Chegg Skills

I came into Thinkful's program with zero prior programming knowledge. I used their prep course as an opportunity to figure out whether I'd like programming, and then completed the full-time full-stack program. I started my job as a web developer last week - it took a total of ~3 months for me to get a good offer. The TL;DR is that I had an excellent experience with Thinkful and would recommend it to anyone.

Thinkful is a remote-only program, which I thought might be problematic at first but didn't turn out to be much of a problem. The curriculum is constantly being iterated on, and - in my opinion - reflects a lot of thought about how to learn effectively (pair programming, a focus on creating projects, etc.) I think it covers all of the important building blocks for developers and prepares you on the relevant areas of knowledge for developers (e.g., common Git/Github practices). In terms of mentorship and resources, it's quite clear that Thinkful provides as much additional help as you want - "help" being one-on-one time with developers that have been in the industry, teaching you how they'd do something.

The curriculum uses JavaScript (through Node.js) on the back-end as well, which I think is a bit of a trade-off - it is much easier to handle learning just one language, but I saw few companies that use Node. I don't think this is a major issue - you can advertise your general knowledge of back-end, and typically I don't think companies hire junior developers with the thinking that they need to know the specific server-side technology already. I'm also not sure if there are any bootcamps that offer a significant improvement in this regard.

I am really happy with the position I have now, but it did take longer than I would've liked to get a position. Some of that was probably some bad luck, and I was happy with the career support Thinkful provided. The career services group knows what they're doing - I came out with what seemed like every box ticked off (a portfolio of projects, a tuned resume, a presence on LInkedIn and Angellist). Thinkful also provides you invaluable access to a career coach for weekly sessions, and continues to give you access to mentors if you want to polish up the coding side. 

I was accepted in the Nov '16 cohort that finished this past March '17. Prior to Thinkful, my coding experience was negligible, though I had a good deal of advanced math. Four months after completion I received a job offer as a front-end developer and successfully made career shift from a previously non-technical role.

In short, the staff and instructors were lovely people who knew their stuff. Thinkful's dedication to their student's success was clear. I loved the individualized mentor relationship. This is a person who not only helps you with day to day issues, but also with longer term goals, strategies, and struggles.

Special shout out to manager Theresa, instructor Ben, TAs Alex and Sidharth, and my mentors Jason and Jennifer.

Regarding the online experience, Thinkful did a great job overcoming the difficulties inherent in online education. 98% of the time, everything wen smoothly. The majority of the curriculum was great, with the rare exception of 4 or 5 days out of 4 months where my partners and I would lose confidence in the lesson plan and abandoned it for some self-study alternative. However, Thinkful seems very open to feedback and I've since learned that Thinkful has reworked some of the lesson days.

In total, I'm grateful of my Thinkful experience and highly recommend them.

I have been a student at Thinkful for a little over a year in the Python Programming course.  I am 50 years old, married with a couple of kids.  I also have a demanding job in IT at a company in the Boston area.  I highly recommend Thinkful because of the immersion that is difficult to reproduce any other way.  The immersion consists of a dedicated mentor who will colllaborate with you as you learn how code and how to properly communicate with others on your programming projects using tools such as Github and TravisCI.  In the process, I learned skills and vocabulary have become second nature.  As a Thinkful student, you will not only learn how to code, but also how to speak the language which is an invalubale skill required to land coding jobs as a freelancer or a full time developer.  The assignments can seem daunting at first, but the Thinkful mentors I worked with helped me get over that initial fear of what I didn't know when I started the course. Even though I had a hectic schedule, I did manage to finish the Thinkful Python Programming course.  Sign up and make the commitment and you will be surprised how much you can learn and develop your skills. Learning never stops.  It is a life long process.  Thinkful is like vitimins for your professional growth. 

I am currently still working with Thinkful after the phase I introduction phase and this has been the best experience to date to learn programming.

I have tried other programs to learn the same material but for some reason the way Thinkful teaches just sticks with me the best.  The combination of reading and applying that knowledge I find to be the best way to progress effectively.

Have the one on one mentor time I think is one of the best parts about this program.  As an introvert, I struggle in larger class settings but having one person to talk to about what I am working on works for me very well.  I find that am able to ask all the questions I may have been hesitant in a classroom setting and thus I am moving forward to ideally become a software engineer.

4 months ago I was working behind the bar one of my favorite places to be, my place of work, a hip and trendy coffee shop in the Downtown area of San Diego. I've often considered school to study computer programming, but more often than not the idea seem unachievable. In my area there are many developers, often filtering in and out my store, sparking my interest yet again in web development. Through them I learned of FreeCodeCamp.com which rapidly became my second favorite place to be as I began learning the basics of HTML/CSS. After spending a few hours every evening working on fun little projects for my photography friends and I, I decided to take it more seriously, I just didn't know how. After expressing my interest and enthusiasm with the before mentioned developers filtering in and out of my shop, I learned about the concept of a boot camp. Having experience with unconventional forms of learning, having been home schooled most of my life, the idea intrigued me, and I started entertaining the idea by researching programs in my area. After touring a place or two, having a few discussions with friends of mine (one of which an employee of GitHub), I kept hearing about Thinkful, the online alternative. 

