DigitalCrafts Reviews
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Chris Boeckel
From business development to software development
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Before starting DigitalCrafts, I has a career in sales and business development. I had no former technical training and almost no coding experience. A few months before I enrolled in DigitalCrafts Full Stack Immersive program I dabbled with free resources such as freecodecamp and code academy but I wasn't learning as quickly as I wanted too. I needed to be in a classroom setting with an experienced instructor so I can learn more, quicker. For all potential candidates reading this, I'll give you why I chose DigitalCrafts over the other numerous bootcamps in the Atlanta are and my criticisms of the program. I chose DigitalCrafts because they offered a 16-week program as compared to the typical 12-week programs offered by their competitors. Honestly, you want as much time as you can get in the classroom with your instructor. My instructor Rob was absolutely incredible. I can't imagine having to get through a coding bootcamp with out him. He is both a great developer with so much experience in so many technologies and he's a great instructor. You are going to get frustrated in coding bootcamp, you are going to feel like you're not picking it up quickly enough, you are going to feel dumb, ad there will be times when you question your decision to quit ypur job, abandon your career, and go to code school fulltime. BUT you will be amazed at how much you can learn if you push through. It important to have an instructor like I had that is dedicated to teaching you the material and helping you understand. I had a very positive experience at DigitalCrafts and I had a great instructor. I would definitely recommend checking out DigitalCrafts if you're in the research phase of checking out code schools. Jake and Max will be very honest about what you can and can't expect from the program. They are both personally invested in seeing graduates find employment.
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Allen Thompson
Best career decision I have ever made!
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When I found DigitalCrafts my career was going nowhere, if not backward. After being starved out of full commission sales as a financial advisor in 2011, I spun my wheels working hourly for much less than I deserved with my bachelor’s degree. I didn't know where to turn. I had some technical background and an MIS degree, but my skills were dated. I couldn't seem to get back into IT. I found DigitalCrafts through their meetup group, and scheduled a meeting with Jake, a founder. Within a couple of weeks, I was signed up. I wouldn't say I was ready to go, because the pace of the course was staggering. I really had to get disciplined about working hard. By working hard I mean studying before and after class and on weekends. I would say my work week was 70 - 80 hours. We had an instructor with a Masters in CS from Georgia Tech. The DC team is still really small, and the founders, Jake and Max, are right there taking care of you. The Atlanta Tech Village is an awesome place to learn too. It took me a few months after my cohort to get a job, but I kept working hard. It finally paid off. I'm now a full-time software engineer at Home Depot in Atlanta. I am so happy to get my career jump-started again! I would recommend DigitalCrafts to everyone!
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Aaron
Incredible experience, would recommend to any prospective stuent
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I just completed the 16-week immersive program at DigitalCrafts and it exceeded my expectations in every way possible. The instruction is extraordinary, the class size is perfect, the curriculum is rigorous and challenging (but doable as long as a student is committed), the professional/career support is extremely helpful, and the administration truly cares about the ongoing progress and success of every student.
I'd recommend DigitalCrafts to any prospective student as long as they are ready for a challenge and are willing to put in the effort and time necessary to be successful.
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Jonathan
Full Stack Program
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In this course we learned full stack web development, it was a 16 week program where we gain experience through projects and exercises. The instructor will assist you with any questions and provide recommendation regarding your needs. Throughout the course the student will build up their portfolio to showcase everything you created during the course. It is extremely helpful in providing student with a crash course into the programming field.
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Huiqi
A great experience
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Attending DigitalCrafts has been a great experience. I decided to go to DigitalCrafts because I saw Max's answer on Quora comparing DC to other coding bootcamps in Atlanta, plus detailed student reviews from various platforms. DC has a more comprehensive curriculum and the length of the course is longer. After 16-weeks (probably much earlier than that), I'm pretty sure that I made the right decision.
Here are some aspects that I really like about it:
1. Instructor:a. Our instructor Toby is very knowledgable, organized and fun. He is able to and is willing to drill down to every aspect of the topics and explore an variety of topics - in an highly structured way. He makes detailed slides for each topic and thinks carefully about what approach is the best for teaching the specific topic. When one approach doesn't work as well as he expects, he try other ones.
b. Students with different skill levels all get abundant and proper attention. Being a teacher for 5 years, I know how hard it is. Toby is worried about the slower students all the time, and he spends a lot of time and efforts to make them catch up. For the more advanced students, he also makes sure they don't get bored. He gives extra tasks that are one level up (or slightly above the students' level) to enhance their skills.
2. Curriculum:
a. The curriculum is designed to the cognitive curve of most learners. It starts with the most basic (and most important) things like data structures (strings, arrays, objects...) and algorithm. Two mainstream programming approaches - object-oriented programming and functional programming - are emphasized from the beginning.
b. Along with the fundamentals, we also learned technologies that are "cutting edge" and highly valued on the market (such as React and Redux), which is one of the most important reasons for employers to choose a boot-camp graduate over a college graduate with a CS degree.
c. Students have opportunities doing many projects with those technologies, including individual and group projects. Being able to do a group project (or more) is very valuable experience, since you would have to work with people in a real-world developer position. We don't always follow instructions and steps, instead, we get to create something from scratch. DigitalCrafts offers plenty of help and a very good environment.
3. Administration and career support:
Everybody in administration is nice and helpful. Students get a lot of career support such as how to create a portfolio, a resume, cover letters and opportunities for mock interview. If you learn coding by yourself, it would definitely be harder to seamlessly transfer from a amateur learner to a professional developer. DigitalCrafts has a network of employers that they connect you to. However, looking for a job takes a lot of efforts and networking. You have to work hard on it yourself as well.
I didn't come from a background of science and engineering, but I got an offer before graduation. I'm very happy about it. Plus, I find coding is beautiful and enjoyable. I'm glad that DigitalCrafts helps me to take the initial steps of the career change and a journey of learning a lot of interesting things. -
Julie
Awesome experience
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My experience at DigitalCrafts was absolutely amazing. Before starting the program I’d been working in Government / Politics for about 8 years and had absolutely no exposure to coding. About a year before I actually enrolled in DigitalCrafts I started teaching myself online but I quickly realized I needed a more formal education in order to break into the field. DigitalCrafts was exactly what I was looking for. Here are some of my take always from the program:
- Length of the program – it’s about 4 weeks longer than most other programs. I think this is crucial. I ended up with a very solid portfolio and understanding of the topics covered that was easy to show off to potential employers.
- Solid Foundation - I think DigitalCrafts places a bigger emphasis on fundamentals than other bootcamps. I feel like part of those extra weeks are spent on making sure students understand the fundamentals of programming before moving on to the more advanced and specialized topics like React and Redux. If you don’t really understand how functions and loops work you’re going to be lost when things get harder.
- Support – the support of the founders (Max and Jake) and the instructors is phenomenal. I felt like each one of them was personally invested in me doing well and reaching my goals. It’s that kind of personal attention that I don’t think other bootcamps that are run more like a big corporation are doing.
- Great industry – Bottom line is this is an amazing industry to be in. I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d be so sought after by employers. I actually didn’t apply to a single job but I had several companies and recruiters reaching out to me asking me to interview and ended up getting 2 offers before the class was over. That never would have happened without the instruction and guidance DigitalCrafts gave me.
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Todd
Great Experience with DigitalCrafts
I did a lot of research before selecting a bootcamp and decided on DigitalCrafts. I liked the length of time, 16 weeks, I fetlt was right and the location was good for me as well. I couldn't be happier with the outcome and the instructor. I'm now a full-time developer at a company near my house. Very happy.
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Deepak Shah
Review for Cohort One - Houston
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Note: This review is in reference to the first Houston cohort from November 2016 - March 2017, also with general thoughts regarding the program.
