Galvanize

I'll start with the good. 

The lead instructor has a great mindset when it comes to focusing on the students and how they learn and grow individually. I dropped the program early since the second half just felt like a prison and all the work is self guided anyway, but career services seemed pretty good from the bit that I went through. Good advice on setting up LinkedIn and resume building, but maybe don't expect much more than that. Most of my gripes are from the curriculum and environment.

The curriculum and environment... 

The curriculum is almost completely taught by videos and self-guided time. You will be in class for 60 hours a week (so that they retatin accreditation), if you're five minutes late at any point in the day, expect a third of an absence, three absences you will be removed from the program. You will be pulled out of class or asked to change locations several times a day, often right as your just making progress/settling in. The building presents a hip, techy workplace at first glance, but the more time you spend there it quickly turns into the lifeless building it is.

The amount of effort that goes into presenting that environment would be better used actually building it. Every office around the building has giant glass walls that you can expect to feel like a zoo exhibit. They put on regular workshops in the middle of the space so they can make sure you see them being techy, or entrepreneurial, or whatever their angle is. It's an exhibit more than an incubator or school.

Overall it's a very disruptive environment. Also, not sure if this one is me being jaded by prior experience, but only expect to really walk into a job using the exact tools they teach the curriculum on. Instructors will not be able to provide advice unless you adhere exactly to what they have used and is part of the curriculum. Engineering is honestly a misnomer for what they selling here.

Data structures are very loosely touched on and never in the course is the application of engineering principles really taught. Expect to be handed a project with some test cases and told to go have fun. Assignments and tests are done by bullet points or following a list of instructions. It doesn't inspire free thought, or how to solve a problem using engineering.

The first six weeks of the course is definitely where the majority of the course lies. It does a good job of familiarizing you with javascript, but the second half where you're learning how to build actual applications. You're handed a business document and a rendering of a website and told to go make it. It's easy to make something show on the screen through code, but the means in which you accomplish this is where the term engineer comes from, and this is what is not touched on a single time through the course. 

My advice coming out of this.. if you need the in classroom setting, do the part time course. You're interaction is probably the same even if you're there full time. But at least you have you're own schedule and can have a less distracting environment. The price tag is high. If like online learning, do online, maybe look at some of the paid courses available elsewhere. You will get a lot more material for your dollar.

So the real question. What are you paying for at Galvanize?

The space (not great), the curriculum (has value early on, but definitely not 20k), the instructors (hardly any instruction or mentorship), career services (resume, linkedin, cover letter, interview advice, pay negotiations, overall valuable stuff, but again not 20k), oh, and the name Galvanize/Hack Reactor, which does carry value. So long as they don't tarnish it.

I personally found the Galvanize Data Science Immersive program to be a very rewarding experience. My prior background was in biotech, and after studying and working in that space for a bit, I felt I wanted to make a change. I found the program to be very interesting, filled with engaging instructors who were very knowledgeable about the material. The curriculum covered a great breadth of data science topics, but we still went into the depth of the math behind algorithms which I felt gave us good grounding on the justification of what we were learning. I also enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere of the daily assignments and group projects. Most importantly though, I really appreciated the career services they offered throughout the program, up to the final weeks, and even past graduation. I felt they really prepared me for navigating the job search and connecting with people. I'm glad I did the program.

SwitchUp initially matched me up with Galvanize when I was researching bootcamps. I did online programs previously and visited a few bootcamps (attended sample courses when available). I immediately knew that Galvanize was the best match for my learning style. I find that the curricula of most data science prep places cover the same topics - Galvanize's curriculum was a great mix and match between rock solid theoretical foundations and hands-on implementation experience. Accordingly, the bootcamp was intense, required great math and technical foundations - 10 hours days plus a lot of extra reading coding (plus material you don't even get to cover and can dive into later). Now a data scientist, I still use the course materials as reference. Where Galvanize truly shined was after the bootcamp was over. If you are switching careers, you have to slug through many interviews - career services was there for me with unbelievable one-on-one support every step of the way. If you paid a career coach, you'd have paid easily the bootcamp's price in hourly rates for all the help and support I've received. Pros: outstanding curriculum and instruction, small class size, extraordinary career support. Cons: their motto covers it all: "This is not school." They will give you all the tools to succeed but they will not force you to use them. It's up to you how hard and how fast you push yourself to achieve your goals of becoming a data scientist.

1-year after completing Galvanize Data Science Immersive and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. At 34 and already in a decent career field I wanted to make a change. I could have gone back to school or done a different boot camp- but the Galvanize program, structure, and community drew my attention. 

