GW Boot Camps

I had very little programming experience prior to the GW boot camp and after the 6 month part-time program (which I would recommend over full-time) I feel that I now have a very solid foundation to build on. I signed up for the course because I wanted to make a career change from a different field and didn't really have any technical skills. I am now confident that what I learned in this program will be very helpful with landing a new job.

My instructor was very knowledgable and had an engaging teaching style, which made the 3 hour classes go by fast. The TAs were also very helpful and responsive whenever I ran into problems. Career services were a great resource for things like resume writing, interview prep, and one-on-one career coaching.

Some of the material was covered for a very short amount of time (like Java), but I appreciated the introductions, even though they were brief. Self study is a huge part of your success in this program, so if you are not able to commit 100% it is easy to fall behind. Be prepared to spend at least 10-15 hours a week outside of class. But if you stay committed throughout the program it is managable, even if you are working full-time.

Overall I'm very happy I decided to take the course, and would recommend it to anyone that's thinking seriously about making a career transition or adding to their technical skillset. 

Signed up for the GW coding bootcamp as part of my attempt to make a career transition and was successful in finding a job before the course was over. Course gave me insight into tech that I hadn't gotten familiar with yet and let me deep dive into programming. TAs in particular were very helpful when it came to job searching. Very happy with my choice to take this bootcamp

My biggest complaints: Some of the cirriculum choices, I'm not sure weeks were needed for things like Firebase or Handlebars and would have happily taken extra time with React (in particular) or something more prominent in the industry like a brief intro into AWS. I do believe they are getting rid of Firebase for AWS in the future, at least.

My biggest advice to anyone going in is that you need to be realistic about the amount of time that you can put into the bootcamp. If you think that you are just going to attend class and that'll be enough to get a job after, think again. They say put it in at least 20 hours outside of class, but the more the better. Do your own projects outside of class, go deeper than the course does into things like React. 

I thought the program was very valuable and useful.  We covered a lot of material during the course.  In some cases, I think it would have been more valuable to slow down and make sure the core concepts were understood before moving onto other areas.  But for the most part, the course was well run.  Here are some special notes to consider before taking the class:

- Take at least one course in Python on udemy.com before beginning this course.  it will make the learning more valuable. 

- You need to commit time to homework every week, probably no less than 8 hours.  The homeworks are like projects and require a lot of work. 

- It would be best to get a tutor to help you if you fall behind.  I ended up needing one because I feel too far behind.  If I got one early on, I probably wouldn't have got so far behind.

GW Boot Camp offers the MERN-stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js), and related techonologies toward them, unlike other places where the curriculumn is like a jumbalaya of different technologies. I understand that DMV area has a lot enterprise businesses that may use Angular, but as time goes on, React is becoming more and more popular, so that was my main focus point for choosing GW Boot Camp (At the time of writing this review, Microsoft enabled React Native on all of their platforms, including Windows, Xbox, etc..) 

The instructor seem very knowledgable, and the TA's were very encouraging, given they finished their cohort prior to ours. The Student Success Manager (SSM) is also very kind, and very helpful, her goal was to make sure we passed the course and we were treated fairly.  

Regarding career services, they are available to help you, and I personally got the help to write a resume and a cover letter. My counselor personally helped my by making sure I was actively looking, which YOU HAVE TO DO. 

Overall, I do recommend GW Coding Boot camp. It was a life changing course because you know that if you want to be a developer, you are willing to be a forever-learner. And that's what the Boot Camp taught me. How to learn, and how to effienciently apply what I learned. 

I'm taking the data analytics & visualization bootcamp at GW. I'm hoping to get into the a career in journalism dataviz. I'm learning exactly what I need to in this program, and building a portfolio as I go. It can be difficult to stay engaged in work in the evening after a full day's work at a desk, but my instructor makes the class very engaging and since we're working as we learn instead of just listening to a lecture, it is not hard to follow along. Plus, it's only 6 months long so it's a great option if you're hoping to quickly learn and put in the effort to change career paths or expand your knowledge in data analytics.

The GW full stack program has awesome instructors and teaching assistants. They really cared about our progress and learning in the program, and would go out of their way to make sure that we had the level of support we needed. The best part of the program, different from other bootcamps that I found during my research, was that we got to design our own apps for each of the four projects. This allowed me to delve into some GIS technologies that I was interested in but that we didn't cover in classroom instruction. After the bootcamp, I was able to get a job creating GIS and mapping apps because of those projects I had built! If you're willing to do the work and want to change your life, don't hesitate.

I am a little over halfway through the 24 week full stack web development boot camp.

Everything has been great, and I have received a lot of support.

• The instructors are experienced, humorous, and engaging. They work full time in web development.
• The teaching assistants help us if we get stuck on an exercise during class or on homework.
• The student success manager keeps the overall program on track and checks in with each student periodically to ensure they are having a positive experience.
• The career support staff has helped us improve our LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and elevator speech. They have also facilitated some practice behavioral interviews. This is the best career support I have ever received.

Before enrolling, I was wary of the boot camp model. I did a lot of research and talked to two friends who went to GW. I wanted to make sure this was legitimate. My fears were unfounded. This has turned out to be a worthwhile experience.

My section (about 20 students) meets Monday and Wednesday nights 6:30 - 9:30 PM. There is another section on Tuesday and Thursday nights 6:30 - 9:30 PM. Both sections come together on Saturday 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Saturdays are usually focused on group projects and breakout activities.

Periodically, I have had to switch from a Wednesday night to a Thursday night, and it has worked smoothly. The students and instructor in the other section are welcoming and supportive.

I usually attend in person. Hoever, some people usually attend remotely via the live video feed. If we are going to do a group project, they encourage us to attend in person.

Most of my classmates are younger than me, but they have been very welcoming.

Each week, I work 40 hours at my job, attend 10 hours of boot camp classes, and do 10+ hours of studying and homework. There is so much to learn that I could spend 20+ hours on studying and homework. I wish I had more time. The homework and projects are not easy, but I have learned a lot.

I cannot think of anything that the boot camp could do to improve.