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Devschool is closed
This school is now closed. Although Devschool is no longer accepting students or running its program, you can still see historical information and Devschool alumni reviews on the school page.
Devschool is an online coding bootcamp, designed to turn students into full time professional web developers through one-on-one expert mentorship, group pairing sessions, and a built-in internship program.
Throughout the course of the program, students will work 20-40 hours per week depending on their schedule, which is flexible. Students have access to their Instructor all week via chat and will also work on pair programming exercises to share knowledge with other students. Each teacher has a minimum of 10 years instruction and will take no more then 12 students at a time.
Job assistance is an important part of the program, and the school places graduates with NGO partners that are seeking developers. Their partner network includes non-profit companies, NGOs and featured partner NewStory.
The school accepts students based on work ethic and culture match. Interested students should submit the application form online. The interview process is several online chats, one with a founder, one with a student, and one with your future Instructor.
I had been a student for a few months, and Jim has vanished. We have no one. The program is essentially dead, though the website is still up. He took our money and left. Stay away everyone. I feel sorry for all the students affected.
**They removed "Course Report" from their reviews section on the website and replaced it with Codementor, where the reviews have nothing to do with the current school**
I was a former student at Devschool who dropped out because of incompatibilities with the program. I paid for the full stack web development track which (funnily enough), no longer exists - as the school has restructured their tracks for the third time. More on that later.
school...
**They removed "Course Report" from their reviews section on the website and replaced it with Codementor, where the reviews have nothing to do with the current school**
I was a former student at Devschool who dropped out because of incompatibilities with the program. I paid for the full stack web development track which (funnily enough), no longer exists - as the school has restructured their tracks for the third time. More on that later.
school structure
I think the single driving force behind most of Devschool's problems is the lack of instructors. They always say "us" or "our instructors" while describing the program intricacies, but they only really have 1 - 2 active instructors - including the founder. During the time I was enrolled at Devschool, it had around 21 students. There was quite some drama during my time there. An instructor went crazy and was fired, while another instructor was told to stop teaching and observe sessions to learn how to teach. I also saw a few instructor candidates come and leave the Slack channel, most likely never reaching an agreement with the school.
Due to the lack of instructors, the program suddenly shifted the way it operated. It reduced all student sessions from 2 to 3 times a week, down to 1 time a week. This was frustrating, mainly due to the fact that this change was purely due to a lack of teachers - which to me, seemed like the school did not have its act together at all. The only instructor able to teach was the founder, as they had lost most of ther teachers.
So now, I was trying to put up with only having 1 session a week, when I wanted (and was promised on the website) to have at least 2 or 3 sessions a week. These sessions were an hour long, with the rest of your week completely empty. You were told to continue to with the work done in your sessions, as well as watching a few Frontend Masters and/or Egghead videos. For the rest of the week. This is their curriculum.
The group sessions were a nice touch, but they were very disorganized. Every group session seemed to be a completely new topic that students voted on. They were also painfully long, about two hour to three to even four hours at times. Very inefficient, as most students seem to zone out by the end.
My time at Devschool was 1 hour long session once a week, with a few two - four hour long group sessions sprinkled throughout. All done by the founder. He was exhausted.
curriculum
This is Devschool's most advertised feature. A none-structured curriculum. This is the reason why I was drawn to the school. As a student however, it's not really all that conductive to the learning process.
First, there is in fact a semi-curriculum. While I was a student, we had to build a blog as our first project. Then for some reason, the blog assignment was scrapped, and we were told to build a text game using Javascript. It came out of no where, it was quite advanced for some of the beginner students (jumping straight into OOP), when some of the beginners didn't even know the different types of loops yet.
The problem with Devschool's promise to "crafting your own curriculum" is that most beginners have no clue what technologies are important and in demand. That's why they are relying on schools to teach them in the first place. A completely open ended curriculum is only appropriate for advanced beginners and up, who actually have had at least several months of programming knowledge.
Finally, there is no structured student-to-student pair programming. You can reach out to students, but that's about it. The varying levels of students and time zones make it a bit difficult.
track structure
This is something I am a bit concerned about for the current students. Devschool has radically changed their course tracks over the past 6 months at least three times. In fact, the current tracks on Course Report (and while I was enrolled), no longer exist at all.
Devschool originally had a track of "Ruby Web Development" and a track for "Javascript Web Development". Then, when I enrolled, it had a track of "Full Stack Web Development", and a track for "Software Engineering". They recently (as of this review), changed their tracks again, this time offering "Modern Front End Developer" and "Modern Fullstack Developer".
support
Due to the shortage of instructors, my weekly sessions were reduced to 1 a week, with the rest of my time working alone on assignments, group sessions, and the occasional video from their MOOC memberships.
