Galvanize Reviews
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Richard Jones Verified via LinkedIn
Galvanize gave me a great start
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I found Galvanize kind of randomly. I thought long and hard before attending the school. I feel lucky that not only that I found Galvanize but committed to go through the program. Learning to program was a butt kicker, but being surrounded by great teachers and people passionate about coding -- let alone the other companies that work out of galvanize -- got me through the program and got me in the professional world. I am much happier in this new career field.
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Jessica Anais Duarte Cabrera Verified via LinkedIn
Loved it !
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When I attended Galvanize at the Phoenix campus my experience was a rollercoaster of emotions in an awesome way of course because you are constantly being challenged and I loved that! Here are some of the top things I loved about my experience with Galvanize! First, the instructors are very knowledgeable and right away you can tell that they are passionate about their student's success and they will do anything from staying late to coming in during weekends to give their students extra help if needed. Second, the environment is very nice! I had access to tons of networking opportunities and most events provide food (lol). Third, I was able to gain many skills such as public speaking, networking, resume building, time-management, resourcefulness, branding, working under pressure and much more. Having a growth mindset is a big one at Galvanize and they helped me with. The career services manager will meet with you monthly to help you improve most of those skills, which is awesome. Fourth, I left with many long life supportive friends and with unforgettable memories.
I was amazed with how much I was able to learn in such a short amount of time.
Part of cohort g66,
Jessica Anais Duarte Cabrera
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Aritro Majumdar Verified via LinkedIn
Data Science Immersive Program
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The Galvanize Data Science Immersive Program (DSI) was a wonderful experience to go through. I loved the structure and the content of the program. I come from the standard university background before this and comparatively, the DSI program was where I learned the most given the time. The structure was very tailored to the student actually learning as opposed to getting a grade. There were a couple times where I did not do well on an assessment and the instructors were encouraging me to not to feel bad but learn from it. The content of the program was also well made. All the instructions for assignments are clearly written and explained. Additionally, the content is open to change which means the student learns not only fundamentals but also new technology and algorithms that are cutting edge. Overall, I loved the program!
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Cait Verified via LinkedIn
Glad to have joined the Galvanize community!
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Hands down the best educators I've ever had, and the career transition support was top-notch. The greatest value of this program for me was the network of companies who were already happy with past Galvanize DSI grads they'd hired, and looking for more data scientists to grow their teams. The collaboration and friendships I forged with my fellow cohort colleagues have been great for building my network as well. The 3 month curriculum was a great quikstart into the field of data science --- packed with fundamentals and hands-on experience through daily project work. -
Steph Baron Verified via LinkedIn
Worthwhile Experience!
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Prior to enrolling at Galvanize's NYC campus for their WDI immersive, I had done a fair amount of research into the various bootcamps. What mattered to me was the curriculum (was it up to date with what the NYC market demanded from developers). student to teacher ratio, and success rate in finding jobs post graduation.
When I went on a tour of the campus, the first WDI cohort was already in session as the campus was brand new. I observed their class and felt comfortable with the environment. I also learned that they had hired a woman to lead the next cohort that began in late August 2017. That excited me the most as the other bootcamps in the city did not have any women on staff as teachers.
As I went through the application process, it became clear to me that they were concerned with accepting students that understand foundational JavaScript and were eager to learn and learn quickly. I was accepted after 4 interviews and started on August 28th 2017.
My experience in class was intense and challenging. The pace is extremely quick even for a 6 month course. We learned front-end development in the first quarter then went into server-side and backend development for the second quarter. The third quarter was focused on React.js and the fourth quarter we focused on interview skills, building our portfolios and finishing our capstone projects.
The education I received was current and competitive in content. The career support I received from Arthur Chisholm was incredible. He dedicates himself to working with each student and making sure they are confident going into interviews.
When I was going through the interview process in the 4th quarter, Arthur and I had many 1:1s to go over interview questions and the ways to be a strong candidate. I ended up getting the job before I even graduated. My first day as a software developer at an advertising agency in Times Square was a week before my cohort officially graduated in February 2018.
Now that I've been in my job for a little over a month and a half, I can say that all the principles of development that I learned in the WDI course helped me understand all that I've learned thus far in my job. It's beyond difficult and not for everyone but if you really devote yourself to furthering your education in software development then you should enroll in this course.
Overall, I would recommend Galvanize. There are ups and downs to every bootcamp and it's ulitimately up to you on what is important and which bootcamp aligns most with what you want to get out of it. If you're going into a bootcamp thinking that you'll learn literally everything you need to know to become a software developer and have your hand held in the learning process, then it's not for you. You need to be self-sufficient to a point and not be afraid to ask for help when you need it. You get out of it what you put into it.
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Kat Verified via GitHubBest decision I could have made.
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I'm not even sure where to begin with this review. Attending Galvanize changed my life and it was the best possible decision I could have made.
A bit of background: I did have a fair amount of technical training, a B.S. in a STEM field (biology) and exposure to coding/computer science from an early age. That said I never considered majoring in CS in college and definitely did not code "for fun" as a kid or young adult.
My more recent background had me working in a retail environment where I struggled to find a challenge. After a few years working the sales floor I moved into a marketing role where I managed social media, web presence, and advertising. This role reminded me that coding was something that I kind of enjoyed, and made me think about a career switch. Fast forward a few years, I got laid off and it was the right time for me to make the switch.
All this to say that a) I had a fair amount of background in technical areas and b) I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I would say that a coding bootcamp is not for someone who is code-curious. You should have a good amount of coding experience (side projects, Udemy or treehouse or FreeCodeCamp or whatever classes, etc) and be sure that you enjoy it.
The curriculum focused entirely on JavaScript, which I think was a good thing as it enabled us to learn front end, back end, functional programming, and the React framework, without having to relearn syntax. I did do my capstone project in iOS/Swift, which I think significantly impacted my job prospects after graduation, as I am on an iOS team now.
In short, I loved my 6 months at Galvanize and I'm a bit sad that it's over, but I landed a dream job at a major corporation working on an iOS application with millions of daily users, making more money than I ever thought I would.
If you're sure you want to do it, and you know that you *can* do it (impostor syndrome aside, we ALL get that) - your investment will pay off. You will have to work your butt off before, during, and after - but I think it's worth it.
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Aldo Torres Verified via LinkedIn
Great Place to learn
I went to Galvanize knowing nothing about code and now I'm entering hackathons with fellow classmates.
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Shayla R Richard Verified via GitHubHighly Recommend
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I originally started my bootcamp experience at Turing. It was a rough start and I liked it, but I struggled like hell. I refute any claims that you can walk in off the street and fly. This program is hard! Not in a bad way- I met some amazing people and found that I love this stuff. However I struggled in MOD 1 and ended up repeating it. I took the summer off for family reasons. I then sought Galvanize to complete my journey, this time uninterrupted. I initially visited Gschool first, but didn't go. This time it all worked out. I had amazing support from teachers and staff. I got what I needed as a learner. No one said no, or was too busy. I had an incredible cohort as well. I feel like any program is as good or bad as you make it, however my experience at Galvanize changed my life and my career. I am expensively grateful.
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Ronald T. Verified via GitHubGreat choice, worth the money
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I took a lot of time to do my due diligence when selecting a bootcamp. I had to stay in Seattle and I knew an online bootcamp would not be ideal for my learning style, so my options were a little more limited. I checked out every single one, in person. Even after all of that work and effort, Galvanize only barely looked better than the rest. Their campus was nicer and the people seemed great but they were the most expensive.
