Galvanize Reviews
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Will P
Great experience!
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No, you won't become a data science expert in 3 months.
Yes, the fundamentals you learn at Galvanize will put you well on your way and make you highly employable.
I'm happy with my choice of Galvanize because:
- My fellow classmates were intellectually curious and excellent partners
- The instructors focused the curriculum on a first-principles understanding of key machine learning concepts, followed by project-based applications of those principles.
- The startup community surrounding the campus is vibrant, and provided several opportunities for collaboration.
Onward and upward!
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Matthew Riach
Good for self starters
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A little background on me. I came to Galvanize as a Colorado Native with a college degree and 5 years of working experience running a financial planning practice. I had no coding or technology background. I decided on Galvanize over some other boot camps because of their sales pitch and culture. We will teach you a little about a lot of things, but more importantly how to learn a new programming language quickly. When you get in front of an employer you can say I may not know a ton about your code base, but give me 2 weeks and I will.
Every boot camp and campus has its own culture and people so you should always shadow for a day to see if it’s a good fit for you. I shadowed at 3 different boot camps and Galvanize was the best fit for me. Galvanize is not for everyone though. If you are looking for someone to hold your hand and guide you as you learn about coding then Galvanize is not for you. They take the approach of you need to struggle at times to really learn some topics or concepts. I like this style and it worked well for me. I also got a lot out of helping my fellow students. This would help reaffirm a concept in my head.
Galvanize – Denver had great instructors while I was there. This is always in flux though. One of the Galvanize Denver biggest weaknesses is they don’t have a timely process of replacing an instructor when they leave. They also have changed the curriculum while I was there so I can’t speak to how the new one is. Mine was self-paced and that worked great for me. I would also say I got lucky with my job search post-graduation. I only applied to 15 jobs and had 2 interviews. A lot of my fellow students are still looking. It typically takes several months to hear back from companies and you might end up working some contract work or other odd jobs while you wait. Like the teaching style of Galvanize, jobs aren’t handed out for free. You must work for it and continue to code post-graduation.
I really enjoyed my time at Galvanize – Denver. I liked the teachers, culture, and the learning style. I would recommend anyone thinking about going to any boot camp to do the following. Shadow a student for half the day, Talk to current students, new and about to graduate, and if you live in Denver attend their learn to code meetup they do every Wednesday. You will meet current students and get a taste of coding.
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Emily
Life Pivot, Great Experience
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After working at a boring and non-challenging job as a tech writer, I decided to learn to code. Galvanize surprised me by not only giving me the coding skills I needed, but also teaching me to teach myself any technical skill I want. The career services were excellent and helped me land a great contract-to-hire job 6 weeks after the program, and 4 months later I've been hired full time at that company.
The curriculum at Galvanize is definitely the cutting edge of what you need to be a strong front-end developer (and probably back end too, but that's not my interest so I didn't really dig past the basic back end skills I needed to get my own app up and running). New-ish technologies like React, CSS Grid, and testing with Cypress are examples of things that my very smart and experienced colleagues at my new job simply aren't as familiar with as I am.
The thing that surprised me the most about going to Galvanize was the community. Not only at Galvanize, but even after, every tech event I attend in Denver it feels like I know EVERYONE because I met so many people that were in school with me, the instructors, and our guest speakers. I'm not even that good at making friends and I've made a ton of close connections which have served me well navigating through the Denver job market, as well as just having awesome people to hang out with.
I highly recommend Galvanize.
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Cindy S.
Software Engineer
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I attended the Web Development immersive program through Galvanize’s Phoenix campus. I graduated in July 26, 2018. I went into this program with zero programming or computer science knowledge and came out after 6 months skilled and prepared to be offered a position as a Software Engineer for a Fortune 500 company. I am three months into my job and absolutely love every minute. Galvanize gave me all the tools I needed to succeed in this industry and helped me create a brand new life that I could only ever dream of up until this point. Yes they give you the tools but it also takes a lot of hard work and dedication on your part. If you follow their advice and treat the program like a bootcamp and invest 100% of yourself then you will be successful. My experience with Galvanize has been completely life changing and it was the best decision of my life to go through their program!
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Angelo Tan
Intro to Web Development Review
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I really enjoyed and gained a lot of knowledge partaking in the Introductory Web Development course at Galvanize. Prior to attending this class, I only knew the basic functions of HTML. By the end of the course, I learned in-depth knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript and how it functions into our web browsers.
The instructor and teacher assistant were one of the best teachers I have ever worked with (Coming from someone who has a 4-year degree and military experience.). They made themselves available for additional help and assistance to every student in and out of class. I have seen the instructor and TA work carefully to ensure the students are successful, whether the students had little or vast experience in the topic.
Galvanize hosted events with employers to network with prospective employees who are interested in tech careers. It’s a great way to get out and talk to employers to learn how the tech industry can improve by applying the skills and knowledge we learned from Galvanize.
The location of the schoolhouse was very convenient for commuters. I was commuting from the East Bay side of the Bay Area. I took BART and walked from the Montgomery Station which is about a 5-minute walk to the schoolhouse. From my experience, Galvanize is very accessible to anyone in the Bay Area.
I highly and would recommend Galvanize to anyone interested in the coding field to enhance their skills. It also a great network for anyone seeking jobs, as well and keeping up with the coding knowledge in today’s tech industry.
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Elise
Best Decision I've Ever Made
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I was in the Data Science Immersive program from Feb. 2018 - May 2018 and it was by far the best thing I've ever done. Not only do the teachers pour themselves out to make sure you understand what is being taught, but the faculty also spends a ton of time helping you get a job. I honestly considered doing it a second time because I loved the experience so much! I would definitely recommend this for anyone who is excited about data science and wants to explore or work in the field.
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Robert Wining
Front End Web Development
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This was best educational course that I have ever participated in. Anything I needed in order to succeed was made available to me. The instructors, facilities, and staff were excellent. The instructor for this course was so incredibly patient and passionate. I was so excited to complete my project but wasn't glad to have the course end. I hope to attend more courses at Galvanize.
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Graham
Absolutely not worth it
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I'm a recent graduate of the Galvanize Web-Development immersive program (<3 months) and I will tell you to absolutely stay away from the program right now, at least the Denver campus.
For starters, I would be extremely leery of any data you see from Galvanize on their job placement rates. The last data the website shows is from 2016. In my cohort of 20 graduates, only 3 have solid paying jobs now three months after graduation (and one of them works for Galvanize, so that barely counts). The only people who have jobs are people who showed up to the course already having strong coding backgrounds.
Their admissions process is a joke. You solve a logic problem, submit "code" (which can be basically anything), and make a simple animation on a website that is designed for children. The interview portion is hysterically easy. Once the course actually starts it gets even more absurd.
Galvanize's whole idea now is that they aren't a traditional 'school' anymore. They give you a bunch of various drills and projects you have to complete and throw you out there to go do them, with instructor help if need be. There are no tests, no quizzes, no grades, no homework, essentially no real checks to make sure you actually understand anything. While this might be ok for someone who already has a solid foundation in JS and coding, it's basically the equivalent of giving someone an essay written in a foreign language and telling them to go translate it when they don't speak a single word of the language. Without the fundamentals, you may as well be trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.
