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Software Guild is closed
This school is now closed. Although Software Guild is no longer accepting students or running its program, you can still see historical information and Software Guild alumni reviews on the school page.
The Software Guild offers immersive full-time, online, 12-week or part-time, 10 to 14-month coding bootcamps. Courses focus on .NET/C# and Java and do a deep dive into the language fundamentals, server side, data tier, user interface, and tools. Software Guild focuses on .NET/C# and Java because those stacks are stable, proven, and in highest demand in the enterprise. The Software Guild takes driven beginners, or more experienced students passionate about development, and prepares them to compete for jobs as professional developers.
Prospective applicants must fill out an application, complete an admissions interview, take an aptitude assessment, and complete Software Guild’s Introduction to Web Development. The Software Guild looks for applicants who are self-starters with high levels of motivation and tenacity who know when to ask for help, work well with others, keep positive attitudes in the face of adversity, love learning and problem-solving, and are excited to build cool new things.
My personal experience with The Software Guild: Louisville was an extremely pleasant and successful one! There is a short period leading up to the cohort where you will have to complete tasks that should prepare you for some portions of the actual course, and give you an idea of if it's really something that you're interested in. This portion for me mostly involved using HTML and Javascript to create simple webpages. While we didn't get to web design until late in the cohort, it was defini...
My personal experience with The Software Guild: Louisville was an extremely pleasant and successful one! There is a short period leading up to the cohort where you will have to complete tasks that should prepare you for some portions of the actual course, and give you an idea of if it's really something that you're interested in. This portion for me mostly involved using HTML and Javascript to create simple webpages. While we didn't get to web design until late in the cohort, it was definitely useful learning experience that stuck with me until I needed it again.
The cohort itself begins at a relatively comfortable pace, spending the 8 hour day getting familiar with the very fundamental aspects of the language and programming in general. There are basic exercises that we worked through that I would compare to workbook assignments in school. Somewhat repetitive, but really solidified the knowledge and gave us a good leg to stand on throughout the rest of the course. It should be noted that a couple of students dropped out during this introductory part of the course, as they realized that the pacing was a bit too much for them. I think where myself and the others had an advantage was from doing independent learning prior to the guild so that the skills we were working on weren't entirely foreign.
The rest of the 3 month course was divided up into a few different projects that continuously expand on our previous skills, and each one presented a new challenge. I was later able to put these projects on my resume, as they clearly defined specific skills that I used to complete them. If any of us ever got ahead enough, the instructor would give us additional work to do in the form of refactoring our code or adding more functionality to our projects. If we ever got stuck, the instructor was very easy to approach and spent one on one time with us until we felt we were at a place where we could proceed. The small class size (which continued to grow smaller as the course progressed, it is a bootcamp after all!) really helped to allow us each to have plenty of time with the instructor.
When it came time to start looking for positions, I had an opportunity arise about a month before the course was scheduled to end. The Software Guild provided lots of helpful resources for me to really nail my phone interview, and was constantly following up to check on my progress. I and 3 of my classmates each had a job nailed down before the course was even over!
The best thing about the Guild for me was that I never felt overwhelmed at any point time-wise. I was still able to separate my school life and class life, and could have easily worked a part time job during the cohort had I wished to do so. Again, I spent plenty of time researching and learning on my own before the Guild started, so I was definitely at an advantage, and would recommend this approach to anyone else considering a bootcamp.
I took the C#/.NET course from the Guild, but actually ended up taking a Java position. The Software Guild allowed me to access all of the Java course materials in order to help me get acclimated. I've now been at my job for about 7 months and although I don't have all of the formal knowledge for every task I am assigned, the Software Guild prepared me enough to be able to problem solve and learn what I need to in order to be an efficient worker and an asset to my team. If you are considering taking a bootcamp and you are near one of the Software Guild locations, I highly recommend it!
