Chegg Skills

I have been around the block in terms of learning basic python learning (in the hopes to get some data science chops): I've dabbled in Code Academy, General Assembly intro classes and a few free resources. The main issue I kept running into is integrating Python skills with Data Science. All other courses out there will teach you basic Python syntax, but getting the context-- how do I use this in real life and to solve data science problems-- is hard to get a grasp on. 

Thinkful's prep course is the best introduction to Data Science out there. It teaches you the basics of Python in the context of data science -- so you are learning programming with purpose. The curriculum is well-written, witty, and engaging-- with plenty of opportunity to practice as you go. Though I haven't taken the full bootcamp (I don't feel it's the right time for me right now) I would absolutely go to Thinkful in the future to pursue Data Science further.

With that said, the one area I feel they could improve is the mentorship experience. I realize it's a tough nut to crack--matching the right people together, and quickly-- but there needs to be some more centralized approach to improve quality. For example, my mentor didn't really help guide my Final Project for the prep course based on the criteria that I was being graded on. He coached me through Python issues I was having, but ultimately my project ended up being less "data sciencey" than was expected of me. 

I just started my 7th week with the Thinkful flexible bootcamp, and it has gone smoothly thanks to everything Thinkful has in place. If you're pretty motivated and can hold yourself to a schedule, this is probably the least stressful choice.  My learning is all online and fits my schedule, but the 1-on-1 skype-style meetings with a mentor 3 times per week have helped me to discuss what I'm learning in the correct terms, and how this sort of project would work in a team setting.  It is also great to have someone look at my code and take the time to tell me how it looks, and how I'm doing overall. When I'm stuck in between mentor sessions, there are Q&A video chat sessions I can jump into most hours of the day and run it by a Thinkful programmer.   I imagine this support is what most of my tuition is paying for, and it's been really valuable. 
  I've already been encouraged to attend meetups and talk to a career coach, although the real coaching is supposed to start once you've 'graduated' the curriculum. The curriculum wastes no time; it explains only what you need to understand about a subject, but provides great resource links for when you do want more detail. I'll let you know about the job assistance once I get there :)

My experience with Thinkful has turned out to be a very knowledgable one. The curriculum is straightforward and systematic. Interaction with mentors is encouraged. I was looking for a good introduction into the UX design techniques being a full stack developer wanting to get more into design. 
Anna Mendoza is the mentor assigned to me. She has been a great help. We go over each assignment and the next steps in detail. She is always encouraging and goes the extra step to explain a concept.
To conclude i would recommend anyone looking for a good introduction to the core concepts in user experience to try out thinkful. I do believe the program is expensive and can be made more affordable. 

Where I am now:

I figured it'd be good to start with where I am now to qualify my review. I currently work at a local 5 year old startup where we build software for other companies. I've been at my current position for about 10 months and have primarily been a mobile developer having done projects in React Native, Swift (ios), and Java (android) with a short time in web with MeteorJS and React.

My Review:

I enrolled in Thinkful's Full-time Web Development Bootcamp 2 years after graduating college with a degree in Architecture. I worked in a call center for a year before that and took 1 programming course (C++) in college in 2010. My experience with Thinkful was overwhelmingly positive and I was able to go from doing random lessons in Codecademy to building full stack web application to now, almost a year later building applications in different languages, working with scripting continuous integration, AWS and etc.

While there are many, many other bootcamps out there, one of the primary reasons I chose Thinkful was their transparency in their statistics and reviews. I saw many, many great reviews but also some mediocre ones which told me they did not censor reviews like I've seen other bootcamps do. I was also part of the second ever cohort and thought that they had a LOT of stake in me as a student. If I failed, they fail -- so it gave me much confidence in their ownership over my success. 

The bootcamp is open to people of any and all backgrounds so if you've never coded in your life, you can still enroll in the program. Given this, the curriculum and assistance daily is very good. They provide TAs that are available during the projects and the actual written curriculum is broken down and constantly being improved. The TAs and curriculum writers are also relatively accessible and are able to clarify and assist. On top of that there is a mentor you meet with 4 of 5 weekdays to get more individualized assistance. 

Read if you have programming experience: While this is really awesome and allows for you to learn from the very beginning, the curriculum can feel pretty slow at times if you have experience. Because I came in with some programming experience, I felt like the material could move faster and found ourselves finishing early on many of the days. One thing I wish would have been improved is having supplemental material or "challenges" to challenge those who come in with a little experience. 

When it comes to the instructors, they're incredibly helpful and dedicated to our success. Not only do they help us with the material and concepts but they instill in us industry standard practices and try and stay on top of what the latest tech trends are. While many bootcamps were still teaching Angular 1.5 and etc. Thinkful saw the trend moving towards React and planned accordingly. The bootcamp has so many mentors from around the world that you can find a mentor for any language or framework you're working on. 