This wouldn't be so bad if they were staffed well, but they aren't. During my time in the course, I think we lost 5-6 different instructors. On top of that, the vast majority of the instructors are people who just graduated from the course, and have never actually worked as Web or Software Devs. They're so understaffed that half the time when you have a problem they tell you to go to other students to teach you. Except I'm not paying those other students $21k for help, I'm paying you.
Because there are no exams or grades, it's pretty much impossible to fail the course. If you can't figure out a coding drill, they'll eventually just walk you through it and then decide that you "understand" it because you've seen it done one time. If you tell them you have no idea what's going on and are falling behind (like I did nearly every day) they'll insist that you're doing fine. Since there are no grades or tests or any real way of knowing how well you're doing, you take their word for it. Then suddenly you're graduated and don't know anything.
The course organization is atrocious. Ideas start (like remedial training, advisor groups, etc.) and then either get tossed aside or end up getting altered constantly because there's little to no planning. There's no syllabus and the curriculum seems to change like the wind; it's just sort of chaos. Ideas are also just sort of chucked in at random. We didn't get a "breakout" (a lecture) on the basics of how the internet works until halfway through the course. We didn't even touch basic computer science concepts until about a week prior to graduation.
The only real positive I can say is that Career Services is actually very good. They clearly care a lot, work hard, help you improve your resume, LinkedIn, cover letters, etc. The problem is that without strong coding skills to back it up, a good deal of that is just window dressing.
I don't think Galvanize is a scam: the people who work there are good people and clearly want you to succeed. But just wanting something is meaningless without results, and right now the course feels disorganized and rudderless. Stay away from G-School (at least the Denver campus) until some serious changes are made.
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Phil Guevara
Great introduction
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The insructors of the course were very knowledgeable and professional; I appreciated their insight and experiences as they taight the curriculum. I went into with next to no experience in Python but I'm very intrigued by the possibilites of the language, and feel like I got a good enough foundation to carry on my own learning.
I would say the pace of the course felt uneven at times; the first half of the course felt very thorough (programming basics, working with dataframe, visualizations), while parts of the second half felt rushed.
Overall I'm glad I took the course and am looking forward to carrying on my education in the subject.
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Brady
Web Development Immersive ++
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I'm really glad I chose Galvanize in San Francisco over General Assembly, Hack Reactor, App Academy and Learner's Guild. I first discovered the Galvanize community in Seattle and their focus on entrepreneurship, project based learning, and diversity of student and teacher backgrounds really caught my attention. When I visited the San Francisco campus, I found very much the same culture. Having six months, compared to just three months at other schools, to learn and absorb and practice such a vast amount of information and skills, also grabbed me as a much more sustainable and healthy way to learn. Luckily all my instincts ended up leading me toward the right decision. All the teachers, students, staff, coworking space users, and event throwers that the Galvanize community brings into their circle fit with their ethos. My expectations have been continually exceeded. I have met countless new friends and collegues with the same goals and worldview, I have been gifted complete control over what I want to learn and how I want to learn it, and I have been constantly challenged to challenge myself more than I thought possible and I have consisently achieved those goals with support and guidance from everyone around me. Even as I am graduating I am being pushed to try bigger and fail harder, and learn faster. This is everything I've ever dreamed of from a school, and that is coming from 7+ years of traditional college (one technical degree and one Bachelor's). As a prospective student, I think it helped me greatly that I had a very clear picture of my goals and what I wanted to get out of the program. For others without such clarity, I would definitely recommend some deep thought about why you are choosing web development and what you want to get out of it and who you want to become by the end of the program. However, if that is not the case and you are just feeling drawn to it, if the culture fit feels right, go for it and ask for all the help and all the questions you can and Galvanize peeps will be there to help you figure it out. Because the culture fit coming out of Galvanize and into the workforce feels like an effortless extension of why I chose Galvanize in the first place.
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Brian K
An incredible experience that's more than a school
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I went to Galvanize to change my career path and the staff helped me every inch of the way. Including before I got in! The instructors take the time to sit down with you every day and make sure you don't get lost in the intimidating ammount of work. Most of the instructors went through the program, so they know how difficult it is and they empathize with the struggling students(literally every student will struggle). The course is always evolving to adapt to the best and newest technologies that are current in the workforce. The course sets the students up for success and being comfortable in high pressure situations in the real world because Galvanize is non-stop. What an incredible experience!
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David Martin
Excellent Training and Connections
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Galvanize granted me contacts and the technical edge necessary to land a data science job within a week of graduation.
Galvanize has a very jobs oriented approach towards their data science immersive. The curriculum is structured such that if you follow it well and apply yourself, sometimes going beyond what is simply required, you can develop a functional understanding of the language of data science, targetting knowledge relevant to employment. This grants the toolset necessary to converse and work in almost any context where data science is used, from classification and regression algorithms to natural language processing and recommendation systems, and everything inbetween. Due to the sheer volume of material covered, the course moves quickly. If you keep up with the pace, likely through either hard work or prior knowledge, you can gain significant insight into the various fields of data science. That said, their curriculum is tailored towards employment rather than pure knowledge, for better and worse. For instance, in the Phoenix Galvanize Data Science immersive I took, neural networks were not explained in the coursework (though the instructors were happy to teach me about them when I asked anyways) because local employers don't use neural nets much. In this way, Galvanize's coursework provides a tool custom built to grant the skills necessary for employment in the local job space.
As a personal example, Galvanize granted a large scale overview of the various concepts of data science such that I could hold a conversation with people at any level of experience on them. The was relevant towards impressing people while networking that I was knowledgeable, and having intelligent conversations in interviews.
In addition to its coursework, Galvanize has projects purposefully built to teach employable skills and make connections. Every student does a capstone project which is done with real world data, and often real world connections. This provides an excellent opportunity to develop skills for a resume, and also to develop connections and leads on jobs. They also provide interview preparation, resume building assistance, mock technical and personal interviews, networking events, and personalized job search assistance.
As a personal example, after a guest speaker came to talk about data science in their field, the instructors mentioned that they were looking for capstone projects. The speaker gave them ideas for projects that he was interested in based on data their company had, and I ultimately chose one of those projects as my capstone. This put me directly in contact with a potential employer, doing data science for them. Using the tools Galvanize had equiped me with, especially those related towards data manipulation and visualization, I was able to impress them such that they hired me prior to my graduation. In addition to getting an opportunity to become a data scientist, I've found that the toolset that Galvanize equiped me with allows me to use bleeding edge technology to manipulate data, providing assistance to data scientists decades my senior.
Ultimately, if you're looking to get into the data science field, I am hard pressed to imagine a better opportunity than what Galvanize has with it's Data Science Immersive program. It provides the technical skills relevant to success, the contacts to impress people, and the assistance to help you along the way there.
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Jon Ng
Data Science for Days
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A big believer in the idea that instruction, mentorship, community, and focused study can take one much further, much faster than studying on one's own a few hours a week from various online, spotty, online resources, I began researching data science immersive programs. At the end of extensive research on the different "bootcamps", I concluded that Galvanize was the best fit for me and would get me where I wanted to be.
