Bottega

Before attending Bottega, I worked with computers creating graphics and even animating some impressive marketing videos, but I knew there was more out there in the world of coding. Thats when I started looking for coding schools and was extremly lucky to have landed here at Bottega. I'll admit to knowing nothing about coding other than reading and hearing about what it could do sounded too much like someone trying to explain how the Enterprise travels through space. I can't express how strange and amazing it feels to be able to do and understand things that I didn't even know were possible just months ago. The instructors, TA's and even other alumni helped me to understand what was going on and how to solve problems in new ways, so by the end of the course so if I did get a bug I couldn't fix, I could figure it out. They even helped me lay out my resume and find a job. Even after graduation, they still check up on us, let us know about job openings and have helped me through the entire application proccess from filling out the application to how to take the final technical interview. Overall I managed to go from not knowing how to close an HTML tag to creating fully functional (and good looking) web apps

Comprehensive and evolving. I dont consider Bottega a Bootcamp, I consider them a comprehensive coding school that is evolving with feedback and growing because of it. Like many institutions, they have done things wrong. But their leadship learns from mistakes and has a real, very visible passion for changing education for the better. That is why I continue to believe in Bottega and always will. The curriculm is comprehensive, and it continues to grow, even when you leave the Bootcamp into the job searching realm. Since ive graduated, ive been able to take 5 different courses they have released.(and they plan to release a lot more) That is getting your moneys worth.

The connections they have made with traditional educational Intitutions are very promissing and the accredidation they offer is something other bootcamps have not figured out yet. 

Like most things in life, your experience is what you make it. Some individuals dont get that, they expect to be handed skill in software development without any real effort. For this reason, Id be very weary of extensive negative reviews, because these are most likely people you dont want to be taking advice from anyway.

So a lot of people tend to think once they graduate a bootcamp they are just going ot magically get a job, with minimal effort. Bottega does an amazing job on helping you understand what you need to know, giving you the tools you need to get a job, and great curriculum. 

The content is always being updated, and added onto. They truly want to put out the best content in a bootcamp, and it is more of an actual school then just a bootcamp. Constant support and growth.

They do an amazing job with job placement, it really depends on you if you get a job or not. The instructors are great and know their stuff. The TA's are always their to help. They also happy to show you more resources for learning and expanding your skillset.

 

If anyone is willing to work hard this program will benefit you in amazing ways. It has opened up more doors for me then even the university I atteneded.

I am absolutely amazed with this Bootcamp!  I started out as a remote part-time student and loved the program.  I switched into the full-time course October 2017 and have had no regrets.  The part-time course was great but I only started part-time because of my family's situation at the time.  Dane from admissions knew that I really wanted to do full-time and was so honest and understanding to my needs.  I really appreciate how much information he was willing to go over with me just to make sure that I was comfortable with my decision.  Dane and I talked and he reassured me that the full-time class could work around my kids schedule and it really has.  

Andrew has been amazing.  Not only he is a good person and understanding of family needs but he is an amazing instructor.  I have a bachelor's degree in a different field and if my intro to computer programming course instructor would have had half the knowledge and skills that Andrew Wold has I probably would've continued studying programming in college.  Andrew makes learning software development easy.  His explanations are broken down and so detailed that it just makes sense.  If he ever teaches any other courses I will definitely be signing up!  I have to give a shout out to one of the TA's also Benjamin is awesome.  He is extremely knowledgable and always happy to help.  He makes asking for help at 10 pm easy.  As a remote student feeling comfortable asking for help is really important.  He's one of my favorite go to programmers because he knows his stuff. 

Overall I love this program and I am so happy to be enrolled in this school.  I still have two months to go but I know they're going to be amazing.  My level of understanding of of all things software development is amazing.  I'm surprised by how much someone can learn with the right curriculum and instructors.  A big thanks to Bottega Tech and Dane, Andrew, and Ben.  I recommend Bottega Tech to anyone looking for a great Fullstack Software Development school.

