Turing School of Software & Design Reviews
Page 3
-
Richard
Best Decision I Ever Made
Read more Read less of Richard's review
The course was a non-stop thunderdome of learning but it was totally worth it. The instructors and staff are kind, knowledgable, and professional. You'll work somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 hour weeks, but you learn so much that it eventually gets really fun, even when it's stressful. They set you up pretty well with professional coaching and advice and wisdom with your job search. They won't give you a job or anything, but they will teach you how to make a fire resume, and you'll probably impress the interviewers with how much you know at your experience level. -
Rob Morgan
Success
Read more Read less of Rob Morgan's review
My overall experience was great. The instructors were very knowledgeable and mostly great to work with—their feedback was consistently challenging, encouraging, and helpful. Turing is laser-focused on helping you find a job in the industry and teaching you what you need to know to make it happen.
They’re quite political, which is the part that I could do without. But without a doubt, their expertise/advice/coaching when it came to finding employment was worth the price.
Turing is difficult and you will be challenged every day—and that’s exactly how it should be. Don’t settle for an easier curriculum. Turing is effective because it is difficult—you’ll be required to learn how to program and how to think on your feet. You won’t believe how much it is possible to learn in a short time. -
Katy La Tour
Turing Changed my Life: A Program Suited for Career Changers
Read more Read less of Katy La Tour's review
If you would have told me a year or two ago I would be able to transition from the wine industry as a consultant and wine educator into a career in software development in just seven months, I would've probably not believed you and turned down the opportunity. Having done a lot of research and having friends who went through the program and had attested it's curriculum as being a game changer in the tech industry, Turing, in every facet, changed my perspective on what a solid coding school is capable of offering and an assurance for career changers that you, too, will become a successful software developer despite your previous career background.
That being said, Turing School of Software & Design is no walk in the park. As many of the previous reviews allude to, it is a rigorous seven month program designed to teach you everything from the fundamentals of programming within your respective program(either the Front-End or Back-End track) to how to be more than just a software developer and focus on the interpersonal aspects of this industry. Most of this is organically learned and built upon through each module(6 week cycle) by interacting with cohort peers in small and large team projects and learning how to communicate these fundamental concepts to one another given one's perspective and understanding of the material. Aside from the work, there are many groups one can participate in to expand upon one's understanding of the tech industry outside of the Turing School community and how to prepare for the eventual transition from coding school to the job. In many ways, the curriculum at Turing sets you up for success beyond the programming language, and for that, I can honestly say I am truly grateful.
Turing at the end of the day is what you make of it; You get out of it what you put into it. While it certainly challenges you to expand upon different concepts, languages, frameworks, perspectives etc., you are never alone in the journey. The amount of support the community offers from instructors, mentors and alumni, to professional development coaches, community engagement coordinators and, perhaps most importantly, your cohort peers(mainly because you all dive deep into this experience together and are each other's crutches along the way) is unparalleled and unlike anything else you may ever experience. This community was ultimately one of the largest deciding factors for me to choose Turing over any other coding school or bootcamp across the country because of the connections made here are more than a seven month's term; Many of them are lifelong friendships.
Having personally gone through the remote Back-End program, I felt the necessity of leaning on this community and my peers as I progressed through this program. There is this inherit sense of isolation and disconnect in the remote setting, so finding ways to engage with the community more by attending events, setting up coffee meetings to check in with peers and mentors, and finding time to connect with cohort peers outside of class and projects was critical to my success and well being in the remote setting, and made Turing more fun despite being timezones away from one another!
To finish this review, I want to highlight one piece of advice that resonated with me the most throughout my time at Turing and thereafter: Trust the process. Everybody has their own story of how they got to Turing, what their strengths are, where they can improve upon in order to get them pointed in the direction they want to go. The more you choose to waiver and be apprehensive about your ability to do this, the more it will shake your confidence and result in a potential miss on such an awesome opportunity. While it might sound arduous to transition careers and start from a blank slate, just remember, you can do this! You just have to trust in yourself and your ability to persevere and continue pushing forward. Patience will fuel progress if you allow yourself time, an open-minded approach and forgiveness for those roadblocks you may eventually come across during your time at Turing. Learn to be kind to yourself throughout this process and realize that you have a whole team of folks cheering you on. We are all here in your corner to see you succeed!
So, if a wine consultant/wine educator could make the transition in seven months turn-around, what's holding you back?
-
Tashia
Life-changing program and community
Read more Read less of Tashia's review
I decided to join Turing after I lost my job during the pandemic. It felt risky at the time, but now I truly believe it was the best decision I ever made and I wish I’d done it sooner! I came out of the pandemic with a new career in a high-paying field and am so excited about my future and the opportunities this will bring me.
I chose Turing for 2 main reasons. First, I liked the length (7 months) and the focus on only front end or back end (not both). There is so much to learn as it is and other programs cram full stack into an even shorter amount of time. I started my first job as an engineer already and feel totally prepared for it. Second, the community at Turing really stuck out to me. I love Turing’s mission, I’ve made life long friends there, and the alumni network is SO, so valuable. -
Mackenzie Frey
Full Stack Engineer
Read more Read less of Mackenzie Frey's review
It's hard to put into words how much Turing changed my life. Honesty, I've postponed writing this review for two years, as I felt incapable of distilling the vast experience into ~1000 characters. I started Turing 10/1/18 and graduated 6/6/19. That was some time ago, and a lot has changed in the Turing program, ie Turing is now fully remote, while it was in-person, when I went... however one thing always remains constant, Turing is consistently integrating feedback and iterating on their lesson plans to improve the program. The staff even send out weekly feedback surveys, followup with the students, and noticeably integrate the feedback they receive.
To be clear, the Turing program was really good when I went, but legitimately, it keeps getting better and better. As an alumni, I now mentor current students, an each time I receive a new mentee, I'm consistently impressed with how robust and advanced the students are, earlier and earlier in the program.
Back when I was researching changing my career (my background is in retail and customer support), I looked into a handful of school, went to workshops at several of them, and spoke with alumni and teachers. Several things stood out to me;
- The teachers stay longer and are more technically advanced than many of the other boot camps
- Turing is a non-profit ie they're focused on investing in student growth, rather than maximizing the student population for profit.
- Turing has a much longer/stronger track record of success (including published statistics on the average graduation rate and time it takes to get the first job)
I found out about Turing through some friends whom are a couple. One of them went to Turing, while the other went to Galvanize ... their advice was, "look at all the other programs... but to go to Turing". Whenever I'm speaking with someone interested in taking the coding program leap... I now echo that same advice.
Upon entering Turing, I came to understand that the student/alumni network is extremely robust and active. For instance, from day one, I was assigned a mentor, and upon graduation I went to alumni happy hours in the Denver area every 7 weeks.
I've been on the job, for ~2 years now and was extremely well prepared for it. I did Turing's backend program, but actually got a full stack (front end and backend) job on a team with four other Turing grads. (It's definitely common for a company to hire one Turing grad and be so pleased that they decide they would like to hire more).
I couldn't be happier with my decision to:
1. Go to a coding program
2. Go to Turing specifically.
Turing 100% changed my life. Now, I work remotely, set my own hours, and have incredible flexibility. I'm very grateful. -
Jev F.
