SMU Boot Camps

Just graduated from the Southern Methodist University Full Stack Coding class and my background is graphic design and fashion design. So if this creative non technical person can learn coding, anyone can with the right program. The SMU part time 6 month program, was the right one for me. Great instruction from Bruce Van Horn and supportive patient TA's, Henry Winget and Tyler Calvert. This program also gives you a free tutor. William Jones was mine who was another asset to my journey of understanding and success. The class is fast pace but not unreasonable, but I recommend just like anything don't fall behind. You will be taught how to code and most importantly how to work through a problem when you get stuck. That alone in priceless. So glad I did it and enjoying the next steps of working with another added benefit, a well connected career services center.

When I first considered a career path, I wanted something that was not only exciting but also offered ample growth opportunities. After careful research, I discovered that cybersecurity perfectly fit these criteria. It's a field that is constantly evolving, with new challenges and threats arising every day. The demand for cybersecurity professionals is at an all-time high, mirroring the rapid advancement of technology in various industries. With this realization, I decided to embark on a journey to become a cybersecurity expert. When it came to choosing the right program to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge, the SMU Boot Camp stood out to me. The university's privilege and good reputation in delivering high-quality education were key factors that influenced my decision. I knew that by enrolling in the SMU Boot Camp, I would gain more than I could expect from any other program. My experience with the boot camp surpassed all my expectations. The curriculum was designed meticulously, covering a wide range of cybersecurity topics that are relevant in today's digital landscape. One of my favorite aspects of the program was the emphasis on practical skills and hands-on learning. Through SIEMS analysis, Linux commands, and cloud security and encryption, I acquired valuable expertise that is directly applicable in real-world scenarios. Moreover, the instructors and teaching assistants at SMU Boot Camp were incredibly knowledgeable and supportive. They were always available to answer questions and provide guidance, ensuring that I had a clear understanding of each topic. I can't emphasize enough the importance of taking advantage of every resource available, attending classes diligently, and engaging with the instructors and TAs. Additionally, going the extra mile by conducting independent research further solidifies your understanding and enhances your overall learning experience. To prospective students considering a career in cybersecurity and joining the SMU Boot Camp, my advice is to embrace the journey with enthusiasm and dedication. Cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field, and staying up to date with the latest trends and technologies is crucial. Take advantage of every opportunity to expand your knowledge, participate actively in class discussions, and don't hesitate to ask questions when in doubt. The combination of the comprehensive curriculum, supportive environment, and your own commitment will set you on the path to success in the cybersecurity industry. In conclusion, my decision to pursue a career in cybersecurity and enroll in the SMU Boot Camp has been one of the best choices I've made. I have gained a wealth of high-value information and knowledge, equipping me with the skills needed to thrive in this exciting and ever-growing field. I am grateful for the opportunities provided by the program and the invaluable experience it has given me.

I'm an ex-military cop with no prior coding experience that decided to get into the financial technology industry after studying economics at a prestigious university. I did a great deal of research on coding boot camps, going through reviews, Reddit posts, Youtube videos, and syllabus', before deciding to attend SMU's Fintech boot camp. Firstly, I was impressed by the program's syllabus, Financial programming with Python, Neural networks, Solidity smart contracts, and Dapp's building to name a few. I was very impressed by the teaching staff, they were very experienced, even in blockchain smart contracts.

• Learning Process: I was in a small online class of 12 students all near the Dallas area so we were able to meet in person for group projects. Since the classes were so small the teacher and teacher's aid were able to help answer any questions we had and walk us through important concepts.
  • The lessons are very detailed, guiding you through basic to more advanced programming concepts, and at the end of the lessons, you code an assignment that you can add to your GitHub Portfolio. 
  • We had a virtual class two times per week for 2hrs where the teacher would go over the material in the modules, then an optional study session with the TA once a week which, I highly recommend going to. 
  • The teacher was very well educated and did an excellent job at helping you understand every concept in the syllabus.
• Projects: The projects are probably my favorite aspect of the class. You decide with your group what project you want to work on and everyone contributes to the project's Github similar to how you would do it in the professional environment.
  • If your group decided to make a Crytpo portfolio analyzer in the first project, in the following project you could build onto that and make an Algorithmic trading bot or whatever you want.
• Advice: My advice to people who want to get into coding or just want to learn Fintech, is to take this boot camp and put in what you want to get out, you won't regret it.
  • The more you study/practice the better your coding skills will be, make a schedule with plenty of study time and stick to it.
  • For studying, I found I learned best by working on the end of the lesson assignment as I learned the concepts, using Stackoverflow as needed, then using the optional TA study session to ask any questions I had; or fix errors I encountered in my code (which were many early on).
• Job Assistance: Of the career services I have used from other boot camps, this has been the best by far. 
  • At the end of the lessons, there is a career connection page that tells you how to add the new skills you learned to your resume, what jobs use these skills, questions jobs might ask based on what you just learned, and upcoming career events.
  • There are tons of webinars that you get access to! Coding interview prep workshops, Google recruiting webinars, and way more. I highly recommend signing up for every webinar you are interested in, even while you are still going through the boot camp.
  • A career material advisor gives you continuous feedback on your resume until you are satisfied with it, then you get paired with a career coach who, essentially coaches you through getting hired (technical interview questions, etc).
• OVERALL VERDICT: I went to school at a top-ranked university, and previously completed a Veteran Technology cybersecurity course, and I learned more in SMU's Fintech boot camp that actually applies to jobs than I did anywhere else. I would recommend this boot camp to anyone who is interested, if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me on Linkedin.

