Sabio

I recently completed the full-stack software development program at Sabio School of Software Engineering, and I can confidently say that it was a transformative experience that exceeded all my expectations. Sabio not only equips you with a comprehensive skill set in programming but also goes the extra mile in providing job placement resources that aid you every step of the way to that dream job. Sabio's covers a wide array of languages and technologies, making you a well-rounded developer. They delve deep into JavaScript, HTML, CSS, React, .NET Core, C#, MSSMS, and SQL, ensuring you gain expertise in both front-end and back-end development. The hands-on projects and real-world applications of these technologies throughout the program make learning practical and engaging. You're not just a student at Sabio; you become part of a tight-knit family. The alumni network is strong, and you can rely on your fellow Sabio graduates for advice and assistance even after completing the program. 

The Sabio coding boot camp presents an extensive and immersive educational opportunity. Characterized by a robust curriculum and seasoned instructors, the program adeptly furnished me, as a student, with tangible practical skills and technical prowess in web and software development, positioned at a mid-level engineering capacity. The experiential projects, collaborative ambiance, and individualized mentorship collectively facilitated a rapid acquisition of essential proficiencies, priming me for a seamless transition into the professional arena. Sabio's unwavering focus on real-world projects ensures a positive trajectory for each student, setting them apart in the competitive landscape of technology. It is worth noting, however, that the program's rigorous intensity might prove formidable for certain individuals, necessitating a commitment to unwavering dedication and perseverance.





In summation, for those in pursuit of a reputable institution for comprehensive full-stack software engineering education, Sabio stands as an optimal choice. Furthermore, the invaluable array of post-graduation resources extended to alumni underscores the institution's commitment, spanning continuous technical skill augmentation throughout one's entire technical career, with the enduring support of the Sabio community. Without delay, I urge you to initiate contact today, bearing in mind that if I achieved this feat, so can you.