In the end, I have no regrets with my choice. Galvanize was worth the extra money. I feel like I learned things permanently and was able to apply my knowledge to real world applications. My instructors were Wes and Roger. I feel like I got lucky because getting two lead instructors is rare. On top of that, both Wes's and Roger's teaching styles fit my learning style great. I have 0 complaints about the instructors and feel that these two really put my experience above expectations.
The curriculumn was a little clunky. My cohort was the first of a new curriculumn, so there were a lot of bugs and errors. The students were the ones that discovered a lot of these errors. Additionally, the curriculumn was not standardized between writers. This largely came into play near the end of the course, where the content suddenly became very dense and hard to absorb. Despite these downsides, I still enjoyed the program.
The non-instructor personel were very friendly and helpful. They frequently solicited feedback and I felt like they genuinely cared about the students. It also seemed like they were always available for us.
In the end, I got a great job and am very happy with my decision to go to Galvanize.
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Kevin S. Verified via LinkedIn
Fantastic Coding Boot Camp
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I was a bit skeptical of the boot camp approach to learning to code, but having just graduated the Galvanize Seattle 6-moth Web Dev immersive, I couldn't be more pleased. The instructors (Wes, Roger, Scott & Charile) and the support staff at this campus are incredible. I could really tell that it was more than a job for them; they seem to be really invested in trying to make the course the best it possibly can be for the students. They are knowledgeable, approachable, willing to listen and go out of their way to help, and have real work experience. The material is thorough (I don't think we could have possibly jammed anything more in, but on the few occassions where any of us got a bit ahead, they had plenty of additional stretch exercises to keep us going). On my last day we tried to write all the topics we covered on a whiteboard and completely filled it (having likely missed a few things). The coursework was a mixture of online lessons (custom designed by the Galvanize staff), lectures, and lab time. It worked out to be a really nice mix. We used real world tools from day one to write and deploy our code and learned a lot from each other. We not only covered the essentials, but also practiced white-boarding (for job interviews) and delved into some of the computer science topics typically left to the university courses (Big-O, search trees, etc.). There's an additional emphasis placed on learning how to learn so that you are more comfortable picking up new topics beyond the scope of the course. So, for example, while we covered JavaScript thoroughly in class, along with frameworks such as BootStrap and React, I also had the opportunity to pick up some Swift on my own. Others in my cohort learned GraphQL, React Native, assembly (to write kernel code for a Raspberry Pi), and numerous other topics during their indepedent study time. A couple more details: Yes, there's a lot of work and you'll work hard, so be prepared for that (but know you'll have a really solid support network from both the teachers and your classmates). No, a job is neither promised nor guaranteed, but they do everything short of that: they help you tune your resume, learn ow to network, what to expect in an interview, bring in guest speakers, and pass along any job openings and connections they become aware of. I'll finish by repeating what I said at the beginning: the staff at a school will make or break your experience, and the Seattle Galvanize Web Dev tem is simply amazing. They made the experience for me.
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redbarron23 Verified via GitHubDocker Workshop
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The workshop will cover the following topics:
- A High Level Introduction to Docker and its Current Use in the Industry.
- Executing Commands and Programs Inside of Docker Containers.
- Investigating Your Docker Workspace.
- Understanding Docker Images and Building Your Own.
- Running Docker Containers Using Docker Compose.
- Running Development Containers Using Docker Compose.
- Running Multiple Services During Development Using Docker Compose.
- Development Database Using Docker Compose
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Tyler Langenbrunner Verified via GitHubExcellent Teachers, Thorough & Rigorous
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What they really excel at
* The instructors are superb
No, listen, they're incredible. The level of respect and professionalism was really high, in fact, the instructors were really more like CTOs and project managers, especially in the second half of the program. I have to give a shoutout to Josh Wyatt who was the lead instructor for our cohort, one of the most masterful teachers I’ve worked with. Especially with the small class sizes, it just concentrated the level of support and the quality of teaching. The teachers excel at transparency, really great, direct, thoughtful communication—during lessons, about expectations, industry standards, meet ups, events, etc.
* Great space
It feels much more like an incubator or co-working space rather than a school (in part because it is!). There are a bunch of opportunities to meet people in the space and network, if that kind of thing comes naturally to you. There’s a group that does exercise on the roof once a day, and that was super fun.
* Project-based
There are assessments, but it’s much more structured in terms of building things, and learning the technologies by applying them. This is much more realistic experience
for how the real world is for developers.
* Duration
The program lasts for 6 months, and it was really worth it to stay for longer. I don’t feel like I would have been ready after just 12 weeks like most bootcamps, and I’m no slow learner.
* Full Stack
The program covered frontend legacy technologies like HTML, CSS, jQuery, and simple frameworks like Materialize and Boostrap; we learned backend by writing RESTful APIs using Express and Postgres; we went deep into modern in-demand frontend technology like React and Redux. They really tailor the curriculum based on what’s popular in the area, and iterate form cohort to cohort. Very smart.
Places they could improve
* Scholarships: There are some scholarships, mostly targeting women and minorities, and during my session Adobe was offering one with an internship attached to it. I would like to see more company partnerships like that which provide a clearer path to career after the program.
* Making even better use of the space: One of the great opportunities available at Galvanize is that the campus hosts a bunch of startups and company satellites. it could do more to facilitate connections between companies and students.
My Advice
* Must have coded before
Before the program, you absolutely must have some experience in coding, with either JavaScript or a similar language like Ruby or Python. Take a couple of CodeAcademy courses, watch some YouTube videos (Fun Fun Function, Learn Code Academy, and Taversy Media are all worth checking out). Basic coding skills like familiarity with for-loops and functions, HTML tags, and CSS classes will help you out a lot.
* Be proactive
Be ready and willing to learn. If you want to get the most out of the program, you have to be the kind of person who a lot of questions and is comfortable asking for help. Not a super social person, or an extravert necessarily, just willing to be proactive and connect with other people.
* Learn to learn
What they aim to teach at Galvanize is more than the tools. Rather, they try to help people learn to learn, so that, as they gradually release responsibility from actively helping you on things, you are able to pick up new technologies and work autonomously.
* It’s a big time commitment, but it’s worth it
It’s much more than full time (think 6 days a week or more), but they do deeply care about us, and the dedicate resources to checking in and supporting us.
That’s also in the context of this model which supports people being proactive. It’s very much a “you get out of it what you put into it”.
There are break weeks, and in the first two quarters you can use them for a break, to recharge after working really really hard for 5 weeks, and, in the next two quarters, using them to network, to catch up on career services work, etc.
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Chris Verified via GitHubGalvanize - PHX
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Choosing Galvanize has been a life-changing experience not only in my career but also in my personal life. The instructors and staff here are supportive in everything we do as students and aspiring developers. They are constantly guiding and feeding us the knowledge we don't even know that we need. There are events every day in the building that are connecting students with people who employ developers or people who code for a living. If you really want to give yourself the edge over students at other boot camps then Galvanize is a must.
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Frank Gonzalez Verified via LinkedIn
An straight up life changing experience
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Background: Retail customer service and sales in the tech/electronic industry, no prior software experience. Some general education teaching experience.
Now: Just hit 4 months in as a software engineer for a ed-tech company that services students around the world.
