Byte Academy

Byte Academy helped me transition from Video Producer to Software Developer in a matter of months. The coursework can be demanding (I spent a lot of time outside of school) but you get what you put in. The teaching staff is excellent, caring, and overall a great group of people that geniuinely care about your interests. 

Coming from a non-coding background, I was concerned about my abiltiy to pick up the coursework but Byte's circulum is well structured and the staff is so incredibly supportive. I truly felt like I was joining a family and not a bootcamp. 

There is only so much time I had during my time at Byte, but I am amazed at how much I was able to pick up. I would highly reccommend to anyone who is interested in learning python. 

 

 

I decided to make a career change and go from finance to tech, but I knew it was going to be a diffifult transition given my lack of programming experience. With the myriad of options in NYC, I am happy to say that I made the correct decision with Byte Academy. The fintech-focused curriculum complimented my finanical background and most importantly gave me the confidence and ability to go beyond just learning Python.

I started in the foundation class and continued through the full-stack curriculum. It was definitely difficult, but as long as you keep up with the work, you will be pleasantly surprised with all your progress and how much knowledge you amass in several months. I can now confidently say that I am full-stack developer who can create applications in Python, JavaScript, and React. 

I recommend this course to those who are willing to put in the work and are ready for a change in their career path. 

Two friends recommended I attend a bootcamp to learn to code, and so I knew what to expect in terms of work and time going in. Even then, the course was challenging enough that I spent pretty much all my time learning for 14 weeks.

If you stay on top of the work, the Fullstack Immersive will take up a lot of time but I'd expect most people to keep up. I learned a tremendous amount over the 14 weeks, enough to give me confidence in my abilities with Python specifically, but also in learning new languages and frameworks not covered in the course. I don't always use Python on a day-to-day basis, so the most important skill I learned was probably comfort jumping into entirely new languages or design patterns without feeling lost, and then learning them quickly.

I'd recommend Byte's Fullstack Immersive to anyone willing to put in the time, but know that it needs to be your priority the entire time or you might risk getting behind.

     If you want to learn how to learn how to be an efficient computer programmer this is the place for you.  If you put in work before and after school hours, and on weekends, you will learn what you came to learn as you get out of it what you put into it.  If you expect to come in here from 10-5, 5 days a week for 14 weeks and leave being proficient in Python / computer programming just because you walked in the door, you are highly mistaken.  

     I came into this course with absolutely zero computer programming knowledge.  Because of this I felt "behind" the rest of my cohort and even with working 24/7 7 days a week (with the exception of sleep) I just wish I could have taken what Byte Academy now offers, which is a pre-bootcamp course for those of you with zero experience like myself.  If you have taken a CS course, or have experience, you should be good to go.  

     The instructors are amazing. Kenso was my instructor and he is literally a genius.  Since my recent graduation they already added on a couple TA's and another full-time instructor I believe.  The school is growing and I think it is way overdue.  If fancy looking hallways and expensive expresso machines are important to you, I would look elsewhere.  If you want to learn and surround yourself with other likeminded people, make learning your number one priority for 14 weeks, trust the program, trust your instructors and believe in yourself, Byte Academy is a great place to do it.

     Jenna is great at the job hunt as there is an excellent but demanding set of guidelines to follow.  Honestly though, if you have been in the job searching market, you know looking for a job is a job in itself so I guess this is expected.  Emily and the rest of the staff have connections all over the country, even in some parts of the world.  They host meet-ups, promote others, and do specialize in FinTech.  In my cohort, half the class had no interest in finance and that didn't matter whatsoever...they are still employed now. I believe everyone in my cohort is employed now in one way or another.  I got an internship I wanted dirtectly through connections from the school.

     If you are wanting to change up your career, get a jumpstart, or even just enhance your skills, I would highly suggest sacrificing a few months and be dedicated to learn, study, and work hard to achieve your goals.

When I started looking for classes for data science, I could find many with varied syllabus, none to my satisfaction of what I wanted to learn as core. It was by pure chance I found Byte Academy as they don't have a strong online presence. Also when I started exploring, I couldn't find ANY reviews about Bangalore Centre. But since they had an impressive syllabus, I took a leap of faith.

