Chegg Skills

Thinkful has been one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I've done a lot of challenging things so far at the age of 25, i've owned 2 businesses, am a marine corps veteran, and now graduate of Thinkful and found my way into the tech industry working professionally now. I started full stack immersive class at the end of September and graduated mid-february. The cirriculum is very thorough and constantly updated making you the most modern dev when you go into interviews. The languages/frameworks the other applicants are talking about trying to learn, you already know in depth from Thinkful. The 2 best things about Thinkful though I have to say, is the mentors, program managers and the people you are surrounded by on a daily basis and the fact that you not only learn to be a modern full stack web developer, but you always learn HOW TO learn which was huge for me. Tech is constantly changing and I wanted the ability to be able to learn, grow, and adapt to this changing field and Thinkful helped me do that by teaching me how to learn and pick up new languages, frameworks, etc. I will end this review by making one last, important statement... only join this course if you intend to give your 120% all day every day. If you don't put in maximum effort, you won't get maxiumum return. As well as hindering the experience for your fellow classmates which isn't fair to them either. I never ran into this issue at all and still regularly communicate with my fellow cohort, but it's important for you all to work hard and never give up on yourself or each other. In the full stack immersive you'll feel like you're living with these people with 6 months and grow fantastic relationships with them along the way.

I'm currently attending the online Full Stack Flex program with Thinkful. I participated in another in-person bootcamp elsewhere and found it really lacking as concepts weren't explained thoroughly and instructors/staff weren't around often enough to help me through tough assignments. So I found Thinkful through Course Report!

At Thinkful the course curriculum is so thorough that I'm able to tackle a good 70% of it on my own. They provide so many additional resources if you want to dig deeper or if you need help understanding a concept. Besides the fantastic material, there are also many Q+A sessions throughout the day. If I'm ever stuck on a problem for more than an hour I hop into a Q+A session and am guided in the right direction. I've been in many of these sessions and interacted with many of the instructors and each one helps put me on the right track without handing me the answer or making me feel stupid for not knowing something. I also have an incredible mentor I meet with twice a week on a video chat where we go over my homework and any questions I have. 

There's also a strong focus on job eligibility between mock interviews that are part of your course requirements, career Q+A sessions offered several times a week, and the capstone projects that are great additions to a portfolio.

I'm so grateful to have found Thinkful through Course Report! I find myself facing mental challenges I never experienced before yet it's all good because the Thinkful structure and team is encouraging through every step.

I signed up for the Flexible Full Stack JavaScript course.  I found the material to be extremely relevant in terms of the job market and incredibly thorough.  I ventured out many times to find other takes on the concepts they were teaching especially in regards to the Computer Science material and every single time I found that their code was the cleanest, most concise, and most elegant.  They updated the material very regularly which impressed me. You work with mentors 3x / week via Slack or some other vid chat for an hour at a time.  I worked with 2, they were both very seasoned and knowledgable programmers and web developers.  The last one I worked with was working for a startup in the Netherlands before he came back to the states to work for Nike (he knew his stuff).  The program director I worked with (Derek Forge) was an awesome and amazing guy (also extremely seasoned developer) and was always eager to help and available to chat.  My career coach Jen worked with me weekly.  She really helped me put out a professional resume and had great advice to help get me a job.  Overall I was extremley happy with my experience there.  I really their curriculum is top notch.

My overall experience as a Thinkful student was incredibly positive.  I originally started with Thinkful in their Full Time Web Development program.  The instructors for the full time program are very knowledgable and take the time to focus on each team's projects and progress throughout the course.  There is also a TA assigned to each cohort who is available to help outside of designated daily class hours.

After completing the 3-week prep course and about 2 weeks of the full time schedule, I switched over to the Flexible Web Development program.  I was able to stay with the same mentor who I initially started with and still had access to all of the great resources that Thinkful provides, like QA sessions, Workshops, a designated Program Manager, and multiple Slack channels connecting me with fellow Thinkful students.  

The curriculum that Thinkful lays out for each section provides a great foundation for full stack web development.  Before Thinkful, I taught myself HTML, CSS, and some basic JavaScript.  I drastically increased my programming skills and understanding over the past six months, learning both front- and backend JS frameworks and libraries.

A couple of aspects that really set Thinkful apart from other bootcamps are their individualized care for each student and their one-on-one mentor program.  Having the opportunity to speak to a professional programmer 3 times a week was invaluable.  My mentor helped me make sense of concepts I struggled with and guided me back on track when I was working through the curriculum and 3 capstone projects.  Each student at Thinkful is also paired with their own Program Manager who helps you with any concerns you might have about your progress or to just check in to see how things are going with you.

If you're weighing your coding bootcamp options and you are looking for a program that has fine-tuned (and continuously improves) the online bootcamp experience, seriously consider going with Thinkful.  I don't think I could have achieved such success and have been able to change careers if it had not been for Thinkful.

I'm a professional educator, and I know that learning in this model, with self-directed projects alongside a mentor, is the most effective way to learn.The course material is well organized, appropriate, and challenging, and the mentor sessions are invaluable. I love the flexibility in the Full Stack Flex program. I coded 15 years ago in Java, and now need to go back to some basics to get back up to web dev speed, and I appreciate the combination of basics and advanced concepts as well as the ability for me to speed up or slow down as needed. I recommend Thinkful's Flex program for anyone that wants to learn the most up-to-date web development with the most flexibility.