This is my review of the Sabio 17-week coding bootcamp. Before you read this, I believe you should know what point of view, or perspective this is coming from. So first, a little about myself:
-I am in my early 20's, and joined the program with little to no background in web development (besides a freecodecamp HTML & CSS crash course video)-I am a prior Navy submariner-I utilized 'Vet Tec', and only the Vet Tec program in order to attend & complete the bootcamp.-The only thing I 'failed' within the program was a SQL & .NET technical interview, around the 8-week mark.
So, now that you know a little bit about who wrote this review, let's get into it.
Sabio's 'coding bootcamp' teaches you web development; even though it is somewhat clearly stated on their website, some cohort members were still confused about what they were going to be taught upon enrolling. With that being said, I do believe Sabio does a decent job at teaching you a great deal about web development. However, I do not believe it is a program for the, 'exceptionally motivated' as stated on their official Twitter & Instagram accounts; I believe it is a program for individuals who are willing to put up with a lot of headaches; allow me to explain.
The way that the program is structured is somewhat complicated. There are a total of 3 'modules' cohort members go through; the first 2 are almost entirely focused on learning from pre-recorded videos that the founder (as well as some other instructors) have made. I say almost, because every once in a while (more-so at the beginning of the program), there are live instructor-led lectures. Throughout all 3 modules, all cohort members are required to report their status via a 'Daily stand-up meeting'; if you are a remote student, you get on a zoom call every morning with an instructor, as well as a seemingly-random assortment of other remote cohort-members. If you are an in-person student, your daily stand-up meeting is done in-person (as of recently). This 'status report' consists of talking about what you did over the past 24 hours, as well as what you will accomplish over the next 24 hours. This is done Mon-Fri with instructors; cohort members are supposed to get together & do it amongst themselves on Saturdays.. but no one ever does. Another thing that happens ~ every 2-3 weeks, is a technical assessment; these happen all throughout the bootcamp. Additionally, you are expected to get on the 'Queue' at least once a day, Mon-Fri, regardless of what mod you are in (with rare exceptions). The Queue is your opportunity to get one-on-one guidance with an instructor, with certain limitations. Most of the instructors are fine, however there are definitely 2-3 questionable individuals. You are not limited to getting one-on-one help once a day; you can keep going back to them as much as you'd like.. as long as you're fine waiting anywhere between 5 minutes - 2 hours for one. The only other thing you may be required to attend day-to-day are miscellaneous meetings. These range from anything to the founder, Gregorio, shitting on your Cohort for not sending out enough job applications over the weekend, to other cohort members' project presentation, and even Sabio superstar graduates talking about how they somehow landed a job at company X, Y, or Z.
After the daily stand-up meeting, most of the day is spent going through videos as well as exercises & tasks that allow you to apply what you should have just learned from the pre-recorded lectures (unless it is a Friday); this is true for the first 2 modules. However, these 'exercises' are mediocre at best. The exercises provided by the bootcamp are buggy, riddled with spelling/grammar mistakes, and just seem overall rushed. I know what you're thinking.. 'It's a coding bootcamp not a spelling bootcamp'. I would not bring this up if it didn't hinder the overall clarity of these exercises' objectives. I remember spending close to 2 extra hours on an exercise simply because I could not understand a part of it.
Remember how I said that was a typical day, except for Fridays? Well, Fridays are test days (most weeks). These tests are basically exercises, but stepped up a notch. What I mean by that, is that they are longer, require you to pay more attention to detail, and require a formal submission process within an allotted time frame (ranging from 1-4 hours). The formal submission process depends on each test. However, because they are basically just lengthier exercises, they are still riddled with grammar & spelling mistakes. With that being said, it is obvious that a special level of attention to detail was placed when creating these tests, because I only ever encountered one bug while taking a total of 8 tests.
For the last part of the bootcamp, aka module 3, your task is no longer to consume pre-recorded videos for the major part of the day; from this point forward, you get a task in a 'product'. Every product is a work-in-progress website, sometimes in development for a customer/organization, sometimes completely fake (meaning the site is probably trashed after it is finished). This is the most valuable part of the program in my opinion, as you get what I presume to be somewhat realistic experience as a fullstack software developer. The first 'tasks' you are given are relatively simple, however they quickly ramp up in complexity. At this point, you are applying everything you've learned so far (except jQuery) in order to accomplish whatever task you were given. However, you will have to occasionally look up stuff on your own. You are expected to contribute to the product on a weekly basis (minimum).
For the last 2 weeks of the program, you are expected to contribute to the product weekly, as well as apply for at least 50 jobs a day. Throughout the entire program, they slowly steer you in the direction of whatever they think is a good LinkedIn profile, resume, and profile picture. However, they really ramp this up throughout the last 2 weeks. Instructors/'career counselors' will threaten to give you 'notices' for not complying with their advice. A notice is basically a penalty you receive for any multitude of reasons; basically, if you don't comply to anything & everything they say, you are subject to receive a notice. If you receive enough of them, (seems to depend on a case-by-case basis, as well as what program you used to enroll; as a general rule of thumb, they are WAY more lenient with you if you enroll via your own hard-earned $$, or G/I Bill; they really like to keep their Vet Tec members on a leash, and it is way more likely that) you get the boot.
On the last day of the program, you get the privilege of taking up all individuals that are currently going through the program's time with your project presentation. These usually last between 2-3 hours.
That is a brief overview of the Sabio bootcamp; this next section's purpose is to discuss the things I dislike about the program (don't worry there will be a thigs I liked too):
-The 'out of office' implementation: No one can reasonably expect you to attend this program that is 17 weeks long, 5 days a week, 9am-6pm PST without not being present for the entire day at least once. Because of this, the program implemented this thing called an 'out of office form' which is how you can let instructors know that you will not be present at a certain date(s) and/or time(s). However, regardless of what the reason is, it is ultimately up to the Director of Academic Affairs whether to give you a notice for it or not. You are never told whether your out of office form is worthy enough. You would think that a bootcamp, made up almost exclusively of software developers, that they'd be able to come up with a solution for automatically notifying cohort members upon evaluating their out of office form; however, that is not the case.
-The Queue implementation: This seems to be the program's flagship features.. the ability to talk to an experienced (or at least a recent Sabio graduate that got hired as a) software developer within a 2 hour window. Even though it is such an important feature that you are required to interact with daily, it is buggy. As. Fuck. In order to get on queue, you have to fill out a bunch of information, such as: a) why you want to talk to an instructor, b) the error you are receiving (if applicable), c) a code snippet (if applicable), d) a screenshot, etc. HOWEVER, on multiple occasions, I found myself not being able to go through all of the sections; if you can't go through all the prompts, you cannot submit, and get on queue. Or, if I was able to get through all of the prompts, I would not be able to fill out all of the applicable sections. Because not all of the applicable sections were filled out, an instructor would see my queue card and kick it back for not being completely filled out. This was beyond frustrating, and happened ~ 10 times. It was even more frustrating, as the 'engineering' team would keep pushing out new features to the website, while seemingly putting already existing & known bugs such as this one on the backburner.
-The LinkedIn profile requirements: I get it.. the goal of the bootcamp is to land you a job.. however, there are some pretty questionable LinkedIn profile requirements that the bootcamp tries to make you implement. The first one that comes to mind, is that they tell you to add 50 'Skills' minimum. This is absolutely ridiculous, especially if you have no prior work/education before the bootcamp. I found that, at most, I could add ~ 20 skills that were software developer related, without just repeating the same skills that show up under a different name (HTML5 vs HTML, for example). This is a far cry from the minimum of 50 they want you to add. If any technical recruiter would like to provide insight, please do; I'm begging you. I will eat my own words if recruiters really do want to see an abundance of generic skills such as, 'Critical Thinking' and "Creativity" lol.
-Certain Instructors: Don't get me wrong, most of the instructors were fine; however, the more 'senior' they were, the more disrespectful, and just generally condescending they acted ( there were still some great senior/product instructors). Often times, there'd be cohort members that would ask about what time they should expect a live-instruction session to take place later that week. Most, if not every time, they were disregarded and told to 'focus on the task at hand, man. don't be worrying about tomorrow'. Another thing that really bothered me, is the clear lack of teaching experience most of the senior instructors have. Not only that, but it is clear that one instructor specifically hates his job at Sabio. Not only would he put close to no effort to his 'live instructions', he would also consistently be late to them.
-Changing the schedule: On the last week before my cohort graduated, Sabio decided to implement a schedule change; this mostly affected in-person students, by making them attend 5 days a week instead of 3 days a week, as was originally agreed upon. Supposedly, this change was prompted from the VA; however I'm not so convinced. Even if it was and they had no choice what date it got implemented, why not make an exception for the members that had a week left?? This wouldn't be the first time they've made 'special exceptions', so it was definitely possible. Instead, they basically told us to suck it up or not graduate.
-The classroom environment: If you decide to attend the bootcamp in-person, you should know that neither campus currently offer a quiet work/study environment. Although I had no issue concentrating with the background noise, it was quite annoying listening to other Cohort members talk about their favorite animes, or how they are about to go on a hot girl walk, etc. Although there's no way for me to verify, I am quite certain 2-3 cohort members I started with dropped out because of the loud background noise.
-Sabio Success Stories: This seems to be the standard among coding bootcamps for some reason, and I do not understand why. Once a week, you are forced to join a huge zoom meeting with a previous Sabio cohort member that happened to land a job; one of the technical recruiters asks him/her questions for 1-2 hours, and then the floor opens up to general Q&A from other cohort members (it's basically a giant circle jerk about how great the program is). I get it, there are superstars that land jobs immediately after graduating the bootcamp.. but why do you have to waste the time of in-session cohort members with this every week. If anything, it should be optional. Most (successful) members that made it through the bootcamp would join the meeting, mute Zoom, and continue working on their own Sabio-related task/exercise; the workload is already so much as it is, you don't really have time for that.

