Dev Bootcamp

I am a huge proponent of people attending DevBootcamp since graduating from the program, I've encouraged many acquaintances to apply for the program. 

Pros: 
- You learn so much, so quickly - The program is broken down into trimester-like sections. Each "trimester" you learn a new language and different programming components. At the end of each "trimester", you build a project with a team. 
- You get real experience of what being developer is - On a day-to-day basis, what I did my first year of working as a software engineer wasn't much different than what I did at bootcamp. You get your requirements, you learn to use resources to improve your knowledge-base and create better code, you pair program, you debug, etc. The DevBootcamp experience really prepares you to jump into a job on a development team. 
- Great network of people - The bootcamp has been great at getting quality people into their program. The alumni are diverse - in terms of age, experience, previous careers, race, gender, economic background, etc, which leaves you with a network of diverse group of people in tech. Incredibly valuable.
- Career Placement - There is a group of staff dedicated to helping alumni find jobs. In fact, it's part of the curriculum. The week after we graduated, we still came to campus to attend workshops and hear speakers to help us get our first job. I was hired with a month of graduating, with no previous experience in tech. They also have a wealth of free resources for their alumni. 

Cons
- Hard and time-consuming - It is a hard program. Not every one who started in our cohort finished it. It is 5 days a week of 8 hours of classes, then projects take up most of you evening and weekends. It is intense. 
- Expensive - It is a big investment of money, as well as time. In my case the investment was well worth it, but if it's something you want to just do as a hobby or for non-career reasons, this will end up being a pretty expensive route. 
- Required extra-curricular - The program includes non-technical requirements that I wasn't the biggest fan of. Like twice weekly yoga is mandatory. Attending Engineering Empathy classes, (that were basically like group therapy were you're expected to share a lot), are required. Many people in my cohort liked it, I personally would have preferred the program without it. 

Overall: I recommend it all the time. Despite the time, effort, and cost of the program, I think it is a great choice for anyone looking to enter the world as a developer. 

I do want to mention that if you don't live in a place where these programs are common, (like SF, NY, Boston, etc), it may be a little harder to get a job with this. If companies in your area have not seen many alumni of bootcamps being successful in development environments, they will be skeptical of hiring someone with only a few months of training instead of a CS degree. 

As someone with a liberal arts degree and some self-taught coding experience from free online tutorials, Dev Bootcamp helped shape me into a well-rounded engineer equipped with the technical and interpersonal skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.

So what is it like being a student in Dev Bootcamp? Dev Bootcamp is a grind. It’s a structured, fast-paced program that challenges you to learn faster than you’ve ever learned before. The curriculum is comprehensive, covering everything you need to know to be able to develop a full-stack web application. Every day, you drink from an information fire hose, solve problems, and write code. And while this might sound very intimidating, it’s not impossible if you commit to the program with a positive attitude and give each day your best effort. 

What I like about Dev Bootcamp is that it teaches you how to be an engineer in the real world. Not only do you learn how to effectively design and develop full-stack applications, but you also learn how to be a valuable teammate. You exercise and strengthen your problem solving skills, communication skills, co-working skills, and creativity. You learn how to be an independent learner and solve problems by using different resources on the Internet. You also learn how and when to rely on others.

What I like about the Seattle campus is that its staff focuses on giving its students a quality experience. The student-to-instructor ratio is very low, and the instructors do a great job in being actively involved in your learning. They encourage you to ask them for help and are willing to give you one-on-one attention if you need it. If you don’t go to them for help, they will check in with you regularly to make sure that you are on the right track. Moreover, they are always open to feedback on ways of improving your learning experience.

I joined Dev Bootcamp in 2016, and I can tell you firsthand that it was the best decision I’ve ever made. Within two months of graduating, I earned an apprenticeship at Microsoft as a Software Engineer. However, don’t be misled into thinking that graduating from the program guarantees you a job. Just like any 4-year university, you are not simply placed into a job upon graduation. While Dev Bootcamp will prepare and assist you on your job search even after graduation, you have to put in just as much effort if you want to land one. If you are serious about making a career change or simply want to learn a new skill, I highly recommend joining Dev Bootcamp. The program worked for me, and I know it can work for you.