You can't argue with results. My cohort was small, only 7 people.  6 finished and all were employed full-time within 3 months. My personal experience was filled with a lot of apprehension and concern around  "is this going to be enough?". 

It was. That simple. 

Let's be clear - they are not going to apply to jobs for you. They are not going to do the course work for you. If you fall behind it is up to you to ask for more attention. 

However, I found the instructors to be knowledgeable and willing to dedicate time for those who wanted more attention - but also not hold the group back. Career services offered advice and gave you time when you asked for it. The atmosphere was positive and there were lots of ways to network/connect and hustle to find work.

I personally received two six-figure offers within 3 months, and there were a lot of possibles in the pipeline when I did end up accepting a position.  Of course your results may vary - but if you are interested in upping your data analytics game, being a master with python (a very useful language), and opening up career fields you didn't think would be possible - I found Galvanize a great place to do it and think it was exactly the right choice. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results at the present, and the future looks great!

Why 4 stars? Because there is always room for improvement and that missing star is YOU. You will make it 5 stars if you want it. 

Some additional thoughts I have: 

- Do at least an intro to Python course and have some exposure to Pandas - this will help you keep up. It also wouldn't hurt to do a simple Intro to Computer Science class where you really break down loops and objects in coding. Not 100% needed but will help you keep up. SQL practice also will be helpful. You don't need to be a master of any of this by all means - you know more than you realize!

- Do full immersive. I completely understand how big of a leap of faith it is to take 4+ months away from work and go without income during that time. I really believe the intensive is the way to go rather than doing it part-time. The crunched curriculum  is like a shot in the arm and you will learn/retain more and find more practical uses when you jump in with both feet.

Two years ago I knew that I wanted to make a substantial change to my life for myself and my family - Galvanize didn’t really help me do that though. I have been an Engineer now professionally for 2+ years and after taking some time to reflect on my journey I thought it would be best to leave a review.

I can honestly say that the crucial information I learned over the last two years mostly came from Udemy.com and practice. Galvanize was good for the sense that I had to dedicate myself to coding every single day for six months. There were many times though that my Cohort would be lost and asking for help with non to be found.

Galvanize even managed to use us as guinea pigs in our third quarter by letting us be the first to experience a completely lacking React curriculum. We had instructors on vacation and with no help to clarify things the class resorted to purchasing Stephen Grider’s “Modern React and Redux” course to complete together.

The overall experience was completely lacking. Some of my fellow graduates resorted to leaving it all behind and going back to old jobs. Some of them looked for work for about 2 years until finding something - they drove Lyft and Uber to get by. I resorted too Freelancing and trying to make websites and anything else I could to get people to pay me.

I ended up getting a job two years later with some help of Udemy.com and being in the right place at the right time.

When people ask me about attending Galvanize, I always give the same answer. If you have 20k to waste then go for it. If not invest time in to 3 - 4 Udemy Courses and you’ll achieve better results!

Please also note - The program has progressively gotten worse. I’ve kept in touch with many Alumni who were in attendance and the general consensus is that it was a complete waste and helped them go nowhere. I’ve seen the Phoenix campus churn through instructors and let go of critical staff all while shortening the program length, introducing more “Self-taught” curriculum, and leaving students to fend for themselves.

I have removed my time at Galvanize from my resume and don’t disclose it when talking with engineers because Galvanize didn’t get me to where I am. I did.

Please, If you are reading this - Spend your money more wisely. Udemy courses and some local tech groups will get you further, faster, then this utter disappointment of a program ever could.

I would highly recommend Galvanize's Data Science Immersive. It is tough, much tougher than I anticipated but that's what gets you a job afterwards. My best advice going into the program is practice practice practice, specifically python. This will help you go farther in the class. My background was an analyst and I put in about 12 hours a day M-F. By the weekend you are exhausted. Additionally, take the career services team's advice. They know what they are talking about, and are in a different league than any college counselor I ever worked with. I did everything the said to a T, and had a data science job lined up prior to graduation with two offers in total.

For me, Galvanize was life changing. It provided me the ability to create an entirely new career track in just a few short months. What you know by the end that  you didn't know in the beginning of the class is seriously impressive. I would recommend Galvanize to anyone as long as they are/can be a hard worker. Being surrounded by such a driven group of people is also a fun experience that you don't get at the typical job and helps push you farther.

The Data Science Immersive program at Galvanize has been absolutely amazing. Even though I had a technical background coming into the program, there was still so much to learn that it was still challenging, but by working with the instructors and other students I was able to overcome every block I hit. 