-The resume truth-stretching: Sabio heavily encourages you lie about certain aspects of your resume; and if you don't, you receive a notice for every thing you do not follow. For example, they want you to put that you have been a 'fullstack software developer' from day 1 of starting the bootcamp... not as 'education', but as 'work experience'. If that isn't a lie, then I don't know what is. Additionally, I had a senior instructor literally tell me to put down something that I LEARNED how to do during the learning phase of the bootcamp as a bullet-point under this, 'work experience'. Not only does this feel unethical, it feels sketchy and can lead to some pretty awkward conversations with a recruiter.
With all that being said, the only thing that I liked about the bootcamp:
-The course really crams an insane amount of stuff into a relatively short time frame; throughout this course, I've learned a lot about the following languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, & C#. I've also learned how to utilize the following: jQuery (JS library), React (JS library), Bootstrap, (CSS framework), & the .NET Framework (including ADO.NET); on top of that, I've become fairly proficient at utilizing the following applications: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, & Postman. Not only that, but I've also developed plenty of knowledge regarding source control, utilizing Git commands, how to handle merge conflicts, and how Github works.
In short, although I probably would not recommend this bootcamp to any sane person.. I am thankful for what it has taught me in such a short amount of time; I challenge the co-founder Gregorio to take this somewhat constructive criticism, and fix the issues that currently exist with the website, classroom environment, as well as instructors.


