Penn Boot Camps Reviews
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Fadil Abdella
Great Thus Far
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At the time of this review I am about 9 weeks away from graduation. As the title mentions, my experience has been great up to this point.
Some of the hightlights so far are great academic support, setting and location, administrating staff, and classmates. Our instructors and TA's really seem to have a vested interest in our success, they often make themselves available after hours. The Pennovation building is spacious, conveniently located in the city, with lots of parking. Something I find personally motivating is our classes are held in the innovation building, thus many of the fellow occupants are innovators and startups. Last but not least the on-site admins have been super pleasant and helpful. They have held several webinars and have provided us with great resourse to better position ourselves in the industry.
I can't speak on the Job Assistance department just yet, but I look forward to doing so soon.
I would absolutely recommend this bootcamp to anyone looking to jumpstart there career in the software industry.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 20, 2019
Thank you, Fadil! We're happy to hear you're enjoying our in-person classroom experience and benefiting from the support of our entire boot camp team. We appreciate you recommending our course and are rooting you on as you approach the program completion! All the best in your future endeavors. -
Priya Patel
Full Stack Web Development
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Good program for beginners. It is very fast paced but there is a lot to learn if you put in your 100%. Instructors and TAs are always willing to help and answer questions. If you are planning to work full time along with taking this program make sure you are very determined to put in good number of hours studying outside of the class. The program touches on a lot of technologies but it is up to you to expand your knowledge on those topics. Overall a good place to start your journey to be a developer.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 20, 2019
Thank you for your review, Priya! Like you said, this is a fast-paced program, but if you utilize our instructional team's support you can master the material. Continue working hard, we're rooting you on as you complete the course! -
Nathan Schmidt
Bang for Your Buck
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A great course for any aspiring or new dev. Will give you the full stack kit you need to find your way in the world of development, and help you find your place there as well. The online course was great for me as I was working a full time job, and wanted to learn these new skills at the same time. The teaching and support staff helped me throught he tough weeks of overtime, and were very undrestanding of my situation. I am almost done with the course and I am already sending out applications, and scheduling interviews. A recommended course for anyone that wants to make a hobby or profession of development.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 19, 2019
Way to go, Nathan! We're happy to hear you've enjoyed our online coding program and have successfully learned the fundamentals of web development. We're thrilled the support from our instructional team has benefited you, especially as you balance a full-time work schedule. We're cheering you on as you come to the end of your boot camp journey and complete the course! All the best on your new career path. -
Jason Horowitz
Revieq
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The Instructors and TA's we've had have all been fantastic and extremely knowledgeable about the material. I'm 4 months in and looking back to October when I started I can't believe how much I've already learned, even if sometimes I think I'm lost. The pace is definitely as fast as advertised, but the staff makes sure not to move onto a new topic without answering all questions.
If there is anything preventing me from making the jump from 4 to 5 stars it's that we are sometimes so deep in our weekly homework assignments we don't have as much time as I'd like to review previous material.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Thanks, Jason! We're happy to hear you're finding our instructional team to be knowledgeable and supportive. We recognize this is a challenging program and we hope you continue utilizing the boot camp's resources to master the curriculum, and ultimately complete the course. Bes of luck in all your future endeavors! -
Cesar Marroquin
Student
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I am currently a student at Penn LPS Coding Bootcamp and my experience with the school has been phenomenal so far. The first thing I noticed was how engaging the instructors and career services are with you throughout the entire bootcamp. There's plenty of help and support to go around, plus tutoring if you feel like you are falling behind a bit in the course. The course is very fast-paced with lots of information adn new technologies being learned almost every week, so come ready to challenge yourself like never before. The class instructors are very knowledgeable about what they're teaching and give you enough class activities for you to practice. You really need to push yourself hard and study a lot thoughout the week, 20 or more hours in my opinion. It's challenging but rewarding once you understand the material being taught.
I highly recommend this bootcamp to anyone that wants an in-person class experience and introduction to the most up to date technologies being used in the tech industry.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Way to go, Cesar! We're thrilled you've found our instructional team to be both knowledgeable and supportive. Like you mentioned, this is a challenging course but rewarding if you put in the hard work. We applaud all the dedication you've committed thus far and are looking forward to you successfully completing the program! -
Monet T.