Instruction. The core group of instructors that taught my cohort were intelligent and passionate about teaching. Our lead instructor went above and beyond with his preparation and giving of his time to make sure we succeeded, and all of our instructors were generally always happy to stop and chat or help with anything we needed. For the capstone project (the culminating experience of the entire program), my cohort was split into several groups of 5-6 students and we had an instructor who we were able to consult with about our project and any difficulties we encountered throughout the process. Overall, I always felt supported and felt comfortable to ask questions (and learned a ton!).
Career. The career team (James and Mary Ann) are very talented and good at what they do. For myself and my peers, I know that they helped drastically in making connections, understanding your background and where you want to go, all the way to salary negotiation. The career team was generous with their time, meeting one-on-one with students and giving us their attention and care. Even after Galvanize, after getting a job, I felt comfortable asking the James and Mary Ann for career advice, and they were always so supportive and helpful.
Wellbeing and success. Bootcamps are stressful. Yes, you learn a ton, but some days you will also cry, wonder if you're working hard enough, doing enough, being enough. In addition to the instruction staff who will give you pep talks, there is designated staff (Jenny, for my cohort) who ensure students are succeeding in the program as well as maintaining wellbeing, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Jenny led sessions on skills and tools to be successful, such as prioritizing, timeboxing, growth mindset, and overcoming imposter syndrome. We also had regular check-ins and were asked how we were doing and asked about our feedback into the program. Jenny always listened attentively and with empathy.
Community. Galvanize is an education program, but it is also a coworking space. Because of this, there is pretty much one (or, usually, more) event(s) that take place every night throughout the week. This fosters a great sense of community and is really positive for networking. In addition, Galvanize does a good job in their admissions to make sure that all of your peers are persons who will contribute to a positive community throughout the duration of the program and far beyond. I made some very close friends from my program, who I still regularly keep in touch with.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Galvanize and am excited to have gone through it in my data science journey. Through the program, my expectations were, overall, met and often exceeded, and I'm happy to belong to a network with so many smart and talented people.
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Ismael Perez
Great Learning Community!
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Galvanize Phoenix is a great choice for anyone looking to up their skills in tech. I attended the Web Developement Immersive course and could not be happier. The curriculum, instructors, and career services are top notch in my honest opinion. I attended a university and received my BSIT and even though it was a good experience, I can say with confidence that Galvanize was an overall better learning experience.
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M. C.
Got Multiple Offers After Graduation!
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Intro
I used to work as a principal software engineer at a big software company for many years doing full stack Java web development. I wanted a new job but everything in web development has changed from Java/php/Ruby to JavaScript frameworks. I looked at a few bootcamps (Coding Dojo, Hack Reactor, Dev Mountain and Dev League in Hawaii - nice but no time to surf) and was accepted by them all. They are all good schools but Galvanize was 6 months (24 weeks), not 3 months to help us learn more and one of their instructors, Josh, used to teach at Hack Reactor and gave us a free Saturday course in JavaScript.
Precourse
I was accepted at all the schools. Hack Reactor had a one month prep course, other schools were easier to get in and Galvanize had an online test with an instructor, Oli. Josh gave me some last minute tips and I passed with flying colors but I would recommend people learn JavaScript first. They also like us to have a pre course project making a web page. I reached out to a few grads who helped me with Galvanize.
Quarters
The course was taught by Nestor and the resident was Michael (a recent graduate). Both were very knowledgeable in the materials.
The first quarter was web (HTML, CSS) and JavaScript. We created an image scraper JavaScript web application. Each quarter we get about one week to work on a final project and between quarters we get a break week.
Second quarter was on React. This was the first cohort to learn React in the second quarter and probably the first to really deep dive on Redux, Thunk middleware and JS testing! We all made React web and React Native mobile apps projects for second quarter!
Third quarter was on Node and database development with the project to be integrated with our React projects to be hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services). We all worked together and got everything done right before the Thanksgiving holiday break week.
Fourth quarter was our final project (3 weeks) and prep work, CS concepts for interviews. I worked on a React Native mobile app and our cohort had the most diverse set of applications throughout the program (5 mobile apps, e-commerce apps, video game for 2 players) and technologies (React, React Native, GraphQL, Python, Socket IO, and many more)! The limited amount of time the students had (1 to 3 weeks) to build full stack applications was truly amazing and inspirational!
As for career services, James encouraged us to go to informational interviews (I met with 18 tech professionals and wrote a blog about it http://siliconvalleycoffeetalk.blogspot.com/2018/03/interested-in-silicon-valley-coffee-talk.html), set us up to interview with many companies and even had follow up interview preps to help us months after graduation. This was free to graduates and we also get six months access to Galvanize workspace and lifetime use of the Alumni lounge.
After graduation, there weren't that many companies hiring and we went to Galvanize interview prep with help from Galvanize director Sherif. He gave me a few pointers which I tried at an interview and it got me an offer from a start-up. Overall I received multiple offers two months after graduation, had interviews with big companies (had to cancel a few due to the job offers) such as Apple, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Netflix, Amazon, IBM and many more.
Thank you Galvanize. Even though I graduated and got a job, I still go there to help with the new students and go to meet ups as it encouraged me to pay it forward with people new to tech. I highly recommend this school!
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Mitch C.
Web Developer
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Intro
I used to work as a principal software engineer at a big software company for many years doing full stack Java web development. I wanted a new job but everything in web development has changed from Java/php/Ruby to JavaScript frameworks. I looked at a few bootcamps (Coding Dojo, Hack Reactor, Dev Mountain and Dev League in Hawaii - nice but no time to surf) and was accepted by them all. They are all good schools but Galvanize was 6 months (24 weeks), not 3 months to help us learn more and one of their instructor Josh used to teach at Hack Reactor and gave us a free Saturday course in JavaScript.
Precourse
I was accepted at all the schools. Hack Reactor had a one month prep course, other schools were easier to get in and Galvanize had an online test with an instructor, Oli. Josh gave me some last minute tips and I passed with flying colors but I would recommend people learn JavaScript first. They also like us to have a pre course project making a web page. I reached out to a few grads who helped me with Galvanize.
Quarters
The course was taught by Nestor and the resident was Michael (a recent graduate). Both were very knowledgeable in the materials.
The first quarter was web (HTML, CSS) and JavaScript. We created an image scraper JavaScript web application. Each quarter we get about one week to work on a final project and etween quarters we get a break week.
Second quarter was on React. This was the first cohort to learn React in the second quarter and probably the first to really deep dive on Redux, Think middleware and JS testing! We all made React web and React Native mobile apps projects for second quarter!
Third quarter was on Node and database development with the project to be integrated with our React projects to be hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services). We all worked together and got everything done right before the Thanksgiving holiday break week.
Fourth quarter was our final project (3 weeks) and prep work, CS concepts for interviews. I worked on a React Native mobile app and our cohort had the most diverse set of applications throughout the program (5 mobile apps, e-commerce apps, video game for 2 players) and technologies (React, React Native, GraphQL, Python, Socket IO, and many more)! The limited amount of time the students had (1 to 3 weeks) to build full stack applications was truly amazing and inspirational!
