Galvanize Reviews
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Scott Cronin
Why Galvanize is the best
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Galvanize is simply the best data science bootcamp that exists. I'll walk through how I came to that decision, alongside sharing information and experience coming out of it. For you to get the most out of this program, you should be a rockstar with stats, math, and programming background and good work experience. I knew about 1.5 years before joining Galvanize I would transition from my R+D engineering role at Intel to data science. I applied to every bootcamp, and chatted with members from:- Galvanize
- Insight (PhD only)
- Metis
- NYC Data Science Academy
- Data Incubator (PhD only)
- The most intense 12 week bootcamp
- The most well designed and iterated (now on cohort #12 as of March 2016)
- Well rounded with additional focus on resume, recruiting, and interview prep
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Anonymous
Data Science Immersive - SF
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I went to the 12 week program in 2015. They have a three step interview claiming the bar is high for the program, but these days there is a booming in number of student accepted and graduated, while resources are the same or even worse due to loosing experienced instructors. Students not being in similar level for a 12 week program is serious issue itself, leaving students with lower prior experience in more difficulties to catchup with the curriculum.
The material they teach is cutting edge with means of the programming machine learning tools, but not the most useful for industry if you are looking for an actual job in data and analytics.
There is no real effective job assistance provided, there are so many graduates that the only person in charge of outcomes will not even get enough time to answer your emails. The most effective interviews that I got were not through Galvanize.
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Anonymous
Full Stack Intensive Course
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I went to a 4 week bootcamp and got a great intro into coding, however for getting career ready this is the place to go. Yes, its the most expensive bootcamp, however that money is worth it because of the exposure to technlogies, depth of language understanding and connections that you make here.
This program will be great for you if:
-> You are able to learn on your own (there is a mixture of lecture and on your own pace learning)
-> You are serious about wanting to become a web developer
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Jeffrey Roach
Data Science Immersive - SF
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I have just finished up with Hiring Day and am going into my last week here at Galvanize, SF in their Data Science Immersive 12-week program. I think that most of what I have to say will apply to nearly everyone in my class. Going into the program I was skeptical of what I was paying for and how much of what they were promoting is real. I'm hoping this review will clear some of that up. The program is exactly how they promote it and at the end of it most of my classemates and I were discussing how happy we were that we took the plunge.
I'm not going to describe the course work and week by week nature of the course, there are plenty of blogs online written by students who were in the course (the school actually encourages it). If you are looking for one, one of my classmates has been writing about their experience here: http://www.jscottcronin.com/blog/
I'm wanting to talk about what I think is the biggest reason to attend Galvanize in particular versus some other bootcamp, the Staff. I think that this is their strongest asset and one that they continually try to improve upon. The instructors and TAs (or DSRs as they call them) are constantly available for help and doing everything they can to help you succeed. I had plenty of struggles throughout the course and anytime I needed some help I could ask a classmate (all of which are super smart and want to help too), if we couldn't figure it out there was a TA or a Instructor ready to help. During project time, a classmate of mine had one of the founders of the original school come and assist them with a problem they were having trouble with. There are people behind the scenes working to make sure that you are ready to put your best foot foward once you are done with this program, whether is it coaching, resume review, interview prep, anything you need. It feels as if everyone one in the building is pulling for your success.
As I said they are constantly trying to make sure everyone is getting the most they can out of the course. They give out assessments almost every week and try to talk to people who might be having trouble with certain topics. I've been the target of a couple of these. The only way you wouldn't be able to get help or assistance from the staff is if you went out of your way to avoid it. Even then, they'd notice and want to at least have a talk with you to make sure everything is going well.
When it came to presentation time, Hiring Day, and meeting with several companies I felt completely prepared. I know that I put in a lot of hard work myself, the course requires it, but the guidance and assistance I got whenever I asked was invaluable and something I know most, if not all, of the rest of my class can agree on.
They are there for you even after the program is done and their alumni even comeback to give guest lectures on various topics trying to help more people succeed the way they did. Knowing now the attention and energy the school, alumni, and building staff, puts into the success of their students, I would HIGHLY recommend anyone who is even thinking about doing this program to go ahead and take the leap. I loved my experience here and want to keep that going wherever I go next.
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Anonymous
Data Science
Poor experience with staff. Many of them are not helpful and cater towards keeping their numbers high. If you fall behind, you're on your own. If you're near the top of the class, you'll get all the attention in the world.
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Zubair Desai
My experience at Galvanize
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I was a student in the San Francisco cohort and I made a big change leaving my job to come to SF. My experience was that if you were willing to put in the work, Galvanize would provide everything you need to come out of the program as an exceptional developer with multiple job offers. My overview of the program:
-Good teachers with excellent knowledge base who were supportive and fun to be around.
-Interesting projects and excercises, with exposure and opportunity to contribute to real world projects.
-Great campus - community, fun environment (always so much going on - constant exposure to start ups and active companies looking for developers).
-Professional introductions made by Galvanize to potential employers through Hiring Day.
For me the decision to attend Galvanize Full Stack was lifechanging. I feel like I completed the program and joined an ongoing community of support and opportunity. I couldn't be happier with my decision.
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Lorien S.
I'm an older woman, and love Galvanize SF
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I'm in the Full Stack Immersive Web Development Program at Galvanize San Francisco (http://www.galvanize.com/courses/full-stack/san-francisco/). Attending this school is one of the best decisions I have ever made.
I'm a woman, and let's just say I'm over forty and leave it at that. The point is, I am not the typical web developer demographic, so I was a bit aprehensive coming into the program.
My experience has been better than I ever imagined. I have never looked forward to Monday mornings more in my life.
