Galvanize Reviews
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Amy Briggs
Amazing experience, and GOT A JOB!
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I attended the Full-Stack Web Development Immersive at Galvanize-Boulder, and graduated in mid-January. Prior to Galvanize, I'd spent 4-5 months self-studying with some basic HTML, CSS, and Javascript via online resources. The onboarding process for my g32 cohort was smooth; we received the pre-course work (about 40 hours' worth) about a month in advance of our August 1 start date.
The pace for the program is fast; a lot of material is covered in lectures and assignments, and even the fastest students in my cohort sometimes struggled to keep up. The upside of this is that we covered an impressive amount of subject matter in a (relatively) short 6 months. I found the second and third quarters most challenging, as I had not had much prior experience with Node.js, data bases, and the back end. I loved the end-of-quarter projects; especially working on small teams to create full-scale applications with tools that we had just learned (like Angular.js). I worked hard in this program and put in a lot of hours; at least an additional 20 hours per week, aside from the 40 hours in class.
Our instruction was top-notch; my cohort was particularly fortunate, as we had one lead instructor, one associate instructor, and two residents for 15 students. Our lead instructor had 17 years of experience as a developer and many years as CTO of different startups. His fluency with the material was important, as the associate instructor and residents were more recent graduates of Galvanize cohorts.
The main piece of constructive criticism I have is with the curriculum, which had some flaws and gaps (in particular the Angular curriculum). These were being corrected during our program, and I imagine they are now not an issue. We were always encouraged to explore outside resources, which makes sense, as material changes and more becomes available at a rapid rate.
I feel extremely fortunate to have accepted a job as an associate software developer within a week of graduating from the program. I now work for a Boulder startup, on a two-person development team, with our CTO. Our stack is relatively new to me, but I feel that Galvanize prepared me extremely well to be able to learn and implement new technologies quickly. The program was extremely challenging, but I feel that it was absolutely worth it.
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Jeannie
Wonderful experience!
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Where to begin...
I did a lot of research on Austin code schools before I applied to Galvanize. I'd attended one of Galvanize's info sessions and was "that" person who asked all the tough questions. Scott, the program director, answered all of them graciously in detail, and I suspected from that night I may have a good experience at Galvanize.Fast forward six months. I graduate tomorrow, and while I'm excited to go out and get a job (and have already informally been offered two, by the way), leaving Galvanize as a student will definitely be bittersweet. Besides the remarkable cohesion and synergy of my cohort, the technical learning experiences have been the most & fastest I've ever learned in any academic program...ever.
(Coming from a former school teacher) The main instructor for our particular cohort, Zubair, is not only hilarious, but, as one of my classmates put it, "a pedagogical savant." He's somehow made things like complicated computer science algorithms actually fun to learn, and he's got loads of experience in the industry coupled with business wisdom. And, by the way, the tech recruiter from Google who attended our career day was impressed that we'd even studied various computer science concepts in the first place.
We also had Oli and Louis, associate instructors, with our cohort for the duration of the program. Both are sweet, helpful, have put in extra hours to help me or classmates with coursework, and bring a variety of skills and prior industry experience to the table.Galvanize's support/career services are also top-notch. Nicole, career services person, has gone out of her way to help me on multiple occasions. She helps with interview and job search advice, books guest speakers, organizes events...the student success person, Jessica, also held a survey with students once per quarter about our overall experience, and the feedback we gave her seemed like near-immediate implementations. I could go on...even the facilities staff at Galvanize is friendly and helpful.
I chose Galvanize because of its six-month plan, knowing I'd need some time to both have a life in the evenings and complete my homework properly, and it's surely been the right decision, as we had the time to go much deeper into concepts than I've heard my friends from other code schools have.
I will say if you’re not willing to commit to the necessary hours of practice and grit, this program may not be for you, as it's not easy to master, nor should it appear as such. I did struggle a bit with concepts at the beginning, but then again, that's probably standard at any level of programming and I never felt unsupported or alone. By the third quarter of the cohort, some kind of new confidence had arrived when I was able to look back at even a few weeks prior and identify the immense amount of knowledge that had soaked in since, and at that point began building with technologies and libraries that had never been explicitly taught to me. Galvanize does publish its intended curriculum, which seems to be equivalent to or more comprehensive than most of the other ATX code schools, but I feel as though I could learn and use any technology out there at this point.
Every single person in our cohort successfully used an unfamiliar new technology that was not explicitly taught in the curriculum to build our capstone projects, and it's because Galvanize delivered on its promise of teaching us to "learn to learn." Overall, I highly recommend this program and have been trying to evangelize my friends to enroll for months... -
Chad Latham
Full-Stack Web Development
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Galvanize provides an unparalleled experience. Locating the school inside a tech startup/meetup space creates an immersive experience where students are exposed to hundreds of professionals in the field.The curriculum at Galvanize is outstanding with very up to date information, practices, and opportunities to delve deeply into related material, libraries, or frameworks. Like anything in life, you get out of the experience what you put in. Look at the time with Galvanize as a major investment in your life, and you will receive a steadfast partner in making your dreams a reality. But, do not take this lightly as you are ultimately responsible for building your new life.
The format is a code-along experience where topics are explained in lecture format while you are coding and trying out each concept as it's presented. The instructors constantly check to make sure that people are getting the concepts and tutors assist those who need it with minimal impact on the pace of moving forward. This is not a school where they teach to the lowest common denominator. Those who are struggling will have to spend extra time to catch up but will be given all the assistance they need to do so. At the end of each day, a project is assigned that reinforces the daily code alongs and allows you to truly lock in the material. At the end of each quarter, a project is assigned that builds on the topics of that quarter and all quarters before it. When you leave the program, you have many projects, notes files, and working programs to use as examples for your future career.
I highly recommend the program for anyone who is motivated and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to change their lives.
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Paulo
Changed my life
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I was part of cohort 13 that graduated on July 2016 in the San Francisco campus.
Galvanize was life changing for me. It was extremely intense, but it transformed my career. My background is in business strategy and entrepreneurship and now I am a data scientist working with AI and deep learning for security in less than a year!
I studied using their guide materials for about 2-3 months before applying and took a few Coursera classes on Machine Learning as an introduction. The selection process to Galvanize was challenging for me due to the lack of programming and stats skills, it consisted of 1 challenge and 2 interviews.
They offered a week 0 before the program started just focusing on Python that was amazing for me! It helped me get ready and feel more confident in programming. The summary of the Data Science Immersive is: the learning curve is very fast, and the difficult level is always the same, meaning that you learn a lot but always feel like you can barely make it and absorb everything. In the end I feel that was the biggest lesson: they thought me how to learn and how to do it fast.
In general, the instructors were great! There is a weekly constant feedback loop and they are extremely responsive. I put as feedback one time that I was struggling with the math because I am a visual learner and two days later our main instructor approached me to understand better and on the following day all lectures were more visual - truly amazing!
What I wish I knew before: I was expecting to find a job easily since data science is so hot and there's a lot of demand. Job hunting is hard. Looking at "95% placement rate in 6 months" sounds easy. Applying to jobs constantly and networking and keep learning for 6 months is very intense. Don't expect magic. But luckily Galvanize also offer us career counseling, they were the best! They coached us individually, and organized career meetups for alumni every week to brush up our skills, practice whiteboarding, coding, interview questions, exchange best strategies, etc. But still, "data science" is a huge broad field. Companies that have data scientist positions open sometimes want an Excel number cruncher, while others need a very specific industry experience, etc. Keep going: I had to do 186 job applications to receive the offer I wanted.