Overall: Good pace and speed for me, a total beginner.  6 1/2 months after the program start date and I totally changed my career from a non-tech background to a full-time junior developer.

Curriculum: Ruby and JavaScript. The whole time on campus, focus on how you are learning the language rather than just memorizing methods and syntax.  The ability to learn quickly, the "how to learn", is how to sell yourself to job opportunities.

Teachers have a lot on their plate. Everyone who attends will learn the necessary skills, but the students who excelled the most during my time were the ones who put themselves in front of instructors and sought out feedabck regularly.

Post graduation, support staff is baller. They are the most baller when you take the time to reach out to them and show you are taking the right steps every day towards finding a job (Rachel, Naomi, Molly, Katy, Kelly). 

 

I had a great experience at DBC Seattle and would recommend it to anyone who is motivated to learn and isn't afraid of hard work. The instructor-to-student ratio is very high, and they are able to offer individual attention when needed. The instructors are very knowledgeable and will help point you in the right direction whenever you have problems. The course material is thorough and well thought out.

This is definitely a challenging course, and you really need to put in the effort to learn the material. Part of what they're teaching you is how to learn programming, which is very valuable later on in the job hunt and career. However, it does mean that they don't spoon feed you everything. The curriculum introduces topics and shows you the pertinent information to get started, and provides a challenge/practice problem to use it, but there will be a lot of self-learning on the way with the instructors guiding you. The remote portion is very well written so that minimal teacher interaction is needed, and you can learn the basics of each language on your own. The on-campus portion goes into each of the languages into more depth, and the instructors give breakout sessions and demos to help teach the material.

I really enjoyed my time with this program and am very glad that I took this step toward a career change!

One of the main reasons I chose DBC over other bootcamps is their emphasis on engineering empathy and social engineering. They realize the value of their graduates having strong communication and pairing skills, in addition to strong technical skills. They also help students deal with emotional and social issues many bootcamp students face, like imposter syndrome and being a woman in a male-dominated industry. 

Another thing I love about DBC is their stance on learning, they don't tell you to learn the material the way they think you should learn it. They help you figure out what your most comfortable learning-style is so you can make the best use of your time and effort. They teach you how to become the most efficient learner you can be. 

You can also repeat phases as you need FOR FREE, so that was the final selling point for me. Of course it's extremely helpful that they also have a great careers team and an insane amount of resources that both students and alumni can utilize to job hunt and network.

Lastly - you get out of the experience what you put into it. No one is going to make sure you put in the time and effort or do the work for you, you have to take responsibility for your own learning and career. This experience was one of the most difficult things I've done in my life, but DBC offers you all kinds of support and it is well worth the reward if you're willing to step up. They set you up for success in the industry, you just have to trust the program and completely dive in!

Dev Bootcamp gives you the opportunity to really bond with a cohort of really interesting and talented people. I'm so happy to have met them and worked together with them.

The bootcamp really does a great job of scheduling your day and offering advice, support, and life hacks to get the most out of your time. When you leave, you'll feel as if your whole life you've been learning at such a slow pace compared to with what you accomplished in 9-15 weeks (and I've been to grad professional school).

If you want the opportunity to really change your life in a short time and you're willing to do what it takes, there's no question that you should choose Dev Bootcamp. 

Choosing to enroll in Dev Bootcamp was one of the best career decisions I’ve ever made. Do any of these thoughts hit home?

 

-I’m so unhappy at my job.

-I feel no drive or motivation to go into work.

-I want a career where I can problem solve and be challenged every day.

-I want to feel like what I’m doing matters and im respected for the work I do.

-I’m trying to make ends meet for my family but I can’t see that happening at my current place of employment.

 

 I had all these thoughts/ concerns and then some. After a six-year attempt in sales I realized I hated what I did and wanted a change. I had always been interested in computer programming but trying to become a successful sales rep took all the time and energy I had until I realized, “I’m trying so hard at this and its just not working.” At that point I reassessed my path and looked into other options.

