked crazy hard to get to where I am at, and I have no doubt at all that anyone who does the same will see the same results. DevMountain gives you the opportunity to be very successful in their program, and afterward. This really is a ticket out. Seriously! You can totally change your life! Here's my warning and advice... Take that opportunity seriously, and give it all you've got. It will totally pay dividends in the end! 

I'm disappointed to say the least. I'm also not surprised about all the negative reviews lately. When I signed up for Dev Mountain they had good reviews and things looked promising. My experience was different. The marketing department blatantly lies and I'm confident is the reason behind a lot of these positive reviews. The lead instructor who I was excited to learn from left a few months ago and the replacement is still trying to get adjusting. Mentors are nothing more than former students and are always busy so it's hard to get their help. Overall I wish I would have come to devmountain earlier on as I think it's best days are behind it. 

I am really surprised that DevMountain has such a high score. After reading several reviews online I decided to attend DevMountain thinking I made a great choice. However, I was really disapointed by the program. Let's first talk about instructors. They claim on their website that they have several website but I only saw on full-time instructor and several guest speakers. Then they claim that they have lectures all day by the instructors which is not true. Instructor only gives lecture for one hour the rest of the day you spend your time on your own. Mentors are available to help but you need to wait for them since the class is over crowded. Some of the mentors are not even qualified to be there. Instead of helping they will confuse you. 

Also, they claim that thier students find job whitin three months which is not true. If you go on linkedin and look for their students majority of them are jobless. 

My advise, do  not make the same mistake which I did, go find some other bootcamps make sure to reseach and actually attend the school for  a day. 

I am so happy that I took the  class at DevMountian. The teachers, top professionals from the industry, were awesome, and cared so much for our success. After graduating, I got hired right away to work on some awemome tech, and it has completely changed my life. I have so much more time to spend with my family, I am having so much fun and really love what I do, and I literally tripled my income. I completely recommend this program, and this team to you. Turn your life around!

Devmountain is a great program for those who already understand code and have experience coding. I went into the cohort thinking I could start from a beginners level and gain enough experience to get a job. This was not the case at all. All the people who came into the class in the same situation as me either quit weeks in or finished the class and weren't enough close to having the skill set to get a job. If you are going to do the class, make sure you already know how to code well, and just want to refine your skills.

I graduated from the summer iOS immersive cohort about 1 month ago. I started with absolutely no coding experience or knowledge and was able to land a job interview the Monday after we graduated and was extended a job offer 2 days later. I now work full time at an awesome company contributing on an app that I actually use. DevMountain is definately hard, it took 60+ hours of my time a week and there were days I wanted to quit. You definately get what you put into it, if you show up everyday and do all the projects you are going to learn. If you take days off or dont participate in the lessons you will fall behind. Overall I had a great experience, DevMountain has great people and is a great learning environment, that being said it is always evolving, the curriculum is always changing and the program is always getting better. Something that has, in my opinion, really increased the value of the program is the job assistance. Jeff Chapman did a great job of putting on a job fair/ demo day for my class and I got my job as a direct result of the connections I made on that day. So for me it was definately worth the time and investment.

THE RESULTS:

• First week after DevMountain, I got 10 interviews and got 6 job offers

• I ended up taking a job at Jane.com where I literally tripled my salary

• I've build and deployed 3 full blown projects from end to back -- one of them (Mailpants.com a Mailchimp clone) has sent over 300,000 emails since I built it 3 months ago.

• I've been a major contributor at my startup (did all front end work at Toastio.com, Untorch.com)

• I wake up and do what I love each day

• I continue to be contacted by recruiters each week (Domo and Amazon among others)

DEVMOUNTAIN:

Is DevMountain for everyone? Definetively not. If you are one of those people that expects the world to feed you with a golden spoon, you will hate DevMountain, and you probably hate your life too.

But, if you are willing to work hard, and if you find interest in computers (programming, html/css, etc.), I honestly, cannot think of a better place to launch your career.

MY STORY:

I started doing some html/css for my startup, and found that I really really liked it. So I want to a few Universities to see if I could get some formal education on computer science. All respectable Universities rejected me (partially because I already had an undergrad education -- B.S. in Business). And the few where it was available where bad Universities or Institutions where they also required me to take an additional 2 years of irrelevant courses before I could dive into CS.  Not to mention that all formal education would require 2 - 4 years of my life and a considerable amount of money and sacrifices.

DevMountain, on the other hand, was (comparing it to a formal education) waaaay more affordable and only a three month program.  Don't get me wrong, I had a conversation with my wife in which we decided to approach my DevMountain education as my "master's degree."  While some students were leaving at 5pm every day, I was leaving at 2 am. While most people arrived at 9 am, I was already coding by 8 am. While some students did the work once, I did it 2 or 3 times. While some people took the weekend off, I was there all Saturday. I freaking loved what I was doing I was having dreams about code, and (sometimes) would wake up with some solutions to a problem I was facing.

Why do I mention that? You really get out of it what you put in. But there is no way I could have done it without DevMountain.  I tried it for a few months before, and it sucked. The environment was just perfect for me: The instructors were great and super accessible (I still stay in touch with several of them). The mentors were extremely helpful and knowledgeable.  They listened to my concerns and made some adjustments to make sure I was happy with my learning. The facility was legit.

P.S. I'm not saying getting a formal education is a bad thing. It just wasn't for me.

THE STACK:

DevMountain's focus on the MEAN stack is right on. MEAN is a great first stack -- strongly recommend it.  I also recommend trying different things as you keep maturing as a programmer. You should never stop learning.

WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN?

Knowing the outcome of Devmountain, if you had to go back in time, would you take DevMountain again? That's an obvious yes.

CONCLUSION:

Is DevMountain a 5 star school? Based on my story and results, you tell me.

DevMountain was definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made. I had no prior experience in any type of development before starting the program. All I had was a passion to start a new career in mobile development and the drive to make the most out of my experience at DevMountain. DevMountain gives you all the tools you need to succeed as a junior developer, and continue to grow and learn, long after the course is over. It is up to the developer to put in the hard work and take advantage of all the resources available to them. The few people I know who disliked their experience at DevMountain were the ones who put in little effort and expected the most out of it. DevMountain one of the best bootcamps out there right now. They do more for their students than most bootcamps, with housing and financing throught the school. That was the deciding point for me, and I don't regret it one bit!!

I was trying to make a career change. So I tried DevMountain. At the end of the course, I knew javascript, Angular, and node,  I got a web development job, and I love my work!!!! 

Instructers are very knowlegeable. Mentors helped me stay motivated when I am getting stuck. :) Overall, very friendly environment to learn. 

Going to DevMountain really changed my life drastically. 

I had no computer science background. So there was a lot to learn. But I was provided precourse material which helped me to have basic knowledge I needed to have to catch up with other students who are more tech savvy. If you are excited and proactive about learning, DevMountain will be perfect for you!!!!!