Bloom Institute of Technology

So I was part of the part time program.  I started in Jan 2020 and ended up moving to full time for the last Unit and thus finished Jan 2021.  There were a lot of changes near the end of my time as a student there.  Reading through the reviews you can clearly see this.  I was also a TL during my time there so felt the transition both as a student and a Team Lead during these changes.  I won't say I agreed or disagreed with the changes as I was not part of the process that made them.  

Lambda always had our best interest in mind.  Do I think taking away the TL's was not the best idea?  Yes, I valued the time I had with my TL as well as my students when I was a TL, but the reasons I was given were also valid.  Would I have finished had I joined a year later?  I think I would have as I put my all into it and got my all out.  Changes aren't easy no matter what.  Some are good some are not.

I still communicate with students that I networked with during my time there,  I still have access to the training material and although it has yes changed  I do still reference it at times.  I can't speak much on the Job Assistance side as I got lucky and was hired on as a Web Developer Instructor over at anther Boot Camp during my last month of Lambda.  But I can tell you that what I learned there including all those changes have made me a better Instructor and Programmer. 

I was bartending for 6 years in NYC, but looking for a big change. Covid hit, and I felt pressure to make the best of my time off, and I was searching for an affordable path to web development. Asking everyone in my social network, I hit upon a friend of the family who had just landed a 90k job right out of a bootcamp. It was Lambda.

I was broke, on unemployment as the bars had all closed, but our buddy told me about Lambda's ISA program where you start with no money down, and pay them back through a percentage of your paycheck for 2 years. I did my due diligence. There are good reviews, and a couple of obvious hit pieces out there. Having worked in bars and restaurants I was familiar with that one star review, written by someone deflecting their own issues, and I can sniff em out. So, I signed up.

The school starts out with pretty basic stuff, but really takes off and maintains a solid steady pace. They push you with the curriculum, but there was hardly a day where I felt I couldn't handle it. I enjoyed having the 'flex' buffer they give you, where you can redo a unit (1 months worth) if you feel you didn't nail the material. I didn't need it, but some of my buddies did, and everyone I dealt with graduated eventually. 

The biggest thing I got from Lambda, that you just can't get through things like Udemy or Youtube, and I'm guessing a lot of other bootcamps, was the team building and personality building that they do. Contrary to what I originally thought, most web development today is done in closely working teams. You may have experience working in teams, but adding the complexity of a git-flow and building software where all the parts must work in concert, and you have a complicated, and at first, clumsy process. At lambda we had many projects where we'd spend a week with a team working on these skills. A lot of their education is geared towards supporting these 'build weeks'. Plus, you get to make some pretty cool projects.

Besides learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Express, testing, etc., we spent a unit learning computer science. This is the secret weapon that also teaches you to ace those dreaded coding tests. My CS professor at Lambda, I could easily see teaching at Cal Tech or something similar, corny math jokes and all. 

The program wraps up with their LABS program. Here you spend about a month working on a real world project, through a 3rd party company working with Lambda. You have shareholder meetings, design and planning, and real criticism. It was a great way to get a job related, team oriented, resume worthy project under your belt.

Speaking of resumes... I think Lambda downplays their job placement program a bit. I know they can't legally promise anything, and its up to you to get hired, but their assistance was amazing! We dialed out the perfect resume. They plugged me into a system where I could get the most out of LinkedIn and other job boards. But on the side, they have all of these hiring partners. Big companies, small companies, but most importantly companies that want Lambda grads. There's posts in the Lambda chats almost daily about companies reaching out for new blood. There are automated job postings specifically for Lambda Students. I also had many DMs from counsellors about jobs they thought I'd be a good fit for. 

One of those DMs led directly to me being hired! I get a 'hey are you interested in this?' .. 'heck yes!', They sent my resume over, I filled out the application, and I get a call from a charming recruiter the next week. I start in August. I couldn't be more thrilled! The job search might not be so smooth for everyone they say, but I'm here to tell you that mine was thanks to Lambda.

 I started Lambda School in November 2020. This was right after they made the change to their Full Stack Web Development (FT) program from 9 months to 6 months.

