Johns Hopkins Engineering Coding Boot Camp

If you are interested in Data analytics, and looking to take the next step, look no further. This program is one of the best decisions that I've ever made. I learned so much in this program, and I have a deeper understanding of the analytic world. You have to put in the time and be interested, if you do that there is no way that this course will not positively impact you. There is such a large amount of information to digest, but you have the team and the resources to do so. I am grateful for the team of people that made this program such a success for me. Specifically Eric, Arun, Gemini, and Josh!

 Since I can remember I’ve always been fascinated by the world around me and everything that is part of it, people, objects, events. This interest grew in me to the point of becoming a passion for understanding things and events in our daily lives. I decided to study Engineering to be able to create and develop things; but, in the last couple of years, I discovered that understanding information and data is very important. Every day at my previous job I came across immense amounts of data that I had to be able to understand, from obtaining, cleaning to presenting that data. I embarked on the data analytics journey with no many tools or knowledge in my repertoire I decide to find a course or program to help me learn and acquire the skills and knowledge to succeed as a Data Analyst. I always wanted to be a Johns Hopkins University alumnus, and I came across their data analytics boot camp program, I didn’t hesitate to reach out and ask for information about the program. After a couple of days, I had applied to the program and within the next week I was officially enrolled in the Data Analytics program; it was a very nice feeling knowing that I’d be following my passion and even better in a school that I deeply admire.
 My experience with the data analytics program at Johns Hopkins University has been great. This program has provided me with a lot of tools and knowledge that I'm recently utilizing to work on several projects. Something that I really like about the boot camp is that the activities and homework assignments are real-world examples. The staff members are always there to help you out when you get stuck, if you need help you can reach out and you'll get tutoring sessions and resources to assist you. 
 For people who are interested in the Data Analytics program, I highly recommend taking a look at the syllabus before starting the program to get you familiarized with the program structure, this will be very helpful and it will allow you to be better prepared for what's ahead. But the most important thing that you have to remember is always to ask for help when you need it. Set some time aside to focus on your homework assignments and activities and you'll succeed.
Overall I'm highly satisfied with the program and I feel confident that what I have learned will be of great help in my professional career as a data analyst.

 I participated in the Johns Hopkins Data Analytics and Visualization Boot Camp from July 2020 - Jan 2021. My instructor was Soheil, my TA was Jurgen, and my student support manager was Gemini. I mention these names because my experience would not have been profitable if it was not for their incredible support and hard work. The instructor and TA were always ready to help and be a resource. Gemini consistently had a positive attitude, always encouraged us, and made us believe we can make it through. The topics covered in the course were very practical and transferable to getting a job. I'm glad I  took the boot camp as I it equipped me with the necessary skills to pivot my career toward Data Analytics. I was able to participate in multiple interviews before ending the course and received two job offers. My situation may not be the typical result but the opportunity the boot camp provides is second to none. Make your complete your first two career services assignment. Doing allowed me to have a presentable resume for employers. It is costly, so only do it if you are ready to commit yourself to the work. You will receive support if you pursue it. The career help part of the program seem to be helpful as well. I didn't get o explore it since I received a job offer before the course was over. But do take advantage of it and also participate in the non required career events like resume workshop, interview prep, salary negotiations and others. I hope your experience is as good and beneficial as mine. Many thanks for Soheil, Jurgen, and Gemini. 

As we may remember the year of 2020, we all were challenged to change and grow.  Some of us choose to take this time to reflective on your purpose.  I decided to start a data analyst boot camp and was overwhelmed from the feedback of YouTube and numerous boot camps platforms.  Some say you can learn these topics without the challenge of a boot camp, well nothing prepares you for the role of a data scientist then to be held accountable.  

John Hopkins University is as leading institution in the DMV.  I received an unique teaching and mentorship that was beyond expectations.  The professor Soheil Hosseini currently works as a data scientist and was more than excited to teach various topics with strength and leadership.  He taught an engaging Zoom based class with integrity and creditability.  I remember one class on JavaScript were he would ask the class what a line of code meant and patiently waited for an answer.  My experience was not a regurgitated Google searches, but helped mold my thinking as a programmer.  There were times when I had to process documentation and Soheil was able and willing to provide context.  

