Chegg Skills

I'm currently a student in Thinkful's full-time web development bootcamp. It has been everything I expected and more.

-The course teaches full stack javascript (the MERN stack), with an optional angular course.

-I'm learning a lot, but it's not overwhelming.

-The curriculum is clear and easy to digest. 

-The aim is be employment ready by graduation. Guidance is provided throughout the course to achieve this.

-The people are awesome, from the admin folks to the instructors, TAs, mentors, and fellow students.

This is a community to join if you are serious about becoming a web developer. You learn cutting edge technology, get comfortable learing new frameworks, and have super-knowledge faculty (one of which I think of as the jedi of programming).

One final thing- if you are not familiar with the benefits of full stack javascript, check out the benefits: http://thefullstack.xyz/full-stack-javascript-developer/

I have tried to learn programming before. I tried the Python tutorial, a book that used C++, and various other free resources, but none of them got everything right and I was left stranded. When I found out how Thinkful teaches their students, including the mentor system, I knew I could use their support network to finally get into programming. While I am only about a month into the course, I can already say that I am a programmer (albeit still learning, but really we all are). My mentor has just the right balance of showing me what I need to do while letting me find some problems for myself. The course curriculum is pretty good at teaching the details of what I need to work with without being overwhelming (though I do have to take a break if I read too much in one sitting). Between mentor sessions I have found the Slack team very helpful for getting me unstuck.

Being enrolled for almost one month at Thinkful Flexible Web Development bootcamp, and so far, I can say that I had the greatest (and toughest) learning experience in my life!

The dream to dig into the "Coding_World" finally came true, and the reason I chose to enrol at Thinkful was for the great Curriculum they offer on the Web Development bootcamp; looking at the "real World" requirements, I believe their Curriculum is a great match.

The learning-path has been fantastic, in one month I went from a novice level to feel completely comfortable in subject such as HTML/CSS/Git/JavaScript (working on it)....said that, the path itself is not an easy one, it requires quite a lot of dedication, passion, curiosity...not everything is "given" lots of resources have to be found from the student, and as much it may seem "difficult", it is a great learning skill that will be easily (and for sure) applied in a working-environment...bottom line, skills like problem-solving, or going the "extra-mile" are extremely appreciated by potential employer.

Speaking about the learning path, I found extremely useful interact (3x week) with my mentor (Akiva) ... I think the mentor is the greatest integration to the material, being able to give direction, to highlight concepts in a different way, and to advice on the points where to focus.

In conclusion, I am really happy about my experience at Thinkful; I feel that the hard coding-hours have being rewarded with learning results....solving and understanding hard-topics, build confidence...and confidence gives energy to learn more and more.  Bottom line, my Program Manager told me the first day "...do not be afraid of hard moment, think at how is rewarding solving them!..." - I completely agree.

Main reasons for my great experience at Thinkful:

- Curriculum

- Mentorship

- Projects

- feeling to be ready for a "real" Working environment.

I've taken a few free online courses to learn web development so paying for a curriculum was a bit of a leap for me. Having done so, I can appreciate the difference between a course that simply lists out HTML/CSS tutorials and a course that teaches industry standards and practices. It's clear that the staff at Thinkful put a lot of thought into the skills a developer needs to transition smoothly into a job. Teaching a man to phish...as it were.

Rather than spelling out the HTML/CSS code students of the course are required to do their own research to find solutions, just like they would on the job. Sections on Github, command line, codepen, and sublime text set you up to pass as an actual developer, not someone who googled a few tricks on CSS. Kudos to your curriculum designers and keep up the good work!

I cannot recommend Thinkful highly enough. From Noel who answered all my questions as I was comparing bootcamps to Derek who took me through the orientation session and my mentor Eric who has been a huge help answering my unending questions, I can't imagine having a better experience so far.

I initially started learning to code on my own, and liked it so much I knew I wanted to make it into a full time career. Thinkful was miles ahead of the competition because they contacted me directly within minutes of submitting the interest form, and they always reached out to me to see how the decision process was going. It was a personal, welcoming experience from the very start and everyone I spoke with was passionate about helping a noob coder find their way.

The curriculum is great. It's well written and the assignments/projects are practical, useful and sometimes humorous which really helps keep things interesting. The goals are realistic as is the usage of the knowledge gained. The minimum amount of hours necessary to complete the bootcamp is very doable as I work full time and never struggle to make time for the course.

