Startup Institute

If you are looking to learn a technical skill, whether that be design, coding, or "technical marketing," then Startup Institute is not for you. In fact, even if you're looking to learn sales/account management, Startup Institute is not for you. There was no cohesive curriculum. Rather, it was a collage of random people in the NYC tech scene they could get to come in and teach/speak. Were you to do an exit poll of the students and ask if they had a marked improvement from when they first started, I'd bet a lot of money that the response would be a resounding "no." 

What Startup Institute does well though, is the amount of attention that the staff gives to the students. I haven't done any other bootcamp but the staff members at Startup Institute are in your corner pulling for you. During your job search they will send you positions they think you would be well-suited for and make intros to companies when they have a connection to someone there. Throughout a job search, there are certainly moments of deflation of lack of self-confidence but the fine folks at SI will be supporting you the whole time. 

It's not just the staff at SI that does a fantastic job of supporting you. Your friends and colleagues are perhaps your biggest champions. I made some great friends during my time there, all of whom have different jobs throughout NYC's tech industry. 

The question here is if Startup Institute is worth the $5000. Again, if you're looking to learn technical skills or substantially improve on the ones you have, then I would say it is certainly not worth it. However, if your end game is to break into the tech startup scene, then it may be worth considering. Could my friends have gotten the jobs they have now without Startup Institute? Perhaps. But I do know that SI helped them achieve their goals faster. If Startup Institute had a job placement money back guarantee then I would say this is a no-brainer but they don't. Ask yourself what you really want out of a bootcamp. If you want a fantastic support team and a rapid job search, then SI might be for you. 

I hope this helps!

I'd heard about the Start Up Institute from previous students who were also alumaes of my college, and recommended that I attend.  As I was working at the time, I did a part time night course.   The course was an intro to coding, with a focus on Ruby.  All in all, the syllabus was very inclusive, setting up a good foundation for anyone who would want a basis in coding or an introduction to coding without having to commit a large amount of time and money to doing so.  

The course began; the building was beautiful and as I mentioned earlier, I really appreaciated the night class, as most of the people in my class seemed to be young professionals (like me) who wouldn't have been able to take the class otherwise.  

That being so, it wasn't the most enjoyable course.  This was mainly due to the aggressive sales approach, which made me partially dread coming to the course.  When I began, I had interviewed with someone from the Boston location and then received a tour of the building in the NYC location from  an NYC coordinator/sales person.  From the second class, the latter began to talk about me signing up for the full-time course or the part-time course.  I also received emails/calls about doing so while taking the course.  

I eventually told her that I couldn't sign up (aka lay off) as work was too hard and my schedule was not predictable. In fact, I ended up dropping out of the part time course, due to my work schedule.  I then switched to a job in consulting (which means far worse hours).  

After I did so, both Startup Institute contacts reached out to me.  I made it pretty clear that my hours would make it impossible for me to take a course.  The Boston representative seemed fine with this, but a couple of weeks later I received a phone call from the NYC rep saying that I needed to "get back on track."  Okay.  I ignored it.  Then, I began to get email after email.  Since I had already stated multiple times that I could not take a course, I ignored them.  No worries, because she then texted me on my personal cell.  I emailed once again stating I had no interest and then I blocked her number/email.   

All in all, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  Not only was she more invasive than any other sales person I have encountered but it became very stressful, since apparently everything I said was ignored in favor of her getting more sales or a bonus.  After hearing about friends who had such life-changing experiences at the school, it was a letdown.  Had it not been for that sales approach, I would have tried harder to make it work, to take another course, and to recommend the school to friends.  

If you are going to Startup Institute its a great expereience. You will meet so many people from the industry and becuse it belongs to Tech Stars it has some very good Y Combination with venture capatalists which you will not get any where else.

If you are doing any thing other than back end web dev you will most likely find a job in the startup industry.

They just dont have the expertese or instructurs to teach in a way that will make you a good programmer.

Their teachers are part time contributors who you will most likely only see once and most are not CS degree grads. They will tell you to look through google for everything. Teaching is sporatic with no consistancy and its almost like throwing mud on the wall and see which one sticks.

As a matter of fact you will learn a lot of bad skills from doing random stuff and not learning methodically without skipping the necessary details. 

In the end you will not get a job or even feel remotely prepared to apply as a web dev. 

Only one of my cohort (web  devs) got a job and he had a bachelors in CS. I checked previous cohorts and same story atleast in NY. 

Its definately worth it if you have a CS degree or been to a boot camp before. They will expose you to a lot of top industry people and very inspiring. 

Its also worth it if you are in any of the other programs and you will get a job.

Its hard to find the info on Web Dev part of Startup Institute and thats why I wrote this to help you make a better decision.

Many reviews below were most likely created by former employers & students who were incentivized to or coerced into leaving positive content. Don't dare to give a negative review as you'll be targeted by the employees.

As a former "student", none of the candidates in our Web Dev program were able to get a job within their field. Less than 50% of our group as a whole were able to get a job, which includes jobs outside of our field.

You will not find any hard-skills in this program, only some subjective "soft-skills". Although SI advertises themselves as having a significant reach in terms of networking, it mostly consists of being connected via LinkedIn, without any true substance between the connected. 

