Chegg Skills

Before my first day of learning at Thinkful, I had minimal knowledge on programming. I dabbled with some exercises in Free Code Camp and Codeacademy, but I felt that I would personally benefit from a mentor who could help me further understand the logic of the code, answer my questions, and recommend best practices. I looked through a variety of online and on-site programs and thought that Thinkful fit my needs: it offered a flexible track (which was ideal since I worked full-time), emphasized the mentor-mentee model, had a supportive community both online and on-site, and a team from career services to guide you on the job hunt. ​

Curriculum: 

   I found Thinkful's curriculum to be organized and straightforward. They lay out the basics and take you through advanced lessons with examples and exercises. They also have assignments and capstones that help you really solidify what you have learned while being creative with your personal projects (which is always fun!).

   I will say that there were some topics that I thought could have been explained clearly and thoroughly. With that, you would need to constantly use Google, StackOverflow and other resources to research topics that may seem unclear. To add onto this, you have your mentor, Thinkful/Slack community and Q&A sessions hosted by mentors on a variety of topics that you can turn to for questions; they are usually very responsive and helpful. 

As many reviews here have said, this curriculum will be difficult at times. Given that there is so much to learn in a short amount of time, it is completely understandable that anyone can feel frustrated or overwhelmed (I know I did!). But don't give up! Throughout this track, you would need to stay patient, dedicated and willing to work hard. It will pay off nicely in the end, especially when you complete those capstones.

Instructors/Community:

   Students get an hour-long mentor session three times a week. Mentor sessions could include anything from curriculum Q&As, coding exercises/pair programming, or interview prep. My mentor Aleksandar Grbic has been nothing short of amazing. As someone who comes from a background completely unrelated to tech, I first felt intimidated by all the new information. Alex has helped me better understand programming concepts by offering clear explanations. For instance, I started off from "What is an object??" to building projects that use them. He has been patient, thorough, understanding, and would offer advice on real-world expectations in the world of web development, which is extremely valuable. 

This may vary by city, but we have a local Thinkful group managed by the awesome Peter Kim in Atlanta, GA. We meet bi-weekly to meet other Thinkful students and mentors, showcase capstone projects (and gaining feedback), go through coding challenges, and ask mentors questions. We also learn more about the local tech industry through meet-ups/events or job opportunities shared by mentors and students. I love my Thinkful family and their passion for coding. I would say that our meetings have truly enriched my experience.

Job Assistance:

While I am not yet at the point of working with the career services team, I have participated in a web conference that interviewed Thinkful graduates about their experiences on finding jobs. Overall, it seemed like a positive experience. I could also note other instances where people from the Thinkful community have assisted in making the job hunt easier. On Slack, students would post their resumes or portfolio pages for review and receive feedback. In my local Thinkful group, we would share opportunities to attend recruiting events together. There were also some mentors who would assist you in finding leads in some companies. 

Overall Experience:

I'm currently on my fourth month of the flexible web development track, and looking back, I have to say that I definitely learned so much that I can now confidently create awesome projects that I am passionate about. Because of its dedication to student success, I would highly recommend Thinkful.

Background:

A close friend of mine at work very randomly one day said to me "Jeremy, you are way too smart to be stuck working here for the rest of your life.  I was reading an article about computer coding a couple days ago, I think you should check it out."  To say computer coding was not on my radar, would not even give that under statement a fair shot as an under statement.  Let's more accurately describe my knowledge/interest in computer coding ..... I have never one time in my entire life given it an iota of thought, until Kenny approached me with the suggestion.  So, self-inventory time, as I'm sitting at home, a few hours after Kenny had unkowingly changed the path of my existence.  Wife-yes, Offspring-yes, Mortgage-yes, Work Stability-yes, Great Friends-yes, Basic Needs Met-yes, Good Health-yes, Complacent-yes, Lackadaisical-Yes, Indifferent-Yes Uninterested-yes.  Immediately all neon arrows were pointing to the only part of my life that wasn't seemingly perfect, causing the last 4 inventory items to be Yes.  I had been working the same brain-dead job for 7 years, and I was wasting away mentally without realizing it.  So, yeah .... let's give computer coding a shot.

The Course: 

Currently, I am 35 years old.  The first 25, I spent nearly the entire year freezing to death, in nowhereville Michigan.  The last 10, I have spent nearly the entire year sweating to death, in nowhereville Florida.