One last thing worth mentioning: I would take their 'job placement rates' with a grain of salt, as they can 'kick you out' of the program even after graduating; more specifically, if you used certain benefits to enroll (Vet Tec for sure), they try to force you to keep them updated EVERY SINGLE DAY Mon-Fri regarding how many jobs you've applied to, how many interviews you've landed, why you haven't gotten a job yet, etc. I get that they need to keep track of people getting job offers, however this is literally micromanagement if I've ever seen it; it should be a weekly checkup at most. If at any point in time (within 6 months of graduation) you stop adhering to this, they change you from a 'graduate' to a 'drop' for statistical purposes. u/G8Rojas please prove me wrong if this is not the case.

Sabio has a challenging curriculum but gives you the tools to learn how to learn. The most valuable tool you have is your motivation and drive. If you want to level up and trust Sabio has your best interest in mind, you will be successful. The process will test your true intentions. Do not attend thinking this is traditional lecture style learning, Sabio will demo how to code, let you exercise it and provide help to naviage the blockers but won't spoon feed. As a successful graduate and after being hired, I can say if your willing to set aside 17 weeks of long hours and have the fortitude to overcome the many challenges.... you will succeed. Sabio also has many examples of sucessful graduates and a large alumni network that can help you even beyond the course completion and into job searching. I recommend this course to anyone who is serious about leveling up and willing to put in the work. 

I had a great experience with Sabio! I did go through the Vet Tec program and that is how I found out about the school. Probably like a lot of people here I read comments and researched about the school first and while there were some not nice reviews I felt the general consensus was that it was a good school so I decided to try it. I also was really nervous probably like a lot of other people who may be wanting to use Vet Tec. I heard you can't fail and you need to get on the queue twice a day and I kind of scared myself a bit as I'm naturally a quiet person. I also got a bit nervous with the time needed as it was 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Despite all that I quit my job and decided to take the risk. My whole motivation for doing this was I wanted to learn something that was relevant and give myself desirable skills that pay a lot. It did take me a few months after I graduated but I landed my first job now making $90,000 and fully remote so the reward was definitely worth the risk. I almost doubled the salary that I was making before. 

A little about the school. I live in Florida so I did fully remote EST and didn't have any trouble at all. I did have to stay up later on some days but not much at all. I also did the Full Stack so I learned JavaScript, React, C# / .NET and SQL. I'll also say I joined this school with absolutely zero knowledge of coding whatsoever. I totally get everyone's feeling of joining and questioning if you're able to do it. I've seen so many people graduate and finish this school same as me so it's definitely possible! When you get that first job it will all be worth it. 