Our instructors explain concepts clearly and succinctly; they are tremendously encouraging to everyone, and if there is ever any issue (and with people working this hard, encountering so many new concepts every day, there are bound to be issues) they address them in a calm, caring manner.
Did I mention I'm female, and over forty? Thought so. Yet, every day, I'm encouraged and treated as an intellectual equal by some of the smartest, most talented instructors I have ever had the good fortune to learn from.
I may be the person Tony mentioned below, that our lead instructor helped last night at 11:30pm. I certainly did get help as soon as I reached out, at that time last night, but I wouldn't be surprised if our instructor was helping other people at that time as well. He helped me solve my issue in 15 minutes; it was wonderful.
Students are constantly working in informal groups and pairs; we are encouraged to help each other succeed. I feel like I'm making life long friends in this program.
I am so thankful I am in this program. I'm sorry it ever has to end.
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Tony Nguyen
The best program available
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I am a current student in the full-stack program and want to respond to the previous person’s post and share my experiences.
1. So what if the instructors are from GA? What matters is that they are professional, know the material, and teach it well. I understand it that Galvanize poached GA’s 2 top instructors and having been in many a classroom, I can tell you that they are very good.
2. The classroom is in no way competitive and there is no pack mentality other than the mentality that you have to bust your butt to be a developer. We constantly work together with our fellow classmates and actually like each enough as people to spend time outside the classroom together. We don’t pair program and anyone who pines for it at our current competence level only wants to mask his/her programing shortcomings behind his/her pair partner. No way does the course discourage anyone from not working with your classmates on labs and classwork, but it is ultimately up the individual to work through each assignment to best best learn it for his/herself.
3. “If it was easy, then everyone would do it”
You are supposed to spend hours on HW, get stuck, look up documents, ask the instructors, and use your classmates as resources. However, learning web development is achievable and the instructors make themselves very available to help us. The lead instructor even responded to a student’s homework question on Slack at 11:30pm last night. They hold us to a very high standard, do not sugar coat how difficult the material is, and how much we would have to work sacrifice to learn it well. Some individuals would interpret this sort of tough love as a personal attack where it is meant to teach us self-reliance. To say that any of the instructors are the gatekeepers is a patiently absurd statement and whoever feels like that is just passing the buck when it comes to his/her education. I guarantee you that whoever feels like that is not still in the classroom with me at 10pm in an honest effort to finish the HW.
4. End of rant. Galvanize is an excellent program, but you get what you put into it.
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Mike
One of the greatest decisions I've ever made.
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For both the people attending and looklng into programs like gSchool, I imagine the main thing that concerns them is the kinds of skills or training they will recieve to help them break into the software development field. I was no exception to this. I spent my days attending gSchool, obsessing over whether I was truly "getting it" and worrying myself sick about my potential ( or lack thereof ) as a developer. Yes, the class is intense and there is a lot of material to take in during your classes.
A situation like this can be stressful and can harbor frustration not just with yourself or other students but with the instructors as well. However, despite the situation or headspace you may find yourself in as a result of this struggle, let me be clear that you will find no better support, understanding, or patience like that of which I personally experienced in my time with our instructor.
That instructor essentially inherited a classroom of students who had lost their initial instructor a few weeks before, leaving them confused and concerned about the course ahead of them. Despite these concerns, from the moment of his arrival from GA he was hands-on, focused, and more than capable of guiding us through the next six months. Having taken the time to seek his help and/or setting down with him to talk, I was not only able to get my questions answered, but I was also able to take a step back during those stressful emotional moments and process my victories and failures with the guidance of someone who has experienced these same things themself.
Overall, the time I spent in SF at gSchool may of given me the skills and knowledge to go out and get a job that I actually love. But far more important is the fact that the instructors that led the 26 of us developers-in-training provided me with the feedback and re-enforcement that helped me completely change my life and grow not just as a developer but as a person as well. It was my experience that this was exactly what our instructors wanted for us every step of the way.
But, changing your life can be alot like becoming a developer. It takes patience, empathy, and the understanding that you dont know everything, you dont have everything figured out, and chances are you never will. It takes this mindset and approach to truly appreciate the entire experience, and if that's just not something you can come to terms with, you have no idea what you are missing.
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Anonymous
Galvanize is home
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Sometimes people have opinions and concerns, some other times people just try to find a venue to complain without solid foundation.
If you're thinking to join Galvanize to become a full stack web developer, you need to know that you just landed on the best bootcamp that San Francisco has to offer.
With websites like code academy or treehouse you can definitely teach yourself how to code but at Galvanize they put their heart in it.
The team of instructors is a very qualified and talented group of people who bends back and forth in order for us students to be happy and to be 100% comfortable in our learning process.
The lead instructor, as defined by someone else right before me, is not a starter at all. He has a Computer Science and Marketing degree with years of experience as instructor. I’m not involved in the instructors team but from my point of view it seems like he tries his best to make sure that everyone around him is happy and comfortable. It doesn’t really get better than that.
The other two instructors are as good, very motivated and very inspirational for us students.
It’s always silly when someone talks about years of experience in this industry because, if you really know what you’re talking about, you know that this is a constantly changing environment where all you know right now might not be useful anymore in few years.
Wake up people and start appreciating what you have because being in this program it’s a blessing, it’s a lifetime opportunity to completely change your future, but you’re still the one who has to do the most of the work.
If you’re expecting to be held hands for the all process, this might not be the right option for you.
But if you are you should definitely consider to apply, stop by and fall in love with the building.
The rest of the staff is awesome as well and everyday when walking in here it just feels like walking in your own home with your own family.
