Northwestern Boot Camps

This boot camp has been a truly horrendous experience.  To begin with, Northwestern has absolutely nothing to do with this boot camp besides lending their name and classroom space.  The entire program is run by a company called Trilogy Education Services.  Our current classroom learning has been so underwhelming (please read other listed reviews) that Trilogy sent the regional vice president into our classroom for an audit.  That should tell you right there how bad of an experience it has been and how poor our entire class is performing.  Two days later, I received a phone call from the vice president, who informed me that they would be extending some class resources for our boot camp as well as personally offering me the opportunity to retake the boot camp at no additional charge. It was made clear that this last opportunity was not extended to the entire class.  I find it highly suspicious and poor business practices to call individual students to work out private deals.  It makes me wonder what may have been offered to other students.

 For me, retaking the course is not an option.  If the course is so fundamentally flawed that I need to be offered to take it all over again, then obviously Trilogy is readily admitting that the course does not meet their own boot camp standards.  I do not see how going through the entire 3 month program again is expected to produce different results the second time around. So I will be leaving this boot camp with a certificate in name only and no real learning as promised.

So, if you wish to go to this boot camp, please be advised that it is Northwestern in name only, they have absolutely nothing to do with the curriculum nor career services.  The current full-time class is “graduating” with such a low level of skill and ability that they have to offer additional resources including retaking the entire course.  Finally, even when they realize they have a severe problem on their hands, their damage control business practices of calling students to work out personal side deals is in my opinion very poor way to do business.  

I took this bootcamp in hopes of getting a good education and foundation for coding. I was really excited about the different topics being covered. The entirety of this bootcamp from start to finish was a collousal waste of my time and money. 

1. Job Assitance

         1. Some lady in Texas sends you postings from various job websites.

         2. No real person in front of you to help you find jobs. I can do this shit on my own. You'll be told, during the sign up phase, it's Northwestern's career services on campus. 

2. Signing up

         1. These people will blow up your phone trying to get you to sign up. You will be  pressured into making a payment ASAP. 

         2. They will tell you lies such as a promise of Northwestern's (not Trilogy's) career services, the curriculum and overall quality of education.

3. Instructors

        1. Imagine a grown man throwing a fit because students cannot learn from him. Just imagine someone who is having difficulty conveying an explanation and getting mad at his students for not understanding.

        2. When we experienced issues with the instructor we alerted our student success manager ( the one replying to everyone on course report. he was well aware of all the issues written on this page... I'm annoyed we're getting the poliet "please contact me to discuss concerns" when we did exactly that DURING the course so stop acting so oblivious and trying to save face for prospective students that are reading these). The success manager would let the instructor know and you can bet your first child that we would be geting a weird awkward attitude from the instructor the next day. At times, the instructor was even told what student complained and the instructor was especially bitchy to those particular students. It was a soap opera. 

4. Curriculum

      1. Another student said it best on here. The instructor reads off code and tries to explain it. I don't know why they figured this was the best practice. I didn't learn anything from looking at a bunch of code I've never seen before and have someone struggle to explain it awkwardly. Like seriously wtf. 

      2. The brochure that I was given about the curriculum had things we were never taught. Yes we asked why we were skipping these thngs. I can't remember the vague BS answer we were given. 

      3. I have friends who did other bootcamps. This is trash compared to the other ones. Don't be me and waste 10k and 3 months of your life. 

      4. It was cheaper attending here - especially with the early registration discount ($500-$1000). So if you'd like throw $9000-$9500 in a dumpster fire as I felt I did then maybe this would be right for you. Seriously I dont care about a discount I'm here to learn and get a quality education. I did not at all sign up because it was cheaper. $9000 IS NOT CHEAP. I'm not the type of person to have 9 grand lying around to gamble.  I was totally down to throw $16,000 at a bootcamp but the Northwestern quality and all the lies really sold me on the program. My next point  (shadyness) really sums everything up. 

5. Shadyness

     1. This is Trilogy not Northwestern no matter how much they try to sell you that this is all Northwestern. I never heard of Trilogy until the first day of class. Please stop lying to students when you are trying to get them to sign up. Shady business practices. 

