Springboard

I completed Springboard's Cyber Security Career Track course in April 2024 and am very happy that I decided to go with Springboard. I am a former coach/teacher with zero IT/Tech experience, minus building and maintaining my PC during COVID and teaching the older coaches how to use a laptop, lol. I had researched and talked to multiple boot camps offering a cybersecurity track but needed a course that would allow me to work at my own pace and not be confined to pre-determined meeting times. After much deliberation, I decided to go with Springboard and am very pleased with my experience. The enrollment process was very easy, they offered a deferred tuition plan and also had a job guarantee program. I ultimately choose Springboard because of the deferred payment option and also the job guarantee. 

The units were very informative and a good mixture of reading, videos, writing projects, and interactive labs that allowed you to deepen your knowledge regardless of your prior knowledge/experience. Each unit also concluded with a short quiz to test your knowledge and allowed you the opportunity to go back and relearn any material. The writing projects often comprised of researching a particular vulnerability, breach, and/or company and answering questions about the particular unit. The hands-on labs were my favorite part of the course as they allowed you to put learning into practice with detailed steps. I do wish the labs were more detailed in terms of explaining exactly why you were taking a particular step, but post-completion labs have allowed me to fill in those missing pieces. I also liked the personal mentor they provided and my mentor was extremely helpful throughout my two+ months within the course. 

As far as aspects of the course I disliked; I do wish the career coaching calls were more personalized. The Effective Networking call was extremely informative and I did get a lot of great information from that particular call, but I felt the Career Kick-Off, Career Planning, and Career Branding calls could have been better. The Resume and LinkedIn call was also a little disheartening as the coach had not researched or looked into my information before the call. I felt like the resume building was just copying and pasting my name onto a cookie-cutter resume that had been used multiple times. I didn't feel like that call was designed to tailor my resume specifically to me, but that it was designed to simply pass for a grade. We also did not even talk about my LinkedIn and I was rushed off the call as the coach had another student's call after mine (she also used my time to respond to that student). I also felt that I was not being commended for the pace in which I was completing the course. They (Springboard) do state that they recommend taking six months to complete the entire course and I finished in two. I felt that my mentor was the only person on my side and that when I got on a coaching call it was as if I was making a mistake with how fast I was progressing. Lastly, I also never heard from my student advisor. I'm not sure if that was intended or their role exactly, but I know I never heard from him throughout the two+ months. 

I was very satisfied with the mock interviews and the coaches that conducted them. All three gentlemen were professional, asked tough questions, and provided amazing feedback for me to use. Applying for completion was also very easy. I am happy with my current career coach post-completion and look forward to her mentorship during my job search. I would highly recommend Springboard for those self-motivated and determined individuals. Thank you, Springboard! 

My experience at Springboard was exceedingly positive, characterized by an exceptionally robust curriculum that adeptly prepared me for real-world challenges. Throughout the program, I found myself enriched by a plethora of supportive resources and systems that significantly bolstered my learning journey. The curriculum was not only informative but also presented with clarity and abundant examples, facilitating comprehensive understanding. The structured learning process seamlessly guided me through each step, complemented by the invaluable guidance of my mentor, who consistently provided substantial support. The availability of on-demand mentors proved instrumental in elucidating complex concepts and resolving technical hurdles. Overall, my engagement with the course was deeply rewarding. While the self-directed nature of the program may pose challenges for some individuals, the wealth of support and resources offered by Springboard ensures a fulfilling and enriching educational experience.

I joined a bootcamp to speed up my networking while in a medium-sized city. I really enjoyed learning while being in touch with great coaches and mentors. At the end of the day, you learn cybersecurity and get a job by working hard and putting yourself out there. Springboard made that more possible in a very busy season of life. 

Course is fast paced but detailed , gave me skills that i was missing. The support and mentorship program they have is wonderful. I would recommend to anyone wanting to start a career in data analytics. Would be nice to have included more visualization tools like Denodo and more ways for student to interact. Career support/coaching is wonderful in helping you get your desire analytics position

I completed the Cybersecurity Career Track Bootcamp and found the content relevant, and the mentors and coaches very helpful.
I got a full-time remote job as a Service Desk Analyst very quickly, even before I was done with the Bootcamp! 