I will never be able to thank this team enough for their hard work and effort.
.MD
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Anonymous
When the wrong person leads, everyone suffers.
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i'm in my late twenties and sit in my class and watch the lead instructors basically single out those that are older and not like them (young, white , male) and hold them out to a different standard than they do me of the rest of us. The lead instructor is someone who should not be lead, there are two other instructors with real world expeirence under their belt and show the ability to patiently explain concepts in a calm way.They are able to explain the why behind the do ,having done it in real time. The lead instructor was a general assembly student, that became an instructor at GA and then came to Galvanzie which caused alot of us pause, since we specifically steered clear of GA for a reason. The lead instructor tends to try to push the pack mentatility and turn things unecessarily competitive and us against them. we were promised pair programming and as of yet, not once has it been done. having become aquainted with some of the previous class, this was not uncommon, and the general concencous was that the lead instructor was not emotionally mature enough to remove self from buisness and played gatekeeper(meaning if you weren't like him, you had no business doing this type of work and he was aimed at making sure you did not meet your goals set down by the school for their money back deal. ) and that does seem to be the case. there are different expectations put forth from talking with my fellow cohort depending on who you are and if the instructor likes you.
The bright spots are: the environment of the school itself. it is a hive of networking and information. its vibrance is definitely inspiring. The opportunities that present themselves for learning outside of the classroom with all the different events that occur on a daily basis. the support staff, take care of the students. they are like our guardians always making sure we get the best of leftovers from the events. making sure we're always included in networking events an dpulling strings to get us into industry events that otherwise would be to cost prohibitive.
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Cameron
Full Stack Programer with Ruby on Rails
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Hey all,
You might already know me from my weekly blog on CourseReport, but if not, I am certainly glad to give a first-hand account of how gSchool helped me get to where I am now. I want to acknowledge that this was a great decision for me personally and I will talk very highly of this program but will also provide some feedback that I think could have been better.
From start to finish gSchool has surpased my expectations. From the beginning, the interivew process was seemless. For me, most interview processes can be a little disjointed and confusing, but gSchool's process was very fluid and filled with communication. Once accepted into the school I was contacted by their admission staff and was walked through their payment process. Since it is such a sizable commitement, their staff was adamant to anwer questions you may have. That was a huge plus for me! I moved from DC to attend gSchool in Denver so I sent an email or two to some staff members to inquire about possible living locations and they offered to pick me up from the airport since I did not have a vehicle.
Like their interivew process, the first couple of weeks was very open and visible. Insturctors keep you in the know about upcoming lectures, assesements, and schedules. This level of transperancy was paramount to me because I came from a company where transperancy was not a priority for their employees. Once I was settled in Denver and started school and was impressed by the support and curriculum made by the instructors. For the first couple of months the days were structured with exercises in the morning, lectures before and after lunch, and then code reviews in the afternoon. The expecation is about 20-30 additiaonal hours outside of class, which is definently the case. If you come into this program, be prepared to work hard and study. There are also several requirements that must be statisfied before you graduate. Along with weekly assessments, there is a personal project, and a class project that must be completed by the end of the program. If you still have questions about those assignments check out my blog. I got into more detail about the expectations of class there.
As we got closer to the end of school there was more of an emphasis on personal/exploratory time where students were allowed to explore other languages, front-end, and other challenges that would assist in the interivew prep for when job-hunting became a factor. I felt that is was harder for me to do because I enjoyed the structure of the program at the beginning and found it harder to focus when given more free time. This is the reason I rated curriculum the lowest out of all the rating categories. I rated instructors and job assistance the highest because no one does this better than gSchool. The insturctors are top notch and can assist students with any problem they might encounter. Also gSchool has a job guarantee which ensures students that they will get all their money back if they cannot find a job that pays more than 60K a year, who does that, right?! To help do this, the instructors work hard to bring in local employers into the office to recruit. For people like me, who are not looking to stay in the Denver area, the instructors helped us by reaching out to their personal network and vouching for you. Since our instructors are top notch, a vouch from them carries a lot of weight to employers and most always guantees a first and second round interview.
I was truly lucky to attend this school. Along with the curriculum, gSchool also provided a lot of opportunities to grow socially as well. I came from another part of the states and left this school with about 30 new friends because of the events gSchool helped plan. I would recommend this school to anyone who wants to make a change to their career. For the first time in my life I bring a unique skill to the table and having these skills make me feel confident and secure when thinking about my future endeavors. I hope you enjoyed reading this and it gave you a unqiue look into my experience. For any more informaiton please take a look at the gSchool page and see the blog posts that I have written.
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Layne
6 months of my life that I wouldn't trade for anything.
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We're now in the last couple of days of gSchool and I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
The first three months were very intense and were mainly dedicated to lectures, workshops, exercises and pair programming. We mainly learned ruby, javascript, html and css. Most days had a similar schedule where we'd start with a warmup problem to challenge our brains, learn some new things or solidify techniques we had previously learned, next we would listen to a couple of lectures or presentations. After lunch, we would normally pair up, work solo or in small groups on exercises that could take anywhere from one to eight days, depending on the project.
The last three months, we split our time between pairing on production code for real clients or working on our personal projects. The personal projects were an opportunity to really stretch our minds and skills by introducing completely new technologies of our choosing. You could chose to push your personal project as far as you want and had the help of the instructors if needed. We also all worked individually on a required class project so that we would have a complete project implementing many technologies to show employers of our skills.