Personal Background
I've been messing around with programming ever since I was the age of 14 (I'm 21 now as of writing this review), and I knew that being a software developer was always what I wanted to pursue, so it didn't come as a surprise when my trajectory shifted from completing a college degree to joining a code bootcamp after 3 years of taking classes that didn't benefit my degree, and pretty much setting myself up to be in college for way longer than I ...
Personal Background
I've been messing around with programming ever since I was the age of 14 (I'm 21 now as of writing this review), and I knew that being a software developer was always what I wanted to pursue, so it didn't come as a surprise when my trajectory shifted from completing a college degree to joining a code bootcamp after 3 years of taking classes that didn't benefit my degree, and pretty much setting myself up to be in college for way longer than I hoped for. I really wanted to just jump into my career as soon as I could considering the previous experience that I had. After some research, I had selected my top three picks for bootcamps that I was interested in.
The Software Guild really stood out to me because of the employment statistics, along with offering a .NET/C# course which I was also pursuing. After looking into the school, I learned more of the fantastic job prep skills that the guild offered, and at that point I decided to apply.
The Experience
Upon being accepted to the guild as an apprentice, I was given the pre-cohort coursework that is mandatory to be completed before starting, which is an introductory, online web development course that focuses in teaching you the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This is so that all apprentices are on the same basic level of web development knowledge before starting that section of the actual course, which is very beneficial to your success at the guild (especially if you really dive into it!). It took me a little while to get the pre-work done, but it was very worth the time.
At the start of the cohort, it is all fundamentals. If you are new to programming, or just object oriented programming in general, getting through the first half of the course WILL be fairly difficult. There's a lot of material to cover, and you have to make sure that you're pushing yourself to complete your projects on time, and to get all the help you can get from your instructor (that's what you're paying for, after all) in each course milestone. Even with my previous experience with programming, there were still so many new fundamental skills that I picked up, and the workload of the course certainly challenged me.
The next section of the course is where you'll be putting all that basic web development knowledge, along with your newly gained .NET/C# knowledge to use. In my opinion, this is the most difficult section of the entire cohort, since there is so much information that is being taken in, and each week moves by so quickly that it's easy to fall behind. However if you are to fall behind at all in the course, you can quickly get caught up if you are proactive and get all the help you need to get up to speed with the material you might be struggling in. I don't think that there was a single day that I was in class and didn't ask at least a handful of questions to my instructor on what I was working on or anything at all that I was curious about.
There will be many presentations, guest panels, mock interviews, and other very beneficial tools available to you as an apprentice to get you ready for starting your job search that I STRONGLY would recommend not to pass up. Take all the notes and soak up all the information you can during all these sessions.
Concluding Thoughts
Like the title says, joining The Software Guild was one of the best decisions that I could have made for my career. I was provided with skills that I wouldn't be able to obtain on my own time, and it has opened up so many opportunities for me, as well as given me tools that are applicable to not only my software development career, but many other sections of my life too.
The #1 advice I'd give to somebody looking to join The Software Guild, or any code bootcamp in general goes as follows:
1. Be ready to work. You'll be very busy with projects and staying on top of course material throughout the cohort.
2. Don't miss up on all the opportunities & additional help that you're offered from the staff & instructors! You want to take in as much information as you can that can benefit you & your career.
3. Just have fun. Find ways to make the course enjoyable for you.
Background: I attended UofL Computer Engineering program for a year before dropping out in favor of this bootcamp. In 3 months I learned more than I probably would have staying all 4 years at university writing tic-tac-toe applications.
Coursework: Having some (although very basic) knowledge of Java helped me with the first week or so of the coursework. Regardless, the projects you will work on are challenging for a beginner; do not be scared off...
Background: I attended UofL Computer Engineering program for a year before dropping out in favor of this bootcamp. In 3 months I learned more than I probably would have staying all 4 years at university writing tic-tac-toe applications.
Coursework: Having some (although very basic) knowledge of Java helped me with the first week or so of the coursework. Regardless, the projects you will work on are challenging for a beginner; do not be scared off by this, it is good to struggle a bit when learning to code. The instructors will guide you through the purpose of fundamental techniques so that you can gain a solid foundation of learning how to go about solving problems through code. This is type of critical thinking is key to having a successful career after graduation and definitely seems to be the focus of the program, rather than just writing code for repitition sake.