My review could just be those two lines up there and it would speak for itself but that would be an injustice to both Galvanize as a school and it's staff. From the admissions staff to the career services director, everyone there is working constantly to see you, the student, suceed. I went in interested in learning software development and hoping for a career change, I left with those hopes fulfilled and an insatiable drive in continuing my education as both an evolving engineer and a possible instructor in the future.
Contact and communication is constant. Seminars and teachings galore beyond the course material, on subjects as: how to get a job as an engineer, how to grow and groom your social network in the tech community, what we're interested in learning, and actual speakers from existing tech jobs. Not to mention the tech employees and recruiters who come during the course of the cohort to see what you're working on and to network/provide opportunites for employment. It's incredible.Of course all of that is a side to the meat and potatoes of the main curriculum, so no review would be complete without mention of the instructors. I wish I could look you, the reader, in the eye as I say this; despite it's clichéd nature: I've never had a better teacher than I had while I attended the Austin Galvanize location. Zubair Desai is the instructor you should look for and the teacher I aspire to be. Having some teaching experience I know how difficult the concept and act of teaching.....anything really... to anyone is, it might honestly be the hardest damn thing to do. Bar none. Zubair handles it effortlessly. It's honestly almost wizardry at how much he knows but more than that, how much he can impart on another human being.
He can take a classroom from nothing and turn them into accomplished software engineers. Period. Every single person in my cohort is working in the programming field as I write this, a literal 100% sucess rate for my class. It's insane. I hope that I can get this across in words as vehemently as I would if I were in front of you, he doesn't just teach you how to learn Javascript or Rails or Java or sorting algorithms or any of a million other things, (Spolier Alert: he does), he teaches you HOW to learn these things. If that doesn't make sense I implore you to enroll and see how you go from knowing nothing as an aspiring developer to being able to teach yourself an entirely unfamiliar language WHILE learning the languages and frameworks that make up the Galvanize curriculum. He's a credit not only to the tech community, in shaping the developers of tomorrow, but a credit to teaching as a profession. Learning from him is a means of unlocking your full potential as a software engineer and I honestly don't know to give higher praise than that.
During my time there we had the pleasure and privlege of workng with a pair of assistant instructors as well, Oli and Louis; that brought invaluable skills, experience, and humor to the class. From learning the intricacies of Ruby on Rails with Oli to the finer workings of Swift with Louis, ALL of the instructors at Galvanize put the time and effort in making sure you succeed. If you have questions, they're there to make sure you have answers.
Every moment of my time at Galvanize was spent learning something. It was frustrating at times and blissful the rest but every moment made me the developer I am today and I have this school to thank. For those on the fence, do it, you won't regret it.
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Wallace Printz Verified via GitHubRigorous and complete data science prep
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Galvanize offers a complete overview of data science theory and application. The program is very intense but the instructors are amazing at breaking down core concepts into coding building blocks that explain fundamental mathematical underpinnings as well as how to implement in a range of examples. The acceptance rate is pretty low, because the application process is strict, but this maintains a high class standard and ensures quality students will help each other effectively. Career services are top notch and really help career transitions from other industries to effectively stand out. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Galvanize.
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Zack Lee Verified via LinkedIn
If you want to learn Machine Learning, look no further
I attended the Galvanize Data Science Immersive in Austin, Texas. Unlike many of the other students, this was actually my second bootcamp, the first being Hack Reactor.
If you are the type of person who loves learning and is interested in Machine Learning, Galvanize is by far the best place to learn it. The instructors are fantastic, and their curriculum is well structured.
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Thomas Jameson Verified via GitHubDo. Your. Research (And soul search).
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First off, I'll start this review by telling you all that I didn't end up graduating from the SF Galvanize bootcamp (the only one out of 13. I'll also state that I graduated UCSC with honors, so it's not like I'm completely dumb). Despite my own personal situation (more on this later), I share many similar sentiments with the rest of the cohort about the school.
Secondly, I'm trying to leave a fair review despite not graduating; however, this review is subjective and, of course, is based off my personal experiences at Galvanize.
A typical day unfolded like this:
9-10: warm-up algorithm
11-12: Reviewing the algorithm's answer, and then lecture.
Lunch from 12-1
1-2: Another 1-2 hour lecture.
3-Rest of day/evening: More work to be done; projects, homework review, etc (typically with other classmates, with some instructor assistance - in other words a lot of pair programming. In fact, if you're anything like most of us, you won't get by without working with other people.)There are 4 quarters at G:
1) Front end (HTML/JS - lots of working with dom manipulation)
2) Server side stuff/back end (our stack was Node, Express, and Postgresql)
3) Computer science stuff (algorithms, data structures, trees, linked lists, etc)
4) Learning a few front end frameworks (React and Angular - more on this later), as well as "self exploration"Each quarter had its own project:
1) A front end app that requires an api call
2) Connecting an app to a server and database
3) Something computer-sciency
4) A final capstone project in culmination of the cohort, bringing together most of the ideas throughout the school. Must be full stack, and requires a new technology not taught in the cohort (a different database, for example, like mongo db).I guess I'll start with the pros of Galvanize:
1) Our personal cohort had an student:instructor ratio of about 13:3 (more on this later), which is a very good ratio as far as bootcamps go (from what I've heard). Also, the instructors stayed from about 9-6, so we had them for almost a full 8 hours.
2) The instructors and staff were all enthusiastic and supported us. They truly did care about our success (which I've heard differently about other bootcamps).
3) The campus itself was pretty cool. Kinda like a tech hub, with a whole bunch of tech companies in the building, as well as Galvanize data science cohorts.
4) We also had a lot career support. A few times a month, our homework would instead consist of networking, resume building, targeting companies, how to present yourself, stuff like that. We even had our own personal good docs of all the career things we were supposed to keep on top of (which was a lot - a lot).
5) Lots of events on campus - tech companies coming in to present there stuff, networking events, and companies (like IBM) coming in to give presentations and talk to potential future employees (us, hopefully).
6) At those events - there was a lot of free food. Lots of pizza, booze. A lot of delicious, fancy food as well. Most of the events are open to students - as long as you sign up on Eventbrite (sign up for as many as you can to network and eat awesome food). If you go to them, even if it's for the free food, at least pretend to care about the event, and give people time to do their spiels.
7) Getting to know everyone for 6 months was a pretty fun experience - we were from all walks of life (more on this later), and had a lot of different experiences. A lot of us became pretty close throughout the cohort.
8) The cohort was 6 months; most other bootcamps are much less than this (more on this later).
9) They preached a growth mindset. Look it up if you're not familiar. Quite necessary, however more on this in a bit.
10) I ended up receiving two scholarships, for a total of 4k off the admissions price (bringing it to 17k from 21). However, I'm not sure if they're still offering these scholarships.
11) The staff is pretty receptive to our suggestions and complaints. So they may be working on some of the things I'm about to list below.Ok, a lot of good stuff, but there was definitely a lot that could be improved upon (the bad):
1) Of the three instructors, one was really not fit to be an instructor at all. His lecturing skills were bad, and we're all convinced he actually didn't know anything he was talking about. However, it sounds like he's changed his ways since we left, as we did quite a bit of complaining about it.