Finally, I wasn't expecting my collegues to be that awesome. There were people ranging from 24 to 62 years old, from undergrads to PhDs, from business background like myself to aerospace engineering. And we all struggled together, bonded, and learned a lot from each other strenghts and weekness.
Overall, I highly recommend the program, it truly changed my life and career. Using the same mental models I learned there I kept going deeper in deep learning (pun intended) and got a job in AI. I will always be grateful for Galvanize for making me start confidently a cycle of constant learning in a world full of data.
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Anatoly Pavlov
Review of Galvanize from alumni
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Galvanize is a BootCamp which is a type of educational institution. It is organized in a different way than a conventional collage or university. Its educational program oriented to teach theoretical part of data science in very quick way, so that students will learn only what is necessary to move on to the next step in leaning. The next step is hands-on practical experience when students lean how to use what they leaned in class by implementing it in practice. I would say that it is highly important to do as much as possible pre-course work yourself and even try to go beyond. The program is short, 12 weeks, and very intensive, so that even if you have background in one of the STEM fields, you still need to put a lot of effort into the data science immersive program. If your background is not one of the STEM fields I would say that you might consider to join master of data science program at Galvanize U instead of data science immersive.
The learning atmosphere at Galvanize is pretty non-formal, instructors are easy to approach and ask for any help student needs in understanding the material, the amount of time instructors spend with each student one on one is probably the greatest if compared to conventional collages.
Galvanize provides great support to students in the job search after graduation. This is the place where a student will find a lot of direct connections with employers in many companies, including the ones that are at the top in their fields of industry.
Overall, if you are planing on switching your career to data scientist and you feel like you need some training, I would definitely recommend to obtain that training from Galvanize.
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Richard Beese
Student
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I am only 4 weeks into the Galvanize full stack Web Development program and I love it. I knew it was going to be an intense learning experience, but I had no idea I would have learned so much so soon. The instructors are great at giving you IT knowledge but also at keeping you from panicking from the intensity and being overwhelmed. At the end of the week they ask us what we've learned this week, and when they list it on the board, we are awed that we learned something only on Monday, when it seems like we've had that knowledge for much longer. I alread feel like I can do some pretty cool things and we're only just starting. I've also talked to a lot of people from the other classes who are much further along than our cohort, and they are just as thrilled about the program as we are. There are some things that don't work for us, but they have a daily feedback and incorporate changes to accomodate those needs the very next day. It is a fantastic learning environment, but it is intense.
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Emma
Excellent curriculum - Amazing instructors - Super supportive enviroment
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Let's get started by talking a little bit about my background. I am a woman from Asia with a Master Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. Before coming to Galvanize, I am an independent researcher in Machine Learning and Cognitive Science. I curate online content from open source and education sites to gain more knowledge as well as serve for my purpose of seeking knowledge. The reason why I come to Galvanize is to upgrade my technical ability in Data Science and expand my network in Tech Community in Bay Area.
I think most of you guys when deciding to go to a Bootcamp is to get a job or transfer into Tech Industry for a higher salary. Well, it would be a good motivation but lack of thoughtful considerations. How do you define a good job? Are you gonna like it because of a reward, not the fulfillment? Do you believe that three months of an intensive practice would make you a competent worker for an entry level with a salary of 100k+++? Do you believe that you are really a genius to master a whole bunch of things which are supposed to learn and pratice in many years?
Let me tell the ugly truth.
No, no, no ....NO!
Never ever believe any body tell you that kind of guarantee to make decisions.
Learning is an accumulative experience. Depending on how you absorb knowledge, slow and analytical, fast and responsive, you have your own way. Three months are never enough for you to make yourself as an expert, however, it is enough for your to establish a habit and a mindset to prepare for a job search. So, how do you really get those after three months? You need a curriculum to know right things, instruction to do right things and enviroment to find the right resources and reinforce all of those.
Everyday at Galvanize we have two main sessions to learn with lectures and practices. Those basically tell you some of the most should-to-know things and enhance it by working with the others. But what I would like to point out is that the structure of curriculum is very well-organized and practical. Plus, it is contributed by many students and members which allows you do and play around on top of new things. Congrats, you have the newest map and you won't get lost!
The program is indeed quite fast and intensive In Galvanize. So we do have assessments to evaluate students, however, the main purpose is to help determine who we should pay more attention to support than the others, like more practices or more assessed reviews customized by observations from instructors to help you improve your ability. They are also there when you need help to understand a problem. However, not so trivial problems which you can Google by yourself. But they are really there when you need. I still remember the day we learn about technology like clustering computing with Spark, one of my instructors stay all day to help us set up things and answer all questions. I know some of them staying late to spend time on discussing how to help students, which I appriciate very much.
Finally, one of the last things I have to mention about Galvanize is that this is not school. Though partcipants in a program are called students, but actually, we are members of a learning community. We work together and we share knowledge while practicing and helping each others. Not only students in a cohort, but instructors, other students from other cohorts, career service staffs, or other people with whom have a chance to share your experience. That is a true network, not a group of people you socialize at some meet-ups when bragging about what you (might) do. They are really great and gonna help you much after you graduate.
Update: Right after graduate I did get an offer from a start-up, which is also a member of Galvanize Community. Since I am an international applicant and do not stay in the states, I still receive some support from career service. Keep in mind that, to get a 100k+++ salary or a good match, you might need to apply over hundreds companies in a couple of months to get 3-4 job offers relatively. It is quite painful and time-consuming but gonna help you grow a lot AFTER three months. Good luck!
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Joyce Rigelo
Data Science
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My experience at Galvanize was above and beyond my expectations. The program covers a great deal of what you’ll need as a Data Scientist. The instructors are way better than in academia (I know that may not say much...). They are super smart (also in how to teach a topic) and they care about their students. The lead instructor brought some of his Data/Computer Science industry experience to the program which was a great plus. I am very pleased with the amount of experience I acquired with all the individual programming and pair programing Galvanize offers, and the environment helps so much mastering it (all the help we can get from each other and instructors from 9:30am to 6pm for 3 months). It was such great investment for my career!
Galvanize is having a hard time finding qualified enough people to join the program (specially the level of programming skills required to pass the entrance exams). That is why now they also offer a 8 weeks on just Python programming (twice a week at night), and the money invested on that can go towards the Data Science immersive after. Such a great idea to solve the need of have students starting with already a good level of programming to be able to survive the course and keep the high quality of the immersive.
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Valerie
Awesome folks to help a career transition!
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I finally reached the end of my tolerance of not having a fulfilling career. After considering many different paths, I landed on software engineering. Galvanize was suggested to me by someone who worked in the building, who witnessed firsthand the transformation the students were going through.
Expect to work. This learning environment is simultaneously approachable and challenging. You make friends. You push yourself in terms of how much information you can absorb in a set period of time. I had a great time getting back into a classroom and getting to focus on this one topic for six months instead of trying to learn in my free time. I don't know that I would have ever felt confident enough to apply for a "real dev job" without a program like this.
The classroom is energetic. The instructors push themselves to keep current with the market and provide timely content to students. Each instructor has an interesting value add, whether it be game development, serious front-end chops, or devops interests.
They also provide job hunt assistance, in the form of getting your online presence in order for the job hunt process, resume & cover letter help. They also get students in front of potential employers as much as they can while maintaining a sustainable pipeline for students.