The Digital Crafts program in retrospect was a great decision and overall I couldn't be happier with that choice. Initially, I was certainly a bit nervous about being the first cohort since that could possibly include many growing pains as Digital Crafts tries to get a foothold in the Houston market. But those first few weeks definitely alleviated those concerns. Be it a bootcamp or even traditional school, the most paramount part of the experience is the instructor. I can’t even begin to describe how incredible Damian was in not only teaching us the material but understanding how to conduct a classroom with individuals at all different levels, temperament and managing to keep everyone engaged and challenged simultaneously. We lucked out as a class to have him teach this cohort. On top of that, he cultivated an environment where we all became closer and actually had fun, which I believe is a necessity in this environment. A bootcamp by its very nature is intense, difficult, it can be draining and you have to understand knowing when to push or when to back off. Damian understood this and paced the class perfectly. I was constantly learning but never felt too overwhelmed. Again that isn’t to say the material is not difficult but he just intuitively knew how to present it to us and how to push us to work harder when we needed it and how to relax things as necessary. Damian was just amazing! I can’t thank him enough for everything.
I will say this, much of what you get as with most things in life, is truly based on what you are willing to put in. This couldn’t be any more accurate then for a bootcamp. You have to understand going in that you’re going to sacrifice the next four months of your life to build a new career and that time commitment is non-negotiable if you want to achieve success. Damian or any other instructor can only present the material and get you off on the right path but it is incumbent upon you to be willing to work hard and go the extra mile to truly find success. The hours may say 9am-4/5pm but be prepared to work well beyond that and weekend if need be. If you’re willing to take that sacrifice, Jake, Max and the Digital Crafts team will get you where you want to be. The same applies for the career services aspect of the bootcamp. You will not be handed a job coming out and it’s gonna be full time work to find one. Digital Crafts will try and send out leads but it’s incumbent on you to make it happen. Being new in Houston there isn’t much of a built in employee network. I’m hopeful that will change for future cohorts but right now the onus is on the individual to look. Jake has been incredibly helpful and will go above and beyond to make it happen but you’ve got to be prepared to work hard to land a developer job. Overall, I was really pleased with the experience I had, I became really close with the cohorts in my class and ended up landing a job in a field that I’m excited about. It’s a lot of work but it’s well worth it!
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Kristine O'Neil
Houston's New Bootcamp
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I started looking for a change of career early in 2016. By Spring I knew I wanted to get back into Web Design and Development and by July I had narrowed down that I wanted to attend an in-person boot camp.
Digital Crafts was just coming into Houston and they were offering something other code camps weren’t – Full Stack Development. After the reviews online, speaking with Max and the campus director Jason and checking out other local competitors, I decided that Digital Crafts was the best option for me. It was the best decision I have ever made.
Being the first cohort in Houston I expressed my concerns to them about the instructor – Rob in Atlanta was getting great reviews and I had read other places (some right in Houston) where the instructor just wasn’t right and it ruins the experience. They assured me they are very thorough and selective– they make sure they find someone who fits their culture. And they didn’t disappoint.
Damian, our instructor, made our cohort what it was. He was very methodical with his code but would explain everything in a way that the entire class would understand. If you didn’t understand something, he would make sure to give other examples or even talk one on one until you understood the topic. I can’t speak more highly of Damian and the level of professionalism he brought to our class. He would teach us but also do the exercises himself. We would go over the answers and he would show us his thought process and how he would attack each problem. It was awesome to see him work and to be able to base it into the real world – not just the classroom.
Don’t think this is a class you can sit in on and just “get it”. You need to put forth the effort in order to get the most of your experience. It’s stressful and at times you will feel overwhelmed. But the amount skills you will learn in the 16 weeks will make everything worthwhile.
I will stay though, the Houston cohort is still new, so naturally there are some things they are working out. But between the curriculum, the overall D.C structure and the level of passion the owners, Jake and Max have – it’s an amazing course and I would recommend it to someone that is looking to attend a boot camp.
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Paul
Best Codeschool
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DigitalCrafts was definitely worth my time and my money. To learn full stack development within 4 months is an incredible and challenging experience that I would definitely do again. DigitalCrafts is located in the Atlanta Tech Village, Atlanta's startup hub. There were ample opportunities to meet and network with those who work in the building.
After talking to a friend who attended another bootcamp, it became apparent that there are no others like DigitalCrafts. I joined DigitalCrafts shortly after receiving a psychology degree without any tech experience, and the curriculum at DigitalCrafts allowed me to entertain both front-end jobs and back-end jobs. They taught everything I know about coding and I'm happy to have received an offer as a software engineer one month after graduation.
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Anna Sedlar
A serious investment that'll work as hard as you do
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Having just accepted my first job as a Software Engineer at a start-up in Atlanta exactly one month after the end of my cohort I feel ready to review DigitalCrafts! This bootcamp is fantastic. I chose it over the other ATL options for three main reasons:
1. Length - 16 weeks felt like nothing. I can't even imagine completing a bootcamp in less time. I feel I absolutely needed that extra month compared to other bootcamps to really solidify my knowledge and contextualize all the different technologies. This give you time to review, retain, and continue to deepen all you've learned in a supportive environment. That extra month goes a long way in developing relationships with the instructors, your classmates, and the program staff, which makes DigitalCrafts feel very personal and invested.
2. Personal Touch - Digital Crafts from the start was in constant communication with me and took the time to seriously consider my personal goals - an amazing aspect which I didn't get from any other bootcamp I looked into. Having moved to ATL just before my cohort began, many students, developer-in-residences, and even the staff themselves, spent their time answering all my questions and even allowing me to sit in and observe a class one afternoon after a current group of students had lunch with me, told me all about their experiences, and answered all my questions - unplanned and just because DC attracts wonderful people. During my cohort, many other potential students can to tour the classrooms and we'd often hear Rob, our instructor chatting to them, telling them it definitely IS possible to teach yourself and it totally depends on what style of learning is best for you - very refreshing to hear! It's very obvious that Rob, Jake, and Max don't take your concerns lightly and they absolutely do not try to sell you on this bootcamp - they want you to be successful in your own way.
3. Full-Stack Curriculum - You're learning how websites are made from top to bottom. I feel a front-end or back-end only curriculum doesn't allow contextualization of what you've learned. If you are thinking about investing so much time/money/energy to learn how websites are built, wouldn't you want to FULLY understand it and not just one-half of the equation? I think for me, as a beginner into the tech world, without understanding BOTH client and server side programming, I wouldn't have a satisfactory grasp of how development actually works. We learn how to host websites on Amazon Web Services (AWS), build the back-end with python and node, and use javascript (react and jquery too) on the front-end. From what I experienced in my interviews after the program, if you want to compete with CS-degree holders, this is VERY requisite, important knowledge.
Of course there are many other good things I could say about the bootcamp. To have a community of peers while you immerse yourself in something so new and challenging is so important and I think DC does a great job of attracting wonderful people. There was definitely room for improvements including more structure in the back-end part of the curriculum and a more holistic lesson on web development with Python versus just programming games. Our final project was 3-weeks in duration. Personally I would have preferred 2 and used the extra week to continue learning Python or even just repeating/reviewing important concepts such as callbacks, promises, or higher-order functions. I do feel some of the more advanced students were given more personal attention to their questions than those struggling, which ended up somewhat isolating those who learned to withhold their questions or ended up turning to peers instead, for help.
Do not expect this or any other bootcamp to suddenly make you a rockstar. Expect to struggle and feel frustration constantly - that's what learning feels like. Expect to stay late and come in early. Let DC give you a structured learning environment but know that to be successful you can't rely on it to give you ALL the knowledge. Learning about topics not covered in the curriculum. Buy a udemy course and learn from that simultaneous. Expect that there is a world outside of DC with which to complement your bootcamp education immensly. Go to meet-ups, send out 5 cold-call emails a week to people at companies you find interesting, talk to former students, be humble and show that you want to learn. I was able to negotiate a 8% increase in my starting salary with ZERO job experience because I proved I was committed to the extra-curricular side projects and networks I've involved myself with outside of my bootcamp education in order to keep learning.
