Bloom Institute of Technology

I decided that I wanted to pursue software engineering during my second semester of senior year in college (studying biomedical engineering), so I was learning web development during my free time while finishing up my degree. I was making good progress, but I wanted something more structured, as I found myself "getting lost in the rabbit hole" too many times. However, as a student with accumulated debt from the most expensive university in the nation and a family overseas, there weren't a lot of opportunities for me to consider. I had already turned down my return offer from the previous summer, as it just wasn't something that I wanted to do or saw myself happy with.

That's when I coincidentally learned about Lambda School, while browsing /r/learnprogramming. Like a normal person, it sounded way too good to be true... What was an ISA? How could Lambda afford to teach people before taking money? I was too familiar with the current education system, where students are overwhelmed, but forced to take out loans, so obviously Lambda's system sounded too good to be true. However, I saw that there was a free intro course, so I decided to take it to see what Lambda was all about. 

Long story short, I was accepted to Lambda School and was convinced with the curriculum after taking the introductory "bootcamp." I told my parents that I was joining this program, and they were heavily against it, thinking along the same lines that I did (that it was too good to be true, that it had to be a scam). However, once they realized the amount of work that I was putting into Lambda and also outside of Lambda, they slowly began to realize that maybe Lambda's system could work. Lambda taught me to become a software engineer, not just someone who knows how to use a particular technology, but someone who can take those concepts and apply it to any other technologies. Lambda taught me a lot of various topics, but most importantly, Lambda taught me to be a lifetime learner.

Lambda works, but to my own credit, I put in a lot of personal time outside of Lambda to be where I am today. I came to Lambda super hungry and I leave super hungry. I was fortunate enough to receive an offer before graduation, thanks to the help of my wonderful career coaches, so I'm not too familiar with how Lambda Next works, but I know that it's a great program with great instructors to help you on the interview journey.

All in all, I wanted to conclude that I am very grateful for the opportunity be a student at Lambda School, and look forward to the growth of Lambda in the upcoming years! Lambda truly changed my life, as I went from a recent graduate from college to a software engineer in 6 months.

Living in one of the world's most exspensive cities while making a minimum wage is not any easy thing to do, but that was the position I found myself in for the majority of my twenties. From fast food to grocery stores to Uber/Lyft, I found myself in a cycle of poverty that seemed impossible to break out of. After a series of unfortunate events towards the end of 2017, I found myself without a car, and out of a job. Fortunetly, this is when I started to notice ads for various coding bootcamps on my social media. Lambda School stood out to me because they said you didn't need a background in development or engineering, you just need a dedication to work hard. I believed them, and began to put in the work by Googling the basics of programming. A month later, I found myself accepted into the program, and two months after that I was starting my first day in class. 

Lambda's daily structure begins with a code challenge. These are designed to warm up your brain for the day and get you thinking the way a developer should. At the beginning of the course, these are relatively simple challenges, but the difficulty level is raised progressively as they course continues on. Next comes the lecture, two hours of  highly interactive learning, with instructors having amazingly productive discussions with students. If something doesn't make sense, just ask. After an hour break for lunch(during which there are typically brownbag presentations), students begin work on a project related to the day's lecture. The instructors make themselves as available as possible during this time to lend a helping hand or answer any questions you may have. At the end of the day, you and a group of 6-8 other student have a standup meeting with a PM to talk about what went well, or any concepts you might be having trouble with. 

As a student in the Full-Stack Web Development class, the curriculum began with the basics of HTML and CSS, then moved onto the fundamentals of JavaScript. All of this was already covered in a pre-course mini-bootcamp provided for free via Youtube that needed to be completed before the actual class began. This bootcamp has since evolved, and works differently than from when I went through it, so I cannot speak to how it currently works. After a month of these fundamentals, the course moves onto more practical frameworks that Lambda has chosen based on what they think will get you hired. My class learned about Node, React, Redux, Express, and MongoDB, among other things. During the time we were learning about these frameworks, we had two project weeks, the first one a front-end React project, the second one building an Express/MongoDB backend for the first project. After completing the full-stack portion, we moved on to Data Science, and switched gears by being introduced to Python. During this portion of the course, we learned about various data structures like trees and graphs, as well as algorithms such as stacks, queues, and multiple sorting algorithms. After a couple weeks, we switched gears again, and began learning C. During this time we learned about process scheduling and system architecture. We even built a web server from scratch. The culmination of the course was Lambda Labs, where students were assigned to a 4-5 person team, led by a Project Manager. We were provided a concept for an app, with wireframes and weekly milestones. Labs was meant to emulate the real-world environment of working at a tech company, and I believe it is successful, like everything else at Lambda.

