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Skill Distillery

Average Rating4.73
145 Reviews
2 Courses
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. S...
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145 Skill Distillery Reviews

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  • Sarah
    Anonymous
    sarahlobser@yahoo.com • Graduate • Denver
    Jul 26, 2016
    Overall Experience
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    Job Assistance

    Made me more employable than my three degrees

    Skill Distillery first caught my eye when I saw they accepted the GI Bill, and they happened to be close to home. I'd heard vaguely about coding bootcamps, and dismissed them without much thought, figuring they were all a scam somehow. But all of a sudden I had a relatively low risk option, and decided to check them out.

    What I got was far beyond my expectations. I took about a year of computer science back in college, and this program blew through everything I knew in the first ...

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  • Kaylee
    Kaylee
    Java Developer • Student • Denver
    Jul 01, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Got a job three weeks before graduation

    There are lots of coding bootcamps out there, and picking one can be an extremely intimidating process. There are all these schools to choose from that all teach different coding languges and all seem to boast a phenomenal hiring rate. So, how are you supposed to choose? 

    I didn't know this when I was choosing a coding bootcamp, but the two most popular and profitable languages to learn today are 1) Java and 2) Javascript. Skill Distillery is the only coding bootcamp I know of th...

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  • David A.
    David A.
    Java Developer • Graduate • Denver
    Jul 27, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance
    N/A

    Complete Change of Life

    I would like to preface this review with the fact that before this bootcamp, I had zero experience and only an extreme interest in the idea of coding. 

    Application Process/Why I Chose Skill Distillery

    After searching for about a week through different bootcamps across the country, I decided on Skill Distillery. I was prior military in Colorado, so going to school in Denver sounded like a great place to be. The fact that they accepted the GI Bill was a b...

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  • Jeffrey L.
    Jeffrey L.
    Backend Software Engineer • Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) • Denver
    May 11, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
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    Job Assistance

    Best decision I ever made

    -tl;dr- The professionals that I have met and interviewed with thus far have been blown away with the technologies and the level with which I have learned to program in the past six months.  Even companies that have previously written off bootcamps are now interested in me and my classmates because of the serious skills we got here.  I was extremely pleased with my experience at Skill Distillery and believe that my investment of time and money will pay off exponentially.
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  • Kimberly Saviano
    Kimberly Saviano
    Java Developer I • Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) • Denver
    Jan 27, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Great foundation in a difficult language, and the skills to learn more languages, libraries, and frameworks

    I was part of the second cohort at Skill Distillery (SD) and my 19-week program ran from July through November. Of our initial class of 10 (with an additional person who audited some of it), two people dropped out fairly early, and one person joined us halfway to retake the second half of the course. We had a close-knit group where most everyone got along really well, we initiated study groups on weekends, some went to meetups together, hung out socially, and really got to know one another...

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  • Jonathan
    Jonathan
    Jr Web Developer • Student • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) • Denver
    Apr 07, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
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    Job Assistance

    Update!

    I wrote the review "Grateful" and needed to write an amended review.                             (Admin, if this needs to be combined with that review, please feel free to do so.)

    I just received a Job offer from a mid sized company for a Java Stack Web Developer.

    (I still have 2 weeks left in the program at Skill Distillery and received the job offer.)                

    I had ZERO professional experience before this school and Skill Distillery was able to assis...

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  • Cole R
    Cole R
    Software Developer • Graduate • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) • Denver
    Feb 04, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    They are teaching what you need to know

    Summary:

    Skill Distillery is an intensive training program teaching in-demand technologies.  Being successful in the program requires dedication and hard work.  Completion of the program and understanding of the curriculum will give you the skills necessary to build and deploy a full stack Java web application (of relatively small scope).  These skills are in demand – after one month on the job market I was invited to 6 on-site interviews with different organizat...

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  • Clayton Boyle
    Clayton Boyle
    Student • Student • Denver
    Jan 06, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Incompetence at its best

    Skill Distillery is a poorly planned and executed bootcamp that will take enormous amounts of both your time and money. A dangerous mix of incompetence and questionable integrity creates a learning environment that robs students of motivation and their money/VA benefits. Students have been exiting in droves after getting a glimpse into the inner workings of the school - my cohort started with 12 students, went down to 3, and is potentially losing more students before they finish.&nbsp...

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    Bruce Batky of Skill Distillery

    CEO

    Jan 21, 2016

    Hi Clayton, 
     
    I am sorry to hear that your experience here was disappointing. Since you wrote a
    series of lengthy comments, I want to take a few minutes to try and address
    some of your concerns. Since you left halfway through the program, I think it's
    fair to say that you missed quite a bit of what we offer. 
     
    I think it is important to first take account of our experience. We have run boot camps for Disney, Key Bank, Raytheon, and BNYMellon in the last ten years on the corporate
    side.  We are not a stranger to boot camps. We got into this business to
    share our knowledge of programming and development. We opened
    Skill Distillery because we had been asked for years to create Java boot camps
    for big companies, and we wanted to create an option for the general public to
    have access to accelerated learning programs and to our capabilities to
    share that expertise. 
     
    You mentioned your disappointment was that you weren’t introduced to paired programming.
    We certainly do a deep dive on paired programming, but we engage this topic
    later in the program, after you decided to leave. 
     
    As for job placement, we tell all of our students to expect about a 3 month lag time from the time they start applying for jobs to when they find one. From the time people start, our team
    works hard to make sure their resumes are ready and that they are prepared to
    go to interviews. We work with our network to try to get students to events and
    to meet potential recruiters and hiring partners. Last week, three more of our students from the class before yours got hired into a major tech firm in Denver. These are Java developer positions and were obtained within 2 weeks of applying … reviews are on the way.
     