 

I decided web development was my future and began researching two routes, getting a CS degree or choosing a bootcamp program. The choice for me was simple, being 30 years of age, newly married, and in the process of starting a family I didn’t have the time or money to go back to school for 4 years. My logic – a CS degree is very marketable and opens doors but a bootcamp could yield the same ROI after some entry-level jobs a few years of experience. After researching every bootcamp in Chicago and reading multiple reviews on Course Report I found Dev Bootcamp.

 

DBC is an amazing place with wonderful instructors and an incredible facility. The program is 9 weeks independent study and 9 weeks on site. The first 9 weeks introduces you to Ruby, HTML/ CSS, Sql, Git, and Github. You’ll have about six to eight challenges a week to prep your mind and start thinking as a programmer, when you move into the classroom you’ll be expected to complete six to eight challenges a day. The transition will be overwhelming but get comfortable being uncomfortable and bring your full self. The last 9 weeks are comprised of building small ruby command line apps, building apps using Sinatra and Rails that utilize JavaScript, and your final project which is comprised of all the tech you learned on your journey.

 

-------------READ THIS TO GET TO THE POINT------------------

 

I chose Dev Bootcamp because I was very impressed with the curriculum, the facility, and the career counseling advisors. I didn’t realize how much more I was going to get out of the program. Let me break it down below.

 

• I didn’t know anything about programming (AT ALL). I thought HTML/CSS was programming….really. Now I can build Yelp, Stack Overflow, Ebay, and pretty much anything else I want. You need to work hard and put in the time but they take people with zero knowledge and turn them into programmers.

 

• FRIENDSHIPS - This is not like school or a work-training seminar, its more than that. You and 20+ other people are thrown into this environment, all learning something extremely difficult and exciting at the same time. You and your cohort members will experience the same highs and lows together - forms an incredible bond that can last a lifetime. I genuinely love the people I met at Dev Bootcamp and am so thankful our paths met.

 

• JOB - The career advisors genuinely care about you and your career. They will help you any way they can to find a job. Being a recent grad my job hunt starts now but so many of my cohort members are working.

 

• FACILITY - The facility is brand new and amazing. Go to an open house, you will be impressed.

 

• COUNSELING - DBC has an onsite counselor, which will help you along this emotional journey. This is a 100% immersive program, which means that everything else takes a back seat, coupled with learning so much in a concentrated time frame, the stress is real. The onsite counselors are kind, supportive, and wonderful.

 

• YOGA!

 

• EE - Engineering Empathy is a program integrated in the course that teaches you how to be more empathetic and understanding of others you encounter. It’s an important skill to have when working in a team. After the first session, I didn’t understand its merit but by the next I realized how important the lessons are in the real world. It forced me to analyze my own behavior and made me more aware of my interactions when pairing with other cohort members. If its not something you fully understand now trust that it will make so much sense when you’re out in the real word.

 

• THE STAFF – The instructors are incredibly knowledgeable who truly want you to succeed. Its not often you share a room such brilliant people who come with their own set personalities that make life at DBC even more entertaining. They all have extensive real world job experience and are always willing help.

 

• CULTURE – Everyone works hard and without time to play, 9 weeks can be brutal. The cohort members assemble activities like talent show, karaoke, Friday drinks (off site), treasure hunt, board game night, video game night, and more. It’s a great way to blow off steam and connect with both instructors and cohort members.

 

• MOST IMPORTANTLY – You will push yourself in ways you never have. You will prove to yourself you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. In moments of anxiety I look back at how far I’ve come, not only as a programmer but also as a person, and it fills me with more confidence than ever before, it’s an amazing feeling.

 

------------------------------- MY ADVICE ---------------------------------

 

If you’re on the fence I recommend just doing it, life’s too short.

 

If you’re going to take the blue pill, here are a few things you should consider.

