Springboard

I compared a lot of bootcamps before I decided to pursue my data science journey with Springboard, and I am very happy with my decision. 
I graduated with a major in bioinformatics and worked in research laboratory, so had very little data science experience when I started with the program. Although, I did come in with prior programming and statistics experience which definitely helped me in the first month of the bootcamp. 
The curriculum is very well designed with nicely curated material. It teaches you the most important skills that a person transitioning into DS would require, but at the same time gives you the flexibility to work on projects and pursue the learning journey with a bit of autonomy.
The mentoring was also a great experience, it was just the right amount of support that I needed - my mentor provided motivation to keep rolling and was very helpful when I was feeling stuck, and also provided insightful feedback. 
My over all experience was amazing and this program helped me make my transition into data science without a CS or math major and helped me feel confident about my skills. It is a great program for anyone who wants to transition into data science or just hone their skills further. 

I was interested in a career change but didn't know any data scientists. It's probably possible to learn from other free sources everything Springboard curated for me but I didn't know where to start and without guidance from a mentor, it was hard to guage where I was in this journey towards a career change. I felt having 1-on-1 access to a mentor was worth the price of admission. I truly valued my time with my assigned mentor as he was encouraging, helpful and experienced about the subject matter. Although I didn't take the career track, my mentor answered my career related questions. As a working professional with a family, Springboard made it possible to follow a syllabus and learn at my own pace.

Well-organized intensive online boot camp covering all aspects of the data science life cycle. In addition, materials on advanced topics (NLP, recommender system, Spark, etc.) are also included in the curriculum. The weekly one-on-one coaching call with industry expert is my favorite, providing necessary guidance and keeping me motivated throughout the program. Overall, I had a nice learning journey with Springboard and appreciated all the supports along the way. If you are looking for a good online boot camp with flexible hours at a reasonable price, Springboard Data Science Career Track is a good bet.

I took Springboard when I was still working as a full time web developer. I didn't have the opportunity to do any design work like was promised in this position, so I started to look at other options to pursue a career in design.

 

I went to school for Graphic Design before my web developer job and I was freelancing on the side, but it wasn't something I wanted to do full time because I saw how the trend in the work field was shifting from print to digital. I have a friend that is a UX Designer and after learning about what she did, I knew UX Design was a career I wanted to pursue. 

 

I chose Springboard because I was impressed with the curriculum and I liked that the max amount of time I'd have to spend weekly on doing assignments was 15 hours a week which I could handle with having a full time job. I also liked that all students get a mentor while they're doing the course, and Springboard was more affordable and shorter term than the other courses I looked at. It was also completely online which was ideal.

 

I already had experience doing month-long coding bootcamps in order to learn web development and a 6+ month course was not something I was interested in, as I was trying to transition to a new career as quickly as possible.

 

Springboard covered a lot of topics on the research side of UX which was what I was ultimately interested in because I already had experience with User Interface Design. My mentor, Cari had a plethora of knowledge about the UX design field since she's done it for about 10+ years. She provided helpful constructive criticism on my assignments and my projects would come out more pristine and better aligned with the industry standards after receiving her feedback.

 

Dave was an awesome student advisor and was always available to answer my course related questions. The course offered Office Hours in the evening which included interviews with UX Designers who had been in the field for a few years and would offer advice and share their experiences. I only went to a few of those but the ones I attended were helpful.

 

I started interviewing for my current job when I was in module 8 of the course. It was at the same company my friend worked at and she encouraged me to apply. Springboard seriously prepared me for the interview process even though I was no where near the career prep section of the course (that's module 14).

 

However, everything I learned up until section 8 helped me through the interview process, and Springboard's articles on Medium about preparing for interviews was also a life saver. The course in combination with the articles taught me how to explain my work and discuss the typical UX design process, since I had experience with that through the course.

 

I was interview around 4 times, with different members of the team/recruiters which included an in person interview and I also had to do a design challenge which I was very nervous about but I took everything I learned so far in Springboard and applied it to the challenge. 