-Alexander Little

The overall experience at Springboard Data Science Career Track is good, especially the curriculum content and the 1:1 mentor directions. The curriculum content difficulty ranges from easy to difficult and it is very good for practice and sharpen your skills, even for me who have already learned python and data science by myself for almost two years. About my mentor, for my questions, he always ask me to try my own ideas and see the result, not just tell me to do this or not do that blablabla. My mentor likes to ask me questions to deepen my understanding and then explain, which is helpful for my learning. The most important drawbacks of the camp is its career support, it doesnot provide any internship with the partner or any internal referal, especially for me who want to change the career focus.

Working with Springboard was a very rewarding experience. Throughout my time in the program, I really got a grasp of modern software engineering techniques and all sorts of commonly used programs and languages. The hands-on approach they take to teaching made it super immersive and relatable. I also want to note how beneficial the weekly 1:1 mentor calls were towards my understanding and success.




What I loved most was how the program gave me the freedom to take control of my learning journey. Sure, I could have just cruised through the curriculum, but diving deeper and pushing myself to go beyond the assignments gives you a great understanding to go off and make your own projects in your free time. It's amazing how much you can grow when you're given the space to explore and create on your own. Plus, it's all about building that killer portfolio, right? So, yeah, Springboard definitely helped me level up in more ways than one.

Springboard is a great way to transition careers. The mentorship they offer is really helpful as well as the IDP (internship that links you with a real company to get on the job experience). Nice to perform at your own pace - they are generous with extensions and support. 

The bootcamp doesn't offer anything that is unique or special. You can learn everything that is taught in the course by spending less than $100 purchasing a full stack web development course from Udemy. In fact, the tutorial videos used in their course is available on Udemy. 

The mentorship they offer is a joke. My mentor did not know anything about web development. Every time I asked him a question, he directed me to some web page instead of him explaining the topic or discussing the issue. After some time, I realized that asking him specific question about web development was a waste of time. The job guarantee they offer is  scheme used to entice folks to purchase the course. The company can and will change the job guarantee period as the job market changes. Right after I completed the course, they changed the job guarantee period from 6 months to 9 months.

I think there was a time where having gone to bootcamp helped you get a job but it has become very difficult for current graduates to land a job. So why should anyone spend $10K on a course that will not help them land a job as a developer or help them increase their salary. Also, there are many other alternatives to bootcamp when it comes to learning web development that is cheaper and allows you to learn the same concepts. 

My advise is to not waste your money at Springboard or any other bootcamp.  

My experience at Springboard's UI/UX bootcamp was a whirlwind adventure that spanned a year. The curriculum packed in a ton of useful information, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to access it even after completing the program. However, navigating through mentorship was a bit of a challenge. I initially struggled with a mentor who wasn't the best fit but was able to switch to a much more supportive one after speaking up to my career advisor. One downside was the absence of AI for UX, which I was hoping to learn about, and the reliance on third-party resources like Medium for curriculum content felt a bit underwhelming. Nevertheless, the highlight of the bootcamp was undoubtedly the industry project, where I got to collaborate with a real company, gaining invaluable hands-on experience. Despite its flaws, Springboard provided me with a solid foundation to kickstart my career in UI/UX design.

Pros:

• Structured Curriculum: Clear and organized learning path covering essential UX/UI design topics.
• Mentorship: Personalized guidance from industry professionals enhances skill development.
• Portfolio Focus: Emphasis on practical projects helps build a strong design portfolio.

Cons:

• Cost: Higher tuition fees compared to some other online platforms.
• Time Commitment: Requires a significant time investment, spanning 6 to 9 months.
• Limited Flexibility: A predetermined curriculum may not fully align with individual learning preferences.

Pros: Getting to work with a real company and adding it to your portfolio; Mentor support weekly and on demand mentor call if you need it ahead from your own shceduled call. 

