DigitalCrafts

I am not the greatest at writing reviews, but I just had to because of my experience with my instructor, Veronica. You cannot ask for a better instructor than her. She is kind, patient, motivating, smart, and above all else, a great person to be around. If you are looking for a structured approach to learning, you should definitely look into joining her class. She normally has lessons in the morning and assignments after lunch. The slides she provides are extremely helpful, but only if you pay attention in class, so make sure you do! 

Here is some advice from a recent graduate:

Always strive to do your best. It is the best way to progress in the class. It is pretty fast and the better you understand the topics, the better it will be for you when projects come rolling around. 
 

Don't be upset if you don't get topics right away. There were times, especially when we were learning node, that I felt lost. It will come to you eventually; Veronica has a way with her lesson plans that will trigger that lightbulb of yours.

Give time for yourself to relax! 

As a former math teacher, Digital Crafts supported me a lot to make a big change on my career as a Full Stack Developer. With very little background, I was not sure how far I could go in software development area when I first started the immersive program. In the first a couple weeks, it made me feel anxious when I see challenges in coding. However, I always felt very lucky to have a great instructor, Azam. His instruction was changing all complex parts into small easy structures which made the concepts easier to understand. I was not hesitating to ask questions over and over to him since he was very open to help anytime, even after course hours via the slack. Another great thing was to have very supportive, dedicated and knowledgable DIRs who gave their all time for our questions. On the other hand, these positive opportunities were not enough by themselves. If you are really passionate about software development and pursuing your career in this area; commuting to the course, listening the instructors and doing the assignments are not enough at all with little background. I was spending my nights and weekends to do extra learning and extra projects to understand better, most importantly to practice, practice, practice. The most important takeaway was to learn how to google things to fix the problem, it is becoming your helper overtime as you progress in weeks. I have started job applications two weeks prior to graduation. Since the skills we have learned in the course were from cutting-edge technologies, I could not find enough number of opportunities in Houston. Houston area companies are usually looking for .NET, C++, C#, Java and etc. If you are open to relocate, you can decrease the time you spend for job hunting. After graduation, I made lots of search to learn strategies regarding how to apply jobs. After I explored the things about it, I believed that there may be another bootcamp only for job searching part :) . I am glad that I have landed a job as a Full Stack Developer in Houston 3 weeks after graduation and glad to experience such great times with Digital Crafts.

If you want to deeply understand how Web development works, you've come to the right place. The program teaches you the fundamentals of the web development from scratch -- from the theoretical aspects of object-oriented programming, to the actual skill of how to write an HTTP request. The instructors are great -- always willing to answer questions, provide their knowledge and experienced perspectives while building web applications. The first ten weeks help you get a feel to build quality full-stack web application. I remember my first week at the program, how much difficulty I had to write and solve some simple array questions, then last week(16th), how cool web applications I had created. Our DIR's were all amazing - they were always eager to help someone through an issue. This course is not easy and will take a lot of dedication, but will pay off if you work hard. I would definitely recommend DigitalCrafts for both beginners and CS graduates and suggest them to do as much of the pre-work as possible so that once you're in class, you can spend more time trying to understand the more complex topics rather than struggling with the basics.

I completed my 16 week program Jan 2019.

Prior to attending a bootcamp I was working as a Microsoft T-SQL reports developer.  However, on the side, I always enjoyed learning other coding skills, dabbling with small snippets of code with hopes of using them at work.  I finally decided I wanted to build on those skills and finally decided to enroll into a web developer bootcamp hoping that it will get me closer to pursuing a career as a web developer.

There are a few things that helped me in my decision to steer my career toward a different path.  I knew I wanted to code.  I knew I wanted to do web development instead of desktop.  I knew I wanted to see what the Javascript stack would be like.  I've always dabbled in C# (basics) but I figured Javascript stack may give me a different perspective on how things could be done and at the same time it seems to be the languange I really need to know to be a web developer.  I knew I also learned better in a class setting.  I also knew I needed to have a really good instructor whom to learn from but that was difficult to know until I actually went to class and he/she would be a hit or miss.  Last but not least, I felt that if anything, I will have spent my time learning and come out knowing more than I did and was up to how much effort I put into it before, during, and after my cohort.

Above are my personal reasons but as far as choosing DigitalCrafts specifically, I just didn't know enough about all the technologies that are mentioned on their curriculum.  Node.js, MongoDb, PostgreSql, Express.js, etc.. all sounded foreign but sounded good.  After digging deeper into what those were in general and their uses, I finally decided I wanted to learn these technologies.  And last, I just really liked the reviews from previous students.

The 16 week course I would describe as the history of the web condensed into a few weeks and how things were done in the 90's up to today.  As far as web technology, I went in knowing a little of HTML, no CSS, some Javascript, programming basics, some idea of front-end communication with backend databases.

I know now that what I knew prior to the 16 weeks was really not a whole lot as far as web technology is concerned.  I have learned so much more since then.  Eventhough I completed the course, I am still very much a junior web developer.  However, I had really good help from my teacher and TAs throughout.  I also have good direction going forward.  I was lucky and very greatful I got a great teacher to learn from.  Thank you again Azam!  Also thank you to our awesome TAs Stephen and James!