2) The next cohort turned out to be much bigger than ours (20-something students), and right in the middle of their cohort (somewhere near the end of quarter two I think), Galvanize ended up firing two of their better instructors, meaning for about 30-something people, we had 4 instructors or so trying to help us finish up our capstone while helping the new cohort. Since then, they've hired two instructors more, and might bring back one of the fired ones. The newer cohort was pissed about this situation, and did a lot of complaining (as did we).
3) Some of the students felt as though the career services came too early; the lectures and homework weren't really relevant early on in the cohort while we were trying to bust our butts coding and really had no prospects or thoughts of getting a job. I, personally, didn't mind a break from the extensive coding.
4) The school (and even some teachers) claimed we'd only be working 40hrs a week due to the fact that the school was 6 months long. This was entirely untrue. Don't expect to be working under 50 per week. 60 is more like it (for 6 months don't forget). It's LONG. There isn't time for a part time job, relationships, partying, etc. A lot of normal life things will be pushed to the side. Keep that in mind.
5) This school will kill you if you don't get good rest and have mental stability. I, personally, was going through a lot of stressful situations throughout the cohort, and was averaging around 5 hours per sleep, with 10 hour days for the entire 6 months. It's entirely possible that, had my mental state and life circumstances been better, I would have faired much better in school, and would have an entirely different outlook coming out of G.
6) A lot of the homework didn't sync up with lectures, which made things confusing. A lot of times, there wasn't time to do the readings either, as there was just too much homework. In addition, a lot of the tests in the homework were simply wrong; we'd spend hours trying to fix our code when it was right in the first place. Hours lost over this stuff.
7) Galvanize dropped the ball entirely in quarter 4. We were supposed to learn at least one new front end framework (we voted for React). It turned out we had only one one-hour lecture on it, and many of us were hoping to create our capstone with it. This is possibly the reason I didn't graduate, as I tried to use React and didn't quite understand it. The instructors also pushed me to use it, despite me being very uncomfortable with it. This is what I'm most pissed about. Also know that you will be cut off from campus resources (career support and instructor help) if you don't graduate. I'm now basically alone in my job hunt, minus some help from fellow students.
8) Ok, this is a big one: it seems the ONLY people that did really well were people with prior experience in some way. Someone with years of database experience, an MA in engineering, a grad from another bootcamp with a couple years of experience, and two with prior coding experience in some way. For those of us from different walks of life (this includes me), this class was ten times the struggle - and it showed. Everything came slower. Some of use still can't center divs correctly on a page. Our projects looked ten times worse than everyone else's.
9) Speaking of centering divs, our time with CSS was pretty rushed. A lot of us don't have good foundations with it, and there weren't many lectures on it. We were basically given some links to check out to get a better understanding of it.
10) At some point throughout the cohort, we found out our area's market (SF) only wanted senior devs, and we were told it'd probably be a good idea to look out of state. Yikes.
11) I was accepted to the bootcamp even though I didn't pass the entrance algorithm. Had I not been accepted (and rightly so), I would not have taken out a $20,000 loan with no prospects of getting a job. Were they just trying to fill seats? It's possible, as I did hear rumors of this floating around at some point.
12) The reason they fired two instructors possibly due to the hiring of a new CTO, who possibly wasn't a good fit. Whoever it was made cuts in the wrong spots, and some of this landed on us. This made me remember that G, along with all bootcamps, are still a business (non-accredited btw) at the end of the day, and saving/making money is what it's all about.
13) Multiple people (outsiders watching) I had talked to claimed the students didn't get enough support. They felt as though we needed a few more tutors/mentors. I suppose this is the nature of the bootcamp however.
14) Many of these negative sentiments are shared not only by me, but also by the previous and proceeding cohorts. In this case - the bad points may not just be a manifestation of my personal situation, but are a true reflection of the school. The upside is that Galvanize is aware of many of these sentiments, and is trying to correct at least some of them. Again, I'd like to remind you that much of the staff does truly care about student success. Many of them even made themselves available to me personally even though I had not graduated.
15) In regards to instructor situations, the current cohort just had their best instructor randomly get placed as a student in a data science class. This doesn't really make any sense, especially since the current cohort was so upset over the previous instructors getting fired. To be clear, this particular instructor was already promoted to another position, but that was still a teaching related position I believe. Now, the current cohort is completely without his help. In regards to all this instructor movement/loss, I've heard this about more than 2 other bootcamps, so it's not necessarily just a Galvanize thing.
16) One final point, which is definitely a big one as well, which I hadn't thought of at the time for some reason... Why are we paying money for a personal exploration quarter? I came to school to be taught, not to learn things on my own. In this case, what am I paying money for? The school might as well have been set in trimesters instead of quarters, with a smaller tuition fee. Remember, for a 21k tuition, that means you're paying $5250 to learn things on your own for a quarter.Not sure if this is relevant or not, but I'll list it anyways as just something to ponder. The prices people paid to get in were kinda all over the place. Like I said, a few of us got 2-4k off, one person got their entire tuition paid for (I think by some foundation, so that may be irrelevant), and one student got half the tuition off upon threatening to go to another bootcamp. Now, from what I understand, there were no scholarships given for the current cohort.
My personal conclusion:
Galvanize wasn't worth it. Or any other bootcamp for that matter - unless you already have a previous related background and you know your brain is trained to think like a programmer. The market (at least in Silicon Valley) does not want entry level programmers. The risk of not getting a job is too great (unless you plan on moving out of state), especially if you're planning to take out a loan, like I did (and now feel pretty screwed in my situation).
My personal recommendations:
Do your research. I thought I did enough, but now I don't feel as though I did. I'm not talking about research on just bootcamps, but research on the market, what stacks are most wanted, what camps teach these stacks, and which camps will give you the most support. Research tuition prices, potential scholarships and deals, connections the school might have in terms of job placement, etc. Possibly most importantly, talk to previous grads to get their experiences. Was it worth it for them? Pros? Cons?
Finally, do plenty of soul searching before you fork over thousands of dollars. Do you even want to be a programmer, or are you in it for the money? If you're in it for the money, you might not survive. I personally was in it half way for this reason. Yes, I wanted better pay (how else can one afford a living in Ca? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Also I had back surgery, so I lost half my job opportunities right there). However, I also knew that I liked solving problems and making things work (better). I also wanted to upgrade my resume. In this sense, it's possible I might not even end up as a developer, but I may end up utilizing my full stack skills in some other way. Combining them with previous work experience? Possible.
If you don't know if you want to program - take online courses first. Make sure you do enough - not just a few free ones off CodeAcademy. Take full stack courses off Udemy or Udacity, places like that. Even if you spend a couple hundred bucks on online classes, this move can potentially save you thousands of dollars if it turns out you don't wanna program. It's even possible you'll get a job with just online courses if you're that adept.
Finally, trust your gut. I was very hesitant to fork over the 2,000 tuition fee; I should have taken this as a sign. Throught the first quarter, there were many times when my gut was telling me to drop out. I should have trusted my gut again, yet I listened to instructors that told me I should stick with it.
Remember, my experience at G was subjective (as everyone else's). Read more than just my review. Do your research and soul search!
Good luck in your bootcamp prospects!
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Brian Balagot Verified via LinkedIn
Moving to SF, Studying at Galvanize, Getting Into Tech
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Hi Everyone,
Greetings!
The perspective I am sharing is that of an individual who moved to SF just to join the program, from another country.