 

• Try some free online courses to make sure you like programming or at the very least, programming is something that sparks curiosity and you’re able to continue learning concepts even if they don’t totally make sense right away.
• LEARN AS MUCH RUBY AS YOU CAN.
• Read these books in phase 0 or before you even sign up:
  • https://www.amazon.com/Well-Grounded-Rubyist-David-Black/dp/1617291692/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JY8Z7VN19JH5F040CVPC
  • https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Object-Oriented-Design-Ruby-Addison-Wesley/dp/0321721330/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JY8Z7VN19JH5F040CVPC
  • https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Program-Second-Facets-Ruby/dp/1934356360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483205190&sr=8-1&keywords=chris+pine+programming
• If you can take off work during phase 0 to dedicate 100% of your time, it’s a good idea. If not, just work before, after, and on the weekends (no joke).
• In phase 1, 2, and 3
  • Eat well.
  • Take care of yourself.
  • Sleep either 6, 7.5, or 9 hours per night – it’s important.
  • Be kind to yourself, you can do it.
  • Work hard
  • Ask for help

Pros

• Teachers were very helpful on campus.  Many worked in the industry and were able to answer some questions that go beyond the class.  
• Really felt like I had the basic skills to achieve as a junior developer.
• Class material didn't hold your hand.  The way the classes are structured, you have to really push yourself in order to pass, which lead to a better understanding.
• The career team does a good job in keeping contact with you post-graduation, even holding monthly meetings to discuss strategies. 
• They have multiple assessments to ensure you knew the material/filtered out those that didn't put forth the effort.
• They had side sessions that discussed issues in the tech world, and things we could do to be a better overall programmer. 

Cons

• During the first 9 weeks, the at-home portion, the office hours were at really inconvenient times, and lacked a bit of discretion.  They would normally be 2pm or 4pm CST, which didn't help for those who had to work from 8-5.  It'd be nice if they did a night once or twice a week.  Also, regardless of the amount of people waiting, the teacher would focus on whoever came first for the entire hour, and would be very strict at just a full hour.  So if you didn't get your question in, you had to try to figure it out over slack.
• While on campus, there was a bit of teacher turnover, which could be frustrating at times keeping up with them learning how to teach.
• I wish we spent more time on the tech interview process, I really felt weak in that department.

Overall

I would do it again.  I was just hired to be a jr Dev at roughly 50,000 a year, so the return on investment is evident.  It did take me a little longer than I had thought to find a job (6 months though I did limit myself to the Chicago/Milwaukee area), but it's nice to finally be working.  I do think that I'll be able to succeed, even without the 4 year CS degree, but there are some holes I've noticed in my knowledge that is more theory.

Attending Dev Bootcamp (DBC) was possibly the best decision I've made in my life.  It catapulted me from a lack luster job, in an industry I wasn't passionate about, into a career as a Software Engineer at a company where I grow my skills every day.  The nice bump in salary was pretty cool too.  I'm finally proud of what I do, and I enjoy the day-to-day work flow.

I will say - it's not for everyone.  I had spent maybe 2 years on and off coding and doing big platform (Wordpress, Squarespace, etc) web dev before I attended DBC.  I worked through Ruby, HTML, JS and CSS on Codecademy and took an online intro to CS course.  I was also used to working long hours, with intense focus.  With all of that, I felt like I had just enough knowledge to get a lot out of DBC, without being totally overwhelmed.

DBC is an intense experience, and someone once told me: you get out of it as much as you put into it.  And that's the truth.  Set yourself up for success.  Don't start coding with DBC - learn the basics ahead of time.  Then you can actually take the time at DBC to enhance your skills and focus on web development.  It also allows you a little more leeway to take a break once in a while.

Also, have a career plan.  DBC can do a lot, and the career coaches and job seeking atmosphere is great, but it doesn't subsitute for your own analysis of your career path and realistic career goals.  There's a world of difference between a front-end web developer at a creative agency, a back-end software engineer at mature corporation, and the frenetic activity of a startup.

Overall, DBC is amazing, and it was everything I wanted it to be.  I've never been more intellectually stimulated, challenged and supported in my life.  The people are incredible and the experience is unforgettable.  Just know what you're getting out of it, and be prepared to work harder than you've ever worked before.

 

Having attended a couple of traditional, well-respected universities, I was skeptical of the bootcamp format. I wondered if it was just a money making ploy or if I could actually get the skills required to make a successful career change. Simply put, attending Dev Bootcamp (DBC) was not only the best life decision I've ever made, but it was also the most progressive, dynamic and responsive program I've ever experienced.