The above statement at first glance, will more often then not, be perceived as a negative statement, because of three words.  Human nature teaches us that freezing and sweating, and of course death, are not good things.

Currently, I am 35 years old.  The first 25, I spent nearly the entire year cozied up next to the fireplace, in nowhereville Michigan.  The last 10, I have spent nearly the entire year basking in the beautiful sun, in nowhereville Florida.

Not so bad after a couple replacements were inserted, eh?

I've been in the Flexible Web Development Bootcamp for just over 2 months.  I quickly learned that if this is not something that you very very very very much, deep down, have the passion to apply/challenge/dedicate/sacrifice/trust yourself, to name a few ..... then you're going to view this job field as the first description of FL/MI.  But, for me ... a fire has been lit.  I have never been so enthralled and full of life, in my life.  This short journey has already brought back so much of what I forgot I had inside of me, LIFE! I'm alive again, not some dope wandering through every single day, waiting for the yearly vacation. My wife asked me, "Honey, why did you wait so long? You are a different person!" That's a good question, but I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.

It's all the things that you would expect from a career with endless potential in a multitude of different arenas, nothing will be handed to you on a silver platter.  This is something you take, you go get it, and you take it, and you don't slow down or stop until you get it.  I'm not there yet, but I will be, .... oh, I will be.

Mentors: 

B. Bowers is my mentor.  He is one of the coolest, most laid back, unfair to the rest of society level of brilliant dudes that I have ever met.  I have only known him for a little over 2 months and I look forward everyday, to our time spent intensely obsessing over whatever we are working on at the moment, both of us so locked into working the problem until it's solution is found.  Then we enjoy a tiny shared victory, and right back in we go.  He's the epitomy of the calm during the storm, he'll repeat the same thing to me as calm and slow the 7th time as he did the 1st. time he said it.  Geniune care and concern for my well-being, and for the well-being of my future and that of my family, oh and btw, he is also brilliantly and seamlessly walking me properly/purposefully/perfectly into one of the most thought invoking, complex, detail oriented, do it right or don't do it at all careers in the world.

Job Assistance:

That will come, of this I know!

Overall:

I could not be happier if I tried.

Shout Out: Noel, I think for 1 month a year, Noel should be sent on a vacation of his choice, wherever, with money filled pockets(not his money)  I counted a little bit ago in my email. During a 4 month period, from his reply to my first horrified email, to his last reply, introducing me to my mentor.(ending with 'hope to hear from you soon')  From a standpoint of what I needed from him, in his over 20+ replies to every single of my emails, he never missed replying to one of them mind you, he absolutely could not have given me a more perfect/relevant/timely/information rich/calming/reassuring/confidence boosting response in regards to what my previous email was requesting of him, ever.  He was overly perfect at getting me exactly and usually more than what I needed.  Noel, brother, you are an amazing amazing man for what you do, and with the passion that you do it with over and over and over and over for all of us.  You're never stale, it's always fresh, sincere and real.  For that, I will forever be in your debt for guiding me through the process to get here.

Background:
My previous full-time job was completely unrelated to programming. I had a few hobbies that surrounded computers (gaming, computer building) and I had spent some previous time with self study using free online resources and taking a couple community college CS courses. I had tried teaching myself C++ as a young teen and quickly realized how difficult that was, thus abandoning my early CS career. My current job was very stressful with long hours and no appreciation and little to show for it. So I can to the conclusion something had to be done and decided to look back at something that had interested me enough to attempt self learning with C++.

The Course: 
I spent 3 months in this Front-End Web Development course. At that time, it was said to usually take 3-4 months for most students. The material was not that deep and kept mostly to the surface of various web development topics. This was helpful for beginners and was nice to get a overall foundation, however, you soon got to a point where you needed more advanced knowledge in order to actually do anything real world related and the course did not have support for that. In addition, the course would almost always refer to outside resources for their course content. I understand that they did not want to reinvent the wheel when a wheel was already perfectly available; it still gave the nasty taste of a company charging heavy fees to just point you to the Internet. Obviously, this material is not easy, and if you're expecting something simple and fast, you're looking in the wrong field. Having said that, this course would be great for early beginners. Though, when it comes to job application time, you will not be prepared to land a job. The skills you gain in this course are insufficient for being employed and the projects are too simple and too superficial to be of any use for anyone or to showcase necessary skills.