Post Graduation: I have been working as a developer full time for nearly two years now and continue to use techniques that I learned while studying at the Software Guild. This program has been incredibly useful propelling my career and the community is great even after graduating -- I still talk with friends I made in the program regularly and sometimes go back for Wednesday night board games.
I can only consider my experience at the Software Guild as the best career decision I have ever made. Because of the skills I learned at the Guild I have been able to excel in an incredibly challenging, lucrative, and fulfilling career. You are thrown into a very expansive and comprehensive curriculum with only a certain amount of knowledge and encouraged to struggle and learn from the difficulty. This was key for my success in the Guild and now in my career. The single best skill I learne...
I can only consider my experience at the Software Guild as the best career decision I have ever made. Because of the skills I learned at the Guild I have been able to excel in an incredibly challenging, lucrative, and fulfilling career. You are thrown into a very expansive and comprehensive curriculum with only a certain amount of knowledge and encouraged to struggle and learn from the difficulty. This was key for my success in the Guild and now in my career. The single best skill I learned was how to effectively research issues, problems, code, etc and how to find the answer I needed. I will say at some point I do wish I was given a bit more direction at the beginning of the bootcamp when I knew practically nothing and slowly given less and less as I learned on my own but nevertheless I was successful.
I had some previous coding experience through school but didn't want to pursue a bachelors so I decided to try the Software Guild out. I had a newer instructor so the first few days were a little rough around the edges but by the end of the program everyone was prepared for an entry level position and had the skills to continually learn new things. The course is really hard if you don't commit to it and use your time efficiently, several people switched to online because they couldn't keep...
I had some previous coding experience through school but didn't want to pursue a bachelors so I decided to try the Software Guild out. I had a newer instructor so the first few days were a little rough around the edges but by the end of the program everyone was prepared for an entry level position and had the skills to continually learn new things. The course is really hard if you don't commit to it and use your time efficiently, several people switched to online because they couldn't keep up.
They really do help you with finding a job, resume reviews, networking, interviews, etc. Basically the entire part after completion of the program. I found a job after about a month and the job market was slowing down when I was applying because of the holidays. (Nov - December)
I highly recommend checking the guild out if you are interested in a tech career. Also, you should probably research your job market when deciding which language to learn but it's not a big deal because they give you access to the other course at the end of the program. I learned Java but my job uses .NET/C#
Employed in-field | 91.7% |
Full-time employee | 87.5% |
Full-time apprenticeship, internship or contract position | 4.2% |
Short-term contract, part-time, or freelance | 0.0% |
Started a new company or venture after graduation | 0.0% |
Not seeking in-field employment | 0.0% |
Employed out-of-field | 0.0% |
Continuing to higher education | 0.0% |
Not seeking a job for health, family, or personal reasons | 0.0% |
Still seeking job in-field | 8.3% |
Could not contact | 0.0% |
How much does Software Guild cost?
Software Guild costs around $13,750.
Where does Software Guild have campuses?
Software Guild teaches students Online in a remote classroom.
Is Software Guild worth it?
The data says yes! In 2019, Software Guild reported a 47% graduation rate, a median salary of $60,000, and 92% of Software Guild alumni are employed. Software Guild hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 161 Software Guild alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Software Guild on Course Report - you should start there!
Is Software Guild legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 161 Software Guild alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Software Guild and rate their overall experience a 4.66 out of 5.
Does Software Guild offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Software Guild offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Software Guild reviews?
You can read 161 reviews of Software Guild on Course Report! Software Guild alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Software Guild and rate their overall experience a 4.66 out of 5.
Is Software Guild accredited?
Kentucky Commission on Proprietary Education, Resident School License No. R-0470, Minnesota Office of Higher Education, OHE Assigned Institution ID: 1829945
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