Thinkful

Thinkful's staff, curriculum, resources, and interface are all so thoughtful, informative, reasonable, and designed to be complimentary to its students and the changing needs of a technology based society. I was blown away by how often our instructors and staff members took the time to check in with us during our day. I always felt supported, listened to, and cared about. Although the program was challenging and isn't everyone's learning style, whenever I felt stuck, unsure, or needing additional resources Thinkful always had them at the ready with multiple options. 

Handling Excel, SQL, Tableau, and Python as our main units I feel like we were prepare for the real world though I do wish we had been able to put them into play with our capstone projects a bit more. No program is perfect and I love that Thinkful gave me the tools to be able to know that these tools are the ones I'd like to practice on my own moving forward. For me personally- the curriculum and staff made all the difference in this program. Those factors were pinnacle for me and as I just graduated last month a job assistance has been overwhelmingly wonderful as well. 

I would and have highly recommend this program and Thinkful in general to others! 

Signing up for Thinkful has been the best decision I've made in my life. I did their Software Engineering Immersion Program from November 2020 to April 2021 where I gained all the skills and knowledge necessary for a successful career in dev and it opened a lot of doors for me that I didn't even know existed. Thanks to Thinkful, my mentor, TAs, instructors, and their post-graduation career assistance, I am now a contributor to an emerging organization's website and a full time software engineer at a highly respected company in Los Angeles. 

I have to say, though, that this isn't for everyone and you really have to be dedicated and passionate in order to succeed. 

Not going to lie I was at a crossroads. Asking myself What is my life? Where am I going? What does school and employment even look like anymore? I did a lot of research and Thinkful was on the pricey side, but ultimately I think I made the best decision. 

New grads find themselves knowledgable and still unemployed. So, education is hardly a way to find yourself gainfully employed.

I do believe that a lot of capable and smart individuals find themselves unable to breakthrough into new careers. This was definitely the case for me. I do not think.

The coursework was good and clear to understand. Do you learn everything you will ever need to participate in the ever changing world of tech through these courses alone? No! And if anyone is selling that to you, they are lying. Learning never stops, in any career.

Thinkful, is innovative in the way that it decides to approach education plus prep work. The fact that my assignments were also projects that let me speak in the language and practice digital marketing skills were easy add-on to my portfolio and definitely helped get freelance clients and interviews. 

After completing the course, which took me about 12 weeks ( my life definitely had some turns, everyone was really understanding) I moved on to the job search. 

There was a moment during the search ( actually multiple moments), where I felt that I would never get a job! My Career Coach, who is amazing (shout out to Tori), was very real about this. Gave me stats like- most people apply to 200 jobs and only get one job offer. 

Finally, one day after so many rejection emails for about 2 months, I found myself moving to Austin with one great job offer at a HUGE tech company. 

My Mentor, Jill was amazing we still chat today. It is great to hear from someone who also has a lot of real insight on how the DM world is and how it moves. 

I loved the brief interactions we had with students. They were not plentiful for me, but they were nice. I saw many ages, experiences and cultural/ethnic backgrounds represented. This was super important to me. 

I would reach out to some of them to ask for help and ideas and most were super nice in helping me out. 

Not going to lie, Thinkful will not solve all your problems. But, if you see it as a viable opportunity and try everything with the best intent, then you can find yourself in a new career, job, life etc. 

Ok enough of my rant. I will conclude with letting you know that: 
- I am glad I did not use another course provider
- I did get the help in the job search I was looking for
- I got the job I wanted 
- My pay did go up compared to my other job
- I needed a little me time after working on the course and going through life, Covid, work etc. 


Thankful for all of the staff that helped me,

Esau

There are not enough words for me to describe my experience at Thinkful.

Before joining, I was very hesitant because I wasn't sure if this was right for me. I'm glad I took the leap of faith and did it. Every part of it was amazing. They told us that many students would quit after the first few weeks because it is an immersion class, but with great teachers, helpful mentors, and supportive classmates, how can you leave? Even the career coaches were amazing on their part. The community was probably what helped me believe that anyone can change the path they're in for the better, no matter what life situation you're in.

I'd highly recommend people who want to learn Digital Marketing or wants a touch-up on their skills to join Thinkful. They teach the fundamentals of Digital Marketing, but the teachers and mentors can also share tips from their personal experiences as they've been in the industry for many years. They do have an online option, but I'd suggest taking the class because there'll be other students and a community to help you in reaching your goals. It's encouraging and fun as well. Now that I work as a Web Designer and Digital Marketing Specialist, I have Thinkful there to be thankful about and will continue to master my craft for myself and for the people I'm blessed to work with.