This school is designed to help you succeed. They genuinely care about your career success, and about your learning. They throw many different resources out at you to use, and lots of 'safety nets' if you don't get a concept the first time around. All of that said, you are still very much in charge of your learning, and if you want to succeed, you really need to put in the time that they expect you to.

The full-time track is a FULL-TIME JOB! It should be treated as such if you want to succeed with Lambda School. Lambda school is very fast-paced and intense, but I've seen firsthand that people from very different career and personal backgrounds have found success with this program if they had put in the work.

I have personally found nothing but an insurmountable amount of support and pointers for success in this school. The projects you get involved in prepare you for greatness and equip you with real-world experience that you can speak on in interviews. A Bootcamp/trade school can never be perfect and teach you everything you will need to know in your career, but I'd say Lambda School does an incredible job getting you to the correct point to begin your career, not stopping short at all.

I Did the Full-stack web-dev course with the Java backend option over Node. Being completely honest, your experience is really dependent on who your Team Lead is. Originally in my first two months I had a Team Lead that was kinda wack, he just gave me answers(as someone who became a Team Lead later on, that is definitely NOT what youre supposed to do but I guess Lambda cant control that) and I was having a hard time learning. After I flexed (where you opt in to redo a month). I got a new TL and my experience was pretty good after that. 

There have been a lot of changes since I went through the program so its much different now, and I believe Java currently isnt an option anymore, but wow was the Java course bad. I went through it 3 times, twice as a student and once as a Team Lead. I was part of the first cohort of the Java program and it was just WAAAAAY too much to cram into 1 month of learning. No one was really learning, we were just copy/pasting. The pass rate was something like less than 40% the first time ( I flexed again). The second time around I understood it more and was able to pass having done it for 2 months now. Still, the second cohort probably had a pass rate of 50% and a lot was also copy/paste. I will note that it wasnt the instructors fault, the instructor was UNBELIEVABLE. For the rest of my life I will hold him in high regard and as one of the best teachers I've ever had. Lambda was just trying to cram way too much info into 1 month. For it to have worked, Java needed to be atleast 2 months, preferrably 3. The third time I went through I was very comfortable writing Java, and tried my absolute best to be a good Team Lead to the students I managed and gained some connections I'll have for life with most of my students. About 9/11 of them passed.

After that I went through the program fairly well, They changed the labs portion from 2 months to 1 month, which I thought was stupid as it allowed for gaining real-world experience without actually being in a real job. This part was fine and honestly it felt like labs way pretty easy to pass for me personally. I know others had a difficult time. (Others also didnt do Java three times so theres that). The computer science portion id say isnt bad. Its computer science so its really hard, probably the hardest portion of it all.

After graduating it took my 6 months to get a job, which happens to be the exact average it takes to get one in the field post graduation. The services post-grad are really like a "you get what you put in" kind of vibe. Originally I use any of them but as the search got longer I used them more and more and honestly could not that the career coaches enough. They did end up laying off a huge majority of them, but even after the lay off, the career coach I had helped me TREMENDOUSLY(I cannot stress this enough) with getting offers, salaray negotiation, and calming me down when things were crazy or I felt like I was never gonna get a job.

TLDR: I would do it again, you get out of it what you put into it. With the new changes they made I do think its probably worse than it was when I did it, but they're CONSTANTLY changing how things work so who knows what its like now. The career coach I had was AWESOME so post-graduation job assistance was great as long as I made an effort to communicate with them.

As my business was going to crap during the pandemic, a life-long curiosity -- software development -- began to grow stronger and stronger. I had messed with some web dev stuff prior to lambda, but usually using no-code tools like webflow. I had always wanted to develop much richer web applications though. In November of 2020 I decided to go all-in and enrolled for Lambda School's web development track.

I started in January 2021 as part of the Web40 cohort. This is just after some of the changes with TLs and such. I never experienced that, so the way it was setup when I started is all I know. There weren't any major changes throughout my time with Lambda, but there were many incremental improvements.

