Chegg Skills

I started the engineering immersion course in January (with prep course work starting in November) and I had only completed Codecademy and a handful of other free guides before beginning Thinkful. It was a ton of work with students expected to put in work after (or before) "class" hours as well as on weekends, but you learn a lot and build a good junior portfolio by the time you graduate. I wish there was some more focus on testing, as much as students don't like it, it's a good way to get an entry level job in the field. Also, some sections felt quite imbalanced, like some days would be an impossible amount of homework and other days in the same week would have half days. But, overall the curriculum is very up to date and not the same information available on other free courses.

While I heard a few bad stories from some classmates about their mentors, most of our mentors (including my own!) were amazing resources that push you to solving problems and branching out to new things outside of class.

One piece of advice that I took during Thinkful was to spend the time to apply for jobs WHILE you're in the program and not wait until afterwards, it's what helped me find a job during a pandemic!

Hello Everyone! I just finished my online bootcamp with Thinkful, specifically the Data Science Flex program. Honestly, I had an awesome experience with the program overall, and I was able to find job placement fairly quickly thanks to this program.

A little background on myself (for context): I am a mathematics and computer science major, and while my formal education was robust, it was mostly theoretical (which I love!) and I didn't see myself finding work quickly, at least not without a graduate degree. I had heard about some online bootcamps that teach practical skills to get the student job ready within x amount of time. After doing some research, I found that most bootcamps offer similar programs, and have similar payment options. That made choosing quite difficult. I had decided to go with Thinkful because a friend of mine had started the program in Software Engineering, and had only great things to say about the program. I'm glad I did!

My particular program was the Data Science Immersion, particularly because I had interest in Machine Learning and potentially Artificial Intelligence. Thinkful does a great job of touching all the key topics and theories that you need to know to get a solid foundation in Machine Learning. They start off with an in depth Python and SQL course as that is the language mostly used in the course. They follow that up with web scraping and a brief overview of accessing APIs. I felt that this was very beneficial as it allows students to learn skills that can be applied to roles other that "Data Scientist". Just being totally honest, not everyone is going to land a machine learning or data science gig from the get, and its good to have skills that can be applied in analytics and engineering roles as well.

After the Python and SQL course, they start going into the data science workflow, starting with data extraction and cleanup and then  covering Machine Learning concepts. This for me, was the best part of the course. They go VERY in depth into how the algorithms works, going as far as giving in depth explanations of the mathematics behind concepts like Logistic and Linear Regression, Clustering, etc. The math nerd in me loved this, and it helped me really understand what was happening underneath the hood of the algorithms being discussed. For the folks out there that aren't so mathematically inclined, most of the highly rigorous maths are optional, but I would strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with the concepts. After every topic was covered you completed a capstone or project that had you combing the internet for data that you can apply machine learning principles on. 

I will give one caveat to the learning done at this stage. While the lessons are quite in depth, Machine Learning and Data Science in general are such expansive topics that Thinkful only scratches the surface and establishes a solid foundation in these topics more than anything else. A LOT of personal research and education will have to accompany the program to learn the more high end stuff. Also, while the program does provide links for optional learning, I still recommend students doing research on their own to expand their knowledge on the topics covered. I do appreciate the fact that the program is quite transparent about this.

Also, all of this learning is done under the guidance of an experienced mentor, and this is arguably the best part of the program. The mentor provides real world perspective and teaches you all the tips and tricks that comes from years of work in the industry. They help provide context and clarity to a lot of the highly theoretical topics that the course touches on. Honestly there were time that I was incredibly stuck on a problem or capstone, and my mentor was the only way I was able to find any kind of clarity.

All in all, fantastic program. If you are an aspiring data scientist, I strongly recommend this program with the understanding that THIS PROGRAM IS NOT EASY, and there needs to be a lot of self motivation in order to be successful. The results however, are more than worth it!

Good luck to everyone!

