Springboard

I entered the Springboard program (DS career track) in early 2019 after struggling to get a decent job in data science after graduating from college in the spring of 2018, despite having a statistics degree from a reputable university. After graduating from Springboard, I found an extremely satisfying job within a month. The difference in my job hunt pre- and post-Springboard was pretty much that, while this program certainly didn't transform me into a 10X data scientist, I was exposed to so many aspects of the data science world that I not only built a solid foundation in data science but I was able to "speak the language" pretty well when I was interviewing afterword. You obviously could try and learn everything on your own, but the great thing about Springboard for me was the mentor they pair you with. Reading a textbook/website is one thing, but having someone help you develop an intuition for solving data-centric problems is something else. Completely. 

I obviously can't speak for anyone else, but the mentor I was paired with, AJ Sanchez, was worth the price of admission alone. Throughout the many months I was in this program, there wasn't a single question he couldn't answer. Not only that, but he's extremely personable, he's a role model both as a person and a data scientist, and speaking with him was something I looked forward to every week. You'd think someone as smart as him would be intimidating or impatient, but that was not the case whatsoever.

My only issue with Springboard was that I frequently found myself needed to reference many materials and textbooks that weren't in the curriculm. However, I've also needed to do this in pretty much every other math-related class I've ever taken, so this 'issue' I guess isn't really an issue with Springboard at all because it just was not reasonable to expect them to somehow predict and curate the best curriculm for me before the fact. You obviously have to put the work in, and for me that meant doing a little extra digging on concepts that weren't immediately intuitive to me based on the provided materials. 

Anyway, I hope this helps for whoever is reading. I assume you're also doing research on other data science academys/bootcamps, like I did, and while I can only talk about Springboard, I was not disappointed with my choice. Definitley wouldn't have taken the time to write this out if I didn't think it would help someone else.

I had an amazing experience with springboard. I had a rocky stary because I didn't match well with my mentor and it was causing some issues. Springboard took care of everything in a really professional and compassionate manner. They rematched me with a mentor that was a much better fit and I loved my experience from then on! I really enjoyed everyone that I interacted with, from the advisors to the career coaches and the mentors! I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a bootcamp! 

I joined the UX Design Career Track since March 2019 and it was definitely one of the best investments I've ever made.
The curriculum is well designed, both the UX skills and job searching materials. I took a few online courses before but I failed to finish them. This is the only one I've completed. The whole process was refreshing and engaging for me.
The best part of the program is mentorship. I had a one-on-one session with my mentor every week. He not only helped me review my projects but also be a very helpful reference when I was looking for a job.
Thank you Springboard!

This is my first online course in a long time so I don't have much to compare it to but overall I think the UX Design course (to be discontinued) was very comprehensive and structured. I thought overall it was affordable even though my employer paid for it. However, too bad that there will only be a much expensive career track available moving forward. I'm glad I was able to get into this general UX Design course as I am already in the industry. The certification will help me with future job movement and will kickstart online portfolio creation. I'm glad that the course wasn't too heavy on UI as I am not a graphic designer. I like the progress bar so I could see movement. I procrastinated in the beginning. If I were to do it again I'd get started right away. I don't think I took it as seriously as I should have in the first month. 

Springboard made learning interesting and manageable with their program strategy of online learning with an appointed mentor.  I needed to advance my analytics technical skills fairly quickly and have it fit into a very busy schedule of full time job and family.  I was able to learn on my own time and begin the capstone projects, picking my own dedicated times.  What made it a fantastic experience is the Mentor program that is part of Springboards curriculum.  I was able to schedule time with my mentor based on my availability and he was flexible when work meetings or home crisis arose.  The weekly hours dedicated to me kept me on track.  The Community meeting options that lets you share your hurdles with others taking the course was also helpful getting me through the more difficult case studies.  I received my certification and have gained tremendous confidence in the skills I've learned.  Thanks Springboard.

Let me categorize my experience with Springboard in 2 ways: 

 1. What I liked about this course

 2. What I didn't like
 

Like: 

1. Covers a lot of areas in Data Analysis, Visualization Techniques and Machine Learning

2. Mentor Support 

3. Introduces  some really cool soft skills like networking, writing cold emails, etc. which I personally really appreciate

4. Opportunity to work on 2 Capstone Projects to use the concepts learned in the curriculum and some mini exercises to practice 

Did Not like:

1. The time provided for each section of the curriculum is not very realistic

2. Students may lose interest and get bored after some time

3. Career coaches are helpful if you can get hold of them. But it was challenging to book a time. I think they need to hire more career coaches.

Overall, I would say, I had a good experience with Springboard.