I am super glad that I did the Galvanize Full Stack (now Web Development) program. I am proud of how much I've "leveled up" this year.
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Sarah
Web Immersive Program
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Galvanize surpassed my expectations. I joined because I knew that I wanted to be able to build applications. Going into the program I had only a little bit of exposure to/experience with programming.
Galvanize provides access to thousands of github repos, which are essentially thousands of mini-applications that you can access to build, practice on and learn from.
It is a bootcamp, it is intensive and you will get what you put into it. So the more hours you can dedicate to programming throughout the course, the better. Don’t expect that this is a 9a – 5p program.
Each of the instructors really cared about our success with the material and often went above and beyond to work with us. They stayed late, listened to feedback and had patience. That said, they were also good at simply being realistic about the fact that they are there to help you learn how to learn - on your own. They will not give you all of the answers and you are expected to struggle – because when you leave the program they earnestly want you to be able to manage continuous learning on your own from that point forward.
The range of how much prior experience each student had coming in was very wide. Some of us had next to zero experience, while others had several years of industry experience and a CS degree. All of the students I knew from my cohort and the other cohorts were very supportive and Galvanize does a really good job of creating/fostering community.
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Ryan
Ended up being a bad value
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Being from a college town, Galvanize was incredibly overhyped. My analytics professors swore this would be better than my current classes and the programming here is "top notch." While the teachers were all great, the people in charge of Galvanize are a hot mess. There were multiple miscommunications about which classes were being offered, it took me two months to be registered in the right class, and the people in charge were downright rude to me the entire time. I really didn't feel like that was warranted since the mistake was on their end. My Hack CU friends were going to take classes here as well, but I will be suggesting they look elsewhere where college students aren't treated like second class citizens. They'll never care if they see this though, they only care about your money! Oh well Galvanize, you fooled me! Lesson learned the hard way. The instructors were good, but everyone in charge at my location needs to be fired. What a mess.
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Sarah
Seriously Life Changing!
Galvanize will forever hold a most special place in my heart. I am so proud to be a part of the Galvanize community after going through this program. The level of instruction is unmatched and the support from the staff, instructors, and fellow students is beyond belief. I would do it all over again if I could - I could not have asked for a better experience in learning and growing.
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Michael
Web Immersive Program
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One of THE BEST programs I have been a part of. The amount of information that I learned during the course and retained is unbelievable. I went into the program with some HTML and CSS experience and I tried to learn as much JavaScript as possible before the course started. This course truly is a rocket ship into programming.
Instructors- We had 4 instructors at the beginning of the course. 1 instructor ended up going to another classroom to teach but then we were given 2 more top of the line instructors for 26 students. All the instructors are very knowledgeable and have several years under their belt with programming and teaching.
Galvanize also has an instructional team that develops the course and structures what the students learn in regards to what is trending in the job market. This team would sit in on the class to make sure the teachers were affective with their teaching style and make changes if needed.
Students - all the students are there to learn and to do their best. It was not unusual to see students working at 7 am and stay until 10 or 11 at night. The students all come from a different background but are brilliant, outgoing, critical thinkers. I believe that in my cohort all the students had at least a Bachelors degree and some had their Masters.
Platte St. Campus - Is a place you want to spend all of your time at. This became a home away from home. The entire basement is for the students with a full kitchen, study pods, conference rooms, and class rooms. The rest of the 4 story building can be utilized as well. There is a gym, kitchens on the other floors, a barista on the 4th floor with a keg and also plenty of white board tables to study on. There are always events happening at the campus with free food, talks, networking events, and drinks. I have met many business owners just being at Galvanize including the owner of Comedy Works as well as American Furniture Warehouse. The basements where the classrooms are at have snacks and fresh fruit that is stocked in the kitchen 2x a day.
Kelly Kawa - Student Success - will meet all of your needs and is someone that makes your experience at Galvanize one of the best.
Career Assistance - Galvanize has a career service team as well as companies that they partner with to place students. Several people get placed into these companies which are very well known corporations. The career service team not only helps place students but also helps with interviewing, whiteboarding, resumes, and are ALSO available after you graduate and have office hours two times a week.
I recently graduated a few days ago and joined a startup as well as took a freelance job. While I am working on these two projects I am interviewing for a full time position.
I would highly recommend EVERYTHING about the program, the teachers, and the staff.
If you are interested in applying and have more questions - molson303@gmail.com
Michael
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Bradford Lamson-Scribner
Full-Stack Web Immersive: Difficult and Life Changing
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I was accepted into the Full Stack Web Immersive program in November of 2015. I spent around 6 months (still working full-time and living in Florida) trying to learn as much as I could before starting the program in April 2016. I believe there was a direct correlation between the time I spent before the program started and how much I was able to learn during.
Right from the beginning of class I was impressed with the structure and cirriculum. Software languages, frameworks, tools, processes, etc RAPIDLY change and Galvanize does an excellent job with staying current. That's one of the things I noticed right away that was different from a traditional education - they can change the cirriculum and content on the drop of a dime while a conventional college can't. So while that got got hectic and wasn't perfect, they did a great job. The instructors I had were some of the best all around people I've ever met: Kyle Coberly (Lead Instructor), Danny Fritz (Associate Instructor), CJ Reynolds (Associate Instructor), Roberto Ortega (Associate Instructor), and Elana Kopelevich (Full Stack Resident). Notice that's 5 instructors to our cohort of 25 students which was a good ratio.
The class was VERY fast-paced and difficult. I will say that if you are thinking about coming into this because it looks like a shorter or "easier" way to get into software development, that is not the case. It took extreme dedication and endless long days to make it through. The reality is that learning full-stack development in 6 months is colossal task. One of the most important things was I learned to learn.
Galvanize offered far more than the in-class learning hours. The Platte campus where I studied is a four-story coworking space. Tons of start-ups and even larger companies rent space within. Pivotal Labs takes up the entire second floor. Basically what I'm getting at is the networking and opportunities were unbeatable. They hosted multiple events on a weekly basis where I was able to get to know the community better. The culture was awesome.
Another piece that made the Web Immersive program stand out was they offered a career services portion of the cirriculum. We worked on our resumes, LinkedIn accounts, did mock interviews, whiteboarding, etc. They really blended us right into the dev community.
I got an offer a few weeks before the program ended and now work as a Software Developer. Clearly it was a life changing decision for me. You will get out of it what you put in. If it's something that sounds like a good fit, I highly recommend Galvanize.
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Tyler Rozboril
Exactly what I needed.
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The experience was amazing. Teachers were great. I made lifelong friends, and got the tools I needed to begin my career as a Web Developer. I am currently coding in different languages than we learned at Galvanize, but the initial training was all it took for me to have the skills and know how to learn and adapt to my environment.
Every offer I've recieved has been more than 80k per year, with full benifits.
This was worth every penny, I'd do it again in a heart beat. -
kt
Galvanize Fullstack SF really fit my learning style and helped me change careers
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I rated Galvanize SF's fullstack program highly because I got everything I wanted from it, with greater results than expected. It doesn't disappoint because I knew what my minimum expectations were for a bootcamp, what I wanted out of it (aside from a new career/job), and made a well-researched decision to attend this 6 month program.
Learning and career transitioning cannot be done in a one-size-fits-all approach. By documenting my experiences and observations, I empower you to judge whether or not Galvanize SF's Fullstack program is best for your learning style, your career transition plan, and your life situation.
Here is a summary of what most people wanted to know from me up to this point.