Incredible. I did a lot of research before choosing which school to attend. I could run you through all the comparisons I made but I'll save you the time. Bottega is a cut above all of them. Everything from their curriculum to their philosophy. They don't just believe in you learning a language or even getting a job. They believe in introducing you into the community and culture that will allow you to integrate yourself into your new career. They will push you, help you grow, and possibly make you cry... but it's for your own good.

I also know that after graduation, they continue to help you to the best of their ability. An alumni has continual access to their library and as new courses are added, they are available to the alumni. This is an incredible asset that hardly anyone else offers.

They also help with placement. They utilize any available asset or relationship that could help with placing your specific skills in a position with a good company. Let me not be misunderstood here... They do not send the whole classes resumes to everyone. They find out what you're good at, what your background is, and find a company that relates to those things to help you get placed there. These are good people, they car about the people that place their trust in them.

Make a good decision and go to Bottega.

Before starting the course through Bottega I was stuck in a job where I didn't feel like I had any room for advancement or growth and was just not going anywhere, but after deciding to go through the full-time in person boot camp I was able to find a job I enjoy where I don't even feel like I'm working, it's more like I'm just having fun doing a hobby while at work every day. The knowledge that I gained from their course has been invaluable to my progress and advancement at my current position. The curriculum is constantly being updated with the current technologies that are being used, and their teachers do such a good job taking the time to explain what you are doing and why that I've been learning about/doing things with confidence and success that weren't even in the curriculum because they gave me such a good base knowledge of how software development works that I'm able to figure out just about any task that's thrown at me with a little research. It was by far one of the smartest decisions I've ever made in my life, and I would recommend them to anyone looking into a bootcamp. Everyone I have worked with from their instructors to their management has been as helpful as they possibly can to me every step of the way for me, even after graduation. 

As a front-end developer for almost fifteen years, I've been trying to find a program to break into the back-end of the web that meets my needs and that I can trust is legitimate. Through my research, I found Bottega and within minutes of my first call, I knew I had found the one. Everything from admissions to support, courses and resources are all tailored to be as easy and helpful as possible. I find myself looking forward to diving into my work each day, and have even begun to recommend this program to friends in the field. I couldn't be more pleased. 

I had been going to college for a couple years but didn't really have a direction of what I wanted to study. I heard about coding so I started looking into it and researched what coding was like and also what the career was like. I decided I needed to learn more. I found Bottega on facebook and instantly sent a message. A few days later I went to the campus and met some great people. I loved being able to sit in with a class to see what it was about and ask any questions. I was so intrigued and wanted to keep learning. I really loved the course and I learned a lot. There is still a ton to learn but Bottega gave me a really good start. And luckily I'll always have access to the curriculum from Bottega because it'll take a while to remember everything I learned in the course. I would recomend Bottega to anyone. It's really a great course. 

About a year ago I had lost my job I had for twenty years.  I was contemplating if I should get back into the same fiels or a new one.  I then was driving down the highway and started seeing billboards about coding and relized I wanted to look into.  I got home and went to my Facebook and there popped up Bottega.  I then proceded to get in touch with them and the rest is history.  I enjoyed learning how to code there so much and the environment made it more enjoyable. I feel that every one there will do whatever they can to help take care of you wether its Job Placement or just encouragement.

I went looking for a bootcamp to have a chance at a career, after a bachelors degree didn't help me find one. I did a lot of research and ended up choosing Bottega because it had curriculum that seemed to be a few steps above the others. I also loved the effort they showed towards getting their students jobs afterwards.    Every positive review says this, and i will say it again. You get EXACTLY what you put into this course. The curriculum is state of the art. you wont find curriculum at this level any where else. The instructors are intelligent and know their code and the curriculum. There are SO many resources to get help, almost at any hour of any day. There is always someone there to assist you if you need it. This course gives you all the tools to learn full stack web development, make your own projects, create a resume and ace an interview. But you have to absolutely put in 110% time and effort into this.  You are learning a new language, a new way to think, a new way to problem solve and a brand new career. It doesn't come over night, but it does come with effort. 3 months is enough time, with the right dedication and tools, to break into the programming field and land a job.    This course provides the tools for you to change your life and enter a new, very lucrative career path. If you are willing to do the work, this is the way to do it and this is the place to do it. This is tough, but SO SO worth it.    I stick to this review! My name is Andrew Wilson 801-631-0757, come talk to me and get honest thoughts if you have any questions about my experiences.    DO IT!