DigitalCrafts was a fantastic experience and I'm happy to have achieved all the goals I had set when deciding to attend.
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Drew
Bootcamps work, this one especially well
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I had some coding experience before starting DigitalCrafts. I was in software QA for 5 years and during that time I was able to write a few "one-off" scripts and programs to automate tasks or help developers fine-tune their feature improvements. I was always excited to code, and took every opportunity to learn. But my job didn't require me to code. It required me to manual test day in and day out. After time, I realized that I wasn't able to code enough to preserve or build on my skills. I wanted to code full-time so I began researching and applying to bootcamps.
I applied to a few, but ultimately decided on DigitalCrafts for these reasons: 1) Curriculum, 2) employees, and 3) location.
Curriculum. I learned from the web team at my previous job that the more javascript you know the better. Thus, I had the idea that attending a bootcamp that taught Node would be better than a Rails shop because I would get that much more javascript experience. This extra exposure to javascript has served me well. Also, DigitalCrafts teaches React with Redux! It is such a pleasure to build UIs with React/Redux! It's no wonder why more and more companies are embracing this platform.
Employees. I thoroughly enjoyed the administrators and instructors during my time here. Rob, my instructor, had 13 years of experience as a web developer. He has a strong grasp of what it takes to be a developer in today's market, but what sets him apart is his ability to teach. He can hold an audience so well. He's very good. The administrators are very friendly and caring as well. Jake, Max and Natalie constantly work to ensure students have all the tools to be prepared for the market after graduation.
Location. Buckhead. A booming tech spot in a booming tech city. The building itself makes for great learning environment. You don't have to worry about snacks and coffee for instance, they are provided. Just keep yourself feed and concentrate on learning. This actually went a long way with me in my decision to attend DigitalCrafts. I didn't have to spend a lot of time planning for food, just my lunch and dinner. The building also houses a lot of startups, some of which even employ alumni.
I had a great time spending 4 intense months with these people and would do it again if I could! DigitalCrafts took me from someone who wanted to could but didn't really know what to code, to someone who can confidently build complex and beautiful full-stack web applications. -
Elizabeth Gulsby
16-week full-stack development bootcamp
The curriculum was fast-paced, but fun. DigitalCrafts goes above and beyond to try to make the learning process (as well as the job search) as enjoyable and productive as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience there and would recommend it to friends, family and colleagues alike. -
Nedra
I'm Like, an Adult Now!
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Last summer, I was in a small beach town in Spain where I was trying to find myself after a devastating breakup. In the midst of all the Eat, Pray, Love -- I found DigitalCrafts.
I applied to a few coding bootcamps, but this one stuck out to me. I could tell Jake (co-founder) really genuinely cares about his little baby coders succeeding. That meant a lot. So I went for it. And what a wild ride it was.
This cohort was like season one of The Real World. There were laughs, there were tears, there were beers, and there were a lot of moments of frustration. There were definitely times where I felt like I couldn't do it and/or I didn't want to do it, but fortunately I had Damian to lean on and my amazing classmates who were also going through the struggle to look to for strength. Which brings me to my next point -- Damian is the Lebron James of teaching people how to code while simultaneously being a great friend and mentor. I absolutely would not be where I am as both a programmer and person without him. And for me, that's where the value in this program was. If I continued trying to do it on my own with online tutorials and such, I never would've gotten the mentorship of someone as brilliant as Damian. I was really fortunate to have been able to have him as my instructor.
Being part of the very first, guinea pig, test-dummy cohort in Houston definitely had a few kinks and quirks and oddities, but being the first to do anything comes with those things. I mistakenly thought that the job assistance would be an active part of the program throughout, but it's something that mostly begins towards the end of the program, and it's mostly resume and portfolio assistance. It wasn't a dealbreaker for me though. Basically, if you apply for jobs and put yourself out there and they'll do the best they can to hype you up and make you look good.As for my career now, one week post-grad: I've been approached about and hired for several freelance remote design and front-end gigs. I decided that while it's great knowing how to work the back-end, it's not something I'm interested in pursuing as a career right now. That's another cool thing about DigitalCrafts -- they're totally supportive of whatever direction you decide you want to go.
(Sidebar: Digital Crafts teaches full-stack web development, and doesn't do design, UI/UX stuff. They spent probably 2 or 3 days on CSS and Sass, but it was enough to light a fire in my heart that sent me running towards it.) Obviously, your mileage will vary, but if you find something that speaks to you while you're in the course (for me that was front-end stuff) run with it and work on it in your spare time, you'll probably be able to find someone who wants to pay you to do it.
Anyway, I think Jake and Max are on to something here, and I'm excited to see what Digital Crafts HTX becomes in the future. If you're considering doing this, I'd say go for it. I know pretty much everyone else has said the same thing, but man, it's true -- this changed my life. -
Andy
This changed my life (and it can change yours too!)
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Wow... The team at DigitalCrafts does the impossible every day. Rob, the lead instructor, at our graduation admitted,
"The whole bootcamp model is stupid! We take people who don't know how to code at all and in 16 weeks, transform them into Full-Stack developers who can dominate the job market. That shouldn't be possible!".
And yet, I feel like everyday was a whole new experience with new challenges and multiple successes! We learned so much, that I can pretty much say that most if not all of us will have a fantastic leg up in the software development market.
This really was the ultimate transformation I needed in my life. Coming from somewhat of a technical background, I knew a little about websites, and html/css, but I was nowhere near confident. Starting with the pre-work and all the way through the course, I learned so much that my brain hurt! The pace, while hectic, was manageable with lots of self study and leaning on my fellow classmates, the Developer in Residence, and Rob, my instructor.
By the end, I was looking forward to pushing my skills to the limit and attempt some amazing projects. I will continue to learn and grow throughout my career. I definitely am hooked!
Throughout the course, there have been multiple times where we have been able to participate in hackathons, networking events, meet recruiters and get personal introductions to top tech companies. Jake and Max, along with our fantastic campus director, Natalie, have been instrumental in preparing us for the market every step of the way!
If you haven't figured out yet, I heartily endorse the whole DigitalCrafts team for the work they put in every day!
If you are willing to put in the time, money, and effort, this is the most fantastic way to find a lifelong passion and a career that you will enjoy for many years to come.
Final thoughts: in the immortal words of Shia LaBeouf, "JUST DO IT!!" Make your development dreams come true at DC!
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Matthew Brimmer
Life changing
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I attended DigitalCrafts looking to fast track a career change and the program delivered amazing results for me. I had a technical background and some experience with computers, but no coding experience when I started DigitalCrafts. The program quickly helped me lay a strong foundation of core programming skills and introduced me to some of the hottest technologies in the industry. I am currently employed as a Node.js developer and believe that I am on par with many developers in the industry with several years of experience.
Personal attention is one of the strongest attributes at DigitalCrafts. The founders are approachable and speak with you one on one to ensure you have a great experience. If you have a problem you can call them up or walk into their office and the issue will be handled on the spot. It is very rare to have access to the leadership of a company and have them working directly with there customers. DigitalCrafts also fosters an open and friendly environment with events, meetups, and continued interaction with its alumni. The instructors will work hands on with you and give you one on one attention to ensure your success. Also if the class size grows, they will bring in additional teaching assistants to ensure every student gets enough personal instruction to succeed.
The instructors are terrific! Toby was my instructor for the 16-week bootcamp, and I was extremely impressed by his commitment and dedication to me and the other students. He truly wanted us to succeed and achieve our goals! I also was Rob's teaching assistant for a short time and had a great experience working with him and his class. Rob is also deeply invested in the success of his students. All the Atlanta instructors are extremely knowledgeable and boast impressive resumes, educational achievement, and work experience in the industry.
