Devmountain

I loved my time at devmountain. Although instructor skills can vary, overall they were really great and the coursework taught me a ton. I found employment a week after graduation, and my life has changed increasingly for the better. A word of advice I'd give to people interested: you need to put in the time before you step foot into class. I probably studied for at least 100 hours going into the course, and I already had exposure to coding before. Once you have the way of thinking down, learning is easy and that's how you'll get the most mileage out of this course.

My previous review focused on my advice on how to succeed with DevMtn, this review is to share the results. A little over a month after graduation I now have full time web dev job at a great company. I had two other offers of employment besides. So there's a data point for you.

As with all things DevMtn, they give you the tools and support to succeed, and you must employ them tenatiously. The job question is no different. 

I believe this review will link to my LinkedIn, please don't hesitate to message me about anything you think I can help you with. At your service. 

DevMountain was awesome. I've never had so much information pumped into my head in such a short amount of time. They have a different method of teaching than colleges that I really like. They pretty much just give you all the tools and resources you need to succeed then the rest is up to you. If you put a lot into it and work hard you will learn a lot and get a lot out of it. If you don't put a lot into it you won't get a lot of of it. The free housing was great for student housing standards. I had 3 job offers a month after I graduated. Two of them I got though Devmountain referrals. Devmountain gives you the perfect environment to become a successful web developer.

Really disappointing experience with these folks -- they seemed so nice when I was emailing them and talking on the phone with them about attending the web dev immersive program, but when I showed up to start the program I found that the free housing wasn't livable (it had wall-to-wall carpeting throughout the apt, and was so musty and moldy that my boyfriend and I both got migraines from being there for less than an hour). When I explained my dilemma to the housing coordinator, she offered me no help, but merely suggested that I look in the local classifieds -- this was with one day to go before starting the program, and I had nowhere to stay. She even told me that past students had also had allergic reactions to the housing/carpeting. If this was the case, I couldn't (and still can't) understand why they wouldn't simply acquire some better, carpet-free and mold-free housing for their students? (Especially when the free housing is supposedly one of the great things about this school). When I asked if I could get my $750 deposit back, since it was through no fault of my own that I couldn't attend, and because I had given that money in good faith that the housing would be livable, they simply said no, that they needed that money. Ummm....I needed that money too! Especially since I had given up my job and my housing in Boulder in anticipation of being in Provo for 3 months, and have lost a *lot* more money than that from taking such a gamble on Devmountain. When I asked them if they would test for mold, and told them about really reliable mold tests like the ERMI and HERTSMI tests, they instead just got a super-cheap and unreliable test that only tested for 2 types of mold, when there are 7 types that are super-toxic for humans. I still can't believe how awful the whole thing was, and how as an organization they have no policies in place to address situations like this -- the way they acted like their moldy housing was somehow my fault was incredibly unfair and unjust. There are so many great web dev bootcamps out there -- please don't waste your time going here!      

I jumped into this because I wasn't happy in my current career and I had a love for Design. After 10 weeks of school and only 2 weeks left I needed to get out and see some real life UX Designers in action before applying for any jobs.  I was able to get a chance to shadow a previous DevMountain mentor.  During my time shadowing they decided to interview me. I was not prepared one bit which they were aware of but I was able to show them everything I had learned at DevMountain and what projects I had completed.  Later that day the company called and gave me an offer.  I scored an amazing job because of what DevMountain had taught me. I was able to double my income in 10 weeks and get a job offer before school was even over. I didn't start the job until school ended so I was able to complete the course (which I would recommend everyone to finish the course even if you have a job offer). Even within the two weeks left of class it was a continuous learning experience. DevMountain makes going to school fun and they do an amazing at preparing you for your next job and even unplanned interviews.  

Initially I wanted to do the immersive course, but with supporting a family, it wasn't an option at the time. Even though I knew going into the DevMountain after hours course that they didn't offer job assistance, I was still determined to land a dev job afterwards.

Knowing that this was my best shot at gaining enough knowledge/experience to land a dev job, I gave it everything that I had. I spent 30+ hours every week coding on top of the full time job that I had. When I was in class, I always tried to ask every question that I thought would help benefit my learning experience (I had a super sharp mentor who was also able to answer every question that I came up with. That alone made DevMountain worth the money). When I was out of class, I was either watching the lectures (I would say I watched most lectures twice before class so I wouldn't forget it) or building an application. I think there was a total of two days in the whole 16 weeks that I didn't turn on my computer to code something. I cannot reiterate how much of an impact constantly building applications that incorporated all of my current knowledge made (I tried to build a full application every weekend that included everything we had learned up to that time). That helped me to easily remember all of the HTML/CSS stuff from the beginning. I also planned ahead, I looked at the course outline and thought of what I wanted to do for my end project. That way when it came, I wasn't wasting time on coming up with ideas, but I already had my designs drawn up so that I could get right to coding.