DBC offers a multi-phase course setup that uses every minute to teach and strengthen your coding ability. Their website is pretty clear on the format and topics, so I'll let you find that on your own. What originally attracted me to DBC was the extra opportunities they provide with the Engineering Empathy course, yoga, and career coaches. The fact is, you can be the best coder in the world but if you can't work with others then you'll find it difficult to find a good job. The engineering empathy helped teach us about ourselves (strengths, weaknesses, etc.) so we could better bring our 'whole self' to team coding sessions, as well as help us identify where other people are coming from so we can be more inclusive and a better overall team. The yoga (another thing I was skeptical of) was awesome! It provided a healthy, much needed break and an opportunity to reset my mind throughout the week so I could keep stuffing it with new information. I already had a good career and wide network, but it was in a entirely different field. The career coaches helped me take everything I learned from my past and refine it so it's applicable in the tech industry. I learned new ways of networking, and they helped me get past the discomfort of reaching out in a modern, fast moving industry so that I could continue to grow in my journey.

The teachers were fantastic. They have all the technical skills from a range of past experiences, so live input and feedback on how I was doing, what I was struggling with, and questions that ranged from surface level to very deep dives were all addressed in positive, useful ways. They went far beyond technical help though. Almost all of the teachers remaned fully engaged and in-tune with all the students on a personal level. Because there seemed to be such an authentic desire for each of us to succeed, those falling behind were led to find confidence and those pushing ahead were challenged to dig deeper instead of become complacent. I can't say enough about how meaningful of an experience I had, much of which is a result of the core of excellent teachers.

Quitting my career was a huge risk, but I haven't regretted it for a single second because Dev Bootcamp prepared me for a long career in the tech industry. I am a better learner, problem solver and teammate because of this program, and you can be, too!

I absolutely loved my time at DBC Chicago and honestly felt a little sad when moving on to Phase 3 knowing that I only had a few weeks left. I'll try to highlight why I liked it so much, how I have benefitted, any recommendations for the program, what to expect overall, and address some of the criticisms from other posters.   What really defined the experience for me was the quality of people I had the chance to interact with every day. It seems like the kind of students DBC attracts are really first rate. The peers in my cohort (and those of groups ahead of and behind me) had a huge impact on my day to day enjoyment with the program. The best way I can describe it is think about the differences between how you act at work versus how you act and feel around your closest friends. The culture / pressure / ups and downs of DBC kind of act as a friendship incubator where even after only knowing people for a few weeks I felt accepted, that I could be my (sometimes weird :p ) self, put myself out there, and consequently gain so much more from my experience overall. I also feel like I've made some real genuine friendships along the way.    The instructors were also awesome, and so different from one another. I don't want to single them all out but someone else's review mentioned that they did not think it was a good idea to bring on former students as instructors without first gaining substantial industry experience. If they were speaking of Duke, I'd have to say by the time I attended I think he had been an instructor for two years and in my opinion brought as much to the table as anyone else there, and all in all brought a lot of value to my time there.   While mentioning the instructors, they don't actually help you how you may have been conditioned to expect to be helped. To use an analogy here; I have a young child, and when she is working on a puzzle and is putting the piece in the wrong way, I have to fight my instincts  to grab the piece, turn it around, and put it in for her. This way I don't rob her of that special, human, ah-ha moment when she gets it right all by herself, and she learns how to not give up when getting stuck. I may suggest thinking of using a different piece if she's way off track but for the most part I want her to know she can figure it out by coming up with her own strategy. This is the same way that the instructors will generally 'help', and there is definitely an adjustment when coming from traditional education, but I think it is the right way to go in the long run. I think this has benefit while on the job after graduation. To be honest I still feel like a real beginner, and I think that's fair considering I have been at this for less than a year. But I've been armed with past experiences of success when walking into a problem that I don't know anything about (which is how most every day at DBC feels like on-site, and some days at my job). Also, speaking from the perspective of now working for a few months, I am probably googling things 40 times a day, so the practice has paid off.   The final benefit to me was giving me a set of tools to carve out my own path in life. I'm going to get a bit more personal here, but I think a lot of past / prospective students can relate. Before going to DBC I had a lot of good things going on in my life, married to someone awesome, got a cool little kid, not major tragedies going on, all in all looks good from the outside. Internally, the feelings weren't the same. My job felt embarrassing for where I was at in life, without offering hope of some grand improvement coming down the line. My degree was not especially valuable and I just generally felt stuck. Every year I said, this was the last year I was going to stay in my job, then the next year would come, and I would be kicking myself. But I didn't know where to go. Making the leap of enrolling in DBC has lead me to dislodge a major piece of unhappiness from my life, and I can't exactly put the value of that into words.   Let's keep talking about value. Yes, DBC costs a a good chunk of money, and the point of criticism that you could learn all the material yourself is totally valid. However, I feel that DBC is a career accelerator, and can pay for itself quite quickly. DBC is also so economical time-wise. I changed my life, and had a great time doing it, in six months, how often can people say that? I wish I did it sooner.   Quick Notes