The curriculum is bleeding edge! DigitalCrafts boast an extremely impressive curriculum that is constantly changing to keep up with the industry. During my bootcamp the company changed the curriculum midway through the course and taught Python instead of PHP as part of it's second technology stack. I was extremely impressed with there willingness to make this change. They have continued to change the curriculum by adding React to an already impressive technology list that includes Node.js, JavaScript, Python, MongoDB and many many more.
Career assistance is still in its infancy. The career services program is still lacking an established network of employers that know and trust DigitalCrafts graduates. Part of this is due to the youth of the company and low number of cohorts that they have graduated thus far. I due believe that this will improve as more and more students enter the industry and companies see them perform at a high level. The staff works extremely hard introducing job opportunities to each student and coaching you with resume tips and interview practice. This should not deter you from exploring DigitalCrafts as a choice for a bootcamp.
Overall, I was extremely happy with my experience at DigitalCrafts and would attend them over any other code school I have researched. They are committed to improving and you may have an even better experience than I had as this company continues is climb toward the top of the coding bootcamp mountain.
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Trista McCleary
Best Coding Bootcamp!!
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My experience with DigitalCrafts was fantastic and the best experience I have ever had in an educational environment. I started researching coding bootcamps because I wanted a career change. I was unhappy with my current job and wanted to get back into tech (I have a Computer Information Systems degree from several years prior), but I wanted to get into web development. I emailed and met with several of the schools around Atlanta, but from the very first correspondence, I knew DigitalCrafts was different from the others. I scheduled an in-person interview, spoke with Jake and Max, and they exceeded my expectations. I met Natalie later on and she was just as amazing. I chose DigitalCrafts because of the curriculum they offered, length of the program, location of the school, electives that were offered, and the staff. DigitalCrafts felt more personalized to me and it was evident that the instructors and the staff were very involved with each student and the success of their students.
I attended the September 2016 cohort and from day one, we hit the ground running. Other than the code challenge and pre-work, I had never seen a single line of code before attending DigitalCrafts. Every day we learned something new. The days and nights were long and exhausting, but very well worth it. I lived further away than most of my classmates and my drive was anywhere from one hour twenty minutes to two hours one way, so I stayed late to work on assignments, as well as did other students. We sometimes took advantage of this time and had a small study group session or just helped each other with projects. It was a lot of hard work and very overwhelming at times, but it was worth every single minute. Also, be sure to do the pre-work and if time allows, do more! You can not be too prepared for this immersive course! You will need to have at least a basic understanding of programming concepts and fundamentals. You must be willing to devote a majority (if not all) of your time during this 16-week program to learn everything you can.
Unlike the other coding bootcamps, DigitalCrafts stays on top of the market and adjusts their curriculum as needed to ensure that their students are learning what the industry is demanding. You will receive help and guidance with your portfolio site, resume, LinkedIn Profile, mock interview experience, as well as hear from speakers in the industry talk about their experience and tips to landing your first developer job. The staff and the instructors were always very accessible and attentive to each student. You had several ways that you could contact anyone you needed to get in touch with and the response was always very timely. Also, DigitalCrafts is located inside the Atlanta Tech Village. The people and the atmosphere at ATV are incredibly motivating! You will meet and get to network with an amazing group of people. The energy at ATV is unlike anywhere else! It is intoxicating to be around so may enthusiastic, driven, passionate and genuinely nice people that are involved in tech in one way or another.
If you are looking to attend a coding bootcamp, I would highly encourage you to apply to DigitalCrafts. You will not find a school that is more highly invested in your success. When you are making this type of investment into your future, you will want the best and DigitalCrafts is it!
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Jason
A year in the life: From zero to Software Engineer
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Around a year ago, I too was pouring over CourseReport, Quora, and whatever else I could find in my initial search of coding schools that I might consider for making a career pivot into the world of software development. The options were overwhelming to some degree, and I defintiely found reviews of those who'd gone before to be extremely helpful, and I'm somewhat regretful for having taken so long to post up my own experience.
A year ago, my experience with coding equated to:
1. Taking Treehouse tutorials for a few weeks at a time, then doing nothing with coding for months. Then I'd come back, take a few more weeks, and then take a break again. Basically I was excited about all of the information that was out there, but was failing to make the commitment needed to actually build up any base level experience with much of anything. I knew a little HTML,CSS, and very very basic Javascript at this point.
2. I'd taken a CS-101 course through a bootcamp out in Seattle around 4 years ago (I've been dabbling in this for some time), which was actually a really solid month long course that was basically geared as prep/feeder into their bootcamp program. Unfortunately I had a 2 month old son at the time, as well as a full time job, and I basically only absorbed what I was able to understand from the lectures. In failing to do the labs and the projects, I again, failed to really build any lasting knowledge or understanding.
In 2016, I committed myself to making the transition into a developer a reality. At that point, I think I felt certain that I could accomplish it all in a matter of months. Just sign up for a bootcamp, and BAM, I'd be all set and ready to go. I can't speak to how often that actually happens for others, but I can share with you how my year went.
After doing what you're doing right now (investigating options), it became overwhelmingly clear that the top bootcamp/coding school option out there was Hack Reactor. From what I'd read and seen, it looked really like nothing else even came close.
I signed up for the Fulcrum prep program (I'm not sure if they're still offering this by the same name) with the intention to take 6 weeks to devote myself full time to this prep work, applying to bootcamps once I'd convinced myself that I was willing to commit to the change, and that I was capable of making it.
A few weeks into Fulcrum, I'd still failed to pass my first check in (which is basic JS--Codecademy level stuff), and was seriously feeling as though I was going to wash out of all of this after all. Luckily for me, a mentor there took special interest in me, gave me additional work, and encouraged me to keep pressing. After another week to 10 days of hard work, I passed that initial check in. Then I passed the next one (which was working through higher order functions), then I passed the recursion check in. The momentum was building, and I'd managed to tackle the first of what I think most people will run into throughout this process: the "Can I actually do this"' moment.
All of this to say, I think it's important to experience that moment before you even think about applying to a coding school. I think you run the risk of wasting a lot of time and money if you haven't faced being utterly lost, having to demonstrate to another human being (not just passing some entry level coding challenge) some basic grasp of the fundamentals of programing, and in that process coming to a point where you grapple with that fear or rejection, and figure out how you're going to move past it.
If a coding school that you're applying to doesn't seem to appreciate that, or have teachers/mentors that approach pushing you in that direction, then again, I think you're doing yourself a disservice by signing up for that.
I will be forever grateful to Hack Reactor and that mentor as I truly don't believe I'd be where I am today without it.
Now, since this is a review of DigitalCrafts, let me get back to the story. After a couple of months with the Fulcrum online prep course through Hack Reactor, I'd pretty much 100% decided that I personally wanted an in person bootcamp expereince. Some people can likely pull off the online only thing, but that just wasn't working for me. I wanted to be around other people who were pursuing this dream, in an environment set up to make sure I had the best chance for success.
Prior to this point, I had honestly not been very interested in Atlanta area schools. Beyond the poor reviews for GA and Iron Yard, I didn't really like their program structure, or have much interest in learning Ruby. This is not to say that people aren't doing well with these schools--I just had no interest in them. Hack reactor at that point was MEAN stack in its curriculum, and I wanted to find something that mirrored that. **This is before I came to realize that these JS stacks are flavors of the day.
DigitalCrafts was brand new at this point, which gave me pause initially, but their curiculum was what I wanted, it was 4 months, instead of 3, and it was located in the Atlanta Tech Village, so I decided to reach out to them. After coming down for the interview, I was completely sold. Class sizes were capped at 16 people. The professors stayed at school all day (ie not just TA's around for afternoon labs, but the actual professor). I could tell that Jake and Max were completely focused on creating that premiere bootcamp experience seen in other cities that Atlanta seemed to be lacking.