Hello! My story is a little different but I  think it’s still very helpful to give some advice to people like me. I am an immigrant who moved during the COVID-19 quarantine. I wanted to start a new life and I didn’t know what issues I would face, nor where to begin. I’d already had  experience as a professional data analyst. But, I needed to understand the formal culture and how to behave during interviews; communicating with new people; boosting my technical skills; and many other aspects. I picked Thinkful after comparing it to other boot camps.My experience with Thinkful was mostly positive! I liked my instructors and the ability to ask them questions. I liked my mentor Jade a lot. It was very helpful to ask a professional different questions about  job searching, the work industry, and the workspace. I appreciated that they were giving feedback about our projects, interviews, and ideas. Having my Career Coach, Carly,  was also a very helpful option for me. I was getting a lot of advice about networking, looking for group projects, and how to be better at interviews. I think this was a good idea for me to choose a bootcamp. Because, I needed this type of help where I could get experience in communicating with people from The US and understanding the culture. Which is really important for a future employee. I think that the Curriculum could be stronger and deeper. SQL, Python and Tableau can be used more during the course. This is one thing that I was really concerned about. I found a job in the beginning of May after five months of searching. It was a lot of hard work and a big process for changing myself. My path was a very hard and you also will need to put a lot of effort into your final goals. Bootcamp can help to change your life but you need to want it.

This is a review for the Data Analytics Immersion program that I went through. 

Overview of their Data Analytics program: This program is roughly divided into 3 parts that each finish with a capstone project, and those parts have multiple modules within them. There is a large section of Excel in the beginning (ends with 1st capstone project), two shorter sections of SQL and Tableau in the middle, a quick refresher on statistics and statistical testing in Excel (2nd capstone project), then a finishing section of introductory Python (3rd capstone project). Every module in the curriculum has an accompanying assignment to review what you learned and most of them have supplemental videos with additional examples of what was covered. The capstone projects are based on business case situations that you do data analysis for, create deliverables from start-to-finish, and then present your findings to graders who work in the industry; you are given feedback and the opportunity to redo your work if it doesn't meet project specifications (e.g. "are your findings clearly explained to stakeholders, does it have all the needed components outlined in the business case, etc."). They also have mandatory "career checkpoints" where you do practice interviews, improve your linkedin profile, and learn about job search strategies. They also have additional resources you can review on your own about interviewing, etc. 

The support structure for learning is as follows: a chat-based answer service (great for quick questions), TAs/instructors available for meetings on demand, and shared working space in breakout rooms (collaboration on learning is encouraged). You also have weekly mentor meetings with someone currently working as a data analyst or data scientist where you can discuss your progress through the curriculum, ask about their industry experiences, etc. They have a diverse mentor pool and there is a decent chance that your mentor will have a similar background to you! (I am a former teacher, and my mentor was another person who switched careers from teaching)

Overall experience: I am very satisfied with my experience overall. Their support structure is very good. There are little things here and there that I would like to change (that I'll talk about in each section), but the overall experience from start to finish was great. I had good experiences talking to enrollment staff and they were very transparent about what to expect from the program. Payment options are simple and easily accessible but I do not know much about their loan repayment options beyond that repayment happens after you are hired.

Curriculum: All of the written material and recorded video content is very clear and descriptive. The depth of the curriculum is not overwhelming and builds up gradually, but it's still very compressed because the program is about 4 months long. However, if you don't have any prior experience with Python, you will probably struggle learning during that section. Instructional material is great, but some activities need to be double-checked (didn't use correct databases, answers didn't quite match, etc.) and some of the assessments they used on Qualified had some minor bugs that we needed to hash out with the TAs, and that's the only reason it isn't 5 stars.

Instructors: All of our instructors were great at explaining things, answering questions, and going deeper if/when we had the time to do it. They were also great about being available to answer questions after lessons and providing additional content/answers for students who wanted to go above and beyond what was being taught in the curriculum. The TAs who supplemented the instructors in answering questions we had were also excellent resources who we could turn to whenever we needed to. The instructors are the star of the show; they are fantastic resources within the program and outside of it as well.