There was zero support outside of your hour long session. Group session content was reserved for whatever was being shown during that session. You could PM the instructor on Slack, but they would be swamped with other student's sessions, unable to focus their energy on you. There were no office hours - once again, lack of instructors to facilitate such systems. You could ask in the Student Slack channel - but should that really be touted as a plus? There are tons of free programming slack channels as well.
outcome
I'm glad that students in 2015 were able to find jobs. I'd be curious to see an update in 2016. They say that you are in the program as long as you want until you get a job. The only benefit there are the group sessions - which again, might have nothing to do with helping you get a job. Personalized support? With the lack of instructors or even job specialists/recruiters, you can expect almost no job support after your personal sessions have been used up.
value
How does Devschool stand amongst its online peers? I've listed out the major contenders in the online bootcamp world. I'm ignoring the contents of their curriculum - because the way in which they deliver this content is far more important.
Devschool: Membership to Frontend Masters and Egghead, unlimited group sessions, open ended curriculum, access to group sessions until hired, 1 mentor session per week, job support during individual sessions, 6 months - 1 year duration.
Codementor: Choose your mentor, open ended curriculum, 1 - X mentor sessions a week, mentor pricing flexible, open ended duration
Hack Reactor Remote: structured curriculum, daily student pair programming, daily group sessions, office hours, job support, 3 months duration
Fullstack Remote: structured curriculum, daily student pair programming, daily group sessions, office hours, job support, saturday CS curriculum, 4 months duration
Viking Code School: structured curriculum, daily student pair programming, daily group sessions, office hours, personal job support, tuition is paid as 18% of first year's salary upon receiving a job, 3 months duration
The Firehose Project: structured curriculum, 1 mentor session per week, office hours, job support, apprenticeship program, 6 months duration
Thinkful: structured curriculum, daily student pair programming, daily group sessions, daily mentor session, 24/7 office hours, 4 month duration, personal job training pre and post graduation, 100% refund if not hired after 6 months
Bloc.io: structured curriculum, 1 - 3 mentor sessions a week, office hours, 6 month duration, personal job training post graduation, 100% refund if not hired after 6 months
conclusion
Devschool's heart is in the right place. I support their style of teaching an open, unstructured curriculum. It just needs a lot of fine tweaking, and the students may become collateral damage during those tweakings. Hopefully the school will grow with more instructors, so that more flexible options are given in terms of mentoring hours and session numbers, as well as the organization and comprehensiveness of the program. In the end however, with the state that the school was in when I enrolled, I had to leave and pursue a different program. I wish Devschool all the best.
My experience with Devschool was nothing but awesome and accommodating. Jim is a great teacher with tons of experience and a lot of knowledge to give. Whatever your goals are Jim will do whatever he can to help you reach them. Jim would often ask his students for any feedback/input they had regarding the school and how he could make it better to suit our needs. I dont think there is another school out there that caters to the student like that. Like the site says this school does not have ...
My experience with Devschool was nothing but awesome and accommodating. Jim is a great teacher with tons of experience and a lot of knowledge to give. Whatever your goals are Jim will do whatever he can to help you reach them. Jim would often ask his students for any feedback/input they had regarding the school and how he could make it better to suit our needs. I dont think there is another school out there that caters to the student like that. Like the site says this school does not have a set curriculum like most web development bootcamps but is catered towards the individual student and their goals. If you are looking for a step by step hand holding curriculum then this is not the school for you. Unfortunately due to a new job schedule preventing me from commiting the time to Devschool that I would have liked to I chose not to continue with the Devschool program. Jim was very understanding and gave me a pro-rated refund based on the amount of time I had spent in the school just like the website says. Within a couple days my refund was in my bank account. No jumping through any hoops or the normal BS most companies give you when looking for a refund. If youre a self motivated, goal orriented person looking to get a personal education instead of the same cookie cutter one like all these other bootcamps are offering definitely give Devschool a shot.
I have been a student at Devschool for about three months, most of that time was spent studying and coding part-time. In that time, I have gone from knowing nothing about code, to experimenting coding whole apps, and getting contacted by recruiters regularly.
The most important skill I have learned, however, is learning how to learn. Jim's teaching style forces you to learn how to take extreme ownership of your learning, and how to enjoy that process. This is how it works: Jim se...
I have been a student at Devschool for about three months, most of that time was spent studying and coding part-time. In that time, I have gone from knowing nothing about code, to experimenting coding whole apps, and getting contacted by recruiters regularly.
The most important skill I have learned, however, is learning how to learn. Jim's teaching style forces you to learn how to take extreme ownership of your learning, and how to enjoy that process. This is how it works: Jim serves as your mentor, giving you one 1:1 session a week, and the ability to spectate on other sessions. You get homework which you complete in between sessions. The curriculum is open, and you are free to tackle topics that interest you, all the while, being guided by Jim to ensure that you end up learning all the things you need to be succesful.
