Springboard

Springboard’s mentor and career coach program prepare you for being ready to work in the industry. They provide 1:1, individualized, feedback and support. They are highly knowledgeable which enhances the curriculum and your preparedness for entering the industry. 

Some programs have an industry design project where you can get experience in the field before completing. 

Although the curriculum is curated. Springboard does a good job of selecting content,  and providing additional membership only content including design challenges, instructional videos, and a subscription to Adobe XD or Sketch for the year.  Read less

Pro's
1. Online courseware available at your own pace.
2. Material is current, up to date, and reflects industry demand.
3. Cost is more affordable than many other boot camps.
4. Staff support is excellent. Teaching assistant availability, response, knowledge is excellent.  1 on 1 mentoring excellent.
Con's
1. Text material and videos not always present material in the same order.
2. Estimates for instructional unit estimated time to complete consistently low.
3. Material is aimed at student with Mac computers. Students with windows computers sometimes have issues setting up/ using / installing software, packages, utilities, data bases, etc. Read less

Overall, my experience of Springboard was fantastic. My mentor exceeded expectations, often giving up extra time to help me with specific aspects of the course, which benefited me greatly. As someone who is transitioning careers to UX from an unrelated field, I felt I needed the support, discipline and direction of a bootcamp style course, and Springboard did not disappoint. 

There are only a couple of areas where I felt the course could improve. The first is some of the curriculum material. A lot of it is just material that already exists online that has been repurposed / reposted for use in the course. Understandably UX is a pretty new field, so this is the way a lot of this information exists -- but with this it's hard not to feel like I could have just found this information myself. I suppose a redeeming factor of this is the information is curated and organized in a way where it removes the need to trawl the web looking for it. 

The other part I felt was slightly lacking is the career support part of the course. There are career modules that help you improve resume / cover letter's / interview skills, etc. These are optional for those who are just looking to learn more about UX / strengthen their skills, and mandatory for people looking to obtain a career in UX and enroll in the job guarantee (for me, as someone changing careers, this  was a huge drawcard of the course). While a lot of the written information in the career modules was super useful, I felt like the structure of meeting with career advisors could benefit from a change. I think that student's should be assigned a career mentor from the beginning of the course for the sake of cohesion. I met with a few different career counsellors during the course, and like anything, I felt some were better (or at least better suited to my needs) than others.  Certain career mentors might not be available when you are, which leads to meeting with an array of individuals throughout the duration of the course, which I personally didn't find particularly useful. 

I think that streamlining the career mentorship in a similar style to the overall UX mentorship would only strengthen the course structure. Again, as someone making the transition to UX, I don't think I really could have done it without Springboard.   Read less

Springboard is by so far the best online bootcamp I have ever seen with real life projects that helped me explore more and expand my knowledge. The way the curriculum is designed is well outlined with adequate learning materials. The one to one mentor that we are assigned and the unlimited mentor calls that are accessible 24/7 made my learning process so much interesting and easy. Last but not least the students advisors and Career Coaches are as amazing as the rest of SpringBoard teams. 
The mentors are highly qualified and were able to guide me in the right direction. I had no experience with data analytics but SpringBoard is an eye opener for me. The Slack community channel is another engaging platform for experience sharing and meeting students. I have just finished my course with fully equipped knowledge and more confidence than ever to apply for jobs. I highly recommend SpringBoard for anyone that wants to make a career change.  Read less

Overall, I highly recommend the course, especially for those who has gap for some reason. 
It is well structured for emphasizing on the skills (Excel, SQl and even Python). It gives you hand-on projects to practice and to talk about for future interviews. 
I am glad that I am a part of the nice Springboard community. Everyone from mentor, additional coach calls, alumni is super helpful. I would strongly recommend my coach ( Paras Doshi) for his years of expertise in the industry and willingness to help.  
I had few failures before I joined the course. I used to self learn and use free materials which is pretty normal. Then I realized it was pretty slow to make progress and kind of waste my time. So I decided to join Springboard and invest on myself. I am so glad I did it and everything ended up well.  Read less