Other than that, I am still looking for employment = ) but have better skills to move forward!

A year ago I was driving for Uber and selling things on eBay to support my growing family. My plan was to become a software engineer but the obstacles were enormous. I had no college credits, no coding experience, and no time to waste.   Choosing a coding boot camp was a big decision. I finally went with DigitalCrafts as they offered a cutting-edge curriculum and had great reviews. My first day in class I looked around the room. It was full of smart, committed people who were eager to learn. The energy of the students and staff was palpable. I knew I had made the right choice.
   The next four months were intense. The pace was fast and a couple times I felt overwhelmed, but each weekend I found myself impatient for Monday. I spent happy hours coding, collaborating on projects and playing ping pong. I had many conversations with the entrepreneurs and developers who shared Atlanta Tech Village. Weeks after graduation, one of the entrepreneurs hired me to build a React web app. This allowed me to hone my skills as I continued applying for a permanent position.    Three months later, my job search is complete. This morning I accepted a Software Engineer position at an amazing company. Thanks to DigitalCrafts, my future and the future of my family is looking up.   I am grateful to the many friends I made on this adventure: my teacher, Jonathan Martin, the founders and staff at DigitalCrafts, my fellow classmates, the students from earlier and later cohorts, and every senior engineer who kindly shared their tips and experience.

I attended DigitalCrafts' Sept 2018 - Jan 2019 Full-stack Immersive cohort in Atlanta, and it was the best career decision I could have made. After 20+ years in the telecom vendor industry, I was hungry for a career change. I dabbled for a couple of years with numerous online resources (edX, Coursera, Udemy, FreeCodeCamp, etc) but finally recognized I needed to attend a bootcamp with a strong, full-stack curriculum if I was going to feel confident enough to change jobs.

After researching several Atlanta-area in-person camps, as well as a few online options, I settled on DigitalCrafts because:

• the cost was reasonable compared to other in-person options,
• the Atlanta Tech Village (ATV) location was amazing and right in the heart of one of Atlanta's booming tech districts,
• the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful,
• the reviews from former students, as well as what I could see in their LinkedIn and GitHub accounts, were amazing, and
• the full-stack curriculum was heavily focused on JavaScript, and included very current topics such as React and AWS

All of these reasons proved to be true, and I never regretted my decision to attend. Being 47 years old, I was nervous that I would not fit in with the other students, most of whom were in their 20s and early 30s, but that was never an issue. There is a real sense of community, both inside the classroom, and throughout the ATV facility which is also home to many tech start-up companies. At the free lunch ATV provides on Fridays, you can sit with your fellow students, or grab a seat with a stranger and listen to them practice their elevator pitch for their startup (and maybe even get a job offer).

The reviews here are full of compliments about the instructors, and I whole-heartedly agree, so I won't repeat how amazing they are. DigitalCrafts does an excellent job finding experienced and knowledgeable people who know how to teach to serve as their instructors. Each cohort has a lead instructor and one or two teaching assistants and they all go above and beyond, frequently staying well after class and providing regular office hours to offer any extra help as needed. You not only learn how to be a full stack developer (with HTML, CSS, JS, and React on the front end, and Node, Express, PostgreSQL on the backend), but you also learn the important skill of deploying what you build on AWS cloud servers, which comes in handy when you want to quickly show an interviewer what you have created.

Lastly, the career services at DC exceeded my expectations. They stop short of guaranteeing you a job, but they do everything possible to put you in a position to succeed in your job search. There are frequent sessions where the importance of resumes, portfolios, GitHub, and LinkedIn are discussed, and the DC career services team works with you to build and improve each of them. Interviewing advice is offered regularly and you get to do a mock interview to practice your interview skills. We took a class trip to the office of a local web dev shop to see firsthand how their developers work in an agile team environment, and there were several guest speakers who came in later in the cohort to talk about job search and career advice for new developers. This all paid off for me (and several other classmates) as I had a successful interview, which led to a job offer during the final week of my cohort.

I am now enjoying the one week break from the end of my cohort to my first day at work as I start my new career as a software developer. I will be forever grateful to DigitalCrafts for helping to make that possible.

I am a former teacher and was looking to attend a coding bootcamp. I did some research of the available classes in Houston and found that DigitalCrafts had high ratings and success stories. I now know why they have such high ratings! I had Veronica as a teacher and it was an absolute blast. I didn't realize software development could be so fun!

This class is most definitely challenging, but it's rewarding. If you are thinking about signing up, do it. You won't be disappointed. Take the pre-work very seriously and be ready to work hard and overcome many challenges!

Earlier this year I decided to quit my job and attend the Full Stack Immersive Program at DigitalCrafts. I had no prior coding experience, so I was definitely nervous about understanding the material and keeping up with the pace. 

