DigitalCrafts

I decided to take a semester off of college in search of experience, but due many internships being available in the summer and not the spring, there weren't many options. So a friend recommened me to look into doing a coding bootcamp so that I would develop more skills and have projects under my belt. He recommened DigitalCrafts (DC) because he participated in a workshop led by instructor Chris Aquino. I looked into this and another bootcamp but the fact that DC had a waiting list a few weeks before the start date already showed me how valuable the program is to others. During the whole program, the instructor taught us everything we knew. I was surprised that I learned MUCH more in this course than I do at college while working on my CS degree. Chris Aquino was the instructor for my cohort and he was amazing. He taught everything we needed to know in a fun way. He would help us to the best of his ability with any question we may have. As each week progressed, the ending was near and here I am today writing this review as a graduate. I'm confident now to obtain a job after I complete my degree. I'm confident enough to showcase projects I have created. I'm confident enough to work and do more projects on my own. I highly recommend this bootcamp to anyone considering it!

I can't possibly praise DigitalCrafts enough for my experience there! I recently graduated from the Full Stack Immersive program and already landed a job at a great company making more than I ever dreamed of! My instructor Rob was absolutely phenomenal, the facilities were amazing and all the people I met and worked with were stellar. I felt adequately supported by everyone throughout the program and learned incredibly in-demand skills that ultimately getting employed by one of my top companies. Thank you DigitalCrafts, this experience seriously changed my life! 

So Digital Crafts has two programs. A full-time course called the Immersive program and a part-time course called the Flex program. I attended the flex program which is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30pm - 9:30pm and Saturdays from 10am - 2pm.

The onboarding process included some pre-work to familiarize people with the basics of using a terminal. It really is a “from the ground up” program. Digital Crafts looks to turn people with zero computer science experience into developers writing full-stack applications in React/Redux, Node/Express and deploying them to AWS, Heroku, and Netlify in 26 weeks. That’s a tall order if I ever heard one.

The course progressed as follows:

• The first few weeks starts out with html/css, bootstrap, and vanilla JS.

• Then we started learning how to build servers in Node/Express and making calls to them from the client-side using Axios and rendering out the data to the UI.

• Then you spend a couple weeks on databases like MongoDB and Postgres. We explored libraries like Mongoose, Sequelize, and pg-promise.

• Halfway through the course you’re learning how to prevent getting trapped in callback hell using Async/Await functions and are able to build a full-stack application.

• We then started drilling ES6 syntax pretty hard and learning how to do OOP in JS in preparation for React.

• The second to last part of the course involved learning React and Redux. I remember doing about 5 or 6 assignments bouncing from using React only and then using React w/Redux to better understand how Redux was helping manage application state. We had to also build a game using React and Redux ( which I’ll cover in another article ) to finish the chapter.

• The last subject we studied was learning how to deploy. We learned how to spin up EC2 and RDS instances as well as deploying to Netlify and Heroku.

• The final assignment was the Capstone project which we presented on Demo day.

I personally work with some alumni who are now lead developers on their teams where I work and are actually partially responsible for my motivation in enrolling in the first place. They don’t even use JS, they use Golang. Digital Crafts teaches you how to learn. It teaches you how to approach and solve problems in ways that can be translated across a plethora of different programming languages.

I think this is the real value of Digital Crafts. It doesn’t just teach you full-stack Javascript. It teaches you how computers are programmed through javascript. You are given all the resources imaginable to become a succesful programmer but at the end of the day, how well you absorb the curriculum ultimately comes down to the effort you put in.

If your ultimate goal in enrolling is to get a job as a developer, it’s worth mentioning that they are definitely doing something right with their career services program because alumni are recognized in the Slack channel when they secure new positions and that seems to be happening multiple times every week.

The class was also a lot of fun and overall an experience I’m super glad I had. I saw a lot of people from different backgrounds grow and develope as programmers. It was also pretty amazing to see how far everyone came in such a short amount of time. Digital Crafts definitely has something special going on over there.

Let me start by saying that I did not know much about programming when I started and I'm still growing my skills, but the instructors in this program really helped me to establish a solid foundation to build upon. I am a teacher by trade and making a transition into more of a project management role. The course has given me a better insight into how not only to think like a programmer, but to look for solutions that may not have been obvious at first glance. 

