New Jersey Institute of Technology Cybersecurity Bootcamp by ThriveDX

The course was overall a great experience. There was plenty of hands-on work to accomplish as well as resources that went along with it. Many of the Instructors were very well-versed and great at answering questions about the course. Notably, Bill Vest was my hands-down favorite when it came to learning any topic and getting help outside of class times. Career services was great with offering career development with resumes and cover letters. As well as assistance with exploring potential certifications to take, and the job market we could apply to. 

In my time as a student in the boot camp I gained tons of priceless knowledge from individuals actively working in the IT/Cyber security industry. Some of the instructors were better than others and the job assistance at the end isn't what I expected. There was room for improvement when I attended but none the less what I gained from the program I would not trade for anything else and would absolutely recommend it as a starting point for those interested in this feild. This program allots a person an insane amounts of knowledge, networking capabilities, and and resources that they will carry with them long after the program finishes.

Over the 10 month course, us students learned enough to land a SOC, NOC or Helpdesk role. From Linux to Windows, we got a basic run down of the various tasks that we might see in the future as a prospective cyber security analyst. One thing I'd have to say is that the price point is a little steep, however, this course runs over 10 months compared to other bootcamps that ran for 6 months. The student gets more out of a week, than other cyber courses. Post course, they also give you a assistant to help you in your job search.

I cannot believe how cheap it is. It really is legit and there's to many tools provided. I love how you can do self paced and online. Very useful for someone who isn't really an extrovert. so once completed, you apply for a job with the partner companies and get hired right away. Starting salaries are usually from $60k upwards. It is self-paced and you can do the course in less time if you put in more hours during the day. For anyone skeptical, not a scam, and the guy who runs it is pretty reputable. I would highly recommend going through the course, especially if you are anti-college.

 The Rutgers University Bootcamp provided a platform for great interaction with teachers and assistant teachers, fostering a positive learning environment. However, the tools provided, like Guacamole and Ubuntu virtual machines, fell short in quality. Issues with updates, connectivity, and graphical components were frequent, causing significant time wastage. Moreover, the central grading system was sluggish and prone to inaccuracies. Feedback quality varied greatly among graders, with some offering valuable insights while others were inconsistent. In my course, a particular grader consistently awarded low scores with generic and off-topic comments, causing frustration among students.
Despite these challenges, the overall experience with the Rutgers University Bootcamp was positive. However, I recommend revising the curriculum to include more topics on scripting and coding, especially Python, with a focus on cybersecurity. This adjustment would make the program more relevant and practical, aligning it better with industry demands and equipping students with valuable skills for their career paths. 

I completed NJIT's Cybersecurity Professional Bootcamp in early 2022 and it was the best career decision I ever made. I was a career-changer coming from a completely different field and had spent a lot of time considering my options for Cybersecurity education before deciding a bootcamp/professional training program was the right choice for me. After that I looked at several different options and NJIT seemed to be the best choice in terms of length (other seemed too short to get a good education from) but especially in terms of content, as I was looking for a program that included a lot of realistic hand-on training and NJIT's seemed to fit the bill. I also liked that I was not required to commit to the full program until after the first course, so it seemed less risky.

My experience in the program was even better than anticipated. The instructors were all current or former Cybersecurity professionals and experts in the class they were teaching, so in addition to the standard textbook/academic information we received a lot of "real world" knowledge which helped explain and cement the things we were learning and better prepare us for the workforce after graduation.

My favorite part of the program and what proved the most valuable to me were the lab exercises. Almost every class included at least one (but often several) lab exercises where we would spin up some virtual machines and complete training exercises using genuine versions of operating systems and applications/tools as opposed to unrealistic simulations or pre-configured environments. The benefit of this was that by doing all this ourselves, we learned a lot more about the applications and operating systems we were using and also a lot of useful troubleshooting/diagnostic experience because just like in the "real world", systems never work perfectly and you are never given a detailed description of the problem and tutorial on how to solve it - its up to you to figure out what is happening and how to fix it, which is a huge part of any cyber job and something you can only learn by doing it over and over again.

All of that knowledge and experience came from just setting up the labs, and then we had the lab exercises/challenges themselves which were equally realistic. By working in real IT environments with real security tools that we set up and configured ourselves, we learned a lot more than the material given to us in our textbooks and lectures and without those experiences I would not have had nearly as good of an education.

Other than the educational component the program includes a fantastic career services team and optional sessions for certification prep, and I recommend you get involved with both as early as possible. They really helped me craft my resume and communicate how both my bootcamp experience and the skills acquired from my previous career made me a good candidate to potential employers. My one regret is I put off working with career services and preparing for certifications until the end of the program. Target a few basic certifications throughout the program (ideally ones that align with the classes you're taking at the time) and then get your Security+ certification after you finish. Career services will assign modules for you to complete within the first few months so do your best to complete them by the recommended dates that way you'll be ready to apply to jobs when you graduate.

I graduated from this course in September 2021. The 5 stars for the overall experience, curriculum, and instructors are all well deserved. The job assistance, not so much. For you veterans looking to join the program. I am a prior military service member. This program doesn't allow the use of your VA Benefits. Thus, I had to take out a loan from the Sallie Mae predators to take this course. It doesn't matter what your credit score is. Sallie Mae, they'll approve you. Don't be fooled by the break into the cyber industry in 36 weeks sales pitch. They'll just cover the basics, the bare minimum. When it comes to job placement or assistance. Good luck with that. They will not help you. Now, you would think spending $17K for a boot camp, they'd offer vouchers for any CompTIA or Cisco exams, right? Nope, you'll receive zero assistance when it comes to exam vouchers. Do not, DO NOT enroll in a boot camp. Whether it be NJIT or anywhere else. They are costly. You can get a better experience from Coursera or Udemy at a significantly cheaper rate. I hope this helps.