I paid my deposit, got on the waitlist, continued doing prep on my own, and started in the September 2016 cohort.
Days are long in these programs, and working on your own after school is something that I (and most of my classmates) did routinely. Our coursework started with Python, learning foundations of programming, along with HTML and CSS, before moving into SQL databases/queries/schema's. After that we learned our first framework, and built a webapp for our first group project.
I'll say this as a plug for in person coding schools as well: the group project component is extremely valuable: not only is it where you're sythesizing much of the topics that you're covering, but nothing mimicks the reality of an actual software dev workday like those weeks spent in the group projects. Again, I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you miss out on that experience.
From there, we moved into all things JavaScript: JQuery, Ajax, Angular, Node, Express, Mongo. It should be noted that DC is now teaching ES6 and React, but again, JS frameworks are going to come and go. Understanding that there will always be flavors of the day, along with a strong grasp of the fundamentals is going to set you up well to be able to transition on the day that Angular and React are no longer around.
The cohort itself was fantastic. Most of us became very close, and still get together whenever we can. I honestly miss my school experience immensely, as there's really nothing quite like it. You're learning something new every single day, adding it to an ever growing skill set, watching yourself beome what you've been dreaming about being for years. Once you reach the end, and you realize that you've become that person, it's extremely satisfying and terrifying all at once.
Toby, my professor, is still someone I consider a close friend and mentor. He routinely checks in with me to see how things are going at my job. I couldn't have asked for a better instructor. I have no doubt he goes to sleep every night and wakes up every morning thinking about the well being of his students. His expertise in the field isn't too shabby either.
As with any experience of this sort, you're only going to get out of it what you're able to put into it. I can't stress enough the fact that if you're embarking on this journey, and you're serious about it, you need to get comfortable with the fact that your journey is going to be a series of "What am I doing? I'm not sure I'm cut out for this. There's no way I'm going to be able to figure all of this out" experiences. Day 1 of my new job was nothing but that feeling. All of this to say, again, if you haven't experienced this yet--figure out a way to do so before applying to or spending money on a bootcamp.
I and one other classmate found jobs by the end of our program. A few others founds jobs within the weeks that followed. Others (even those I would consider extremely sharp students) are still job searching 2.5 months out of the program. A coding school will not guarantee a job for you. I do believe a coding school can serve as a means of cultivating the experience needed in order to land yourself a job, along with providing a network to help make that process much more efficient. There was plenty of job prep that was a part of the DC experience that I know was pivotal in my landing my job.
In the end, I have nothing but great things to say about DigitalCrafts, and wouldn't trade my experience there for anything. I would seriously re-live those 4 months again tomorrow if it were possible. I've got a great job as a Software Engineer as a result, and they were a massive part of the reason that's a reality. I still have to pinch myself most mornings.
Best of luck to those of you looking to make this transition. Invest in yourself---commit to the process and challenge yourself prior to applying to schools. This is supposed to be hard--that's a good thing. Get used to that feeling as fast as you can. Go to local meet-ups, or school sponsored events where you can talk to actual students: that will be your best way to gauge whether it's a good fit for you.
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Andrew Kroll
16 Week Immersive Program
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As a DigitalCrafts 16 week graduate, I’ve been very happy with my experience there, and I recommend their course(s) to everyone! The instruction was great and tracks the industry very well and, when I talk with graduates from other schools, I believe I had a far superior experience in terms of both instruction and support. (Biased but honest assessment.) I just feel the course was very coherent and well laid out, and, coupled with the great staff support, I’ve just been very satisfied with the experience.
Job-wise, when I graduated from DigitalCrafts I wasn’t really into doing front-end work, so that made the job search a bit challenging. Lots of great front-end jobs out there with great companies, but I enjoy working with different technologies, like cloud services and IoT, and I knew I wouldn’t be happy doing pure front-end stuff. So I took my time, worked a kinda crappy job for awhile and continued to develop my skill-sets. I really enjoy working with the full stack and the great instruction I received there provided the foundation and glue for incorporating these techs into usable products.
The whole time after graduation, though, I was continuously sent job info from the staff, and they were amazingly supportive and encouraging. It took awhile to find my niche, but one day Jake introduced me to a great company looking for people with a diversity of tech skills like I’d been working on. I now work at that company with really sharp people developing cutting-edge IoT technology and I couldn’t be happier. If you'd asked me before attending DigitalCrafts about my dream job, I'd have described something just like this.
Couldn’t have happened without DigitalCrafts and their support. Intense doesn’t even begin to describe how tough that course was for me, but I couldn’t be happier with the results. Great school, great education, terrific support.
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A Carter
Amazing Program but Not for Everyone
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This course is IMMERSIVE! It will take up majority of your life for 4 months. As with a lot of coding boot camps you will not have time for a job or much else. You can go grocery shopping on the weekends... after you've been practicing your code. To clarify, I left the program right before we really went into the back end portion of the course. I believe it was about 7 weeks in. Also to reiterate, this program is an amazing one. The instructor (Rob) I had was great and the material you learn is very valuable. I started to fall behind because of my lack of JavaScript pre-work and once you fall behind it's very hard to get back up. Make sure when you choose and get accepted into this program you do the pre work plus extra! The information was thourough and I came out way more informed than I came in. The location in Atlanta is amazing. ATV is the place to be. This program is more intensive and time consuming than 5 college courses a semester. Although set up for a "beginner" you really should have a firm grasp of base concepts and coding fundamentals. JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript. I'll be going back to school and finishing up my CS degree in a couple years instead. I would recommend this program to anyone who is interested in the bootcamp style of learning.
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Elijah E Allstrom-Luttrell
A Life Changing Experience Without A Doubt
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I graduated from DigitalCrafts about two weeks ago, and have already had multiple interviews, one job offer (which I accepted), and for the first time in my professional life feel like I have options and control of my career.
I have been interested in coding and software development for a long time but never pursued it in earnest. I spent about two years trying to teach myself with various online resources, but whenever I exhausted all available answers and still couldn't solve a certain problem, I had no one to turn to for assistance. I checked out various coding bootcamps, and ultimately decided on DigitalCrafts because of their robust curriculum, the fact that their class sizes were capped at 15-16 students, and because of their excellent location and supporting staff.
Despite my long time interest in software development, I came into this program with barely any coding knowledge. I could write "Hello World!" in Python and knew that something called the command line existed and that it looked cool. I can't say I knew much more than that. Now, however, I can produce fully functioning full-stack websites and feel that I have the knowledge foundation to learn whatever I set my mind to. And I think that is the most important takeaway I had from this experience, the ability to learn and troubleshoot for myself.
I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone who wants to break into software development, but know that it will not be a walk in the park. The instructors will work with you at your own pace (as much as is realistically possible), but it is still like drinking from a firehose of coding knowledge; the class moves at a frenetic pace, and it can feel overwhelming at times. Additionally, as someone who hated college because it felt like a lot of jumping through hoops without actually learning anything substantive, I can say with all certainty that this was the most positive experience with education I have ever had because I feel like I came out of the program with real-world, career applicable skills that were so often lacking in my experience with traditional college settings.
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S. Chambers
Career Changer - Teacher to Techie
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I am officially an alumni of DigitalCrafts and I am beyond pleased with my experience.
I graduated from DigitalCrafts almost two months ago and I can honestly say that enrolling this immersive coding school was one of the best decisions I've made in my adult life.
After teaching for eight years, I decided that I didn't want to teach for the rest of my life and I was looking for something more lucrative with endless learning opportunities and would give me the opportunity to work wherever I want. Being driven by my passion to create something and see it become available for other people to use, I applied to, and enrolled in, DigitalCrafts, an immersive Full-Stack web development course that lasts for 4 months.