Who is Galvanize Fullstack for:
- People who value sleeping at least 6 hours. I transitioned from the healthcare field and health is important to me. I don't think my friends in 3-4 month bootcamps prioritize their well-being as highly as I do. Three quarters into their curriculum, they look pretty awful and sickly to me. On top of that, Galvanize has break weeks to help prevent burnout and allow those who fell behind to catch up. I found this very helpful and used my time to learn new skills.
- Disciplined people willing to work past dinnertime to finish assignments and polish their projects. The majority of assignments won't have you staying up past midnight, but you can't attend classes like a regular University, where you just need to do the bare minimum for your letter grade. The effort you put in will have exponential results.
- People who value 1:1 interaction with the lead instructors. When I asked various bootcamp students from other schools about their student-teacher ratios and 1:1 interactions, they told me they're "really paying thousands of dollars to be put in a room to learn with 20-30 other amazing people". They might see it as a selling point. I don't. For the money I'm paying, I want ample opportunity to ask for insights from knowledgeable, experienced engineers with strong fundamentals.
- People who enjoy a flexible program and freedom of choice. In my experience, the first three months consisted of JS web dev fundamentals and was highly structured. After the first three months, my instructors insisted we all dip our toes into the job pool because we already knew enough to get hired (true). The last three months is focused on making yourself market-ready and a higher-in-demand developer. 4th month is where you start feeling the pressure because lectures will be shorter and the instructors will allow you to focus on whatever will most benefit you during your job search. After all, your goal, the program's goal, and the instructors' goal is to get you a job. Some people used this time to start to build portfolio pieces. Some back-end people focused on codewars and extra time with datastructures and algorithms. Some front-end people spent time bettering their CSS skills or polishing the CSS of past team projects. Despite the stress and uncertainty of picking your own adventure, I really enjoyed being able to choose what I wanted to do and tailor the experience to what I needed. This sounds like self-study, but having the ability to check-in with instructors several times a day really helped me streamline my supplemental learning to help reach my career goals.
- Self-starters. Example: people who want to gain insights from instructors and apply their skills towards side passion projects during break weeks. During the second break week, I created a pure JavaScript Google Chrome Extension for vision therapy after 2 months in Galvanize! And so could you.
Who is Galvanize Fullstack NOT for:
- People who won't approach instructors or other students when in need of help. The instructor help is the program's greatest resource. Their real world production experience makes all the difference. Sure, you should learn to lookup Stack Overflow and Google first, but don't get too crazy. When you're so junior, you have to know when to stop going down all the rabbitholes and ask for some direction.
- People that just want to do the bare minimum to not get kicked out the program. Your skills and portfolio just won't be job ready in time. Well, maybe within 6 months after the program.
- People who are not inclined to make their education their #1 priority will fall behind and have serious issues catching up, even with break weeks. I've seen people with side jobs fall behind and struggle to catchup. Galvanize is a fulltime commitment.
Suggestions for the Galvanize's interview process:
- Study beginner JavaScript. That's the basis of all modern web development. Galvanize will teach you everything from scratch, HOWEVER going through a single beginner's JavaScript book will prepare you far beyond the not-so-selective application process and give you a good idea if coding is for you.
Suggestions for getting the most out of Galvanize Fullstack before start date:
- Same as above. JavaScript, JavaScript, JavaScript. Code along through 1-3 JavaScript beginner books and you'll be so much more ready to take on the higher level concepts. The more you know before coming into the program, the more you will excel and grow as a result, and the more you stand out from the regular bootcamp crowd. I can't stress this enough.
Suggestions for getting the most out of Galvanize Fullstack during the program:
- Base your projects on technologies you hope to use upon graduating. You can attract companies that use those technologies. Companies that had data visualization features in their product, were interested in me on hiring day because I showcased a d3 dashboard.
- Build a side project in a field you're interested in or hoping to get hired in. Shows passion and interest, but most importantly shows that you're a self starter with the capacity to learn new things on your own. Companies were impressed by the fact that I used one of my break weeks to create a Google Chrome Extension.
- Polish your previous projects or assignments to build a job seeker's portfolio as you go. Or build side projects to accomplish the same goal.
- If you're interested in back-end: learn to build apps with test driven development and get those datastructures and algorithms down pat.
- If you're interested in front-end: React and Angular are easy if your JavaScript fundamentals are strong. CSS is what makes or breaks your enthusiasm for front-end. Don't rely on Twitter Bootstrap for every project. Anyone can master it in a day, and if you can only do BootStrap on the front end, you will only get hired by companies using BootStrap. Learn how to implement your own grid system using positioning and floats, and then learn how to use the newish native grid system, Flexbox. Going without a CSS framework will teach you how to master CSS.
- Put your resume out early (3 months) and start interviewing, so you can fail fast and get early feedback from the extensive support offered at Galvanize: soft skills coaching, negotiation practice, technical/whiteboarding interview practice with instructors, etc. A lot of these amazing career-support opportunities are available by appointment, so you have to know what you want to focus your afternoons on.
That's about it. If you follow these guidelines as I did, you'll probably think Galvanize Fullstack is a 5 star program too.
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Steve
Galvanize made me ready
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My time at Galvanize SoMa (South of Market, San Francisco) has been life changing. The program provided an environment not only condusive to learning code, but also for networking with startups and leaders in Tech. We were regularly asked to give 100% and rewarded for those efforts with increased confidence, building wide mixers, hackathons, community lunches and a number of weekly events.
I came to the program having prepared thoroughly--I recommend focusing on JS--but found it hadn't prepared me for how thorough and rigorous the course was. One of the things I really appreciated about the experience was my instructors emphasis on not only understanding how something worked but why and what was happening under the hood.
They also paid particular attention to soft skills and the job hunting process. I felt the career services team was proactive in my job hunting process providing me with leads and a job interview with a startup in the building. We were also provided with one on one and small group sessions to discuss the obstacles we faced and ideas to overcome them. I was grateful for the opportunity to vent and be heard.
In the end I would recommend Galvanize to anyone who genuinely wants to be successful in tech and is willing to work hard for it. They will help realize your potential by pushing you to push yourself.
I can proudly say I'm now two weeks away from my first day at a company I'm excited to be apart of with a salary more than three times that of my previous and it's due in part to my time at Galvanize SoMa.
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Anna VM
Data Science Immersive SF
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in short: loved it! well worth the investment!
more detailled overview: I tried to underline the points I remember being curious about
* material: you wallk out of there with a strong grasp of machine learning algorithms. there are tests to help you check your understanding
*instructors: great team, they are available to talk one on one or with a smaller group if you have questions
*campus: perfect place to work (I studied there many weekends too)
*cohort: great mix of people, all motivated, from various background. You spend quite a lot of time programming in pairs, so you really get to know the others
*capstone projects: great few days when you get to use everything you learned. We are split up in smaller groups (with an instructor to coordinate) and give each other feedback.
*post graduation: meet-up every week to help you stay focused and organized. We all share interview experience, practice whiteboarding, etc... Extremely useful!
NB: be ready to work, the more you do so the more you get out of it! I studied most evenings and most week ends.
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Jennifer Dunne
I'd Do It Again In A Heartbeat
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The first thing that impressed me about Galvanize was how thorough their enrollment exam was. It took me two tries to get accepted, even though I have degrees in math and AI and a decade-spanning career of programming and database support. Talking to the other students in my cohort, I was far from the only one who'd had to apply multiple times. But the entire cohort successfully completed the program, with no one failing or dropping out, which proved the validity of the application process.