I will say like I've heard so many times while I was coding is that Sabio has it's own process and everything has a reason. The learning can be fast paced and you are learning a lot of things but it's like that for a reason. You want to change your life in 4 months? This is the way. You will go through feeling like you don't understand anything like I did and then one day everything you do will click and you will be like "I got it!" and that's the best feeling. As long as you ask a lot of questions when you are stuck, use your time with instructors well, use other people in your cohort and code code code, you will be fine. Everything has it's reason and you will really put it all together. Sabio has a lot of resources to help everybody and the amount of success they had speaks for itself. 

Overall I really enjoyed my time at Sabio. I definitely learned a lot. I went through challenges but it's all worth it in the end. In 7 months I went from 48k to 90k. There is no other way you can do that. I could have probably been at my last job for 20 years and not make that much. That right there would be all the motivation I need to join. When you look back on your life a year or two from now you'll thank yourself.
 

A life-changing experience! Sabio is an excellent choice for anyone looking to learn full-stack web development. The program is challenging, but the support provided by the instructors and the Sabio nation community provides continued mentorship and support throughout their careers. This network is a valuable resource, providing graduates access to industry professionals, networking opportunities, and job leads. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, Sabio will change your life.

Attending Sabio has been one of the best career decisions I've made. I used to work in facility maintenance and after just 6 months, I jumped into a career as a software engineer working with one of the top military contracting firms in the U.S., nearly tripling my previous salary.

Sabio curates their coursework that almost identically mimics the actual day to day of software engineer. This could come as a shock to some, as it isn't necessarily a completely hands on approach to teaching, as they slowly ween you off of lectures and teach you to self research and also utilize what they call the Q, a process to which you can speak one on one with an instructor to receive guidance. I almost found this annoying at first, but you learn that this is what the day in life of a software dev is, and that's utilizing every resource you have to solve problems given to you by an employer. I have spoken to a lot of different bootcamp grads all different schools and Sabio consistently comes up as a school that not only prepared the developers in getting a job, but outperforming their peers in the workplace as they have the experience to take care of problems that are given to them. They also stand out by selecting developers to work on an MVP for real entrepreneurs, increasing your confidence on working with a real development team. This helped greatly with the interview process, as you're given real life experience that you can speak on and show off.

I used VETEC to pay for the course, but I've seen some reviews that state Sabio is harsh on VETTEC users, but I do not want those who use the benefit to be thrown off. The VA has strict guidelines that Sabio has to hold developer accountable to. I know this as I initially had an issue for an academic probation, but after speaking with the VA, I was explained of the strict rules that the bootcamps are held to. As long as you follow the curriculum and what is asked of you, you will have absolutely no problem utilizing any VA benefit with Sabio.

Sabio Bootcamp has been one of the best decisions I have made. I came out of this bootcamp as a full fledged software engineer, with a job offer in hand. Sabio gives you the skills that are needed to start a career in tech, and significant support during the job search and after graduation. I am still actively participating in an alumni mentoring program to help others with their job search. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is looking to become a software engineer. I favored a boot camp over a college degree because it was less time and I would leave the program having applicable skills for a job. This bootcamp is for those who are motivated and dedicated, as it is a big commitment. The course itself is 17 weeks (with a 13 week option if you can pass the entrance test). The time commitment is full time, 6 days per week. It is fast paced and at some times overwhelming. The instructors are very intelligent and helpful, and give great direction while working on coding problems. They are no-nonsense, but also really care about your success. Unlike other bootcamps, Sabio provides experience working on real projects. I was part of a brand new start up that our team built from the ground up. We did daily stand up meetings and code reviews, exactly like I do in my current position. This has been an extremely rewarding experience.

Don't walk, RUN.
This is THE best boot camp on the west coast (possibly the country). If you're a veteran looking to break your way into the tech industry and start making a salary of $80K in less than 6 months, look no further. No prior code experience needed!! No degree needed!!