I moved here from the Philippines in September, three days before the start of Week 0, the "intro" to the "intro to Python" (I highly recommend it). I chose Galvanize because as early as 2013, I was already aware of Data Science and Zipfian, and read so many good things about the program. Because of life circumstances, I could only join after June 2016. This April 2017, I am just about to start my career in Tech at IBM - working on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence projects. I can honestly say that none of this would be possible if not for my experience at Galvanize.
I have two main points for this review that I am writing:
1. The Galvanize Data Science Immersive Program is transformative - there are so many things today that I could not have done in Sep 2016, and I largely attribute these to my phenomenal growth rate as a result of the instructors and curriculum
2. The DSI Program at Galvanize is not a magic pill. What you get out of it depends on you.Point 1: The Galvanize Experience
The instructors were excellent. They were all very hands on in terms of coding and teaching, very insightful in terms of mentorship and guidance, and very amicable and approachable. The curriculum covered mathematical statistics, linear algebra, machine learning, nlp, network analysis, recommendation systems, big data tools, and app development. Galvanize works closely with many different companies in order to match graduates to opportunities and job requisitions. Because of the program's design - which intends to get you to be as comfortable with code and concepts as quickly as possible, I am now able to: build machine learning pipelines in spark, code recommendation systems from scratch, transform log data into events and apply time series analysis, push apps to the cloud in order to host prototypes users can interact with, and have the tenacity and aptitude to read documentation and pick up new languages.Point 2: What You Get Depends On You
Individuals who join the program come from all kinds of backgrounds. Mine was not tech related, data related, or USA related. I managed a chain of supermarkets in the Philippines for eight years and I do not have a MSc in a STEM field. I had to make my own reality check, adjust my expectations, and do the best with what I had. However, Galvanize exposed me to an excellent network of people - I was able to hit the ground running in terms of making friends and getting a chance to talk to companies (like IBM) because of the may different career talks that happen on campus. I had to make the most of it by going beyond myself, making connections, and maximizing my skills by picking up two side projects after graduation in order to build up my portfolio and make myself more marketable. Thankfully, it paid off.My Galvanize experience was great. Partly because of Galvanize, and partly because I made the most out of it. I highly recommend this program to anyone - but just make to understand that it is not going to be a walk in the park. To get the most out of it, you have to work very hard.
Cheers,
Brian
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Eleanor Verified via GitHubWDI Immersive
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Galvanize is a great community to be a part of. I took the 8wk night class on Javascript first and it really helped me prepare for the bootcamp, I highly recommend it, especially since they reimburse you for it if you end up taking the 6 month program. I learned more than I knew was possible in 6 months there. There is so much support, instruction, exercises. There are also a lot of events at galvanize so you can network and get some food when you need a break from studying. They have career services to help you on the job search. One thing I really enjoyed here was the third quarter on data structures and algorithms, it was interesting and useful!
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Anushi Narula
Amazing Experience
The services provided are amazing and worth praising. The whole team works hard to provide timely assisstance and the content is absolutely coherent with the syllabus. Your progress is tracked and proper feedback is given on the tests taken. -
Saubhagya Shukla
Galvanize Services review
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The Galvanize’s admission counseling has been super helpful to me. I was trying to apply for MS Perfume Sciences in France , since it’s a niche course I was finding it a little difficult. But I trusted Galvanize with their process and they helped me at every step, from preparing my application documents till visa process , when and where required. I would like to thank Galvanize for their services, particularly Manasa Kavuluri for being available all the time.
Some points on why to choose Galvanize-
They help in preparing LOR , Resume , SOP and all the necessary documents based upon inputs from us.
They have a separate portal for accessing recorded classes, assessments and Academic counselling documents , the portal is user friendly and easy to navigate.
They help us choose the best fit for us and provide help for visa application, loan and scholarship if applicable.
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Unnam Anil Kumar
GRE flash course
It is a good course, on par with GRE level. And some practice tests are harder than actual GRE, which makes it little bit easy to tackle GRE questions. I would surely recommend this course for GRE prep. -
James S.
I went to the Galvanize Data Science Immersive and all i got was a huge pay raise and job security
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Background:
I attended the Data science immersive in Austin from December of 2019 to March 2020. I have a psychology degree from a foreign university, which i graduated from relatively recently, and had a large amount of trouble finding work after university. I interviewed for several data analyst positions, but had hit a wall in terms of knowledge base. I found Galvanize after getting a good recommendation from a hack reactor alumnus and friend.
Experience:
I really enjoyed the experience, from start to finish. in terms of rigor, it was quite intense. Most days, starting at 8:30 and ending around 5:30, we would cover two different lecture topics, and follow these with a series of questions and challenges meant to reinforce the lessons from the lecture. We also had more long form projects in the form of capstones, which taught me a lot about making professional level projects that i to this day use on my resume. These topics covered every subject I needed to know in order to get employed. More to that point, there was a comprehensive career services assistance program that was very helpful with securing my first job after the program, and i was even able to get hired during the peak of the pandemic.
Community:
the best part of studying at Galvanize is the huge alumni community. Using the connections i made at Galvanize has lead to landing several opportunities that i wouldn't have managed to achieve without them. It was partially through the connections i made while at Galvanize that led to my first job.
Overall:
I highly recommend it for anyone with a background in statistics, math, or computer science. it was a transformative educational experience, helped me build confidence i needed to succeed professionally both in myself and my skills, and introduced me to a number of both personal and business relationships.
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Jonathan Ayala
The Positive Change You've Been Looking For
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The Data Analyst Training Accelerator has been the most impactful education I've received in my adult life. Transitioning from a career in finance, it was difficult to land a role in data without working experience. What this program will give you is so much more than a slide deck.
From Day One, you are a Data Analyst. Per the curriculum, you can expect intensive, hands-on coding learned in an open forum format. There is no such thing as a silly question. After all, you have to be curious to be an effective analyst. There is both group and solo work, capstone projects, peer review, supplemental resources & materials (for extracurricular study) Lunch & Learns with industry experts, and professional development administered by a team of instructors who want to invest in the students and see you grow! The team is incredibly patient and skilled. Trust them, because they know their stuff!
The curriculum will give you experience with tools like SQL, Python, Excel, Tableau, and Statistics. While this is a lot to take in during the 18-weeks, the team goes above and beyond to make sure you aren't falling behind with office hours, review sessions, and e-learning opportunities.
Besides learning code, there are plenty of opportunities for personal and professional growth. From the onset, you'll be developing a growth mindset, and tackling issues like imposter syndrome head-on. An effective analyst must trust in their own ability in order for key business stakeholders to trust in their insights, and you will certainly develop this confidence in your own abilities. Lunch & Learn sessions are a great way to get a snapshot of where your career trajectory can take you. All throughout the program, you will become the ideal job candidate through career development services. The team at Galvanize will help you with your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn, networking, interview prep, and salary negotiation. Note that this support does not end at graduation; the team helps you get your foot in the door, but YOU will have the confidence and technical ability to step through that door.