Penn LPS Coding Boot Camp
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My experience at Penn's Coding Boot Camp has been great. The course structure is outstanding. Students are not graded through tests and quizzes, but through homework. The homework is set up in a way where students can apply the skills you learned in class, proving that you can do this, despite the fact you are just seeing the material for the first time.
Since I take the part time class, times range from 3-4 hours, but classes don't feel that long because we are always doing activities or communicating with classmates. TA's and the instructor are always there to answer any questions one may have in and out of class. The amount of support is great.
This class is very intense and fast-pace. When you recieve the email with the pre-class work, saying that this class is challenging, there is NO LIE in that statement. By the same token, after one month you will have learned SO MUCH, that the difficulty is worth it. I highly reccomend taking this course,if you are willing to put in the time and handle the rigour.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Thank you for your detailed review, Monet T.! We're happy to hear you're having a great experience and are enjoying the program structure — from homework to in-class activities. We applaud all of the hard work and long hours you have dedicated thus far and are looking forward to you completing the course! -
peter lim
Student
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I totally recommend this class. I had zero coding experience before I enrolled. The skill yet that I have learned and the base it gave to me learn other languages was amazing!!! My biggest issue was that I was unable to communicate with devs at work let alone understand what they were doing. This course provided me such a good base to work from.
Having said the above, it is a LOT of work and a huge commitment. It is a very humbling experience and while your in the middle of the process it does seem daunting. However, the instructors, ta's and Bernard are there to help you succeed. Your classmates are all over the map as far as skill set but they are all willing to help each other out. You will form freindships from that experience which was really cool.
Overall, it was a great experience. Looking back, even the things I didnt enjoy at the time, I see the value in them now.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 07, 2019
Thanks sharing your experience, Peter! We're happy you were able to learn so much and apply your new skills in your current career. Like you mentioned, this program is a big commitment and requires hours of hard work. Congratulations on completing the course! All the best as you continue forward. -
Coco Guo
Full Stack Web Development
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I had basic knowledge about MySQL before I joined the bootcamp. Whole program covers a lot of information & knowledge that you need to know to become a junior developer.
Instructors are very experienced and detail orientated. All the people in the class are motivated to learn, so it is defnitely better than lock yourself in your room and figure out everything on your own.
However, it is a very intense program, you have to be 110% ready emotionally and physically.
Overall, I recommend this program!
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 06, 2019
Thank you, Coco! We're glad you enjoyed the program as a whole and appreciate your recommendation. Congratulations on completing the course, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors! -
Aaron Moskowitz
Great Launchingpad
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I had some previous programming experience, though not in web technlogies and experience working with web & app Developers in the past. I enrolled specifically to fill in gaps in my knowledge and learn modern web developement.
The course exceded my expectations and I learned more than I expected. I learned the listed technologies (CSS, React, JQuery, etc) and a few more along the way. Importantly, I learned how to approach other APIs and tools not covered in the 6-Month Bootcamp. After enough practice reading documentation, following along with tutorials and reviewing new code I felt confident I can take on most development challenges. It's a wild world out there of technologies and I appreciate the focus on Javascript and Node. I know some bootcamps focus on Laravel/Drupal/PHP, but I'm happy I went with the Node environment.
The support team, TAs, and instructors we very professional. I was also impressed with the other students in the program. I felt there was a sense of community and willingness to help one another learn.
Expect to spend a good amount of time outside of class learning, doing homework, and projects as well.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 06, 2019
Thank you for sharing your experience, Aaron! We're thrilled the course exceeded your expectations and that you were able to learn so much. Great advice for prospective participants — you will definitely have to dedicate extensive time outside the class to be successful. Congratulations on completing the program, we are rooting you on in all that you do! -
Connor
Amazing jump start for a beginner coder.
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As someone who had no coding experience before enrolling, the Boot Camp provided a fantastic breadth of knowledge in a step by step process where I always felt like I was making progress while building a strong foundation of core skills.
I was super impressed with the sort of projects my classmates were able to build by the end of the course and I couldn't have been happier with the support of the Instructors, TA's and Career Services.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 06, 2019
Way to go, Connor! We're happy to hear you enjoyed the program and the support of our entire team. Congratulations on completing the course, we applaud all your hard work! Best of luck as you continue forward. -
Anonymous
Full Time Web Development Boot Camp
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I completed the University of Pennsylvania LPS Full Stack Web Development boot camp through Trilogy Learning Services during the summer of 2021 (Late May to Mid August.) This was the full time (12 week) option.