In addition, the TA Jurgen Arias assisted the class with first hand computer software knowledge and YouTube videos that helped me as a student learn the value of data.  Throughout this course that I wanted to give up; Jurgen was a leading mentor to motivate and help me succeed.  This boot camp journey was just a beginning of my data scientist career.  The people I've met, such as Gemini Stanford , the student success manager, represented John Hopkins with upmost diligence and service before self leadership.  I feel as if I can always reach out and ask for help even though the course is finished.  

Where we are currently with data is only the beginning and the amount of effort you put into this course has to be something worth it.  This course will challenge you to think outside-the-box.  Take a stride into the unknown with John Hopkins Data Analytics Boot Camp you will not be disappointed. 

Overall great learning experience! The instructors offer knowledge on the subjects at hand as well as knowledge on what it's like to actually work in the field! The job assistance comes in the form of helping you prepare your resumé and online presence, which is nice! The curriculum is full of cutting edge technologies! There are some older technologies I wish were included, but through the course I've gained the skills and understanding of coding to learn those technologies later on!

When I was temporarily laid off my regular job.  I decided I needed a rewarding career and one with availability of remote job positions.  I googled up several coding boot camps and narrowed up my search based on the quality of education, past reviews, total costs and their closeness to my location.  I enrolled in the 24-week, part-time web development course offered at the Johns Hopkins Engineering Department, Baltimore Campus I am currently finishing boot Camp, and I will be rounding up in November of 2020.  I was also convinced by recent events in the world that working remotely is the best decision for the future.  

I was contacted by a recruiter and I was administered an online test to determine how suitable this class will meet my needs. I passed the test.  

By middle of May and I noticed right away that it was an intense and fast paced program.  I contacted the student success manager who gave me to additional relevant resources to help explain and cope with the pace of the course.  My instructors, Alex and Edward were very supportive knowing my background and they both went over and beyond to make themselves available to me online when help is needed.  Though I struggled and worked hard a lot, I was amazed at how many web concepts I had mastered in such a short time.  I was able to keep up with the pace of the class and ended with better than average grades.  I was well pleased and felt rewarded for the time and effort it took.  I am changing into a job searching mode and all the staff helped me achieve my goal.

Alex and Edward introduced what I needed to do in order to excel in the coding world.  They provided excellent resources I highly recommend their expertise to other prospective students.  

This was a fantastic opportunity to finally learn full-stack development. The pace is quick, but the format allows for in-person instruction and collaboration. Both Johns Hopkins University and the Baltimore area present a lot of potential for students. The curriculum provides you with a good overview of topics to get you on your feet and into the world of development, and is bolstered by a variety of resources outside of class. Learning alongside others is a great way to practice developing in teams and establishes a support network. I’m personally very glad I made the choice to sign up and commit to fulfilling this dream.
[2:35 PM] The dream of learning full-stack development was largely realized by the talents of the instructor and TA. Stetson and Donald were key to my experience in the bootcamp, and I am very thankful they decided to teach and gave it their all throughout the course. They provided value in personal experience and tailored instruction that other programs lack. I can’t imagine having done this program without their teaching and will always look back and credit them for helping me start this journey.