As for career services, James encouraged us to go to informational interviews (I met with 18 tech professionals and wrote a blog about it http://siliconvalleycoffeetalk.blogspot.com/2018/03/interested-in-silicon-valley-coffee-talk.html), set us up to interview with many companies and even had follow up interview preps to help us months after graduation. This was free to graduates and we also get six months access to Galvanize workspace and lifetime use of the Alumni lounge.
After graduation, there weren't that many companies hiring and I went to Galvanize interview prep with help from their director Sherif. He gave me a few pointers which I tried at an interview and it got me an offer from a start-up. Overall I received multiple offers two months after graduation, had interviews with big companies (had to cancel a few due to the job offers) such as Apple, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Netflix, Amazon, IBM and many more.
Thank you Galvanize. Even though I graduated and got a job, I still go there to help with the new students and go to meet ups as it encouraged me to pay it forward with people new to tech. I highly recommend this school!
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Race Carpenter
Life Changing Experience
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I first went to Galvanize to complete their Coding Bootcamp, which was taught by one of my first professors at the real Immersive course later on. The sense of community and genuine care for a critical understanding of this material was very strong and apparent from the moment I got started. I knew that even though I didn't understand how to code, if I invested in the program they invest back into me.
Also, not only do you get the education, but you get the entire network and community of people there who have experience and can help you with your work, or finding work. Which is exactly how I got my first job.
A year after knowing very little other than some basic HTML and CSS, I am now working with one other person on a fully functional mobile app for a startup here in Phoenix. It was seriously a life-changing experience, and has given me the confidence to ride this wave of momentum and continue learning and growing and helping newer students as they arrive in the same position I was in. -
DrewM
Accelerated Java Script Course
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Great experience! From my inquiry, all the way through the end of the Accelerated Java Script class, I felt well taken care of. First of all, the intake staff are interested in getting to know you, your background, where you want to be, and helping to get you on the right track. If you need help to get to the point where you can take the Accelerated class, they have a free online program to help you get started. Once in the class, the instructor offered information in what I feel was several great ways. Not only did he cover the basics of Java Script in an intelligent, interesting, and FUN way, making it so even total n00bies ( like me!) could understand and enjoy, but he also covered the material in a way you can't just learn anywhere; offering many many tips on best practices, what to expect in the workplace, and other tidbits you could only learn by listening to an experienced developer discuss the topic. I definitely recommend this class! Big thanks to Galvanize Phoenix!
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Taylor H.
Data Science Immersive
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This is a total career shift for me. (You can do it, too!) I have had a lot of different kinds of jobs over the last decade and discovered that wanted to become a data scientist. After looking at three clearest paths, self-study, bootcamps, and masters programs, I found that the bootcamp model fit my requirements and timeline best. I chose Galvanize's Data Science Immersive, and I couldn't be happier with my choice.
I evaluated several local bootcamps and masters in my area (Seattle). I read reviews, talked with industry people about their perspectives (relative to ROI), talked with recruiters (both at boot camps and tech companies), to narrow my field downI visited the campus and had an immediate feel for the place and culture; I felt like I was home, as the people were kind and inviting, and the facility was warm and welcoming yet professional and focused.
My tipping point was, by happenstance, meeting a couple Galvanize DSI alumni at my local grocery store, and I asked them about what they thought. They were ecstatic about their experience, and that was my tie breaker data. I decided to apply. My friends and family thought I was being bamboozled. They asked about what kind of degree it was, and there is none. They asked about guaranteed job placement, and there is none. They asked how much it would cost, how long it would take, and why I would do this. I didn't care; I knew what I knew and I was confident that I knew what I was doing. Upon application, I was not accepted to the program, my first time applying, but was encouraged by the admissions advisor to try again as I was close. I ramped up my self study and got in on my second attempt.
From day one at Galvanize, I was supported, encouraged, and challenged to my limits. Every single person on the academic or administrative team embodied the life-changing nature of the program. Each day was its own and though my stress built up over the weeks, I was working my brain harder than I could remember in recent history. I was building towards my goals. Some days I wanted to quit. Some days I felt like I really knew what I was doing. Most of the time, I tried to focus on what the big ideas were and how I would use them ‘in the wild’, while not letting myself become too overwhelmed by the complexity and depth of the material. The students in the class were my support network; we were in it together. The instructors knew what we were up against, and mitigated our workloads and stress levels, as much as the schedule and syllabus would allow. There were no easy days. There were no wasted, throw away days. Every bit was valuable, but only so much could be integrated. Expectations were achievable, if you were willing work hard.
After graduation, I felt such a sense of accomplishment and pride that I was able to keep up with the extremely smart individuals I had come to call friends through the process, which includes staff. (The networking aspect of Galvanize is not to be underestimated; networking is how you get jobs, it seems.) I was very lucky to have been made an offer by a local, data analytics consulting firm just a few weeks out of the program. (This is not the average, but it does happen.) I couldn’t be happier with my experience at Galvanize. My friends from the program, as well as my instructors, have continued to keep in contact and have been amazing. These people are committed to your success.
Pick what is right for you; bootcamps are not all created equal, though there are some excellent programs out there. (There is more than one way to become a data scientist, as you know.) I would strongly suggest evaluating them on your gut feel, after doing your homework, of course. You will get out what you put in. Talk with staff and alumni. Read the reviews. Talk to your friends and family. Go for a walk and think about what you really want. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth it if you trust the process and do the work, (you can do it!). For me, it was Galvanize and I’d do it again. Galvanize has changed my life, and I am happier than I have been in years.
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Brendan J Dorsey
Military to Data Science with Galvanize
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Bottom line: Galvanize DSI offers great upside. However, even the best bootcamp is not a guarantee of job success.
I came into the DSI with minimal coding experience, a military leadership background, and a college degree in Ancient History. In other words, making the jump into a technical field was a tall order for me. Galvanize offered a phenomenal introduction to coding, statistics, machine learning, and Data Science practices. I was very lucky to move quickly into a contracted Junior Data Scientist role at a startup I had good connections with, followed a few months later by a Data Scientist position at Facebook. I couldn't be happier with my outcomes, but I have to be honest that they are not representative.
The instructors are all passionate, well-qualified, and supportive. The career assistance was exemplary. The curriculum is the best one can expect from a 3-month data science course, though I think it could stand to be expanded to 4 or 6 months in order to get more hands-on time with some data science fundamentals. The job assistance was great and really helped me prepare for the interview process.
The most important thing to recognize, though, is that the course is demanding and to get the most out of it, students need to push themselves even harder than the baseline challenge. This is particularly true for those with weaker technical or STEM backgrounds. Do the readings every night for the next day's lecture. If you have time, revisit the challenging parts of each day's exercise. Ask the instructors for clarification on subjects you don't feel comfortable with. And be prepared to continue learning aggressively even after graduation.
I'm enormously grateful to the Galvanize staff, and highly recommend the course to people who are interested. Just make sure you've done your research and are willing to put in a lot of work (and still job hunt for ~6 months after graduating).