Coming from a business background with only cursory knowledge of Python and Statistics, I probably have to work harder and longer than everyone else, but found my mentor supportive in guiding me through the curriculum and pointing me in the right direction so I didn't waste too much time going on tangents. There are a number of bootcamps popping up in person and online, and I haven't tried them so I can't do a direct comparison, but Thinkful's emphasis (compared to the curriculum of others) on putting together real projects drew me to the course, and I believe my Capstones will demonstrate my capabilities to potential employers. The capstones will get me in the door and the intensive mock interviews will get me the job. It's well worth the investment.

Before finding Thinkful I was lost, uncertain of what I would make of my future. I had drive but I did not know where to apply it or what my prospects were of achieving purpose or success in any of the options that were put before me career-wise. I have since found that guidance in Thinkful via my wonderful mentor (shoutout to Aaron) and the excellent support system that makes up the rest of the community. The curriculum and resources are very thorough and the staff is very accommodating. I have found great benefit from the program as a whole so far and would recommend it to anyone seeking a career in web development or feeling lost as I once was.

 

So far I am about a month and a half into Thinkful's flexible web development boot camp. I am just finished my first big project and I am finishing up the introductory section. I have had a great experience with Thinkful so far. When you have a question that needs to be answered quickly you can go to the Slack community where there are mentors that will answer your question very fast. If you have a more in-depth question there are Q & A sessions going on all day long on various topics that you can jump into via video chat to get your question answered. Finally, you have 3, hour-long sessions with your mentor each week to go over what you are learning. The mentor meetings are extremely valuable. My mentor has helped to clear up topics that I have been confused about. 

I can't give an accurate rating of the job support as I haven't reached that point in the course yet. Although, if it is anything like the support I have received so far then I know I won't be disappointed. If you are thinking about joining Thinkful and want to talk to a current student, feel free to email me at strtzy91@gmail.com.

Applying to Thinkful was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I completed the full-time fullstack JavaScript course in August 2017. It was a huge time commitment, but I was lucky enough to be able to give the course 100% attention. I probably put a minimum of 40 hours a week for the entire length of the course. If you put in the time and work, and have a passion for becoming a developer, this is definitely the place for you.

The teachers were great, the mentor system was amazing, and the Thinkful network is absolutely incredible. If I ever needed help or advice on something, I would be able to reach out to someone and get an answer or pointed in the right direction in a timely manner. I would say the thing that I was most impressed with was the effort so many people put in during the job search. I would get slack messages a few times a week with job postings that fit what I was looking for. One of those slack messages ended up being the job I accepted! I hit a bit of a snag during my job search and my career coach revamped my resume and I believe it really helped me finding my eventual job.

Expect to learn a ton of new stuff, really really quickly. It can get overwhelming but all you have to do is keep moving forward. Let people know if you're not understanding the material, the last thing you want to do is fall behind. Everything will come together in the end, you just have to work hard every day for the enitre length of the course. 

Pros:

I was looking into online courses for data science for two reasons: No.1 I didn't have any actual programming experience and this is becoming a very trendy direction to catch on. Maybe not for new jobs or career shift, I wanted to learn new stuff always. No.2 I do want to know if changing career after three years full time with science background would be a great option for me.

I found Thinkful on Meetup and I signed up for free course and info session in downtown Atlanta, GA. I found I was sitll intereted in the course so that I signed up prep course which helped me to get some shadows on data science, especially to know a little about python and the toolkit. 

My mentor Hallie, who walked me through a lot during our chat sessions. Three time a week was a little too much for me as I was doing part time jobs while looking for new jobs. After four weeks I finished my tiny capstone in which I truly learned a lot as a beginner. I already shared and referred 10 friends to Thinkful. In the mean time I found a great new job then I will be more confident to enroll to the bootcamp.

If you are a zero background beginner like me, the prep course is a real trail for you to know if you are a good fit. Without this, I wouldn't have known a lot of people out there keep learning new things and you will have chances to connect with your mentor and expand your network as well. 

Since I don't need it to find a job but surprisingly I will need python in the new job and I just learned it a bit earlier.

Cons: (Not cons exactly)

You do need to invest a LOT of time and energy before stepping into the bootcamp while doing your full-time job. 

I picked Thinkful because I didn't want to quit my day job.. and it turned out to be a great choice!

Your experience with the program will very much depend on the quality of your mentor. You are expected to have three 1-on-1 meetings per week, for 1 hour each. The best use of the time is to make sure you establish goals with the curriculum, then come to the meeting with questions. Aside from the curriculum, you can ask your mentor about the industry or CS theories.

After graduation, you are matched with a career coach to help with your resume, LinkedIn, cover letter,etc etc... and to help you stay on track with the requirements for the money back graduante. Like your mentor, the career coach is very helpful and friendly with advices. Thinkful will try to introduce you to 3 companies.. but I didn't need this service so I can't comment much on it. I found a Web Developer job with a good company within 2 months after graduation (4 months in total as I started job searching before graduation as well).

The Thinkful community is also very good. I had an alumni reaching out to me to offer helps if needed. I also reached out to an alumni when I noticed he work at a company I was applying for, and he didn't mind giving me an introduction.

Overall, I would recommend this to my friends or others who are serious about a career change.

My experience with Thinkful has been great. The skills and technologies that i picked up these past months have really helped me understand complex libraries and frameworks. My honest adivse to anyone thinking of taking Thinkful or any other  bootcamp would be that, you have to make it a habit to  f**king code day and night. It is the only way to stand out once you come out of one.  Another thing I really liked about Thinkful is that even now that i have a job, i can pop into their Q/A  sessions and ask questions about things that still may be new to me. As for their staff, they are all really nice and considerate. They really do try their best to help you stand on your feet as a developer, so hats off the to staff.