I am so grateful to have been a part of this program. As part of the second cohort, all learnings were done digitally during the pandemic, but it was managed flawlessly. The learnings this program instilled within me helped me land my first data role as a Data Strategy Analyst, and I hope this review can help be the deciding factor that pushes you to apply to DATA. Whether you're fresh out of college or looking to transition careers, the DATA program at Galvanize is the positive change you've been looking for. -
Danny DeLeon
Data Science Immersive
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Having just learned python, specifically to get into this program, I was excited yet apprehensive about starting this course. Now looking back, taking this course was an incredibly worthwhile and valuable experience. Sure you can find similar content online and learn by yourself. However, the real value I found in Galvanize was the structure, live-setting, accountability, instructors, classmates, career services, and networking opportunities. I found my current position through the galvanize network. Kristen, the Austin program manager, was incredibly supportive and encouraging. Thanks to her hard work the program rolled out and wrapped up without a hitch allowing the students to focus on learning. The instructors, Juliana and Dan, were very knowledgeable, patient, and extremely hard working. Laura, the career services manager, is very good at what she does. Galvanize is lucky to have her. The DSI is not easy. The drain of long hours, seemingly impossible projects, and many moments of confusion can be overcome with the support of your classmates and staff. The course wouldn't be great if you didn't have to work hard for it. Overall, a great experience. -
Thomas Joy II
Data Science Immersive
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Taking this immersive was one of the bet choices I’ve made during my academic career! I’ve learned so much about Data Science and not just theory like most University courses would be, but application too. I would 100% recommend this course to anyone trying to get into the Data Science field or people just interested in how to apply Data Science to what they already do.
The instructional staff is extremely helpful and educated on the topics. They will assist you in any area that you feel that you fall short on. And where if they can’t explain it in the way you may understand, the DSR’s are there to pick up where they left off.
The career advisor is very knowledgeable about the process; I highly recommend anyone taking the course who will be looking for work afterwards to take what they say and the skills they teach seriously. Almost every interview I had following graduating the course, a scenario that was covered occurred (whether it was about your elevator pitch, salary negotiations, etc.) and I used the techniques taught and they worked exactly how described! Helped me get a sign on bonus for the employment I ended up accepting!
Overall, this course was well worth the time and resources put into it! -
Connie L.
Valuable Experience, Comprehensive Curriculum, Capable Instructors, Flexible Payment Options
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I'm a recent SF graduate w a background in consulting. I'm really impressed and in love with everything about the DSI!
Organization and Structure: the organization of this program is insane. Every minute of every hour is designed with purpose. It's very structured and right from the beginning, you'll get a Google calendar detailing the agenda for every day of the program, and rarely do we ever deviate from the plan or even our punctuality. This structure and transparency really helped me as a student to know what to expect.
Teaching Model: At the same time, I strongly support the daily model of learning they promote --which is non-grade based. You have 2 lectures a day and 2 assignments a day (one solo and one with a partner), but neither are ever turned in or graded. Some may critique that that then takes away the external pressure to complete the assignment, and to some degree, that's true, but I benefitted strongly from it in being much more concerned about understanding the concepts and improving myself, than just working towards a grade or idea of "completion".
Quality of Instruction: Another huge positive was the quality of the instructors and the student to teacher ratio/staff to student ratio. Depending on which city you complete the DSI in, you may have a diff number of applicants/cohortmates. But the ratio of students to instructors are the same. For our cohort of 18 people, we had 2 instructors and 2 DSRs (like TA's). As for quality...you know in college when you sometimes get professors who are clearly geniuses, but unfortunately really can't teach? Yeah, that didn't happen here. Concepts, problems, and solutions are explained thoroughly, and we were always encouraged to ask questions. The depth of knowledge our instructors had within them became very quickly apparent. Out of curiosity, I did some good old fashioned LinkedIn stalking and also found out they all have impressive work experience and credible backgrounds. You'd never know otherwise given they are so humble and never toot their own horn.
How Students Get Help: I was initially really concerned about quality of instruction and help given the pandemic, we had to move everything online, but I was impressed by how adaptive the staff were in transitioning to an online format and develop an efficient way to offer help for each individual student when needed. Each day of the program, we typically have a solo assignment and a pair programming assignment. During pair programming, we shared our screen, one of us driving and one of us navigating. When we needed help, we messaged a helpdesk bot on slack, and usually within a few seconds to 2 min, a DSR or instructor would pop into our breakout room to assist. It was all a lot easier than I would have imagined it to be to get help. At the end of the assignments, we were given access to the solutions, which we’d typically go over on your own at the end of the day.
Curriculum: I think Galvanize does a really good job of pulling the curriculum together, from its free basic prep offering, to its premium prep offering, to its actual course. The course is extremely comprehensive and up to date with the current Data Science and Machine Learning industries, ranging from coding, to stats, to ML techniques, building models, and a little beyond. The last topics we learned even covered advanced topics that the industry as a whole is still just dipping into. When I showed what I was learning to other data scientists and machine learning professionals, they were impressed w the amount of topics covered. Built into the curriculum, too, is your own dedicated career coach who will break down the steps to building your resume, cover letter, income negotiating, interviewing, networking, tailored to fit the Data Scientist job entry experience. You have access to the same career coach up to 6 months (and access to the Galvanize workspace in your city) after you graduate, too.
Cost: Yea...it’s expensive. You have several options for payment. Here were the options I had:- scholarship: You should apply for the scholarships they offer every cohort. During my time, they offered one full ride scholarship. Now I see they might be offering more? The process is: you fill out an application w an essay portion, pass the technical interview, and submit a video by a certain deadline. Ask staff for more info.
- early bird discount: during my cohort, they offered a 10% early bird discount off tuition if you completed passed the technical interview early. Not sure if it’s still ongoing, but again, check with staff.
- payment plans: I give Galvanize a lot of credit for being flexible. You can pay everything upfront, OR pay half first and then the other half when you’re halfway through the program, OR enroll in an Income Share Agreement where you either pay a percent of your income every month for x number of months and a CAP after you get a job, OR you can set up a sort of hybrid pay upfront/ISA hybrid payment plan, OR you go through some lending partners they have who will have a set interest amount.
Process:- complete prep work
- pass the technical interview (TI)
- complete the precourse work
- start the program.
I would personally recommend taking the premium prep course ($495) which is deducted from the tuition of the program prior to taking the TI.
Difficulty: Was it hard...yea. I came from a non-coding background and even before the program started, I had to put in serious work to meet a baseline for what you are expected to know before the program even starts. DON’T think of this as a “in-3-simple-months-I-can-totally-change-my-career get-rich-quick” scheme. You’re going to learn an incredible amount in the 3 months, yes, and I for example went from not even knowing what a terminal was, to building my own object detection machine learning model. And I am confident now in my grasp of concepts and in applying for jobs. BUT I had to really put in time to prep and learn the basics of python, git, pandas, basic stats, on my own, even before the program started. Not to mention, the full time program is on a M-F 8:30am-5:30pm schedule, but my cohortmates and I often found ourselves staying up until at least 10pm-1am working and reviewing. For me, the experience was really hard, not so much because of the complexity of the concepts, but because 1) the speed at which the material comes at you. 2) the number of topics you need to not only know, but be/become fluent in. 3) I came from a non-coding background, so while I was learning new concepts, I had to also translate them into code. I remember, for example, that the first week was supposed to be “review” on topics we did in the precourse material, but I was completely exhausted by end of week 1 and I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought! This is all to say...yea, it’s hard, but preparation, persistence, and practice will get you through!
Critiques:There are some points I do wish we had more guided help from instructors. Galvanize does push us to be as independent as possible, given the necessity of independent problem solving and troubleshooting as Data Scientist. However I think the bootcamp experience and learning would benefit from a recorded demo of the case studies we completed every Friday. That way, after we attempt it ourselves, we can watch how an experienced Data Scientist would think through such an assignment.