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Ben Doremus
Came for the Credential, got so much more
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As an engineer who had been out of the workforce for a decade, I needed some way to prove my skills were still relevant. Galvanize had a good reputation and they screened their applicants before accepting them, so it was an easy choice to go with them.
HOWEVER, I got so much more than I anticipated. The networking opportunities were absolutely one of the strongest boons of this program; getting to work on a capstone with an international firm has opened doors for me that I could never have accessed on my own.
The content is rigorous, and the instructors phenomenally intelligent and capable, but I could have learned this material by myself (though not as quickly). The networking, on the other hand, was absolutely invaluable.
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Nadaa Taiyab
Data Science Student
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The Galvanaize Phoenix Data Science Immersive program exceeded my expectatios on every level. I am so glad I decided to pay the money to do this in person bootcamp vs an online experience. Having live instructors and other students to learn with is invaluable.
The program has been incredibly challenging. There is no fluff in this course! We learned two new algorithms or concepts every single day + an individual assignment after the morning lecture and a pair assignment in the afternoon. At first it was quite difficult to adjust to learning so much new information every day, but your brain expands with practice! We also did four case studies where teams were competing with each other to come up with the best model. Finally, there was an assessment or 'exam' every week, which forced you to go back and really make sure you understood the material (or at least as much as you could given the compressed time period).
The course covers all the basics - python, sql, probability, statistics, hypothesis testing, a/b testing, supervised learning (linear regression, decision trees, random forest, boosting, support vector machines, k-nearest neighbors), unsupervised learning ( clustering, principal component analysis, recommender systems), some big data stuff (hadoop, spark, aws), natural language processing, web scraping, building an API (using Flask) and more. The only thing missing was neural nets, but hopefully they will include those in the future.
The instructors were excellent. Because of the small class size, they really were there for you to give you as much support as you needed. They were constantly checking in to make sure we understood the material. I did not come in with a technical background so I needed A LOT of help in the beginning to even do the basics. They work very hard and really care about the students.
We also have a dedicated career services person whose job is to help us get a job! In fact, we have an entire 'career services' curriculum that runs alongside the data science curriculum. Our career coach would come in each week and do exercises with us on things like how to talk about our Galvanize education, resume writing, interview coaching, linkedin networking, etc. They are very very serious about making sure you get employed once you are done with the course. In fact, the last week of the course is dedicated to job hunting preparation.
And finally, we do a capstone project and present it to a public audience. My capstone is tomorrow! I can't believe I have come this far in such a short period of time. The capstone was very challenging, but a great learning experience.
If you are serious about getting into data science and live in Phoenix and are ready to work really really hard, then I cannot recommend Galvanize Phoenix highly enough.
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Char
Galvanize Phoenix
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I have just finished my first quarter at the Galvanize immersive web development program. It has been a great experience and I'm glad I chose Galvanize. I've learned a lot in a short amount of time, begun to build a portfolio, and met some great people. Both teachers and support staff are very approachable and knowledgeable. In the first five weeks of the program I became a lot more comfortable with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, and got my first experiences using JQuery and Materialize and working with API's. I've also gotten the chance to meet with their career advisor, redo my resume, and learn about the industry. I'm excited to complete the next three quarters and see where this leads me.
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Marie
Web Developer
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So far it has been great. I have learned so much in such short amount of time. I feel very confident in being able to speak about different topis which I didn't before I started this program. The instructurs are always making sure that we understand where we stand so we can get ready to attack the next subject. I will admit that this is no walk in the park and you really have to practice a lot in order to understand what you are doing, but it all comes together. The job career assistance is great as well -making sure that our resumes and social media are just right for when we are ready. The staff in general are always very nice and making sure that we are taken care of. The facility is awesome as well. Now that the temperature has dropped a little they have been opening the "garage" doors and its a really nice atmostphere when they are open. Coffee is always available. And some people bring their dogs and everybody is always very friendly. If you are thinking of joining Galvanize in Phoenix I would totally recommend it.
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Alexis Finney
The Real Deal
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My experience thus far as a student in the Immersive Web Development program (including pre-work & informational sessions) has been exceptional at every step. Communication can be a little disorganized at times, but considering we're only the fourth cohort to go through the Phoenix campus, small bugs are to be expected. I can say without hesitation that the team truly cares. Several of the staff and instructors are on campus until late into the evenings, over weekends, and requests for extra help outside of class have only been met with enthusiasm. I had almost no experience with coding prior to entering the program at Galvanize. Going through the interview process, I knew I was in for a ton of hard work, but the full support of the instructors (as well as support from the other students in my cohort) has been & will continue to be absolutely crucial to my success.
I've had the opportunity to learn from three of the instructors, and while teaching styles differ, each instructor has been professional and displayed thorough understanding of the subjects they've taught. That said, they are also incredibly humble; every instructor has expressed that there are multiple ways to solve the problems we're presented, and they are not afraid to Google things they might not know immediately - I actually find this to be incredibly helpful as far as being able to apply similar problem solving skills once we leave the program.
Academics aside, the community that Galvanize has cultivated is incredible. Between happy hours with member companies and frequent industry meet-ups, we students are given every opportunity to mix and mingle with folks in the local tech field. Which brings me to career services. Students are not simply lectured on the importance of refreshing our resume and cleaning up LinkedIn; we're coached on best practices and encouraged to take 1:1 time with a seasoned career services professional to bring our personal brand and technical interview skills up to par.If you're serious about jumping into WebDev, Galvanize will give you every opportunity to succeed at becoming a full-stack developer.
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David W
Data Science
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Pros:
- It's Hard. (which is a good thing!)
- No R, No SAS. All Python, Pandas, Numpy, SciPy, and the cloud... OH MY!
- Staff, Instructors, Members, and Community are fun and welcoming
- The campus is lively and only going to grow.
- I got a job and had fun doing it
Cons:
- The curriculum could use a more ubiquitous experience and face-lift, such as Jupyter Hub, nbgrader, and Python 3, LEARN (internal site with some content)
Job Assistance:
- Half our cohort had recruiters contacting before half-way through the curriculum. Or companies pitching datasets and projects.
- They will give you the tools and techniques, it is up to you to use them.
- Around the same time interviews, we starting and most of us had offers weeks before the end of class.
I did not end up with the job title I was hoping for. However, I did get a 'Data Analyst position with a big company that only hires Ph.D.'s direct into Data Science roles. Which is something a prospective student should expect coming into this.
Just like the Software Engineer field is half Computer Science degrees and half self-taught dropouts. If you're chasing a title, this is not going to be for you.
Nevertheless, the company I signed with knew this and offered a healthy salary and bonus to compensate. Thus, I can accept the "Title" for now and reapply once I can flex my Data Science muscles in the position.
I recommend Galvanize to anyone truly interested in the "Data Sciences'.
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David Kruse
The pro's and cons of Galvanize
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Galvanize has given me the tools to go from a minimum-wage job to a dream job.
I do not speak for any Galvanize other than the one in Phoenix.
Pros:
- Galvanize staff are SUPER friendly and knowledgeable. If you have a question that they cannot answer they will find someone who does or search until they find the answer.
