Northwestern Boot Camps

In order to succeed in bootcamp, you need to do what that instructor in legwarmers said in that episode of Fame. This is Debbie Allen telling her students hoping for Broadway fame, that if they really want it, they will have to PAY in sweat. And a lot more sweat than they realize.

Essentially, every week in bootcamp, you should probably spend about 17 hours of studying, working, learning to code. This is not including class time, or time getting to class or even even about half of your time in office hours, which are available to help you with coding outside of class time. Some of those office hours are going to be spent fixing installations on your computer so you can DO the homework and understand what is happening in class. So really, you need to factor in a good 2 to 3 hours of outside work, every day. In my experience many people say they will do that. In practice, many people only start putting in this time far too late in the course, like in the past two or three months, after the second group project. By that point, you are already not getting your moneys worth.

Because of the intensity of pace, it is not uncommon to find students attempting to fake it until they make it. That can succeed or fail depending on several arbitrary factors, (only some of which you have any control over, just as in in the real world.) Literally in class there will be times when the instructor JUST slacked out the instructions and a TA is already breathing down your neck, watching you code like a hawk, seeing whether you know anything. This can be intimidating and many people under that pressure pretend they know what is going on. Other students ask the TAs to literally do each and every next step for them or complain out of frustration, or get bored and leave class early.

Ideally you should try and find a spot in between those two extremes: knowing when to balance getting outside help and when you can count on yourself alone to catch up is a huge determinant in your success in this program. Knowing when to be present and just soak in what you can even if you are behind, and knowing when that isn't worth it as you have too much work to catch up on.

In boot camp, you do have a lot of resources available to you, online resouces, an hour of online tutoring or live coding assistance per week, class hours with TAs before and after class to assist you, plenty of potential messages from class mates and career guidance. But most of these resources are spread out over the course in allocations. You miss a week of tutoring you can't make it up. Once that week is over, if you didn't use that weeks hour, it is already removed from your reserve. Very rarely exceptions are made due to extreme life situations. So in reality, you need to start plugging away from the very beginning. The more you slack off, the less likely you will succeed.

This is essentially a double-whammy with career services. All the work you do on resume building, keeping on track with career milestones and keeping your resume marketable and applying for jobs, all of that is supposed to happen ON TOP of the 14-17 hours a week coding, and going to class. As a result, many students do not take full advantage of the career building stuff until later in the course, and sometimes only after graduation. By that time, in many cases it is too late.

Most of the students are working full time in another job and are in "part-time" in the program. This is kind of a misnomer. There actually is a full-time version of the course, but that is really for people who are willing to learn to code LITERALLY EVERY MINUTE OF THEIR LIFE.  You would have to be able to code while you are literally on the toilet or driving to class somehow. I have no idea how they do it. Part time students go to class three days a week, usually 2 workweek days in the evening and one weekend during the day. They also spend 2 hours a day coding, but the crucial thing is how they spend that time.

Over six months you will be expected to complete: a) 16-18 assignments, about one per week, some of which are much harder to accomplish than they seem at the get go b) 8 career milestones, really guided tours of how to do job searches and prepare for trying to enter the industry as well as c) 3 difficult group projects. How to balance turning in a few assignments late, skipping class, or knowing when to stay on track with course work or which networking or job fair events are crucial to you and which aren't as central? A lot of that comes with knowing who to ask what questions and most crucially when.

Some of the course material is starting to seem out of date, but many of the basics are still going to be the same, and many tasks require learning to walk before you can run. The students and instructors are great, many people are really kind and insightful, but really your success in this program is based on you. How much time are you willing to take? You say you want to learn to code. Do you really mean it? It can be a hard question to know the answer to. Just make sure if you DO spend the money, you also give yourself a big block of time and that you have the structure in place to keep yourself on track.

The full-stack web development bootcamp I took at Northwestern was an amazing program and I took away so much out of it. But there were a couple things that I believe could ultimately improve how to teach coding. 

The reason why I love coding so much, is that there are hundreds or thousands of ways to complete a task. How you accomplish that task is completely unique and up to you and tests the limits of your creativity. Obviously the more knowledgable you are at coding, the more tools you have at your disposal, which expands the boundaries of your creativity. 