I can't say enough good things about this program.  I've learned a few programming languages before, but this is the first time in my life that I've ever felt like I was learning skills used in the real world.  A few things have set this course apart for me compared to other attempts in the past.

• I stay in the same cohort throughout various subjects we learn.  Some subjects take longer than others, and that's fine.  I assume this is pretty standard for most bootcamps.
• We pick our own group projects together.  Sometimes that can be frustrating while trying to find a subject to work on, but it's a good skill to be able to pull real-world data, clean it, and delve into it however we can to try to find a meaningful conclusion.  I've read that many bootcamps assign projects, and the problem with that is recruiters can end up with a lot of applicants that have the same projects on their resume.  Being unique is bound to help break through to an interview.
• They pick instructors who have both real-world experience in the subjects at hand and who have experience teaching.  Our instructor has been fantastic at answering odd questions, as well as showing us how to build up the code from scratch.
• Zoom meetings work exceptionally well.  I can follow along with class materials, but sometimes I need to go back through the class to pick up on things I've missed.  All sessions are recorded, and that has most certainly saved me a few times while learning.
• They teach you how to use collaboration tools used by real professionals.  This is bolded for a reason.  I hadn't had a job which necessitated the use of Slack or GitHub, so I simply wasn't used to them at all.  While I don't want to call myself an expert, I can comfortably navigate the basic necessities to clone, pull, push, branch, and merge.
• You get lifetime access to valuable webinars that teach you some of the soft skills you'll need to navigate applying to jobs.  It turns out that improper formatting can lead to automatic rejection, regardless of your actual talents.  A human simply might not ever see your resume.  In today's world with online job postings, you absolutely need to format your documents correctly.
• This course includes career coaching.  It's not just an add-on, it's integrated directly into the program.  Every homework assignment and every group project is a chance to build your credentials and fill out your resume with relevant experience.  After you've gotten far enough with both the coursework and the career materials, you're assigned a personal coach to help get you going.  Who cares about a job placement program?  I'm not looking for a job, I'm looking for the rest of my career.
• If you do well enough in this program, you may be eligible to apply your experience as credit towards a master's degree in data science.

I chose this program after looking through every major university's bootcamps within the Dallas region.  One thing that stuck out to me was that this bootcamp partners with CompTIA for some of the programs, which is one of the most respected certification companies in the tech industry.  The data science program is separate from that one, but it signaled to me that this program is respected in the industry.  I am thoroughly convinced that this is currently the best program in the Dallas / Fort Worth you can pick.  It's more expensive than some of the options, but it's worth it.

If you feel like your career is stuck, and you're interested in combining programming, data manipulation, and statistics, you should put this program at the top of your list.  You don't need prior programming experience to join, but your life will be far easier if you pick up a book on Python and learn a little before the first class session.

I am 42 years old and after owning a restaurant for 16 years and getting burnout, my business partner and I decided to move on and get out of the restaurant business. Since over the years, I helped friends, other restaurants, and different types of business to design logos, flyers, banners, and whatever printing need they had, I figured it would be great to expand my printing designing experience to the digital world, so I started studying on my own. It got to a point where I got stuck with Javascript and couldn’t learn more, so I decided to search for courses and learned that I could do a Boot Camp at SMU. The cost of the course was a deterrent at first, but I figured I would be forced to learn in such an intensive way, watched several online videos about and concluded that it was worth the cost. I am glad for my decision, I don’t think I would ever learn as much as I did on my own, this course opened my eyes to computer languages, libraries, frameworks, databases… that I don’t think I would even know that I needed to learn, showed me a broad horizon that now I can choose what direction I want to take. Bruce was an incredible instructor, with such a vast knowledge and did explain us in many different ways when we couldn’t understand certain concepts, Tyler and Henry were so patient with me when I would come to a section before class with so many questions and many times completely lost, they would point me in the right direction and not always tell me what to do, but where to look for solutions. I learned how to learn in this course and that alone is priceless. Thank you all so much for your patience, kindness, and sharing the knowledge.