- Galvanize campus is tidy and clean. Facilities are always neat and I have yet to run into an empty soap or bath tissue dispenser, nor an overflowing garbage can.
- Galvanize career service staff work very efficiently in getting students in contact with employers as well as preparing students for applying for jobs. This includes reviewing resumes, searching on linkedin, as well as conducting mock interviews.
- Galvanize curriculum prepares students with current technologies that are penetrating the software market.
Cons:
- Galvanize 4th quarter with it's computer science curriculum was disorganized for the most part save the OOP languages.
- Galvanize career services tasks are a google drive full of spreadsheets and documents. Not having a central hub for submitting work makes it almost impossible to remember to do anything without putting reminders in your calendar.
Summary:
Galvanize gives a great moderate to deep understanding in their chosen language stack. Originally we were going NEAP (Node.js, Express, Angular, PostgreSQL) and then changed to NERP (Node.js, Express, React, PostgreSQL) and it allowed us to find more jobs in our area as React had more market penetration in our area than Angular. The staff adjusted quickly and, without missing a beat, began teaching the new stack with the same quality as the previous technologies. Galvanize also does not inherently teach Rails/Ruby. It primarily focuses on Javascript. The program brings in presenters to talk with students and allows them to figure out what positions they may want to fill in the future. While it does not teach C#, Java, or OOP in depth it does give you enough to continue if you enjoy the content.
Hope this helps you make your choice!
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Dylan
Phoenix Web-Dev course
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This review is from my perspective of having just completed just the first quarter of this 6 month course, but I wanted to put this review out immediately because just a few weeks ago there were no firsthand accounts of the brand new phoenix branch. I will update/alter this review as the course progresses at least one more time. I came into the course knowing no one, with a fair bit of skepticism, but being highly optimistic about making a lot of progress in little time. After 6 weeks I have found that whatever doubts I had before starting to be unfounded. The group of instructors, faculty, admin, and other students that currently exist is phenomenal - the curriculum seems to be the right balance of being well-structured and flexible to capitalize on trends and opportunities. It also balances breadth with depth. Fundemental/current technologies with the new and shiny ones. Galvanize consistently holds events that are great for networking (and with awesome catering/beverages ;) and are a lot of fun. The first cohort of students from this program is now graduating and seem to be in a good position to find a job if they don't have one already. There's lots of training and coaching for the job search that graduates will face. I've been amazed at how quickly I have evolved from being stuck in console.log land while slogging through basic JavaScript by myself to having a level of skill designing web apps that let me express my ideas and design logic/functionality in a way that seemed completely inaccessible just 6 weeks ago. If youre on the fence, do yourself a favor and chat with the good people here about how you might fit in. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you're willing and able to commit to following this path, Galvanize provides a direct route to get you where you want to go.
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Saralyn
Disappointing
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Let me start by saying that I've heard similar reviews to this by people from all bootcamps (I spent a month in an internship with ~30 people who came from bootcamps and we swapped stories). Also, I came into the program from a graduate program in STEM and got an internship quickly after - overwhelmingly because of the MS in a STEM field - so these things influence my views.
The top five problems that I found (I am sure I am missing some):
1. Calling it a "bootcamp". Bootcamp implies speed and rigor. This program was easier than a lot of the *single* classes I took in undergrad, not all of the classes I took in a semester, a singular class.
The first quarter was frighteningly basic. I could not understand how you could decide to change careers without that basic level of knowledge and experience. It's about the level of the frontend part of FreeCodeCamp. If you're thinking about basing your life around this career, shouldn't you know what it is first?
The second quarter was painfully slow. It was four weeks. I had worked through 3/4 of the material in a few days in the break week after quarter one (not all of the week, mind you). It was so slow people were going home in the early afternoon every day. (2-3pm) What?
The third quarter actually picked up enough rigor to take up 8-5 work (not evening hours, but at least 8-5) and was the only quarter that wasn't frustrating.The fourth quarter had that "summer's coming let's chill out vibe" a lot of the time. Frankly I think there was a lot of people giving up on their expectations of a bootcamp by this point. A lot of resignation to the fact that you put a ton of money into something that just didn't deliver a quality education.
Also, Fridays were mostly a waste. There were no lectures on Friday, only a review and "lightening talks". This review consisted of going through the bullet points written into the lectures and writing them on the board while a few sentences were said about that bullet. The lightening talks were supposed to be five minute (always much longer) talks about a tech topic so that people could get used to talking about tech topics in front of a group. Less than a quarter of the lightening talks met those qualifications. The lightening talks were primarily people talking at length about things they were interested in kind of like show and tell, but you're paying $4.2K for it ($21K / 5 days). Almost everyone goofed off after lightening talks ended at three making it hard to accomplish much of anything on that day. Seriously, that means $4.2K wasted to one-line reviews and people gushing about something completely off-topic.
2. The instructor situation was chaotic.
There were four instructors. One was supposed to have been in the field for a long time (the primary instructor). Two were supposed to have been in the field at any point ever (including small contract projects). One was a student from the cohort before.
The first primary instructor we had really didn't know a) how to instruct and b) javascript in a meaningful way. There were warnings from the students in the cohort before ours (who he did a practice lecture with) and from the instructor himself *not to hire this guy*, but they did anyway. It went so badly that they fired him before the first quarter was over.
THEN they took one of the few instructors from the other cohort and made him into our cohort's primary instructor, leaving the other cohort with only one instructor (the other two instructors having gotten jobs/left). The instructor that came to us had just started an MS program, so he was really busy already. The one instructor for the other cohort had a serious family emergency soon after the fiasco with us losing our instructor and we had one instructor left between the two cohorts. The really good instructor had to be shared between the two classes leaving him exhausted and us worried about asking too much of him.
Near the end of our cohort the instructor who had the family emergency before left. I don't know the details, but there's definitely a fight between corporate, who seem to be concerned primarily with money, and the instructors, who seem primarily concerned with education. There were mumblings in the hallways were of this clash pretty regularly. At the end of our cohort, our primary instructor left, likely because of the same concerns. This was the last of the really quality instructors I had known at Galvanize.
3. The pedagogy reflected a complete lack of understanding of teaching/learning. I had been in some sort of teaching/TA/tutoring role for the previous eight years. There's a huge difference between instructors that try to improve by studying educational reasearch and those who do it just through experience or through books the latest fad book with zero citations. Galvanize chose to do the later.
They were dogmatic in their use of "Teach Like a Champion" which included such gems as having the students read outloud the lectures to the class. These lectures (which were actually, more often than not, well put together) were written by someone in corporate, occasionally edited by the instructional staff. This often meant that the instructors themselves didn't really see it as important to read through the lectures ahead of time and anticipate what questions might be asked (like any good instructor knows to do). There were a shocking number of times that the instructors (one in particular) didn't know something was in the lecture they were supposed to be teaching or, even worse, would start to give a half-baked-in-the-moment example of what the material meant only to make the situation FAR worse. These were rookie mistakes that every instructor should make once (I definitely did) and then they should be guided to see that they have to plan ahead. That didn't happen here. Up to the last day, there were painful lectures where there was clearly no planning in advance.