Incredible return on investment
Read more Read less of Jev F.'s review
Overall a great experience. The instructors were knowledgable, the curriculum was focused on current industry standards, and the community created was life-long. I have absolutely no doubt that the education and connections I have made through Turning will serve my career for my entire life. My experience was one of re-education and career change. I was in public service for years, and graduate school educated; but ultimately there was no room for growth and upward mobility. I loved the work, but the pay was paltry. For the price tag, the return on investment was incredible. After graduation I was employed as a software engineer at a start up, using a cutting edge tech stack, and doing exciting greenfield work in the data/media space. I've been employed now (at the same start up) for just over 18 months, and am loving it. The work is satisfying, the team is amazing, and knowledge that I'll have job security for as long as I want to work is amazing. Of course there were some small qualms with the program: the React/JS curriculum is a *tad* behind industry standards, and I wish the program was more like 12 months instead of 8. 8 is barely enough to get ur foot in the door (but obviously enough, since it worked for me.). But neither of those gripes would prevent me from encouraging others to join the Turing community. -
Luke
Great Experience
Read more Read less of Luke's review
So many reviews about things start out with "I was skeptical but....". Well... Well I was skeptical haha. I was making 40k so spending 20k to gamble on this program was scary. I did it, was lucky to have friends support me through it, and I made it. Many days were spent coding/learning from 9am to 11pm. But after the 7 months, I hit the job market aaaaand yeah it was hard finding a job. It's true, not everyone out there wanted to hire a bootcamp person. But I always felt supported by the Turing staff, and eventually got a job because of their internal alumni board. It took 4 months of searching, but it worked out. I'm making 80k now, and in a few years it'll be well in the six figures. It was hard work, and this new job feels just the same amount of work, but I feel set up for success in a way I've never experienced before. Oh and did I mention I met a few folks I consider now to be life-long friends? I feel pretty lucky is all I'm saying. -
Sarah Fitzsimons
Good curriculum, poor execution
Read more Read less of Sarah Fitzsimons's review
I did not have a good experience at Turing. I went in with absolutely no experience in web development, and found the course to be extremely difficult with varying levels of instruction. There is a mandatory "pre-work" course that you have to pass to start the bootcamp - the instructors were excellent for this section and I was able to pass with no problem. Subjects covered in pre-work are Git, Github, the terminal, and some intro to Javascript.
Once the actual program started, it was extremely fast paced, with lots of projects and exercises to do but not a lot of instruction on how to do them. In order to do the assignments and understand a lot of the classes, many students (myself included) watched a ton of YouTube coding tutorials. I also spent a lot of time pre-teaching myself the class (which they recommend doing) and with many of the instructors the class wasn't much more than reading through the lesson again, without any extra insight or instruction on the topic.
There is also a poorly run career program that was a huge waste of time during the first few "mods" - students have to sit through a bored instructor reading through slides about how to put together a resume or sign up for some new job hunter app when what they should really be doing is practicing coding. For someone who was new to coding, but a fully grown adult with career experience, it was distracting and annoying to be sitting through classes about how to network when what would have been helpful is more classes about how use reduce. Oh, and by the way, they never did get around to actually teaching us how to use the reduce method.
The school pushes a liberal agenda, there are a few courses every mod to "gear up" on your knowledge about minorities/women in tech, white privilege etc. This is not a bad thing in my opinion, but again it takes away from time that students could be practicing code or that the instructors could be teaching practical ways to solve coding problems. There is actually a question in the admission interview to gauge your political viewpoints - not sure what happens if you have more conservative beliefs.
I was in the front-end program - the first mod is doing for loops and learning Classes in Javascript. There is one paired project and one group project, plus a few solo projects. The feedback for projects is incredibly varied, it really just depends on who is doing the grading. There is also a ton of time spent in partner or group projects, and your time can easily get sucked up dealing with a chatty, lazy or needy partner since the partners are assigned randomly. However, the grades you get on the projects seem to have no bearing on whether you continue on or not. Passing the final assessments is the only way to advance, but they aren't very clear on how they actually decide whether you passed the assessment or not. You can do really well on all the projects but if you fail the final assessment then they will not let you advance to the next mod. In my experience, especially in Mod 2, the final assessment difficultly is super varied and not a good indicator of a person's understanding of Javascript.
My personal experience at Turing was that I did well in Mod 1, continued to do well on all the projects in Mod 2 but failed the final assessment and then had to repeat Mod 2. I found repeating to be a huge waste of my time and I withdrew from the program a little after halfway through the second time through Mod 2. There are plenty of people who have to repeat modules (you're allowed to repeat two modules but you can't repeat a module twice) but I didn't find the experience valuable. The third mod would have been learning React and I think the last mod is collaborating with the back-end students for larger projects and focusing on the job search. Since I left halfway through I can't speak to the second half of the program, but I wish that there had been more focus on instructing students on problem solving and less on career/social issues. -
George Soderholm
Incredible program! Sign-up now!
Read more Read less of George Soderholm's review
This is a great program! And let me tell you why...
1. The people. From the beginning you will notice that the people in this community are amazing! Instructors, faculty members and alum show a living embodiment of the care and compassion that sets Turing apart from other bootcamps. At Turing, you have the opportunity to try out the program in an event called Try Coding. Here you have instruction and introduction into the life of a Turing student before making the commitment to the program. What a great thing! There is time for questions from not only instructors, but also alumni.
Then once you are in the program, the people in your cohort become your support system! I had the honor of having a great group of people that helped me along the way. We did all of our learning online, but I still feel a close bond to them! I know that we will continue to be friends well past our time at Turing.
The instructors are a great balance of knowledgeable and caring as well as, holding really high standards! I never felt like a question was too small. The instructors all seemed to enjoy questions and this created an environment that was so helpful and supportive.
2. The curriculum. The curriculum is thoughtful and cohesive. It's like building a building. Start with a firm foundation of the basics, then build off of that. Not only does Turing give you a great technical education, but is also interested in giving you tools to find a job AND be a more empathetic employee once you do find a job. There is a whole Career Development team that helps you write resumes and cover letters, as well as, how to network and leverage your connections to help find a first job. I really appreciate from the beginning the emphasis put on thinking about how software developers can really impact the world around them. You aren't just writing code, you are impacting others... so, with that comes responsibility. Turing is really great about NOT forgetting that!
3. The legacy. As a bootcamp, Turing is a longer commitment of time, but its reputation is wonderful. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of the opportunity to be part of that legacy! This program doesn't just turn and burn their students. They are invested in the success of each person that becomes apart of the student body. You are WAY more than just a number on a spreadsheet somewhere. You are brave person, who decided to change the course of your life! You are seen like this by all the people at Turing!
So, even though it is demanding, it is well worth the work! What are you waiting for? Sign up for a Try Coding Event and see for yourself how Turing sets itself apart from any other bootcamp out there! -
Allie
Front-End curriculum is applicable to anything
Read more Read less of Allie's review
Turing was completely worth the risk and the expense, and one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I was in the Front-End program, but they taught the material so well that my skills ended up being pretty broadly applicable. I have a purely Back-End job now at a B-corporation, and I feel like I get to do something I'm good at to make the world a better place. The instructors are excellent, the class sizes are small, and it's easy to make friends with the other students in your cohort. -
Taylor
One of my best decisions!
Read more Read less of Taylor's review
I started at Turing in June 2019. Financial services had been my career up to that point but I really felt like I had maximized my learning in that setting and wanted to solve problems on a larger scale. Just like you are doing now, I looked at reviews for Turing. I was immediately blown away by the positive response. Everyone spoke about the great community, the challenges, and their success stories. For me, I was most excited about the challenge and the opportunity to develop the “grit” Jeff described at our first group meeting. Turing gives you the choice of learning back end or front end, and I wish I had dived deeper into the differences because I think I would have chosen back end given the chance again. However The front end program gave me the opportunity to focus on JavaScript which is the most popular programming language, so I couldn’t go wrong. The program is split into four 6 week modules with the first 2 probably being the most difficult since you are ramping up from scratch. The support from your teammates, mentors, and upper level students is one of the keys at Turing..:all you have to do is ask.