I just graduated from the Engineering Flex Program and I can't say enough great things about Thinkful. I originally chose Thinkful because I needed the flexibility to continue working full time. Thinkful was the only bootcamp out there that I could find that offered a fully remote, part time program in addition to one-on-one mentorship.

The mentorship was hands down the most valuable aspect of the program for me. I had 3 different mentors over the course of my program who each had their own areas of expertise and I loved them all. Although there is an option available to switch mentors if you find that you aren't clicking, I never needed to do so. The last mentor I was paired with, and who I worked with for the majority of my program, was incredibly talented and had tons of industry experience. No amount of curriculum can replace the years of experience that they bring. It was truly a rewarding and invaluable experience!

The curriculum is also really excellent. It is constantly updated with the latest technologies in mind and you can tell that it is designed to give graduates a leg up. They really strive to teach you industry best practices and hold your portfolio projects to a high standard so that you are prepared to be a strong candidate by the time you come out. Developers that I have interacted with outside of the program have been impressed by the quality of my code and the fact that my projects are hand built with vanilla CSS – two things that I owe to the excellent curriculum.

The only word of caution I have is that the flex program, which is intended to be part-time/self-paced, is actually a major time commitment that is realistically more like another full time job. I worked full time at a fairly demanding job while completing my program and I found that 6 months was not enough time to get what I wanted out of the program. Of course they do give you some pause time to use as you wish and my program manager was always there to give guidance and answer questions. I've also seen plenty of other students get through the 6 months with no problem, so I'm sure it depends on each person's situation and needs. I ended up extending my program month-to-month until I finished and invested most of that time working on my portfolio projects.

All in all an amazing experience that is worth all of the time, effort and money!

I started this program being minimally self-taught, knowing the very basics of simple HTML and CSS. One month after I graduated from Thinkful's Full Stack Engineering Immersion program, I landed a full-time position as a Front-End Engineer with an innovative and diversified startup. I know without a doubt I would not be where I am today if I hadn't begun my journey with Thinkful. From the very first call I had with a Thinkful admissions rep to the last session with my career coach, I was consistently reminded that Thinkful genuinely cares for my success. This is what sets Thinkful apart from other boot camps - the PEOPLE. Every step of this journey, I was constantly impressed and blown away by the people I had the honor of working with and learning from. 

I was a part of the full-time, full-stack engineering immersion program. It was 100% remote (I believe all Thinkful courses are), which means you gain the invaluable skills of learning to pair program and work on a diverse team in a distributed environment. This is HIGHLY valuable to the workforce today as we see a multitude of companies switching to a remote model. It honestly was one of the best selling points as I began my job search post-graduation. On top of the amazing people in my cohort I got to go through the program with, the Thinkful staff is a huge selling point for this course. You work with the best of the best, seasoned technologists that you never get to stop learning from. 

During the course, you are paired with a mentor who you meet with two times a week. It's an amazing support system that helps you never feel alone. To this day, I keep in touch with my mentor and he has been monumental in setting my career in motion, both with the course material in the program and learning about the industry as a whole. You are also given even more support through the course TA's. These TA's are available to you throughout the program to ensure you're understanding the material to the best of your ability. And they are not just volunteering with nothing to give, they are top-notch individuals in the industry that are incredibly knowledgeable. If this isn't enough, Thinkful even has office hours open throughout the day to focus on certain parts of the course sections and provide assistance outside of normal class hours. I can't stress enough that if you use these support systems fully, you will make incredible strides in your time at Thinkful. 

This is the key thing with coding bootcamps - the mentality of choosing one shouldn't be thinking "which boot camp is going to make me a pro in the shortest amount of time,"  it should be more of "which one is going to lay out the foundation that sets me up for success." Thinkful does its part. The material is solid, the community is inspiring. The only missing part is you. And your ultimate success depends on what you put into it. Don't expect to just show up and come out as a professional engineer. You must show up engaged, ask questions, strive to understand the root of the concepts, utilize the resources you're given, and NEVER stop learning. Thinkful reinforces that this is the key to success. You just have to follow through and do it on your end too. 