I'm a Navy veteran and found myself at home with Sabio. They specialize in helping veterans transition into tech careers. They have veteran staff members and are very knowledgeable in GI Bill assistance. This program is tough, but fair. No hand holding here. This is a learning environment but treated like a work place. THIS IS HANDS ON LEARNING. YOU WILL DO! No studying textbooks or writing about concepts! You will be given the tools needed to succeed and pushed to your limits every day. This was the hardest thing I ever did academically but it paid off big time. 

Within four weeks after graduation I had received two job offers- both at $80k, one had stock options of $20k, and an offer for a full time internship with Sony. I work remote now and was able to move closer to family. I work for a company who is currently paying me to learn! Making me more valuable and knowledgeable. 

Three things that set this bootcamp apart from others:

1. You will work in teams to develop code for a real company.
You'll have regular practice on integrating your code with others (welcome to the world of git), you will talk about code and how to communicate what it is doing (very helpful when it comes time to interview), and code review sessions that will help you learn to read code you didn't write (also helpful during technical interviews). Towards the end of your training you will be selected to develop a real working web application for a real company. This means REAL work experience!!

2. The community. 
Sabio alumni regularly help current fellows when it comes time for the job hunt. It's one thing to have a Sabio staff member say you're job ready, it's another to hear it from someone who just graduated and landed a position. Alumni help in fine tuning resumes, mock interviews, and overall accountability and support.

3. Up to date on demands from the market.
Sabio teaches a full stack software development stack that is in high demand. This translates into more interviews and multiple job offers. They have partnerships with big time companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Google - to name a few) with multiple graduates receiving job offers from these partnerships monthly. That's right, you could be working for FAANG with less than 6 months experience being a software engineer.

Who this program IS NOT for:

- Anyone who cannot dedicate themselves to a full time program. I'm talking 12 hour days Monday-Saturday. It's a big time commitment. Tell your family and friends you're changing your life and you will be dedicating yourself to this for at least 6 months. No vacations, no happy hours, no weekend getaways. It's a sacrifice but it pays off!

- Anyone who thinks they can do the bare minimum and get the big pay off. Coding isn't rocket science but it does take time to learn. Sabio has endless resources to take you from zero to hero but it's up to you to put those resources to use.

- Anyone who isn't coachable and adaptable. You MUST trust the process! Everyone at Sabio has the intent to help you. Remember, it's tough love here, but it's all love.

- Anyone who does not like to learn. Technology is ever changing. You will never know everything there is to know. Talk to any software engineer- they've learned how to learn and it makes them more valuable (aka more money!).

Sabio CHANGED MY LIFE. It can change yours too.
You don't need to be a super geek or computer nerd to succeed here. I was never at the top of my cohort, I didn't grasp concepts quicker than anyone else, I'm not a genius who found their niche. I'm a regular person who knows how to work hard, who never gives up, and shows up every day with an attitude to learn and better myself. That's all you need to be successful in this program.

Use your GI Bill or VETTEC benefits to have your learning paid for and collect BAH. No military background? No problem. Sabio offers scholarships and financing. This is MUCH cheaper than getting a four year degree in Computer Science and finding out you can't get hired because you have no work experience.

This company is very transparent and will answer any questions you have. Visit their website to attend a Q&A to speak with an onboarding specialist and most likely a recent graduate. You'll probably meet me there because I can't tell enough people about this amazing place that changed everything for me.

RUN.

Attending Sabio completely changed my life. I was self employed before Sabio and working long hours. I decided to take a risk and attend Sabio. I was nervous about this since I did not know anything about Software Engineering. I was a complete beginner and did not understand HTML nor CSS. I completed the 17 week course and they prepared me to be a successful Software Engineer.

The course material was given at appropriate intervals. The bootcamp is challenging and should not be taken lightly. The beginning can seem overwhelming at first. Once you are used to routine, it seems like everything gets easier. I loved that you complete an application for an actual business versus a personal project. This provides you the experience of working with a real business and provides a team experience.

Sabio prepared me more than enough, that I was able to accept a position with Amazon as a Software Engineer. I would have never thought/believed that I would be an engineer for Amazon. Overall I am very happy with the results that Sabio provide.