Things to be ready for enrolling at Turing:
1) high pressure
2) little free time
3) small amount of direction which is the Turing way..you learn how to learn
Benefits ranked in my view
1) grit
2) friendships-the Turing community truly is amazing
3) a new career that so far has given me everything I hoped for-work/life balance, great teammates, and fulfillment
Turing took my life on a completely different course, and I could not be more grateful for the community, education, and experience. Not much else to say except I highly recommend it.
-
Scott Ertmer
An inclusive bootcamp that invests in your success
Read more Read less of Scott Ertmer's review
Turing, as a non-profit, is incredibly invested in their students. Their only currency is the reputation of their students, and so they work hard to make sure their students are well equipped to be successful on the job. I chose Turing because of it's commitment to inclusivity and the way that their work supports that mission. If you want to help make the tech industry more inclusive of all humans, Turing is the place for you.
It's been said before, but Turing will not just take your money, and push you through if you aren't ready. The fact that you need to demonstrate proficiency in order to move on to the next section of the curriculum is a huge strength of Turing. I believe this really sets you up to not just graduate but to get and hold a job. -
Kristen H.
It is hard, rewarding & life-changing
Read more Read less of Kristen H.'s review
Going to Turing is a serious decision. I would like to preface my review by saying that my experience in Turing was in some ways atypical because it took me longer and not everyone struggled as hard as I did. This is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. The program took me a full year to complete. It’s hard for me to consolidate a year of my life into a short review but I will try to frame it with things I would have liked to know going into the program.
The program is broken up into four, six-week modules. You can repeat any two modules one time. You can also do something called an audit while you’re in the program where you don’t pay for the module, you attend class but don’t have projects due. I repeated modules 1 & 2 and audited 3. You have to ask about them if you think you need to audit with in the first three weeks of a mod. Repeating mods lets you try the material again, but it’s hard when you have to adjust to a new cohort and adjustments to the curriculum are frequent. Even if you repeat a mod it will not be exactly the same.
Also, as someone who had never really coded before Turing, it was incredibly difficult to learn. I felt like my brain was getting hot-wired every day. I am a slower learner than some people and the incredibly fast pace of Turing was quite a challenge. One of my teachers told us in class that to be successful at Turing you need to be putting in around 70 hours a week. For the duration of Turing, it was my entire life. All of my highs came from my successes in school and my lows came from my failures. I didn’t see my friends or have a social life outside of school. I was on my laptop from the moment I woke up until before I went to bed. Turing enhanced my anxieties. The school now has a full-time counselor on site which I think is a great help. However, l recommend caution to people with learning difficulties and mental health issues as I saw those problems make otherwise bright students struggle harder or take them out of the program altogether.
This program is also a financial commitment. 20,000 dollars was about my yearly income before I started Turing and I also paid another 5,000 to repeat courses. I did a Sallie Mae loan that I had to get a cosigner to take out. Repeating put more financial strain on my husband and I. I talked to Joanne, who recently left, about financial options and she was very kind and helpful. I ended up borrowing extra money from my parents and in-laws to make ends meet but I know that is a privilege that not everyone has. You have to consider how long you won’t have a job to help pay for living expenses including while you are in school and job hunting.
I was fortunate enough to have the financial and emotional support of my family to get through. I also had an amazing mentor and I would recommend anyone who goes through the program to get a mentor. Ask about it; they have a list of former alumni who are available. All of the instructors I had at Turing were combinations of smart, tough and supportive. As someone who struggled, I found that keeping the lines of communication open while I was in their class was extremely important. I had frequent check-ins and meetings and I messaged them often about how I was doing. I also found it important to take poms (5 minute breaks every 25 minutes or so), eat meals, drink water and have a bedtime. This can be especially hard when it seems like a lot of your fellow students are talking about how late they stayed at school, how late they’d stayed up, how early they got up, when the last time they can remember eating or taking a break etc. It is essential that you take care of yourself during the program so you don’t crash and burn.
Graduating is not the end of your journey; you still have to job hunt. The school offers professional development while you're in school and job support after. The job support after graduation or “mod 5” consists of weekly check-ins with Kayt or another job mentor and Robyn who posts job opportunities and will refer you to companies she posts about. This process can take time. While a few lucky people got jobs before they were even done with school for a lot of people it is a multi-month process. For me, it was under three months but for others, it can be longer. The alumni network is invaluable and outreach is so important.
There is no review I could write that could fully prepare anyone for the experience of being in Turing. It is hard, rewarding and like I’ve said, life-changing. For me this risk was high and the rewards were high. The results have been phenomenal, I have roughly tripled my annual income and I have an amazing job with supportive bosses. I would recommend this program with the caveat that it is not for everyone.
Jeff Casimir of Turing School of Software & Design
Executive Director
Dec 09, 2019
Kristen,
We're really happy it all worked out for you. As you said, there's a lot of sacrifice necessary to get the most out of your time at Turing. The support of friends and loved ones is huge. I'm glad your job is off to a great start and we're excited to see where your career goes from here!
- JC -
Dan Hutchinson
No regrets
Read more Read less of Dan Hutchinson's review
To say that Attending Turing was the best decision I ever made would be an understatement. Though I’ve just begun my career in tech, the juice was worth the squeeze, so to speak, just for the experience I had while actually attending the Turing School. I made friendships that will last the rest of my life and, perhaps more importantly, found the best version of myself amidst the stress and rigor that characterize this intensive program. I came from a completely non-technical academic background (BA in philosophy, Masters in Humanities) and former careers (small business owner, then public sector employee) so if I made it through Turing successfully, so can you! If this is any indication how much I loved this experience, I have a cohort(class) Turing tattoo, now. If you think you might like coding, sign up for a try coding session and give it a shot; it just might be the best decision you ever make. I know it was for me!
-
Casey
Software Developer
Best move I've made for my career ever. Incredible teaching, great job assistance and connections. You must work very very hard but if you do, you will be completely transformed into a software developer in just 7 months. They provide wonderful support for their students and have a strong sense of their values.
-
Kevin Simpson
At the risk of sounding cliché, it changed my life
Read more Read less of Kevin Simpson's review
I was originally scheduled to join the 1804 Cohort for the Front End Engineering program at Turing in April of 2018. Four days before I was supposed to start at Turing, out of nowhere, my employer at the time informed me that I would be unable to take the leave that I was anticipating to start at Turing as it put me in breach of contract. The staff at Turing was on a week-long leave and were not in the office. I reached out the following morning in a cold panic asking if it was too late to push back to the next cohort, and I was informed within minutes that it would be no problem. All I needed to do was call my lender who was handling my loan and sign a new contract with Turing and I was good-to-go.
I make a point of judging organizations by how well they react when things don't go according to plan, and the first time that happened at Turing, before I had even started attending, they were super-agile and able to adapt quickly to make things work for me. Massive respect to Joanne Liu and Erin Williams on this.
My experience at Turing was that it was probably the most difficult and intense thing I've done in my entire life. I attended from late June of 2018 until early January of 2019 as a part of the 1806 Front End Cohort. I regularly put in between 12 and 14 hours per-day, going from being a relative coding novice to completely confident in my job readiness as a front end engineer. I wrote, erased, and rewrote code challenges. I worked on projects during the daily bus ride from Thornton to Denver. I scrawled JavaScript on the shower door. I ate, drank, and slept it, and it was still really, really hard. If you are considering attending Turing, expect this level of commitment.