When it comes to job assistance, they provide you with a career mentor that helps you build a resume and figure out your job hunting plan. Throughout the bootcamp, they have you do mock technical interviews and help you build your portfolio. My experience with the career mentor was pretty good overall with a couple of hiccups in the beginning. Overall, they provided assistance in helping find a job but really, this portion is on you and your initiative. I was very heavy on networking and applying to just a couple jobs and was able to get two offers within two months of graduating. Thinkful provided mentors and extra coursework to learn different frameworks to prepare for the technical aspects of the interviews. 

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with Thinkful and would recommend anyone to enroll and join the programming world!

Nervous and skeptical is how I felt as I approached my first Thinkful intro session.

Could I really learn coding? I didn't know the first thing about HTML or CSS... 

Would it be worth the money, time, and energy...?

Now that I've finished, it sort of makes me laugh at all the challenges that I feared would undermine my success. None of them actually happened.

Overall, Thinkful knocked it out of the park for me! Paid work started to become available even before I finished the course. 

The #1 reason for my accelerated learning was my 10/10 mentor, W.N. One of the many things he did so well was to figure out where the limites of my knoweldge were, and then he would help guide me to the next step... week after week... month after month. Patient and diligent, he helped accelerate. Honestly, he went way above and beyond the specific terms of the mentor/mentee contact and was clearly personally invested in my learning. 

Working together online from the same screen, going over the code, and having someone to guide me right there when I was stuck was invaluable. Mentor sessions were just a lot of fun too. We will be friends for life at this point.

My program manager was another all-star in my time with Thinkful. With every call he had awesome perspective from a few steps beyond that of pure development. He shared about the industry and helped motivate my entrepreneurial under pinnings to help really fan my fires to keep going. Big props to him D.F.

I came in as an online entrepreneur who had built a few wordpress websites for clients in the past. I just felt like there was so much I was missing. I knew nothing about coding, programming, what an API is or even the difference between back and front end development. 

After my experience with Thinkful, I feel like a better informed person in this age of the internet. And it's not just about the coding, It's about learning to work collaboratively online and using the tools of the web to build and work through the web. 

You can't learn everything from Thinkful, but that's not the point of web dev. It's more about devloping the tools to think about coding and web challenges. Once you have those skills, you can dive into documentation from different tools and technologies of all sorts and you will be better suited to pick up and use all sorts of skills that you had never needed until the next project moved you in that direction. 

If you have the ability to commit to a path of study week after week and month after month, your return on investment for your time and energy in Thinkful will be more than worth it. 

I did quite a bit of research before applying to a software developer school. I wanted to make sure that I would have time to work full-time while I attended school. With the flexible schedule I have through Thinkful, I am able to do just that! My mentor always provides me with multiple options for our pairing sessions and understands that my schedule varies week-to-week. Additionally, I wanted a program that was worth the cost. I have always enjoyed teaching myself and asking questions later rather than a classroom setting. With the one-on-one teaching style, I am able to efficiently work through my own problems and have support along the way.

Even though the course work can be difficult at times, my mentor and extended thinkful community have been very helpful with my questions. I can see how much the thinkful staff cares about their students and our future success. I am excited to move forward in the program and start looking into my career as a sofwatre developer. Keep up the good work, Thinkful!

While I would prefer to attend a physical class, I'm never in one place for long enough to get through a class. I was so glad I found the Thinkful data science bootcamp! I just completed the bootcamp prep course, and I've already learned so much.

I'm a self-taught programmer, but without any guidance, I was unable to focus on developing specific skills. That's exactly the piece that Thinkful has been able to provide. With one-on-one attention from my mentor and a well-structured course, I've already developed basic data analytics skills and I'm eagerly working towards becoming a full-fledged data scientist.

The prep course itself was an intense bootcamp experience. It introduced me to a lot of new topics and tools and asked me to use them in a capstone project at the end of just three weeks.

The Thinkful staff went above and beyond in making sure that my capstone project met their standard of quality before admitting me to the full course. I appreciate their effort to prepare me for the course - they would rather have me do a good job than take my money and admit me into the course unprepared. That means a lot to me.

I would recommend Thinkful to anybody who is unable to attend a physical bootcamp. This is the next best thing.
 

I have recently enrolled myself into Thinkful Flexible Full stack Web Development Bootcamp. Thinkful has a solid curriculum tailored for peaople with little to no coding experience. Each unit involves extensive material, exresices, drills and projects to make sure you learn how to code most effectively. Additionally, I have 3 times a week mentor sessions and endless access to Q&A sessions run by all Thinkful's amazing mentors. My Program Manager is always available for me to make sure I have everything I need to succeed. Fruthermore, I have to go through in total of 5 mock interviews to make sure I am prepared for the real world technical interviews. I have recently signed up for my first mock interview and very excited about it. So far, I am having an exceptional experiece learning how to code. Thinkful has created a wonderful curriculum and made all assistance available so I can be a successful Web Developer. Finally, job assistance option is just the cherry on top.