Outside of class, my cohort was very social and we had many events such as Soup Sunday, a fantasy football league (which I'm still determined to win), barbecues, a prom party, twice weekly fitness bootcamp led by another student and many other things. I can honestly say that the people I met at gSchool will be not only my colleagues but also some of my best friends.
We also gathered once or twice a week to learn topics that weren't covered in class like computer science topics, algorithms, and code challenges. This was first created to just prepare us for job interviews but turned out to be tons of fun and really pushed our knowledge and skills.
The instructors at gSchool are all top notch and were absolutely amazing. I will say that gSchool is what you make of it. I had an amazing time and think that I am fully prepared to go into any job situation and will be able to perform at a high level and learn quickly BUT with that being said, if I had just done the bare minumum and not taken the initiative to push myself, I don't think it would have been quite as good.
If you have the chance to go to gSchool, you should absolutely do it.
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Anonymous
Course review-GRE
The course was very well structured with proper amount of tests and lessons. -
Anonymous
SJP Feb 2022
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This is their new "untested" python bootcamp they say is designed for beginners with 0 coding experience. The instruction you get as someone who has no knowledge of coding coming in is brutal. The instructors don't actually explain anything. They just put code on a screen and say here it is. No explanation of logic or why things are the way they are. They just expect you to memorize everything you see on screen, if you ask what is going on they tell you to go look it up. Do not spend the 20 grand they are asking for this product. You are better off self learning because that's essentially what this is. -
Anonymous
Just don’t.
2.5 years since graduation, 600+ job applications turned in, 6 months of working for equity, several more months working a contract gig, and still nobody on the planet will give me a chance as an actual full-time dev. Does a few months in school followed by the job of your dreams sound too good to be true? It is.
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Anonymous
Web Development Immersive
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Galvanize's 24 week Web Development Immersive program is designed to teach students to learn and teach themselves effectively. The format of the course is self paced and project based, not college lecture style. Galvanize has a good reputation for this reason. Graduates are equipped with the skills to learn new technology quickly and independently. Many students accept and excel in positions outside of the MERN stack Galvanize focuses on.
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Anonymous
Great experience
Great community, glad to be part of it!
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Anonymous
Great experience at Galvanize!
I came to Galvanize from a background of music, administrative work, and substitute teaching. My experience there was awesome. The instructors were great, the material was new and useful, and it was overall a wonderful experience. Most of my class had no trouble finding jobs. I am so happy that I did it!
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Anonymous
Data Science Immersive - Only positive things to say
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I would recommend the data science immersive program to anyone driven and hard-working who wants to transition into data science. The network and resources are top quality, and you are surrounded by startups and companies all within the San Fransciso campus.
The curriculum is challenging, and I would recommend anyone interested to brush up on statistics, probabilities, and modeling in order to get the most out of the program (Bayesian stats, common distributions, common machine learning algorithms, etc). I would even recommend finishing a free data science MOOC before starting the program and you will be well prepared for the material.
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Anonymous
Galvanize DSI
Great school. Gives you the foundation and tools to become a great data scientist.
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Anonymous
Full Stack Immersive Student
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My time at Galvanize NYC had paid off almost exactly a year after starting my 6-month program. I was accepted into an apprenticeship program at a big company directly through my connections at Galvanize. It was a bumpy road, but I was able to go from knowing very little JavaScript, to learning enough tools to create full stack applications. Most importantly I learned the value of teaching myself and not being afraid to speak up and communicate. Ultimately Galvanize was able to provide a dynamic learning environemnt and prepare me for the world of web development and beyond. Career Services was able to give me the confidence to present myself and my skills in an interview setting. I left the program feeling that my curiosity, not my virtuosity, with coding was most valuable to me and potential employers.
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Anonymous
Still a good school if it's still 24 weeks
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Long review short: If Galvanize is still doing the 24-week length course, then chances are you will receive quality instruction with good instructors who care about their students. HOWEVER: If Galvanize has gone the way of Hack Reactor (which they acquired), then that means they've shortened it to a three-month program, to which I'd say "stay away" and shop around for another school. As a graduate of Galvanize AND a graduate of a 3-month program at the now-defunct CodeCraft, lemme tell you: 3 months isn't enough. I know because I entered CodeCraft with already 2 years of experience as a web developer, and to go from HTML basics to building full-stack apps with modern front-end frameworks in 3 months isn't enough. Even if they're only accepting people with previous web experience or a computer science degree and decide to make a 3-month program that starts with an intermediate understanding of JavaScript, I've heard they're still wanting to charge almost $20K for those three months, which is a total ripoff. I have no idea what Galvanize has in store for the future of their programs as far as length is concerned, so that's why I give those two scenarios.
If you're wanting to get your feet wet into web development and need the structure of going to a classroom with other students and getting live instruction and help (which I did), then I recommend their 6-month program, with the proviso that they let you observe one of their classes for a day. And network like hell, early and often.
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Anonymous
Giant waste of money
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I have decided to update my review on Galvanize due to having been out of the program for longer at this point. Updated 11/1/2018
I'm a relatively recent graduate of the Galvanize Web-Development immersive program (coming up on six months since graduation) 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 2017, and puts their job placement rate at 83%. This might sound good, but bear in mind their job placement rate for 2015 & 2016 was 87%. Assuming both those years were 87%, that would require a drop off of 12% in their placement rates to now have fallen to 83% average. Even with those not terrible numbers, I would be highly skeptical. As far as I know, from my cohort of 20 graduates, only 6 have solid paying full-time jobs, and of those six, one had the job lined up prior to graduation through a friend, and the other works for Galvanize. Of the remaining four, all came into the course already having very 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. Instructor turn-over is so frequent it's almost comical. During my time in the course, we lost around 5-6 different instructors, and we lost both the Faculty Director and our Lead Instructor (as far as I know, they were forced out). 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. So half (or more) of the instruction you receive is from people who only learned this stuff themselves a few months ago. Hilariously, they'll also tell you all about what to expect at your first Dev job when they've never actually had a Dev job.