Con: Certain advisors are not familiar with alot of the programs and they take a while to respond back. 

The Pros: 
- great mentorship with experienced professionals who really know the industry
- industry design project (IDP) working for an actual company doing UX research and design 
- online interface is easy to use and track your progress
- staff at Springboard are attentive 
- career coaches are awesome, I'm just starting to meet with one as a recent graduate and am loving it

The Cons: 
- most resources on the curriculum are free articles, links, and videos from other websites
- besides the IDP, all projects are fictitious 
- working on the curriculum can be isolating as only the IDP is collaborative with other students
- I've heard the job guarantee can be voided by Springboard at any time at their discretion 

Note: this review comes as a recent graduate who is just starting career coaching. I've yet to find a job. 
 

Transitioning out of the medical field was daunting, but Springboard's cybersecurity track was an incredible experience that I would absolutely recommend to others. Also, they have a job guarantee once the program is finished so I'm very much looking forward to continuing to work with my career coach!

I am a Java Developer who has taken a 5-year break in my career for personal reasons. To upskill my software knowledge, I decided to pursue a BootCamp and my friend recommended SpringBoard. The SpringBoard curriculum helped me to learn new technologies, and the projects provided valuable coding knowledge. My mentor was incredibly supportive and provided excellent guidance. The career services, including resume reviews and mock interviews, were very helpful in preparing for job interviews, and as a result, I was able to land a job. I highly recommend SpringBoard to anyone who wants to upskill their software knowledge.

I chose to go with Springboard after some research and all of the good reviews.  I am very happy that I chose Springboard.  UX Design is a hard field right now to get into and I didn't know that at the time that I signed up.  However, I feel that Springboard has given and will continue to give me all the help they can for me to get a job.  I just got my certificate and am starting the job search but I have been impressed with the amount of resources and hints that have been given to me already and I haven't even met with my job search coach yet.  The job guarantee is everything right now in this field and you can beat that either.  The course was good, though mostly reading various articles  and watching videos and then trying to do stuff myself.  I also picked Springboard because of their externship at the end of the course, which was a great experience for me, and I think will help set me apart from other junior candidates.  

I needed to freshen up my coding skills and I was thing about applying to a bootcamp.
Of course, I was skeptical. What if  I don’t like curriculum,  I don’t like my Mentor, I don’t like the Coach advisor? 
I asked so many questions to the Sales Manager at Springboard and I was content with the responses. 
Springboard curriculum helped me, also, I never missed a meeting with my Mentor, Muhammad. He gave me tips and push me to do better projects.

I fully enjoyed this course. The carefully curated content really accelerated my progress in the field of data science. Not only did I learn new concepts, but I also improved my coding skills significantly.

One standout feature of Springboard was the personalized mentorship. This one-on-one support kept me motivated and encouraged me to strive for continuous improvement.

Overall, if you're seeking to improve your coding skills and leverage your expertise for a lucrative career, I highly recommend considering Springboard. 

I took the course and spent countless hours after trying to get a job and it did not help. I followed every detail and every recommendation they gave, and it was mostly a waste of my time. The mentors and career service staff will show up to your meeting 5-15 minutes later IF they show up, and will rush you providing no details. After my job search period, I reached back for the job guarantee, and when I provided all the info they asked for, they stopped responding to my emails for over a month. Extremely frustrating experience. Not worth the money

Springboard does everything it sets out to do, which is giving the basics and projects to their students.

The good:
1 on 1 Mentorship: Absolutely the #1 reason onto why Springboard is worth it. Weekly calls with an industry professional that will give you insights and encouragement.
Straight forward information: The curriculum is sectioned out in an easy to understand way. Also nice for students who like to follow an agenda/schedule.
Career Coaches: They have pretty useful information regarding job searching and networking.

The not-so-good:
Outdated articles: Some articles linked to the curriculum feel slightly outdated, both in terms of looks and information.
Lack of engagement: The curriculum does not really test you or engrain the information into you after you learn it. You essentially read and continue.