In my case, I was new to the Python programming language, so I took the one-week Python pre-course (free for Data Science Immersive students). That really helped me get up to speed and become fluent in the language, instead of stumbling my way through it and constantly checking reference manuals. The goal was to be able to focus on the data science we would be learning, not the programming, and it succeeded. I also felt more confident by the end of that week. After all, I'd been out of school for nearly 30 years at that point, and I was a little concerned about how quickly I would be able to learn things, compared to the much-younger members of my cohort.
The lessons were clear and straight-forward, with lots of real-world examples from the careers of the instructors. The concepts built on each other in a sensible way, so that after spending a week on different elements of statistics, it was easy to understand the algorithms incorporating those statistics. Frequently, we would code our own versions of algorithms, really understanding how all the pieces went together, before we applied the commonly available versions of the algorithms. This made us far more knowledgable than simple analysis monkeys that could only drop data into an algorithm and turn the crank.
I also want to commend the knowledge, patience, and care of the teaching staff. They made what could have been complex and confusing, easily understandable and entertaining. Also, they did a great job of shifting their teaching styles to match the personalities of the cohort. Apparently, the cohort prior to ours had a lot of students that wanted the instructors to give them the answers when things got difficult, so the instructors would basically just show them how to Google the right question. Our cohort was fiercely independent, so the instructors had to almost beg us to ask them for help, rather than wasting our time trying to figure things out ourselves. They still wouldn't give us answers, but they'd point us in the right direction, or tell us where we'd made mistakes. And when they noticed a number of students having similar issues, they'd put together a special session to go over that one specific concept.
We did solo work in the morning, pair programming in the afternoon, and towards the end of the course, broke into teams on Fridays to work on bigger projects. Then, of course, we had to do our capstone projects. The instructors were very helpful with giving pointers for things to look at as we developed our capstone ideas. One of the members of the cohort started his capstone work the first week of class. I was able to spend most of our Spring Break working on mine, which helped take the pressure off to produce something from scratch in the final few weeks. (I'd definitely suggest to students to start developing an idea as soon as possible.)
There were additional reading assignments for each day, to be done before class started in the morning, as well as solutions to assignments given out at the end of the day to be compared to what we'd done. There were also "extra credit" assignments on most days, that we could do if we finished early. After we complained about the massive workload, they explained that the idea was no one should ever feel like they had "nothing to do". There was always more to learn. But we weren't expected to learn it all or do it all every day. That took a lot of the pressure off.
We had multiple practice sessions for our capstone presentations, and I was impressed by everyone's work at the Hiring Day presentations. There were an equal number of hiring companies and students at Hiring Day, which was nice, but it did not seem that they were very well vetted. Some were early stage companies that did not yet have funding (one basically offered to pay people with IOUs, convertable to money when their funding came in) or did not have any current openings (one was a recruiting firm that seemed to just want to add names to their roster). I was encouraged by the instructors to turn my capstone into an hour-long presentation at the Denver Datapalooza conference, which was an additional feather in my cap proving my abilities for potential employers, and got me some great contacts within the industry.
I had an additional hurdle that most of my cohort did not have. Because of my age, many of the companies -- even those that requested that I apply for their open positions!!! -- never contacted me. I've since been told by someone who works in this arena that the HR departments in large firms protect themselves from age-discrimination lawsuits by refusing to interview older candidates. It wasn't until I removed any mention of age (dropping graduation years, removing the first 10 years of my experience, and not stating how many years I'd worked in the industry) from my resume that I began getting calls. This really should have been addressed during the resume preparation workshop we had, as well as during the resume reviews.
The Outcomes group did not do a great job preparing us for the realities of a job search. We were under the impression that 1/3 of our class would get offers from Hiring Day, and the rest would get jobs within a month -- two at the outside! -- of graduation. So when I couldn't even get anyone to return my calls within that timeframe, I was distraught and felt like a complete failure. It took me nearly 2 months just to figure out which sorts of companies I should be applying to, that would reward my job history and experience instead of wanting the lowest cost provider of data science skills. I would have liked an acknowledgment that one path toward success is to take short-term data scientist contract positions, building up your resume, while you search for a full-time position, and to get some help finding those. Instead, the only options that were covered were joining a start-up or working full-time for a well established firm. Since their success is measured by how much money the students get when they sign their employment contracts, their motivation is skewed in a way that is not necessarily helpful for the students. Also, the official job prospect software was a joke. They stepped up to the task after graduation, and began sending out job notices to the students who were looking for positions. But it felt like a fumble and a recovery, not like it had been the plan all along.
Galvanize graduates have a very good reputation, and companies that have hired one often want to hire more. There are also lots of networking opportunities, both during the course and in the months following. There's even one specifically for women who have gone through any of the Galvanize programs, and who sometimes feel that the tech industry can be a "boy's club", to help you find female mentors in the industry.
Overall, I really enjoyed the three months that I spent in the data science immersive. If I'd known how long it would take to get a job, I would have signed up to be a TA for the following cohort, so that I could stay in that wonderful environment. I highly recommend the Galvanize program for anyone interested in Data Science.
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Josh Cantor
Full Stack Immersive
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Overview:
My experience in the Galvanize Full-Stack Immersive was highly productive, engaging, and enjoyable. I went into it hoping to maximize my learning and trusting the process would help me build the tools to find the "right" software engineering job for me. After three months of interviewing and talking to a variety of companies, I recently accepted a great offer from a fantastic company.
I chose to attend Galvanize after researching bootcamps for about a year, and I was most compelled by their instructors and curriculum. Having six months of class (vs. three months, which seems to be far more common) was also a factor, since I knew more time immersed in learning would result in a deeper and broader set of skills come the end.
There were some bumps along the way, as other reviewers have mentioned (Associate Instructor turnover, unproductive hiring day), but I'm honestly not surprised by this, given how new the industry is. For me, the core experience of being and class and learning was excellent.
Instruction:
Schools are only as good as their teachers, and Liz Howard and Tyler Bettilyon were a fantastic instructor team. Their lectures and assignments were focused and well thought-out, they were always open to my questions, and they often worked with me individually when I asked for assistance. We regularly were asked to provide feedback through surveys, and I know both Tyler and Liz were genuinely interested in using this to gauge their past instruction and plan for the future. They're both fansatic individuals, and it was a pleasure to spend six months in their class.
Curriculum:
Prior to Galvanize, I spent a year and a half teaching myself, and during the program my pace of learning was far greater than what I achieved on my own (meaning, per amount of time spent learning, I was much more productive in the bootcamp). The curriculum was scaffolded such that new concepts built on those we previously focused on, and they were paired with meaningful exercises that allowed us to practice implementing them. I was able to build the tools to create full-stack web applications and to continue learning on my own. This skill is arguably more important than the specific technologies I learned, given the current pace at which new technologies are being adopted throughout the whole industry.
One area I would like to have spent more time was computer science fundamentals. This feedback was given by me and many members of my class, and the cohorts that started after mine now have more CS built in.
Jobs:
Michelle Lai, the Career Services Manager, and I communicated regularly thoughout my whole search process, and she connected me with a number of companies that I eventually interviewed with. She was a great sounding board for thoughts and ideas on search strategies, interview preparation, and negotiation. After my course ended, Michelle hosted weekly group meetings for alums to help support our respective searches in whatever way was needed.