Because there are no exams or grades, it's pretty much impossible to fail the course (which is hilarious because they act like graduating from the course is some sort of amazing accomplishment). 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 and keep pushing you through. 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 you realize how little you've actually learned. To give just a few examples:
-During our last week, we had people who had not even started on the Back-end portion of the program, so the instructors just came over, hand-held them through the entire thing and basically did the work for them, and then declared them "complete" so they could graduate them on time.
-During my 'final interview', I don't think I answered a single technical question correctly. They acted like it was no big deal and graduated me anyway.
-We would do 'coding challenges' in the morning, which were supposed to simulate Tech interviews. I literally never solved a single one, but they didn't care and kept telling me not to worry about it. Now post-graduation, I've tried example coding challenges, and I can't even do the most absolutely basic ones. Six months of "teaching" by Galvanize, and I can't even get through the basics.
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 by the staff. 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.
Finally, they are WAY too crowded. There are 3 classrooms in the basement (the primary area for the Web Dev program), and there are so many people in the course that they've converted what was originally a break area into a classroom. They call it an "open air classroom". Please.
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. Oh, and the coffee, snacks, and beer are good.Before anyone thinks that I was just lazy and this review is sour grapes for not getting handed a job after graduation, I arrived every day about 2 hours early to work ahead, and stayed late every day to work some more. I worked weekends and break weeks, sought help whenever I needed it, and anyone in the class will tell you how much effort I put in. My reward? We were told that the average Galvanize grad "applies to 55 jobs, gets 4 interviews, and accepts one". I've applied to 150+ jobs, and I've gotten 2 coding challenges (which of course I couldn't make a dent in, since G-school taught me next to nothing), and 0 interviews.
Apparently there will now be some big changes coming to the G-school curriculum following their acquisition of Hack Reactor. Hopefully this fixes their issues, but they have a LOT of work to do if they want to prove they're worth your time and effort. If nothing changes, stay far, far away from this program. You'd be better off spending a few hundred bucks on Udemy courses and teaching yourself.
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Anonymous
Galvanize Phoenix
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I am a graduate of Galvanize Phoenix in December 2017 and I recommend the course to anyone who wants to take the dive into web development. My goal was to graduate the course and to find a career within six months of graduation and I was able to do just that with the help of Galvanize, their wonderful staff, my classmates, and some of the professional working out of the building.
Curriculum: This was not an easy course by any means. This course really requires your full attention to be successful and you have to have a drive to want to learn. The course is broken up into four quarters (front end, back end, react, and final project). While, there were some growing pains with the course as this was the first year that Galvanize Phoenix was open, it was a very collabrative environment and I felt they took our suggestions as students to heart and course corrected some issues. For quarters three and four, be prepared for a little less lecture from teachers as learning on your own is really stressed to prepare you for the future outside of Galvanize (that said, it's not that they don't teach these quarters, it's more that they allow you to teach yourself first before they clear up any misconceptions and problem areas).
Instructors: All the instructors seemed very knowledgable and were willing to help at just about any hour. While some of the teachers were getting their sea legs as teachers, they seemed to get better with time. With that, they all are very personable and I was able to generate a good relationship with all the instructors.
Job Assistance: Maria is the best. She is willing to help anyway she can to help you get a job, by helping you search, giving you leads, role playing, helping with your resume and so on. The job that I accepted was found on Galvanize's job board, so that tells you that they are able to get good leads for people that are looking to enter the field. Also, they have networking events and recruitors frequently coming to the building. Most of my interviews came directly from recruitment events or Galvanize's job board.
The reason why I'm so high on Galvanize is that they helped me achieve my goal in starting a career as a web developer.
Note: I have a bachelor's degree in a unrelated field.
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Anonymous
Data Science Immersive
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I chose 4 out of 5 because 5 would mean perfect and there are just a couple of things I would change, or adapt. But for someone who has the drive, determination and aptitude to succeed, I would rate this program very high and I am very proud to have succeeded and to call myself part of the G-community! I can't imagine a more complete and intense program given in the time allotted. This course allows students to become aware of all the topics in data science and then drive home to focus on their individual interests.
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Anonymous
SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!!
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I just graduated the Data Science Cohort in Boulder, CO. It was awful. I would never consider it if I were looking to pursue Data Science. I feel like asking for my money back.
Curriculum - Nothing different, more insightful, or better than the free online courses through Harvard. The instructors were not helpful, poorly explained the ideas and concepts, were not knowledgeable (having just graduated themselves from the program).
They run through everything too fast even for those with graduate degrees in stats and computer science. We all finish and said "did we even learn anything". Many students applied for the TA position so they can retake the class. There is no real learning here.
Career help - don't expect anything. Our career advisor quit (I hear the one in Denver did as well) so we had a couple of mediocre presentations and then were told good luck. No follow up or any additional help.
DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE...THIS IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!!!!
Tara McLauchlan of Galvanize
Program Director
Jan 26, 2018
Thank you for taking time to leave these comments, though we are so very sorry that this is the experience that you feel you left with coming out of the Data Science Immersive program. As we discuss throughout the admissions process, this program is intense and incredibly fast-paced, and we do understand that it might not be the best fit for everyone. We do also invite feedback throughout the program, and also offer students pro-rated refunds should they decide that this is not the direction they want to continue.