My experience as a student in the first cohort to complete the part time Full Stack Web Development Boot Camp at John Hopkins Engineering is as follows: 1.Some background on me: I came into the bootcamp with virtually no experience in coding. I had some very limited knowledge of HTML and CSS. I completed the entire program and ended with an A average for all the assignments. At first, getting used to the process of writing code and understanding the syntax was one of the hardest things for me. The pre-work assignments helped out in this area, but I legit spent the first few weeks of the class saying in my head “how is anyone supposed to keep track of all these semi colons, colons, parentheses, and open and closed brackets.” If you are thinking about starting a program like this and you are also coming from a non-coding background, I would highly recommend getting acquainted with the concept of syntax before the beginning of the program. Even starting out with enough knowledge to refer to what I’m talking about as “syntax” is helpful. For the uninitiated, Syntax, by definition, is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences (or lines of code) in a given language (including programming languages) usually including word order and punctuation.  It gets much easier with practice, most things follow the same basic patterns, but starting out with some basic understanding will potentially save you from a world of headaches. 2. Prepare to have some headaches. That is going to be part of doing business. One of my classmates said she had heard being a web developer described as being frustrated for a living. Developing a web page or an application will nearly always involve working though problems that don’t have one clear and obvious answer or necessarily a “right” way to do it. Keep an open mind. Learning the process to solve problems is really as important as learning the programming languages themselves. This is one of the biggest advantages of doing the bootcamp versus being a self-taught developer. You get to see that everyone else is going through similar experiences and if your code is not working it is not because the computer has something personal against you.  3. I choose to do this bootcamp because it was being offered at Johns Hopkins and my expectation was that this would mean I would be working together with talented and hardworking people. This was absolutely the case. Our instructor, Stetson, was great. He had very solid experience as a developer and he did an excellent job breaking down the information in the curriculum. There is a lot of information that gets presented in each lesson, but Stetson took the time to make sure the class never missed anything important. He would often live code on the projector and edit parts of the example projects in order to demonstrate different ways to solve problems. He patiently answered questions and worked hard to build student’s confidence. He set an excellent example of professionalism while also keeping the class fun. Our main TA Donald was also great. Donald really made himself available for questions in the classroom, during office hours, and on slack. He also came from a very strong background in computer science and development. He shared his passion for producing high quality work in the field. Donald also kept the class consistently entertained with his lively sense of humor. In addition to the instructor and the TA, our program also included a position called “student success manager”. This person doesn’t do any teaching, they are there to help each student understand how to take advantage of all the resource that are available through the bootcamp. Our student success manger, Gemini, was perhaps the unsung hero of our cohort. This was the part time class that met in the evening, so most people were coming directly to the campus after working a full-time job. I personally would leave my job and have just enough time to maybe drink a coffee while driving through rush hour traffic, fighting for parking near the campus, and then run up the hill to make it to the start of class on time. Low blood-sugar does not make for a good learning environment. Gemini constantly brought pizza and cookies for the entire class. This literally kept us alive on many occasions. Gemini also made sure everyone in the class knew about the extra tutor help that was available and encouraged people not to be too shy to ask for help. From the first day of class to the final presentation and now as alumni and industry professionals, anyone who listened to Gemini understood one of life’s valuable lessons, which is that help will always be given to those who ask. The staff delivered on the high expectations I had for this program. I can say the same thing about all the students in my cohort. I am very happy about both the professional connections and friendships I gained from this class. It’s been several months since the official end of the class and we still have an active slack channel where people help each other out with coding questions. The economy is still in general disarray due to the COVID-19 pandemic but I can certainly say I am in a better overall position having the skills and the experience from the bootcamp.  4. To improve the experience I would recommend having more than 1 TA for a class of our size. Stetson and Donald worked really hard to be available, but they can only be in one place at a time and in many cases even a small amount of one-on-one instruction made a big difference. I would also suggest modifying the curriculum slightly to get students hands in experience with the most in demand skills like React earlier in the program.  

This program was a great experience. The instructors and student success team were knowledgeable and dedicated to the students' success providing office hours and tutor sessions. The career services provide assistance in prepping your resume and developing your online presence. I definitely would do this again as it provided me with a solid foundation of coding and tech - resources that I can go back to for refreshers etc. For those interested in this program, definitely dedicate the recommended 20 hours/week outside of class time as the curriculum is fast and furious - covers content that could be taught in years to a short 6-months - and you definitely get what you put into it. Take advantage of the resources that the program provides: office hours, instructors, tutors, career services, your classmates.