I'll get into what I liked and disliked about the program, but here's a TL;DR:
You get out of it exactly what you put into it. Don't expect handholding. Don't expect them to teach you everything (there's just simply not enough time). Don't try to hold a job or other major responsibilities while going through the program. Start networking with developers that have jobs at companies you want to work for early. Start building a full-scale project of your own on the side by unit 2 (Not a portfolio site, either... more on this below).

My results:
I had never coded Javascript in my life prior to Lambda. By the first week of labs (Early June 2021), I had a software engineer job offer for a well-funded tech startup for over $100,000/yr. Typical? Definitely not. Doable? Absolutely. 

Some random thoughts:  
1. Lambda is still a new, scrappy company. They are trying their best to do the right thing, but will sometimes make mistakes. In my experience, they did FAR more for helping me be prepared technically and interpersonally to land a job than any other schooling I've done. They've narrowed their focus and are dialing in their core programs after perhaps overstepping a bit with part-time, UI/UX, and the iOS tracks. 

2. I'd say at least 1/3 of the student body shouldn't even be in the program. They are probably the ones you see writing most of the negative reviews. Often times during build weeks where we work together as a team to build a project, many of the students in the team are completely disengaged or do minimal work. They're like the kids in high school that would get an A on a group project despite doing none of the work. In the case of lambda, all they're doing is hurting themselves. Now that I've gone through the program there seems to be a pretty strong correlation between those that participated and their overall understanding of how to code. 

3. Some people are in it, not because they are actually interested in learning to be a software engineer, but because they think it will be an easy ticket to a high paying job. These people will fail. You've got to actually *want* to be a software developer. 

4. People skills and networking are as important as the technical skills. No one wants to hire someone that's uncomfortable to work with because they can't communicate confidently or clearly...or are just plain weird. You've got to learn to be comfortable with people. You've also got to learn to network -- to reach out on linkedin and twitter to complete strangers and be able to forge a relationship with them. Lambda gives some tips on this, but you will need to put effort into this outside of class. 

5. Think of a project and build it. And no, I'm not talking about a portfolio website. Building a fancy portfolio site is like making a really cool looking resume. You know what's more impressive? Impressive stuff ON YOUR RESUME/PORTFOLIO. There is literally an infinite amount of cool things you can build with software. Find a problem or something you wish existed and start building it. Let your Github be your portfolio. Document the journey and what you're learning. Lambda jams a TON of information into your brain in 6 months. You will forget a ton of it if you're not using everything you learn. By the time labs happens (month 6), you've gone 2 months since touching React (Node/express, and CS in between). Good luck remembering it if you aren't building something with it in between. Many students made an excuse that they don't have the time to build something outside of class. I guess it comes down to how bad you really want it. Going from a job to a high paying career is going to take some sacrifice and extra effort. 

6. Leverage the tools lambda gives you. There are countless opportunities to work with instructors in smaller, more intimate settings. I was shocked how few people showed up to some of these sessions. During Unit 4 (backend), I and maybe 3 others in my cohort would show up to a code review session offered just before class started. So we all got an hour of intimate code review. The funny part is that those of us that showed up to that code review were probably the ones that needed it the least. 

There's so much more I could share, but I'll leave you with these parting thoughts: 
Lambda School is 100% worth it, IF: 
1. You go all-in and don't make excuses. 
2. You're a self-starter and will do your own studying outside of class
3. You have a "I can figure it out" attitude. 
4. You actually put in work to grow your people skills, network, and generally be someone that others would want to work with. 

I am extremely thankful that Lambda exists. It's not without its flaws (is any school?), but it definitely did its job in preparing me to land a job with a company I really wanted to work for doing exactly what I learned in lambda. 

Also, if you want to ask me questions about my experience in detail, hit me up on twitter: @clintfix 

Here is the thing. When I first started with Lambda , it was ok. But now you are basically learning on your own. They removed stand ups meetings, code reviews, 1:1  help and such. So you are basically left out with live lectures , which even though they are great, you can find the same content on youtube. I am towards the end of the program and can't really do nothing about it but to warm people to stay away. I will have to do my best with the little I got to get a job but you are better off learning by yourself than signup to Lambda School. 