It was ill-timed that our Career Coach accepted another role during your time here as a student. We are proud of him and happy for his new venture, yet understandably this was a frustrating experience for many students. That being said, our students and their success are ultimately our top priority: we have new coaches both at the Boulder and the Denver campuses who are eager to make meaningful connections between our alumni and the greater community. As a graduate, you have full access to the team across our campuses nation-wide, and you are encouraged to utilize their insights and expertise to assist in your job search.
If you feel that you are truly not prepared, please come speak with us so that we can help to guide your job search and to level up any skills that you feel are preventing you from gaining interviews. We are here for you -- you have access to us personally on campus, as well as through both email and Slack. Please reach out or come discuss in person. -
Anonymous
Galvanize is one of the best for DS
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I’m still in the middle of my cohort at Galvanize SF. I have to say that the overall quality of the courses is great. The width and depth of the course materials match or even go beyond the industry standards. I’m also a big fan of how they design the courses so that there is a natural flow of the knowledge. They make sure you build a solid ground work, then more bricks, and eventually skyscraper (if you wish). The courses is very intense, but I love it as I’m work very hard on something I care about, with great guidance. Galvanize DS is perfect for someone who is passionate about being a real data scientist, and also with good basic knowledge of statistics and python.
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Anonymous
Solid education, zero job support
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I went through Galvanize's Web Development Immersive (formerly full stack immersive) program last year, graduating in mid-December. The first thing that I'll say about them is that the classroom environment was excellent. My instructors were intelligent, knowledgable, funny, and friendly, and I can confidently say that I learned a lot from the course. That said, Galvanize's stated end goal is to get it's graduates jobs, and in that endeavor they have failed pathetically.
When I applied for the program, one of the aspects that most interested me was the fact that the course culminates in "hiring day." I knew from friends who had been through gSchool previously that hiring day was an incredibly important event wherein a huge number of graduates found jobs immediately after graduating.
About halfway through my cohort, our lead instructor made a comment about how Galvanize no longer does hiring day, and every student in the class looked at him with a baffled "what do you mean they don't do hiring day anymore" look. He informed us that career services had decided to replace hiring day with "Capstone Showcase," and nobody had bothered to tell us, despite the fact that we had all spent $20,000 on the promise of hiring day. It's worth noting that at that point, I went to galvanize.com and found that they were STILL advertising hiring day as a major component of the course.
Once capstone showcase rolled around, it was painfully obvious that it was NOT a good replacement, and that career services had put little to no effort into organizing it. First of all: they combined my cohort with another one from a different campus, meaning that there were somewhere between 50 and 60 presenters in one day. In a not at all shocking turn of events, most employers who came to see the presentations left long before the day was over, because who the hell wants to sit through 50 presentations? This meant that my capstone presentation was done in front of a room full of fellow students, which isn't exactly the most productive way of going about trying to get a job.
Speaking of employers, it's worth noting that there were almost none at the event, and there was only 1 person between the two cohorts who managed to get a job as a direct result of capstone showcase. To call it a miserable failure would be a massive understatement, and it's certainly worth mentioning that one of the people from career services was actually fired as the result.
We are now less than 2 weeks from the 6 month since graduation mark, and there are no jobs on my horizon. I've attended the "alumni anonymous" meetup that Galvanize holds for graduates looking for jobs, and it's nothing more than a couple of overpaid people endlessly editing resumes and giving you deep insights like "just keep applying!"
All of this is to say that anyone reading this should not attend Galvanize. I learned a lot, sure, but I'm out an awful lot of money with nothing whatsoever to show for it, and have received little to no assistance from Galvanize post-graduation. I constantly regret not screenshotting the "hiring day" portion of their website when it was still posted, as I would absolutely be pursuing a lawsuit against them at this point if I had. Galvanize lied to me, promised things that they had no intention of delivering on, and has left me in the dust, endlessly applying to jobs that have no interest in hiring a bootcamp grad.
Do not attend Galvanize.
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Anonymous
Avoid Boulder CO Campus- Pick a bootcamp that isn't just about dazzling you
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Galvanize is the worst way I have spent money to date. I have to admit that I fell for all the marketing here. I attended a bunch of free events, got to know the teachers, fit in with the community... I've heard mixed things about different bootcamps so I wanted to try the Introduction to Python course and ensure my bootcamp investment would be worth my time. I went in pretty excited, my faith blided by their great marketing. I should have seen the red flags when the instructor of the class snipped at everyone and dodged questions on the first day and Tara MacSomething would wait entire WEEKS before responding to my email with a simple question (other students complained of the same experiences, apparently I am lucky I got a response). Did I make it through the class? Yeah, but mainly due to my prior knowledge of the subject matter and work I put in outside of class. I hardly learned anything from attending the classes and would have been better off with an instructor who actually teaches and explains the steps and reasons behind them without acting like you're just an inconvenience. I will not be attending any other Galvanize classes now that the Python class is over, seeing as I came out of it all with little value. Wish I could have my time and money wasted back. They spend all their free time pitching you their bootcamps, which our instructor of course perked up for and suddenly became enthusiastic. No thank you.
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Anonymous
Not for everyone who qualifies
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I finished my Galvanize DSI program during the first half of 2016. Others have already commented extensive on the methodology they use to cram about 1 year's worth material into 3 months. I will only say that I don't think this is a very effective or even efficient way of teaching/learning because it is difficult to retain anything when things go so fast (even though the intructors are generally good). What I want to focus here is the post-graduation job hunt.
