University of Arizona Boot Camps

I'm a 48 year old who works in IT currently, but the techology changes so fast that I needed a way to advance my skills. 

Because of my age and the fact that all the apps and systems I work on seemed to be moving into a web browser (and I knew nothing about web development); I looked for a Full Stack Developer Bootcamp. After looking at a few I chose the U of A bootcamp because it was in person (I learn better that way), it's a major univeristy and it was a reasonably priced compared to other coding bootcamps.

This is a bootcamp and requires a lot of effort, but they provide lots of support with teacher assistants, tutoring, excellent instructors and a very good curriculum. I've been able to learn so much about Full Stack development and more importantly I feel I have the ability to keep updating my skills on my own.

The best part for me was after telling my employer I was taking this class my manager was able to get me a 6.5% (our normal has been 1.5% to 2 %) merit increase because I was taking this course. The merit increase for this year covers more than half of the cost of the class.  After two years it will have paid for itself!

The UA Coding Bootcamp, put on in conjunction with Trilogy Education, is worth every penny.  I graduated from their July 2017-Jan 2018 session (this was their 2nd group offered in Arizona at the time).  The class met at a great tech facility in downtown Gilbert.  They run a concurrent Monday/Wednesday and a Tuesday/Thursday session, each meeting from 6:30pm-9:30pm on their respective nights.  On Saturdays, both groups come together from 10:00am-2:00pm.  Each session has its own primary Instructor and at least two Teacher Assistants.  Saturday classes include all TA's; the Instructors take turns running the Saturday classes. 

The material covered begins with basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and works its way up through a full stack of libraries, frameworks, and tech.  The class is definitely fast paced.  While they market this course as being a part-time course designed to work around your 8-5 job, be warned that the pace of this class will demand significant focus and time.  You will have 10 hours each week in class, and on top of that, I would recommend a minimum of 20 hours of studying and application of new material.  That will likely keep you struggling to breath, but alive.  Personally, I ended up quitting my 8-5 job and focusing on learning and practicing the tech taught in class.  I spent about 30-45 hours/week, and feel that I did quite well with the course material plus additional learning.

The curriculum is great.  It is current and well thought out.  The high up staff at Trilogy are constantly re-evaluating what should be updated or how they should change the pace and content.  They were very open to constructive criticism.  

The support staff was also top-knotch.  They have a Student Success Manager whom is amazing; she was never slow to respond to communication and was always helpful and encouraging.  If a student is struggling while putting in the time and work, they will be certain to match the student up with TA's for one on one time, as well as free tutoring that may better line up with a student's schedule.  

The TA's were mostly awesome.  The struggle with the TA position is that it attracts newer developers whom are in the process of building their resumes/portfolios while attempting to acquire a full time developing job.  As such, my session of the class went through SEVERAL TA's that would join, work for a few weeks, then leave when they began the full time job they'd been seeking from the beginning.  On the other hand, the other session had two TAs that were amazing from day one and stayed committed to the process till the very last day.  So your mileage may very; your class may get lucky with the TA's on the first shot, or it might take a few tries till Trilogy locks in the best ones.  For what it is worth, my session did have excellent TA's, too, we just seemed to get very unlucky with commitment with the initial handful until Trillogy had the fortune of finding people that would actually stay to the end. 

The Instructors were top knotch.  Both the M/W and the T/Th classes had excellent instructors with years of real world experience.  The great thing is that you do have access to both instructors; you can live stream classes to listen in on lectures from the other instructor.  This is an great tip to gaining extra value from the classes when you have the time.  Although both instructors are covering the same material, they may do so in a different way, and hearing it an additional time through oten helps the concepts sink in.  I will say that, as with the TA's, the Instructors face the challenge of spending their focus and attention on the class for six months straight.  At one point, one instructor began a new job; there was a palpable decrease in this instructor's efforts towards the class after that point.  It is completely understandable for one's efforts to decrease as one's attention is demanded elsewhere, but the level of preparation never came back to where it had been before.  So again, your mileage may vary in terms of consistent quality.  