I'm halfway through my Full-stack web dev Bootcamp and it is shocking how much we have already covered and how much we have absorbed. We've learned HTML5 and CSS (quickly!), GitHub, Javascript, node.js, express.js, deploying apps with Heroku, and MySQL.

I've already created about a dozen apps and have a great understanding of all the material thus far. The instructors are very engaged and care about your success. There are a ton of resources outside of class as well if you get stuck, including tutors you can schedule for free weekly hour-long sessions, "instant" tutoring for 15 minutes on quick issues, a Slack channel to communicate with classmates and instructors with questions, feedback, comments, etc, and an entire Career Coach department dedicated to helping you maximize your leverage of the course material as well as personal qualities and relevant work experience into getting hired. Highly recommended!

Improvements to the program could include:
- training the instructors and TAs to be just a little bit stronger in introducing new concepts effectively
- tightening up the disorganized BootCampSpot.com website which we must navigate to sign into class, submit homework, locate class and career resources, etc
- I cannot really judge the Job Assistance since I'm still in the course and haven't begun job hunting, but there is an ongoing side program throughout the course that has you actively thinking about and working towards resume building, interview preparation etc. So far however my experience leads me to believe that the future Job Assistance will be excellent as well.

I found and enrolled in this program shortly after graduating with my Bachelor's. I already knew I wanted to pursue web development, and I figured having a program like this on my resume would help get my foot in more doors. I must say, the content of the course and the backing of the career services has provided me with the confidence to hop back into the job market armed with the right tools.

Is it right for me?
I am but a humble computer programmer who was looking to add more tools to my toolbelt. Many of my classmates were from all walks of life, looking to mix things up a bit. Whatever the reason, if you are interested in knowing what makes the latest web applications tick and want to be part of that, then you are definitely in the right place.

Is it difficult?
They don't call this a "bootcamp" for nothing. You will be tested; your problem-solving skills will be exercised to the max; you will be frequenting StackOverflow and online documentation until your brain hurts. But nothing can top the sheer satisfaction making a complex program FINALLY produce the expected output. I want to be able to look back someday at a complex program I had a part in operating in the wild and say to myself "Hey, I made that happen." So save yourself or BUCKLE UP!

How's the workload?
The brochure said to expect about 20 hours a week outside of class on homework and prep-work in addition to the 10 hours of lecture per week. That's a pretty accurate estimation on average. Some of the more trivial projects for me took 5 to 10 hours at most on some weeks. However, some of the real tricky monsters had me buried in documentation and tests for close to 30 or more on other weeks. If you already work a significant number of hours at your current job, be prepared for some late nights.

Do I need a programming background before starting this course?
It helps, but it's not going to make or break you. You may have to go through a bunch of examples and get down in the weeds before something finally clicks, but it's not impossible.

Career Services and you
The program offers career services for students who are interested. Should you choose to opt-in to it, they help get your resume and online presence spruced up to show employers the key points they look for in potential hires. They also offer a bunch of resources to peruse and make use of. A great support system if you need some guidance in the job hunt.

Should I go for it?
Some things in life aren't worth achieving if they're easy. Believe me, you will be tested, but the challenge was worth it. Now is the right time to jump into the tech field, because who knows what computers will be capable of in 10 years.

I just graduated from this course and it was an extremely good choice for someone that is ready to start a carreer. The staff is incredibly helpful and willing to help no matter how stressful or complicated the problem is that you are experiencing. the TA's not only just graduated from the course but continue to expand thier knowledge of the subject which in turn helps the students. after six months of extremely hard work and dedication I would recomend this course to anyone that has a good work ethic and is ready to change carrers.

I just recently graduated from the course this past weekend, and I am very satisfied with it. The instructors are phenomenal, career services is very helpful, and I definitely feel like I learned a lot. I entered the course with some programming experience in Python, but no experience in web development. I am happy to say that I am now more than capable of building functional, complex websites and have already landed two job interviews, so clearly the skills that I've learned and projects I've created are of interest to employers.