More than 6 months after graduation, out of my cohort of about 20 students, 4 are still looking for work and 2 went back to their old job that is unrelated to data-science. Galvanize still galantly touts their 91% placement rate, which came from 2014-15 statistics. I know they have the statistics for 2015-16, because they have surveyed me and everyone else. I wonder why they are still using the old statistics.
I have noticed that my peers that are still looking for work tend to be younger or fresh out of college, whereas the ones who found jobs tend to have had some experience and even PhD, albeit in another STEM field. The industry seems to prefer to hire those with experience, even if it was not in data science. I think that is misguided, because my observation was that the younger classmates tended pick things up faster and are better at coding. However, it is what it is, so I am just sharing this as a caution to those new college grads who see this as a quick stepping stone into a data science career. You might be better off staying in college for another year if your tuition is < $16k. You will probably learn things better at a more reasonable pace.
Before graduation day, the career staff showed us a list of employers who were scheduled to come and interview us. This list included big names like Uber, Salesforce, Facebook, McKesson. However, the only companies that actually showed were small start-ups that no one has ever heard of. Still, some of us did get hired by these start-ups (including me). My advice to those applying is to ask Galvanize specifically for a list of *all* the campanies where its graduates have found jobs (they surveyed us and so they have this info!). Don't be satisifed by their cherry-picked list. On the other hand, I have to say also that I am working in a start up that no one has ever heard of and I am very happy, so don't just focus on the sexy, big names.
Finally, I have to say that I got great counseling from Michelle Lai on job hunting. She went beyond the regular resume writing and interview skills. She explained to me how stock options work in a start-up and how to negogiate for what I wanted. Unfortunately, she literally left with a week or two of me finding a job. I hope they have found a worthy replacement for her.
In summary, I am using the skills I learned at Galvanize every day as a data scientist in a start-up, so the program is legitimate. A clear majority of my cahort did find jobs in data science, albeit it is nowhere near 91%. At the end, I think Galvanize paints an overly rosy picture of the job prospects for their graduates. You not only have to possess (or learn) the right job-hunting skills, but you also need to have the right kind of experience that employers want. I don't think their program is for everybody who qualifies for it.
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Anonymous
A Transformative Experience
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I came into Galvanize with two years of work experience in biostatistics research under my belt, wanting to launch a career as a data scientist. I couldn't be happier with my choice! You need to be prepared to work hard each and every day, but the rewards are tremendous: I feel like I learned more in these three months than I would a year in college. There's a few main things I want to point out.
First, not only will you learn a lot about data science, but you will learn how to learn, and how to learn at an accelerated rate. This means that afterwards, you will feel much more comfortable teaching yourself about a topic that you currently might not know anything about, which is an invaluable skill.
Second, people in the program come from a variety of backgrounds, which means that you can learn a lot not only from your instructors, but also from your classmates. So any area that you are weak in, it’s likely that someone else is stronger in, and you can use them as a resource. Likewise, you will have the opportunity to help others based on your strengths.
My final point is that Galvanize teaches you not only how to use data science algorithms, but how they work. So, what you learn is more than surface-deep, and this gives me great confidence going forward on my job search, since I’ll actually be able to explain the algorithms to potential employers.
I highly encourage anyone interested in pursuing a career in data science to apply!
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Anonymous
I had a wonderful experience at Platte campus, very special place.
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I was a student in the Galvanize Full-Stack Web development program in 2015. I really enjoyed attending this program and felt extremely privileged to get in. It was an incredible learning environment that fostered intense sense of community and facilitated an amazing level of learning. So those are some of those pros!
Now on to some other pros...the breadth and depth of topics that are covered in this program is incredible. It is extremely intense but highly rewarding. Probably the best educational experience I have ever had. I have attended undergrad and grad school and this was very similar in my estimation to my grad school experience. You had to manage your own time wisely and apply yourself. They provided lots of resources, lots of exercises lots, lots of direct 1:1 support, projects, experientials, mentorships...tons and tons of things. They also covered the latest technologies at the time. They provide alumni workshops after you graduate that are essential in my experience of getting hired. I think the best thing about Galvanize was not the curriculum or format as much as it was the quality of people there. They are invested earnestly in you. You form real relationships that are the foundation of everything you learn. They also are committed to building a learning community, I learned just as much from the others in my cohort as I did the instructors. I can only speak to my instructors, but they were all incredibly gifted and wonderful people. You also have to recognize quickly that everyone brings different skill levels to the table at the beginning. Comparing yourself to your cohort colleagues is not helpful. You must compete against yourself. Everyone brought value to the learning process. Some of these people have become some of my best friends. Everybody in my cohort had a job within 6 months.
So now to cons, the cost is high. You cannot really have a traditional job while doing this either, it is a full-time 40-60 hr/week job. You also will not see your family much during this program. The pace and intensity are incredibly high. You do get more out of it the more you do and the more you immerse yourself in the development world. I would say another con was that during my time there, there seemed to be continually modifying the curriculum and changing it. Alas, this is very much akin to the world of software development so it might be a pro also. Keeps you limber and flexible and adaptive. At times, disputes occurred with colleagues during group projects, but this was good practice for having "fierce conversations" that are necessary in the real world. It was definitely frustrating at points, but that is bound to happen when so much is being thrown at you. It is hard! But highly rewarding. It was worth so much more to my life and my family's future than the dollar cost. I would attend again in a heartbeat.