4. There was a complete lack of ability to deal with behavioral problems.(To be fair, there shouldn't have been behavioral problems in a classroom setting of 16 adults.)
One student was verbally abusive to the instructors and, occasionally, other students as well as being loud and disruptive during lectures. Rather than dealing with this right away, we went through the first quarter and a half with the instructors walking on eggshells around and giving special attention to this one student, greatly decreasing any question or lecture time for the rest of us. It took most of the student body having to set up a meeting with the main instructor (who was beat for the reasons listed above) for anything to change. To his credit, after that the situation in the classroom became more reasonable. He has amazing interpersonal skills and solved the problem, but he's not around anymore, so don't expect someone to know how to handle a similar situation (not that there should even be this situation in an adult classroom).
5. The numbers aren't trustworthy.
Early on in every bootcamp more people were getting hired because the marketplace wasn't saturated with bootcamp grads like it is becoming more and more every day. The hiring rates are inflated from the first group. In our cohort, we definitely haven't hit the "91%" hiring rate the website is currently claiming, despite having been out for six months. And among those who get hired the majority are hired on short contracts which, despite offering little by way of stability, Galvanize doesn't distinguish from more stable sitatuions (which most people are looking for).
Take note of this line on their website: *Placement rate and average starting salary based on 2014-2015 Placement Data
Likewise, they've conviently used the average salary in their reporting. Anyone who has taken a statistics class can tell you what's great about averages compared to their more honest peer - the median. It can make the numbers look more extreme than they actually are. If a few people get really high paying jobs, they drive up the average tremendously.
Additionally the salaries are not what most people might assuming because these jobs are contract jobs so they don't include benefits. That means that the employers have to pay a bit more to entice people to benefit-less jobs.
When I brought this up in by posting an article about other bootcamps agreeing on a common standard in the alumni slack channel, there was a quick move to defensiveness by people who were currently employed by Galvanize signalling to me that it's not likely to change.To be fair, here's a list of the five positives I can think of (once again, I am likely missing some):
1. The career services person was constantly reminding us of the most important part of the job hunt, which is networking. Of course I knew that this was very important, but having someone there to not let you brush it aside (because you hate it) was really good for me.2. Galvanize being a longer bootcamp means that you get to go to a lot more networking events during the program. I went to about three a week, on average. The program being six months rather than 14 weeks meant I went to ~70 events rather than ~40, which helped.
3. The career services person pushed me to put what I really wanted to do (work with data) on my resume even though I was nervous I wasn't prepared. Now I have an amazing position doing exactly what I want. (Go Gina!)
4. There are a lot of events at Galvanize and its surrounding businesses, so getting to networking events is very do-able.5. There are a lot of snacks. I gained about ten pounds because I love snacks. ;)
I can't speak to the experience of job hunting because I was lucky enough to get an internship directly after the program, but I can say that the feedback on why I got that internship points to the idea that the bootcamp was not even a factor in getting it. The impression I get is that I got an opportunity to interview largely because of my MS in a STEM field and that I got the internship because of a combination of having spent the last seven years working through math/science problems generally and having spent the summer before starting Galvanize working through Cracking the Coding Interview specifically (aka - I did well on whiteboarding).
The only thing the bootcamp experience did for me was expose me to more people, and if I were to go back to me when I was trying to figure out what to do I would have just networked more and learned on my own time (much faster). I honestly think that, being profit-driven the whole system tends to take advantage of people who are desperate for jobs and that there is a good chance that the bootcamp system (like academia) will end up leaving a lot of people in debt without jobs when the bubble finally bursts, which it will because this is tech.
If you're wondering why I am one of the only negatives among a sea of positives, it is likely because those who have a positive experience have nothing holding them back from posting it. I waited six months until I got hired (not just intern) to post just in case I made people angry and ruined a networking opportunity. If you haven't found a job, you're even less likely to post because you *definitely* need everyone in your network. Keep this in mind as you search through the reviews.Bethany Lindsey of Galvanize
Program Director, Seattle
Dec 06, 2017
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We really appreciate it and want you to know we are listening. Since we are an educational institution, we value our own lessons -- and so wanted to share how we have learned and grown in the past 9 months to address these issues.
1. This is truly an immersive experience. We have redesigned the curriculum in such a way that it is challenging to the beginner as well as the students with more experience. We did this with a blended curriculum. Students must all pass check points, and the students with more experience are able to dive deeper into the materials as well.
2. Currently, our instructors each have teaching experience and provide a supportive environment for students. The students seem very happy with our instructors and their knowledge. The latest graduating class rated the instructor knowledge at 85%, Very Satisfied.
3. Instructors own the learning materials and are able to teach to them. The instructors all have experience with all of the curriculum, so they are able to teach from any point in the course.
4. Students are placed on performance improvement plans if they are not meeting course expectations. Students are counseled out of the program if they are not the right fit or they can defer to the following cohort if they need more time with the material. Our primary goal is working to set the student up to succeed.
5. We use the Galvanize Standard to report placement information. This information takes 6-8 months to certify, because "placement" is measured at 6 months after graduation. So, the 2016 placement data was released in August 2017. -
Dan
Student
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The three month Data Science Immersion course was a great experience. While being very demanding I do not think I could have learned more in such a short time. The instructors where good and really know what they are doing making difficult concepts understandable. Take the interviews seriously and make sure you understand and as much of the pre-course material as possible. The more comfortable you are starting the easer the work will be and the more you will learn.
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Colton A
Data Science Preparation.
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I attended the data science immersive program for three months in 2017. Galvanize has an amazing community feel, and the instructors are great at explaining concepts to 'naive' students. Through the program, students collaborate with one another which really reinforces concepts taught through lectures. Python and statistics are a must for this program, which is why Galvanize puts students through a screening/interview process. I would recommend this program to anyone who has a high desire to learn and transition into an exciting industry. Galvanize has changed my life through a well thought out course.
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Mi Yan
Data Scientist
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After 3 rounds of interview including Python, SQL, Statistics and Machine Learning, I was admitted to the Data Science program in Austin. The syllabus covers a extremely broad topics, not only coding, machine learning algorithm, big-data tools, but also business insight, which was practiced during 4 case studies. I finished 5 online courses related to machine learning, and 3 online courses related to coding before I attended the program. During the program, 30% content are what I already knew, 30% content are familiar to me but I cannot explain the details, and the leftover 40% are what I haven't heard about. The morning and afternoon assignments everyday help students practice the algorithm just learnt, which can enhance the understanding of the algorithm. Btw, the afternnon assignment is finished by a pair of students, providing the chance to practice communication, which is a very important capability a data scientist needs. One of my favorate parts is the review section after all class were finished. Every pair of students were assigned a topic and gave a presentation about 5-10 minutes. Other studens can ask questions, and instructors will help answer questions if needed. It is a very good practice.
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Tyler
Absolutely Recommend
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Galvanize DSI - Austin Campus
Galvanize completely exceeded my expectations. The instructors at the Austin campus are superior to any college professor that I had during my time studying engineering.
