Grand Circus

I'm an alumni from the September bootcamp 2018.

Ultimately the goal of these bootcamps is to find a job post bootcamp - mission accomplished. I think that most of my Front-End cohort are in the same position just a few weeks after the bootcamp.

The coursework can be pretty difficult at times but if you put in the effort you will do well. The precourse work is a small precursor for what to expect. I'd recommend coming prepared to the class. Maybe do a Udemy course or FreeCodeCamp work.

The stimulus was matched to much of the greater Detroit market and up to date with the industry. This was one of my biggest concerns but there is a flow and a progression to the course work from the ground up. 

There's much more to Grand Circus than just work in a class room. There's a real emphasis on soft-skills and a structured method to get you in your first job. There's some real talented people guiding you along the journey. Just like with your class work you're going to put in the hard work yourself. The school's network opened up the potential to meet with employers. This led to the vast majority of my employment leads.

Would recommend for motivated folks.

 

I graduated in June 2018 from the Front-End Development Bootcamp at Grand Circus. The curriculum was challenging, and I enjoyed the growth I experienced throughout the course! You get hands on experience building projects that are very practical and fun. My cohort was exceptional! I would advise collaborating and being open to feedback, it makes a world of difference.

I was exposed to the company I recently accepted a job from through an employer info-session at Grand Circus! 

 

 

I've completed two bootcamps at Grand Circus, which basically says all there is to say about my experience, but in case you're hangry for a side of details:

Grand Circus' instructors are competent, friendly, and very helpful. The curriculum covers all the relevant skills and tools you'll use on the job (I've been a web developer for 2+ years). The course, as a whole, is a crazy value proposition; you receive a mountain of instructional hours, great soft-skills (interview prep, networking, etc.) training, and a network that rivals earning a master's from a university for a tenth (or less) of the price. 

But, it is important to remember that a bootcamp is not a silver bullet. Unless you are a literal clone of Jeff Bezos, no one is just going to hand you a job because you can put 'Developer' on your resume. A bootcamp will turn you into a (hire-able) little sapling of a developer, but the responsibility for finding your first job and growing into a big, beautiful oak tree of a coder lies with you. Don't be scared though, little code padawan, because Grand Circus prepares you to be a lifelong learner (Hey there, Stack Overflow), which is arguably the most important skill a developer can have. 

So, if you're ready to go on a little adventure, be your own champion, and put in the work—definitely enroll in a bootcamp. Anyone can learn to code, it's just a skillset, and being a developer is an insanely rewarding career for anybody that likes to solve problems, build things, and continually be learning.

 

(P.S. - The Unity3D VR/AR bootcamp was my second course here—equally great experience—I’m just not sure whether they’re planning to offer it again)

Future Grand Circus Students,

I am an alumni of the Grand Circus Front End Coding Bootcamp from June to August 2017. I attended Grand Circus to learn software development and was also hoping to transition into a new career. I was ready to make a switch after working in education as a math teacher for ten years. Attending Grand Circus was hands down one of the best personal and professional decisions I’ve made to date!

The entire Grand Circus staff, top to bottom, is wonderful. The instructors and teaching assistants are extremely knowledgeable and willing to help all students master the content. In addition, Grand Circus has employees in roles designated to provide an extensive amount of soft skills training, resume refining, and interview support to each of their students.

Since graduating from bootcamp I have transitioned into a full-time position as a Front End Developer and I have seen first hand that the curriculum at Grand Circus is relevant and aligned to the work that is being done in the field. I highly suggest attending one of Grand Circuses Bootcamps if you are looking to make a career change like I was!

Honestly, I don't think I have a single thing to complain about. I loved my time at Grand Circus. I left with more friends than I went in with, I learned invaluable skills that directly got me hired after the course, and it got me to fall back in love with learning. I'm more productive than I've ever been and it's because my time in Grand Circus tought me to consistently strive for more. Beside the wealth of technical skills I gained, Grand Circus also helped me be a more effective leader and team member. 

 

After graduating, I was offered a salary that exceeded my last wage by 30% and I love where I am now. The staff at GC knows exactly how to bring you into the workforce and help you find your happy place. I found mine and I can't thank them enough.

Before entering this program, I was a Higher Education professional with an M.Ed specializing in educating adults. I'm familiar with the best practices for long-term gains in learning, current research in the brain science behind education and the co-curricular programming that makes a school work. After a decade and a half in higher education, I was consistently suprised, impressed and inspired by the educational community at Grand Circus. It has been the best learning experience in my adult life. For real. 

Here's why they are so good:

1. They regularly solicit feedback and they take action on the feedback they recieve. This means the program is always improving, always being tweaked to get the best results for their students. 
2. The program educates you as a whole person. Going to a bootcamp isn't just about learning code. It's about pivoting your career, being brave in a new industry, demonstrating confidence, resiliiance and a wilingness to learn. You recieve ample support on these adjacent skills.  
3. The career support is unparralled. Grand Circus builds relationships with companies and alumni for on-site interviews, insight on how to build their programs and even first shot at job openings before the job is publicly listed (which is how I got my job). 
4. The teachers are dedicated to your learning and smart as heck. They all also have several years industry experience. 
5. The community is welcoming, for everyone. Let's be real, no matter what the bootcamp is going to be exhausting and challenging. But it makes it soooooo much easier to perservere when there is a spirit of camraderie and you can be comfortable to be yourself. 