My mentor has been fantastic as well. It's easy to get frustrated when you hit a roadblock but having your mentor there to guide you is invaluable. They've faced the same challenges and can bring a new perspective to your struggle, or give you an explanation of your mistake so you never make the same mistake twice. Hearing from an experienced web developer how the knowledge from the curriculum applies to their every day life is a huge bonus. The frequent Q&A sessions are also very useful - there is no lack of resources with Thinkful.

I haven't reached the career part, so I can't give that a review yet. However, I have already had a meeting with a member of the Career Services team who gave me tons of resources to look at to narrow down where I'd like to work/what I'm looking for. I'm fully confident that when the curriculum is complete, I'll achieve my goals with the help of the Thinkful team.

I would highly recommend Thinkful's Flexible Web Development Bootcamp for the following reasons: 

1. The flexible schedule works extremely well for me. I work 30 hours a week and  have a family to take of. It would be really difficult to keep up with a full-time or even part-time boot camp. I put in about 15 hours a week and so far it has been a very fulfilling learning experience. 

2. Since the day I started, Thinkful's staff members have been in constant communication with me. I don't always have to initiate to get a response, which is a really nice change from traditional education institutions. 

3. My mentor is extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and flexible with his time as well. He understands that I have other commitments outside of the course and is always willing to work with me. 

4. I started the bootcamp without any experience, but Thinkful's curriculum and support never made me feel inadequate. I am currently four months in and coding is already a part of my daily life. 

5. I have not gotten to the job assistance part, so I can't give it a full rating. But my career mentor has already reached out to me and the mock interviews are definitely helpful. I feel like this program is designed to land students a job. That is my top priority and I am very satisfied with my progress so far. 

My experience with Thinkful has been a great one! I signed up to take the Front End Web Development course after trying several times to learn HTML, CSS, jQuery and Javascript both on my own and in other online courses, with all attempts ending unsuccessfully. Thinkful's curriculum and mentor program are the reason their course works so well. The material builds slowly upon itself, so it lays a solid foundation of understanding that then applies to later lessons, concepts, and languages learned. Having a mentor to talk directly to about any questions I had or concepts I found confusing made all the difference in the world. My mentor, Max, was awesome! He was always there to answer any questions and would often walk me through other exercises or examples that helped me see the problem I was stuck on in a different way, therefore unblocking me. I cannot speak highly enough of this program!

I really enjoyed the experience at Thinkful. I've been learning Python with various platforms and found that the structure of Thinkful sets it apart from the rest. Being higher priced than others allows the program to provide more human interaction. My mentor was instrumental in my success and I took part in some Q&A sessions and the Slack channel. 

My one critique would be that I thought the pace was a bit fast for a class being advertised as beginner. I think some of the course content could be expanded upon before getting into building the programs. I would recommend having some foundations in Python before taking this class. I am interested in continuing my training in the Data Science class that Thinkful offers so I would say that is a testement to their offerings. 

With only a few months of coding experience prior to enrolling into the Thinkful part-time flexible career path, I have so far managed to finish all of my project assignments on time and conveniently attend mentor sessions. Before enrolling, my biggest concern was falling behind due to my lack of prior coding experience and/or basic understanding of code and web related stuff. I was a total noob when it came to computers, and so I naturally felt that enrolling into a bootcamp might not be a practical idea considering how rigorous and intensive most bootcamps are. 

Thinkful stands out from other bootcamps in that it offers various courses to accomodate its students. At age 29, I chose to enroll into the flexible part-time career path since I couldn't quit my current job. This isn't an option with other bootcamps, such as Hackreactor, a school in which I originally wanted to enroll. Thinkful offers same results as other schools, but different approaches.

The Thinkful team has worked with me in many ways than just teaching me to code. The Q&A sessions that are offered, along with forums and Slack discussions, have helped immerse me in not only the langauge but the entire culture of code, an experience I couldn't have achieved with doing personal research alone. Like any language, to be fluent one must understand the abstract things that underlie grammar, syntax, and even pronunciation, and the abstract part of code, to me, is understanding the various styles code. There are so many ways to write code, and once you understand basic syntax and logic, the fun part is finding your style. 

Thinkful also does a great job at emphasizing the importance in honing your research skills as a developer. Various online resources are provided, perfect for bookmarking so to revisit or harken back to later if needed. 

If you're pretty serious about learning to code, I highly recommend doing so via the Thinkful team. I am 2 months in and already I feel I am starting to see the world from the eyes of a developer, and develop my own unique "style" of writing code.