When comparing bootcamps, I looked at several options. After speaking with some peers who attended other bootcamps, I know that I made the right choice. These include a competing tech bootcamp and also a major university in Austin that offers some bootcamp programs.
One thing that seperates Galvanize is it's selectivity. The admissions process is pretty rigorous and requires a baseline mathematical knowledge, as well as plenty of studying, and the ability to communicate clearly in technical interviews. At no point in the process did I feel that Galvanize was pushy or trying to 'fill seats'. My peers included several PhDs, many engineers, programmers, an actuary, and many other accomplished individuals.
The curriculum is extremely well designed. The learning style is far superior to a typical college schedule, allowing you to 'drink from the firehose' and absorb a massive ammount of information in a short period of time. I believe the bootcamp format will eventually take over formal education due to it's efficiency. The immersive program feels like a year (it's only 3 months), and has greatly accelerated the rate that I am able to pick up new tech skills.
Our instructors were extremely passionate, well qualified, and great to work with. It was not uncommon for them to spend time with students outside of class to attend workshops and programming meetups.
Throughout the program, students become connected to the local tech industry, through a combination of campus visits, career services efforts, and the variety of events that take place on campus. I have been fortunate to meet a number of hiring managers, tech employees, and entrepreneurs. At the end of the program, I've built a substantial network in the Austin tech arena.
If you are smart, ambitious, and value a quality education - Galvanize is the top choice.
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Will Johnson
Student
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Far and away the best experience in education I've had the pleasure of experience. Thanks to their rigorous interviewing and prep process, every student is brilliant, tenacious, and dedicated to learning more. The instructors are even more so. The environment is collaborative too. We were constantly tapping on each other's shoulders asking for a little help here or there, and never once was anyone annoyed or unhelpful. I can't recommend this more. Whether you're an experienced data analyst or a bright graduate looking to up their skill level, this program is fantastic. I can't recommend this more to anyone looking at upping their skills in data science.
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Chris
Push Yourself and You Will Go Far
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Galvanize web development immersive is for the people who truly want to learn. The instructors go a great job guiding you throught the thick woods and mountainous terrain of web development, and they really know their stuff. But they won't hold your hand. The best way to get the most out of your time there is by keeping up with the curriculum, and finding extra ways on your own to build on what you have learned. Cultivate your own natural curiousity. Galvanize web dev teaches Node.js/JavaScript, but my cohort had several people do projects in Swift, and pretty much everyone used some large framework or library that wasn't part of the curriculum. If you're ready to take the plunge and do a mixture of instruction and self learning, Galvanize is an atmosphere that will enable you to go very far.
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Darren Hankins
Galvanize - Web Development Immersive
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I feel Galvanize is more of a complete learning eco-system than a school. Galvanize's primary focus is on learning and building technical skills. In the process howerver, relationships and soft skills are developed as well. From creating projects to giving tech talks to networking with actual businesses in the building, I feel its been a great springboard for preparing me for a job in the tech industry.
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No job No money
Not good at all
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Terrible experience. Tyler good. Rob bad Parker bad. Instructors not care about students and leave early even if you struggling. Program poorly designed and almost all students waste of money. Past cohort try to warn me not to come but I did not listen. Career service helpful but it difficult to get job when not prepared. Job statistics seem like lie. We told by instructor past cohort all have jobs but this not true. They tell me. 15 person start our cohort and only 10 finish. Out of 10, I guess 5-7 will get job. 91% seem like lie when you look at this in front of your face. Not good at all.
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Beth
Not just worth every penny, worth every minute
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Like most things in life, you get out what you put in and this program is no different. The curriculum, the instructor staff, the projects are all designed to take you as far as you can push yourself to go.
As others have said, I also put in 20-30 hours a week outside of the core classroom time and I'm glad for every bit of it. I wanted to be successful at this. I wasn't just looking for a new job, I wanted to recreate myself and start building a career around being an effective sofware developer.
What I appreciate most about the curriculum is that it's more than the typical "here's a standard stack, let's learn it". I loved being immersed in both back and front end development, but more than that I appreciated also being tossed into unfamiliar environments. We got very comfortable at being uncomfortable. Knowing that even if we hadn't learned what we were working with, we had the skills to figure it out.
So when I started my first job as a software engineer and I was put in front of a codebase that was written in both Coffeescript and Typescript (I only knew vanilla javascript), the database was Mongo (where I had only seen Postgres), the front end was Angular 1.2 (where we had learned on 1.6) I still was able to release new functionality to prod on day 3.
Galvanize taught us those skills. It was not just about which languages, frameworks or libraries to use, but also how to learn. How to be effective at troubleshooting. How to plan and break down work into approachable pieces of a larger solution.I appreciate the instructors for not taking it easy on us. They brought their best every day and expected the same from each of us, pushing us to be better and better, knowing that we could. I'm also glad they never slowed down the pace because in this industry, things move fast and there's really no choice but to keep up.
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Lisa
6 months over a decade of a "top" education in tech
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I’ve been immersed in some of the “top” education available for tech since middle school. I struggled to fit into an education system that demanded mastery of a concept, but provided no motivation to master said concept due to lack of application. It also discouraged people who were maybe a little more right-brained or allotted brain power to wondering about the application of learned concepts to projects, etc. Therefore, the standard for succeeding in the tech industry meant fitting a specific, stereotypical brand of “tech nerd”.
Galvanize was a platform that proved all of this wrong. It is a 6-month intensive boot camp where people from all walks of life come together and enter the tech world by building full-stack web apps. By promoting a collaborative and supportive environment, we all learn together that it is by being open-source as a community that technology really becomes something more. Programming ultimately is just a tool. It isn’t some unattainable skill that only introverted tech prodigies are able to master.
The people who will thrive in this program are those who embrace this philosophy that knowledge is that much more powerful when it’s open-source and everyone is able to bring something different to the table. If you are someone who is looking to level-up their life, Galvanize is the program for you. All you need is to be thirsty for knowledge and always be learning from those around you. Understand that what you’ll be gaining is a true understanding of the importance of community in tech and the confidence that whatever seemingly “unattainable” skill there is in the stereotypical image of the tech world is something you can achieve.
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Ali
Best Decision I've Ever Made
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I graduated from a university in 2012 with a bachelors in psychology and no clear career path. After a few years of traveling and exploring graduate school options for psychology, I decided I wanted to take a completely different route. I found a love for coding and spent 2 months researching ways to learn how to be a developer. I compared many different options including 4 year degrees, online schools, teaching myself, and bootcamps style schools. I discovered Galvanize in the spring of 2016 and was accepted into the program beginning that summer.
I cannot say enough good things about my experience at Galvanize. The instruction team consisted of highly knowledgable, experienced, and passionate teachers. The entire education team at Galvanize cared about every students' success. They truly wanted to help us succeed in the course and after. Their career team and curriculum is not only focused on getting you that first job, but setting up your long term career path.
I graduated from the web-imerssive program in mid-January 2017 and was offered a job 2 weeks later. My salary is above the Galvanize graduate average and I am incredibly happy at my job. My work-life balance is amazing and I am learning more everyday. I am so happy I went to Galvanize and highly recommend it to anyone looking to become a developer.