The four months were definitely a roller coaster ride. There were days that I would quickly grasp concepts and then there were days where I struggled to put code on the screen. And as easy as it was to second guess my decision on those days that I struggled, I saw my struggles as a sign that I was learning and challenging myself. I wouldn't be gaining anything if everything was easy. Learning fundamentals is stressed throughout the course instead of introducing the easier shortcuts right away. The curriculum is robust, so you get exposure to different areas of full stack development. The projects are awesome because they allow you to go through sprint-like scenarios that you may encounter in a job setting. The projects also allow you to own the project from beginning to end. You are coming up with the project idea, then you design and develop your project, and then you are able to deploy it for the world to see! The project weeks were easily the most exciting parts of this course!

I truly enjoyed my time at DigitalCrafts. There is a reason why they are rated so highly. The staff was always supportive and there to help in any way they could. Our instructor, Jonathan, was so passionate about helping our class not only learn to code, but to code well. He emphasized the better and more conventional ways to do things and he encouraged us to avoid improper use of code. Jonathan had over a decade of experience but he was able to break down concepts and clearly explain them so that those of us with no coding background could understand. I feel well-prepared for my career change and I could not be happier with my experience! I definitely recommend this program to anyone looking to make the leap into web development!

I could not have been happier with my experience at DigitalCrafts. Prior to attending this bootcamp, I was working as a Paralegal and trying to learn to code on the side. I knew that in order to make the career change, I wanted something full-time and in person to really ramp up my learning. That limited my search to bootcamps in Atlanta. In that regard, everything I had heard really pushed me towards DigitalCrafts. I based my decision on reviews, personal testimonials from DC alumni in my network, and overall just a good deal of online research. As many people will tell you - you really do get out of this what you put into it. If you have the time and the money to devote to this, and you are ready to put your all into it - then I highly recommend attending DigitalCraft's Full-Time Immersive program. 

Some specific details of what in particular I really appreciated about the course are below:

1. Group Projects - this was huge and something that I feel really gave me a lot to talk about in interviews. We had 4 big projects throughout the 16 week program. In each one, you have to come up with something unique for your group to work on, plan out the work flow, and then actually execute everything in about 1 week. You start learning to solve problems that may not have been directly discussed in lecture, communicate effectively in a group, and constantly adjust your product to fit what you have the time and capability to accomplish.

2. The Instructor - My instructor was a very good speaker, and someone that excelled in breaking technical concepts down into something people with very little experience or background knowledge can understand. There is a huge difference in learning by randomly googling, versus learning from someone that really focuses on best practices and figuring out the most efficient, logical, and readable way to accomplish something. I can not say enough great things about Jonathan.

My approach to learning coding was originally to learn content through online platforms like Coursera and Udemy while practicing on freeCodeCamp.  I spent about half a year at it, and learned quite a bit, but I hit a point where I knew that to keep myself motivated I would need to find a classroom setting where I would have a structured environment to learn.

My background is that I have always been strong in math.  I took an AP Computer Science course over 15 years ago and did well in that, but pursued Psychology in college and taught elementary school for six years before deciding to pursue coding again.

I gained a lot out of DigitalCrafts.  The curriculum is fast-paced and even the material that I thought I had already learned was presented in a new light.  I learned to think critically about not just how to program, but how to program well - what design patterns were elegant and what patterns should be avoided due to inefficiency or likelihood to cause bugs.  The curriculum was geared towards developing a strong foundation of skills and then challenging students to figure out the more advanced tooling in teams.

The team projects were both difficult and enlightening.  Working in groups, we learned both how to use tools to manage project collaboration, something you just don't learn on your own, and explored techniques and technologies that were not directly taught in class.  In a field where new technologies are being developed all the time, developers must adapt and be ready to learn and implement them to stay relevant in the field.

We built full-stack applications with multiple features, having to set up database tables, backend routes, and front-end dynamic interfaces for each feature.  This incremental development across the stack reinforced the skills learned in class.  In addition, we built what we wanted to build, so we repeated implementations of technologies on intrinsically motivating projects, while learning new things required for each additional feature.  I cannot think of a better way to learn.

The instructor was personable, dynamic, and interesting.  The class environment was supportive and positive.  The staff was full of friendly, helpful people.

I highly recommend this program.

Before the actual review of the bootcamp itself, let's establish some setting: DigitalCrafts is located on the 4th floor of the Atlanta Tech Village, a beautiful building, collaborative space, and tech hub in downtown Buckhead. It has lots of windows with great views of the city and a big flatscreen in front of the elevators on the first floor that tells you, every five minutes, in glorious high-definition capital letters, to HUSTLE. You will meet some VERY interesting people here if you're open and willing to do that. Now let's get to my educational experience in the full-stack immersive program: because of DigitalCrafts, I am now fully prepared to work as a software engineer. Every single day in Johnathan's classroom was a worthy challenge and a very cool experience, and the level of required focus brought on a personal cognitive shift. I don't just know how to code now, I'm a more open and direct communicator and a more rigorous thinker. I feel totally prepared for the real and virtual world of software engineering, and perhaps more importantly, I'm having real conversations with the people who can make that happen.