The ability to create functional software has become a valuable tool in my belt and I am glad I went through DigitalCrafts to gain the knowledge. If you are on the fence, get off and start the application. In addition to the programming skills that are taught, you are exposed to different views on programming technologies, how to research for solutions, and how to build the soft skills that are also necessary for success in the world of code. 

I recommend this program to anyone looking to make a change while balancing your career and family life. 

Being a stay-home mom and away from my career for a few years, I needed a change, but I was scared of a change at the same time. It took some time for me to finally decided to join DigitalCrafts. I am very happy that I did.   

I had Veronica as my instructor and Katy as my TA. They are both amazing. Veronica is positive, motivative, flexible, smart and helpful. She looks at a student's face and makes sure we understand. 
Katy helped me problem solve the situation when I had a hard time. 

The course is fast and intense. I recommend to finish pre-work before the class start and finish your assignment. The course will be more complicated after Node.js, and it will be harder to go back and study again.

As an individual that has previous professional experience and no familiarity with coding, I decided to further develop my technical skills by attending a coding bootcamp. The process to decide on which bootcamp was tough as I called different programs in both Austin and Houston, and based on my situation and what I was looking for, I chose DigitalCrafts. 

Having Veronica as the lead instructor and Katy as the TA made all the difference over this course. They eased me into learning how to code as I had no previous experience. Veronica created great supplemental slideshows to reinforce the concepts that she taught. The combination of lecture, supplemental reference material, and personalized help from both Veronica and Katy, this gave me the support I needed to become a confident developer.  Also, they kept the class engaged and make the curriculum entertaining, which can be hard with a technical subject like programing.

To be successful:

• If you have an opportunity to practice and do the prep work before the course begins, immerse yourself and practice daily as this will allow you to grasp the fundamentals and excel
• Don't get intimidated and stay on top of your coursework. This is a bootcamp and it does move quickly, so work hard daily as you may not have time to revisit any previous projects or exercises
• Do projects that you enjoy, so it keeps you engaged
• Near the end, if your goal is to find a job, make sure you start applying for jobs around the time career-week begins. Do not be deterred by imposter syndrome hold you back! You truly do know alot and just need to be more aware of the skills that you have attained.
• Some days be tougher than others and you may feel like coding is not for you, but just push through and stay focused. You will overcome those humps and at the end you will realize how much you have learned.

The technical instruction and overall experience at DigitalCrafts exceeded all expectations I had of a coding bootcamp and has changed my life in ways I never thought it could. I really can't say enough good things or write a review that will do it justice. If you're looking for a coding bootcamp, you'll want to consider these six areas when making your decision.

