Devmountain

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!

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.

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). 

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. 

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!

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!

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.

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.

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. 

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!

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!