Let me preface this review by saying first that I think doing the boot camp was a great decision, and secondly that at the time I enrolled in the UPenn program I was a working professional with a full time job and over a decade in the service industry. I had a BA in Music, but at that time I had zero background with coding or web development.
The person I spoke to during my enrollment process let me know that the full time option would be about 25 hours a week of class, plus 15-20 hours outside of class completing mandatory homework projects. The actual time I spent working towards the certificate ended up being closer to 30 hours a week of actually being on Zoom, between class time, office hours, and tutoring, plus an additional 25-30 hours of project time both individually and in three group projects. In addition to class, I was working 20-25 hours over the weekends at a service industry job. It was only a week or two into the course when I realized that I was the only person in my class who was still working a job on top of the bootcamp. Had I had the option to not work, I would have probably put in an additional 15-20 hours of project and/or study-time over the weekends in order to increase my competency with the material. For what the course costs, you’ll only get your money’s worth if you put in as much time as possible.
The boot camp was A LOT of work, and at times extremely stressful. Long periods of frustration are punctuated with the brief highs of actually getting your code to work. The staff offer excellent support, and again, for what the course costs, you need to take advantage of every single resource offered to you. My biggest piece of advice is to sign up for a tutor immediately. Full-time students get two one-hour tutoring sessions per week. I did not sign up for a tutor until I was a month in, and that was a mistake. My class instructor was awesome. He was incredibly knowledgeable, had a thorough mastery of JavaScript, a great teaching style, was open to any and all questions, even the dumb ones, and clearly had many years of real world coding experience. In addition to your instructor and tutor, you have access to live help 24/7 through Slack chat, to point you in the right direction when your code isn’t working. There are TA’s who get involved at different stages in the program, and a Student Success manager who is there to talk you off the ledge when you need it.
The career services team coach you through building your portfolio, resume, and LinkedIn throughout the course, and then offer you coaching sessions for several months after you graduate. They offer a wealth of resources if you’re willing to put in the work.
At the time, the course cost about $12,500, which broke down to a $1,000 deposit, and then upon approval for zero interest financing, roughly $479 per month for 24 months. I spent $1,500 on equipment, including a desk, chair, laptop, second monitor, cables, monitor stand, web cam, and a decent pair of wireless headphones.
I applied for 350 jobs over an 8 month period, got 15 initial interviews, 5 follow up interviews, and eventually landed a 6-month full-time, fully-remote contract as a web developer.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Jul 29, 2022
We appreciate your review! We know it takes real commitment to balance life and the intensive pace of the boot camp, so we commend all the hard work you put in. It's great to hear you enjoyed your learning experience.
Like you noted, this is a rigorous program that will require extensive hard work both inside and outside of the classroom. Great job on taking advantage of all the available resources including signing up for tutoring sessions, utilizing the Slack channel, and tapping into career services. Congratulations on successfully completing the program and landing an exciting new role! We wish you all the best in your future coding endeavors. -
Anonymous
Penn Boot Camps, Trilogy, or whatever name they're using these days
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When I was first recruited by Penn Bootcamps as a remote student, the recruiter promised me riches and a solid job. What their recruiters preach is hardly what the program is about. My initial recruiter was promoted into another position and never to be heard from again, this is likely a liability management tactic on their end. Towards the end of the program there were lots of apologies about what the recruiter said, this was likely not the first time they had to "apologize" to a student. This bootcamp is also an ADA lawsuit waiting to happen, without any resources for students with disabilities.
Each language they promised to teach us, we spent one week on, tops. The bootcamp thrives off a culture of fear, keeping students in a constant state of anxiety, to make them feel like they're really getting their money's worth. Marketing says students are thoroughly trained in all of the languages listed, but honestly we barely got a "survey" of these languages. Once you're in it, you learn to lower you standards, and you're in a state of denial: You were promised a Penn degree, and you're not getting one, but also you're not getting what you signed up for but you're in so deep there's no turning back. There's a reason the refund period cuts off before the bootcamp actually picks up.
Bless our instructor and TAs hearts, they were really incredible. But you'd be surprised to find out they barely get paid with that extremely expensive tuition. The curriculum they're told to teach us was directly lifted from FreeCodeCamp. That's right, paying a premium price tag for something you could've gotten for free.
