DevPoint Labs

I came to Utah looking to reboot my career as a web developer but not really knowing the web development schools in Salt Lake. I did a lot of research reading course reviews and what I liked about DevPoint was the sense of community from past students and the feeling that they are never alone after they graduate. After recently going through the program I am seeing it first hand! I was provided with access to resources on not only everything I learned in the program but will also have access to any new content as well. I am part of a continuing slack channel where I can reach out with questions any time. The course itself is challenging but very rewarding!! Dave, the instructor, is amazing at breaking down difficult concepts up to make them easier to understand. He is experienced and very knowledgable not only about the skills you learn but also the web development industry in Salt Lake.  The TA's are great! They don't just give you the answer but help lead you in the right direction to figure it out so you learn more effectively. The staff is awesome and always there to help you out whenever you need it. Overall the best choice to learn web development in Salt Lake!!

DevPoint was an exceptional experience. Everything was well thought out from the pre-course work, to the class content, to the Portfolio Project where we got real life experience working with on a client's project. I didn't have any experience in development before this class and that was never seen as an issue, these guys set their students up for success as much as they possibly can. Each students gets out what they are willing to put in and it is worth the work to give it your all.

I highly recommend this course to anyone wanting to break into web development, I wanted to start a new career and this was the perfect jumping off point. Even after graduation I continue to be blown away by DevPoint Labs. They welcome all their students back for hack-a-thons and refresher courses and they are always happy to see their graduates.

This course changes your life. You literally go from maybe knowing a little code to all you need to know to get a job and have a successful career for the rest of your life.

I'm writing this only a few days after the course and have already landed a job. That in itself should be proof to sign up and change your life. This course is hard but its worth it. You sacrifice 11 weeks of your life so you can spend the rest of your life financially free. Don't be afraid of the instructors either. They all take extreme care in making sure you understand every bit of code and do so in a way that inst condescending. You truly gain a true education in this field through Our Lord And Savior DevPoint Labs. Hi Tyson.

First let me say that I don’t really have a tech background. My bachelors was in Nutrition/Dietetics, then I worked in the insurance field for 4 years. During that time I started my own outdoor blog, www.GirlonaHike.com, and realized that becoming a Developer was what I really wanted to do. So I really only had about 1-2 year’s experience but only with HTML/CSS.

Instead of saying the same thing as everyone else, “the teachers were great, the community is awesome, you learn a lot” blah blah (and yes those things are true!), I figured I would break it down and give detail on everything from my perspective and what I thought of each area.

Lecture & Assignments

A typical day looks like this:

9:30-12:30pm – Lecture with a 10 min break each hour

12:30-1:30pm - Lunch 

1:30-5:30 – work on assignment for the day which is what you learned in lecture

I really liked this setup – I learn best in the morning hours, so for me, having lecture first thing was best. In the afternoon everyone typically works in the chapel so you also get to switch up work areas so you’re not always stuck in a class room.

Homework

There’s rarely “assigned” homework. Your homework is finishing the project you started in the afternoon, whether you worked solo or on a team. If you did finish the assignment on campus, then it’s up to you on how much more you want to work on. I will say this: there’s always something to work on. Some people would work on projects until 1am, some people never worked after class was done. This is the part that is up to you – obviously the more you practice the more you’ll learn and get ahead, but they also know people have families and other hobbies so that’s why you never haveto work on anything, Make it your own. You chose the amount you can handle and level of effort you want to put in to the class. 

Food

There’s always unlimited cereal, milk, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, fruit, and other random snacks for free. For Hackathon’s they provide pizza for lunch and bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. There’s a large refrigerator, and several microwaves. I always brought my lunch, but most people either go home if they are close by or go out to eat. They will also randomly have other snacks set out, like donuts or pie. There are also several coffee shops and restaurants nearby. This is not the place to start a diet LOL.

Hackathon’s

There are 2 hackathons, both on Saturdays, and are all day 9-6pm. Each one just tests everything you’ve learned up until that day before the hackathon. You are put into groups of 4-5 people, are given instructions, then you just work on that app all day. You have to take a mandatory lunch break for at least 30 minutes (I guess Utah law requires a break when you work an 8 hour day), and DPL provides breakfast and lunch. They really aren’t bad or scary, they can actually be fun, especially if you are with a good group. At the end of the day, you will present your app to the entire class. The TA’s then “grade” your project and they pick one team as the winner from both the full and part time cohort. One of the prizes was a Raspberry Pi. The week that you have a Hackathon end up being a 6-day week so you only get Sunday off. These weeks can make you feel exhausted.

Social Events

There are 2 social events, ours both ended up being bowling. They are both on a Saturday, typically mid-day. They aren’t required, but good to attend so you get to know your classmates and their families outside of school. They are free, and pizza and sodas are provided.

Career Services 

This is a huge area where DPL lacks – there are none. We had a 20 min lecture/presentation on resumes but was very general. It wasn’t until the very last week of class that they said we should turn in our resume for review. 

Here’s what I wished they would do:

- I wish they had a list of all the bootcamp-friendly companies that typically or are willing to hire new grads. 

- I also wished they did mock interviews so that we would feel more confident going into technical interviews. 

- I wish they did some kind of career day event, like have the alumni come back and help with resumes, give talks, help with mock interviews, etc.

They always talk about networking and going to meetups, and that’s great if you’ve lived in Utah forever and know a lot of people but for those of us out of state its really hard to connect with the tech community here. Most new grads in my cohort got a job through “a friend of a friend of a friend” and were handed jobs while the rest of us had to put in tons of effort to even get an interview. It really does make a difference of “who you know.” We did get to visit on local company and that was nice to able to ask real alums and employers what they are looking for.