If you’re looking for a change of career or to excel your skills to the next level, stop looking right now and sign up for Springboard. The experience will absolutely guarantee you will feel competent and ready to be successful. The 1x1 mentor ship is next level, full of professionals who are powerhouses in their industry. Springboard student advising is very friendly and extremely accommodating to any and all questions. Read less

Pros: Expansive curriculum that presents substantive exercises on the most important/common aspects of Data Science; mentor is a tremendous fount of insight; capstone projects are completely open for you to choose subject matter, data science problem, models, etc. The benefit of this freedom is that you really have to take take the proverbial 'reins' and carefully think about how you want to frame a problem, and how you want to approach with solutions. But your mentor is always there to bounce ideas off of. ; very supportive and accommodating staff. 

Cons: This may not be an issue for all students but my pace suffered a bit because I didn't have sufficient computing power necessary to executing the more intensive code that is iterating over very large datasets.  Read less

Springboard really helped accelerate my career change. I already had some of the hard and soft skills but lacked a portfolio and end to end experience. Springboard gave me real world experience which was a huge selling point as I spoke with hiring managers.  Read less

I was enrolled for one of their software engineering program online. If you are thinking to join springboard for this course I want you to think again. I did not like at all the way course is designed. There only selling point for this course is that Colt Steele has designed this course. I recommend to buy course from Udemy for $9.99, you will save so much money and less headache Read less

I looked at several bootcamps, and was in serious talks with a local one that provided on-site lessons, before ultimately going with Springboard. I was won over ultimately by the fact that you can move through the lessons at your own pace, which allowed me to finish up a little earlier than expected. The price was also nice, and while it made me feel good about the decision, it wasn't the primary deciding factor. There is also a job guarantee that you can earn, but there are some stipulations to it, so make sure that you read up on that so you know if you would meet it.
     Despite the fact that this is an online, move at your own pace course, you are not going through it alone. I was paired with a fantastic mentor, with whom I skyped weekly. There are also one-on-one mentor calls that you can schedule a day or so in advance to get help from a mentor on call if you are ever stuck. There is also a slack channel for students to use for help and support at any time.
     The projects are comprehensive and allow you to practice the skills you have just learned as you progress through the coursework, though some of the projects do need a little more structure and a clearer connection between the skill and the completed assignment (especially the SQL and Python units.) I figure the projects will only improve with time.
     One of the things that I wasn't anticipating was how much career help they give you. I've been working for 20 years, but this was the most explicit help I've ever received on every step of the job search process. Additionally, there are several calls with career coaches throughout the curriculum, and I chose to meet with a different coach nearly every time, and I found every single one to be extremely knowledgeable and invested in helping with the topic at hand. 
     Overall, I had a fantastic experience. Ok, I'm still having that experience, because even after you finish, they provide ample support for your job search, such as weekly or bi-monthly calls with a career coach. 10/10, would do it again. Read less

Prior to taking the Springboard bootcamp for Data Science, I had no prior data science experience. I did have an undergraduate degree in Psychology, and I did take a few odd online courses here and there on Python and R, but I was far from ready to start working as a data scientist.  Instead, I had spend 3 years as a bartender. Springboard changed all that for me. I was drawn to Springboard because it was the only data science bootcamp I found that had a job guarantee. The educational material is pretty decent, but I wouldn't say it's perfect. It's mostly curated from other online sources, and some of the material it a little outdated (particularly the Linkedin Learning courses). However, it gave me a very solid foundation, and the value of Springboard is in their mentors and their career coaches. Without my mentor, I would not have understood half the material that I did, and I definitely would not have found a job as quickly as I did without my career coach (1.5 months). I'm still in contact with my mentor whenever I need help on the job, and that is priceless to me. I am now a data analyst because it is quite difficult to work as a data scientist right out the gate without a Master's or Ph.D., but I am well on my way to becoming a data scientist. I would not have gotten this far without Springboard. I would recommend taking the data science track over the data analyst track, as being overprepared will help you stand out from other data analyst applicants.  Read less