It's a lot of knowledge thrown at you every day, but the morning and afternoon sprints (especially the pair programming) really helped drive home what we were learning. Not only that, but having to actually apply the techniques we learned to different case studies and eventually our capstone projects was great and gave me a lot to add to my portfolio. 

I'm still in the process of searching for a job, but James has been essential throughout the process (even after we graduate), by helping us with our resume and interview skills, and connecting us to companies looking to hire.

10/10 would definitely recommend the Data Science Immersive at Galvanize.

No, you won't become a data science expert in 3 months.

Yes, the fundamentals you learn at Galvanize will put you well on your way and make you highly employable.

I'm happy with my choice of Galvanize because:

• My fellow classmates were intellectually curious and excellent partners
• The instructors focused the curriculum on a first-principles understanding of key machine learning concepts, followed by project-based applications of those principles.
• The startup community surrounding the campus is vibrant, and provided several opportunities for collaboration.

Onward and upward!

A little background on me. I came to Galvanize as a Colorado Native with a college degree and 5 years of working experience running a financial planning practice. I had no coding or technology background. I decided on Galvanize over some other boot camps because of their sales pitch and culture. We will teach you a little about a lot of things, but more importantly how to learn a new programming language quickly. When you get in front of an employer you can say I may not know a ton about your code base, but give me 2 weeks and I will. 

Every boot camp and campus has its own culture and people so you should always shadow for a day to see if it’s a good fit for you. I shadowed at 3 different boot camps and Galvanize was the best fit for me. Galvanize is not for everyone though. If you are looking for someone to hold your hand and guide you as you learn about coding then Galvanize is not for you. They take the approach of you need to struggle at times to really learn some topics or concepts. I like this style and it worked well for me. I also got a lot out of helping my fellow students. This would help reaffirm a concept in my head.

Galvanize – Denver had great instructors while I was there. This is always in flux though. One of the Galvanize Denver biggest weaknesses is they don’t have a timely process of replacing an instructor when they leave.  They also have changed the curriculum while I was there so I can’t speak to how the new one is. Mine was self-paced and that worked great for me. I would also say I got lucky with my job search post-graduation.  I only applied to 15 jobs and had 2 interviews. A lot of my fellow students are still looking. It typically takes several months to hear back from companies and you might end up working some contract work or other odd jobs while you wait. Like the teaching style of Galvanize, jobs aren’t handed out for free. You must work for it and continue to code post-graduation. 

I really enjoyed my time at Galvanize – Denver. I liked the teachers, culture, and the learning style. I would recommend anyone thinking about going to any boot camp to do the following. Shadow a student for half the day, Talk to current students, new and about to graduate, and if you live in Denver attend their learn to code meetup they do every Wednesday. You will meet current students and get a taste of coding.

After working at a boring and non-challenging job as a tech writer, I decided to learn to code. Galvanize surprised me by not only giving me the coding skills I needed, but also teaching me to teach myself any technical skill I want. The career services were excellent and helped me land a great contract-to-hire job 6 weeks after the program, and 4 months later I've been hired full time at that company.

The curriculum at Galvanize is definitely the cutting edge of what you need to be a strong front-end developer (and probably back end too, but that's not my interest so I didn't really dig past the basic back end skills I needed to get my own app up and running). New-ish technologies like React, CSS Grid, and testing with Cypress are examples of things that my very smart and experienced colleagues at my new job simply aren't as familiar with as I am.

The thing that surprised me the most about going to Galvanize was the community. Not only at Galvanize, but even after, every tech event I attend in Denver it feels like I know EVERYONE because I met so many people that were in school with me, the instructors, and our guest speakers. I'm not even that good at making friends and I've made a ton of close connections which have served me well navigating through the Denver job market, as well as just having awesome people to hang out with. 

I highly recommend Galvanize.

I attended the Web Development immersive program through Galvanize’s Phoenix campus. I graduated in July 26, 2018. I went into this program with zero programming or computer science knowledge and came out after 6 months skilled and prepared to be offered a position as a Software Engineer for a Fortune 500 company. I am three months into my job and absolutely love every minute. Galvanize gave me all the tools I needed to succeed in this industry and helped me create a brand new life that I could only ever dream of up until this point. Yes they give you the tools but it also takes a lot of hard work and dedication on your part. If you follow their advice and treat the program like a bootcamp and invest 100% of yourself then you will be successful. My experience with Galvanize has been completely life changing and it was the best decision of my life to go through their program!