What I think that this bootcamp, or any bootcamp of that matter, can do to truly help students to learn how to code in their own way, is to give them a lot of freedom of what projects they want to accomplish. That means, getting rid of group projects. I do believe that group projects are very important in learning to collaborate with others, because great websites, softwares, app, etc.) are made possible thanks to the culmination of hundreds of people working together. But I think learning to be creative and making your own projects, that are your idea, and yours alone, takes precedence over learning how to collaborate. When I would work on group projects, we would all have to brainstorm ideas that we all had to compromise on. That means you would be working on some idea that you're not really excited about which can kill your excitement, leading to half-assed work.

Also, trying to accomplish tasks together on your colloborated idea can diminish the effect of truly learning how to code, essentially. The best way I personally learn is knowing what I'm trying to accomplish, and creatively making my own steps towards reaching that goal. That means you put to test your creativity/knowledge, on what ways work and what doesn't, which ultimately sculpts how you view the way coding works and you can change your approach on a future project.

Coding is a totally creative process and is what makes it so beautiful. Bootcamps should be focusing on taking each students' own creativity, and helping to shape it into a way that translates well into code in their own unique way. 

I almost withdrew after the first week, but I didn't and am glad I stayed in the program.

The reason I almost left was because I was a liberal arts major coming into something very unfamiliar than what I had done in prior school or prior work for the past 10+ years. Even though I did the part-time program, it moved very quickly and took up a lot of time outside of my day job (around 25-30 hours every week). I had to make good use of resources outside of the program, such as Codecademy and Udemy, to help reinforce topics I was having trouble with. I wish I had done an into Javascript course on Codecademy prior to the start of class; that would have helped out a lot. I highly, highly recommend supplemental video coursework, which isn't that expensive on the aforementioned sites, to bolster your learning throughout the bootcamp.

Here are the positives of this program:

-instructional staff (especially the TAs) were great and one of the main reasons I was able to succeed
-breath of material covered was broad, which gave a lot of exposure to many topics
-my weekly tutor session was also invaluable to cover concepts that were hard or to help prep me for the homework
-I liked all the students in my class; everyone was supportive and no one judged anyone if they were having a hard time with a concept

Here are the challenges with the program:

-Career services set up milestones for you to hit to be able to be ready to market yourself (I appreciated the structure), but they were a largely invisible presence in the whole process (a check-in or in-person stop in would have been valuable)
-The pace of the class moves very fast, even if it was part-time (so be prepared for that...I thought I was, but I wasn't)
-Remote sessions were hard to follow and supplemental material provided by the bootcamp were not always helpful


Overall, many students, including myself, felt 'imposter syndrome'--the sense that you're faking your tech skills and not really knowledgeable. I mention this because the bootcamp, if you put in the time and effort, can really make a difference in your career prospects--whether it's changing a career or improving a career by including some tech into your background. During this course, I was asked (and paid!) to build some websites for clients and a buddy and I are working on those projects together as freelancers. With three projects, I was able to cover about half the tuition cost, which makes it totally worth it. Even if I didn't get the jobs, coding is a hot area now and it doesn't hurt to build those skills into your resume.

The Northwestern Data Science Boot Camp was a challenging experience, and it met my goals to build a strong foundation in Data Science.  As an experienced engineer, I had made use of Excel VBA programming to build tools to improve day to day work, and I had seen some of the work being done by others on Data Analytics, Visualizations, and Machine Learning.  I wanted to get a broader understanding of aspects of Data Science and Analytics, and to do so in an environment where I could get hands-on engagement with techniques being used today in job market.  The Northwestern Data Science Boot Camp provided the scope of content and the pace of learning need to provide the knowledge, exercises, project work, and other offline learning i needed to meet my goals.

The Instructors were experience Data Scientists with good perspective on the content and its practical application.  The Teaching Assistants were also knowledgeable and eager to provide support and assistance when needed.  Being in-class (vs. remote) was a big consideration as I looked at various options, and I feel the learning environment and the other students I worked with were really a positive experience for me.

The Career component runs in parallel with the Academic part of the program, and with the pace of the Academic content is was difficult to keep up with the Career milestones.  But, I did have positive interactions with the career team, and I do plan to continue engagement with the career folks to steer my career towards more Data Science type work.

If you're looking for relevant knowledge taught by people with real-world experience in a program that provide good hands-on engagement, this is a good program to consider.