All in all, when I look back to the time when I was searching for boot camps to join I remember endless researching and feeling so conflicted about where to go and what to choose. I am more than thankful that I went with Thinkful. The industry is constantly changing and I truly believe Thinkful does its best to keep up with those fluctuations. If you're still undecided or have hesitations, jump on to LinkedIn and search for Thinkful alumni. The Thinkful community is so strong and the majority of us are more than happy to share our stories and path of where we are today. 

I recently graduated from Thinkful's Remote Flex Data Science course and was hired by a major company to do data engineering. I came into the program having completed Learn Python The Hard Way, some basic SQL, and signing up for DataCamp and HackerRank. I also have a strong math background which was helpful but not required for understanding the course's probability and statistics components. The Remote Flex course allowed me to work at my own pace through a structured curriculum, while also having access to 24/7 technical coaches via Slack and a twice-weekly meeting with my mentor. The course was definitely not easy, but I had plenty of support. The course starts you off by learning Python and SQL and then aims to provide exposure to many areas of data science including statistical significance testing, supervised and unsupervised machine learning, time-series analysis, neural networks, and big data. You're then able to specialize in a certain facet of the curriculum that you enjoyed the most. 

After finishing the course though your work has only just begun. The job search is its own beast and this is where I think Thinkful went from good to great for me. I was immediately paired with a highly competent and experienced career coach who set really solid expectations on what I should be doing in my search. She also had a team of Thinkful career folks connecting with companies that were hiring. It was through one of these connections that I landed my job. 

Overall, Thinkful provided me with a streamlined process for changing careers and I couldn't be happier with the end result. 

Prior to the program, I had work experience with Excel and a little bit of experience studying SQL and Python. I really wanted to move my career in a more technical direction, but didn't know how to start. I had a little bit of exposure to Data Analytics, but not enough technical skillset to get the job. As much as I was eager to learn, for a technical job, you always need the experience to get the job and you also need a job to get experience, so I decided to sign up for this program! 

I found it through a Google search and what drew me in the most was their tuition guarantee for a job. I am so glad that I found and finished this program. I was able to get hands-on experience in Excel, SQL, Tableau and Python and feel more confident with my data analysis and presentation skills. The program is very well-structured with an organized curriciulum. My Academic Success Manager was always quick to reply back to all my questions about the course. My current mentor is also very encouraging and offers amazing insights on real world application. I loved the Slack community, especially the technical coaches - they were so nice and always made sure my questions were thoroughly answered. While anything nowadays can be learned online, I feel like doing a bootcamp is better because of the certification and doing projects that are relevant that has been reviewed by someone who can give feedback is so important. I'll be moving on to the career phase of this program and I'm impressed so far about the resources they provide! 

I did the flex program which is essentially 100% remote. I worked a full time job during the program and managed to finish 2 weeks earlier than expected. I would definitely do it again. I did have a small amount of coding experience but none in the languages used in this course. 

They give you a mentor who you speak to 2 times a week. Mine was awesome and I got alot of help from him. 

You also have an online slack channel where you can ask questions , which I used quite a bit when I got stuck. This was all I felt was needed to complete projects. 

The course was decently written and had some issues at times, but overall I had no problems with it. They are just teaching you what you need for an entry level job so I didn't expect them to go in depth on advanced topics. 

I was able to get a full time job before I even graduated. This was definitely due to the program because my capstones were the focus of all my interviews. I would make sure to spend alot of your time on these.

Since I got a job before I graduated I never used the career services. I heard these are good, but I wouldn't take my word on it. 

The thing that really made this bootcamp completely worth the money was the people that I had a chance to work with. From my technical mentor to my career coach, I really felt cared for and like they had my best interest at heart. It is definitely one of those things where you are going to get out of the program the amount of effort you put in, but if you are willing to put in the time you will learn so much. I have heard that there are a lot of bootcamps that just throw you out into the job search once you have completed the curriculum, but that is not the case with Thinkful. My career coach guided me through all of the steps of the job hunt and was always there to give me support when I felt like giving up.

