Springboard

PROS:
Comprehensive curriculum
Exposure to excellent analytical and predictive tools and projects
Great support system from support staff
Helpful office hours
Flexibility in course completion
Awesome mentorship program including getting help from other mentors if needed
Course extension of up to two and a half months or so, if needed
Multiple chances for retaking mock interviews in order to qualify for money-back guarantee

CONS:
Always check to ensure some mentors actively participate in projects supervision

I could not be happier I chose Springboard for expanding my data science skills and kickstarting my career in the data industry. They provide lots of ways to support you including weekly mentor calls with an industry expert, career coach calls, access to student advisors and an online community on Slack, etc. There are also weekly office hours for asking your questions as well as learning about career advancement. You should however note that you will always be the main driving force behind your progress and all of this is not going to be helpful to you if you don't put in the hours to learn the material and make progress. The curriculum is great in my opinion as well and carefully put together.

Before the course I was self taught with Python. I did a project where I went scraped data but the project stopped since I didn't know how to analyze data. After taking this course I believe I have progressed greatly with my Python skills to the point where analyzing and modeling data is becoming second nature and a strong point of my skill set. Also, having a mentor was great because I was able to learn from well established data scientists.

I'm impressed by how committed Springboard is to student success. My student advisor and mentor are supportive and understanding, and they do their best to help me get through the roadblocks. I was at a point where my health condition did not allow me to continue the coursework, but the Springboard support team offered accommodation by giving me the time I needed to complete the remaining works. Knowing how difficult it was to carry on with my health condition, I had a mentor who offered extra help outside of the weekly 30 mins. call. I have never been to a school that understands my struggle and chose not to give up on me. I have received more than I deserve. Springboard truly cares about your well-being and wants you to succeed. 

I paid for this course using a loan. After several months I realized I had been completely scammed out of my money, and still owe thousands. I can't speak for other tracks in Springboard but as someone who has experience pretty much solely in online learning, this was a horrible experience in the Cybersecurity track. I'm not one to feel scorned but when it comes to my education, I essentially payed ten thousand dollars to watch YouTube videos in their "carefully considered curriculum." Most of the videos are Professor Messer videos which are FREE. They're bragging that they can find a YouTube series and post it in their curriculum. 

There are hands on labs as well, the only good thing about the entire course. But you could probably find, or even buy a contract for these labs for significantly less than what I paid. 

You are essentially paying the down payment on a house to *drumroll*: talk to an 'industry expert' and for the exam vouchers. That's it. 
The 'industry experts' are people who have completed the exam and passed. Lol.

You could find a Cybersecurity discord server and do that for free. My first "mentor" aka industry expert was awful, no guidance or structure from them at all. Hardly could answer a single question I had. My second mentor was much better, and I believe actually was an expert. But they weren't able to fix the course curriculum. They even told me all I needed to pass the exam was a study guide off of Amazon and that's how they passed it. 

Springboard support was awful. I tried to get a reduction, not even a full refund of the loan. But they said I had surpassed the allowed "active time" on the course which apparently is 7 days. They took over 2 weeks to CAREFULLY review my case, to which I was denied a request of two thousand taken off my remaining balance. 

All in all I would never recommend Springboard to anybody, and I personally dont know anyone who could drudge through the course with the complete lack of support and scummy business practices of profiting off an actual saint's videos. (Prof. Messer)

I feel absolutely scammed, I will never take another boot camp style program again because of the horrible experience I've had taking this course, and the complete lack of morals and contradiction to their own mission statement of helping people with busy lives achieve higher education. It's for lack of a better word: bullcrap.

This course was very beginner-friendly. I came from a background and career in education, and found the course format and instructional materials to be very easy to follow and learn from. The course gave me a taste of what it would be like to commit to a full program, while also preparing me for the technical skills test I needed to pass in order to gain admission to the full program. It is self-paced, so if you work full-time as I do, you can work on the course when your schedule allows. You get a weekly live check-in with a mentor who is a working professional in the industry, which was great. The excellent instructional videos by Colt Steele are the cornerstone of the curriculum for this prep course. There are plenty of opportunities to practice your skills with low-stakes exercises and assignments along the way, all of which help prepare you for that test at the end. For my money, this course was an excellent value.

Springboard provided the technical mentors, career coaching and resources in order to learn the material and secure a career in software engineering. Within 3 months of starting the curriculum, I was given a software engineer job offer. Thank God for Springboard.

I have learned so much during my Springboard experience. The application process was quick and easy and the more I learned about the program, the more confident I felt about enrolling. The curriculum is thorough with clear guidelines and expectations outlined for students. 
There's endless streams of support- career coaches, personal mentors (one-on-one, once per week), unlimited mentors, students on the Slack community or in virtual study groups, and student advisors. This program is also incredibly flexible with pricing- the loan option is outstanding and low risk- as well as timing (you can pause the curriculum at any time (limited on number of pauses) or can even do an extension if needed. This program is self-paced and offers endless opportunity to receive feedback on projects, develop a deeper understanding of the curriculum, and learn how to network effectively and land a job in your field. 

This has been an incredible opportunity and I really can't recommend them enough.