     2. This weird thing where the student success manager is responding to everyone on course report to address their concerns when we literally spoke with him about these exact issues in person during the course of the program. You were well aware of all the issues. This is weird stop it. 

    3. The course was a compelte fuck up and they knew it so they had someone come in from their head office to see what was going on. Select students were offered the opportunity to retake the course while others were offered a crash course, tutoring and some other crap. You should've addressed our concerns from the get go and  given us what we paid for. Brett's review of the course really articulates this drama beautifully. 

All in all I'm mad and feel that a great alternative to the bootcamp (while saving you a ton of money!) is Udemy. You get a 30 day money back guarentee and it's $10 a course. Plus the instructors know how to teach! Not some man baby who gets offended when people (politely and with sincerity) ask him to change up his teaching style. 

FYI if you any specific questions about the course feel free to message me on here I'll give you an honest answer. 

Going into this program, I didn't know what to expect. I had some programming experience before, but it was in an academic setting so I didn't have a reference point for a professional development program. What I ended up experiencing in this program was a model that worked. The curriculum was reverse-engineered from what employers expected their web developers to know. The approach to learning was hands-on and project-based.

From the start to the finish line, we were running, putting forward 110%. An important factor of this program was that it's a boot camp. So it was fast, rigorous, and challenging. Even though I was able to keep up with little struggle, I was well-aware that my programming experience, albeit limited, gave me some advantage in keeping up with the material.

Oh yeah, and the instructor was one of the best instructors I've had in my life. He didn't just teach the material well, he motivated and pushed us to be the best versions of ourselves. This level of support made the program worthwhile to me. 

Of course, I came into this program hoping to switch careers after it completed. The career counselor was helpful and supportive in every step of the process-- from resume building to finding opportunities to mock interviews. He was good at what he did and made himself available to help students at any time they needed it (really, any time of the day or year). He helped me get the job.

The instructors and counselors made it clear that the more we put into the program and the job search, the more we would get out of it. When it came down to supporting us and advising us, they were there and really put in their time, attention, and care. However, it was on me to do my part by completing the projects, asking questions, and trying hard to get the job. Would I recommend this program? If you can do it (and don't doubt yourself), then go for this program. You will get something out of it.

Question everything about this program. I felt blindsided when I found out that this program is run by Trilogy not Northwestern. What this means is that the curriculum, instructor and career services are all Trilogy NOT Northwestern. I was expecting a Northwestern level education and instructional staff, I got something that was far from it. This program was a catastrophic failure for me. I'm writing this review because I think people need to know about my experience. I know other people who are taking a different bootcamp and are doing much better then me. I feel like I made an investment in the wrong bootcamp. 

After sitting half way thought the course, I realized why the boot camp is only 9-grand. In comparison to other top coding boot camps that are in the 12k to 16k range, the curriculum just pushed out example codes for students and the instructor just read off what the code is doing. I think my instructor probably personally wrote about 4 lines of codes during the four months that I was in the course.  There were many times where we sat in the classroom in an awkward 30-minute of silence, while we wait for the instructor to figure out his errors. For our technical interview prep, we did nothing that would help us through a white-board test. Instead we got into groups of four and came up with strategies on how to figure out what was Walmart's best-selling item. Never will I need to know that Walmart sells the most BANANAS ever again. It was completely useless and a waste of time. I decided to drop out, as it was not worth the time and fitting into my busy schedule. You can get the same learning in this boot camp, signing up for Team Tree House for 25 bucks a month.  Do some research on your instructor’s background before signing up for any coding boot camp. I wouldn’t recommend this program for anyone who already has some technical skills. 

I completed the first two months of this course and just dropped out.  It was the worst idea I have ever had and regret nothing more in my life than wasting 9 grand on this "course."  If you are an academic that desires deep learning do not take this; it is glossary at best. I will admit the instructor was wonderful, talented, kind, and empathetic; a truly talented educator with a great attitude. Sadly this wasn't enough to alleviate my frustration with the hyper compressed teaching method. You cannot learn Javascript in two weeks.   

The person who initially "sold" this course to me over the phone was rude and predatory; making me feel like the course didn't need me and that i had to rush getting them the payment or else. This is just a sales technique and please don't buy into it like I did. Everyone I dealt with through the entire process, except the instructor, was amazingly rude and unprofessional.