The instructors at Turing are world class. They were passionate, knowledgable, and 100%-dedicated to our success. They had just the right balance of guiding and letting us figure things out for ourselves. They stressed using resources like StackOverflow and really digging in and reading documentation. While the curriculum is not perfect, it is constantly under review and is being updated to both meet the evolving needs of the tech workplace and to change lesson/curriculum structure that can be improved.
By the end of the program, I could:
- Write semantic HTML and CSS with a strong understanding of industry standards for accessibility and responsive design
- Write JavaScript using ES5, 6, and 7 syntax and utilize array and object prototypes to manipulate data with confidence and ease
- Develop user interfaces using traditional HTML/CSS/JS file structure as well as with modern JavaScript frameworks such as React and Vue
- Use Redux and associated middleware like Thunk
- Build dedicated mobile applications in React Native
- Consume, manipulate, and display REST API data in my applications
- Build a REST API in Node utilizing Express and Knex
- Build, test, and deploy my own NPM packages
- Develop collaborative applications with small teams across the stack using pair programming and professional Git workflows including both merge and rebase
- Write unit test for both back end and front end applications using libraries and test suites like Mocha, Chai, Enzyme, and Jest
After graduation, it took me 53 days to find and accept a job offer. While my current position requires that I use a stack that I am not familiar with, I am finding that what I learned at Turing prepared me to adapt quickly on the job, to search for my own solutions first and ask for help second. I received my first paycheck yesterday, and it was double what I received as a fourteen-year veteran of public education as a music teacher. Turing literally changed the trajectory of my life. Attending was one of the best decisions I ever made.
-
Mike Schutte
THE option if you are serious about becoming a professional software developer
Read more Read less of Mike Schutte's review
I had the luxury of going through Turing as a white guy with a master's degree and a history of being affirmed in the STEM field. I highlight this to say that my perspective on the challenge of Turing is pretty pure to the work and curriculum itself and not to larger systemic or identity pressures and stressors from things like race, class, gender, education, etc.
That being said, Turing is *really* hard. It really is non stop work for seven months for at least 60 hours a day (and a mellow day at that). The Turing difference is that you develop insane endurance for problem solving and spending all day thinking like a programmer.
I went through the back-end program covering Ruby and Ruby on Rails, but the curriculum and instructors pave a road for students that leads them to a place of very generalizable knowledge that applies to many contexts in software development (almost two years out from graduation, I work on a completely different stack).
Turing helped me completely alter my life trajectory in terms of opportunity and fulfillment. If you want to see what coding is like or if you even like it, don't apply yet. It's not a kiddie pool! If you are serious about wanting to become a professional software developer, it is the only slam-dunk option in my mind.
-
Sam J
Front End Engineering
Read more Read less of Sam J's review
I loved my time at Turing and think that my decision to change career paths and enroll in their FE program was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
I started in the third cohort of their FE program and found the coursework really challenging but organized and presented in a way that enabled a lot of learning and growth (becoming a coder is not just about how much JavaScript you know but also about how you approach learning, challenges, etc) throughout the program.
As someone coming from the education space, I also really appreciated the schools focus on professional development for their instructors. Since most developers are not trained educators who know how to write an effective lesson plan, I thought this focus by the school was a real differentiating factor - they really care about their instructors (and pay them well). I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Turing is a nonprofit - as all schools should be - the focus of the organization is on its staff and students growth and development and that is not always (or ever) the case when a company is trying to turn a profit.
I also really appreciated the 4 module structure with short breaks in between. I think it allowed me to recenter myself and stay more grounded and focused on the areas I needed to improve in throughout the process - it also gave me a bit of time to spend with my wife and to catch up on sleep.
I ended up having to take an extended break after completing Mod3 due to a family emergency and Turing was extremely understanding and accommodating to my situation and new timeline.
I ended up finishing up the program and, after getting a bunch of great interview prep/support from Ian Douglas and other instructional staff, had 4 pretty strong offers to choose from. I am now a full-time software developer in Denver and loving my new career.
-
Adam
Rigorous, Collaborative Software Development Program
Read more Read less of Adam's review
Graduated from Turing's backend engineering program about a year ago. Turing will prepare you for a quality, competitive software dev role. After 7 months, you'll be a quality junior developer on the verge of mid-level developer roles.
Program is a full-time commitment which you need to be prepared for but you'll learn how to use command line efficiently, build games, data structures, and of course web applications. 3/4 of way through you'll be able to build apps like Airbnb, e-commerce sites, secure login with email or sign in with facebook, google, etc confidently with or without external libraries. By then, you can concentrate and learning what you're most interested in (outside of the curriculum) and be prepared to figure it out, like building a mobile app, because you'll have a solid process of working through errors and new technologies. You'll learn coding practices to contribute quality code by writing tests, pair programming, learning how and when to reach out to mentors or more senior developers for help.
If you're prepared for the time commitment and difficulty in keeping up with the rigorous curriculum, this is a great choice to get into software development.
Turing is a nonprofit which means all funds go into quality instructors and your education. I would personally never attend a for-profit school since their responsibility is to profit before quality.
-
Mason
Life changing career
Read more Read less of Mason's review
I attended Turing in 2017 and started with Cohort 1703, I had a wonderful experience with the program and loved nearly every minute of the experience. I struggled at points and ended up repeating my 3rd module which meant I graduated 7 weeks later than originally planned. I went through an extended job search after graduating and definitely found this to be the toughest part of the process. But if you follow the sage wisdom provided then you will not encounter many difficulties on that front. I now work as a QA engineer and make over 80k a year! I was making less than 36k previously. Truly life changing!
Jeff Casimir of Turing School of Software & Design
Executive Director
Jan 23, 2019
Those long job hunts can be so painful. You did a great job at keeping your enthusiasm up and staying in touch with us through the process. Ellen Mary was particularly so excited when we got your good news. We look forward to see where you go from here! -
Alan Charles
3 months out and stressed
Read more Read less of Alan Charles's review
Last year, I made the decision to attend Turing's front-end program. The program itself is great. I have never worked harder in my life. I can say that you should definitely consider how stressful the program will be for yourself, and perhaps more importantly, for those close to you. I witnessed more than a few breakups and divorces. With that said, I definitely learned how to code. I learned all of the fundamentals of frontend development, from HTML and CSS to JavaScript and all of its relevant frameworks/libraries. I also made some great friends while in the program. The instructors were really good, for the most part. Any problems I had in regard to the staff were taken incredibly seriously by Ellen Mary, which was greatly appreciated.
My biggest complaint is the complete lack of job support. I feel as if this complaint is shared among most of the people I went through the program with. It's a huge risk for almost every person there to put their life on hold and change careers like this. After 9 months I was one mod away from 'graduating' but could not afford to continue (something Turing understates immensely in my opinion), and was subsequently cut off from all potential job support. This includes consideration in their job portal, as well as resume/cover letter/outreach support. So, because I had to retake a mod and could not afford to take the last one, I am stuck trying to break into this industry alone. I feel like I paid what I could afford and worked as hard as could to be part of the Turing community everyone says is so great, inviting, and helpful, and am now out in the cold. I have applied to over 100 jobs and have gotten no interviews, let alone offers. Needless to say, I'm in an incredibly stressful position and I feel more and more every day like a lot of the things Turing says it promotes are limited at best, and non-existent in other cases.