I'm not really sure if this site will publish my name, but if it does, feel free to find my info on the alumni profiles on GC, I'd be happy to answer any other questions. 

I took the Java Bootcamp with Grand Circus in August. Antonella is a great instructor and is very calm and collective even when helping students who don't pay attention and ask a question she just got done answering. I pick up on things very easily. The first 5 weeks were not difficult to me. The last 3 were a little more so. But as time went by, picking up the more difficult tasks became easier. I had no coding background prior to GC. But I will say there were some people that struggled a lot with learning new concepts. I just got offered a position after being done with school for a full month. I will say it wasn't easy. Most employers are looking for someone with at least 3 years of experience for an entry level role. And most want a 4 year degree. I applied to over 100 companies. Granted, a lot of that was during the holiday times and it honestly seemed like no one was hiring or given responses to applicants during that time at all. My biggest advice I can give if you decide to go through a bootcamp, is to have perseverance. If that isn't a quality you have, it may not be for you. The only companies I actually got interviews with, were companies I personally reached out to by phone call, message on LinkedIn or networking events.

I can't speak for the tution-based program, but the 'free'/sponsored program was not good at all. I am actually very convinced that we received less the experieced instructors (which I believe ultimately led to many student downfalls).

I joined GC in Fall of 2016 with 20-something other individuals. Most of us came in with little-to-no experience and relied heavily on guidance from our instructors. I very quickly realized that this was not a great option, as our instructors often proved they were not experienced enough to handle all of our errors. And when I say that, I don't mean that they didn't know how to solve the problems (as they were very experienced in code itself)-- they were just terrible at teaching code to beginners.

I opted to learn via Google and found myself at the top of the class and a lot farther along than anyone at GC has ever helped me. If you go into this program, be prepared to work and learn as independently as possible.

I completed the Java Apprenticeship bootcamp in October 2016 with the hope of at least landing interviews with Grand Circus partner companies. However, myself and all of the other individuals in my bootcamp were informed on the last day of class, that some of us would not receive interviews as initially promised. In fact, I later learned that no one that participated in our bootcamp (Cohort 3) received any interviews from companies associated with Grand Circus. Myself and others found this to be very disheartening, especially, since many of us had to make the decision to either leave current jobs or make changes to our daily schedules to accommodate the rigorous demands of the bootcamp. While it was understood that we were not guaranteed positions upon completion, we all worked really hard to prepare ourselves for interviews. I find it difficult to believe that Grand Circus did not know until we made it to our final class that everyone would not receive at least one interview from a partner company; which made many of us feel that Grand Circus was withholding this knowledge from us.   During the bootcamp, my classmates and I felt as if we were treated differently than the other students whom paid for bootcamps. For example, we were encouraged to attend Demo Day; however, we were told that if we attended, we would have to give up our seats if other individuals outside of our bootcamp attended. We were also told that there was food available, but we would have to wait until everyone else in attendance ate, then we would be allowed to partake in the leftover "scraps."     Throughout the bootcamp, I witnessed celebrations and feasts for those individuals whom had paid for the bootcamp experience upon completion of the program. When it was our time to graduate, there was no fanfare - no breakfast, no lunch prepared for us in celebration of our accomplishments as had been done for other bootcamp graduates. Instead, we were provided a bottle of champagne of which we had to share with several staff members.    One of the mottos of Grand Circus is, "When you are here, you're like family." So what happens after completion of the program? Well, based on my experiences, no one followed up with us to see how our career search was going, we did not get contacted in regards to the Upskills training we were told we would receive, and personally, I felt that my particular bootcamp was "forgotten" about as I saw numerous social media posts in regards to the accomplishments of other bootcamp participants (many of whom were of non-African American descent and had paid for the bootcamp experience).    In an article that appeared in the November 2016 issue of BLAC magazine shortly after I completed the bootcamp, the following was stated which is very misleading:   "Through the apprenticeship program, each student completes two weeks of at-home training before beginning the six-week boot camp at Grand Circus. They are then placed at a local company as an apprentice, where they continue learning on the job."   http://www.blacdetroit.com/BLAC-Detroit/November-2016/Chioke-Mose-Telesford-Director-of-Community-Programs-at-Grand-Circus-Detroit/    

I was a part of the January 2017, Front End cohort at Grand Circus (Detroit). Speaking for myself, I had one of the best experiences of my adult life! I took a plunge and it paid off. I made some great friends and connections in Detroit's tech community and that may not have been possible if not for Grand Circus.

There are a lot of reviews here about Grand Circus being 'deceitful' and I everyone is entitled to an opinion but let's be honest, the program works if you work it. Most of us go in knowing that we are not guarenteed a job upon completion, which is why you should realllyyyy way the pros and cons before dropping $8k. If you're a go-getter, you will inevitably land on your feet whether it be 30 days after graduating or closer to the 90 day mark. You absolutely have to go outside of the job boards and actually network and talk to people!!!! A job is not just going to fall in your lap because of Grand Circus.

When it comes to comes to the curriculum, I strongly suggest practicing online as much as possible before you even apply for a bootcamp. Things will come at you super fast and if you do not have a basic foundation, you will feel (and probably be) left behind -- especially if you're in one of the bootcamps that's six weeks instead of eight.

Grand Circus has a vast network, make use of it. Reach out to alumni, ask GC staff for soft introductions, etc. THE PROGRAM WORKS IF YOU WORK IT!