Do not sign up for this bootcamp if you are assuming that the university name has anything to do with the quality of the material. 
You will be highly disappointed if you set your expectations this way. 
This is strictly a review of Trilogy Education Services, and their methods for building the camp with a ___ University name slapped on. 

I'm not going to say that this bootcamp was not valuable - there were positive takeaways and learning experiences -- BUT -- those positives came solely from the bonds I made with my peers and small portions of the teaching staff.

TEACHERS
The instructor choices were a mixed bag. We had one teacher who was highly knowledgable on the subjects, and struggled to point students in the right direction with the curriculum and pace supplied by Trilogy. The other instructor was a complete mess, with no pedagogical knowledge whatsoever, and barely grasped the materials of our program. The second instructor conducted themselves as if they had only just introduced the material, creating endless frustration and confusion on a weekly basis within my cohort. Red flags for miles.

ORGANIZATION METHODS
Trilogy's administration was incredibly disorganized throughout the entire process, frequently mixing me up with other students, unable to manage meetings and calendars, providing little technical insight throughout the career portion of their service, generally unable to keep track of their own system. You need to be a serious advocate for yourself, and hold each person on Trilogy's team accountable by tracking their follow-up, to make sure that you get what you need and deserve from the money and time you're investing.

ATTITUDES
Trilogy's attitude toward you and their work is entirely a "by your own bootstraps" mindset. They WILL play some psychological cards by saying your success is only on you (and for the educational determination portion of this experience, they're right, it is), but they WILL NOT be very helpful in managing the technological errors of their student portal, nor the pedadogical errors in their instructor decisions, nor the miscommunication errors of their internal staff.  
You WILL be investing a lot of your own limited time helping to keep them organized, and you WILL constantly  need to be verifying and re-confirming their conversations with you. It is possible to do well, with a lot of added frustrations.

THOUGHTS
The application process before the course began felt a lot like a fast-paced, high-pressure sale, and they were not able to answer simple questions about demographics and success rates. Their responses to these questions were naive and downright lies ("We don't like to view our students as numbers"). If you're truly determined to take this huge educational step with Trilogy, ask the tough questions before you commit. If any of their answers make you feel uneasy or unsure, know that there are many, many different coding bootcamps out there, and invest wisely elsewhere.

I'm respectively a medical professional with no prior analytic or coding experience. While working in clinical research for a few successful years, I got fascinated with the exploratory data interpretation and visualization methods. For this apparent reason, I correctly carried out my extensive search for various Data Science Boot Camp classes. Comprehensively, Northwestern Data Science BCS program steered my possible way as to how I can accurately apply their data analytics tools into my research career. Their practical understanding tactfully encouraged me to use the qualitative data point interpretations methodically. The BCS of Northwestern University with no reasonable doubt is efficiently designed and has made the learning process easier. The education team along with their concerned management are always there to willingly support my limited knowledge as to how I can tactfully recognize the data analytics specific codes. The talented team generously stimulated my possible path of questionable action and then to correctly apply to their terminologies. They undoubtedly assisted me to cruise through a challenging time during class work or homework. Northwestern BCS has indeed equipped me with practical tools whether it's merely their talented instructors or from the competent career service team. Their career service has directly provided straightforward strategies and exercises which are helpful to get gainfully employed into data science.

I decided to purse the career path of full stack developer due to my passion for technology and my interest in computers. I come from a mental health background as a fully licensed clinician that was ready for a major change in my life and career.  Even though I had dedicated all of my post-graduate career to social services, I needed  a change for my life. I took some free online courses that I felt were helpful in getting me more interested in programming, however without a structured approach to learning, I struggled to connect concepts and do something practical with what was being taught in those courses. I found positive reviews from Northwestern and was looking for an intensive program that would help prepare me for a career switch at an affordable cost in a high quality program.

I'm about halfway completed with the program and I've really enjoyed the intensity of the program and the sense that you are actually learning practical and useful skills for a potential employer. You quickly are building websites and web applications which helps connect the concepts learned into real world application. The program does a good job of stressing how intensive the program is, and I also can't stress this enough. This course is not a 'sit back and soak in the information'. The instructors are very knowledgeable and approachable and really do want to help and teach you. I ask tons of questions to instructors and teacher assistants and they are always eager to help. 

