Sabio

Sabio is a coding bootcamp that, unfortunately, falls short of delivering a valuable learning experience. Despite initial impressions of concern for the student's future, it becomes clear that the main priority for Sabio is their own financial gain. This is exemplified by their tactics in having students work for free building websites for companies, their handling in veteran's tec benefits, massive cohorts (the more the merrier), and eagerness to switch vets to the GI Bill for guaranteed payment, as its more beneficial to them than the 25% increment that Vet Tec gives.

Sabio's approach to education is heavily focused on strict requirements and accountability, with a daily question submission as a mandatory part of the curriculum. Failure to meet this requirement results in academic probation, and a score lower than 70% on the next technical assessment can result in dismissal from the program. This results in cohorts being reduced to only having about 10 graduating students per cohort. However, the lack of transparency in the grading process raises concerns about the fairness of the evaluations. You will never be shown your grade, you may request it but its rather inconvenient to do so as it seems Sabio heavily relies on daily questions more than anything. This rather annoying rule will determine your stay at Sabio regardless of how well you perform on the material. 

In regards to Vet Tec students, The implementation of the daily question requirement for Vet Tec students has raised concerns. Despite being framed as a requirement from Vet Tec, the official handbook clearly states "VET TEC students must follow all Training Provider policies and rules pertinent to their program of study. This includes all employment searching policies and rules required after the VET TEC student graduates." However, it has been noted that Sabio, the training provider, has taken advantage of this requirement and uses it as a means to shift blame to Vet Tec. It is important to note that the daily question rule itself is a policy established by Sabio, the training provider, and not Vet Tec. Thus, the students should not hold Vet Tec responsible for this requirement, which some may find excessively burdensome. The responsibility for this policy rests solely with Sabio. This issue highlights the need for clear communication and transparency in the creation and implementation of policies affecting students. 

Lets talks about Sabio's assessment practices,  Sabio, caused major disappointment among the student community. Before an assessment Sabio "recommended" certain sections for students to study in order to perform well on a particular assessment. However, the assessment proved to be much more demanding than what was "recommended." This caused frustration among students who had relied on Sabio's guidance.Instead of acknowledging this discrepancy, the Cofounder of Sabio, Gregorio, used the excuse that bootcamp is inherently difficult and assessments are no different. He blamed the students for not realizing that assessments are made to be challenging. This approach lacks professionalism and fails to address the root of the issue - a lack of trust and proper guidance from the training provider.Students have a right to expect clear and accurate information from their training provider, and Sabio's recent actions have fallen short of these expectations. The events in question have raised serious concerns about the level of support and guidance offered to students, and highlight the need for increased transparency and accountability from Sabio." Despite any valid excuses you may have, Sabio shows a disregard for the student's well-being and will make students feel terrible about any missteps. The use of vet tec strict requirements and “bootcamps are supposed to be hard” as a defense for their strict policies does not excuse the lack of support or empathy for the student's experience.Overall, Sabio's approach to education seems unnecessarily strict and entirely based on exploiting loopholes rather than providing a supportive learning environment. 

I would not recommend Sabio as a viable option but If you're looking for a real-world tech experience, then definitely go with Sabio! They'll give you a taste of what it's like to be laid off from the tech workforce. Because let's face it, why wait for the future when you can experience it now?

Best of Luck

Yes Anonymous. 

At the end of my rope, I was desperate to turn my life around for the better and Sabio took advantage of that. Long story short, an issue came up between myself and Gregorio. I handled myself respectfully and genuinely wanted to resolve the issue. However, he acted very unprofessionally, made an assumption, and would not hear me out when I tried to kindly correct his assumption. So I got in touch with Liliana for further assistance. Maybe Gregorio was just having a bad day or something and I was hopeful that his wife, Liliana, would be able to assist with clarifying the miscommunication between me and Gregorio. Instead, she told me to file a complaint with BPPE and that I could continue with Sabio after the issue was all resolved. No problem, I get that there's a protocol to follow sometimes and I was willing to put in the work. Like I said, I was at the end of my rope. However, it got worse when I called Liliana to keep her updated on what was going on and was in need of paperwork from Sabio to defer the loan I took out - she responded to me, "you're not a student of ours anymore." There was no notice, no email or call, nothing to inform me I was being dropped from Sabio and no explanation for why I was dropped. Needless to say, this shocked me especially since Liliana and Gregorio make it seem like they care about you and will work with you as long as you were willing to put in the work too. But they don't. They are in it for the business, not the students as individuals. So now I literally have nothing, was hospitalized for suicidal ideation, and guarantee that I will do whatever I can to either get back into continuing the Sabio program or get my money back. I've already talked with a lawyer and it'll be a long process but I fully intend to take this as far as I need to in order to bring justice to this problem. Ultimately though, if things don't work out with either me getting my money back or being brought back as a student to continue Sabio, whatever happens to me will be on their hands for taking advantage of me when I was desperate to improve my life by getting into coding. I've single-handedly brought down two different businesses that violated the law and I hope to make that three if things don't work out.