• Technologies covered: React, Redux, Express, Node.js, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Python, JavaScript, AWS, jQuery, Bootstrap, Materialize, RESTful API, Linux, GitHub, HTML, CSS, Apache Server, Ubuntu, and more. It’s common for beginners to look for a specific language because they’ve heard from friends or colleagues that it’s an important language to learn. The approach of DigitalCrafts, and most any coding bootcamp will be to teach you technologies that give you a strong programming foundation which allows you to easily learn additional technologies in the future or on your own. The DigitalCrafts curriculum hits the “full stack” and you will be well equipped to pick up other programming languages as your career progresses. I recommend not pairing your bootcamp search down by a specific programming language because of what may be popular today. If you learn and master the above curriculum, you will be well equipped to pick up whatever new technologies you’d like.
• Class size / available assistance: Classes are limited to about two dozen people which is about the size of a high school class room. There is an instructor and two “DIRs” who are former students being paid to help you out in one on one situations. Between the three of them they were able to cover most everything the class could need at any given time. I got all the one-on-one support I could possibly use. Learning this type of material requires that you practice and “figure it out” at least partially on your own and so I don’t know that even if I had my own personal tutor that I could have utilized them to learn more efficiently. Bottom line, any time I needed help, someone was there to help me.
• Instructor quality: If you go on the DigitalCrafts careers page and look at the salaries they offer to their instructors, you’ll know that they only hire the best and are willing to pay top dollar for top talent. Our instructors have years if not decades of experience and have worked for some of the best technology companies in Atlanta. My particular instructor founded the course curriculum and is a 5-star Udemy instructor. The instructor for the other cohort is a former manager at a well respected technology consulting firm in Atlanta. DigitalCrafts also allowed us to have input when interviewing a future instructor as he gave a sample lecture to us one day. Their instructors are interviewed by the CEO directly and students are given opportunities to renew them multiple times throughout the course.
• Tech community experience: Quite simply, I don’t know how a bootcamp could produce a better community experience than DigitalCrafts. The class is taught in Atlanta Tech Village, a startup hub designed specifically for tech based companies located in the heart of Buckhead. As a student of the cohort, you become a full member of ATV and are completely immersed in the Atlanta tech startup community. I can’t imagine a better networking and tech culture environment exists in Atlanta. DigitalCrafts also brings in past students and current developers to give advice and speak about their experience in the working world and their past job search.
• Job search: Most non-technical employees of DigitalCrafts are current or former recruiters whose current job is to get you employed. There is a thorough process to get you ready to enter the job market as a new developer. They offer you support and guidance in all your “career assets” including but not limited to: resumes, LinkeIn, GitHub, online portfolio, mock interviews, technical challenges, networking, cover letters, meetups, etc. As a student, you will have access to their employer network and job board and industry knowledge on where to look for opportunities and how to get hired.
• Cost / Financing: The cost of the bootcamp is competitive with others in the market. There are multiple financing options available through a third party. You are able to enroll in the class with no money down and can even borrow some spending money. The monthly payment requirements are kept to a minimum until you graduate. There are multiple different options which you can customize to your own needs. If you find a bootcamp in Atlanta that is less expensive, and are thinking of selecting it just for that reason, I highly recommend you make sure you consider the financial return of receiving a high quality education and experience. A couple hundred or thousand dollars difference on a bootcamp is completely irrelevant when you think about the big picture of your career and long term success. Pick the bootcamp that is right for you based on other factors and make your finances work the best you can.

Attending DigitalCrafts was one of the best experiences of my life and one of the smartest decisions I’ve made for my career and overall happiness. If you’d like to talk further, please get in touch with me directly.

I am not the greatest at writing reviews, but I just had to because of my experience with my instructor, Veronica. You cannot ask for a better instructor than her. She is kind, patient, motivating, smart, and above all else, a great person to be around. If you are looking for a structured approach to learning, you should definitely look into joining her class. She normally has lessons in the morning and assignments after lunch. The slides she provides are extremely helpful, but only if you pay attention in class, so make sure you do! 

Here is some advice from a recent graduate:

Always strive to do your best. It is the best way to progress in the class. It is pretty fast and the better you understand the topics, the better it will be for you when projects come rolling around. 
 

Don't be upset if you don't get topics right away. There were times, especially when we were learning node, that I felt lost. It will come to you eventually; Veronica has a way with her lesson plans that will trigger that lightbulb of yours.

Give time for yourself to relax! 

As a former math teacher, Digital Crafts supported me a lot to make a big change on my career as a Full Stack Developer. With very little background, I was not sure how far I could go in software development area when I first started the immersive program. In the first a couple weeks, it made me feel anxious when I see challenges in coding. However, I always felt very lucky to have a great instructor, Azam. His instruction was changing all complex parts into small easy structures which made the concepts easier to understand. I was not hesitating to ask questions over and over to him since he was very open to help anytime, even after course hours via the slack. Another great thing was to have very supportive, dedicated and knowledgable DIRs who gave their all time for our questions. On the other hand, these positive opportunities were not enough by themselves. If you are really passionate about software development and pursuing your career in this area; commuting to the course, listening the instructors and doing the assignments are not enough at all with little background. I was spending my nights and weekends to do extra learning and extra projects to understand better, most importantly to practice, practice, practice. The most important takeaway was to learn how to google things to fix the problem, it is becoming your helper overtime as you progress in weeks. I have started job applications two weeks prior to graduation. Since the skills we have learned in the course were from cutting-edge technologies, I could not find enough number of opportunities in Houston. Houston area companies are usually looking for .NET, C++, C#, Java and etc. If you are open to relocate, you can decrease the time you spend for job hunting. After graduation, I made lots of search to learn strategies regarding how to apply jobs. After I explored the things about it, I believed that there may be another bootcamp only for job searching part :) . I am glad that I have landed a job as a Full Stack Developer in Houston 3 weeks after graduation and glad to experience such great times with Digital Crafts.