Recommendations to Individuals Researching Bootcamps:
Before commiting, spend a bunch of time coding to a) find out if you like it, and b) prepare for a bootcamp: the more you come in with, the more you come out with. Nearly all the work you'll be doing builds on your basic coding ability, so a shaky foundation will result in a shaky experience.
Ask lots of questions before committing. This is a really new industry, and it's easy to get excited about the hype. Make sure your idea of what you will get from a bootcamp is in-line with what a bootcamp will teach you and provide for you.
Ask lots of questions once you're in class. This is how you can advocate for yourself and your own learning. If something doesn't make sense, ask about it. Many times my mental model for a concept was initially incorrect, but by asking questions about things that stood out to me as not making sense, I was able to quickly correct my thinking.
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Gerard Cote
Solid Program
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In an increasingly crowded universe of development training programs, Galvanize has been a trail blazer and leader. The six-month intensive program with its focus on leading technologies and discipline around best-in-class engineering process vaulted my capabilities exponentially. This learning was fueled by an instruction team that was excellently qualified with both professional and academic experience. Galvanize's entrepreneurial ecosystem and top-notch instructors make it an excellent choice for anyone looking for a career in software.
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Alex Braun
DSI Cohort 9
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Galvanize is a great school. The students are intelligent and driven, and the intensity of the course seemed to force us to engage with each other in an extremely goal-oriented, intellectually honest manner. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to work with others who operate on such a mature plane. The professors and DSRs are knowledgeable and dedicated to helping students actually understand the material, but you need to seek them out if you need help outside of the classroom. I found Lee Murray (then DSR, now DSI) to be particularly helpful and very sharp.
The course is well-paced and decently orchestrated until we got into the Spark, AWS, Hadoop, Hive and Pig week. If you know anything about these pieces of software, you will know a week is not enough time to cover them. This week should focus only on the skills that are most attractive, to the majority of employers; and those skills are Spark and AWS. Students should be taken by the hand and walked through every step of setting up an EC2 instance on AWS, as it's actually not that hard, but admits of many pitfalls. The remaining time should be dedicated to Spark. Overall, given the immense depth and breadth of the topic, the instruction, course material and coursework are well crafted.
The classroom time dedicated to all the job/hiring stuff after we got through with the data science bit was far too short. However, Katie's (then the Director of Outcomes at Galvanize) assistance was outstanding. She can and will walk you through everything; from organizing the job tracker to how to write a cold email. She is also an invaluable source for finding job opportunities and will give you warm introductions to people. However, you must be patient and persistent with her, as she is a very busy women who simply cannot do 100 things at once.
In short, Galvanize has a great deal to offer, but as with all things, it's what you make of it. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, in part, because I was determined to make it so.
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Elana Kopelevich
Web Development Immersive
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I enrolled in the full stack program with a little bit of insider info. I had been working for Galvanize, part-time, so I was looped in to their internal updates on student placement and curriculum development. I recognized that the company was really focused on student success and that the data backed it up. Despite that insight, I still looked into a few different programs (it's too much of an investment to make a biased decision). I quickly narrowed the finalists down to the two well know six month, fully immersive programs in Denver. I decided that part-time wasn't going to cut it. Ultimately, the deciding factor was the community experience that Galvanize would offer me.
From day one of the program, I was happy with my experience. Between the curriculum, the instructional team the community experience, Galvanize was a perfect storm of life changing experiences.
The curriculum was relevant, responsive and very fast paced. The reality is that learning a full stack of web development is an enormous endeavor. It gets stressful and overwhelming at times. The industry standards are in a constant state of flux and even the foundations of problem solving go deeper than most people are used to in their day to day lives.
That being said, I cannot imagine a more efficient way of delivering the information than what I experienced at Galvanize. The program segmented front-end, back-end, frameworks and computer science cooncepts, but also allowed us to spiral back and gain a deeper knowledge after we had spent a fair amount of time with material.
Beyond the curriculum, the class culture was amazing. Not only did I leave this program with twenty something new friends, the comraderie in the classroom encouraged helping and teaching each other and removed the fear of looking stupid when asking questions. Developing that environment was a conscious effort of our instructional team and I'm grateful for that.
Outside of our classroom, we also reaped the benefits of the community space. Rather than learning in a silo and having to go to networking events to, not so subtly, ask employers for jobs, we got to share a space with working professionals that were intersested and curious about our experiences. After six months in the same building, we had all made personal connections with developers and euntreprenuers that advised us, hired some of us, and became a natural part of our networks.
Finally, I want to add that the program was really fun. Aside, from the fact that I got a job (I'm now working for Galvanize), and that I got new skills, it was one of the most fun six months of my life. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who loves learning, wants to be challenged and needs some help transitioning into the tech world.
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Colin
Excellent program, worth the money
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This program is top-notch. It was a big deal for me and my family for me to do this, in terms of time and money, but it definitely paid off. The instructors were great and the program really did prepare me for a job in the data science industry. You have to be ready to work and devote yourself to the program for three months, but if you do, it will all be worth it in the end.
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Eric Hullander
Galvanize Seattle
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I came from an electrical engineering and enterprise software background, but fell in love with data science about a year ago and wanted a change. I studied online through Coursera, but eventually chose Galvanize to help sharpen my skills after not being selected for a few data science positions.
It worked. I landed a data science job with an exciting startup/consultancy within 1 month of graduating, and I will start consulting at a major software company on Monday
I am just now beginning to appreciate how much I learned at Galvanize. In just two months I have been able to contribute to a variety of projects with the knowledge I gained from Galvanize; building classifiers, regression models, topic modelers, and A-B testing. We are mostly an Azure ML and R shop, but my new-found Python skills have been very well received here.
The course work at Galvanize was intense, but fun. The instructors are amazing and the cohort was highly intelligent. I've never been so intellectually challenged in my entire life (except maybe now at my new job) Being surrounded by and studying with the Galvanize team for three months changed my life. I am doing what I want to be doing.
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Japneet Singh
Galvanize Data Science Immersive
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There isn't much I can add to the reviews already available which cover most of the important points but I'll add my two cents.
Data Science immersive has hands down been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my career and I would do it again without thinking twice. It's a great place to learn and grow and the environment is immensely supportive. The instructors and the DSR's(TA's) are always available to answer questions or doubts which will be in abundance.
You will learn as much from your peers as from your instructors. Be prepared to put in the hours and forgo any social life outside the program for its duration.
I agree with some of the reviews below about working to get your jobs. It ultimately comes down to how much work you're willing to put in by going to meetups, conferences and even cold mailing recruiters. It can take anywhere from 1-6 months depending on the individual.
I want to give a shout out to the Outcomes team which works hard behind the scenes to help graduates in their job search. They are always available to help you and make introductions wherever they can. They also conduct a weekly outcomes meetup for graduates to come and discuss their interview experiences which in my opinion is extremely valuable. Basic idea here is that you have resources available , its up to you to make the most of them.
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J
Best Bet: Galvanize Full Stack
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Bootcamps are hard work. They require a lot of dedication and effort. For anyone looking to learn how to code that can't or doesn't want to put in that kind of commitment, steer clear of bootcamps in general.
I'd argue that Galvanize prepares their students better than any other similarly structured and timed bootcamp. I've seen this working as an engineer for the past two years while working with graduates from other bootcamps. They've honed in on what works and how to reach the majority of their students with varying ways to teach and learn.