RUN FOR YOUR DEAR LIFE!

I joined Lambda School with high hopes. I began the program when they still had Tech Leads (minimum wage paid students to help you). The Tech Leads were advertised to some degree as subject matter experts.  Once they were removed the value of the program diminished greatly. We started each day with 1hr lectures from mediocre instructors, then you are left to code by yourself all day. If you're stuck, well there is google. Lambda tells you they're not there to hold your hand but to give you the tools to learn on your own, I am still trying to figure out what tools those are. I quickly realized FREE CODE CAMP, CODEACDEMY, YOUTUBE, OR A $10 UDEMY COURSE WITH 100 HOURS OF CONTENT was a much cheaper and better investment. I signed the ISA because they falsely advertised that professionals are there to help. One month into the program is they announce changes are coming, and the TLs are being removed. It was advertised like the changes coming are SO good. I decided to leave the program after trying it for a week into the transition. My ISA went active.  I can't justify spending 30k to learn from anyone other than vetted professionals not that TLs were professionals but it was better than nothing. I asked if they could make an exception with my ISA because I was only a week into the program's transition and it was ONLY 24 hours after my ISA went active. They were careless. They cant grandfather me into what I ORIGINALLY signed up for but expect me to honor the ISA. SO INNOVATIVE! They flat out did not care at all! THEY EXPLOITED THE TRANSITION PERIOD TO GET MONEY OUT OF ME! Don't let them lie to you, and don't believe all the success stories. I know many grads from their program that wish they did not join Lambda. If you have any questions contact me at matthewmsmith1992@gmail.com

I was a new programmer in the field and wanted to develop my skills so I could land a job in software engineering. I saw the Lambda School commercial and was hooked. I immediately applied, and in haste, I received a response from Lambda School to fill out some information, and add a video. A day or so later I received a response asking to complete the assessment exam which consisted of several coding sections, with Q & A. I passed this portion and was immediately enrolled in Lambda schools cohorts. Lambda seemed quite eager to enroll me and help develop my skills, as they knew I worked full-time and had a passion for coding. 

I noticed throughout the program there was organized chaos. At times Team Leads and Leads had conflicting information regarding classwork.  I also saw the curriculum change as well as the style of tests throughout my several months there. As a new coder, I expected more structure. 

I ended up flexing to another class and was told the curriculum would not change so I'll be able to go back and review to do better, but that was a lie. The curriculum had Cyprus.io added to it which made my study more difficult, and time in the class longer. 

Someone tried to withdraw me, prematurely by saying I was not in classes. Luckily, I had slack communication with the TL's to prove I was in class and answering questions. I think it was Lambda School doing this based on my performance, and wanting to get me out. 

I was flexed again and found that the way Lambda tested us had changed, where instead of having a group coding project we actually had a 10-15 question test. I was told by Leads, Team Leads, and the administration that I would move forward to the next curriculum if I passed the test. I passed, but guess what... I was told by my Team Lead that she was going to flex me back a class anyway to relearn everything again. This is not what I was told, but I had no say in the matter. A few days later I received a withdrawal email from Lambda School, saying if I want to appeal the decision I could. I appealed the decision with the same person emailing me with a final decision of withdrawal. I asked If I could come back in six months to reapply, with the same ISA  active, and he told me to come back in 6 months and we'll get you back in.

Caveat: IF YOUR CODE HAS A BUG DUE TO THE BACKEND ENGINEERS AND YOUR CODE WAS GOOD TO GO, YOU STILL FAIL IF THE CODE ALL TOGETHER FAILS TO LOAD. THIS IS WHY I FAILED IN A COUPLE OF THE  BEGINNING CLASSES. ALSO, NEVER LET A STUDENT YOUR PAIRED WITH ACCESS YOUR VSCODE. THIS GUY I WAS PAIRED WITH MESSED MY CODE UP AND CREATED AN ERROR MESSAGE WHERE MY TERMINAL WOULD NOT ALLOW ME TO USE IT.