You'll learn how to code, for sure. You'll probably meet a lot of great people too. Don't expect anything after that.
-
Judson S.
Great Decision, Great Outcome
Read more Read less of Judson S.'s review
I come from a science and engineering background, which I believe gave me a great foundation to build upon when it came to object-oriented programming. However, even if you don't come from that type of background, there is room for you to succeed at Turing. Even though I came from that background, I hadn’t been involved in anything to do with engineering for over 5 years. Immediately before I moved across the country to attend Turing I worked in the construction industry, and before that the bar industry. Needless to say, Turing was my chance to make a move.
The staff that I interacted with were some of the most caring and invested individuals I've ever had the privilege of learning from. With the mix of industry professionals and Turing alumni, you really do get the best of both worlds. Some of the instructors were in your shoes previously and know exactly what it is like to go through the program. This gives them the ability to relate and give advice that is directly tailored to you, as a student. Honestly, the experience was one of the most fulfilling and valuable experiences I've ever had.
I'm a veteran as well and agree with portions of what Angi C. had to say. I have to say the communication about the GI Bill and how it interacts with Turing was severely lacking. There was absolutely nothing in the papers you sign at the beginning about refunds, the payment schedule, how the VA handles a student dropping out of the program, or any other information. While there is some burden on the student to determine some of that information for themselves, I believe the school should have better documentation, as they’ve been certified by the VA for a while now. Apparently, the program has been certified in a different fashion now, meaning each module is its own ‘semester,’ and if you drop out in-between two of the modules, you won’t be on the hook for the modules you haven’t taken yet. This does affect the monthly stipend however, so make sure you take that into account when planning your finances for attending. Always good to clarify those things with the staff at Turing before you put down the deposit. Having said all of that, I will say once I was ready to leave the program, the help I got from the staff at Turing regarding the VA was very helpful. I just wished more of that information had been communicated at the beginning.
I was able to obtain a job offer while in my second module and finished the third module before starting my job. I would not have been able to get that job without the education I obtained at Turing. More than the education itself, Turing gives you the confidence to speak knowledgably about programming/web development. If you have the soft skills already, Turing will just improve them. If you are working on your soft skills, Turing will help you to achieve mastery of them. I believe soft skills are one of the most important things you can bring to a job interview, and Turing’s professional development really pushes those interactions and skills.
The culture and inclusiveness at Turing is unparalleled. I challenge anyone to present a professional learning environment with more of an emphasis on inclusion. I learned more about social issues and how they affect environments such as software development than I ever anticipated. The information was and continues to be extremely valuable in my professional and personal life. I made friends at Turing that are some of the strongest and most intelligent people I’ve ever met, including my time in the military. Jeff and his staff have really designed an atmosphere of learning that encourages and supports rather than teaches and abandons. They are also extremely open to changing styles and teaching strategies that may not be working, even for a specific class. The speed of change at Turing is one of its greatest strengths and something I enjoyed.
The work load is quite a bit there, but I'm not sure that I would peg it at the 70+ hours per week like some of the other reviewers. The time you invest is really going to depend on how well you adapt to learning in an accelerated environment and how efficient you are with your time. That's not to say it's easy by any means, just don't let the workload scare you away from the program. The more work you put in now/in school, the more benefits you will reap from your job.
Overall, Turing was an extremely positive and valuable experience. I did a lot of research into bootcamp programs before I moved across the country to go to Turing, and I really believe I made the right choice. I will always look back on my time at Turing as one of the best turning points in my life. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
-
Eric
Everything I was promised
Read more Read less of Eric's review
I get that this is a big decision. I had to decide if I was going to cash out my 401k on top of borrowing a big chunk of money to do this. Luckily, it was the right decision. After going through the Turing School of Software & Design's Front End program I was able to land a job I enjoy making $73k a year. That's a big jump from the $38k I was making as a retail store manager. We're about 8 weeks out from graduation and everyone else in my cohort who has accepted positions are making as much or more than I am. So, is this a path to a better life? Yes. But you have to enjoy it because it's an incredibly intense program. I'd say I spent 60-70 hours a week working hard in Turing (between class time and project work), so it's definitely going to demand your full attention. And it's not just a lot of work, it's difficult. Our cohort started with 28 people and we graduated with 15 who made it through without having to repeat any modules. Some had to repeat one module. Some had to repeat two. Some left the program. So yeah, it's difficult. That being said, the instructors and curriculum are both top-notch, and you will learn both the technical skills and the soft skill you need to be successful.
-
Daniela Carey
Amazing Community
Read more Read less of Daniela Carey's review
The community at Turing sets it apart from other bootcamps. Almost any coding bootcamp can teach you the same coding skills but you can’t get the quality of community that you get at Turing at other bootcamps. The support I received from the staff, alumni, and other students contributed to my success throughout the program and ultimately helped me get a job before graduation.
Alumni are available and eager to help current students as mentors. For current students, it is valuable to have the insight and support from other students who had been through the program, job search, and had spent a few years as a software developer.
The Turing staff and community does a great job of creating an inclusive environment that breeds a diverse student body full of amazing people. I made life-long friends during my 7 months at Turing and felt supported by my fellow classmates from day 1.
Even before my first day of class, I could tell the staff cared deeply about students’ success. Throughout the rigorous curriculum, they were supportive and always available to help. They all go above and beyond to make students feel confident and make sure students know what they need to know to be successful engineers (not just get through the program - they want you to be successful as an engineer in the real world). Additionally, staff is very open to feedback and is constantly adjusting to better serve students and they are available and eager to help with job support throughout Turing and after. Bonus: they’re all amazing humans and enjoyable to be around (which makes a difference when you’re in class with them 40 hours a week).
-
Lee Chow
Truly grateful for my time at Turing
Read more Read less of Lee Chow's review
I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated my experience at Turing. I've had a lot of formal education over the years (clinical doctorate in physical therapy and a combined BS/MS in biomedical engineering), and I also worked a few years as a middle school teacher. From being involved in many areas of education as both a student and teacher, I was very impressed with how Turing's curriculum (technical and professional development) is designed. You can see they make a strong effort to use best teaching practices and to emphasize key skills in software development throughout the program. It's also quite impressive how quickly the curriculum adapts. Every module, students give feedback to the instructors and often the next module changes are already in place. Turing definitely teaches and follows the agile workflow!
I completed the backend program and the technical curriculum focuses on Ruby & Ruby on Rails for 3/4 of the program and JavaScript with a little React for the last 1/4 (this may have changed slightly since I graduated). It's very heavily focused on Object Oriented Design with relational databases (PostgreSQL). The backend program also strongly emphasizes Test-Driven Development (super valuable way of developing software that is maintainable and readable). Some concepts from a more traditional Data Structures and Algorithms course were not emphasized as much during my time at Turing; however, you will be exposed to these concepts (and it is certainly encouraged that you explore this more). There just isn't enough time to cram all this information into a short 7 months!
If you are looking at other bootcamps, I would really recommend Turing (its non-profit status was a huge plus to me). I would be very hesitant to do any part-time bootcamp of similar duration (unless you absolutey need to) as I do not think one's level of understanding would be sufficient to be a junior developer. As for other full-time bootcamps, I would say Turing likely has the highest standards. I would say it is common for ~10-15% of a module to have to "repeat" (especially in modules 1 and 2). Although this may feel like a negative, I think this demonstrates that quality of a Turing graduate over other bootcamps. The faculty will work with you if you are struggling (they often set up study hours just for students that need more time), and there are different difficulty levels for various projects.