This program is designed to produce a robotic coding workforce with no interest in the conceptual or creative side of coding, which I naively thought wouldn't be the case.

The mindless indoctrination of a military boot camp bodes as salient here, just saying.

I am shocked at how terrible this bootcamp has been. I am a little over 2/3 of the way through the course and it has been a disaster. I will be leaving this bootcamp not being confident in anything we have learned. The instructor was horrible and could not teach the topics properly, he would have days where he would be mad at us for not understanding what he is saying. A student dropped the course two months through the course which is very telling. Many of the students are in the same boat and feel as though we've all wasted our money. I'm not lying or joking when I say this program is TERRIBLE. This has been a huge investment that I regret. I wish I went with a more reputable program. The only reason I'm posting this review is because I had extensively researched Northwestern's bootcamp and had seen nothing but positive reviews. I want to warn others of my experience so that they don't go through what I went through. I have already told my friends to go with others programs. I feel like our class is owed a partial refund for how much of an absolute side show this class has been. Heed my warning.

For anyone, at any point in their student and/or professional career! (from zero background in coding to having experience) This is an amazing class because it's fun and very challenging. If you're ready to apply yourself and learn than this class will not only be a great experience, but even more, it will be great for your resume! TA's and Instructors are always there for you to help, not to forget, all the help form the careers team. The careers team is very very helpful! They coordinate hackathons, one-on-ones, your online presence, technical resumes, and more and more. A ton of companies come in to talk, meet and most importantly, the chance to network as well!!

I was fortunate enough to get a job while I was in this class, and a I know other fellow students who were able to interview. 

Amazing!

I'm currently enrolled in the program and with a couple months left to go I was able to land a job that will have me using skills I learned in this bootcamp.

I personally would say that a statement like "you get what you put in" can be misleading, it does take a lot of hard work to get the most out of this program. The reason I feel that it can be misleading is because "you get what you put in" to me used to sound a lot like me having to learn on my own and a stack full of books trying to navigate blindly. 

NWB has so many resources available that really do help you succeed. You just have to take advantage of them. There are two tutors per class (aside from the instructor), there is access to office hours and there is an additional out of class tutor that is available for personal 1 on 1 sessions. Additionally, each class is recorded and made available to students. Our instructor Rich is amazingly detailed and really cares about how he teaches and engages students. Dartaniel was equally helpful in communicating with me to make sure that I was well prepared. 

Days are long and weekends are short but truly worthwhile if you want to change career paths or gain new skills. 

I completed the part time bootcamp back in October. 

I just want to say - you get what you put in. If you aren't going to attend or do not try to complete homework. . . indeed you are not going to understand anything and you are going to waste your time and moneny. That's your fault though - honestly if i can complete this bootcamp so can you. It doesn't take a genius to learn this. It just takes dedication and commitment.

If you actually use the resources that they give you - like the four teaching assistants, multiple tutor(s) or success manager - you shouldn't have to drop out. But everyone has their own reason.
 

Also some major points on why i gave the # of stars for each rating.

1. Job Assistance
   1. I completed the bootcamp 4 months ago and I still get messages from the success manager
   2. my peers were helping each other find jobs for the first month or two after the bootcamp ended
2. Instructors
   1. the Lead Instructors have 10+ years of experience as developers/software engineers
      1. the two lead's taught us tools outside the curriculum - like how to make a  webpack.config.js file from scratch and flexbot
   2. the TA's were either QA's, Testers or Javascript Developers - that also attended a bootcamp elsewhere(like devbootcamp)
3. Curriculum
   1. You can't complain about curriculum. . . It's pretty much the same everywhere you go. . .
   2. It was cheaper attending here - especially with the early registration discount($500-$1000)
   3. even though curriculum is the same everywhere - our lead instructors for the most part tried teaching us new material during office hours (half a hour before class)
4. Overall 
   1. You can not go wrong with this bootcamp.
      1. Price is a lot cheaper then other places
      2. Curriculum is the same as elsewhere
      3. Instructors are very experienced
      4. Job assistance is there to help - as long as you talk to them