The diversity in the program is also extremely dismal: The program prioritizes white men's success over everyone else's, and I saw this firsthand.
If you're looking at a Bootcamp, steer clear of this one and all the other Trilogy bootcamps. They run the ones at Rutgers, Columbia, Standford, etc. They're really crafty, using Ivy League branding to further their work behind the scenes. They don't tell you you're not getting a college certificate until you're ready to make your first deposit, which is a very used car salesman tactic.Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 14, 2022
Thank you for your feedback. We're happy to hear you benefited from the support of our instructional team but regret to hear the boot camp as a whole did not live up to your expectations.
Like you noted, we do have a multi-step admissions process to ensure that interested candidates and future learners are set up for success. During this process, it's our goal for individuals to be able to ask any and all relevant questions, feel supported, and receive answers in a timely manner. From your review, we understand that your experience may not have lived up to our standards and we regret any inconvenience it may have caused.
You are completely right that this is a rigorous program, and prior to enrollment, we do our best to make it clear to learners that because we cover a wide range of knowledge in a limited amount of time, class sessions cover concepts at a high level, after which learners are expected to spend time diving deeper outside of class to reinforce their knowledge. Each of our class sessions is designed to build upon the last, and we do find that as the course continues, participants begin to feel more and more confident in their skills. Our curriculum is based on extensive market research, teaching in-demand skills that learners can use to enter the current field. From your review, we understand that you did not feel this learning approach was sufficiently beneficial for you and we appreciate your input, as we're constantly optimizing our curriculum and program offerings.
Our enrollment agreement and admissions process do make the refund policy clear, noting that refunds are not possible after the drop period ends. We never want individuals to drop from the program, as such, we work with learners on a case-by-case basis to help them move forward and finish out their studies.
As you mentioned, University of Pennsylvania College of Liberal and Professional Studies (Penn LPS) has partnered with Trilogy Education Services (TES), a 2U, Inc. brand, to offer Penn LPS Coding Boot Camp. Penn LPS is deeply involved in the curriculum, instructor selection, and outcomes of each of our classes, and routinely meets in conjunction with TES to monitor the learning experience and performance. Both the University and TES are truly dedicated to transforming learners' lives. Throughout every step of the way, we do note that upon successfully completing the program, learners will receive a Certificate of Completion showcasing their accomplishments to future employers.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion and pride ourselves on giving each learner the support and attention they need to succeed, so we take any classroom discrimination claims most seriously. It's our goal for all participants to leave the boot camp feeling equipped with the skills they need to succeed. We would love the opportunity to speak with you directly to learn how else we can assist you at this time. If you would like, please reach out to us at (215) 310-5477. -
Anonymous
UPenn LPS Bootcamp is..
This bootcamp was excellent. They went over relavent information and technologies for the current job market. The instructors are kind and always ready to offer a helping hand as well as knowledgeable.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 25, 2019
Thank you for your review! We're happy to hear you enjoyed the curriculum and found our instructors to be knowledgeable. All the best in your future endeavors. -
Anonymous
Overall good program but poor career services
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Overall, this program is what I expected going into it. It is definitely fast-paced but doable. The lessons are meant to be challenging but feel rewarding as you learn. My class was grateful enough to have a really awesome instructor who really knew the material well. Him along with the TAs were really supportive. The only downside to this program was the career services support side. We were told we would have meetings with them and they would be reviewing our career-related submissions. That really hasn't happened for me or my classmates.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 20, 2019
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! We're glad our entire instructional team has been so supportive and that you have found the lessons to be rewarding in spite of the challenging material.
From your review, we understand that you have not felt as supported by our career services as you had hoped. We do offer in-depth job support by helping participants achieve the 'Seven Milestones to Become Employer Competitive.' Depending on which week your cohort is currently in, there could still be a substantial amount of career services curriculum to be covered. The curriculum includes career coaching through monthly office hours, bi-monthly one-on-one meetings with your Career Director starting approximately one month before the end of the program and continuing for up to three months after, an online Tech Talk panel to network with local industry professionals, a Project Demo Day designed to showcase your final project, as well as nearby professional tech networking, and online workshops to assist learners in becoming Employer Competitive. We hope you've been able to utilize some of these resources and believe you will find the upcoming material to be helpful.