    Finally, we don’t read from books in class. Our instructors have a long and serious history of teaching, and they know their stuff. If anything, they go too deeply into a given subject, but
    that’s all from their vault of knowledge locked in their heads.
     
    We know that our program isn’t perfect, and it isn’t for everyone. This is a tough and
    demanding curriculum, and it requires hours upon hours of tedious and arduous work to succeed. In our experience, that is the only way to succeed as a programmer!
     
    If you would like to talk, or if there is anything I can do to help you, please
    reach out to me. Our door is always open.

    ~Bruce
  • Shelby Escobedo
    Shelby Escobedo
    Student
    Apr 07, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
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    Job Assistance

    Amazing bootcamp to help change career paths

    After leaving the news industry, I decided to look into a coding bootcamp.  Skill Distillery was worth every bit of money.  The instructors are very hands on, and help you through the learninging struggle when coding.  Not only are you being taught how to code, you have several projects to show potential employers your abilities. I have been told the stack they teach is very close to what is needed in for development jobs.  I might not be a veteran, but they do accept the GI Bill, which is...

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  • Aaron Aguil
    Aaron Aguil
    Student • Denver
    Jan 15, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    WORTH EVERY PENNY

    PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE REVIEW IF YOU WANT A 100% IN DEPTH  ANALYSIS OF COHORT 3 AND THE REVIEWS POSTED BELOW

    First off, because Mr. Anonymous two reviews below mine is suspicious of the five star reviews, lets ignore ALL of the positive reviews on this page. That leaves SIX reviews, of which FIVE, I believe were written by students from my cohort (SD3). Some of their comments are justified, but I feel that they may have been decieved by their own expectation of a program that wa...

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  • Sarah
    Sarah
    Student • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) • Denver
    May 03, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    Intense

    If you're trying to choose a coding bootcamp, think very carefully about the kind of coding you want to do and what you want to get out of the experience. Think about the stack you want to use at your next job. Skill Distillery is a full stack Java bootcamp. We started with Java, then worked our way to the back end, designing databases with mysql and persisting data with SpringMVC and Hibernate. Next comes Javascript. By the end we'll be able to create a web application from start to finis...

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  • Alex
    Alex
    Student • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) • Denver
    Apr 27, 2016
    Overall Experience
    Instructors
    Curriculum
    Job Assistance

    A Great Experience

    I am currently halfway through the course at Skill Distillery.  Prior to this, I was attending college using my GI Bill.  I had taught myself a little programming, but I had no direction and it was a very slow process.  I found Skill Distillery and decided to take a chance on something new, and I have zero regrets!  It has been a great experience so far, and I am amazed at the knowledge I have gained from this school.

    The classes are a mix of lectures, labs, p...

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Skill Distillery Alumni Outcomes

Skill Distillery Scholarships

$500 Skill Distillery Scholarship

Course Report is excited to offer an exclusive Skill Distillery scholarship for $500 off tuition!

Eligibility

Offer is only valid for new applicants. Applicants who have already submitted an application cannot claim this scholarship. & This scholarship cannot be combined with other offers.

Qualifying Courses

  • Full-Stack Web Development w/Java Bootcamp (Onsite) (Denver)

Recent Skill Distillery News

Alicia Boddy
Alicia Boddy
Updated January 11, 2024
What Is VET TEC? VET TEC is a high-tech training pilot program that doesn t use GI Bill benefits and pays a monthly housing stipend to students in the program. VET TEC stands for V eteran E mployment T hrough T echnology E ducation C ourses. In other words, veterans can attend a coding bootcamp for free without using any GI Bill benefits! Insider Update FY '24 is the last year of the VET TEC pilot program. The pilot program will end on 4/1/24 or when funding is exhausted. The VET TEC Authorization ...
Liz Eggleston
Liz Eggleston
Updated July 07, 2015
Since the White House Department of Veterans Affairs hosted the first coding bootcamp roundtable in September 2014, it's been clear that the use of the GI Bill for bootcamp tuition is on the minds of both educators and government. Recently, Skill Distillery , a 19-week Java Coding Bootcamp in Denver, Colorado, was VA-Approved and began accepting the GI Bill- huge news! Skill Distillery CEO Cole Frock talks to Course Report about the process to become approved, why veterans ...
Harry Hantel
Harry Hantel
Updated July 01, 2015
Welcome to the June News Roundup, your monthly news digest full of the most interesting articles and announcements in the bootcamp space. Do you want something considered for the next News Roundup? Submit announcements of new courses, scholarships, or open jobs at your school! Coding Bootcamps In The Headlines Coding Bootcamp Enrollment Soars! (via Bloomberg) Skill Distillery is the First Coding Bootcamp Approved for GI Bill. Coding Dojo spotlighted in Geekwire News. ...
Liz Eggleston
Liz Eggleston
Updated September 11, 2014
With over 40,000 alumni from their Batky-Howell training courses, Bruce Batky and Cole Frock have recently launched their 19-week Java bootcamp, Skill Distillery , in Denver, Colorado. We catch up with Cole and Bruce to discuss their hands-on instruction, how they constructed the Java curriculum, and the types of companies Skill Distillery is partnering with to place graduates in jobs! Remember, the Course Report community is eligible for a 500 scholarship ...

Course Report readers can receive an Exclusive Scholarship to Skill Distillery!

Locations

Skill Distillery Alumni Reviews Summary

Overall Experience
4.7
Instructors
4.8
Curriculum
4.7
Job Assistance
4.5
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More Information
Guarantees Job
Job Assistance
Includes Housing
Offers Corporate Training
Accepts GI Bill
Licensing
Skill Distillery is a certified vocational school by the state of Colorado.
FAQs

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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