That being said, you get out of it what you're willing to put in. Galvanize will not hand every student a job coming out of Full Stack, nor will they guarantee that you've retained all that they've put out there for you.
Simply put: if you're interested in becoming a software engineer, you have drive and a basic knowledge of computers and do the pre-work, then Galvanize Full Stack is your best bet and will prepare you the in the most indepth way for the launch of your engineering career.
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M
Not for the technically averse...
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If your ambitions are to make more money, take some time off and discover your passions... Don't jump into a bootcamp. Galvanize is a great program, but it won't give you the basic skills like computer proficiency, that's something you need to come in with.
Provided you have a legitimate interest in technology, software, and web development, Galvanize is one of the best programs. Like anything else, it's what you make of it. If you put your all into the program, you'll walk out with the basic skills needed to thrive as a junior developer. But what you won't get is the foundational computer science concepts that make you a mid-level or senior developer. That's something you need to develop on your own. I guess what I'm saying is, you need to have a desire to continue learning. This isn't a silver bullet, but it's a fantastic starting point.
They aren't going to hand you a job, you have to get out there and search for it. I know some people who graduated and didn't find a job for six months, others had jobs lined up before graduation. It's a risk. The marketing for the school isn't necessarily the most accurate, but it's not a complete lie either. Nearly everyone I know from this program has eventually found a job, though not always the one they wanted or making as much as they thought they should.
I can't speak to the job assistance, I was in the third graduating class and there was virtually no assistance. Demo days were for family, friends and students. No one was there to hire you. You had to find those willing to on your own. I hear it's better now, but can't speak to it.
The short of this... If you love technology and have the drive to learn, Galvanize is great! If you're looking for money and an easy way out... You're in for a world of pain and struggle. They will direct you to the tools, you figure out how to use them. It's what you make of it.
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Moses Marsh
Excellent data science curriculum, instructors, and career services tema
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I had a very fulfilling experience at Galvanize. The classroom environment is the perfect combination of individual assignments and collaborative learning, and the instructors check in with you personally to make sure you're getting all the help you need if you are having difficulty with any particular subject. This is very much a success-oriented program; the goal is to place you in a data scientist position as soon as possible.
In addition to the programming, probability, statistics, machine learning, and data engineering curriculum, there are one-on-one resume workshops and mock interviews. You learn how to pitch yourself as a data scientist and navigate the interview process down to the negotiation stage. Galvanize hosts many events and talks that provide valuable networking opportunities, and the outcomes team has a roster of companies that come to the Galvanize campus to connect with students (and if you have a particular place in mind, they can help connect you with them directly).
I enjoyed the experience so much that I stayed around to help instruct the next cohort. Meanwhile, my peers had interviews lined up in the week immediately following graduation. Any time after the program, Galvanize and the outcomes team are still there for you to provide job search support. They're a resources you can always count on, and they really, really want you to become a successful data scientist.
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Frank
Pleased with DSI experience
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After reading positive Galvanize reviews and finding multiple job postings in Denver for Data Scientists I decided to enroll in the 3 month Data Science Immersive at the Platte campus starting in February. Getting in to the program wasn't easy: besides a take-home test there were two online Google-hangout type tests that tested python, programming knowledge, and stats and machine learning knowledge. I got in but I studied these subjects intensively for a couple months beforehand because I knew that the rejection rate (i.e. "Apply again after you've learned more in these areas..." was high.
I was impressed by the syllabus, the instructors, and the contacts with industry. This is a vocational school, but there is a serious attempt in the limited time you have each day to dig deep conceptually into the material while you do practical exercises. It was exhilarating and exhausting.
Post graduation job search support is strong as well.
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Derik Linch
Best Decision Ever
I was pretty bummed about where I was at after college. I was working sales in jobs that weren't fulfulling. I joined Galvanize and have never looked back. It was an amazing time, I felt challenged but never overwhelmed. I met some of my best friends and have a job I absolutely love. Bonus is that it pays almost 3x what my old job paid.
Talk about a no-lose scenario.
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Tim Hou
Data Science in Residence
The data science program at Denver has been a great launchpad into the field of data science. Although, I was able to learn fundamental of data science at General Assembly, the immersive program helped me prepare to be a Data Scientist in industry. I was able to create a fantastic capstone project at the end. This program has given me a lot more confidence to becoming a successful in this field.
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Matthew Bird
Very positive experience
Would recommend -
Anonymous
Great Experience - Worth the Investment
If you put the work in, the results that you get out will be tenfold. The Galvanize Full Stack will build a strong foundation that you can build a career upon. And it goes beyond the education with the community that Galvanize offers its members.
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Robert Hajek
Incredible program..hard work pays off.
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Before starting the 6-Month Galvanize Web Development Immersive program in Denver, I was working as a remote representative doing ISP techincal support. Having only a techincal certificate/associate degree from a community college, I felt my career options were limited and I was at a job earning much less than I valued my skills to be worth. I wasn't being challenged and my pay reflected that. I had always been interested in programming but had never written a single line of code.
Enter Galvanize...
One of the best decisions I have ever made! This program was hard but very rewarding. I made really good friends during the course and overcame some very tough challenges. Galvanize has a dynamic curriculum meaning it is constantly being updated to fit the job market. We were the first cohort to have switched to a MEAN/NEAP stack curriculum instead of primarily RoR. I learned more than I thought was possible in that short of time frame. I realized I really enjoyed complex problem solving and learned how to approach difficult situations way more effectively. After the six months, I applied to become a resident instructor at Galvanize, a role akin to a TA. I was offered the position and spent 3 months helping the next cohort of students before being promoted to a full-time Associate Instructor. I am now getting ready to help teach my second cohort and I couldn't be happier. I worked very hard and know I ultimatley was responsible for my own success but I'd be lying if I didn't say I owe a lot of it to Galvanize, their dynamic curriculum, and the incredible staff of instructors.
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Anonymous
Tons of work! Very worth it.
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Considering that the Data Science program advertises itself as continually updating their cirrculum as to keep up with industry standards, many of the sprints were woefully typo ridden and did a sub-par job conveying what should be learned during the exercise. In this way the learning experience was far less smooth than it could have otherwise been.
Looking beyond this limitation, the program was amazing. The instructing staff was knowledgable and certainly cared about my learning experience. The other students were also a wealth of knowledge and support. Overall, the program was extraordinary, though very taxing. They definitely take the immersive idea seriously there.
I think the biggest thing I got from the program was learning how much there is to learn about data science while getting a great foundation of skills and framework in which to acquire new ones.
If you think that you're going to know all about data science upon leaving this program, or that it's some sort of magic solution that will make you a big shot data sciencist, then think again. No matter what, learning data science takes an immense amount of work and talent, this program ended up being an amazing first step in my efforts to become a good data scientist.
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Roberto Ortega
From social worker to full stack developer
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Galvanize did it. Well no, acutally, I did it because it took a lot of work but Galvanize helped me get there. I went from working for non-profits with zero tech skills to doubling my salary writing code.
The market is good right now for developers, that definitely played a factor. So if you're thinking about coding, now is the time. I highly recommend Galvanize. They really care about their placement rates and are very public about it so it's a good choice. As far as other bootcamps, I'm not sure, but I can talk about my experience with gSchool:
They had completely shifted their curriculum from Rails to JS. We were one of the first cohorts to go through it. Looking back, I think they could have been a little more organized with the curriculum. It was intense early on and then independent work for the second half. It should have been spread out more with more guidance towards the end.