• My routine was arriving at 8am and leaving at 8:15pm, while also doing work on the train both ways. Also probably 7 hours on Saturdays. It felt like there wasn't enough time in the day to get all of the tasks done. That sounds rough (it was), but I'd like to contrast that with what my past life was like, doing the same job every day, waiting for the weekend, and not really getting anywhere. At DBC I felt like I was maximizing every day and just generally felt more alive, if that makes sense. Just spitballing, I would say I ranked in the 80th percentile of people in regards to time spent on site, but it was hard for me to get work done at home. YMMV
   
• The whole process can be hard on significant others, you could make the case that they probably have it worse than the students, and they will get lonely. My first week I didn't see my daughter from the Sunday night before my first day until Friday evening because she would be sleeping when I left and returned to the house.
   
• I would strongly recommend doing pre-prep before applying or going on site. I did the codecademy Ruby track 2x as well as HTML as a lead up to applying. It definitely doesn't hurt, and there just isn't time to 'catch up' once you are on-site. It felt like if days were 30 hours each I still would be busy each night.
   
• I feel like Phase 0 does not get everyone up to the same level of proficiency to start Phase 1, I'm not sure what the answer is, or if that is even possible, but if you are going to attend, try to get ahead of the curve.
   
• Engineering Empathy is important. While riding the train home the guy next to me sees that I'm coding and we strike up a conversation. He says he is the team leader of a tech team and goes on about how hard it is to find people that can work well a part of a team, not ones that know how to code. He goes on for a while basically covering all different points of Engineering Empathy without me even bringing it up. To me that was an affirmation that that part of the curriculum is valued by those in the field. (Also, during interviews I got positive responses when speaking on the subject)
   
• The staff ratio felt a thin. It seemed like around my time at DBC there was a large influx of students (I'm guessing this was a Kaplan methodology, and I feel bad writing that since I have no proof, but cohorts seemed to go from ~12 to ~24 in between when a friend of mine attended a few years prior to when I participated) and the staffing options were not set to handle that many people. Three instructors were hired by the time I graduated, so there was a response to the increase.
   
• I got a job after two months, but felt pretty lucky. I would say I was in the first 1/3 of my cohort to get a job offer. Looking for a job in a new field pushed my comfort zone big time. The career team is great, but basically, like the instructors, can only give you the tools, you have to go do it on your own.

I wrote quite a bit but still feel like I'm leaving so much out. It's just a great environment to be a part of, struggle though with amazing friends, and begin to learn a skill that can take you anywhere. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and have since been recommending DBC to a few friends.

Because of Dev Bootcamp and their Employ network my dream job came true. I work as a front-end developer for Oracle. My wife is a QA engineer and wants to be a developer, she's doing DBC as well. I won't lie, Dev Bootcamp was a blast and I'd do it again, but the onus is totally on you to stay diciplined once the program is complete. They provide a wonderful support system but finding free projects to work on, going to meetups, and practicing on your own so that you build a kick ass portfolio won't happen unless make it happen. You will get help getting in touch with companies but it's on you to impress them!