All in all, I can't recommend this bootcamp enough. It is hard and at sometimes frustrating, but 100% worth the money.

I graduated from Thinkful's Data Analytics Flex program in late March and was recently hired for a new position -- I had an overall excellent experience with the program! The curriculum is comprehensive and rigorous, focusing on Excel, SQL, Tableau, and Python. These are core skills for any data analyst; Excel and Python are especially emphasized, and you will mainly use these to complete three capstone projects throughout the course. Although a little bit more weight could be placed on SQL and Tableau, i.e. requiring their use for independent projects, the curriculum provides a solid foundation for all of these tools; students could easily apply them to their own separate projects if desired.

The instructors are great; you get paired with a mentor for 1-1 sessions twice a week, and an academic success manager whom you meet with every 1-2 months or so. Both my mentor and success manager were very helpful and responsive. After completing the curriculum, you get paired with a career coach for up to six months of career assistance; this stage requires you to apply for jobs and participate in networking activities. I did really appreciate Thinkful's job guarantee, as it demonstrates their confidence in landing new roles for their graduates. Thinkful is currently providing added support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which I also really appreciate and believe will be very beneficial to students and recent graduates.

All in all, I loved my experience with Thinkful and greatly appreciate the education, guidance, and support they provided me in my career transition!

I attended Thinkful's Engineering Nights and Weekend course. I graduated in May 2020. I would not hesitate to recommend Thinkful. I originally chose Thinkful because of the tech stack that they teach (JavaScript, Node, React, Express, SQL). I choose that tech stack because that is most common for the jobs I see listed here in the bay area and what I'm interested in. I made a great choice. I learned a lot through blood, sweat, and tears. What else I really like about Thinkful is they really want to see you succeed. You are assigned a Project Manager as well as a Mentor. What else I loved was being in a cohort with other students. My cohort was amazing and I learned as much as I did with my classmates as I did with my instructors.

I feel I got a well-rounded exposure to a full-stack web environment in a supportive environment. In order to help you succeed here are a few things I wish I would have known going in:

* Have down the basics of JavaScript before you start. There is a JavaScript module, but you really need to go in having a good solid base. If you are new to coding or JavaScript, I recommend doing work (either from free resources or find a good low priced Udemy class) until you are really comfortable with the basics (writing a function, what is an object, array's, etc.). 

* After each section, you will be tested. The test will consist of verbal questions and live coding. Make sure you are comfortable with both. I get very nervous so I wish I would have known that. That being said, while they can be nerve-wracking, they are exactly what interviews in a real-world environment are like so these are really helping to prepare you!

* If you get a mentor that you don't feel you connect with it is perfectly ok to ask for a different one. This happened to me. My original mentor while good, did not meet my needs. I requested a new mentor and I was assigned a new one right away. He was amazing! 

* Make the most of your mentoring sessions. If you don't have anything that you want to ask your mentor for help with in a session, ask for drills that you can do, etc. Never go in without a plan of something you want to work on. While the mentor is there to help, you must drive your own learning. So if you don't need help, you could go in and ask, I want to get better at X, can you give me some drills to do, or can we talk about X. 

* Coding is hard and you will swear and be frustrated often. This is normal. Just do not give up. Get up, take a break, and get back to it. If you are stuck you have mentors, classmates and technical coaches that are there to help.

* Get comfortable with troubleshooting and doing research. I see a lot of new students asking questions, such as "I can't get into X site". Did you open Dev. tools and see if there is an error, did you try a different browser, did you clear your cache, did you restart your machine, etc. If you are having problems troubleshooting getting into a site, how are you going to feel troubleshooting when your code is not working. I do realize this is a new skill for some people so it is not meant as a criticism. If you are new to tech and not really familiar with troubleshooting problems, I would do some reading on how to do that. It really will help you in all areas.

 * Give as much as you get. There is a vibrant Slack community of students. Try to get to know other people and contribute where you can. I'm a big believer in giving back where you can.