If you are using VETTEC you should steer away from Sabio! They haven't posted their graduation rates since 2019 for a reason, one of the latest cohorts started with over 100 students and is already down to ~30 students. the training is 66hrs a week and will leave you no time for anything but this course, and once you get to a certain point in the program, they give you a test in React which you are more than likely to fail. If you are using other programs such as your GI bill or you are paying out of pocket, there is a good chance they will let you continue, however, if you use VETTEC and fail, they will push you back and make you use your GI bill or pay out of pocket.

pros:
The course is very fast-paced and will teach you a lot in very little time. 

Some of the instructors are nice and really helpful (Alley, Barnett, Zach, Daniel...).

cons:
The course changes after the first month and leaves you to code on your own with one lecture (1 hr) a week and videos that you should be following are inconsistent and some have not been updated since 2016. 

People with no coding experience should not attempt this course, as it is too fast pace for learning anything properly and everyone just tells you "keep pushing", whether you understand it or not, is of no concern, as after a week they move on to a different topic React-> SQL, they also do not have makeup tests as the course is so fast-paced.

If using VETTEC they drop you back the first chance they can, so they can get more money from you, if you decide to pay out of pocket its suppose to be 75% (which is apparently around $5,000), if you use your GI bill they double it based off of the hours. So if you have 3 months left in the program they will take 6 months of your GI bill, if you have 4 months = 8 months of your GI Bill.

Some of the instructors (Nick, Danny...) are really rude, making the student feel stupid when they are asking a question.

It's true what others have said in their reviews about Sabio, they directly tell you to lie on your LinkedIn and resume, and instruct you to not tell potential employers that you went to Sabio. Big red flag. Overall the instructors are mediocre, but that doesn't even matter much because most of the course material is in the form of pre-recorded videos of Gregorio attempting to teach code. The contract is also problematic, according to my lawyer - I can't go into detail on this yet though until the case is completed. Currently, my lawyer is building a case against them so they can improve because they aren't open to discussing this type of feedback/criticism.

I dropped out the day before graduation by choice. I couldn't stand that school anymore. This could be fully learned online from free resources. Ironically, I used to supplement, if not replace the curriculum. Towards the end of the bootcamp, your tasked with poor instructions to complete an mvp for a Sabio client as a final project and present it to the client on the last day. That last month of bootcamp they forget about you and prioritize the next cohort. And for job search, the strategy is to spam companies with resumes. Regardless of meeting any hiring requirements.  You will not come out of this bootcamp as a demanding talent. You are taught the minimum to understand full-stack technology. Then you'll have to somehow differentiate yourself from the hundreds, if not, thousands of graduates before you. I met other students before embarking on this bootcamp and they told me not to go. I should have listened. Lastly, I don't like Gregorio. It's either he likes you or he don't. He doesn't care for you except that you pass and make his numbers look good. Hence why I dropped out, the day before graduation. I passed every test. Most lectures were video. Then you would have to go to the "Q" to try and justify your reasons for not understanding just for them to humiliate you and send you back to the video again. Please avoid at all cost. Just learn online like Udemy. Some of the courses there are better structured than Sabio. 

Sabio is a well oiled machine. Everything is perfectly crafted to make it seem like an amazing bootcamp and they celebrate their graduates and give them job opportunities to obligate the graduate to them. Let me start with my experience.

I utilized my VETTEC benefits. Out of the initial 33 VETTEC students we started with, only 9 VETTEC students graduated. The class started around 80 and ended around 30 ppl in total. Over all, my experience was okay. If I could redo it, I would still stay in the program because I ended up with a nice developer job about 3 months after I graduated. Here are the pros and cons from my experience.

Pros: 
- Teaches you how to get a job
- LinkedIn and Resume training generally works
- Interview Prep questions are spot on
- Real job on resume with references

Cons:
- Quick to put vets on academic probation
- Most instructors have no job experience and go straight from bootcamp grads to instructor and certain instructors are very condescending
- Q time is unreasonably long
- Unfair standards for vettec

I made it through with only a few academic probations which were, in my opinion, only given because I was VETTEC. Our whole class had a technical difficulty that affected our coding times but only the VETTEC students were put on academic probation. Attendance policy was much more strict for vets. That being said, it worked for me and I am grateful for it. I did see people get kicked out for ridiculous reasons, most of them were VETTEC. Personal days, technical issues, and health issues were all reasons to kick a vet out. Also most of the instructors have no real job experience and are instructors. They also employ keynote graduates to do things like promote and review Sabio. THe weirdest thing is that they have an apprenticeship program for Argentinians where they enroll in the course, graduate, and become instructors. So alot of your instructors are Argentinian college grads. This wouldnt be bad but on their website they proudly say "industry expert instructors" when really they are foreign college grads and Sabio grads.

At the end of the day, Sabio worked for me. The product dev section that allows you to put a real start up company on your resume is the absolute best part of this camp. I also found that their mentorship and job support is really good. If you want to do this program and ignore the fake positive reviews and outraged failed students, I think you should. Just understand that there is some shady stuff with this company and be prepared to look past things that you may disagree with. Everyone I know who brought up a complaint about Sabio to Gregorio was kicked out. If you are prepared to keep your head down and understand that this bootcamp will teach you how to get a job, not how to code, then I recommend it. I would not change a thing about what I did. Have a clear head, don't quit, and keep your head down.