In the end it completely paid off. DevMountain was worth every bit of the time that I put into it. Two weeks after I had finished DevMountain, I received three different offers for web developer positions. I don't think that is typical for part-time students, but if you put the time and work into it, it's definitely possible. 

I'm not sure if the curriculum has changed since I took their course, but the only improvement that I think they could make would be to focus more on a newer front-end framework such as React/Redux or Angular4. A lot of the jobs that are being listed now are asking for a more component based framework. Luckily the company that hired me on is giving me some time to get up to speed on Angular4. 

With all that being said, I could not be happier with my decision to go through the DevMountain after hours course. I finally found what I love to do, and I get paid to do it! I continually recommend it to everyone that asks. 

If you are not doing pre-class work, there's a huge chance you're doing it wrong and wasting your time and money.  Sometimes it's unclear how to prepare best for the next day.  Ask.  You're confused?  Take a deep breath and remind yourself that there is no better way to feel than confused.  It means you are learning, even if it doesn't feel like it.  You're carving a toe hold in the mountain and soon you will be able to use it to progress to the next steop.  Calmly soldier on, and when there is time, DO as much as you can.  As in, make the file, code it, tinker with it, do it.  

 You'll notice instructors have only 4 stars.  I only want to highlight the difference that I personally felt in the instruction style and calliber.  It innitially turned me off, but I wonder if in reality it is better to have variety in instructors; it mimicks the real world.  Anyway, one tacit or perhaps explicit thing that they teach at devMtn and that I will tell you is that you can't expect the instructor to blow your mind and transform you into a developer.  I would say, you need to do the homework, then come to class with questions and an open mind, absorb, ask, solidify.  You have to be able to contribute something at all points, in all interactions, in all lectures.  If you gamble and think, 'I'll just go to class and this instructor is going to solve all my problems for me and inject me with great coding abilities'...that's wrong most of the time. 

After researching dozens of coding boot camps, both online and immersive, I narrowed the field to about half a dozen, visited each of the campuses and after carefully weighing the options, decided to attend DevMountain.

Coming to DevMountain was the BEST.DECISION.EVER.  

Attending a boot camp is not easy!  Don't kid yourself when you think that putting in 9-5 for a few months is going to get you a job offer. You will get out what you put in.  Late nights, early mornings and tons of coding and studying!  

One of the strengths of DevMountain is the staff.  The instructors, guest lecturers, and mentors are all there to help!  Relying on them for help was key to my success.  But they don't hold your hand.  I was expected to do my research before asking help.  My mentors were really good about pointing me in the right direction, showing me where to find the right documentation or teaching me how to ask the right questions.

More than anything, leaving DevMountain gave me the confidence to learn something new quickly.  Prior to DevMountain, I worked in real estate and construction.  I had never coded before in my life.  The skills and network you gain from DevMountain are worth more than just the cost of admissions.  

After graduating, I stayed on as a mentor for the next cohort of students.  I got a chance to pull back the curtain and see the boot camp from 'other side.'  Not only did I see the care that goes into the lectures, but I also saw the commitment of the staff.  It isn't just the teachers that have your back, it is everyone.

Now?  I just received my first official job offer as a Software Engineer!  Thank you DevMountain for everything!  You've changed my life and helped me give my family a better future!

BEST.DECISION.EVER.

DevMountain provides a high quality education that will teach you all the basics you need to know in order to build full-stack JavaScript applications. Currently they are a little behind, teaching Angular 1, where it would be nice if they were teaching either React or Angular 2. After graduating, most of the job postings I found were looking for React experience.

As for job assistance, I was pretty dissapointed. On all their social media posts and at the beginning of the program, they made it seem like DevMountain had a great network that you can utilize to get a job. The only jobs that were suggested by DevMountain were either internships or tech support jobs. Just expect to do all the job hunt on your own. This would have been fine if DevMountain had not set such high expectations.

Overall, I loved the program and loved learning from great teachers. The hands on, real world experience is great. But just be aware that they sugar coat a lot of things when trying to sell the program.