If you are not the type to take ownership, or are not open-minded, I do not recommend taking this bootcamp. Otherwise, it will be the best learning experience you will have.
I enrolled in Devschool because of their positive image online in reviews and otherwise. Prior to this, I was enrolled in Bloc & Thinkful but sadly their curriculum was poorly formatted and far too structured to be useful to me. This is simply my opinion.
After months of searching I started reading about Devschool and how highly the school was recommended was from previous students who graduated the program. I spoke with Jim numerous times and he was always patient when it...
I enrolled in Devschool because of their positive image online in reviews and otherwise. Prior to this, I was enrolled in Bloc & Thinkful but sadly their curriculum was poorly formatted and far too structured to be useful to me. This is simply my opinion.
After months of searching I started reading about Devschool and how highly the school was recommended was from previous students who graduated the program. I spoke with Jim numerous times and he was always patient when it came to answering my questions and concerns, and I was impressed with how Devschool was not the typical “Big Box” outfit.
Unfortunately because of an unexpected personal life-crisis I had to drop out of the program before I was able to onboard due to my hectic schedule. And even though Devschool has a standard pro-rated refund minus some non-refundable portion, Jim made a personal exception for me due to my circumstances and refunded the full amount since I needed that money to get out of my crisis. He delivered on the school's promise for an "Insanely Human Experience" and then some!
When in the future I can enroll in an online coding school I will sign up for their program again, no hesitation. Devschool rocks!
I was one of Jim's first official Devschool students back in April of 2015 after having been his customer for several months previously while I attended Dev Bootcamp in NYC. I found that even after 10 hours a day at school learning and hacking, I was missing some major understanding in the Rails stack and in some of the smaller details of web development.
Through Codementor, I found Jim and made him my long term mentor through months 2-3 of Dev Bootcamp and I ...
I was one of Jim's first official Devschool students back in April of 2015 after having been his customer for several months previously while I attended Dev Bootcamp in NYC. I found that even after 10 hours a day at school learning and hacking, I was missing some major understanding in the Rails stack and in some of the smaller details of web development.
Through Codementor, I found Jim and made him my long term mentor through months 2-3 of Dev Bootcamp and I ended up getting a partial refund at DBC and joined the brand new (then) Devschool. I really liked how the curriculum wasn't written out ahead of time when what I wanted to build and learn was anything but static.
I would recommend Devschool to anyone who wants to cut through the cruft and really, really learn the skills they will need to build modern web applications.
I took my first devbootcamp in my city, but in the middle of my bussy life (work - bootcamp) I missed a lot of key topics that leave behind a lot of questions without answers.
My devbootcamp instructor filled those gaps, and now I have my dreams job.
I am a current student of the Devschool. I started about 2 months ago and really happy so far. The reason I chose the Devschool is that it is not a "bootcamp" as we usually understand the word - it is a mentorship mixed with a friendship and strong community. Exactly what I needed: build a real world projects of my choice using tools I want or which are really in trend today. This school is not only about WEB development. It is all about any kind of a programming you're interested in. If m...
I am a current student of the Devschool. I started about 2 months ago and really happy so far. The reason I chose the Devschool is that it is not a "bootcamp" as we usually understand the word - it is a mentorship mixed with a friendship and strong community. Exactly what I needed: build a real world projects of my choice using tools I want or which are really in trend today. This school is not only about WEB development. It is all about any kind of a programming you're interested in. If my dream would be to write a programms for a robotic vacuums -> I can start this kind of a project at Devschool today.
I was looking at Viking Code School and Learn.co, when I came across Online Dev School (ODS). After interviewing with ODS, I joined about a month ago, and I love it! I actually tried other online bootcamps and just got tired of the old, and dated curriculum.
What makes this school awesome is Jim OKelly. He is a fantastic and patient instructor. And the guy knows his stuff. He not only pushes you to learn full stack web development, he pushes you to learn the tools...
I was looking at Viking Code School and Learn.co, when I came across Online Dev School (ODS). After interviewing with ODS, I joined about a month ago, and I love it! I actually tried other online bootcamps and just got tired of the old, and dated curriculum.
What makes this school awesome is Jim OKelly. He is a fantastic and patient instructor. And the guy knows his stuff. He not only pushes you to learn full stack web development, he pushes you to learn the tools and to learn them well, such as Vim, CLI, etc. There's no sitting through boring curriculum, like other schools. From day one, you start building YOUR (first of many )web apps, and then another one, and then another one. Meanwhile you and other students watch him build out real business web apps where you can ask questions, watching a senior level programmer solve problems, etc.