Mentors: 
Initially, I was matched with a mentor who did seem very intelligent but not completely integrated into the Thinkful process. She was on the older side, which is perfectly fine, except she didn’t seem in touch with the most recent web development tools and frameworks, which was severely limited since that’s what the course was made for. She was never prepared for our meetings and only relied on me to ask questions. This was a super frustrating experience for a new developer because I did not know what I did not know and was very much relying on my mentor’s expertise to help guide the way. If I just wanted to teach myself and ask questions when I knew I had them, I would have just done freecodecamp and stackoverflow. Ultimately, I should have switched mentors to see what else was out there.

Job assistance: 
Unfortunately, at the time of me taking this course, Thinkful promised assistance with job placement, however, they did absolutely nothing in this regard. I received no help, no communication, and no offer of assistance during my entire time in the course and since. I was very disappointed with this as even just reviewing my portfolio/online presence, or technical interview prep would have been great.

Overall:
This course was sub par even considering it cost less than other bootcamps. The material is challenging in that its a new field, but you do not dig very deep, they constantly link you to other materials, career services was non-existent for me, and my mentor was not helpful. The course may be different now, but my experience was not positive.

I signed up in November of 2015 full of hope and excitement for my future.  I enrolled into the front-end web development courses and also the node course.  My first mentor was great and we got along very well.  Then in March, 2016, I was suddenly assigned to a different mentor without any prior warning.  I logged in to the usual session time and was told that somebody new was going to guide me through.  At first, everything was going well, but soon he started missing sessions with no notice.  I should have asked to get another mentor, but felt I was very close to finishing so I continued with him.

In July, 2016, my program director told me that he was confident I was ready to graduate and when I sent him my portfolio, he said that it was good enough for him and had me start working with a designer to polish it up.  She gave me a few pointers to make my portfolio better.  The issue with her was that she kept telling me to use my design skills, even though I never took design courses.  I told her that I hadn't taken those courses and was only a developer, but she kept telling me to "use your design skills, use your design skills!"

After three months, THREE MONTHS, of this, somehow another program director got looped into the discussion and he told me that my portfolio, the very same portfolio approved by the first program director, violated Thinkful's own standards for graduation portfolios.  At this point, I had now been enrolled in the 6-8 month program for a full year and he wanted me to redo each and every single one of my projects in the portfolio.  When I told him that it had been approved by the other director, and that I had been in the program for over a year, he said I only had to redo two of them.

From November to December of 2016, I worked on it and the second director was telling me that everything was looking good and he would have somebody from career services reach out to me.  All through January, 2017 I was getting this promise until one day I told him that I was tired of being strung along and either I would have contact with career services or get a refund of my tuition.  Finally, I was put in contact with career services and started what was supposed to be six months of career placement assistance.

She bailed after two months telling me that she would have to seek approval for more sessions with me.  The problem with that was when I signed up, at this point, 18 months prior, I was given a promise of six full months of career placement assistance.  Understandably, I was rather confused as to why she would only work with me for two months.

I worked my tail off each day while I was taking my courses, coming home from a full-time job and putting in several hours in the evening, and several more Saturday and Sunday as well.  I did what they asked of me and trusted them when they said I was ready to graduate and my portfolio was good enough to go.  Now, I'm stuck in limbo, not having the promised career placement help, and they aren't responding to my emails.  If I had to do this all over again, I would have chosen somebody else such as the Odin Project, where they don't charge tuition until after you get a job, or even Free Code Camp.

Thinkful broke every promise they made to me.  Every single one.  I truly regret going through this bootcamp.

Background:
My full-time job was completely unrelated to programming. I had a few hobbies that surrounded computers (gaming, computer building) and I had just started working on the front-end portion of a free codecademy lesson (HTML/CSS). I was looking for another career that would challenge me everyday and could give me a way to be creative and design experiences for people for a variety of reasons. This career also has the benefit of bringing in more money than I was making at my other job.

The Course:
I've been in the 6-month flexible full stack course for about 4 months now. I have learned more practical technical skills in that time than I ever thought possible. With that said, this course is not easy, and if you're expecting something simple and fast, you're looking in the wrong field. The course is written to challenge you and force you to work through problems using skills its shown. It also challenges you to use the most important resource known to any developer: Google. I gave the Curriculum a 4/5 because at times I am frustrated by it, but that is remedied by the one-on-one attention I'm given from my mentor.