In the end, no matter how great the curriculum, instruction, or continued education services are, it will come down to the effort that you as a student put in.  It is truly possible to go in knowing nothing, and come out with new, in-demand skills that will help you launch a new career!  It is not an understatement to call this an opportunity for one to change one's life, but do not believe that the program itself will change your life for you.  Rather, it provides the opportunity for you to change your own life.  

I whole-heartedly recommend this bootcamp, and encourage future students to consistently apply yourselves and use the MANY resources to obtain success that Trilogy/U of A provides you with here.  It is a worth while endevour! 

Why choose this one?

I saved up for a year to do a boot camp. I didn't discover programming until my last year of college. I felt like it was too late for me but then I heard about different boot camps that were gaining popularity. I interviewed with countless boot camps for web dev but never had the courage to take the leap especially when they would lay out their requirements to work for a company of their choice afterwards and move to a location of their choice. I was scared to spend my money on that.

It wasn't until I heard about this coding boot camp that provided a certificate from a legitimate and academically recognized organization such as the University of Arizona, that I finally decided it was worth it. I wanted my certificate to come form an organization I trusted and that I knew others would trust. Now people will see my certificate and know it is U of A approved. I'm proud to add a U of A certificate to my resume.

What's great about doing it at the university?

Being on campus made it easier to hop on over to the library afterwards and get awesome study hours in. Being in such an academic setting/environment personally helped me stay focused throughout. I've been able to take advantage of the university career fairs and be close to a location where recruiters like to visit.

In the boot camp, I was able to network with many people from different walks of life and meet professionals in the field. It was inspiring and still is. The career services helps to refine your resume and prep you for interviews or freelancing/contracting. They've provided me with great freelance materials also.

Advice you would give to other prospective students to ensure success.

Difficulties for me: 

Time management - I did the part time camp so I got out of work at 430 pm and then I would go to class every other day until 10 pm. Also, I have a family, I work full-time, I was trying to stay healthy with moderate exercise, and I'm finishing my masters degree so..... The first 2/3 of the class were fine but then my actual school semester started and we started more intensive final projects in the boot camp at the same time for our final demo presentation day where different companies would be present. I had friends in the same situation and they opted to just quit their jobs for the last month and hope to get a job right after the class ended. I decided to keep my job and continue my masters but I definitely owed my family some quality time after.

How I managed:

Ask for help and give help- I was always been given the help I needed. Don't get stuck on homework for hours on end because you think you're going to figure it out eventually or you're too embarrassed to ask. I often slacked the TA's or teacher for help and was able to save lots of time this way. Also, for student who are struggling more than others, there is free personal tutoring available. The best way to learn is to turn around and help someone else who has the same problem as you were having.

Perspective- It wasn't until the end that I realized how far I had come. I look back at the first homework and realize I could do it in less than 30 minutes now even though it took me 5-7 hours the first time I did it. The entire time I felt like I was always falling behind because of my schedule. So stick with it even if you do bad on a homework or a few because in the end you will have learned so much more from trying than if you had given up. You will also become independent in your ability to learn new languages and web development tools. 

Just do it- Do it all even if it's not going well at times. Every programmer has ups and downs, brick walls ...you name it. Some things make more sense to others than it does to you but even you will have your moments where something just clicks. I've had weeks where I totally understood the material and I was helping others and then there were weeks where that was completely reversed. It's an educational process.

I signed up for this Bootcamp as I felt "stuck" in my current position.

I am a Front End Web Developer for a small (quickly growing) company that makes websites for companies. I really liked my job, but got panned for any promotions that came my way. 

I took this course, and learned Node, React, Mongo, and so much more and it quickly raised my value. The career services portion walked me through how to tighten my resume and online presence. I think overall this helped me the most. Before the program was over I was getting a TON of calls offering me positions in the valley. 

My employer quickly took notice and made me an offer. I really enjoy where I work, so I ended up getting what I wanted all along. I honestly can't thank the team that handles this bootcamp enough. Totally worth every cent paid!