 

I'm happy to share that I got the job and have working there for 3 months (since January), but I decided to still continue with Springboard and I completed the course the end of February 2019.

 

I would definitely recommend Springboard to those who already have a design background and are looking to gain more experience in the research aspect of UX Design. Even those who have a research background such as Psychologists, Communication/Marketing (I have a BA in Communication) majors will also find the course helpful if they're looking to transition into UX, however, the UI Design section isn't as thorough in this course like in the UX Career Track, as this course is only 3-4 months long.

 

If you're looking for a course that goes more in depth when it comes to UI design, the UX Design Career Track for Springboard might be a better option. That course is 6 months long with career coaching and a job guarantee, but the application process is much more extensive and the price is higher. You also have to have a previous design background to gain entry into that course so the UX Design course that I took might get your foot in the door.

 

Overall, I'm grateful for Springboard and all they have to offer. I highly recommend them!

Note: The course I took was originally a Skills Track called UX Design when I was enrolled, but it's now called UX Essentials.

Well-organized intensive online boot camp covering all aspects of the data science life cycle. In addition, materials on advanced topics (NLP, recommender system, Spark, etc.) are also included in the curriculum. The weekly one-on-one coaching call with industry expert is my favorite, providing necessary guidance and keeping me motivated throughout the program. Overall, I had a nice learning journey with Springboard and appreciated all the supports along the way. If you are looking for a good online boot camp with flexible hours at a reasonable price, Springboard Data Science Career Track is a good bet.

I tried many times in the past to learn data science, but work always got in the way. My top 3 ways way that Springboard helps you. They help you focus on what is important to learn so you spend less time on learning useless information. Your mentor is able to guide you when you do not understand certain concepts. And they make you concentrate on career development which is the part I hate doing, but it is the most important. Overall, I am glad that I have taken this course because I feel confident that I have developed a great foundation to start my data science career. The rest is up to me to learn and develop myself to become even better. 

Springboard's project-based, mentor-guided curriculum combined with their helpful and friendly career services and support staff made for a wonderful experience as a student. There is a broad range of skills learned and practiced through projects including statistics, hypothesis testing, data visualization, SQL, and applied machine learning. Through your capstones, you can dive deeper into data science topics that interest you. Since there is a job guarantee, a fair amount is asked of students, including finding additional resources to help complete projects. For me, this meant spending a minimum of 20-25 hours a week, so make sure you are able to carve out time in your day on a consistent basis.

I enrolled in the Data Science career track. I completed my course a couple of weeks back. I opted out of the career assistance because I already had a job which I am not planning to quit any time soon. I completed my course work. I had to interrupt my course twice. Once due to flooding and the other time when I was about to be a father. On both occasions Springboard paused my course and were supportive of me resuming it later. Pros:-
1. Structure: The course is well structured and gives you a good idea of how to progress
2. Exercises: There were a lot of exercises which gave a very good insight about how a data science project progresses. This included basic and intermediate statistical analyses and advanced topics.
3. Projects: Two capstones make you practice a lot. The capstones along with mentor guidance solidified many concepts in my mind.
4. Mentors (Biggest Pro): Having a mentor was the biggest pro. I was matched up to an excellent mentor, an expert in the field and he was extremely patient with me and always pushed me in the right direction. I understand a mentor can be different for different people but if they match you up with a mentor who is helpful, extract every thing from the opportunity. Cons:-
1. I felt that not enough attention was paid to big data and data engineering. Maybe they will fix it in the future.
2. The content was...ok. You can find equally good video materials on YouTube if not better materials. Overall:-
Its a very good program for the amount of money you pay. I am not sure about the job support but based on the quality of my mentors, I am sure that is solid too.

Overall I had a pretty good experience with Springboard. The curriculum was very robust, and I felt like they covered a wide range of topics. I found the homework to take much longer than the suggested time, but the Student Support was very helpful, and gave me specific help and corrections for my work. I got a job a few months after I started the program, so I can't speak much to the job support, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to build a portfolio. The mentor aspect also kept me honest and on task, which was positive.