Mentors:
Initially, I was matched with a mentor who did not seem completely onboard with the whole process. I'm not sure if he was new or burnt out, but our first two conversations weren't what I was hoping to get out of the course. I spoke to my program manager and he was immediately willing to move me to another mentor, the one I currently work with, without very much prompting. I was very happy with how flexible he was willing to be to make sure I got what I needed to learn. Just being able to be open and honest with the manager has been a huge help and my new mentor is also responsive to my needs as a learner. My program manager is also always willing to meet during times available on his calendy. This is a HUGE benefit because it affords me the contact of multiple professionals in the field, giving me that much more mentorship. On top of that, Q&A sessions are available from a variety of other mentors during specific times, during which I'm able to ask specific questions. Funny enough, my mentor is very much into server-side coding, and my manager is the biggest CSS/front-end enthusiast I’ve met. Having both of them to teach and guide me has been absolutely amazing.

Job assistance:
Although I haven't even reached the end of my time in Thinkful, I’m already able to work with local mentors to start a job search. It is extremely important to attend meetups if they are available in your area, as these provide opportunities to network and meet other professionals, some of whom may be hiring. At one such meetup, I made an arrangement with a Thinkful manager to showcase one of my projects and to meet some professionals in the field at a company nearby.

Overall:
This course is for the dedicated and determined, but it's not like college or another school. You’re working with real professionals in the field who can teach you exactly what you need to be successful.

Recently I completed the Frontend Web Development course (individual skilled course) after a period of 3 months, spending about 10/15 hours a week on the learning materials and exercises. Much more time, however, was spent on my capstone project in which you apply all you have learned.

The course was a great experience and very rewarding to me:

• The web portal is very user-friendly;
• The learning material is not dry and strikes the right balance between theory and practical hands-on examples;
• Being paired with a mentor, though is in my opinion, the real key to the success of Thinkful's course concept as it will motivate you to stay on track and in case stuck there is help out there. My mentor Andrew was amazing, very experienced, great communicator and very flexible in case life got in the way. He provided me with many great (re)sources which I (will) consult on a regular basis going forward. Also brainstorming with him about my capstone project was fun and very helpful.      

This course did not feel like any other course in the sense that pretty much from day 1 you will be hands-on with quick results. All exercises are interesting and for the more elaborate exercises (interactive quiz, capstone project) it is up to you how to fill them in, as long as it meets the given requirements.

The course felt definitely more as a "hobby" than a "tedious" learning experience.  

If you're currently reading this review it's probably because you're considering Thinkful among other web development bootcamp options. Based on my experience, I highly advise that you seriously consider choosing Thinkful.

I finished the flexible full-stack development program around 2 months ago and I am now working as a Front End Engineer. For me, this is simply incredible! a year ago I wouldn't have dreamed of having this position and all the skills and knowledge that I now have thanks to the program.

Even though my experience in Thinkful was fantastic, I will list the pros and cons of the program.

Pros:

- Working with an experienced software engineer as your mentor is incredibly valuable! Not only will they help you when you're stuck and explain to you the curriculum, but they will teach you best practices and give you insights about the industry. My mentor was simply amazing. Our sessions were fun, interesting, challenging, and motivating. I would always look forward to our sessions! And he would always help me when I got stuck with my projects even outside of our sessions through Slack. 

- Apart from your mentor, you have a large support network. I got a lot of support from my program manager (who is also amazing), especially in the final stages of the program. After I completed the program, other Thinkful mentors were very supportive with my job search.

- The curriculum is very thorough and up to date with industry standards. Learning React gave me a huge advantage in my job search! 

- When you complete the program, you have a portfolio ready to show to employers. 

- The program's flexibility is great when you have a job or cannot dedicate yourself full-time to study.

- After you complete the program, you are assigned a career coach who helps you write your resume, cover letter, and prepares you for interviews. The team at Career Services can also introduce you to companies and potential employers. I found the sessions with my coach to be very helpful in my job search and without a doubt helped me to land the job that I wanted. 

Cons:

- Since it is online, you don't meet people in person, so its hard to make friends and/or study peers.  

- You need to be very disciplined with your hours of study. This is really not a problem if you love coding, but you should consider it if you're committing to take the program. 

- Unless you have previous experience in coding and/or you have a natural ease for coding, you will spend a lot longer than the time estimates given to complete each exercise. 

