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Skill Distillery is an intensive, 16-week Java bootcamp in Denver, Colorado. The course is arranged into three units – Java Programming, Server-side Java, and Front-end Development. The curriculum focuses on the fundamentals of programming, Java (and its libraries), unit testing, Spring, Spring MVC, and using a source code repository. Students will also gain experience deploying web content to a web server and navigating the server file system from the command line. Skill Distillery graduates will be prepared to take the Oracle Certified Associate – Java Programmer exam and will be on track for a career as a web interface designer or a full stack application developer.
No prior coding experience is required; instead, Skill Distillery looks for driven, determined and passionate people wanting to make a change in their life. Prospective applicants must complete an online assessment, meet with an admissions advisor, and finish a logic test.
Skill Distillery’s parent company, Batky-Howell, has more than 25 years of experience training more than 40,000 IT professionals from companies such as HP, Lockheed Martin, Level3, Time Warner and Disney.
Overview
I'm in my last week here as a student, and it's been a long, difficult, and rewarding journey. I am incredibly glad that I took the opportunity to attend here, and I've truly enjoyed my time with my fellow students and staff here at the school. I was apprehensive about my decision, both concerned with dedicating several months of my life to a career transition and also dedicating the money that boot camps cost. That apprehension passed quickly.
...Overview
I'm in my last week here as a student, and it's been a long, difficult, and rewarding journey. I am incredibly glad that I took the opportunity to attend here, and I've truly enjoyed my time with my fellow students and staff here at the school. I was apprehensive about my decision, both concerned with dedicating several months of my life to a career transition and also dedicating the money that boot camps cost. That apprehension passed quickly.
You'll want to study hard. Keep your brain fresh. Work together with your classmates and develop a sense of camaraderie. It makes the time at the school much more enjoyable. Pressure, stress, and self-doubt are your biggest opponents here. Attend class, ask questions, and prep with their recommended Java instruction or your own. It will definitely pay off. They'll help you here, but they can't do everything for you. If you have a sense of curiosity and self-sufficiency, there's no reason that you can't succeed here (or in life in general, right?).
Program
The program is challenging. I came into this with minimal knowledge of development. I self-taught some python, took a class in high school about 15 years ago, and took some math classes in college. I felt an inclination to switch careers into tech, specifically development, and self-teaching was simply too slow and arduous. I wanted to learn an OOP-based language, some sort of full-stack experience (based on what I'd read online). There are very few boot camps around the country that offer a broad curriculum like what is offered here. It's very intensive--prepare to cram information into your brain for months--and also very nuanced. I'll speak more about the quality of instruction next. If you are looking to learn fundamental, common-use languages like Java and JavaScript and you also want to learn a ton of other technologies that are relevant or dominant within industries, this is the place to go.
Instruction and the Staff
The staff here are outstanding. Our cohort was primarily instructed by Jamie, Rob, Kris, and Andrew. Jamie has since left, and the school replaced him with an instructor named Steve. Although I didn't have much opportunity to work with him, he seems like an excellent hire and I have no doubt that he'll add to the already tremendous quality of instruction that you'll find here. The instructors are enjoyable, both as teachers and as people, and they care a lot about your personal development, and the development of your development skills. I struggled initially in the program, but evolved quickly to feeling great about my skill set and my capabilities. This is a direct result of the hands-on curriculum and awesome instructors.
I cannot emphasize enough how comfortable it is to work with the staff. Cole is the school director, and he's great with the students. Bruce, the owner, is easy to talk to and is often present. Janet in the back is usually busy at her workstation, but she's diligent about ensuring that snacks and soda, which the school makes available to students, along with special events (lunch parties, etc) go smoothly. She did a great job of handling our finances, including VA. The school here is very vet-friendly.
Jamie (who left recently to return to the private sector), Rob, Kris, and Andrew were all terrific to learn from. They are a group of instructors that love coding and teaching. I can't say enough as to how much I owe them; the time spent explaining concepts that I didn't understand, always being available to help, and staying on top of technological changes (distributions, frameworks, dependencies, etc). They took me, a former marketing manager, and guided me through some very hard material and some challenging projects. My thanks goes out to them. You don't have to worry about distant instructors that check out and leave you hanging. They're top notch.
What you learn
You learn full-stack development here, and it's not easy. Java and JS developers are needed in the job market, and you'll spend more time than you'd imagine on every link in the tech chain. By halfway through the program, you'll be creating fully-functional web applications using everything from SQL to JavaEE to Spring to HTML/CSS. I still can't believe how fast I progressed. By the end of the program, we were creating even better web applications by adding front-end development with JS (and jQuery, Angular, etc) and even some MEAN stack projects as well!
My brain, which I'm sure atrophied since college, was re-energized. Intensive and immersive learning, like studying abroad to learn Spanish for example, is a proven effective method for "re-wiring" a brain, as long as it's done right. The program moves fast because it has to: the concepts and technologies here are difficult. Weekend projects, both solo and in groups, along with some self-study and in-class keyboard time reinforce what you learn in lecture. Our class was just shy of a dozen people, and we almost always had 1-2 instructors available for help during labs/projects. This isn't something that you'll find at every boot camp or coding academy.
Summary
This review is getting long. The summary here is easy: if you're serious about wanting to be a developer, and if you're up for the challenge, SD will do it's best to get you there. They're still a new school (most schools like this are), and they're still networking with companies and alumni to create more comprehensive job placement assistance. This might be their biggest point of improvement, but they're aware of it and continue to work on it. In my interviews so far, employers have been impressed with the fundamentals of my knowledge and my experience with industry tech that I worked with here. I'll update this review when I take a position after I've officially graduated from here in a few days, but I feel confident about that side of things. To be honest, I really enjoyed learning again, and I'm pretty excited to keep learning even when I'm working. I'm a developer now, it's what we sign up for when we go into the profession.
Choose your boot camp carefully. It's a financial investment into yourself, so make sure that you understand what languages, technologies, frameworks, curriculum, etc that you're getting yourself into. Do more than just google salaries by language. There's nothing gimmicky here. No feeling of profit-over-student. I was worried about both, but so glad that I made the decision to attend because neither was an issue.
Thanks again, to both the SD staff and my fellow students. I had a blast during my time here and it was quite a ride.
SD Briana of Skill Distillery
School Director
May 03, 2023
SD Briana of Skill Distillery
School Director
May 03, 2023
Course Report readers can receive an Exclusive Scholarship to Skill Distillery!
How much does Skill Distillery cost?
Skill Distillery costs around $19,950.
What courses does Skill Distillery teach?
Skill Distillery offers courses like Full-Stack Web Development w/ Java Bootcamp (Online), Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite).
Where does Skill Distillery have campuses?
Skill Distillery has an in-person campus in Denver.
Is Skill Distillery worth it?
Skill Distillery hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 145 Skill Distillery alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Skill Distillery on Course Report - you should start there!
Is Skill Distillery legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 145 Skill Distillery alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Skill Distillery and rate their overall experience a 4.73 out of 5.
Does Skill Distillery offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Yes, Course Report is excited to offer an exclusive Skill Distillery scholarship for $500 off tuition! Skill Distillery accepts the GI Bill!
Can I read Skill Distillery reviews?
You can read 145 reviews of Skill Distillery on Course Report! Skill Distillery alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Skill Distillery and rate their overall experience a 4.73 out of 5.
Is Skill Distillery accredited?
Skill Distillery is a certified vocational school by the state of Colorado.
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