Thinkful's course covers fullstack JavaScript development. They focus on the idea of project based learning all the while being taught by personable instructors and guided by a mentor assigned to you in the beginning of the camp. Through the instructors I learned new concepts, through my fellow students I learned how to "speak code" and work with other developers, and through my mentor I learned new ideologies for troubleshooting issues, new resources for learning, exciting new technologies, and recieved help on my personal projects.

Two weeks before graduating the program I was recommended by my program manager to a company out of San Francisco who was in the market for a Junior Developer, and got the job. I am now no longer working behind the bar at that hip and trendy coffee shop, instead i'm working infront of it in the tables I once served. The transition from barista to developer has been a wild one, but I couldn't recommend it enough. 

If anyone is looking for a professional, supportive, and effective coding bootcamp, particularly in the DC area, Thinkful is the best place! I came here on a complete career switch and wanted not only a school with a robust curriculum but also one that could provide me with effective career services and local networking opportunities. Thinkful's staff delivered on both of these and more. I had zero technical background or experience and managed to get hired before graduation thanks to Thinkful's help and encouragement on my portfolio, resume, and project management. Definitely a lot of hard work but totally worth it! 

In short: I had an extremely positive experience with Thinkful's Full-Time Web Development program and would highly recommend it to others. Thinkful is still a fairly young company and it does show--some of their material is not as polished as you'll see at more established companies like GA. However, it also means that they are much more flexible with the curriculum (which is a good thing). 

When I went through the program they had just switched to full JavaScript front and back-end. While they do offer resources for learning Python and, I think, Ruby/Rails as well, I felt that the all JavaScript approach was excellent. The market is definitely moving in that direction and I was able to land a full-stack Software Engineering role before finishing the bootcamp and was able to dive into the code base and contribute production code very quickly thanks to what I had learned at Thinkful. 

You'll have to make the decision whether the all-remote approach is right for you and, of course, you'll get out of the experience only what you're willing to put into it. But I found the support to be excellent and the all JavaScript approach is, IMO, the correct one.

Short Story:

Overall, I had a positive experience at Thinkful. I was in the 3rd cohort for the Full Time Full Stack program. I graduated in November 2016 and started a job on February 6th, 2017 as a Software Developer. I love my job and the company I work for and consider entering a bootcamp and getting into this career as the best professional decision I’ve made. I learned a ton while at Thinkful that directly contributed to me getting hired, specifically my React/Redux skills/experience.

Longer Story:

Like I mentioned earlier, my experience at Thinkful was very positive. There were a few things I didn’t necessarily agree with, but they collected feedback and you could tell were making efforts to improve their program (based on feedback) as we were going through. Since I’ve graduated, I’m sure a lot has changed and their program is even better. I learned a lot while I was there and it was very hard work, so expect to put in your best effort if you want to maximize the return on your time – this would likely hold true to any bootcamp. I thoroughly enjoyed what I was learning and put in many hours outside of the scheduled time. There were certainly times when it was frustrating because things just didn’t make sense, but once it started to click, it was amazing!

I specifically choose Thinkful for a few reasons. I was looking for an online program due to my geographical area (Phoenix, AZ) and the limited in-person options at that time. So, I wanted a bootcamp that specialized in online education, which I felt like Thinkful checked that box. I also wanted a program that was longer than the traditional programs. A lot of the bootcamps I saw were between 9 – 12 weeks and I just didn’t really feel like that was long. So, I was looking for something a bit longer, but not too long due to time constraints for myself and needing to get a job. (The longer you can spend learning, the better off you will be. To most of us, this stuff doesn’t come easy, especially in the beginning.) At the time, I think the Thinkful program ran 16 weeks, which I felt was much better than 12 weeks. Finally, I wanted a program that had a lot of resources. Thinkful had many resources, including: instructors, TAs, mentors, program managers, training sessions, open Q&A sessions, lectures, career advisors, and a lot more. I really think the amount of resources is one of the things that sets Thinkful apart from others and makes them a great program.

My Advice:

This advice applies to learning to become a developer and selecting a program in general and is not specific to Thinkful. From a cost perspective, there are a variety of options out there, some even free. So, depending on your situation, take into consideration what options would work best for you and make sure you understand what you are getting for your money. I am a believer in investing in yourself, but that’s just my opinion and you should do what’s best for you. When looking at different bootcamps, don’t be afraid to ask questions, even the tough questions. If they won’t give you answers, they probably aren’t worth your time (or money). This is a big investment in your time (and money), so you want to make sure everything is clear before you sign up for anything. After you do select a program, don’t hesitate to ask questions or raise concerns. In my opinion, a good program is one that would welcome feedback and the chance to make improvements that will be beneficial to their students. LASTLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, once you start a program, work hard! Like really hard! It is not an easy journey and it shouldn’t be. I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person, and it was very difficult for me. But I put in my best effort and it paid off, big time! Put in the extra hours, ask questions, ask for help, and try to help others (trust me, you’ll help yourself doing this). You don’t want to finish a program and look back with regrets on not trying harder. Like I said earlier, this is a big investment in your time (and possibly money), so maximize that investment the best you can.

Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions and I’ll do my best to respond. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Shay Kennedy

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaykennedy/

I’m about halfway through Thinkful’s Flexible Web Development Program and I’ve been really happy with it so far. After years of dabbling with tutorials and other programs, I think that Thinkful is finally the perfect fit.

The Node/Express/React curriculum is current and is exactly what I was looking for. The flexible schedule is still challenging enough to keep you moving forward, but also allows room for the important things in your life.

But the key for me has been having 3 mentor sessions a week. At every step of the way I have a knowledgable, experienced developer that can look at my code and let me know if I’m doing it “the right way” or there are some things to change or improve upon. I was always able to get through lessons in other programs, but I still never knew if what I was doing was really applicable in the real world. Now I know!

And all of this at about half the price of a traditional bootcamp!

 It’s great to finally feel like I’m on the right track to a career as a software developer.

Thinkful has an amazing program. I chose to enroll in Thinkful's Flexible Web-Development Bootcamp after trying to learn web development on my own for about a year.  I was at the point where I wanted some mentorship or guidance on the decisions I was making since my projects were becoming more complicated.  I strongly feel that Thinkful was the best choice.  I say that based on an analysis of Thinkful's program of instruction based on the three components that make their program what it is; the people, the curriculum and how they are managed in the process of education.  Thinkful does a phenomenal job in all three areas.

From an administrative perspective Thinkful has always been prompt and accurate with billing and any questions that I have had. They offer a veteran’s discount which I appreciated.  The people on the staff are all professional and are located globally; so there is flexibility in scheduling your mentoring sessions.  I have worked with two mentors because I had a scheduling conflict with the first.  The change was smooth and I did not lose any momentum in my education.

The curriculum at Thinkful is focused on the Node stack and Javascript web development.  That should probably be your first consideration in choosing a school, do you want to learn their technology?  If you decide on Node you won't find any better school than Thinkful. I have seen the curriculum at another coding school and Thinkful's is far superior; the other school did nothing to explain the utility of Ruby's gem system and left a lot of the programming decisions to the "black box" of Rails. Thinkful walks through the components used at length.  Both in developing a CSS grid system and in the introduction to testing Thinkful's curriculum unpacked what was going on so that the final functionality was clearly understood based on how it was built.  I believe that it is better to understand than rely on a "black box" from your framework's package system, but that is only my opinion.

In the execution of the program the Thinkful team has been stellar as well; they really do function as an integrated team.  Due to travel I had to suspend my program a week and that was executed smoothly, so basic administrative functions are solid in this regard.  The sessions with my Mentors have always been professional and productive; they have been both attentive to my questions and able to guide the process.  As part of the education I have held three mock-interviews with other members of the staff, two where I had to perform coding demonstrations.  This was new to me and real value added, because it was hard, and something I could not have done on my own.  The evaluators were thorough and professional and demonstrated the high caliber of the Thinkful Team.  I have several interviews left in the program and I am confident that the future members of the staff that I interact with will be of equally high caliber.

Coding bootcamps are expensive but it is my opionion Thinkful is well worth the money.  That said you don't get handed anything, you have to work for it; Thinkful provides a comprehensive program that guides you along by focusing on the most important tasks needed to become competent in web-development using the Node stack.  I highly recommend the school.

Why I Chose Thinkful

I am a Product Designer working mostly on web products. I am also self-taught front-end dev. I watched tens of hours of tutorials, went to meetups and conferences and got to the point where I could comfortably turn my designs into HTML mockups. I found it very difficult to progress from here into programming. I tried learning JS frameworks myself but had difficulty finding help and understanding best practices and so on.

I was looking for a bootcamp that would provide:

- guidance on how to approach switching to a full-stack development,

- active student community,

- and most importantly, lots of 1:1 time with a mentor.

I compared a few programs and then I had a chance to join Thinkful's online community for a bit to explore and talk to a few people. I really liked the community I found there and all the Q/A sessions going on, so I decided to give it a shot.

Curriculum

I thought the curriculum was very modern, very challenging with a lot of great content. I supplemented my learning with additional resources like Egghead and FrontendMasters, but I thought it was a perfect roadmap of concepts and techniques I needed to master.

Mentor

My mentor is by far the best part of the program. I have a tremendous respect for him. He is extremely knowledgeable, but also kind and patient. I have three hours a week of face-to-face time with him, but we also Slack on a regular basis if I am stuck and need help.

Community

I don't know how many students are taking the program simultaneously, but it always seems busy in Slack. Moreover, there are Q/A sessions available every day with other mentors over a video chat. To me personally, it was very very helpful to have a community of folks I can talk to and learn from.

Carrer Support

There are five interview practice sessions. They are hard, mentors are rigorous, just like a real interview.