Overall: I’m such a big fan, because I came in as a skeptic but saw the quality of the instructors, comprehensiveness of the curriculum, got to do my own projects which I felt really excited about, and I came out of it feeling confident I can get my first job in this new industry. Along the way, Galvanize has truly demonstrated their support of my learning, and me as a student. They’ve been receptive to criticism (they beg for it, really…) and they do actually try to implement suggestions from students the best they can. Their ISA shows investment in me as an individual, and they are truly focused on churning out capable, quality Data Scientists.
Opinion:If you have the flexibility, see if the winter time cohort is right for you. I like the winter cohort schedule because the holidays allows for more breaks that wouldn’t typically be in the other cohort timeframes. This gave me more time to self-study, review, digest what we learned and prep for projects! -
Mario Parks
100% recommend to anyone considering a career in Data Science
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Completing the Galvanize Data Science Immersive has been one of the most fulfilling and enriching experiences of my life. I really appreciated the quality of materials even electing the free Basic Prep, the guidance throughout the enrollment process, and the support of the staff/instructors as I did the program. In addition to the awesome proprietary materials and live instruction, I was amazed at the focus on career services (resume review, LinkedIn usage, mock interviews) from the very beginning (lest we forget, most of us are looking to get a data science job post-graduation). Not to mention the genuine care and advice I received after graduating as I navigate the job market. Definitely feels like I joined a community rather than just receiving a certificate and out the door. Would 10/10 recommend checking out Galvanize if you're even considering a career pivot into data science. -
Miguel
Data Science Immersive
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The course was a challenging but a rewarding experience. I barely knew python the year prior to starting the course, however using their prep material I was able to get to a level that prepared me for the course. The course does not waste time teaching python, it is taught in python so the better prepared you are the more material you will be able to follow. However the amount of coding you will be doing will definitely improve your python and problem solving skills. The course is very hands on, every lecture is followed by practical application and there are plenty of case study’s and capstones for applying all the different things you are learning. Regardless of the pace of the course the professors are always willing to field questions and in my experience there was sufficient instructors ready to answer questions and troubleshoot any barriers you might come across that prevent you from moving forward in the practical application. -
Dilyara Timerkaeva
Data Science Bootcamp
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First of all, I was impressed by preparatory step prior the course. For the long time I was looking for such a constructive and structured python tutorial with lot's of practice. It helped to become toned and prepared for the bootcamp. The week 0 and 13 following weeks have been very intense in knowledge and experience. Curriculum was well constructed, team followed the plan minute-by-minute. Emotional aspect was treated well. We had time for retrospective thoughts and could share them. To my opinion this part is as important as the rest, as it helped to be 100% focused on materials during the bootcamp. All the interpersonal aspects were carefully managed. Curriculum and team was very professional, covering practical and fundamental concepts of data science topics. Lot's materials and references were given for future progress. As I had a PhD in physics prior to course, it was important for me to go deep enough in maths and statistics, and my curiosity was satisfied. Also I was looking for pretty profound practical outcome. That was as well satisfied and I ended up with cool projects allowing me to discuss them during the following interviewing process. My programming skills improved a lot during the precourse and the bootcamp. And on the top of that, professional team of job search coaches helped with the job search and all of my frustrations and fears. I didn't work for a long time after my PhD graduation and I am happy to be on board now. This is what I wanted and I got it. Thanks to Galvanize team. -
Lynx Rose
DSI Review
Great overall program and amazingly flexible to the student's needs. Would recommend it if you work well in a fast passed environment. Have recommended it to multiple Marine reservists already and will continue to do so. -
Jamie
Highly Recommend!
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I had an incredible experience taking the Galvanize Data Science Immersive program (remote campus). For reference, I came to the program with a strong technical background, but with very little programming experience.
What sets Galvanize apart is the rigorous instruction and career support.
My two instructors had a wealth of industry experience, so they were able to make real-world connections for each topic. The daily assignments (more like mini projects), weekly case-studies, and capstone projects were extremely rigorous, in that they were relatively open-ended and required students to develop intuition and problem solving skills while applying new concepts. Throughout these tasks, I had the opportunity to pair program, work in small groups, and work independently, all of which were beneficial to my personal and academic growth.
In addition to receiving excellent instruction, we also had weekly lectures from a career coach, who continues to work with us after the program is over. My coach set us up for success by focusing on actionable skills such as resume/linkedin building, job search strategies, and mock interviews. When the program ended, I was able to hit the ground running in my job search, with confidence.
The program itself is a lot of work; it is impossible to learn everything the first time, so it requires a high level of grit and determination. However, I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to take on a challenge and is interested in diving into the world of data science! Galvanize truly has an amazing program. -
Arun kumar
Galvanize Data Science Bootcamp
The Galvanize experience was rewarding and the quality of instruction is outstanding. The classes are small and there is intensive support from the instructional staff to help you reach your goals. I would recommend this program to both STEM college grads and other professionals. -
Greg
Disappointed - Software Engineering Immersive
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I'll start with the good.
The lead instructor has a great mindset when it comes to focusing on the students and how they learn and grow individually. I dropped the program early since the second half just felt like a prison and all the work is self guided anyway, but career services seemed pretty good from the bit that I went through. Good advice on setting up LinkedIn and resume building, but maybe don't expect much more than that. Most of my gripes are from the curriculum and environment.
The curriculum and environment...
The curriculum is almost completely taught by videos and self-guided time. You will be in class for 60 hours a week (so that they retatin accreditation), if you're five minutes late at any point in the day, expect a third of an absence, three absences you will be removed from the program. You will be pulled out of class or asked to change locations several times a day, often right as your just making progress/settling in. The building presents a hip, techy workplace at first glance, but the more time you spend there it quickly turns into the lifeless building it is.
The amount of effort that goes into presenting that environment would be better used actually building it. Every office around the building has giant glass walls that you can expect to feel like a zoo exhibit. They put on regular workshops in the middle of the space so they can make sure you see them being techy, or entrepreneurial, or whatever their angle is. It's an exhibit more than an incubator or school.
Overall it's a very disruptive environment. Also, not sure if this one is me being jaded by prior experience, but only expect to really walk into a job using the exact tools they teach the curriculum on. Instructors will not be able to provide advice unless you adhere exactly to what they have used and is part of the curriculum. Engineering is honestly a misnomer for what they selling here.Data structures are very loosely touched on and never in the course is the application of engineering principles really taught. Expect to be handed a project with some test cases and told to go have fun. Assignments and tests are done by bullet points or following a list of instructions. It doesn't inspire free thought, or how to solve a problem using engineering.
The first six weeks of the course is definitely where the majority of the course lies. It does a good job of familiarizing you with javascript, but the second half where you're learning how to build actual applications. You're handed a business document and a rendering of a website and told to go make it. It's easy to make something show on the screen through code, but the means in which you accomplish this is where the term engineer comes from, and this is what is not touched on a single time through the course.
My advice coming out of this.. if you need the in classroom setting, do the part time course. You're interaction is probably the same even if you're there full time. But at least you have you're own schedule and can have a less distracting environment. The price tag is high. If like online learning, do online, maybe look at some of the paid courses available elsewhere. You will get a lot more material for your dollar.
So the real question. What are you paying for at Galvanize?