Foundation - Beginner and Intermediate Python:
I joined Foundation Course as I am a total fresher to programming. It is a 4week programme with 2hrs of class 5days a week. The aim is to bring up to a level to cope up with the Full Time programme which we were told is going to be rigorous. Instructor Kapil was young but well experienced and himself a Data Science practitioner. He is very structured in the way he proceeded with each session. Though the instruction was for 2hrs, it kept us occupied for the entire day with assignments. Since the batch was small, the instructor could understand the strength and weakness of each student and guide us accordingly. Patience was his greatest asset and that’s what is most required in a beginner batch when people are fresh into programming.

 
Data Science - Full Time:
Phase 1 - Advanced Python:
Since day 1, we started feeling the heat of boot camp. The learning curve was steep and directly entered into advanced python. Assignments were heavy and a lot of things need to be explored on your own. Though Instructor Uday is not from Computer Science background, that doesn't deter him from teaching what you required to succeed. At times, I even doubted his ability and the take-back of whole programme. It will all become clear only during the time of phase-1 end assessment. A fairly thorough (difficult) test of your knowledge and proof of how much the instructor has trained you for this very thing with practice problems every single day. That was the time my faith about him and my judgement to come here got restored completely.

Phase 2 - Core Data Science:
You will see a different side of Uday. By education and training he is a statistician and that’s what Data Science is all about and all you need. The amount of knowledge he has in the field just amazes me. He never gets tired of explaining the same concepts again and again until you get it right. Few times, which rarely came, if he didn't know the thing you asked him about, he will sit through it and come back with an answer rather than try to avoid the question entirely. He is very much approachable and friendly.

On the whole, I recommend Byte Academy and this boot-camp style programme to people who have time and rigor to put a little more effort to cope up with the instruction given.

Disclosure :- I'm a byte student attending Data Science with Python Bootcamp(as on April, 2018), here in Bangalore (India). I'm kind of at the half way stage. 

It's been a great experience for the past one month. My expectations were high when i joined Byte after reading through all the reviews about NY campus and i have to admit that i'm happy with my decision to partner with Byte academy (Bangalore) for assistance in my journey to become a data scientist. The teaching style, the pace set by the instructor, the modules that are being covered, the assignments that are being provided are upto my expectation. I've just completed the first phase evaluation and thanx to our amazing instructor, i'm now comfortable with Python. I had very limited knowledge in Python (or any programming language) as i was working with MS Excel as an account manager before.( a whole different area)

Its a bootcamp.! So the pace at which topics are being covered is fast and a lot of hardwork /homework is required to catch up. This was something i expected and i was not disappointed. I've just started with the second phase of bootcamp and as expected it is even more homework / hard work. So yes.. If anyone is looking for a learning experience with minimal distraction and willing to work hard, i would suggest Byte Academy. 

I shall definintely update this review once i complete the Bootcamp successfully (I've not looked into the job assistance part as of now, however i would definietly include something about it once i'm happy with the assitance i get)

Pros:

• Good Wifi,
• Free coffee,
• Good Learning Atmosphere,
• Great Instructor.

Cons / Areas where i felt Byte Academy could improve.

• Small Cohort Size (could be considered advantage),
• Saturdays or sundays academy could be kept open for students. 
• A small library with necessary books could be an investment for the future.

 

A childhood friend of mine told me that he was planning on attending Byte, in July (2016), and I decided to check the place out. I'll never forget how much Tom, an instructor at the time, and Kai, the head of admissions, didn't try to sell me on enrollment. It's kind of hard to explain, but it was like they were indifferent as to whether or not I ended up going, and that's -- perhaps counterintuitively-- what sold me.

I can't remember exactly when this was (it's mid-January, now), but I remember not doing much of the pre-course work. My friend was on top of it, from the start, but I thought that the bootcamp was going to be more or less of a cake-walk because I was developing websites with WordPress / managing my own servers, for a few years before I attended. I ended up paying for it the first month; if there's any advice I have to offer it's: 1) choose Byte and 2) do the pre-work.