If you want to be successful in this program, be ready to dedicate a lot of time to learning. I found it extremely helpful to constantly try to stay ahead of the course as much as possible and not fall behind in understanding homework or concepts. The moment I recognize that I'm not clear on a concept, I'm utilizing the huge range of supports that the program offers to get caught up immediately. The pace is extremely fast and if you begin to struggle to understand a concept, it can start to snowball very quickly since the course does not back track often.  

I'd been wanting to learn programming for some time, but didn't really know where to start. I tried online sites like codeacademy and seemingly the only thing that stuck was doubt - Am I learning relevant tools, how on earth do I apply this stuff in the real world?  

Now I can confidently say there's no doubt in my mind. The instructional staff didn't just walk through the code like a robot, but took you through their thought process, demo'd their personal workflows, and brought in real world applications of the technology whenever possible. You could really feel the passion and enthusiasm for the material. Then there is a support admin staff that is constantly checking in with you to make sure you are understanding the material, and setting you up with tutors when needed. This created a warm learning environment which felt like we were all in it together and nobody was going to be left behind.

I graduated with a very marketable skillset and a great approach for continued learning in the field. Which is exactly what I was after. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and would recommend it to anyone willing to invest the time. 

This Bootcamp is definitely for very beginners. My first 6 weeks of the program were amazing and I probably learned more in that 6 weeks than I did most of my college career. However, our instructors switched and we went from having an amazing instructor who would review before class and would sit one-on-one with us, to someone who just really did compare (they were an amazing and intelligent person, but the teaching style was not what everyone in the class had come to love and relearning a new teaching style is very difficult in a program like this). 
The big selling points are "Northwestern" (remember it is run by Trilogy still, it is just a course that was approved by Northwestern) and "Career Services". Northwestern was amazing. Career services were a joke. I created a portfolio, resume and cover letter and barely got any feedback about them, and the only reason I did get feedback was because myself and another student complained about never hearing from our career specialist.  
Another big issue I had was a kid in the class literally cheated his way through the Bootcamp (he copied other people's repo's on GitHub line for line), and that's all fine and dandy because he wasted his own time and money, but they handed him a certificate when he didn't earn it and we signed clauses in our contracts saying plagiarism would not be tolerated. 
I'm not going to say I didn't gain anything from this Bootcamp, it was a lot of work and very hard, but make sure you find the Bootcamp that's right for you and really apply yourself. Be the first person there and the last person to leave. I landed an unbelievable job and I'm not sure I could have done it without going to A BOOTCAMP. 
Shop around, ask the right questions, make sure you want a full stack program, etc. Then make your own choice. May the force be with you.

Overall, I would give the Boot Camp at Northwestern a solid A.  Our instructor was extremely engaging & knowledgable in the topics relevant to the current job market.  Additionally, he was a motivator who pushed us when necessary...the coarse is by no means a sprint -- more of a marathon.  Regardless, I feel great about the experience, especially when looking at opportunities for career transition in the Chicagoland area.  The Northwestern brand, also, carries a weight all its own, and should help land me on the professional path I've been working toward.

I joined the Data-Science bootcamp at Northwestern University because I was seeking a career change and excited for the next chapter or phase of my life. I already loved Statistics and the possibilities with machine learning and Data manipulation with different programming languages such Python & R thrilled me so much, I had a deep hunger for more knowledge and boy! did that get that from day one!

My favorite aspect of the program was the immense support from the boot camp team they truly want to see you succeed and fulfill your destiny and calling. They offered sound advice in regards to what you will experience in a real-time example of work and then we received great feedback on each of the assignments which meant that there is great potential to be on the expert level of each of the subject matter.

My advice for prospective students is to always strive for Excellence but also check your wellness status. You will excel when you feel confident in your craft. Always seek counsel from other experts, they will help you get on the right and comfortable path. 

Signing out,

Motols. :-) 

I really enjoyed the Northwestern Data Science Boot Camp. It is a great way to learn the technical skills needed to start a career in the tech industry. The instructors and TA’s are very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. I had recently graduated with a bachelors in Psychology before applying for the boot camp. I did not have any prior programming knowledge before starting the course, however, that didn’t stop me from maintaining an A. They do a great job teaching you the skills from the ground up. You for sure get out what you put into the class. I feel confident that this boot camp gave me the foundation I need to get into the industry.