I can't say enough positive things about my experience in this program. It required a ton of time and effort, more than I ever anticipated, and I think it could have been unbearable had it not been for our amazing instructors. They made the class relaxed, fun, and something I always looked forward to. Stetson and Donald always went out of their way to make themselves available for us both in and out of class. They treated us like equals and we did not have the typical teacher-student relationship. They were more like friends to us, which made class so much more enjoyable. I don't think either of them have had prior teaching experience and I was really impressed with their patience with all of us as we struggled to learn some really tough concepts. They explained things very clearly and worked with each of us individually to keep us on track. Thank you Stetson and Donald for an incredible experience and something that will jumpstart a whole new chapter for me. And thank you Gemini and everyone else who worked hard to make this a seamless process for all of us students. You guys care so much and it shows.

I’ve broken down my review by: Pros, Cons, Ongoing problems, & Recommendation.  
Pros:

• the class was hosted in-person so it was easy to share code & work with fellow students.
•  the instructor is very knowledgeable  & goes above and beyond to update the Trilogy materials and help students as much as humanly possible.

Cons: it’s as if I paid to be a guinea pig & be told that they’re working out the kinks.  It’s a significant investment; I didn’t pay for them to fix their problems.  Also,  there is no material to review like nearly all learning environments; it’s just a bunch of code- nothing to read about why ‘x’ does this function, or even just the concept of it.  it seems like we’re paying to fix their broken code, whether we actually learn anything or not, so they can resell it as ‘updated’ code.  the class is taught by giving you a bunch of coding files that either work, are intentionally broken, or broken unintentionally.  the material seems as though they hired a bunch of programmers to make a bunch of files, then they approached universities & hand-selected from those files based on what the university thought the local demand.  Essentially, they’re recycling outdated files between all of the universities lending their name, relying on instructors & students to update & fix them so they can be recycled again.  But we’re paying to learn; not to spend so much time fixing files that we miss out on half of the material per section.
Point by point:

• the program seems to blame the instructor for the material being flawed. However, Trilogy/2U emphasizes they hire professionals actively working in the industry; they can’t be expected to resolve issues/ it’s as if a professor was told to use a textbook that was missing pages upon pages.
• the class materials, a bunch of code, some with ‘read me’ files but most without, are full of errors.  The excuse was that it’s something we’re going to be required to do in the real world.  I know we’re supposed to learn troubleshooting but you can’t troubleshoot what you haven’t learned. 
• Many hours of the class were & are spent figuring out what we’re trying to do since the materials were so hastily put together.
• The program had prework that required installation of programs, however, we  tested it until the class discussed the content.  But issues surfaced requiring hours of troubleshooting instead of learning.
• There are no materials to actually learn, like a typical class.  There are powerpoints, but they’re usually limited to a handful of slides for a whole topic, like Node.js; that use stock images without ever discussing the actual logic.
• The class switched to online after COVID-19, but they claimed it was success without asking for our feedback. But there were & are significant issues with connections, communication, etc.  You’d learn more by buying a monthly subscription with an interface designed for online learning.
• The contract outlines 250 contact hours of coding skills, (2) TAs, & (1) instructor.  You also can attend up to 4 times virtually, which seems to acknowledge that it’s not an ideal learning method.  Yet, the remainder of the class (4 months) is online & there’s only 1 TA.  Additionally, the website says that there are tutors, but they send you a contract saying the tutors are not included & may end at any time- which seems to go against their contract.

Ongoing problems:
Since it’s virtual & the code is not complete & virtually no reading materials, using a laptop to watch a shared-screen & type out the code is impossible.  Yet, the Student Success manager recommended I buy a monitor & create a fake Zoom account to use my phone & laptop to share files when I can, & to watch videos on the other.  Additionally, they attempted to blame the students for having issues with their code, suggesting the instructor may have issues, & blaming me for not using a tutor to learn concepts (hint: as part of the tutor contract, you have to ask SPECIFIC questions, share your code, & limit it to 50 minutes per week; not to ask conceptual questions).  

Recommendation:
I would avoid it unless they update their curriculum, provide more material, fulfill their contractual obligations, & stop blaming the instructors & students for their shortcomings. Furthermore, the program by Trilogy/2U claims to be leaders in online education but the class was set up first using free video conferencing apps, & free ‘Slack’ accounts; not an interface designed for online learning.