Job Assistance: The career support staff I have worked with have been wonderful. They have lots of helpful advice for interviewing, direct outreach and networking, and resume/cover letter writing. Even so, you can't ignore the reality that a lot of people are turning to programs like this one to try and start a new career, and job assistance =/= job guarantee. If Thinkful could establish partnerships with companies to try and give new bootcamp grads the opportunity to get project experience in a real-world setting (something like an apprenticeship track with a client consortium after completion of the bootcamp), it would be a wonderful finish to a strong program with good support for students. It would go a long way because even with the skills and projects on your resume, a lot of jobs are looking for work experience as well.

Keep in mind that a bootcamp is not an immediate pathway to a job (you'll have to be able to sell your skills after you've finished), and I think you'll be very satisfied with this program. 

In 2020, in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns, I decided it was time for a career change. Having spent the past 9 years as a truck driver, I wanted a chance to learn and grow in a new field, and after some research through CareerKarma, CourseReport, and various other resources, I decided that Thinkful offered me the best chance to make a real change in my life. For my situation, the Income Sharing Agreement with Living Stipend was my best opportunity - the extra monthly income would help make sure my expenses were covered and I could dedicate myself to the program! It will ultimately be more expensive for me, but it was a trade-off I was willing to make to launch a new career. If you can afford to pay up front, that's the best way to do it, but know that there are plenty of financing options available.

Thinkful offers a free Prep Course for Engineering Immersion students, and I highly encourage anyone interested in the program to work through it on their own with as little outside help as possible. Use Google or other resources to do your own research and hold off on asking for help in Slack as much as you can. Slack is a great resource and there are plenty of people who want to help you understand things, but I have seen people run in to real problems when they ask for help and a person attempting to be helpful simply gives them the answer without helping the student understand it. Don't fall in to that trap and never take an answer and move on without understanding it!

During the course, you will be paired with an Academic Success Manager (ASM) and a Mentor. When I was enrolled, we had two weekly meetings with our mentors, though I have heard that has since been changed to once weekly, which I think is a good move - I did fairly well in the program and relied more on my fellow students than my mentor, so often times, twice a week was a bit too much and we didn't have anything to talk about. Still, your mentor will be available via e-mail, and I'd encourage students to interact with them as much as you need, as they're usually pretty motivated to help. Your ASM is there to help with broader issues, such as finances, keeping on schedule, problems with the course or other people, etc., and you should hopefully not need to speak to them much, but they are available when you need them and check in on you throughout the course.

The course its self is not easy. You're going from the foundations of the prep course, to building full-stack web apps within just a few weeks, and the pace can be very tough for those who aren't dedicating their full attention to their success with Thinkful! Don't make the mistake of going in to the program, especially if you opt for an Immersion program, thinking that you're going to learn everything you need to know by only making the minimum commitment to the course! The 7-8 hours you're officially committing to the course every day will teach you important skills, but to really solidify those skills, exceptional students will spend at least a couple hours after the end of Thinkful's day working to understand things better. It's incredibly easy to fall behind. A day here or there adds up quickly when the pace is this quick.

Be friendly and communicative with your fellow students early and often. Find friends, form study groups both for working on the course and blowing off steam (with conversation and even gaming) in your downtime. I made important, lasting friendships by doing this when I went through the course, and I couldn't have done it without their help and support - and they couldn't have done it without mine. We all uplifted each other and when one of us fell behind, the rest of us rallied to get them up to speed. But more importantly, your fellow students will probably be the first members of your professional network! A direct reference from one of my fellow students is what got me the job I have today.

The careers team will work with you essentially to your own preferences, whether you prefer to do things in a more freeform and unscheduled manner like myself, or stick to a long-term plan for job seeking, but it's hard to argue with the results: I was employed inside of 90 days after completing the program. Looking for that first job can be hard,  but if you utilize all of your resources, don't lose hope, and work as hard to find that job as you did to complete the course, and you will succeed! You will get rejected and ignored countless times, but start each day fresh and keep looking. You will find the right place to work if you persist.

Overall, while I feel like things could have been smoother in some spots, I feel like Thinkful did a good job of preparing me to be employed as a developer. What you get out of Thinkful is directly proportional to the effort you put in to the program and the job search, so approach it prepared to work hard and truly understand the material. It is easy to fall behind, but building a network of support amongst your fellow students can help you overcome that. The most important thing you'll gain out of Thinkful isn't necessarily how to code, but how to learn to code. Take that from the experience, be ready and eager to learn on your first job, and you will be successful.

