Springboard

I started the course at the end of June 2020. The beginning of the course was great (the content in each of the units and the way they were built). But then in the Economics and Financial units, there were some videos we needed to watch, that I felt like were not in the level of what Springboard had so far.
I think I was mostly frustrated about DataCamp. I did not feel like I've learned too much from it, and needed to find other sources to study from.
The mentors (my mentor and the mentor on call) and the career coach I worked with were very professional, and I've learned a lot from them.
Even thought the content was sometimes not to what I've expected,  I found the overall experience very positive. I was able to find a job in the field while still studying, so I am grateful for Springboard and everything they did for me. Now I am fulfilling a dream I always had and never had the time to pursue (until now). Thank you Springboard!

I took the UI/UX Career track with springboard. While an intensive program, this course gave me a thorough education and understanding of UX design that I had been seeking. The 1:1 mentorship was the highlight of my experience, since I got to talk face to face with someone that gave me constant support and encouragement. Although an online learning experience, springboard does its best to find ways to still build community. However I do think it would be great if there was more required interaction with peers through things such as group projects or critiques. Overall, it was great for my career because it not only taught me UX but it pushed me to network more and gave me resources to very current topics in the field of tech and design. 

I would stay away from Springboard. Especially during this hard time of job search. I will be the first one to say that mentors are amazing. Career coaches are great as well. BUT mentors are overworked, and some have way too many students. Support for mentors is lacking as well. Career coaches are very busy, and sometimes you will be waiting weeks before the call. That "Unlimited Mentor Calls" claim doesn't hold any water either, the number of open slots for this varies, and if you're up against the deadline, I wouldn't rely on it. If you're one of the unlucky souls who do not land the job within the job search guarantee months, the refund process is horrendous. There is zero flexibility in where your money will be refunded. So if it was a credit card, that you have a balance on, best of luck. Also if you think you might be getting a refund, DO NOT REFER ANY OF YOUR FRIENDS/Acquaintances. They will take the $250 credit for the referral and count it towards your refund. 

I had a really good experience with Springboard. I'm a web developer switching to design, and this gave me a clear path toward that goal. It is a serious time commitment so make sure you understand that. In the beginning I underestimated how challenging it would be, and started to fall behind my own goals. I got back on track fairly quickly and appreciate the fact that it was such a challenging program. My mentor was a cool person in general, but had a way of really making me think about my approach and that's been very helpful. I liked it and honestly I'm going to miss it. 