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Anonymous
Stay Away from Seattle Campus
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I completed the course and got a job despite Galvanize's management doing their damnedest to ruin our learning experience. During the course they removed an instructor from our classroom because they decided to start another cohort while not having the staff for it and needed to take one of our's. They brought in a manager to talk to our class about this but she talked down to us as if we were children instead of adults who had invested $21K each in this course. They scheduled construction right outside of our classroom to begin in the middle of the course. Luckily, that got delayed until after we graduated but it did not appear to be because of our concerns. The two very well qualified and brilliant instructors we had are no longer with the program and Galvanize had to hire and then fire one instructor because they were so desperate for an instructor that they hired a sexist fellow who had learned skills from online tutorials. This showed a complete lack of respect for students as we are investing a great deal of time and money into this program but they could not properly vet and hire a competent instructor. As for the Outcomes Coordinator, he is more interested in ping pong than helping someone get a job. You want a job? Get it yourself. He didn't seem invested in our futures. The most I heard from him was when he wanted my starting salary so he could report that back with his numbers. Honestly, management here is a dumpster fire.
Besides that all, the instructors I did have were AMAZING. They were all brilliant individuals with diverse work experiences which, sadly, management didn't seem to celebrate. I feel like my fellow students and I came away with a great set of skills and were found to be immediately hirable by many amazing companies. It is what you make of it, and I saw it important to work from 8AM to 2AM daily to make sure I got everything I could out of this program.
While my experience had a happy ending, my concerns about the current state of Galvanize Seattle are too great and I would not recommend it to anyone.
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Anonymous
Seattle success story
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My experience at Galvanize Seattle has been a kind of perfect storm (in a good way): the instructors and curriculum were great, my cohort was super friendly and supportive, and I got a job at a company in the Galvanize building! And my experience isn't even unique. But to be realistic, it's not guaranteed either. Probably the only thing you can count on is getting a good education, and even that is largely up to you. You have to do the work (but don't be afraid to ask for help). You have no control over who will be in your cohort, though the fact that you've all chosen the same program means you have something big in common. The job search can be difficult. Galvanize will help, but ultimately it's up to you to find a job.
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Anonymous
Mixed Feelings
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Galvanize has a lot of great attributes but also some disorganization and inconsistency. What sets one class apart from another is the teachers and the way the curriculum is planned out. Although my instructors had the best intentions, they didn't have the best resources and were not clear about requirements. We were never quite sure when something was due or if it was due at all and our work was rarely evaluated which made it difficult to know where we stood throughout the program. Galvanize prides itself as a learning environment that is constantly adapting. I understand for every cohort it's a learning process but there are some aspects that need to be appropriately defined, especially when your students are paying 21k to learn a new skill.
One of my biggest gripes was with the administration. If a student had concerns, galvanize made it very clear that they're there to help. When it comes down to it, your concerns are often disregarded. They don't seem to communicate with one another and when the ball gets dropped they do a lot of blaming of everything and everyone but themselves which hurts no one but the student.
Although my experience wasn't perfect, I still met a lot of great people and gained some valuable skills. My biggest regret is not asking enough questions. My advice to prospective and current students is to make any concerns clear to administration and teachers, document them, and if need be, keep going higher until your problems get resolved. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
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Anonymous
Haven't even taken the class yet and already problems
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I haven't even taken my class here yet and I'm already dreading it.
-They're in it for the money. They were nice to me until I paid for my class and now I don't hear back from them ever.
-Anyone you talk to will give you a different answer. Good luck trying to get clear info
-They took a month to respond to my email asking about a class.
-Once they realized I was younger and a full time college student they weren't nice to me any more.
I wish I could have my money back but they never responded to that email either so I guess I'm stuck with these people.
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Anonymous
Graduate of Galvanize Data Science Immersive program
I loved the program and feel that I got a lot out of it. To get out of the "hobbyist" stage of learning data science, you need an immersive experience that will push you and keep you somewhat overwhelmed, taught by instructors who are experts in their fields and want you to succeed. The Galvanize DSI program does all those things extremely well.
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Anonymous
Web Development Student
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I attended Galvanize's web development immersive program (formerly known as full-stack immersive) from April 2016 to September 2016. The program is divided into 6-week quarters, which can be summarized this way:
1st quarter: front-end, focusing on JavaScript fundamentals, HTML, and CSS.
2nd quarter: back-end, focusing on Node, Express, Postgres, server-side templating.
3rd quarter: data structures and algorithms, and practice with learning a new language in a short amount of time (for our cohort, we learned Python in 2 weeks).
4th quarter: front-end frameworks. We covered Angular but future cohorts may end up learning React. Instructors will also spend a lot of time this quarter preparing you for interviews and helping with the job search in general.
I would say the best part of Galvanize is the instructors. They were passionate about what they were teaching. They wanted every student to succeed. And they were fun.
I would say the curriculum could use improvement. Things slow down during the 4th quarter compared to the previous three quarters. To be fair, this is by design. Students are encouraged to spend the extra time to explore their own interests, which they can then share with everyone else in the form of a final capstone project. If you aren't self-motivated, you may end up getting complacent towards the end when the curriculum structure loosens up. On the plus side, the instructors have a wide breadth of knowledge and interests, so they will surely be able to advise you no matter what you choose to pursue, whether that be AI, IoT, language processing, etc.
If you are considering Galvanize's web development program, I highly recommend you to commit, but with the following caveats. As a recent graduate, my suggestion to you is to be highly motivated and be ready to work extremely hard for the duration of the program. It will definitely pay off. Do NOT attend if you aren't serious because you will end up wasting a lot of money and your own time. Should you get accepted to Galvanize and decide you want to join them, I recommend that you spend at least 3 hours a day learning JavaScript during the month leading up to the start date. Good luck!
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Anonymous
Awesome experience
Great experience, very valuable and practical curriculum, experienced instructors who love what they do. If you're interested in programming I highly recommend Galvanize.