When choosing the coding school that would be suitable to my needs, DigitalCrafts stood out because of the programming languages that would be taught, the length of time that the program would last, the location of the school, and the ability to take electives. Over the course of 4 months I learned the full MEAN stack, as well as Python and MySQL, from and amazing and experienced instructor while also gaining experience in UX/UI design through the elective course that was offered. Throughout the program I was immersed in an environment of entrepreneurs of the tech startup industry at the Atlanta Tech Village and had the opportunity to meet and interact with many individuals that encouraged my learning as well as my passion to be apart of the tech world.
On the first day when I met in the lobby with the other students, I did notice that there were more men than women (5 women and 10 men), which was expected, but I was extremely happy with my class. No one was treated differently because of their gender or race and we all got along very well. I didn't even really think about the male to female ratio because it didn't affect the dynamics of the classroom to the point of discomfort. We were all learning, sharing the experience of becoming a web developer, and we were all enjoying our time together. The staff is amazing!!! They are very supportive and eager to help you reach your goal. Currently there are two women on staff who make the experience more inviting for other women.
I was concerned about being a woman in the Tech industry and how that would affect me during coding school and I honestly do believe that DigitalCrafts is THE best coding school/bootcamp in Atlanta. I can confidently say that as a result of talking to other women who have been students with other bootcamps in the area versue my own personal experience. I also appreciate the extra effort that DC makes in supporting women in the tech industry and being active in reaching out to more women to participate in their coding school in an effort to close the gender gap.
ATV, itself, has a wide variety of individual who come in and out on a daily basis. From what I've noticed, there is a significant female presence in the building and even if it seems that more men are visible, there's never been a moment where I felt uncomfortable or unwelcome as a female, nor as a minority. Everyone there is friendly, like-minded and supportive. Overall it's a great opportunity to meet all sorts of people who share common interests, as well as people who can give you insight into things you've never heard of. I've had nothing but positive experiences with DigitalCrafts and with ATV. ATV became my second home and DigitalCrafts has become my new family and I looked forward to each day of learning.
Another deciding factor were the reviews that I read for the other programs I was considering versus the reviews that I read for digital crafts. The overall experiences that students were having at other schools swayed me more to choosing DigitalCrafts. For anyone who is thinking of going to an immersive coding school, I encourage you to read the reviews with an open mind and also reach out to the alumni of the coding schools you're interested in with any questions that you may have.
You will often hear and read about the intensity of a coding school and about how fast it will be, but it does not compare to actually being in class. You will absolutely hit the ground running sprints. Be as prepare as possible. Do all the pre-work and then some. I definitely wish that I had spent more time practicing javascript, but I make it a point to go back through my code, the resources provided from the instructor and the videos from class to solidify my learning. Going through coding school has been the most difficult learning experience I've ever completed I came out victorious. I finished my course Nov. 2nd, was worried about the transition time between finishing the program and being hired, interviewed recently (almost didn't show up because I'm so hard on myself), and received an offer that day. I received a NodeJS/Backend developer position with a company that handles merchant sales. I'm so excited about where I'm heading in life.
A quote to keep in mind as you go through this journey and make a decision:
“99% of learning to code is learning not to judge yourself harshly, and understanding nobody knows everything and that's OK. You got this!” ~Eric Elliott
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Dan B
Excellent Program with Excellent Teachers
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It’s been a little over a month since I graduated from DigitalCrafts and I just landed my first developer position. I can definitely thank DigitalCrafts for that.
I decided to attend DigitalCrafts after visiting and interviewing with all the other major coding bootcamps in the Atlanta area. I really liked the length of their program and the focus on Javascript and the MEAN stack. I also liked that they were located in Atlanta Tech Village and I was able to mingle and network with the other startups in the building. Rob and Toby are both fantastic teachers who are extremely knowledgable and happy to work with you until you understand the concepts. Max, Jake, and Natalie make you feel part of the family and do a great job coaching you and helping you with job placement. By the end of the program I felt a real kinship with my classmates. Everyone was happy to help one another whenever someone got stuck.
It was definitely challenging and a there was a ton of information to process but in the end it was certainly worth it. I was in the process of selling my business and making a career change and after doing a bunch of research, coding bootcamp is what I settled on. Going the route of a CS degree or teaching myself seemed like it would take too long. I am very happy with my decision and would recommend DigitalCrafts to anyone considering going to a coding bootcamp.
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David P.
Great Program
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I just recently finished up my time at DigitalCrafts and felt that I should share my experience. I came into the course with essentially zero knowledge of programming. I decided on DigitalCrafts, among other reasons, because the reviews spoke highly of it, the instructor, Rob, made a good impression on me when i visited the campus, and the curriculum was more comprehensive than other programs around the area. Plus, at four months, you are getting more for your money than the standard 3 month programs that are out there and trust me, you will want that extra month.
The pace can be intense at times, you will have to let go of the need to complete everything 100% and know everything about a subject before moving on. The course is not designed that way, nor is it ultimately necessary. The repitition and constant immersion in the subject is the real value in the course, another reason why the extra month is important. Also, utilize your fellow developers as much as you can while in the course, that is a resource that is not available to most coming into the industry, just being in a room with 15 other people everyday who are just as eager to learn the same things you are trying to learn. Do these things, remember to enjoy yourself, and you will do fine in the course.
The course was great for me. Really enjoyed the instructor and my classmates. Felt like I came a very long way in a short amount of time and I would recommend this program to anyone else looking for a crash course into web development.
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Kochan
Excellent Program, Teachers, and Team
DigitalCrafts was a career transforming experience. Be ready because there were some long days and sometimes nights!
But, learning code at D.C. opened up doors and avenues in my life that I could have never known or even imagined.
Keep up the great work!
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Paige Niedringhaus
The Hardest and Most Rewarding Bootcamp
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I had a fantastic experience with DigitalCrafts. It's the most intense 16-week course I've ever taken, but I'm so glad I did. I'd been contemplating going to code school for about six months before I finally took the plunge and joined DC, and in my previous life I was a digital marketer and strategist, so believe me, this was a big departure from what I'd done before. I did my research, talked to the other coding schools in Atlanta, and ultimately, decided I liked the fact that DC was small and scrappy, and that the founders Max and Jake and their chief instructor Rob cared so much about their students' success. Honestly, everyone at DigitalCrafts cares so much about current and former students' success, it's amazing to me.
So here's what happened for 16 weeks. We learned HTML, CSS, Sass, JavaScript, jQuery, AngularJS, JSON, Ajax, Node.js, Express, Socket.io, MongoDB, Python, Flask and MySQL. Yes, all of that. Our class started out with 15 (they cap the class size to make sure everyone gets enough quality time with the instructor who sticks with them for the whole course), and it ended up shrinking to 12 by the time we graduated.
Which is a brilliant segue to the biggest drawback of this course (if you can even call it that). It is a big, big commitment - in every way. Your time will not be your own, your brain will constantly be buzzing with code (you'll even start dreaming in code, believe me), and your nights and weekends will be spent working on projects you built during the week or otherwise trying to improve your burgeoning skills. From the first week my brain was overflowing with knowledge and my head hurt by the end of each week, there was more than one day when I came home and wasn't sure I could hack it, wasn't sure if this was for me, but I kept on going. The best advice I can give is to keep going, keep trying and don't try and understand everything - you won't and there's not nearly enough time in the course for this kind of in depth understanding. Just keep going and understand that later things that didn't make sense before will start to make sense.
And that's what's also so great about DC - the instructors and staff are super smart, and encouraging and everything a company like this should be. The Developers in Residence (the TAs) are former students so they know exactly what you're going through when you're struggling. The former students (most of whom are gainfully employed in the technology field, I might add), are super nice and more than willing to give advice, share what they know and try to help current students. And the current students are all motivated, energetic and eager people - DC carefully screens to make sure the people who want to join them are serious about this. Plus, they're all going through the exact same mind blowing experience, so there's a strong sense of camaraderie that's forged when going through such trials by fire together.