- Sometimes the notes are not very clear and/or thorough. That being said, the curriculum is updated and improved on a continuous basis. 

As the title of this review states, Thinkful is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I would definitely recommend taking this program!

I enrolled in the Thinkful Software Engineering Bootcamp (now known as Chegg Skills) with high hopes, but my experience fell short of expectations. Here’s a breakdown of my key experience:

1. Time Commitment Misrepresentation: The program advertised that I would need to commit at least 30 hours per week, but in reality, the projects and lessons took much longer to complete. If you request an extension on the program, you lose the refund guarantee. 
   
   
   
2. Ineffective Support: On multiple occasions, I spent hours working with chat support, only to receive answers that didn’t solve my problem. This was incredibly frustrating and wasted time.
   
   
   
3. Mentorship Challenges: My mentor stopped showing up to scheduled meetings and didn’t respond to my emails. They only communicated when I reached out to Thinkful.
   
   
   
4. Lack of Help with Projects: I got stuck on a project, and despite seeking help, no one was able to assist me. Realizing that I wouldn’t be able to complete the remaining lessons and projects on time, I made the difficult decision to withdraw from the program.
   
   
   
5. Program Changes: After I withdrew, the original program was replaced with a new one that advertises a time commitment of 10-15 hours per week and covers basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—skills I had already learned in the old program. This made me feel cheated, as I didn’t receive a certificate for my efforts, even though I would have with the current program.
   
   
   

Overall, my experience with Thinkful (now Chegg Skills) left much to be desired. While the idea of a structured, mentor-led bootcamp was appealing, the execution was lacking, and I didn’t feel supported in a way that would justify the investment.

I do not recommend Thinkful. The test system they have called 'mock interviews' is so bizarre and seems like it was created as a gatekeeping device. For most of the final exams set up like these mock interviews, you have several coding challenges and you have to make all of the coding problems become fixed so that the Qualified tests pass. You get two attempts at exams and then dropped. The exams are pass/fall (as in, get all answers correct, one mistake will result in a total fail). The material is often outdated and honestly much worse than what you can find for free online with Odin Project. This was a waste of money. I wish I hadn't signed up for Thinkful because I didn't learn relevant material for today's software engineering market. The actual prestige of Thinkful is nonexistent so nobody in the job market cares if you get a certificate from here. I hope others can avoid this place.

I would not recommend this boot camp - especially to anyone who does not already have design and/or computer science knowledge. I'm writing this to hopefully save someone else from spending over $7000 on a boot camp that (in my experience) does not prepare you for real-life UX/UI work.

The best part about this boot camp, by far, was the mentor that I was lucky enough to be matched with, and my career coach post-graduation.
The curriculum was subpar at best, with not nearly enough practical and relevant information. There were several occasions where I found incorrect information that I had to ask my mentor about, and after clarifying the errors, would tell me that I'm not the first one to bring things like this to her attention.
There were ZERO team design projects while I attended. Even though the curriculum called one module 'Team Design', it was actually only team design in theory, with fictional team members built into the projects.

The Tuition Refund Guarantee is only applicable to students who have not moved during the boot camp (I lost mine because my partner lost his job and we had to move), and after graduating, students have to apply for at least 10 jobs a week for 6 months to be eligible for the refund.
They provide helpful career coaching but simultaneously push you to apply for as many jobs as possible immediately after finishing the program.
Instead of applying for a ton of random jobs (that the program did not prepare me for), I decided to take on two UX/UI internships and focus on continuing education, aiming to fill the knowledge and experience gaps that Thinkful's curriculum and overall experience left.

Bottom line - I would definitely choose another school to invest your money in. There are far too many growing pains still occurring in this one. The sub-par curriculum, lack of practical projects, and total of 0 real collaboration opportunities is not worth +7k. 

The Thinkful community is supportive, helpful, and compassionate. Ever class I felt safe to ask questions of any caliber and not feel any ridicule. Also, Thinkful was the most supportive schooling I’ve ever received. From TAs, Academic Success Managers, Mentor, to my career development specialist- I’ve felt nothing but people rooting me on to fulfill my full potential and success. Thinkful is a completely legitimate alternative to college for the tech space- and can help you pivot current skills to match the entry level experience. Highly recommend to anyone considering a virtual boot camp. Not to mention their stipend option! Thinkful is revolutionizing what our notion is of academics today.