Skill Distillery

I attended Skill Distillery from January to April 2023. The course starts off with you hitting the ground running and ends with you still running. This course teaches you MANY concepts ranging from Backend Development to Frontend Development using Java, JavaScript, Angular, HTML/CSS, and many other technologies in between. If you attend this school, be prepared to make this course your full-time job. There is a lot to learn, but Skill Distillery has plenty of staff instructors and resources to help you understand the concepts or to assist you with your projects. They will hold you accountable for everything you do. The course itself was extremely challenging but also very rewarding. You won't regret choosing this program if you are serious about changing your career.

This is an excellent boot camp to learn Java programming. The instructors are knowledgeable and seasoned, 20+ years of experience, meaning you don't have to worry about them moving to other opportunities during the program. The content is fast-paced, and you must be prepared to dedicate yourself to the program. Resume building and job support leave something to be desired, so if you have little to no job experience, try to find professional development networks (alumni, Linkedin, etc) and resources to complement the course. Finally, be prepared for a considerable amount of lecture vs. coding, which is to be expected with the amount of content and what is covered. Overall, this is an excellent BootCamp where you will learn a desirable programming language and framework from seasoned instructors.

As someone who had taken programming courses in college, I wasn't sure what to expect from Skill Distillery. But I can honestly say that I learned more in the bootcamp than I did in my college courses. The TAs and instructors were all incredibly knowledgeable and were able to explain complex concepts in a way that was easy to understand.
So honestly I can't speak highly enough of the Instructors and TAs. They were always very welcoming and approachable. They always made it clear that they wanted us to ask questions and seek help whenever we needed it, which made for a very supportive learning environment. 
The curriculum was comprehensive and covered all the relevant topics we needed to become proficient in Java full-stack development and although the coursework was challenging,  the instructors were always available to provide guidance and feedback when needed.

Overall, I would highly recommend Skill Distillery to anyone looking to develop their skills in programming. The TAs and instructors were fantastic, the curriculum was comprehensive, and the learning environment was very supportive and engaging. 

Attending Skill Distillery is one of the best decisions I have ever made, while simultaneously being one of the most difficult tasks I have ever accomplished. If you are looking to attend a coding bootcamp this is the one. Everyone at Skill Distillery is extremely dedicated to providing their students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in Full-Stack development, but you will need to put in a significant amount of time and effort to be able to complete the course. If you are looking for a challenge and want instructors to help you along every step of the way choose Skill Distillery. 

Before I joined SD, I looked for a coding bootcamp that teach Java and SD is one of very few of them. After reviewing their curriculum, my SWE engineer friends agreed that it covered a solid foundation for  a java developer, which made me feel more confident to join the program. As I joined, I liked how the knowledge was presented, especially quizzes and projects, really helped me solidify my understandings. During the lectures, I asked a lot of questions to cover all of aspects and all of them were answered thoroughly. I was impressed with their patience, communication, and experiences. I also felt supportive post graduation. Their full stack program helped me a lot during the interview at LinkedIn. I would recommend anyone to this coding bootcamp. Also, overall advice, join couple Udemy courses in advance would help expedite the learning process. 

This course is challenging and very worth the effort. If you're the kind of person that picks your education for the challenge and quality of the curriculum, Skill Distillery is the right choice. After reviewing many bootcamps, I chose Skill Distillery because of it's foundation in Java (a more challenging language than JavaScript), focus on back end development (I wanted to make things work more than I wanted to make a webpage look pretty), and its reputation for being a challenging course.

It is definitely challenging. It's a firehose of information and can leave you feeling overwhelmed at times. Even so, as someone who had no background in programming, I was able to complete the course and passed all the assignments. The instructors welcome questions and are always ready to help. There are TA hours on Saturdays to help with the weekend projects.

The days last about 10 hours with a one hour break for lunch. There are 10 minute breaks every few hours. The weekend projects can last anywhere from 4 - 20 hours, depending on how much you're putting into the project, the complexity of that week's project, and how many errant semi-colons or misspellings you might have made. ;-)

After the course, the instructors and staff still check in with you to help you brush up your LinkedIn profile, create a resume, coach on interviews, and give mock interviews. 

The course curriculum sets you up with experience for some of the most popular and in-demand languages and frameworks that large companies are looking for in their job descriptions.

It is difficult to land your first job in software development. The staff helps and offers assistance to keep you motivated during that process after the formal course is over. 

If you're looking for a great programming foundation and have the willingness to put in a lot of hours, this course is highly worth it.

The technical knowledge, experience, and confidence I gained in 16 weeks was far greater than both a college degree and a career in quality assurance combined. 

I came into the bootcamp with a computer science-related degree, and a prior career in QA automation. Any advantage I had was gone within the first week. I let go of what I thought I knew and started from scratch. It honestly would have been easier if I had absolutely no previous technical experience, which is exactly how this bootcamp is designed.

The scope of Java, SQL, and front-end material is incredibly thorough. The continuous hands-on practice, homework assignments, and group projects all drive it home. The schedule is rigorous. The amount of knowledge consumption will have you dreaming about coding.