My background: Worked in BI for a few years, MS in Data science, basic knowledge of coding in python. Started coding in JS last Nov to prepare to get in multiple boot camps. Previously was accepted in HackReactor, Coding temple, Code works, Fullstack academy. Changed my mind to take Springboard last minute after finding out Colt Steele has launched the bootcamp program w/ Springboard.   Contents are more or less the same as what is provided in Udemy except for Flask or some other fundamentals. React version is newer in springboard but the quality of contents is better on the Udemy than on springboard in my opinion.   Lack of learning support. TAs are available and usually get back to you as long as the server is functioning properly, however, you do not get feedback on your work unless you specifically require them. This is the huge downside. Feedbacks are extremely important in the learning stage so you build a good behavior. This is the biggest downside of this program.   Mentors. I would say, this is the least favorite part of the program. Despite the whole tuition is paying for mentors, mentors don't add any values. They think they are there to give you career advice and help you with interviews (all of 3 I have experienced said this) but there are career coaches for that. It feels like it has been a waste of money. Perhaps overly generalized, but I have had changed mentors a few times and none of them turned out to be helpful. I received many messages after publicly sharing my opinion in the springboard community so there is some consensus there. Maybe some people were lucky to have mentors that were helpful for them but it wasn't for me and I had to hire one outside Springboard to learn, which worked out for me (but expensive). When it comes to choosing mentors, you don't have a choice. It all depends on their availability. Oh. And you may get a mentor who never coded in python or js or react. If you ask any springboard material questions to them... they all go blank. They don't care. Previously when I looked into other boot camps, I thought it was weird that all the graduates were doing TAs perhaps that would lower the quality of the schools, well, now I know they are MUCH better because they know what you are going through. Wrong choice.   Student advisor. They are always there to help and listen to you, however, they are limited to what they can do. While they do make sure that you are heard, the problems don't solve and that's the problem.   Unstable server. The website is really slow and the video contents on Vimeo, There were many times that Vimeo server was down so you wouldn't have access to any videos. To this date, Vimeo videos may run in very low quality or the springboard page takes forever to load. (My internet environment setup at home is equivalent to a working office as we have 2 engineers at home working from home.) -- They changed this to Youtube and it's little better now.   Career coach support. Their availability was unstable when I started but SB quickly worked on this. 2 months in the program I saw the open calendars again. I assume it is going to be stable as is. It feels like it has been worth it just because of the career support but then again, for a couple of thousand dollars, you can hire a personal career coach who will perhaps even make the job applications for you.   Feedbacks. This is my main problem with them. None of the staff are familiar with springboard materials. Meaning, when you ask a question, they don't know what that is about. This seems like a huge turn off to me, given the program is 100% remote. They do have 2 live coding sessions (that's right, 2 out of 50 units, out of hundreds of exercises and assignments) with external reviewers who are looking at the same project over and over, and their feedbacks were helpful. That is because they know the materials! surprise! Mentors have no clue and if you ask questions, they will just google and give you a link that you previously saw before asking the question. We aren't paying so that they can google it for you... I got sick and tired of changing mentors doing all the same things. Seriously, if you want to make something out of this program, you need someone who can support your learning especially if you are new to programming.    Capstone. Neither of my capstone projects were properly reviewed. I could not get any help to figure out how to deploy at the very late stage. Here is what I went through: ask TA for help -> TA says "ask your mentor" -> asked my mentor -> mentor says "ask TAs". Gah!! for real... Eventually, I got it working after getting help from an engineer I worked with from a hackathon before... This deployment alone took me 1 full month. Non-sense!    For any of these things, I sent feedbacks to the springboard. They do hear you. But I don't know if they are working on them. I feel like the organization is somewhat misaligned within and the communication is broken. Even to complete the program there were several pingpong messages between advisor, support, mentors and it just felt very unorganized. Your feedback probably will stay somewhere in the backlog but who knows when that'd be the story to work on next.   At about 60% in the program, I was hired in the field I wanted to work in. I can't say it is all thanks to Springboard. While my learning may have been based on Springboard materials Here are a few extra things I did that got me hired I think:

• I paused a couple of times and took an advantage of Udacity Nano Degree Programs.
• I hired a personal tutor to give me feedback on Springboard materials that I worked on (assessments, projects, exercises.)
• I worked above and beyond on full-stack python development that integrates machine learning, docker, etc for first capstone. I also developed a react-native app.
• I worked on CTCI and kept up with Data structures and algorithms on edx, coursera, etc. This is offered in springboard too.
• Springboard shows a progress bar where you are at and this helped me to keep up with my learning disciplines.

  I have no idea what % of the cohort has graduated but I am in the first handful. SB opened Software Engineer in January and I joined the second cohort in February.    In general, Course materials are great. Mentors, case by case or questionable.The student advisor listens to you. Career support is great. TAs are available. The slack community is healthy and active.   

 Become a data analyst in six months, job guaranteed! Through this course, developed in partnership with Microsoft, you’ll master the technical and business thinking skills needed to get hired. In addition to learning fundamental business statistics concepts, key tools (like Excel, SQL, Python, Power BI, and Tableau), and advanced analysis techniques, you’ll develop your problem-solving skills—something hiring managers told us most job applicants lack. Two capstone projects will allow you to bring all of your skills together, becoming the center of a powerful portfolio. And you’ll do it all with the guidance of your personal mentor and career coach, plus support from your fellow students and Springboard alumni.