The curriculum is quite rigorous and you will need to get comfortable with diving into a project feeling like you don't know anything (but by the end you will have learned a lot more with this approach). You can certainly become a self-taught developer, but if you can I would really recommend doing Turing as you are paying for the collaboration and learning environment (in addition to very quality instruction). Also you are forced to work in a very fast-paced environment, so you could probably learn much quicker than if you did so by yourself.
In terms of job placement, I was very fortunate as I had a job offer before graduating. This isn't as common, but about a quarter of my cohort had job offers upon graduating. Also Turing does support you throughout your 4 modules on campus and even after (during "module 5"). I have friends that kept going to Turing after graduation to get office hours help with their job search.
Overall, Turing is such a supportive, dynamic, and collaborative environment. It opened the doors to an awesome new career for me, and I hope it does the same for you :) I wish you the best in your decisions!
-Lee
-
Katie
5 Stars
Read more Read less of Katie's review
Turing gave me what I needed to start a new career. Before I attended Turing, I was trying to teaching myself web development online when I came home from my teaching job. Eventually I reached a point where I knew I needed to take a leap and commit to a rigorous program in order to gain the skills necessary to get a software engineering job.
I learned more during my seven months at Turing than I ever thought possible. I also really appreciated the community of Turing -- my cohort was amazing and cohesive, and the staff are all invested in helping students succeed.
Turing was definitely stressful, but for me it was 100% worth it. I started my first dev job three weeks after graduation, and am so happy to be working in this industry.
-
Andy <>
Couldn't recommend more!
Read more Read less of Andy <>'s review
I'm a recent Turing Backend Program grad (as of June 8th, 2018), and I highly recommend Turing for anybody willing to make a major career change and become a strong candidate in the web development job market.
My context:
Before Turing I had very little knowledge/awareness of programming, my background was mostly based in service and culinary industries. I decided to make the switch to programming after becoming frustrated with the lack of great and accessible cloud based technologies in my industries, as well as a desire for a better work/life/money balance. I spent about two months on the Odin Project learning very very basics before looking for a bootcamp. I compared all my options in Denver, and after attending intro sessions at Galvanize, General Assembly & Turing, there was no contest in my mind about which would be the most challenging and directed. (Also have to mention it's a non-profit & has a great mission statement aimed at inclusivity).
Turing was very challenging. extremely time consuming, but the reward and skills you gain by the end are more than worth the 7 month (minumum) sacrice you'll make.
Curriculum:
The instructors at Turing are great, knowledgeable and very empathetic with the students' experience. Given that, the point of Turing is to become an independent developer with great team skills, so instructors tend to be hands-off outside of project reviews unless you as the student are proactive about seeking their help/feedback (this has proven to be invaluable in the work place in terms of interacting with my lead engineer & product manager). The course material is very challenging coming from a non-computer-science background, and it will likely require all of your attention and most of your brain power to naturalize the concepts you pick up in the first 3 of 4 modules.
As a note - I've encountered a bit of skepticism re: our Ruby on Rails backend curriculum based on the trendiness of other languages. The skills we gained from the ruby frameworks we start with are taught with strong enough conceptual depth that they really do translate to pretty much any other high language & framework. In the last mod my cohort built projects using Ember, Node/Express, Python/Django, Mongodb and a bunch of non-curriculumn languages all while starting the job hunt.
Schedule:
I ended up spending 7 days a week working during each module, usually around six 11-hour days with one 6-hour day on the weekend - this schedule is roughly in line with those of all my cohortmates who graduated with me. During the 1 week intermissions between cohorts, I personally spent 4-5 days completing prework and doing extra research/going to tech meetups, and was able to take 4 days to decompress and show family and friends I was still alive.
Don't try to do this course if you're not going able to realistically dedicate a minimum of 65 hours weekly for 7 to 10 months (students often have to repeat modules, which I think is a great policy, as it promotes really learning material and makes sure grads leave truly ready to crush it in the job market).
Career:
The career support at Turing is phenomenal. You leave with a strong & well review resume, references from instructors & mentors you develop relationships with, Turing alum network, and most likely a strong personal website to show off your projects.
I graduated in early June, worked really hard sending out resumes, going to meetups and reaching out to alums who posted in the Turing jobhunt slack channel, and had 2 offers less than 30 days later. This is on the shorter side for the job hunt, but I felt very supported after graduating, and think the support increases the longer your job hunt streches out.
I'm working on a Rails API being used by mobile apps. The place I'm currently working is impressed enough with my work performance that they're already very open to the idea of hiring more Turing grads.
Turing is a lot and it is also amazing.
-
Zachary Landes
Best professional decision of my life no question
Read more Read less of Zachary Landes's review
There is no place like Turing. They are building something new. A new way of thinking about education, about technology, and about how to survive in the modern age. It will push you in ways you have never been pushed. Before I went there, my first thought was 'Wow that seems like a lot of work and struggle'. IT IS. But the thing I didn't consider was that when you are surrounded by 100+ kids all going through the same struggle, it becomes a managable struggle. Not struggling feels weird. It makes sense to you to struggle.
One week after Turing I got a job offer. I got my foot in there door and I honestly feel like I learned how to play this system.
IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. Not everyone gets through it. Everyone willing to drop everything and begin a whole new world wants to think that they are going to be the ones that make it through. But from my personal experience, among my friends who didn't finish or decided to leave, they didn't make it because they didn't like it, not because they couldn't do it. So try out coding before you take the leap.
If you like puzzles, if you like to connect things together. If you have some neurotic tendencies, you might be a good fit.
Also, from my experience, people who are go getters, extroverts, regardless of coding skill, were able to find jobs more quickly than introverted people. But again, my personal observation.
I cannot say enough good things about this school.
I'm really thankful for the supportive staff, the vibrant alum community and my cohort-mates who helped me through this.
Thank you Turing :)
-
Whitney Smestad
Back-end Program
Read more Read less of Whitney Smestad's review
So I went through the Turing program in March of 2015; they just had the back-end program, no front-end yet.
I feel the investment of time and money into Turing is definitely worthwhile. I was in a situation where I was looking to change careers from nursing, and Turing was the perfect program to make that happen. I don’t feel the quick 6-8 week long bootcamps out there, are nearly enough to successfully help someone to change careers.I will say, I was fortunate enough to complete the Turing program without repeating any modules. This was not true for a large part of the students while I was there. Any given week, plan on committing at least 60-80 hours of your time to the school. You’ll be in class for 40 hours during the week, but expect another 20-40 hrs on evenings and weekends to complete projects, struggle through problems, Googling the hell out the internet… To really succeed in the program, expect nearly everything else in your life to take a back seat. I do wondering how I would have reacted if I had to repeat a module. I found myself to be absolutely exhausted by the end. Many students at the school, while I was there, either had to repeat a module, or decided on their own to take a module off to regroup and have a break from it. That being said, taking a break wasn’t really an option for me, so I did push through and was burning the candle from both ends.
I won’t comment on the instructors specifically, as several of them have moved on to other positions in the nearly 3 years since I was there. Reading other reviews though, it does sound similar in that they will throw students in the deep end for awhile and let you struggle. I think that’s a good thing though, people learn when they have to struggle to find the solution. If you’re not good at asking for help though, be ready to change, otherwise you’ll definitely drown over there in the deep end. As far as the emotional/mental health while you’re there, which is literally half the battle, if you don’t have a support system at home (which I did have), the instructors and staff at Turing were ceratinly there for students. You just have to know you can reach out, they can’t read minds if you’re struggling, whether that be technically or mentally/emotionally.