I touched on Rak and Cody (my fin. and tech. instructors, respectively) in a review on Byte's website, but I'll mention them, here, too; if I had to choose one phrase to sum both of them up it'd be: "world class." I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I've been through a myriad of educational experiences (attending boarding school in South Korea, conducting research sponsored by General Electric, etc.) and this-- by far and away-- was the best educational experience of my life.

That's not to say that it isn't grueling. The first month can be a dog. I thought that I'd be the big-swinging-dick at Byte when I first signed up because of my experience developing WordPress themes and plugins, but I was leagues behind my peers for the entirety of the first month (en serio: do the pre-work). I think, in retrospect, that I thought that the rest of my cohort would be a bunch of chumps, but, as it turned out, every person in my cohort ended up having a work history that'd make your dick shrivel (investment banker at Credit Suisse, cryptolinguist at the National Security Agency, etc.) and, in my opinion, there's nothing better-- whether you're trying to become a better athlete or a better programmer-- than to be surrounded by your betters.

I wasn't on the struggle bus forever, either. I ended up getting an open-source project off the ground and speaking to a bunch of people about it at DigitalOcean's headquarters. It's still pretty small, but I feel like it's one of happening things at the crossroads of financial technology and we've even had the C.E.O. of Investopedia come by Byte, as part of the project's speaker series, to talk about his experiences in the industry. The project actually shares the name of a WordPress-based project that I demo-ed at DisruptNY's hackathon in 2015, and in a strange way, I feel like something about this anecdote sums up my opinion of Byte; it's something like a bridge: between what was and what could be.

It's a weird thing, to look back, you know? I mean, I read every single review on Course Report, and every other website that I could find, before I took the leap. I was hungry, man. I was fucking rabid. I don't even know what this means, but I wanted "to know."

I took a moment to re-read what I'd written and the album "Is This It" came to mind. I was about to plug my headphones into my laptop and pull it up on Spotify, but I started to think about why the album came to mind in the first place as I reflected on what I meant when I wrote "I wanted 'to know'" I realized that that's exactly what I was asking myself right around the time in my life when my friend told me that he was going to go to Byte. You've really got to look inward before you take the leap. Three months can seem like a long time if you aren't ready for a lot of change, but if you're right head-space: it'll go by in the blink of an eye.

In my time at Byte I got to be taught by all the instructors, and they were all SO friendly and knowledgable about everything they were teaching, and always willing to answer questions and help with homework or debugging code (everything was remote, but I had so much support from the instructors and Byte Fellows that my experience was probably as good as it would have been been in-person!). You can message an instructor with a question anytime and they almost always answer it immediately.
The lectures are about 1.5-2 hours a day and there’s about an hour of “code review” (going over lecture questions and getting help on homework if needed). My biggest advice is definitely to GO TO CODE REVIEW AND DO THE HOMEWORK EVERY DAY!!! I was learning so much new information each day in the lectures, and code review was a great time to talk more about what I learned in lecture and ask all my questions, so that I could make sure I had a solid understanding of everything before we moved onto the next topic in the next day’s lecture. The tests and quizzes are totally manageable IF you keep up with the homework and go to code review- like in any class, you can’t expect to hear something once in lecture and be  an expert at it without doing practice. The difficulty of the homework directly lined up with the difficulty of the tests/quizzes so DO THE HOMEWORK and get help on it if you need to!! There’s also tuesday night algorithms/interview coding prep workshops which are SO HELPFUL for practicing and getting better at coding. 
The final project was my favorite part!! You can pretty much pick whatever topic/project you want and the instructors help you come up with a manageable project and if you get stuck they’re there to help, but you’re the one deciding what to do (it’s insane to realize how many new skills you’ve picked up when you’re in the final project phase- I could code and understand so many Data Science models/algorithms that I never even had heard of before the course). All in all I learned so much and am so happy i did this!!