Parking

Because DPL is downtown, parking is one of the most challenging things You can take the UTA bus/trax; as student through the U you can get half price tickets (just be sure to ask someone at DPL for the special paperwork to get that rate). The monthly rate for taking the bus was only $40. There are a ton of 2-hour parking spots, but there’s no way you can go out to move your car all the time. So most people suck it up and pay for daily parking ($15/day) or park a few blocks away then walk the rest of the way. Some people biked to class as well.

TIPS!

• There’s free all-day parking on 6th south, you just have to walk 2 blocks to DPL
• Push up any work you do to GitHub every day – employers like to see that you are active on there
• Start applying to jobs around week 2 or 3. You likely won’t get a job that quick but having the interview experience is key, as well as getting your name out there
• Let everyone know you are looking for a job 
• Always be working on side projects to fill your portfolio – Udemy.com is a great site
• Make sure you are on and know how to utilize LinkedIn
• The TAs can be hard to nail down, so if you have questions or don’t understand something keep bugging them until you get an answer. I didn’t ask enough questions and ended up not understanding some things, even with the help of YouTube and whatnot.

As far as getting a job, I’m still looking. I had a total of 10 interviews but it’s really tough if you don’t already know someone in the field. I’ll keep this updated on how long it takes for me to find work. Overall I did really enjoy the course and learned a LOT! I do feel like this will jump start my career, but only time will tell for how long it takes. Highly recommend it!

I just finished the 11 week full-stack bootcamp at DevPoint Labs and it was a amazing experience. Dave is an incredable instructor. I came to DevPoint with zero background in tech and development and he was extremly patrient with me and all the students. He is a great teacher because he stays up to date with the current trends and is constalty changing the content to fit industry standards.  

This 11 week course is intense but the Dev team is there to help. The TA and instructors where all so helpful in situations where I felt completley lost and ready to give up. They always encouraged me to work harder and it will get eaiser. They nailed it. By the end you forget about those fears from week 1-3. 

Overall my expierience with DevPoint has been amazing. I met friends for life and this program changed my life for the better. At almost 40 years old I am starting a new career and I couldnt be more excited. 

This class has been an amazing adventure for me. Having just graduated highschool I was afraid my age would make me feel out of place- but this class was extremely inclusive, everybody was always willing to help and converse even about unrelated matters, we learned a lot, and made some great friends in the process. The learning enviornment is top notch and I never once felt like a nuisance. If you are in a position where youre wanting to get into development than this is a fantastic place to start, dare I say the best place! If youre reading this, defenitely enroll! 

I attended the full time full stack web development course - and make no mistake - as someone with no coding experience it was HARD.  But everyone would have a creer in this feild if it was easy right?  The teachers and staff are incredible.  INCREDIBLE.  The TAs were alwasys there t help, as was the head instructor Dave, and Tracy, who helped me with my resume and job search.  I cannot say enough good words about them, or about the overall experience.  Whiel it was challenging, scary, and ..hard...this experience will be entirely what you make it and Devpoint will be there to offer you the best help every step of the way.  

I had zero experience coding before I came to The University of Utah’s coding bootcamp through DevPoint Labs. They made it easy for me to use my G.I. Bill benefits, the TAs and instructors always answered my questions, and now I am part of a great community.

My advice to someone new to programming—prepare yourself for a lot of information. You will get as much out of this program as you put in it. You have to go home and code after coding all day in class. You’ll appreciate this the most when you interview for a dev jobs after graduation.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience, I loved every second of it. Being mentally challenged after years of physical challenges in the military was a big shift me but DevPoint balanced the hard work with making sure the students were taken care of and had some fun. .

Chris Lazard
University of Utah &
DevPoint Labs Graduate

This class is a really good jump start into a technical career! The part time class has a limited amount of time and it's really hard to go over as much content as there is, but it's all necessary to get down the fundamentals in that timeframe. While this class can't possibly fit in everything, it gives you the foundation to be able to start learning confidently on your own, which is arguably the greatest skill you can learn.

The staff is welcoming and fun to work with and is willing to stick around to answer questions. They were also often available online. The people I didn't see a lot still knew who I was and would go out of their way to see how everything was going. This course also considers you a member of their community and is willing to help people with coding problems after it's over. 

I would highly recommend DevPoint Labs. It's definitely challenging, but well worth your while!

This was a great experience. I took the Part-Time Web Development course and I feel like I have a more valuable skill set now than when I graduated with my bachelors degree. It was definitely challenging, I came to the course with your basic computer skills but now I feel like I have a real shot at working in this industry.

The teachers and TA's were great. They were always patient and encouraging. Even though the pace and intensity of the course was grueling at times, they kept the mood light and made the material seem attainable.

I can't wait to see where these new skills can take me.

I have been working in education for the past few years. It has been something that I am very passionate about. However as many know, there is not a lot of money in education. So after feeling like I had maxed out my possibilities at the school I was at, I needed something more. I have a background in technology. After talking with various friends and family members, I decided to look into programming.

I searched and read reviews on all of the major bootcamps offered in the area. I found that DevPoint Labs had great reviews and had recently gotten an accreditation from the University of Utah. Which as far as I understand is the only bootcamp to offer that benefit. So to me the choice was made.

After starting the course, I realized that my decision was correct. The staff was extremely accommodating to any questions I had. The instructors were extremely knowledgeable in what they were teaching. You can tell that they enjoy working in the field and are up to date on everything that is happening as it happens. They both have very different teaching styles, that I feel are a good compliment to quick and in depth learning. Which is what this course is all about. 

Coming from a background that had little to nothing to do with programming, I felt prepared to enter an industry that otherwise would have known nothing about.

Overall it was a great experience, and I am happy I took that first step. It was scary and will probably continue to be. However I now have a job as a Full-stack developer, and I love what I do!