Turing is one of the more difficult coding programs out there, hands down. Expect to work extremely hard. If you can do that, Turing is with out a doubt, worth it. I was utterly exhausted at times, I was miserable at times, I cried many times, and I constantly questioned whether I should be doing this, but I was able to make a very successful career change, and I felt extremely ready for the working world as a programmer. Hind sight is always 20-20, while in Turing, I struggled and therefore wasn’t the happiest person, but afterwards, working as a developer, I am extremely thankful of Turing and how they prepared me to be an effective developer. -
Mitch
Cannot Recommend Enough
Read more Read less of Mitch's review
I honestly don't know what else to say. I can't recommend Turing enough. If you're looking to transition into the field of software development then this is your best bet. The instructors genuinely care about you and your career path. Jeff, even though he is incredibly busy, takes the time to get to know you and takes your feedback seriously. I loved everyone in my cohort and made some lifelong friends throughout my time at Turing. Now, it's been about a year and a half since I've left Turing and I still recieve career support from staff and keep in contact with many people that I met. I've worked with other 'bootcamp' grads and, though I generally support the bootcamp model, it makes me thankful that I chose Turing because I feel better prepared than most other bootcamp grads that I've come across.
I'm forever thankful for both my time at Turing and all of the staff members there that are dedicated to helping people create a better life for themselves.
-
Sam L
Best Place to Learn Software Development
Read more Read less of Sam L's review
The Turing School of Software & Design changed my life. I am now making twice as much money as I ever have before at a fulfilling job. I am incredibly grateful to Jeff Casimir and the staff at Turing for their work and vision. I can vouch for the legitimacy of the program and career prospects for graduates. I am not an anomaly, either. Read the Jobs Report. The numbers are in line with what I saw. I won’t say that the program is necessarily a good fit for you, though. I saw a lot of people drop out of the program, so I encourage you to try to determine if this is the right path for you or not before dropping 20 grand on it. I’ll spend the rest of the review describing what I think a prospective student should do or consider before signing up.
Turing did not hand me anything. It’s not a place you show up, attend the necessary lectures for a few months then wait for a job offer. I worked very hard to learn the material, build up my professional materials to be an attractive candidate and then slogged through the emotional torment that was the job hunt. Can you work hard 6-7 days a week, 10 hours a day or more? Can you continue working hard when you’re sure it’s futile and you’re wasting your time? Because you will feel like that. Doesn’t make it true, but you will have those thoughts.
Do you like programming? When I applied to Turing, and this is still the case as far as I know, you could get in without ever having touched a computer before in your life. They assessed my problem-solving skills and personality via collaborating on an LSAT question. I do believe anyone could learn to program, but I do not believe everyone would enjoy it. Luckily, there are so many free resources to explore you can easily get a feel for programming and whether or not you want to make a career switch around it. Please, spend 50 hours or so playing with codecademy.com and codewars.com before you decide to take off at least 7 months of your life and pay a lot of money to pursue this career change.
Are your ducks in a row to take 7-10 months off work? Family, pets, financial obligations can all derail a Turing career. Don’t underestimate the time commitment, as well as the emotional drain the program takes on most people. It is fun and rewarding, but also incredibly difficult. Don’t hamstring yourself by overextending yourself.
Have you done a Try Turing event http://trycoding.turing.io/? It will give you a good idea of the Turing culture and teaching style, and save you $500 if you decide to do Turing.
I chose Turing over several other programs because I wanted to go somewhere that was more than a job factory. I wanted to have an experience that was a wholesome place to truly transition into a new career. If the only thing motivating you is the paycheck, you’ll have a tough path forward. If you like challenging yourself and working closely with others, Turing is the best place in the world to start a career in software development.
-
Bryan Goss
Dedicated staff, passionate instructors
Read more Read less of Bryan Goss's review
I moved from Portland to Denver to attend the Turing School of Software and Design, and moved back to Portland when I was finished. I was the last person in my cohort to get hired, and the staff were still doing weekly check-ins with me 6 months after I finished. It was obvious to me that they were committed to making sure I completed my career change.
Turing is a different experience than any I've heard of in Portland so far. The Portland developer schools tend to be 3 months while Turing lasts 7 months. Some of the Portland schools ask only 20 hours a week, or have graduates teaching classes. Turing occupied at least 60 hours a week for the whole term. The Turing staff were knowledgable, aproachable and passionate. The learning environment might not be appropriate for everyone, but it worked for me and the people I studied with. I have recommened the school (even when people didn't ask or care) to anyone I can talk to about their job or education.
-
Victoria Vasys
Most challenging & rewarding experience of my life
Read more Read less of Victoria Vasys's review
I don't have time to relay my full thoughts as this program is incredibly intense & I have about 5 big things to juggle in my final week. That said, I hope there's an edit button so I can come back & explicate further!
Overall, my experience has been tremendous; I have gained so many incredibly valuable skills and truly feel ready to enter the world of programming. I've found out that this requires a ton of skills that I didn't really foresee, but I am super thankful to have gained them and feel at a level above most juniors exiting a "bootcamp".
At times, I've felt like my head was swimming and my emotions were going to explode, however, my classmates & the staff were always here to reassure me I could do it. There is so much camaraderie and instructors are totally willing to work with you to get you where you need to be, willing that you have the time & grit to get through it.
I'm making a 180-degree switch in careers (I was mostly a farmer and cab-driver prior to Turing), and I couldn't have done it without this level of instruction and community support. The school's values also align with mine and it was easy to see from the get-go that they have my best interests at heart and are not just in it for the money. This non-profit highly values diversity, inclusion, and helping their students gain high-fulfillment careers in tech. -
Justin Pease
There is no other place to go.
Read more Read less of Justin Pease's review
I seriously doubt there is a better education of it's kind out there.
I worked in the trades and had no real good way to get into a new career with our going back to school but was not happy about the idea of another 4 years of schooling. I was very lucky to find Turing. I started with zero knowledge of computers, and and finished with a very solid understanding of programming and development and got a really great job as a full stack agile software developer immediately after graduation.
The pace was insane. It was too fast for me and I repeated 2 modules but I still wouldn't have gone anywhere else. They are not looking to just let anyone in and graduate. They hold a very high standard of education and it transformed me into someone ready for the work force. The curriculum is top notch, and the instructors care very much about the students. The hidden gem of Turing is the other students you'll be with. Turing has a way of finding great people to admit so everyone is always helping each other which got me through multiple jams during late night sessions studying and finishing projects. The incredible pace was matched by the resources and support.
Jeff Casimir has a very strong passion for helping people. There was a bit of social education which wasn't what I came for but I admire their passion for helping disadvantaged people and the local community.
Seriously, it's the only place to go.
-
Dan M.
Definitely worth it
Read more Read less of Dan M.'s review
I went into the back end program with only about half of a free online course under my belt, so to say that it was a struggle would be an understatement. The days, nights and weekends all sort of blended together, but I never felt like I was wasting time. There were always resources available, from the incredibly dedicated instructors, to the crazy network of mentors that Jeff Casimir has built over the years.
I ultimately pulled through, and am very happy with the direction my career has taken since. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone who wants a career in software development. -
James
Best decision of my life (other than getting my dog)
Read more Read less of James's review
Turing is a community.
It's not a bootcamp. It is not a business. It's not a guarantee. It's not easy and it's not for everyone. But if you've found this review because you are confident you would like to pursue a career in something Turing can teach you, it could be a dream opportunity. It was for me.