Even so, Galvanize is fucking awesome and I learned everything that I needed to know to get a job. My instructor knew his shit and made sure we did as well.
Also, one thing that might set Galvanize apart from the rest is the community aspect. The environment is modern and hip. They host multiple startups and events that I was constantly immersed in the tech scene. By the time I graduated, I had made really good connections and friends.
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Anonymous
Worth It.
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Galvanize is without a doubt the best decision I have so far in my life. I have completely altered the path I thought I woud follow, giving me opportunities, connections, and a community of incredibly people that I never woud have had otherwise. It is an intense and challenging program, as is to be expected in a condensed bootcamp format, but it was worth every penny...I don't say that lightly, given the loan I took out for the program. I have hard technical skills and an ability to learn new concepts quickly and effectively, allowing me to pick up new frameworks and technologies in a way I never could before.
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Taylor
Full Stack Developer
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There's a reason that the Huffington Post and the NY Times have written rave articles and reviews about Galvanize and its graduates. Let's start by discussing what separates Galvanize from its competitors.
A. Galvanize's full stack immersive program is 6-months long. Longer than most programs of competitors, but much needed to truly come out of the program as a decent full stack developer. The program begins quite structured, with lectures and assignments daily. After the first quarter, you have less lectures, and more assignments that are to be completed on your own or in groups. The concept of gradual release is extremely beneficial and mimics a typical workflow of a developer in the field (ie: there won't always be someone there to hold your hand and answer all of your questions). Galvanize is big about the concept of learning to learn- and let me tell you... once you learn to learn, you never stop (or want to stop). Let's just say that learning Meteor in a week wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
B. Galvanize buildings are a combination of start-ups/freelancers and the immersive bootcamps, and that is just awesome. Picture this. You're sitting in a common area on a Saturday morning, hacking away at an assignment due Monday. A man, who is a member at Galvanize walks up to you and strikes a conversation. Turns out, that man is the CEO of a startup in the building and guess what?! They are hiring junior developers. From networking events held monthly, mentorship luncheons with companies, opportunities to shadow devs in the building, and even to the random conversations I had over a beer or two (yes, there is a keg with free beer in the building), the connections I made with professionals in the tech industry through Galvanize are priceless. This is one of the main reasons I chose Galvanize and one of the main reasons why I believe their program is so successful.
C. In the end, you're trying to get a job... and a good one. Galvanize has an outcomes team that is specifically responsible for finding you jobs and counseling you through the entire process. As a student (and alumni if you finish the program), you have access to exclusive job opportunities via an internal job portal. Many of these companies and these job roles target Galvanize graduates exclusively because they know they are reliable and strong developers. Was it easy finding a job?! Actually, yes. I got my top job and one of the top 3 salaries in my class two weeks before graduation. The last quarter of the full stack immersive program is predominately working on capstones and presentations, technical interview practice and lectures regarding salary negotiations and resumes. Hiring day, which occurs two weeks before graduation, is a day dedicating to showcasing student capstones. Each student presents roughly 4 minutes in front of 30-50 potential employers (all who are looking to hire). After presentations, there is a networking luncheon, a speed-dating sort of round where employers chat with each student, AND a science-fair styled showcase of all the companies, where students can visit booths set up by companies. It's a lot of talking and networking within one day, but most students come out with second rounds of interviews scheduled with companies, and some, even jobs.
Now let's talk about my ratings.
A. Overall Experience: I gave it a five, but I would give a TEN if possible. Really. You give up your life, your job and for me, I moved halfway across the country just for this program. You shell out all of this money in hopes that everything will work out... and it does. If you put in the effort and the hours, you will come out with a great job- regardless of whether or not you are the top coder in the class. For me, Galvanize personally connected me with my dream job- which is where the 5 extra stars come into play.
B. Instructors: The instructors are awesome. They all come from really unique backgrounds and bring a lot of unique developer experience to the table. Instructors are available during work hours and many go above and beyond to be available late at night and on the weekends. Each class has 4-5 instructors and usually 1 FSR (like a TA) to assist, so I never felt like I was on an island. Instructors enjoy solving problems and coding too, so often times they bring a new perspective on how to solve a problem or address issues you're experiencing in your code.
C. Curriculum. It is a Javascript-based bootcamp. The stack is: NEAP (Node.js, Express, Angular, PostgreSQL) and in addition, we scratched the surface of: Ruby, Python, Java, Swift, Mongo, Socket.io, Test Driven Development and Agile Workflow. Lots of students learned new technologies for projects as well. If you are coming in with little to no experience in coding, work on JavaScript and JQuery as the first half of the program heavily revolves around those. Also, class hours are 9-5 M-F, but you WILL put in additional hours every.single.day. Just plan to put in 50-60 hour weeks at minimum. Don't worry- pomodoro timer is a real thing and there is a ping pong table for breaks.
D. Job Assistance, see above.
All in all, Galvanize was worth the money and the time. I came out with a great job, amazing friends, and irreplaceable knowledge of how to learn as well as the necessary foundation of a software developer. It's hard work, but it pays off without a doubt.
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Anonymous
Galvanize DS Denver - Tough To Get Experience and Hired
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Hi! I finished my Denver cohort in Jan 2016. If you are considering a data science Denver class I would recommend visiting a class and noting: interaction with students and instructors, how smoothly the labs run, and how the intructors review material supporting quizes and exams. Ask the students how they are doing and what they are learning. It will be your money and time so make sure you are comfortable with the learning environment as a place where you can thrive.
If they refuse to let you visit a class, consider that a red flag.
I would also ask for the number of students employed in the Denver area with salary info. Our cohort has had a difficult time finding Denver jobs. As of this writing, 4 months after the classes ended, many are not employed. If your intent is to stay in the Denver Metro area, this may not be the program for you. One person from my cohort and two from the previous cohort had to leave Colorado to find employment.
PROS:
The other students were very motivated, interesting and collaborative. Galavanize does a great job of finding qualified students.
The ziphian materials presented in the repositories are wonderful. If you take the class dig deep for them. They were not used as part of the circulum in Denver.
The California staff visited twice during our session and were amazing with providing context and coherent lectures.
The labs were actual business case studies with relevent uses of algorithms on business data
The math, stats and computer theory was presented and then applyed to a a real world problem
The Denver training site is in an incubator and home to a full stack class so you are surrounded by people who are inovating and discussing new ideas
The Denver training site has lots of amneties like breakout rooms, wireless, gym, bike corral, and spectacular views
Guest speakers came about once every other week to discuss their use of data science in their company which put a great context to what we were learning
One week prior to the Data Science course they offered a Python course that really helped and was a great bonusCONS:
The labs, reading materials, quizzes and lectures were often unrelated.
Many of the 30 minute quizzes were over materials that were never covered and not reviewed (so what was the point?)
The instructors were not always constructive to questions with responses like: "google it", blank stares, "I don't know, ask someone else", and shoulder shrugs
The labs were not properly prepared so we often spent valuable time trying to configure our computer by updating libraries, importing a new data file or running different syntax
The Career Services team was located in a different building 15 minutes away and had very limited availablity
Time management, planning and communication were lacking with informal meetings and no schedule for the day. As a result, I did not feel that my time was valued by the Galvanize staff.
Confusing and inconsistent learning environments and teaching styles.
The staff was constantly "reactive" to what needed to be done. They were avaliable for questions but not great at explaining concepts to relate to the lab and quiz materials.
Instructors were graduates of the previous course so their knowledge did not run deepGood luck !