My only complaint with the course is that at times the curriculum feels a bit outdated. We spent a lot of time on jQuery and Bootstrap, but neither seem to be particularly valued by most employers. We spent only a small amount of time on React, but most jobs I would like to apply for require it, and I feel that spending more time on it in class would have been greatly beneficial. Overall, this isn't a huge problem, as with the knowledge I have now, I don't feel like it will be difficult to polish my skills in areas we didn't spend as much time on, and it is useful to have skills that are no longer cutting edge so that I can work with older code bases. However, it is still a tad bit disappointing that I feel like I have no real use for some of the early technologies we learned in the class.

That said, I would still highly recommend the course to anyone who is interested in becoming a web developer. It is definitely worth the price.

I have just finished and graduated from this program couple days ago.

Before this course, I found couple alumni on  linkedin and asked them some questions regarding the course. After hearing positive responses from them I had decided to apply.

Our program was 24 weeks long and we had classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. It was a flex program, so I did not have to quit from my job. Majority of the classroom were full-time employed people.

When I started this course I had no prior knowledge about web development and coding.

This course is not definitely easy, but  with hardwork and dedication you will absolutely learn a lot of things that you never achieved by yourself. It requires at least 20-25 hours self study each week. At the beginning of the course,we were clearly told that this course requires self study. This course provides excellent resources and free online tutoring. Also each lessons are recorded, so you can watch them again when you need them.

Instructors are very knowledgeable and  each classes has at least two TA's to make sure students understand lesson content. During the course we  have learned HTML, CSS, Javascript, Node JS, Express JS, MySql, MongoDB, React JS. At the end of the course, I was able to create my own ecommerce website.

Overall my experience with SMU Bootcamp is very positive and I highly recommend this course to everyone who is looking for a new career in this field.  

 

Why choose SMU?

Not only does this program provide incredible support and resources, well versed and experienced instructors, and some of the most dedicated TAs, but you have the added benefit of the SMU name when you leave which looks great on resumes and lets potential employers know you are serious.

How is SMU's bootcamp different from the others?

There are multiple reasons in my opinion that make SMU stand out. One is the overall passion the staff has for seeing their students succeed and doing everything they can to help you be successful. The instructors are experienced, not only in web development but in teaching fairly difficult subjects to students of various backgrounds.

Another reason is the time and flexibility presented in this course. Many bootcamps are 3 month full-time programs(and SMU does have the option I believe) but for a lot of people like myself it can be very trying even down right impossible to cram all that learning into a three month period, let alone maintain a job throughout. SMU offers a 24 week(6 month) part-time schedule which is far more achievable and allows extra time to really absorb everything you're learning.

Final Thoughts

I highly recommend this bootcamp! The amount of support received throughout my experience was wonderful. I personally got a little behind early on and my instructors and TAs reached out with genuine concern and support, finding any and every way they could to assist me through difficult times and ensuring my success. Not only is this program manageable, affordable, and enjoyable, but the entire community is there for you when you struggle. Instead of leaving you behind when you fall, they help you up and walk along side you to make sure you meet your goals. SMU is #1 in my book and I guarantee your experience here will truly be life changing.

I just finished and graduate 2-16-19

Should you attend?

This is an easy yes!  I tried teaching myself how to code for about 2 years (on and off) before joining SMU Coding Bootcamp.  Once I got HTML and CSS I got to javascript and I just couldn't get myself to learn it.  The reason was that I wasn't consistent and I never tried building anything with the knowledge I had.  I kept bouncing from tutorial to tutorial.  Attending the boot camp fixed that and my ability to learn and understand javascript and the other technologies I learned skyrocketed.  

Is it easy?

No, but it is VERY, VERY doable!  Do not join without knowing you will dedicate at least 20 hours of self-study each week.  We were told from the very beginning that we spend 10 hours in class and need to study 20 hours on our own, so the majority of the leaning is done on your self-study time.  However, the boot camp gives you structure and excellent recourses with your instructor, TA's and free online tutoring (1 hr per week).  

Frustration and Doubt

You WILL be frustrated and you will think you're not getting and just falling behind.  Trust me, everyone feels like this!  I'm pretty sure my last 8 to 10 weeks were nothing but frustration.  You will not be able to see the improvements you're making but your Instructor and TA's can see it.  Do not give up.  You will get it and you won't believe what you know on the last day from the first day.   

Veteran's

If you are a Veteran the course is 100% paid for by your 9/11 GI Bill and you get a housing stipend.  Nothing better I can say about that!  