I can't express enough how much I enjoyed learning with Springboard's UI/UX Design Career Track program! Before I started the program last year, I had taken a lot of time doing research on different bootcamps and reviewing the course outline, prices, time frames, etc. Springboard ended up offering the most benefits. I loved how the program was set up, straightforward with the career units mixed in, and meeting with an industry expert every week really helped with improving my skills. Having the extra support, with the weekly mentor meetings, really sold me on the program! While it is on the pricier side, you do have several options in how you'd like to pay for it. Don't sleep on this bootcamp! Springboard really went above and beyond the expectations I had for them!

The Springboard ux/ui design career track program was an excellent way to expand my knowledge. Able to move at my own speed I was given ample resources to turn to if I was ever confused. Between your mentor, advisors, career services and other Springboard students, there's always someone to turn to to learn more. Through Springboard I was able to continue my education from my own house during the Covid-19 pandemic

Wow, what a great program. Of course, like any bootcamp, you have to be prepared to put the work in. The material is great and well-paced, especially since it's a self-paced course. Outside of the curriculum, SB does a great job of preparing you for the job search. They start early with tips and strategies and arm you with as much knowledge as possible regarding the process. Lastly, the staff is simply amazing. My mentor was great and incredibly knowledgeable. 

10/10, would recommend it. Take the plunge and do the work!  

Full-time, 700+ hours, 1:1 industry expert mentor oversight, 4 in-depth portfolio projects.

Mastered skills in research and data analysis, information architecture, sketching and wireframing, prototyping and testing, eCommerce and browsing, persuasive and anticipatory design, gamification and behavior change, dashboards and data design, social media and messaging, agile/ processes and design sprints, and product lifestyle.

I joined SpringBoard with little coding experience. At SpringBoard, I not only learned a lot of coding knowledge, but also got enough support from SpringBoard. It provides student advisor who help you overcome any difficulties while learning, also a great mentor who meet with you every week to help solving problems or answering questions. They also have career coaching to help you with job hunting. Overall, it's a great experience of learning at Springboard and landing a great job offer. 

I initially chose springboard over other online UX UI courses solely for the mentorship and career coaching services. I can confirm that it was the right decision. The course has excellent material that helps you understand the UX/UI process and develop your projects and case studies. Furthermore, having a mentor that supports you and provides you with feedback each week is extremely beneficial. Now that I have completed the course, I have full support from my career coach that guides me and keeps me accountable in reaching my goals and more each week. 
To top it all off, the quick responses and support from the springboard team is exceptional. When I needed a break or some extra time, they were there to help me and provide me with different support options. 

Great for those looking for full online virtual experience with the added benefit of a mentor to meet with weekly and to hold you accountable for your progress and work each week. The curriculum covers the basics and provides a deep dive into key tools that are used in the industry. I had previous experience in tableau and excel, however SQL and Python were brand new to me. Focusing on those sections with my mentor helped me learn it much faster than I would have on my own. After completing my certification course and posting on LinkedIn, I had a previous manager reach out about an opening that matched what I had just learned with Python and SQL. I now have a new role specializing in Tableau and Python. The certification helped show my dedication to the field and desire to pivot my career. Definitely worth investing the time and effort in this program. 

The curriculum is designed well to prepare you for the job market, it equips you with a solid toolkit. The mentors are the most valuable assets of the program for sure. They are industry leaders and are very knowledgeable and supportive. You will need to stay self-motivated though, because this isn't real school.

I had a great experience with Springboard. The material that they provide gives you a very good overview of what you need to know to complete the projects. You also get paired with a mentor to meet with regularly and you have plenty of support beyond that with unlimited mentor calls, the community itself, slack and your cohort. The best part is that you have access to all of your curriculum even after you complete the course and I know that I will always refer back to my notes and course work because it is full of information. 

It is a great place to get career support. Their career coaches will help you prepare yourself for the job market.

I recently completed the UX/UI career track with Springboard. The course guided me to create a professional design concept portfolio. The mentor and career support are valuable. Since this is the only Bootcamp I have done I don't know how Springboard compares to other Bootcamp. In my case, Springboard opened up opportunities that I long to have and helped me transition into a new career.

I recently completed the UX/UI bootcamp at Springboard and overall, I had a great experience! The course allowed me to learn at my own pace and I had a rockstar mentor who guided me through it and prepped me to enter the industry. There's room for improvement but for the most part, I think Springboard has a competent curriculum.

PROS:
-No mandatory classes/lectures allows you to work at your own speed (up to 9 months to complete the course)
-Majority of curriculum isn't proprietary material (lots of curated articles and videos) meaning it's easy to update with more current info
-Curriculum seems to get updated relatively frequently
-Proprietary curriculum material is excellent
-1-on-1 mentorship lets you explore work in-depth and get thorough feedback
-Unlimited mentor calls on demand if you need extra help
-Thorough career support even if you don't qualify for the job guarantee (I didn't but I was able to find work!)
-Projects prepare you well for real design work
-Opportunity to work with a company for ~4 weeks provides hands-on job experience before you graduate

CONS:
-Currently not much support for building relationships with classmates/fostering community within your cohort
-No lectures/classes requires students to structure their time effectively on their own (they do provide a lot of material to help)
-Mentors can be hit and miss. I had a great experience with mine but I know that hasn't been true of every student
-Industry Design Project needs more structure and support