Lambda does not end when a student completes their course. A newer addition to the school is Next, a program designed to keep graduates engaged while searching  for their new job. There is a Career Developement team that makes themselves readily available to any student who wishes to utilize the team's resources and help. The guidance provided during Next is just as important as learning the code. I am beyond grateful for everyone at Lambda who played a part in my success story. At the time of writing this, I have recently accepted a job offer, and will soon begin a trek across the country to start a new chapter in my life, all thanks to the opportunities Lambda School provided for me.

I started out as a FT Full Stack Web student and picked up a side job as a teaching assistant for a PT cohort a few months into the course so I've seen Lambda from two sides and the view is refreshing. I recently picked up a FT development job and will be completing the course as a PT student.

The first half of the curriculum is full stack web development split into front and backend. With only about 5 weeks for each, it's a firehose of information. In class and for projects, you work primarily with React / Redux / Node / Express + SQLITE3 for a database. You're also exposed to basic algorithmic challenges through code challenges and pair programming through peer reviews. By the end of the full stack curriculum, you should have built a full end-to-end complete application.

They've recently changed the curriculum so that students will immediately go into Lambda Labs after the FSW portion of the curriculum. This is a 5 week group project with weekly deadlines, check-ins, and presentations. The projects are fully spec'd out by staff members and I believe will soon be fully integrated with at least one other type of student like iOS/Android or Data Science. My labs experience was a bit rocky due to group dynamics, but overall positive.

Finally, the last part of the curriculum is computer science. I can't give much insight here as I have yet to take it, but you learn a bit of Python, a bit of C, and a smorgasbord of theoretical topics like data structures and algorithms, operating systems, computer architecture, etc. I'm really looking forward to getting into it.

On a personal note, I went through some hard times during Lambda. A few months in, I was in a serious car accident. With a concussion and several injuries to my spine, I was left in both a medical and financial bind and without a vehicle. I live in a very remote area, so I needed a car to get to a location with good enough internet to participate in Lambda each day, so I thought I would have to drop out. After a short discussion with one the staff members, the VP of Finance reached out to me to see what Lambda could do to help. I have never been driven to tears by someone's kindness before, but this was seriously so above and beyond anything that I would have imagined possible from just a school. Lambda is so much more than that and I will be forever grateful.

Lambda has not only taught me how to be an engineer, but has also refreshed my faith in human decency. I fully recommend Lambda to anyone that wants to learn to code and needs that extra push of an incredible community surrounding you. I will be thrilled to pay back my Lambda Income Share Agreement and plan to donate further once I'm rid of my other financial obligations. Austen and the team are changing the world and I'd love to be a part of that in any way I can.

The best academic experience of my life.

I dropped out two careers before Lambda School, an Engineering and an Economics degree. Those are beautiful studies, I learned a lot in all those years of study and I owe them a lot of what I am now.

I treated programming and coding as a tool to perform better in my life and career, but then I realized that It wasn't a tool but my passion. Immediately I dropped out the current career, studies and job I had at that time, 2014, with the aim to be a software engineer in a mid-term.

Whilst working full time, I started building and improving my Developer skills with self-passed courses, that really helped me. But then I realize that in order to accelerate my learning path It worth to attend a school, a proper and good school. A school whit a Computer Science curriculum was my objective.

I'm not young and not old, I'm at the time I write this review 37 years old. I would love to attend a university and do Computer Science studies, but that was not an option, it required me to many years of studies, with my current age and family responsibilities that path was not realistic, the goal was to start working as a software engineer in a short-term. What to do? Look for a "boot camp"-like school with a strong focus on Computer Science wich teach modern market-technologies.

In my research, Lambda was the sole school that meet my requirements: Computer Science curriculum, modern technologies and a modern school in contact and exposed to the top digital communities. It looked so great that I thought It was not real and unreachable.

In order to be able to attend Lambda School, taking the best of the curriculum doing nothing but just studying, I had to take a big-huge loan to allow me to cover all my family and living expenses in all the 6-months of the curriculum and a couple of job-search-months.

It was a scary and big life-bet I took. I had to be able to have a better job after Lambda or I would have serious problems paying the loan.