Career Service's

For reasons that fit my situation, I did not make full use of career services, but I did attend some of the online sessions.  I was very impressed with the quality and knowledge of the team that is set up to help you land a job at the end.  The sessions and "assignments" offered by Career Services are not mandatory so it's very easy to ignore them and think you'll catch up later.  If you want/need a job after graduation DO NOT fall behind with this.  

Final Thoughts

This is obviously the only boot camp I've attended so I don't have anything to really compare it against.  That said, I know that I never would have gained the amount of knowledge I know now on my own...I tried.  The instructors and TA's were awesome and ALWAYS available and willing to help.  SMU Coding Boot Camp was one of the best choices I made in 2018. 

If you want to get a better idea of my journey you can check out my YouTube channel where I document it.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrPq8rboAHlocWzbrTGIlQw 

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julio-sanchez-a41404b9/

Twitter: @TechLifeJulio

 

It's always a little scary changing jobs. It's frightening changing careers.
Fortunately, I chose the right one.

In January 2018, my experience with coding was, well, Myspace layouts in the mid 2000's to junior computer science courses 7 years ago in high school. In July, I went from barely getting my way around a command line prompt to pumping out full-stack web applications I could be proud of.

I will say, this is not a magic pill you can swallow, nor is it to be looked at like a passive investment you can throw money at to instantly become a coding wizard. It's a serious amount of work that takes serious dedication. You MUST have an inviting, open-mind with a desire to learn, yearning to go home and research more about what you didn't digest in class, discipline in practice, and you need to be able to handle rejection. Your computer will (likely) reject every problem you try to solve 9 times out 10 until you try that euphoric number 10, and your current solution works as desired (sometimes).

Ultimately, everything you do boils down to 0's and 1's. If you do not have any of the traits above, you will be hitting 0's and not meeting the necessary conditionals, yet if you can do all of the above, you are a perfect, sweet, beautiful 1 and can do whatever you want.

The class begins by walking you down memory lane of the beginnings of the internet and how absolutely horrible we had it. You'll learn how to operate a command line, HTML and CSS (Myspace anyone?), then you'll get into Javascript and Jquery and you'll feel terrible about every life decision you made to that point. But don't panic, the class will move fast, and you won't feel confident and comfortable with every step. But you will practice, and you will learn on your own, and then you'll practice, and then you'll watch some kid on YouTube breeze through something you thought was practically impossible, and then you'll practice, and then you'll do your homework, and then you will get more practice.

You'll learn what an API is, move on to database management like Firebase and MySQL, and those together will change your views on how the world handles, stores, and processes information (sometimes, a lot of the times, your personal information!). You'll get into Node.js and not have any idea what it is until you start doing it and continue to do it and, of course, practice. And after that, you might still not know what it is, but you might, probably just know what it does but, eventually, you'll get into firing up an Express server and BOOM, you've created a full-stack application with no clue on how to replicate it aside from looking at previous class examples and/or your code.

And that's okay, keep doing that.

After that, holy smokes MongoDB, why do we even use SQL databases anymore? To make a long story short on that, it's flexible, easier to query (and store data) and there are dozens of free services that do most of that for you. But, on the other hand, SQL has the upper hand when it comes to joining and organizing two or more sets of data. But that's not relevant right now. 

What I was getting to this entire time was the mac-daddy React.js. This is going to be very painful, but it is going to be the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE CLASS. I said that right, it will combine your entire set of skills up to that point and test your patience on multiple levels. React.js is a front-end framework (what does that mean? *answer: GOOGLE IT*) that the lizard people over at Facebook developed that changed the game for web development (I'm leaving Angular and Vue out of the conversation because I don't know them and I don't talk to strangers). But for real, it's a tough-TOUGH part of the curriculum because it leaves a lot of what you've done with HTML/Handlebars/Jquery by the wayside and makes you rethink the way you construct your applications. Luckily, elements of the above still apply which means you can squiggle by, but it will be an essential part of your hiring process as multiple companies are looking for Full Stack MERN (MongoDB/Express/React/Node) Developers. 

This class will not hold your hand through the experience. You will be challenged. You will need to practice. You might be in luck, like I was, and have an awesome, engaging, experienced instructor and supported by patient, graduates of the program in teaching assistants and it will make your life easier.

I landed a contract position with an IT service management company two months after the course ended, and you'll see me in February as a patient, graduate of the program, teaching assistant.

I recommend this to you on the previous conditions of 0's and 1's.

var student;

if(student === 1) {

student = fullStackDeveloper;

} else {

student = unsuccessful;

}

 

Remember, Google and YouTube are your friends, reviewing your, or other people code is your partner, asking for help is your doctor, and practice is your job.

Good luck!