 

Andrew Wilson

I "graduated" from Bottega in March and found a job within 2 weeks. However, the hiring team was more interested in my management experience rather than my programming "experience" and they straight up told me they would have hired me even if I didn't go to a bootcamp. At Bottega, you'll constantly hear, "You get out what you put in." I did put in the work; I was often one of the first people to class and one of the last to leave and was always ahead in the curriculum and did lots of side projects on my own time.

We changed instructors twice within 12 weeks. They had different strengths, but they both had sketchy things to say about each other behind their backs-- and they said those things to the entire class. It was very strange, and not appreciated by me or any of my classmates. For the majority of the course, we sat in the classroom with our headphones in and watched videos all day long with little instruction. Many times, I felt that I could have saved myself a lot of money and done the same work at home on my couch. I should also add that the last 3 weeks are just job hunting and "personal project" time. Nobody checked up on project progress or completion and many people didn't even finish their projects. So basically, the bootcamp and curriculum length is only 9 weeks.

On one of the days in the final weeks of class, we got a mass message from our instructor at 9:00pm that we were going to go to a job fair the next morning, so we needed to go get several copies of our resumes printed on nice paper and dress up to look professional. We all woke up early to look our best and to go to a store to pay for our resumes to get printed before class started at 9:00am. Once we all arrived to class, we found out quickly that the "Job Fair" was actually just a Google Doc with a list of tech companies in the area. Our instructor told us to "pick one" and physically walk into the company's office and ask if they're hiring. JOB FAIR?! So that event alone is indicative of how deceiving and unprofessional this bootcamp is.

When you graduate, you have the exact same portfolio as every single person that's gone through the curriculum. So when you're applying for jobs, your application looks the same as 15+ others. I attribute the majority of my success in the job hunt to the fact that I'm a minority female and that I'm an absolute pro at networking-- two things that set me apart from the rest of my cohort.

Bottega teaches primarily Ruby (there's seriously like, 2 days of vanilla JavaScript) and the instructors will flat out tell the class that there are hardly any Ruby jobs out there. Apparently, people that land Ruby jobs will likely stay there forever, so the job opportunities are sparse. Why we learned a language that nobody hires junior devs for, I have no idea.

I heard lots of prospective students touring around the building, and I heard the recruiters saying Bottega has 100% job placement, which is deceiving. Some of the people that graduated in December are just now getting jobs, and many people take teaching assistant positions at Bottega which pretty much allows them to retake the course. Many of my classmates have taken unpaid internships; which I think shouldn't be factored into the job placement percentage. I imagine that it's very difficult to pay off the ridiculous tuition costs with months of unemployment, unpaid internships, or $15 an hour as a TA.

While drafting resumes, we were told many times that it's a good idea not to put Bottega on your resume or LinkedIn. That showed lack of faith in the program and made us believe that they didn't want to be responsible for unqualified candidates in the job market.

The "graduation ceremony" was incredibly inadequate. We pulled up our own chairs around the desks in the office, had kids running around screaming, and had about 2 seconds worth of speeches from instructors and CEO. I was really embarrassed to bring my husband there and for him to see fhow unprofessional it was after we agreed to fork out several thousand dollars.

You are better off using the BILLIONS of free online resources to learn JavaScript. I have yet to see a job opening that doesn't want proficiency in JavaScript. As a female and a Slate employee referral, I was able to negotiate a much lower tuition cost, which I'm thankful for. That said, I still think it's a better idea to learn on your own (for free!) or preferably, get a degree.

All said and done, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the president of the school, Scott. He pushed my resume everywhere and got me lots of interviews and he's truly the best thing about the school.