We’d love to hear from you directly to see what else we can do at this time to help you feel equipped for success. If you would like, please reach out to us directly at (215) 310-5477. Thank you for your review, we wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors! -
Anonymous
Great Way to Learn to Code - Highly Recommend!
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I learned a lot in a very fast amount of time despite being afraid that I might not be able to. The instructors I had were super helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. You really get a good overview of a bunch of different technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, APIs, React, Mongo, etc.) & also you ‘learn how to learn’ when it comes to tech so if you need to ever learn something else on your own, it will be a lot easier. The people you meet are fun & great to work with. Also, you have a lot of freedom with the assignments as far as the themes and topics, which makes them very satisfying to complete. As long as you pay attention in class & always ask when you need help + take the work seriously, I think it’s a great choice.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 19, 2019
Thank you so much! We're thrilled you learned the fundamentals of full-stack web development and connected with others in the class. Congratulations on completing the course, we wish you continued success in all that you do! -
Anonymous
Intense
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Considering the cost and the time spent, I told myself to think of this as more of a semester in school. It was intense and fast paced. Someone without much background will need to put in more time than expected. I did the flex option but I think you need to be able to commit a full time schedule to learn the harder concepts. The online formatting could have been better without cold calling on students to answer questions. However, the instructors are open to help as much as they can.Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Thank you for sharing your review! You're completely right that this is a fast-paced and challenging course, one that will require learners to put in extensive time outside the classroom. We're glad you found our instructional team to be supportive and commend all your hard work. We wish you continued success in all your coding goals! -
Anonymous
Coding boot camp
A great place to learn how to code and development on the web.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Thank you, we're glad to hear you're enjoying the course! Best of luck in your future endeavors. -
Anonymous
student
The course and instructors are great, and the only negative is career services, which are automated and lacking; I had assumed there'd be more hands-on guidance or in person meet-ups.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 19, 2019
We're happy to hear you're enjoying the course and our instructional team! We understand you would like more hands-on or in-person career services assistance. Since our professional development is mainly provided online, we ensure learners receive in-depth job support through the 'Seven Milestones to Become Employer Competitive.'
Depending on which week your cohort is currently in, there is still a substantial amount of career services curriculum to be covered, including Career Coaching through monthly office hours during the program, bi-monthly one-on-one meetings with your Career Director starting approximately one month before program completion and continuing for up to three months post-program completion, an online Tech Talk panel to network with local industry professionals, a Project Demo Day designed to showcase your final project, as well as local professional tech networking, and several online workshops. We hope you will find these upcoming resources and tools to be helpful.
It is our goal for all learners to feel prepared as they start the job search, and we would love to provide you with any additional career support you may need at this time. If you would like, please contact us directly at (215) 310-5477 so we can discuss how to best equip you for success going forward. We’re cheering you on as you work towards completing the boot camp and wish you nothing but the best! -
Anonymous
Got more than my money's worth
Currently in the program. My initial fear was whether or not I would be able to find a program that also allowed me to have a full-time job. I'm currently working in a tech field but wanted to move into programming and after doing some research found this program. I feel as though I'm learning a lot and will be prepared to job search when I finish the program.Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Thank you! We're thrilled you chose our course to transition into a new career role and have been able to balance your studies with your full-time schedule. We're cheering you on as you continue the course and work towards completing the program! -
Anonymous
Coding Program
This bootcamp is well worth it. It is fast pace and challenging. It teaches you how to have self discipline and the instructors are amazing!
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Thank you for your review! We're happy to hear you enjoyed the program and our instructional team. Best of luck in your future endeavors. -
Anonymous
Transformative
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I signed up for this course not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my career or my future. After graduating college with a degree in Religion, this course helped me find careers that I didn't know were options for someone like me. I have a comprehensive and diverse portfolio, I feel like I am a competitively eligible web developer, and I have learned more than I had ever hoped.
If I'm honest, I'm floored by how thorough the instructors have been and how much we all have learned in a few short weeks. I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to change or supplement their career.
Boot Camp Team of Penn Boot Camps
Community Team
Feb 18, 2019
Amazing! We're glad to hear you learned the fundamentals of full-stack web development and were able to create new career opportunities through our program. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, we wish you all the best moving forward.