Although we had 2 significantly impressive instructors, we only saw them a couple times for lecture. Some came in without a curriculum or even after a night of drinking. 

We did have individual/group meetings with various employees, but unfortunately, we were immediately dropped after "graduating" and we had to fight hard for our continuous support, which was promised upon starting the program. Even still, we were constantly starting from Day 1 as the employee never remembered our status during our application processes.

Although they offered help with resumes, it would take a month to finally get a final resume ready. For example, it took an employee a full week to read the first draft with the only constructive comment, "I don't like the font of your title", despite other issues clear & present on the document.
 

With all of the issues we were having, we decided to try and have a private meeting which was then crashed by one of their employees. The fear is real as we feel isolated and caged from SI's "network" & use of unethical power.

Although they're all smiles up front, there is no real substance nor support, and it becomes incredibly cliquey in the end with sub-groups distancing each other.

I had always been on a rather fortunate career path. I studied chemical engineering at MIT. I interned multiple summers and was employed immediately out of college. I worked six straight years for a company founded by the Godfather of biomedicine, Dr. Robert Langer. I was in quite an enviable position for any millenial. Yet despite the reputation, value, and benefits I accumulated over the years, what I still lacked was happiness. I did not know how I would find it or if I would, but I knew where I wouldn't find it. That was a realization made clear to me during my first meeting with a Startup Institue alumna. My position had not offered that most important benefit of working: happiness. I could have easily navigated my network to a another technical position, career path, or industry. But I was not prepared to realize what happiness at work meant for me and then recognize where it could be found. So rather than take a chance at another comfy position, I took a chance at an organization whose mission is to help you find what makes you happy. Through honest self-exploration, cultivation of social etiquette, and exposure to numerous opportunities, the Startup Institute renews your vision and focus so that happiness is clear and within reach.

Startup Institute isn't for everyone. But everyone who knows their work does not bring them happiness should begin their search here.

If you have no experience coding but want to be a developer, Startup Institute is probably not the best place to start. It is not a coding bootcamp like General Assembly or Launch Academy and the technical knowledge they impart is meant to give you a high level understanding of web technologies; not make you an expert. However, if you are sick of your job, looking to do something more meaningful, tired of the profession you’re in, or just having difficulty networking, Startup Institute is the best place to be. It is an 8 week intensive that injects you into the startup community while simultaneously helping you to find or create the opportunities that guide you to your dream job and prepare you to pursue the career that follows. This may sound like a fluff course, but I can assure you it is not. It is an exhausting, stressful, twelve hour-per-day experience that will teach you skills you may not have known existed. The staff is extremely supportive, but they are not afraid to be curt and direct with you and they will cut through your crap. You will not become an expert coder. What you will get is a massive network, the skills you need to market yourself to employers, and a host of new friends and supporters.

Overall Experience

This is one of the best decisions that I've made in regards to my career growth and development. I'd been designing professionally for several years after graduating with my BFA. I didn't have a lot of new things that I could show in my portflio due to my NDA. SI was going to be an outlet to allow me to do that and grow personally and professionally. Also, I wanted to really grow my network in a meaningful way. I was not not only able to network with many amazing alumni and industry people I was able to speak with and have coffee with founders of some amazing startups in the area.

Overall Curriculum

Days are broken up with morning standup where we learn important things as a team. Then we speak with industry leading executive level employess at the top startups in the Boston area, which is amazing. After that we do some learning that involves the entire cohort. There is a real emphasis on "not being an asshole" and having empathy and learning about the ins and outs the startup world.

In-track Curriculum

The course work for the web design track was varied and covered many subjects. However, as a person that has been in the industry for several years there wasn't too much that I didn't know, to be honest. There was some courses where I learned new subject areas and that was really cool allowing me to take deeper dives on my own time. 

Instructors

Allan, Rich and Stephanie are amazing. They are a great team and are awesome instructors and work tirelessly for all students in the program. They really went above and beyond to make me feel like I was the only one there when we had a cohort of 45 people.

Job Assistance

In my opinion, between the network that I grew and the job placement this is what truly separates SI apart from other bootcamps - that and community. The community is amazing. Not only are your classmates working really hard to help you land that dream job, SI is designed so that everything you do from the first day you get there until however long it takes for you find a job they are helping you. 

Before I ended up at StartUp Insitute, I had a variety of odd jobs all related to the startup tech scene, but I was unhappy as I wasn't able to convert into the developer world (mostly stuck as an intern or entry level employee). I had signed up into the product track (which became webdesign) - which was a mix of front-end development, UIUX design, and product development/management. Over the course of two months, the staff and team at SI Boston helped tremendously in advancing the knowledge of myself and other classmates. After graduating, within a month - I had landing a frontend developer role and first employee at a financial technology startup and ended up developing the complete frontend of their application in AngualrJS. I stayed their for a while but since then, I've advanced my developer skillset to include Angular 1.5/2, React-Redux, and Python... I just started a company with 2 of my colleagues and have fundraised and am now Co-founder & VP of Product and will be looking for SI alumni in the future for hiring!