The space (not great), the curriculum (has value early on, but definitely not 20k), the instructors (hardly any instruction or mentorship), career services (resume, linkedin, cover letter, interview advice, pay negotiations, overall valuable stuff, but again not 20k), oh, and the name Galvanize/Hack Reactor, which does carry value. So long as they don't tarnish it.
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Nikhil
An enjoyable and empowering experience - glad I did it!
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I personally found the Galvanize Data Science Immersive program to be a very rewarding experience. My prior background was in biotech, and after studying and working in that space for a bit, I felt I wanted to make a change. I found the program to be very interesting, filled with engaging instructors who were very knowledgeable about the material. The curriculum covered a great breadth of data science topics, but we still went into the depth of the math behind algorithms which I felt gave us good grounding on the justification of what we were learning. I also enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere of the daily assignments and group projects. Most importantly though, I really appreciated the career services they offered throughout the program, up to the final weeks, and even past graduation. I felt they really prepared me for navigating the job search and connecting with people. I'm glad I did the program.
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Andrea Fabry
Extraordinary Data Science Bootcamp for Self Starters
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SwitchUp initially matched me up with Galvanize when I was researching bootcamps. I did online programs previously and visited a few bootcamps (attended sample courses when available). I immediately knew that Galvanize was the best match for my learning style. I find that the curricula of most data science prep places cover the same topics - Galvanize's curriculum was a great mix and match between rock solid theoretical foundations and hands-on implementation experience. Accordingly, the bootcamp was intense, required great math and technical foundations - 10 hours days plus a lot of extra reading coding (plus material you don't even get to cover and can dive into later). Now a data scientist, I still use the course materials as reference. Where Galvanize truly shined was after the bootcamp was over. If you are switching careers, you have to slug through many interviews - career services was there for me with unbelievable one-on-one support every step of the way. If you paid a career coach, you'd have paid easily the bootcamp's price in hourly rates for all the help and support I've received. Pros: outstanding curriculum and instruction, small class size, extraordinary career support. Cons: their motto covers it all: "This is not school." They will give you all the tools to succeed but they will not force you to use them. It's up to you how hard and how fast you push yourself to achieve your goals of becoming a data scientist.
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Nick Teixeira
Data Science Immersive
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1-year after completing Galvanize Data Science Immersive and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. At 34 and already in a decent career field I wanted to make a change. I could have gone back to school or done a different boot camp- but the Galvanize program, structure, and community drew my attention.
You can't argue with results. My cohort was small, only 7 people. 6 finished and all were employed full-time within 3 months. My personal experience was filled with a lot of apprehension and concern around "is this going to be enough?".
It was. That simple.
Let's be clear - they are not going to apply to jobs for you. They are not going to do the course work for you. If you fall behind it is up to you to ask for more attention.
However, I found the instructors to be knowledgeable and willing to dedicate time for those who wanted more attention - but also not hold the group back. Career services offered advice and gave you time when you asked for it. The atmosphere was positive and there were lots of ways to network/connect and hustle to find work.
I personally received two six-figure offers within 3 months, and there were a lot of possibles in the pipeline when I did end up accepting a position. Of course your results may vary - but if you are interested in upping your data analytics game, being a master with python (a very useful language), and opening up career fields you didn't think would be possible - I found Galvanize a great place to do it and think it was exactly the right choice. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results at the present, and the future looks great!
Why 4 stars? Because there is always room for improvement and that missing star is YOU. You will make it 5 stars if you want it.
Some additional thoughts I have:
- Do at least an intro to Python course and have some exposure to Pandas - this will help you keep up. It also wouldn't hurt to do a simple Intro to Computer Science class where you really break down loops and objects in coding. Not 100% needed but will help you keep up. SQL practice also will be helpful. You don't need to be a master of any of this by all means - you know more than you realize!
- Do full immersive. I completely understand how big of a leap of faith it is to take 4+ months away from work and go without income during that time. I really believe the intensive is the way to go rather than doing it part-time. The crunched curriculum is like a shot in the arm and you will learn/retain more and find more practical uses when you jump in with both feet.
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Christopher Jannenga
Utter Disappointment
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Two years ago I knew that I wanted to make a substantial change to my life for myself and my family - Galvanize didn’t really help me do that though. I have been an Engineer now professionally for 2+ years and after taking some time to reflect on my journey I thought it would be best to leave a review.
I can honestly say that the crucial information I learned over the last two years mostly came from Udemy.com and practice. Galvanize was good for the sense that I had to dedicate myself to coding every single day for six months. There were many times though that my Cohort would be lost and asking for help with non to be found.
Galvanize even managed to use us as guinea pigs in our third quarter by letting us be the first to experience a completely lacking React curriculum. We had instructors on vacation and with no help to clarify things the class resorted to purchasing Stephen Grider’s “Modern React and Redux” course to complete together.
The overall experience was completely lacking. Some of my fellow graduates resorted to leaving it all behind and going back to old jobs. Some of them looked for work for about 2 years until finding something - they drove Lyft and Uber to get by. I resorted too Freelancing and trying to make websites and anything else I could to get people to pay me.
I ended up getting a job two years later with some help of Udemy.com and being in the right place at the right time.
When people ask me about attending Galvanize, I always give the same answer. If you have 20k to waste then go for it. If not invest time in to 3 - 4 Udemy Courses and you’ll achieve better results!
Please also note - The program has progressively gotten worse. I’ve kept in touch with many Alumni who were in attendance and the general consensus is that it was a complete waste and helped them go nowhere. I’ve seen the Phoenix campus churn through instructors and let go of critical staff all while shortening the program length, introducing more “Self-taught” curriculum, and leaving students to fend for themselves.
I have removed my time at Galvanize from my resume and don’t disclose it when talking with engineers because Galvanize didn’t get me to where I am. I did.
Please, If you are reading this - Spend your money more wisely. Udemy courses and some local tech groups will get you further, faster, then this utter disappointment of a program ever could.
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Emily
Pull the Trigger
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I would highly recommend Galvanize's Data Science Immersive. It is tough, much tougher than I anticipated but that's what gets you a job afterwards. My best advice going into the program is practice practice practice, specifically python. This will help you go farther in the class. My background was an analyst and I put in about 12 hours a day M-F. By the weekend you are exhausted. Additionally, take the career services team's advice. They know what they are talking about, and are in a different league than any college counselor I ever worked with. I did everything the said to a T, and had a data science job lined up prior to graduation with two offers in total.
For me, Galvanize was life changing. It provided me the ability to create an entirely new career track in just a few short months. What you know by the end that you didn't know in the beginning of the class is seriously impressive. I would recommend Galvanize to anyone as long as they are/can be a hard worker. Being surrounded by such a driven group of people is also a fun experience that you don't get at the typical job and helps push you farther.
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Adrian Bjune
SF Data Science Immersive
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The Data Science Immersive program at Galvanize has been absolutely amazing. Even though I had a technical background coming into the program, there was still so much to learn that it was still challenging, but by working with the instructors and other students I was able to overcome every block I hit.
It's a lot of knowledge thrown at you every day, but the morning and afternoon sprints (especially the pair programming) really helped drive home what we were learning. Not only that, but having to actually apply the techniques we learned to different case studies and eventually our capstone projects was great and gave me a lot to add to my portfolio.
I'm still in the process of searching for a job, but James has been essential throughout the process (even after we graduate), by helping us with our resume and interview skills, and connecting us to companies looking to hire.
10/10 would definitely recommend the Data Science Immersive at Galvanize.