I graduated from the back-end program in April 2016 and am currently employed as an Associate Software Engineer in the New England area. My post-Turing job search consisted of 3 months, 4 on site interviews, and 2 offers.
Some of Turing's defining characeristics are its non-profit status, Jeff Casimir's reputation and experience in education, its duration compared to the industry average, its support of honest and transparent graduation/employment statistic reporting (which is sorely lacking in the industry right now), its constant self-reflection and "how can we do this better" perspective, and its desire to engage more women, minorities, and folks facing disadvantages in the software engineering community.
TL;DR
Would play again 10 times out of 10.
-
Jonathan Bernesser
A Special and Rewarding Experience
Read more Read less of Jonathan Bernesser's review
Graduated August 2017.
Turing was able to transform me, someone with a few months of self-taught ruby experience into a full fledged software engineer at a NYC Tech company.
You probably have read about the challenging nature of the curriculum and how it was the most difficult experience for each respective graduate. This is all true, and I found it the same. The special-ness of the community and curriculum is really one of a kind. However, I would like for this review to really indentify if Turing is for you.
1) This is not a place to go if you just want the end goal (big money job) without the likeness (i really dont like the word passion) for code. The only way through this program and into an employers hands (which is getting harder by the day) is to really like what you are doing. The largest successs that Turing has produced has been students who exemplified this. Students who have stayed later, put in more work then needed and had truly immersed themselves. Although it's possible, a part time commitment would have been a disaster for me (easily sidetracked with a proclivity for laziness).
2) This is an unconventional educational experience, and needs to be welcomed with zero preconceived notion of what education is. I've seen doctorate grads be on the same level as college dropouts.
3) Please please please make sure you are interested in code before going. This is not an impulse decision!
Overall, Turing provides a rock-solid curriculum taught by instructors who truly care within a diverse community of hungry individuals. For the real review now....
1) Instructors *****: Most of the instructors who were best for me are gone now, however Turing does a great job of creating a staff with a diverse set of teaching styles and personalities that you are bound to find one that inspires you. I am a bit worried with the recent overflow of student -> instructors, but I have not seen a drop off in learning outcomes.
2) Curriculum *****: Phenomenal, always in flux and truly agile. Don't ditch the difficulty! The "oh shit" --> "i'm useless" -> "holy crap..maybe" -> "project review" was eye opening for me as a learning process and a real confidence builder. I'm now confident to take on any challenge on the job and being able to figure it out.
3) Job Assistance **: One area I would say that could be improved. I had very llttle corresponence post grad with the jobs team (one lead) (Full disclosure: This could be in part to me as well, I was focused on New York Only, and networking with alumni on my own) . Alumni are the real winners here. They are always helpful and spread apart the globe at great companies. If you are worried about job placements...see number 1 above. This is a perk of Turing, not the end goal. A strong, persistent developer will always be able to find a job, it is up to you to get to this point before graduation.
Overall, Turing as a decision is hard to recommend without a strong asterisk. That asterisk is you. What are your goals, who are you and why are you looking at coding bootcamps? If you truly feel this is what you want to do, it would be hard pressed to find a better school than this.
Lastly, one cannot review Turing without a mention of it's social mission. A small part (depending who you ask) of the Turing experience is awakening it's students to contemporary liberal ideology. Overall, it is a welcoming and not forceful introduction. This was never a real focus for me, as the coding education is what truly inspired, and this was fine. I always thought through what Turing did best (code), inherently does a far better job at creating great, open-minded people, not the explicit group sessions (gear-ups). As an FYI, my non-commital nature to their admirable political and social mission never impacted my outcomes, grades or helpfulness from the staff and Jeff Casimir
That being said, I will always be thankful for this experience! THANK YOU!
-
Mark Miranda
Great program, great people
Read more Read less of Mark Miranda's review
I graduated from the back-end program in August 2016. I currently work as a Software Developer in Rails + Angular 2.
I chose between Turing and Galvanize and the main reasons that swayed me towards Turing were:
- Jeff Casimir's reputation in the industry
- The non-profit status, which I didn't have a lot of concern for their mission at the time, but more that they couldn't sell my educational experience to investors to expand the program further and further.
- The ability to repeat modules. I was terrified to make a career change and afraid that I wouldn't be able to make it through the program on my first try and didn't want to be dragged along for 6 months not understanding anything past a certain point because I didn't understand a specific concept. (I didn't repeat any modules in case you were curious).
- After visiting the (old) basement (the new one is really nice too) for my interview, I was blown away by the energy that went through the space, people in every available space, extremely focused and concentrated working through projects and helping each other.
The program is constantly changing and my review is probably hideously outdated when compared to the processes / curriculum, but I love the ability for them to change when something doesn't work. The teachers have your best interest at heart and want to see you succeed and learn, even if it means calling you out when they know you're not giving your all. The community is amazing and the network of mentors is uncomparable. I graduated and it took me 87 days to receive my first offer. That might seem like a long time, but in the end not coding bootcamp can hand you a job at the end of the program. There were people in my cohort that had job offers before graduation, but they put in the work of networking and making those connections early. You graduate and show up as someone with no professional experience. Turing helps you with professional / personal development and how to approach and overcome the hurdles of entering a new industry.
I also now work in a framework we weren't taught at Turing (Angular 2), but didn't have any trouble diving in and learning. I know it sounds cliché, but you really do learn how to learn different programming patterns and aren't pigeonholed into a specific language.
Turing was great. They helped me transition from a career I disliked and become a better person along the way. I'll be in their debt forever.
-
Steve
The ideal way to dive into a development career
Read more Read less of Steve's review
I'll start by saying I graduated three weeks ago, and am now in my second week of work as a software developer with a good company. I came from a non-tech background (BA in Creative Writing and a career as a commercial fisherman). I did my research about a lot of coding schools, and Turing was exactly what I expected and was pitched. It is extremely demanding time-wise, but the emotional stress varies widely among students.
The curriculum seems about as good as possible for 7 intense months, and the core teachers are all exceptional. As many people have said, one of the best part is the other students. We've all made a lot of life-long friends. A few people have been rubbed the wrong way by the PC side of the school's mission, but students should be aware of this element before enrolling and be prepared to participate in tough discussions or quietly disengage from that part. The job-assitance aspect of the school is continually improving, and many students find jobs through referrals from the staff (myself included).
If you're looking to transition into a software career through an intensive program, Turing is in the top tier of options.
-
Hilary
This bet continues to pay off in dividends
Read more Read less of Hilary's review
I chose Turing because I knew of Jeff Casimer and what he had done at gSchool. At the time I approached Jeff the Turing program was an ember in Jeff's mind, but I knew that it would be the right choice. It was a little bit of a bet to invest my future in something that was just starting out but my has it paid off.
At Turing, they don't just teach you how to code in ruby or rails. They use those languages to provide you with a set of tools that will allow you to go out into the workforce and work on almost anything you want to, in any language you want to. That is so much more valuable than learning just a language. Since I graduated I've been able to follow my interests and pick up new technoligies relatively quickly.
The other amazing thing about Turing is the network of people. The people, teachers, students, alumni, and mentors, at Turing are awesome. Everyone continues to insire me to learn more and also better myslef as a person. The mentorship program, where alumni and other developers in the field can mentor current students has been not only helpful to those students I mentore, but helpful to me. It has been an invaluable asset in increasing my confidence in my knowledge and also teaching me new things all the time.
Turing was and continues to be a source of knowledge or personal development for me. I highly recommend it.