IT WORTHED! I landed a new universe of job possibilities and career growth, much better than the one I imagined before Lambda.

Here I'm graduated from Lambda, starting my new dreamed career working in what is my passion.

Lambda is hard, is not easy, it requires a big dedication and a big effort --> don't be deterred: it worth the effort and time!

I attended LambdaSchool Full Time online my I got my back locked up twice during the time here and the teachers were very helpful in getting me to get back on track and push through challenges. My laptop also died once and I had to miss class for about a week and again was motivated and pushed to get back in the program. At the time i was freaking out about missing those things but at the end of the program before labs I was put in a special class to go back over those things i missed or did not pass in the program. They really do make sure you know what your doing. It was easily the hardest thing i have ever done. My biggest issue is that I misunderstood what was the position of a program manager. Essentially I seen this as someone who should be better than me and push me to complete the course work and more. I was treating these individuals as Teachers and honestly they are just students that have passed the program and and have not gone to labs yet. That being said they can help you with the program but given how well lambda teaches you they don't know that much more than you do. If you accept this and take it just as  a friend to bounce ideas off of it will be a much better experience 100% reccomend but only if your really interested in hard work.

Lambda School was by far the best experience I have ever had with just about anything. Every instructor was super nice and always available for questions. The lectures themselves were tailored to the material of the week and helped cement new concepts while simultaneously building on existing skills already learned. The curriculum starts you off by teaching you the basics of HTML and CSS so that you build a site with them and then you progress to adding interactions with JavaScript. Then after you have a pretty solid foundation of JavaScript you learn React and how to really make sites pop by not only having them look good but reactive as well. From there you learn Node.js and create an awesome backend to compliment your React frontend. Then you will take a brief detour from Web technologies and enter the realm of C by creating a basic and small emulator. Circle back around with Python and Django to complete one of the best courses for learning to program that I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. 

My time with Lambda was some of the best times that I have ever had. I was able to meet a lot of good friends and work with most of them by either pair programming, being a Teacher's Assistant or the final test of skills in Lambda Labs. Lambda Labs is a team based project that aims to simulate a real life project. You will meet your team. Colloaborate with them on the project such as what tech stack to use and also use Trello to set up tasks that you can then grab and work on and keep track of the progress on each task. Similar to the sticky note way that the guys on the HBO show Silicon Valley did with sticky notes and a whiteboard. 

Lambda School is perfect for a specific kind of person:

• you cannot afford to pay a bootcamp up front but..

• you can afford to not work for 6-7 months plus job search time (or at least work outside of lambda’s 40 hours a week))

• you can’t reasonably teach yourself

On the topic of the Income Share Agreement...

If it weren’t for Lambda’s ISA, there’s no way I could have sold myself on this career change. I was already in debt from my bachelors and I couldn’t imagine taking out a private loan to pursue something that I may not have been able to do. That being said, 17-30k coming out of your salary over two years is a lot of money. Albeit this only occurs if you completely succeed and become employed in the field.

I completely understand feeling like this is too much to pay, and for some it’s not worth it. There is nothing lambda teaches that you can’t find elsewhere for free, but for me it came down to three things:

1. It would have taken so much more time to teach myself this stuff. I knew absolutely nothing about coding, it would have taken me so much time to organize myself, to learn, to figure out what to learn. Easily twice as long as Lambda, more likely 3x.

2. I simply don’t have the discipline to self teach. I need some organization, I need deadlines, I need to know someone will care/waggle their finger if I don’t get it done.

3. I already went 30k into debt for a degree that I expected to start making me around 40-50k if I got a job in the field, so why would I shrink back from paying that for something that can make me double (and later more). Because it's only 6 months instead of 4 years? That's not a reason to pay less, really, but it is a reason to be excited.

This is such a huge salary jump for me that missing some of my paycheck for two years is a small price to pay for a career I can stick with for the next few decades. And it’s not a loan that will climb in interest every minute you’re not employed. It starts and stops with your employment and it doesn’t change. Is this more than other bootcamps? For sure, but at least I only pay because it all worked out. That safety net is kind of priceless.

On the topic of structure...