Overall, I give my experience at Thinkful three stars. I am a recent graduate and just now exploring career options, so I can't speak too much about career services. I do want to say that currently there are loads of bootcamp graduates, so you really need a passion in the topic you are studying in order to push past the competitive market and imposter syndrome. I was attending Thinkful during the Covid-19 pandemic, so I had lots of personal life strain that made things difficult at times. However, my three star rating is not factoring in my personal struggles during the program. Instead, I am focusing on my experiences with instructors, grading, curriculum, and career preparation.

Instructors:
My immersion program included instructors who were qualified to talk on the subject. However, we had instructor changes at random times, sometimes even in the middle of a project. The reasoning behind this was to incorporate a real-world experience of if you had a project lead change in a career setting. Just be mindful that if you do not do well learning with revolving instructors, that this bootcamp is not for you. I do want to speak that I am a diagnosed autistic woman, so if you are neurodivergent, please seriously think about what you need to flourish. I struggled with my final instructor because her teaching style incorporated Zoom meetings outside of our designated syllabus meetings. Her meetings were at random times and for random lengths. It dug into our time to work on our projects and resulted in much of our day being meetings. She did not allow us to talk about other projects we were working on that she was not the instructor for, so most of us fell behind on deadlines and received little guidance on our true stressors.

Grading:
You cannot speak to or contact graders, so this makes it difficult to understand grading revision requests. Also, you don't get the same grader for each assignment, so you have to make sure to be explicit on what a previous grader said each time you submit a revision. I don't think the graders can see previous grading from other graders. This becomes an issue when you have a deadline to complete an assignment, but you keep getting grading revisions that run you in a circle due to the graders not communicating with each other or to you directly.

Curriculum:
During my program, we had to complete a project that is no longer within the curriculum. It was honestly a confusing project. I realize now that they have completely re-vamped the curriculum for my program, which is a bit upsetting that my cohort had to experience a version of the curriculum that was not kept. The curriculum we had completed was changing right before our eyes even while we were still in the program. UX/UI is still sort of new in terms of being taught, so I can understand that curriculum will change. It was disheartening to see it happen after we were required to complete a project that has been trashed within the curriculum.

Career Preparation:
As for feeling prepared to compete for a job in the industry, I don't feel very secure. The portfolio creation process was distressing and felt almost like we had to fit into a box instead of being able to explore structuring our portfolios in our own ways. Yes, you could use any platform or template you wanted, but the content required was strictly enforced. Couple that with graders who do not know me and cannot talk to me directly, I felt I was constantly giving in to making my portfolio what the rubric wanted and not what really reflected me. When I graduated, I was advised by my career coach to re-do my portfolio to reduce content that was required on the portfolio grading rubric. There is a huge disconnect between what is required to pass the portfolio assignments and what is actually wanted to have a competitive portfolio for job hunting. 

I think I lost my passion for UX/UI about midway into the program while we were completing the project that has since been eliminated from the curriculum. I kept pushing forward because I had a great mentor and my academic advisor kept encouraging me to stay with it. On my day of graduation, I was waiting on grading revisions for my cover letter assignment. I spent the whole day revising my cover letter and had about four revision requests. It was sort of ridiculous. I thought I was not going to graduate because of the cover letter. I had till 5PM that day to complete the assignment or I would not graduate. It was 5:03PM, I was waiting for my grading, I had been frantically messaging my academic advisor as she was helping request grading expedition. Finally, I received a new grader for the cover letter assignment who passed me on the assignment and thus, I graduated Thinkful. It was not a great way to get released into the job hunting process.

Some may read this and think, "Maybe she is just not good at UX/UI, maybe she has horrible work ethic, maybe she is not following the rubrics...," so I say to you, take my experience as you wish. I invested loads of sleepless nights and long days on this program and I graduated. I just hope if you are reading this, that you understand it is not easy to take on a bootcamp program and the industry is not easy to break into right now. Many people I follow on LinkedIn who are UX/UI bootcamp graduates are having to spend at minimum 3 months job hunting and at most a year job hunting, the average I see is 7 months to find a job. So, if you are going into this thinking you will get a job right after, you might not, but you could. It is all about connections and luck because of how saturated the market is currently. Also, don't go into a bootcamp if you feel you cannot handle an environment that is revolving and not very communicative in certain aspects. If none of that bothers you and you have a super strong passion for the topic you want to study, go for it.