DigitalCrafts is also doing a great job of making a name for itself within the Atlanta tech community. One of founders Jake, is making connections to companies and staffing agencies left, right and center, so when it comes time to start applying for jobs, students are armed with example resumes, LinkedIn profiles, portfolio sites and mock interview experience to help set them apart from the competition. And not only do they host a demo day at the end of the class for students to show off their final projects, but they bring in speakers from recruiting agencies and developers from the Atlanta area to talk about their own experience getting a developer job and what to be aware of going along. It's all extremely valuable, useful opportunities.
So if you're considering a web development boot camp in Atlanta, and you're ready to have your grit tested in a big way, I 100% recommend DigitalCrafts. It's worth every penny, every hour and every ounce of blood, sweat and tears you'll put in. I know it's a business, but these people are changing people's lives for the better, and if I had it to do all over again, I would absolutely choose DigitalCrafts without hesitation.
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Kyle Luck
Great Program!
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My employer sponsored me to go to go to DigitalCrafts as part of a new internal program they launched. I couldn't be happier with the experience. The instruction, material, and DigitalCrafts staff were all top notch. I came in having a little programming knowledge with PHP and MySQL. We learned Nodejs, AngularJS, PostgreSQL, Python, and JavaScript. The projects that we worked on throughout the class were both fun and provided great learning opportunities. Having a CS background, I was very impressed to see DigitalCrafts also covered common CS data structures, algorithms, and BigO notation. Even though I wasn't looking for a job, I was impressed with how DigitalCrafts continually gave students insights, tips, and training on how to land their next job. I really can't say enough good things about this program. If you're looking for a web immersive coding bootcamp, look no further!
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Griffin Hammer
Incredible Experience
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It has been six months since I completed the 16-week immersive course at DigitalCrafts and can say that it has been the best career decision I have ever made. The course was an amazing way to learn the skills that are required to get a job to get a job as a full time web developer. Additionally the work that I put into my projects during the course I was able to create a portfolio that helped me to get a job in Palo Alto, CA as a Software Engineer.
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JT Townsend
Excellent Course!
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I'm currently 8 weeks into the DigitalCrafts 16 week Immersive Program, and I'm convinced it is one of the best decisions I have made. I did a little bit of self-teaching through CodeAcademy, W3Schools, and Eloquent Javascript, and even though I felt like I understood it; I didnt feel like it was enough. When I enrolled, all of resources were actually in the prework; reaffirming that this course was going to be intense and solid. The instructor is extremely knowledgable and his insights into the languages he teaches are valuable. I can ask whys and hows and he is able to help me understand it better. An added plus, he has a great personality and makes class enjoyable; which is very appreciated with the intensity being what it is. We are getting into the backend portion currently, and all the work we did with exploring and learning front-end has made me feel prepared for learning newer languages; which is an incredible feeling. I am given the tools to not only be an excellent web developer, but the confidence to move in any direction I want with this. Great investment, and highly recommended to anyone looking to get into this career.
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Carolyn
A great experience
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I just finished DigitalCrafts 16 week immersive bootcamp, and it was a great experience! Prior to DigitalCrafts, I had very little coding experience. I had taken a part-time course at another Atlanta code school and done a little bit of self study, so when I was looking for a career switch I decided to come to DigitalCrafts. I chose DigitalCrafts over other code schools in Atlanta (even outside of Atlanta as well) because it was a longer program than the others, focused on skills I was more interested in learning, and the administrators seem to really care about the success of their students. I can say that I was not disappointed!
In the 16 weeks here, I learned so much more than I ever could have imagined. Sometimes it was extremely overwhelming, but by the end of the week you would be building a project using the new languages and realize how much you actually know. Also, it taught you how to be able to pick up new things extremely quickly. I thought the instructor was great and really made sure that we were all up to speed and that no one was left feeling confused or left behind. Also, he introduced a decent amount of computer science basics, which I think is something that sets DigitalCrafts graduates apart from other code school students.
Also, the administration was extremely helpful in the job search. They really helped give us all the tools to have our portfolios up quickly, made sure that we always knew about the most recent job postings, and helped us network. They seem to genuinely care about the success of their students, and not just because it makes their numbers look better! They are passionate people and it really shows in what they've done with the school!
All in all, I had a great experience at DigitalCrafts and feel ready to start my career as a software developer very shortly!
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DeeAnn
Great Experience
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DigitalCrafts, for me, has been a tremendous experience! Although the long days and nights were rough, I would do it again! I had very little programming experience when I first came to DigitalCrafts. I now feel like I will be able to go find a career in Web Development. The most important skill I have now is how to learn, quickly and efficiently. The staff at DigitalCrafts are awesome. They care about the student's success as much as the student. They are encouraging and a big support during the program. My instructor was great!. He was focused on what the students learned more than if they just completed a project. I would highly recommend DigitalCrafts!
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Josh C.
Junior Full-Stack Developer
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Going to DigitalCrafts was one of my best choices I have made for my career. Going to DigitalCrafts honestly is a complete life changer for me. I have never been more motivated to continue learning and improving my skills in Web Development. DigitalCrafts’ staff works really hard to find the right approach to teach the course and are always improving the course from feedback from the students. I never have seen the passion from individuals that really want you to succeed and always help push you to create even better projects throughout the class.
In the past year, I was transitioning out of Retail and pursing a career in the IT field. After a few months of IT training and certificates, I attended a few IT job fairs in the Atlanta metro area. At one of the job fairs I attended was the DigitalCrafts booth. That was the start of my journey of becoming a fullstack web developer. Before attending DigitalCrafts, I did tons of research to compare other coding bootcamps. 16 Weeks to learn two web stacks and cost the same as programs that are half the time? That’s a no brainer! But, I had to make sure that the program was right for me. Talking to Jake and Max from DigitalCrafts during the in-person interview answered a lot of my questions. I could honestly feel the passion which led me to believe the students from their school will not just learn to code, but students will become great developers and be successful in developer world. When I finally met my instructor Rob, I knew 150% I found an outstanding Bootcamp to mold me into a great developer. Rob is an amazing individual, he is lovable, kind, outgoing and just super passionate to share all his years of experience as a developer into each student. He was the heart of taking the course and always helped me stay on course when I stumbled in the course and would get frustrated. He taught me so many things, and I can’t thank him enough.
Overview of the course:
Going to a immersive bootcamp Monday – Friday for 40 hours a week is not a simple task. If you plan to attend DigitalCrafts for the 16-week program, then this should be your only commitment during the four months. I worked my ass off everyday, I came in early and I stayed late after class. I even came in on the weekends to stay focused and continue to improve my craft. If you just work really hard for those 4 months I can honestly tell you it pay off! I enjoyed that the course was 16 weeks, because I had more time to make an outstanding final project and make my portfolio site stand out. DigitalCrafts doesn’t just educate you on coding, they also help you prepare for technical interviews, interviews in general, how to display yourself and standout from others.
Final note:Deciding to go to DigitalCrafts was the best choice I could have ever made. I’m not working retail anymore, I’m a junior full stack developer at a company in the same building as DigitalCrafts. I’m making 3 times more than I ever have and what did I have to do? I just invested all my effort in 16 weeks to be where I’m at now. Just remember keep coding after you finish! Keep challenging yourself and don’t stop your thirst for learning new things in the development world. After you learn key principles you learn and pickup new things very easily. I can’t express anymore the fact that I get to code and build things and get paid to do so now! (It’s like playing and I get reward with $$$).