Also, the other students in the program are awesome. Some are ahead of you, and some are just coming in, but all of them have a common goal, and it's great to communicate and solve problems together. You get to pair with someone after you've been in the program for a bit.
Now, I have to admit, Jim is not going to be the right instructor for everyone. He can seem disorganized and a little too casual, but after you've joined, you can see that he really is not disorganized, at all. Really what it is, is he is open to making the best experience for his students, and is willing and open to doing whatever he thinks will help the students acheive success. He actually listens to his students feedback. This means lot's of change and flexibility is needed, which is exactly what you need to be a good programmer. Me personally, I like this.
However, a lot of people might not. Those who need a rigid, structured curriculum of hand-holding will not like this school. But those who want a real-world web developement environment while they learn, who like to see how requirements for software can and will change, and who want to learn how to communicate effectively and well with team members on their future job, will LOVE this program. It really is almost like you're an intern learning from a Sr. developer the whole software life cycle stuff.
Jim is very giving, patient, and knowlegeable, and he has that much needed and remarkable trait of all good teachers: he knows how to break difficult concepts down to beginners. Like I've said, I've studied with other mentors, and they were excellent programmers and knew their stuff, but they sucked at breaking down difficult concepts. Jim is a fantastic mentor, vastly knowledgeable, dedicated, and sincere to his students' success.
Again, I've been in the program for about a month, and in that time, I've learned how to kick butt in Vim, CLI, Git, building a robust web app, and pair programming. It's the best money I've ever spent, and I'm so happy to have found this school.
I had an interview with Jim close to a month or so ago as I was interested in learning about the program.
Yes, he certainly seems to be a bit more on the "liberal" side, but I didn't necessarily find that to be a bad thing. In many cases it was refreshing.
I'm not going to speak anything about the rest of the program, since I ultimately decided to not continue with it, however, I did personally find some things concerning:
Mostly the quality of reviews and res...
I had an interview with Jim close to a month or so ago as I was interested in learning about the program.
Yes, he certainly seems to be a bit more on the "liberal" side, but I didn't necessarily find that to be a bad thing. In many cases it was refreshing.
I'm not going to speak anything about the rest of the program, since I ultimately decided to not continue with it, however, I did personally find some things concerning:
Mostly the quality of reviews and responses. I get that every company gets a bad review every now and then.
But there seems to be a heavy shift between the five star reviews and the lower reviews.
In fact, both low reviews seemed to have been responded to with a rather unprofessional and in one case a (perhaps) borderline illegal revelation of someone's personal information. (I don't know but isn't that like illegal or something?)
Regardless, I think that to do something like that is pretty messed up.
I personally find this to be very unprofessional and quite morally wrong, regardless of one's personal feelings.
Also, I don't know how much of the largest bad review stems from emotional issue, but to think that a student would come out of a program feeling insulted and humiliated... Is that how an instructor should make their students feel under any circumstance?
I could be wrong, but to me, the program was advertised to not have a curriculum because the work would be tailored to an individual's needs.However, it sounds like this person's needs were not met and instead they were insulted for not following "the rules" (which I thought was not what the program was supposed to be about). But I digress.
Again, I don't mean for this to be a review about the program itself, since I didn't participate after the initial interview nor did I get a clear idea about the curriculum, so my rating for the curriculum isn't based from experience, it's more based on the mixed messages between the reviews, what was advertised, and my own experience after research.
But seeing this has really influenced my decision.Mostly from a quality of teaching aspect.
I don't know if a review is best fit for this kind of situation, but since there is no "dislike" feature, I believe that this is suitable.
Given if this is appropriate, a final message I have for this program is: No matter how mad someone is... treat them with a bit more respect. The customer is always right. Failure to do this not just reflects poorly on just the business, but on the people who run it as well.
Good Luck
Description | Percentage |
Full Time, In-Field Employee | 75.0% |
Full-time apprenticeship, internship or contract position | 0.0% |
Short-term contract, part-time position, freelance | N/A |
Employed out-of-field | N/A |
How much does Devschool cost?
Devschool costs around $14,000. On the lower end, some Devschool courses like Web Development Track cost $8,000.
What courses does Devschool teach?
Devschool offers courses like Software Enginneer Track, Web Development Track.
Where does Devschool have campuses?
Devschool teaches students Online in a remote classroom.
Is Devschool worth it?
The data says yes! In 2015, Devschool reported a 89% graduation rate, a median salary of , and 100% of Devschool alumni are employed.
Is Devschool legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 19 Devschool alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Devschool and rate their overall experience a 4.0 out of 5.
Does Devschool offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Devschool offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Devschool reviews?
You can read 19 reviews of Devschool on Course Report! Devschool alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Devschool and rate their overall experience a 4.0 out of 5.
Is Devschool accredited?
None
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