Anyway, I came back 6 Months later with a more in-depth understanding of coding languages, and frameworks. 
This is where I go from being a student to being a number. I have not heard from Admissions since reapplying!!!! I emailed them on December 27th 2020. I had to reach out to the Lambda School website help button that blinks on and off periodically on the website and explain to the employees that Admissions has not responded. They told me admissions would get back to me in a day or two, but they never did. Since then I've been emailing and calling Lambda School, but still no response. I think they have my email and information on a do not respond list now, as even when trying to reach someone from the website with my email address there is no longer a response. 

ISA CAVEAT: MAKE SURE YOU TELL YOUR ISA REP THAT YOU WANT THE TECH CONTRACT. IMMEDIATELY UPON BEING WITHDRAWN I RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM ISA ASKING WHEN I WOULD BEGIN MAKING PAYMENTS. I HAD TO TO TELL THEM I WAS SUPPOSE TO HAVE THE TECH CONTRACT. THEY THEN SAID OK, WE HAVE TO SEND A NEW CONTRACT. 

Now I am a number!!!! A number with a $30,000 ISA, that was given high hopes of having another shot at getting my cert from Lambda School and landing my dream job, but when the time came to reapply I was ghosted. 
Not to mention the sleepless nights, nose bleeds from stress, and the constant imposter syndrome.

Be careful with your decision. Especially if you're new to coding. 

 Lambda School was great. Just what the doctor ordered. I love the instructors and the community. Not perfect, but it has definitely put me on track to become a Data Scientist. About me, I was a preschool teacher before and as of today I am looking at 3 potential prospects for data sci work in regenerative agriculture, federal government contracting, and ironically training others in data science, with more opportunities coming down the job hunt pipeline. Lambda's Flex program was a huge help. With "flex", if you fail a month of the curriculum, you can just retake it, no penalty or expense incurred. It may feel like a bummer to prolong it all by a month, but it is very worth it to learn the content well. I had to "flex" twice, on the predictive modeling unit and the computer science unit, and I feel super confident now in that content which I initially failed. I don't blame Lambda for those failures, I just needed more time with that content to truly get it, and they designed the program for just that. Also the career team is super dedicated and accessible, with lots of great tactics for the job hunt. Lambda literally will not get paid until I get hired as a data scientist, so they are legitimately invested in getting me that big win. Unit 3 on Data Engineering was a bit rough in curricular design and instruction, and Lambda could take better advantage of the flipped classroom structure of learning, but despite these drawbacks, Lambda was definitely worth it. Nothing less that life transforming. 

 After I was a few Units in (3) and thus financially obligated to pay the ISA, they removed core components of the program. There are no more assigned team leads. There are no more standups with your classmates so you can discuss the same project and see the many different ways to approach a solution. There is no more 1 on 1 review of your work. Where a mentor was paid to mentor you, you are now forced to mentor other students and vice versa. I've never heard from my mentor. You grade your own work. There is no attendance. I signed up for 18 months of programming, choosing Lambda especially because of the length of time of the program that was advertised. They suddenly reduced it to 12 months. As of yesterday, I've withdrawn after 4 months as this is not the program that was sold to me. I completed 22% of the program I thought I was signing up for, but under their new reduction, they said I owe 37% withdrawing before Unit 4. People in my cohort don't even understand basic Javascript and I'm not faring much better. I'm nowhere ready for a job. Now I have to find an education elsewhere and probably teach myself because now I don't trust boot camps. 

The first month or two of Lambda is good and has a lot of useful information, but the moment your ISA takes effect and you owe them money the curriculum goes downhill fast. The morning material is useless and teaches you practically nothing. The instructors have absolutely not experience with teaching which makes for a bad learning experience. Just because someone knows how to code, doesn't mean that they can teach someone else how to code. 

The majority of the time I have to refer to third-party sources to learn that day's topics. I understand that they can't teach everything, but the amount of "information" they provide is not worth the price tag that comes along with it.

TL:DR: You'll get more bang for you buck if you just pay for udemy courses or go to frontendmasters.com and take their lessons. 
Lambda: $30,000
Udemy/Frontendmasters: A few hundred at most