Article about me attending DigitalCrafts:
http://www.hypepotamus.com/people/joshua-ciaralli/ -
Will Bryant
Web-Dev Immsersive Review
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The decision to commit to a Web Development Immersive Course is not easy and not to be taken lightly. I was first introduced after hearing an acquaintance detail plans of quitting his job to attend a code school in San Francisco. Listening to him speak I couldn't help but think I should be doing the exact same thing.
Some weeks later I had applied to Iron Yard, General Assembly, and DigitalCrafts, eventually deciding on DC. Due to the for profit nature of the industry, I do not believe all schools to be created equal. DigitalCrafts felt more individualized, at the time had only a single class, smaller class size (10-12) and cheaper overall price ($12,500) compared to competitors (discount incentives up to $1-2k based on early enrollment and gender), and felt Max, Jake, and Rob were genuine guys.
The course was fast paced, rigorous, and demanding. Don't let this deter you. I wholeheartedly believe anyone can perform, and perform well, throughout the course armed with correct commitment level. The experience is similar to a 9-5 job where you work hard and learn everyday. If approached this way, one should have no problem throughout the 16 weeks. But isn't $12k a lot of money to spend for something that can be learned online? Well, yeah! People drown themselves in debt for undergraduate university degrees - and for what? Tell me you can't learn sociology and anthropology online. The money, in my opinion, is about the experience, accountability, collaborative classroom environment, access in person to an expert, accelerated learning pace, and, most of all, being immersed in the industry with networking opportunities coming from a position of power. The DigitalCrafts Team does well to connect their students with potential employers, but they can not physically hand you a job. I wish I could say that by attending a code bootcamp you will magically end up with with a job, but this simply is not true. This area, like anything, takes self-motivation and luck. The heavier the combination the better. Because DigitalCrafts is smaller than General Assembly or Iron Yard, I personally believed there to be a higher percent chance of me as an individual being recommended or introduced to an employer than coming from one of the other schools. DigitalCrafts was a rewarding experience. I learned web-development with a lot of awesome people and am employed as a direct result of the DC team putting me in contact with this company. I believe code bootcamps to be the most cost-effictive and efficient use of money for education. I highly endorse DigitalCrafts. If your thinking about one, I'd start by giving the DigitalCrafts Team a call and meeting them yourself! -
Jonathan
Highly recommended!
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DigitalCrafts is growing like a wildfire, and it doesn't take long to figure out why.
From instruction to job assistance, DigitalCrafts is hard to beat. The success of a business always comes down to communication, and these guys know how to communicate every step of the way. I am extremely pleased with how the course went and that I ended up with a great new job as a Web Developer.
Don’t get me wrong, you have to work your butt off. You can’t just breeze through the program and expect to be handed a great job on a silver platter, but if you give it your all and let the DigitalCrafts team do what they do best, then you’ll be pleased.
Get there early, stay late, and don’t be afraid to branch out from the projects to show your creativity. I’m confident that I got my job because I worked extra hard to make a unique portfolio. Make yourself stand out. Give it everything you’ve got. It’s just 16 weeks of your life.
Places like DigitalCrafts are shaping the future of education. After earning 2 degrees over almost 7 years that led to dead end jobs, the mere 16 weeks at DigitalCrafts catapulted me into the best job opportunity I’ve ever had.
I would highly recommend DigitalCrafts to anyone and everyone who is considering getting into Web Development.
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Jeremy
Great Course
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I decided to attend an immersive bootcamp to accelerate a career change. I wanted to experience both front-end and back-end development, which DigitalCrafts provided with their fullstack course. Once I met with Rob, Max and Jake, I knew this was the place for me. I came to DigitalCrafts with no experience except for some free online resources. I admit there were times during the course that were pretty intense. This course requires that you put in the time to learn the material. You continue to build on content from day one. If you are willing to put in the time and effort you will be successful. I had Rob as an instructor and he was great! If we had trouble during the course Rob was willing to help, we just needed to keep him in the loop on our progress. When it came time to start looking for jobs Jake was a big asset in helping us look for postings and letting us know when there were oportunities within the employer network. With their help I was able to secure a front-end development internship at the end of week 12. I feel confident in my new skills and look forward to what the future holds.
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Joe Hice
A Sense of Accomplishment
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I set out to accomplish something, bridge a gap between my past work experience and my love for developing software. I wanted to shed my skin and feel youthful again. Do something that had meaning and change my professional career path. DigitalCrafts met my expectations and helped me to understand core development concepts which directly led to me finding a job within the first 8-weeks of class.
I chose DigitalCrafts because I wanted a full immersive program, I wanted to eat, breath and drink development for 16-weeks, and do nothing else. I got exactly what I wanted. Project after project, with small but effective hands-on work with a bottom-up approach, you gain new ammo in your arsenal of tools. Each day at DigitalCrafts, we apply a new concept, slowly tie each piece together and by the 8th week your writing AngularJS, interfacing to multiple API's and eating real world data for breakfast.
My journey has led me down many different paths each with it's own hardships and obstacles but with countless rewards as well. It is not just the lessons I have learned along the way, or the internal battles that you fight with yourself to stay on $scope. It is without a doubt, what you choose to do with the knowledge you gain and the relationships you build along the way.
Thank you Rob, Jake, Max, to my classmates and to everyone I have had the pleasure of meeting at Atlanta Tech Village. Thanks to DigitalCrafts, I have a signed offer letter in-hand, new skills at my finger tips and peace of mind moving forward in my career path.
Br,
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Anonymous
DigitalCrafts Immersive Cohort
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The experience I had at DigitalCrafts would be hard to top anywhere. There is an exceptional energy within the classroom, and the culture is dedicated to learning as much as possible, as quickly as possible. There were several guest speakers who offered advice for the job hunt. The instructor was extremely passionate and seemingly tireless in his effort to ensure that every student was up to speed with every technology covered. The wide variety of technologies covered was the selling point for me, as it allowed me to really have an opportunity to figure out what I liked and gave me a more marketable skill set.
DigitalCrafts has changed my life, and set me on an exciting and rewarding career path. I can't say enough to really express the benefit this course has given me.
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Will
More than I could have ever expected
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I just graduated from the Web & iOS course and I never would have thought that I would be in the position that I am now as a result of the course. Before even graduating I received two job offers, both for more than I have ever made. And because of the skill set that I have learned I honestly feel like I have the flexibility and freedom to be picky about a job and really choose something that I am interested in. Taking the DigitalCrafts course has been phenomenal and has been one of the best decisions that I could have made.
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William Wyatt
Great Experience
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The DigitalCrafts staff have definitely fostered a family atmosphere while providing resources and an environment extremely favorable to learning. Though the curriculum is demanding, everything is set up to promote providing you the skills to succeed and ultimately find a job. I have enjoyed my experience and have learned a ton. Rob & Joe are great teachers, I couldn't ask for a better experience!
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Stuart
Loving it so far
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I am currently a student in DigitalCrafts, a 16-week immersive course + ios. I have just finished Week 7, and so far I am enjoying the entire experience. My background is in finance with a degree in electrical engineering in the distant past (graduated in '99). While I had some entry-level programming in college, I hadn't touched it since and knew only the very basics. I was by no means a developer when I started this cohort, but that is quickly changing So far the immersive program has been challenging but rewarding. New topics are presented every couple of days, and while they may initially seem overwhelming, the material is presented and explained in such a way that I am able to grasp the concepts quickly and move forward. Rob, our instructor, also gives us projects that incorporate prior topics, and this really helps to build my confidence in the skills that I am learning. Rob is an excellent instructor who is very generous with his time and goes out of his way to make sure that everyone understands the concepts that are being covered. The pace is fast, and it definitely takes a lot of effort and hard work to become comfortable with all of the new skills we are learning. But everyone working at DigitalCrafts has been willing to help and I genuinely believe they want every student to be successful. I'm almost halfway through the course and I'm quite happy to be a student at DigitalCrafts.