If you invest four months of your life into this program and put faith in the instructors, the TAs, and the program itself, you will be the author of your software development career.

Everyone at Skill Distillery is amazing. The knowledgeable and experienced instructors provide lessons that are clear and easy to understand. The instructors, teaching assistants, and other staff members I had the honor to learn from, are the most passionate and patient people I’ve ever met. Everyone at Skill Distillery truly wants to see you not only graduate, but also find employment at a place you truly love. 
I'm so glad that I chose Skill Distillery. It has truly changed my life.

I attended Skill Distillery with about a couple years of (hobbyist) programming/scripting experience and no knowledge of web development.

Preparation
The course was mostly backend oriented at the time of my attendance, focusing on a Java Apache server with just a bit of Javascript/Typescript/Angular towards the end of the bootcamp. I’d highly recommend basic familiarization with the above technology. 
If you want to be more comfortable with Java: you should be familiar with syntax, types, and general object oriented patterns (if you work with any object-oriented language such as Java, you will be forced into these patterns most of the time) at a surface level. Any multitude of the first steps in a Java course (free or paid) can give you this knowledge. Understanding the tools at your disposal is far more important than anticipating where you need to use them.

With Angular and Typescript/Javascript, it’s not hugely critical but helpful in your search for employment. I had no knowledge of these but worked with other dynamic programming languages and frameworks prior. I believe just a cursory understanding of Javascript and using npm packages with your own code will be enough to give you a decent boost.
Also knowing how to use Git (and Github) to: push, pull, make a branch, make a pull request, merge a pull request, and lastly how to deal with merge conflicts, are practical skills that will help you in the course and beyond no matter where you work in the future. It may seem like a lot, but just having a slight understanding of what happens when any of these actions are performed is more than enough.

The Work
Days were about 10 hours in length but decently paced with approximately ten minute breaks at the end of every hour and about an hour for lunch. 
Lecture was most of the day with some small asides to work with things we were learning about on our own or every now and again with one or more other students. These were largely informal and allowed us to (attempt to) exercise what we had just learned in a few minutes. 
There were small projects to accomplish most weekends and one paired project at about the midpoint of the course. Additionally, we had two group projects; a “midterm” and “final” that were significantly more work and involved at least three people creating some form of full-stack web application over several days. These were very practical endeavors in retrospect and certainly what I would say were the most valuable experiences I got from the course.
I felt the program was well balanced and overall about the right amount of time (a few months) for a full-time course if maybe just slightly short, though I didn’t have finances to worry about while attending for any longer than that.
I will say that I immediately began working on serverless architecture with a NOSQL database, which is essentially the opposite paradigm to what I was taught during the course. However, I believe in the long run I was better off learning how to setup my own server in the long run as I understand more of what is "under the hood" with cloud services such as AWS or Google. The transition was not a problem in the slightest.

Conclusion
Skill Distillery gave me a solid foundation for web development. They introduced me to Test-Driven Development, pair-programming, databases, web frameworks, Typescript, Angular, the list goes on. I used Java and TDD to help me get my current job, and I use TS, Angular, and collaborative programming daily as well as numerous other skills I picked up during the course. 

Like many others attending coding bootcamps I was tired of my previous career and was looking for a rewarding change of pace. After doing a lot of research into bootcamps I decided to go with Skill Distillery. I was lucky to be able to use my GI benefits and take advantage of the VetTec program that covered my tuition to SD. From my initial screening phone call to post-graduation the support from the staff and other alum was outstanding. The course is difficult, and you will get out of it what you put into it. Don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions, the staff is always happy to answer questions. Post graduation the instructors will still provide support with mock interviews, setting up a resume, tweaking LinkedIn pages, and providing any advice towards the job search. The alum channel is active and there to provide referrals and advice to fresh graduates. I was able to land multiple offers 2 months after graduation and the skills I learned at Skill Distillery set me up well as a Jr. dev. I would recommend SD to anyone looking to get into the world of programming. 

I was very new to coding before I started at Skill Distillery (had done some courses through freecodecamp, mostly html and css). It is a very intense, very extensive school, but because of the in-depth curriculum and the dedication of the staff, you will be prepared to get a job with your new skills right away. They have Saturday hours where they help you with your projects and are always available for questions or help even after you have graduated. You will be amazed at the things you are able to accomplish if you persevere through the hard times in class. Lean on your classmates for help! My cohort was amazing and we made sure to help so everyone would succeed. 

Life changing is the best way to describe Skill Distillery. Prior to this bootcamp I was an EMT, looking into healthcare degrees. Burnt out from working healthcare, I was looking for the next thing. Before Skill Distillery I knew nothing about coding, after the 16 week program, I felt extremely prepared to apply for jobs. I landed a job 6 weeks after graduation. I love my new job, it’s flexible, pays well, and provides a lot of new opportunities for me. It feels crazy to look back less than a year ago and see where I am now, totally life changing. I highly recommend this program.