If you can't find a job within 180 days after graduation, Sabio will not receive the rest of the 50% tuition from VA, AND they WILL ASK you to pay it back (not every school does that, but they are one of them), which is $7500.




*If you want to do in-person, you will be asked to show up 2 days a week at the office (LA or Irvine office only, parking is not free) watching videos there.




The instructors are simply not that good and they don't really care about you (a lot of them are former students), missing guidance or instructions.




You are basically watching videos and learn it by yourself (I can do it free on youtube, or Udemy, edx...)




If you have questions, you are going to get on the que and wait for 30min to an hr for them to answer you (and the answer is either too short for you to understand or misleading).




A lot of students have to work with each other or look up online videos for help.




At least 1/3 of my class wasn't able to graduate because of lack of instruction, the class is too demanding...




and beware of Co-founder Gregorio when you interact with him. If he doesn't like you, or you get into an argument with him, good luck... he will find ways to fail you and kick you out while keeping his money.




It is not just me. It happened to a lot of veterans.  They spent a lot of money on marketing and fake reviews.

This is a terrible bootcamp, I'm not even going to waste my time writing about it because all the 1 star reviews are the legitimate ones. Most of these 5 star reviews are paid for by Sabio. They pay the individuals who graduate to leave them a good review. If you're a Vet trying to waste your VetTec benefit then join Sabio.

Don't pay attention to the last reviewer saying tell you family you're changing your life, one person I knew got dropped because their child got sick and this individual had nobody to take care of their child so they could work on a Saturday, no remorse from the co-founder though. Easier to take the VetTec money and let them go.

This company is NOT transparent, they pay for good reviews, change expectations during training and send notices after making them. You'll only speak to Alumni that they choose to have speak with you they're also paid for the "success story" interviews.

The only word I agree with in that last 5 start review was the last word that person wrote... "RUN". I would just add AWAY after it, RUN AWAY.

The bootcamp curriculum is really informative but many of the instructors are bad at explaining to you what you’re having an issue with. The cofounder/instructor who teaches in the instructional videos moves extremely fast and doesn’t explain what he’s doing in the videos and you have to get in a Queue of people in order to get any help. If you have to go on campus there are no instructors there and they have you in a co-working space and you have to rely on the other students who are as clueless as you. I’d highly recommend attending Sabio if you already have a background in coding.

Don't believe the reviews you see on here and anywhere else. I am a former Military soldier and I used Vet Tech, I found Sabio on the VA website that it was a preferred provider. I read the reviews here and said "Wow this must be a great program". Vet Tech has many different rules compared to all the other students in the class. Like going on the "Queue" and asking 2 questions a day. They will close the "Queue" or close your question if it isn't good enough for them. Then they will threaten to dismiss you because you haven't meant the minimum 2 Queue questions. Any little thing the Co-founder will find ways to dismiss you because they don't care about teaching, they care that they are getting money from the VA. But for Vet Tech after graduation if you don't find employment after 180 days they don't get the other half of tuition. When I joined we didn't get an updated one but noticed the new one only 28% of students found meaningful jobs. Day 1 the Co-founder will try and scare you to switch from Vet Tech to another benefit so it's guaranteed tuition money for them if you do the switch. Co-founder Gregorio would constantly pull Vet Tech students in Zoom and threaten to dismiss us because he has the power to do so. He is very power happy and holds that over your head. Luckily I am done with the program but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because of the Co-founder. Look at the percentages of students finding jobs.  There was a past student who sent every current student an email showing proof of the unprofessionalism by the founder and co-founder. I wanted to put this out because I choose Sabio based on the great reviews reading here and was ready to learn to code. There is very little teaching done, it's all videos that they recorded years ago. Maybe 1 zoom lecture every 3 weeks or so. If  I could do it again probably just go the self-taught route because that's exactly what you are doing at Sabio anyway. The only difference is you got instructors there to ask questions if need be. 

There intentions are good, but honestly there numbers are inflated. A lot of their “instructors” are former students. The whole process is pretty much you teaching yourself and then get on the “que” to ask questions in which they only answer like as if you were an experienced developer. Your better off just grinding it out and teaching yourself and saving the money because they start a new cohort every month, and the curriculum is mostly taught by the ceo. All in all just take there free courses and either go somewhere else or don’t even bothered. They aren’t really professional and they aim to get mostly veterans because they know they can get that GI bill. Save yourself folks

I just dropped out because I noticed how much I disliked how intimidating the owner was and the instructors look like they don’t want to be there. It’s really annoying trying to pay attention to someone that sounds like they are not motivated. Ultimately I dropped out because I got into it with the owner. I told him I liked learning code a specific way and I guess he didn’t like that I was going at my own guidelines. But that’s how I’ve always learned and did well. But he prevented me from taking the assessment when I wanted to so I said I’m out.