My cohort in Lambda was around 60 people. We were separated into groups of around 8-10 with our own group TA. The schedule was something like this:

• Every morning we would either do a code challenge and then meet with our group, or a peer review for about an hour
• 2 hour lecture with small breaks thrown in to keep us all from overheating
• Lunch
• 4 hour block to work on the day's project. These were either a stand alone project for the day, or sometimes a 2-4 day project that built upon itself each day
• Meet with our groups again, talk about the day, and call it good

This went by very quickly, it was very engaging, and surprisingly very social. I had only ever taken online courses in college and they were completely terrible. But lambda has really cracked the code on how to make remote learning engaging and social and fun. I have made closer friends in this program than I ever made in my four years of college. But of course this is a choice, you'll get out as much social engagement as you put in. But I think it's really worth it.

On the topic of curriculum...

Does Lambda teach enough to get you hired even if you know nothing beforehand? 

Yes. But you will absolutely have to put in your own time to make this happen. Hopefully you’ll want to because the puzzles of programming will entertain you. Lambda gave me an incredible base and with it I was able to determine what I needed to hone and work on in order to land a job. And they stay with you through that as well. When you finish the curriculum they'll keep helping you find areas to strengthen.

I found nearly every project to be worth it and a huge source of learning. A few things here and there felt unnecessary to me, but that's going to be true of any program on earth. Can't perfectly please everyone.

On the topic of instructors...

For the full stack web portion the first instructor I had (Josh) is an actual gem and I can only hope that Lambda keeps him for as long as possible. He made the introduction to this world so smooth for me, and exciting. I feel like he truly understands important, fundamental, pedagogical concepts and he carries everyone through with ease.

My subsequent instructors were just okay. 4/5 kind of rating. Maybe 3/5 for 1 or 2 of them. Did I still learn from them? Absolutely. Will they only get better? Definitely. And while certain lectures may not have been ideal for me and my learning style, the projects were still great, the documentation on the topics was great, and I could of course do specific research and self teach in a highly organized way. This was totally acceptable to me and I don't feel like it's a weakness for the program.

Bootcamp teachers are notoriously so/so, a great programmer does not always make a great instructor. BUT, I think Lambda is doing great despite that common issue.

On the topic of getting a job...

I got wildly lucky and secured a job before graduation. It was kind of a right time/right place sort of deal. I definitely put forth what the company wanted, but I also think I got very lucky. I don't think this is the usual outcome, and I was expecting a much longer application process. I can't speak to the career readiness/job assistance process at Lambda because of this, but from what I've heard they are willing to work really hard with you if you put in effort. They have a lot (everything really) riding on you finding employment, so you can bet they'll be helping you with it.

The most important takeaway in my opinion:

Coding is not for everyone. I do think everyone can learn to do it, but I don't think everyone will enjoy it enough to make it through the learning curve. That requires a lot of effort and its easy to lose motivation if you aren't stimulated by this sort of thing. I think it's really important to keep that in mind and to be very honest with yourself about if it's at all enjoyable to you as you learn it. That's really more important than which bootcamp you choose. 

I tried college, all I have to show for it is debt. College does not prepare you for working in the real world to solve real problems.

Lambda did prepare me for those problems. More than that, they've helped me every step of the way with searching for jobs. They provide interview training, resume building, they even go to speak on behalf of students to companies to champion for us. 

Lambda's model can be simplified to: If the student succeeds, then the school can succeed. 

Most importantly, I got hired as a developer. Don't make my same mistake if you want to get into the Web Dev field, skip the student loans.

I joined in January of 2018 with some light experience with programming, very basic familiarity with a few concepts. The following months were a unique immersive experience that I found very rewarding. From the interesting projects to the incredible speed at which feedback was considered it always felt like the students were the top priority.  Lambda seems to pride itself on having created a special culture and I would agree, they've succeeded.

The Income Share Agreement system they employ is great for several reasons. It gives opportunities to people who don't (in my case didn't) have the money to pay for school upfront and aligns the interests of the school and students perfectly. The quality of their education directly affects the bottom line and it shows in everything they do.  It's life-changing and empowering, truly a wonderful thing.

The curriculum is quite varied and designed to provide you experience with a few technologies and the tools to learn others as needed. Everything is strategically designed to help you become a real software engineer, not just a "React Developer".  Every topic they cover is done rather quickly, and it feels brutal at times.  In the end, it's very worth it and works very well, and most of the things I would have listed as negatives have already been fixed in the most recent iteration.

Job support is now fantastic as well, their Lambda Next program really provides a good balance between guidance, independence, and a solid support network. Everyone wants to help in any way they can and genuinely want to see you succeed.