I found the course to be very methodical, but also well designed to jump around if you were waiting or stuck on a unit. It prepared me for the data analytics position I now have. Instruction was self paced and you met up with a mentor once a week. Career development begins right away. I appreciated the support received on both counts throughout the curriculum and post support during the job search portion. Student determination is a big part of student success, but having a well designed curriculum and capable mentors get you across the finish line. Highly recommend Springboard.  Read less

I'm a former software engineer and fashion designer who decided to transition into ux design. The 6 month course took me a lot longer to finish because I really wanted to deep dive and put a lot of effort into it. I really liked my mentor who was a creative director in the field and gave me a lot of support and amazing advice for my portfolio and job hunt. I didn't find my career coach as helpful but she did try her best. The student advisors were always helpful and accommodating. The course was pretty thorough too! Definitely recommend this course! Read less

I had a great experience in the Data Analytics course with Springboard. The curriculum is well planned and you learn a wide variety of skills. I also enjoyed meeting with a mentor each week to be able to ask questions when I was stuck or uncertain. For my Capstone project, I was able to use both Python and Tableau for the analysis which was exciting as I had been completely unfamiliar with both of these tools before starting this course. Now that I have finished, I feel I have developed a new skillset that can take me to the next level with my current employer.  Read less

I had a great experience in the Software Engineering Track. I feel as though I have learned the skills needed for an entry-level developer role in a matter of 9 months, which is a great bargain considering the traditional 4 years needed to obtain a traditional university degree in CS.
Pros: Create your own schedule,  thorough video tutorials for all subject matters in full-stack web development,  knowledgeable mentors and TAs, low tuition price compared to other bootcamp programs, guidance on how to build professional network 
Cons: TAs and support can at times be hard to access, self-accountability is important since course is self-paced Read less

The skills you will acquire and the confidence you will gain in yourself as a data scientist are quite remarkable. The curriculum is challenging but never impossible, and the freedom to choose your own Capstone projects allows you to really personalize your experience. My mentor was incredibly knowledgable and always very helpful in answering any questions without just giving me the answers to my problems. The career support was mixed in throughout the course and all of the coaches that I met were experts in knowing what it takes to optimize your job search and maximize your potential. I can genuinely say that every interaction I had with the Springboard staff was positive and helpful. They really care about helping their students succeed, and this was evident in their flexibility when it came to extending my end date, retrying my mock interviews, and offering any extra help whenever I needed it. They offer a full refund if you don't land a job within 6 months of completing the program, but honestly having just finished the course, it's already worth every penny I paid.   Read less

 Springboard provides a comprehensive curriculum that enables students to learn about UI/UX design on a deeper level. The course is self-paced, and it is structured in a way that allows students to understand each core concept and practice with design exercises. I enjoyed my time here in Springboard; my classmates, career coaches, and counselors were all excellent and supportive, and my mentor was genuinely amazing. The Industry Client Project was unique, and it helped me get a sense of working in a real-world environment with stakeholders, designers, and developers. There are a few areas where Springboard can improve on, and I shared my feedback with Springboard. Overall, it's been a great experience, and I thank Springboard for opening up another chapter in my life!  Read less

I recently completed the curriculum of the Software Engineering Career Track at Springboard. I quit my previous career to pursue engineering, and tackled this course as my full time job. I finished the 9 month curriculum in about 6 months, and loved the flexibility the course gave me to go at the pace of my choosing. Many frontend, backend, and database technologies were covered including JavaScript, Node, Express, React, Redux, Python, Flask, SQL, and SQLAlchemy. 

The instructor, Colt Steele, does a good job explaining the concepts in the recorded video curriculum. At the end of each unit is a short (maybe a couple hours) exercise. At the end of each larger section is usually a bigger project (15 hours or so). All in all, there are maybe 10-15 projects in the course that will take you between 15-40 hours to complete. These bigger projects were fun, and gave me the most understanding of the concepts.

One of the last units covered data structures and algorithms, followed by taking 4 mock interviews. These mock interviews were challenging, and gave me a good idea of what I can expect at an actual tech interview. Overall I feel Springboard gave me a good understanding of the concepts taught, and I feel ready to pursue my new career. Springboard is great option for people seeking flexibility and a lower price point, with a solid curriculum.  Read less