They move fast, there can be some hiccups but ultimately I think that's their biggest strength. If you thrive semi-independent in a fast-paced environment I would strongly suggest looking into Lambda.

I started Lambda in January 2018. I would 100% recommend Lambda School. It’s very clear to me that they care about their students and they absolutely want you to succeed, hence the income share agreement: they only get paid when you’re successful.

My last job was washing dogs at a corporate grooming salon for $10.50/hr. Yesterday I received an offer for a Web Developer position making six figures, with no qualifications other than Lambda School. I cannot stress this enough: I could not have done this without Lambda and the staff there. I learned so much in my time in the program, and not just programming, I learned how to solve problems, how to talk to people, how to work on a team and how to learn. It’s an intense program, but if you put in the work and actually ask for help when you’re struggling, it’s so worth it.

The curriculum when I went through the program was great, despite being a little disjointed. However, I had the privilege of experiencing the web development curriculum again as a teaching assistant, and it has improved drastically since I went through it, especially the front-end portions. They are always accepting feedback and make improvements based on that feedback.

My personal experience with Lambda staff has only been positive. There are so many people there who have personally contributed to my success and personal growth. They really do want you to get a job, and they will do everything they can to make it happen as long as you’re willing to put in some effort as well.

If I would have stayed in school, I would still be multiple years away from getting a job, tens of thousands of dollars further in debt and I almost certainly wouldn’t have learned a lot of the practical skills I’ve learned through this program.

In December of last year I applied to Lambda School, upon being accepted I began studies towards becoming a Software Engineer with no prior programming experience. This did not come easily for me, I put in overtime effort, and sometimes it was really difficult, but all of that hard work eventually paid off.

The staff was incredibly helpful during the entire process and several of them will surely be lifelong friends now. I was able to gain valuable experience as a Teachers Assitant after I finished the program, but before I entered Lambda Labs (the in-house internship), which helped me to solidify my understanding on some things, and gain more in other areas. 

After completing the Labs portion, the staff was hard at work sourcing job opportunities and helping me to find a suitable position. This experience has changed my life. Prior to Lambda my income placed me well below the poverty line, and after Lambda, well, I can for the first time in my life say that finances aren't a problem. 

After 3 weeks on the job as a software engineer, I can say that my Lambda School experience has given me a rocket boost into a better life and career. My Lambda education prepared me to ship code my first week on the job with next to zero coding skills prior to my time in Lambda. 

Curriculum: A+
The Lambda Curriculum is an exhaustive, but carefully curated, list of languages, frameworks, and concepts that equips an aspiring developer with the skills necessary to be a competent full-stack engineer. When I was accepted and looked at the syllabus, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of topics the course would cover and I worried that we would only delve into each subject area on a very superficial level. Boy was I wrong!!! Each topic was covered thoroughly and I felt prepared for our weekly sprint challenges. The instructors and student success team were also incredibly receptive to student suggestions about ways to improve the curriculum. Lambda takes great care to keep the curriculum relevant to the skills its graduates will need to be successful in the job search and I can say that I was comfortable working with an unfamiliar codebase and shipping code on my current project thanks to the curriculum at Lambda.

Job Support: A++++
Everything Lambda does is focused on making sure that you get hired as a developer once you graduate.  From ensuring have a substantive portfolio to show to potential employers, to having an assigned career coach who works tirelessly to help you land a job, Lambda is hellbent on making sure that their graduates land good jobs. If you are willing to trust the process and put in the work, Lambda will stop at nothing to make sure you are hired within six months of graduating from the program. On top of that, you don't pay anything back to the school until you land a job making at least $50k per year, so the school only succeeds if you do. 

Overall: A
There were times that I grew frustrated with the pace of the curriculum and felt like there is no way I could ever become a competent engineer. But the Lambda staff made sure I had all the help I needed to succeed and finish the program. This program is NOT for people who want to just coast by and think they'll land a high paying tech job. If you aren't willing to make learning your full-time job for the duration of the program, then you WILL NOT succeed in the program. Thankfully there is always someone available to help students who feel overwhelmed or fall behind in the curriculum. Everyone at Lambda School wants to see you win, I can personally attest to this because I would have never finished the program had it been for the support of my fellow students, the instructors, and the Lambda staff. 

Because of Lambda, I am a software engineer and I am so excited for what my future holds.