Hello, the Chroma Tech Academy Team here. Thank you for leaving a review.
Please let us address some of your comments:
“I believe during my 6 months at Chroma Tech, the boot camp was still in the development of their company/school. And my cohort and the previous ones right before mine were negatively impacted by it.”
OUR RESPONSE –
Many of your peers from your cohort, as well as the previous one, were able to land jobs. Of course, as Chroma Tech grows, so do the resources we can provide students to enable them to succeed. Anyone who completes the course is always welcome to continue attending Market Preparation sessions, and is given lifetime access to utilize the Alumni Course Content (which is constantly being updated) at no extra cost.
“However, our Selenium professor at the time was a bit confusing. It kind of felt like he was learning with us. (I don’t think that professor teaches at chroma tech anymore). Regardless of a negative interaction I had with a professor, the professors were good teachers. The knowledge given by the school was pretty good, but I also think Udemy has pretty good professors. “
OUR RESPONSE –
At Chroma Tech Academy, we have many students from different countries, who have varying levels of experience in IT coming into the course, and who may even speak English to different degrees. While it may be challenging at times to grasp the higher-level topics like Selenium, our professors do their best to accommodate everyone and ensure they can follow along. However, if you feel as if the instruction you’re receiving is insufficient for any reason, we will never advise you against seeking supplementary content outside of our course (we even have our own Udemy course which students are encouraged to check out). In fact, we strongly advise anyone inquiring about Chroma Tech to explore whether other schools might be a better match prior to signing up.
Regarding our professors’ mastery of the subjects: IT is an ever-evolving industry, and major changes can happen overnight (which are known to affect even large-scale projects funded by government organizations); the tools taught at Chroma Tech Academy are no exception. Selenium, in particular, must always keep up with the demands of the market; when critical updates occur in real time, we do the utmost to bring ourselves up to speed, while simultaneously adjusting course content to adequately cover what’s new. Ultimately, this is the nature of change, and the most we can do is our best to acclimate. If a new element is discovered and added to the periodic table, a university professor can’t just talk about it the next day as if they know what innovations will come of it. We all must learn, and we deeply respect and are grateful for our students’ willingness to cooperate and grow along with us.
“Not work life school life friendly, yes you can watch videos pre-recorded videos at your own pace when you have time but you might get behind and you NEED to attend their school hours to succeed and land a high pay job. (Make sure you have the time to dedicate 6 months to learn these skills)”
OUR RESPONSE –
We specifically structure the delivery of our content and schedule our live classes to be consumable by those who have time constraints; a vast majority of our students are employed full-time, attend university full-time, or even have children. Nevertheless, we understand that accessibility may sometimes still be an obstacle. The instructors at Chroma Tech Academy do their best to be available to answer questions (and even hold 1-on-1 sessions) both throughout the daytime and after class. We have even at times re-scheduled standard core classes per the students’ vote, and we make our best effort to reach out to students we feel may be struggling. Classes still need to be attended; we cannot guarantee success, or help someone catch up, if they do not connect with us from their end.
“Students do land high paying jobs but be aware you do have to lie a lot to land those jobs. I had such a horrible experience with that alone, I was pretty upset that this was kept from us until our boot camp was over.”
OUR RESPONSE –
Chroma Tech Academy exercises full transparency when it comes to how and why we instruct the way we do. We disclose the entirety of our methodology from the beginning of the course (and further emphasize this during our introductory sessions). Additionally, students frequently ask questions regarding the hiring process throughout the course (usually at least one of these questions will pop up during a class) which we answer truthfully and in congruence with the roadmap we define on day one. With all due respect, it is extremely unlikely for a student to be unaware of such details, provided they participated and communicated proactively. At the same time, if a student wishes to go about things a different way, we respect their decision and do our best to adjust the direction we provide them to more closely align with their goals.\
“They did play favorites with smarter students, which makes sense because they’d be giving them a larger payout.”
OUR RESPONSE –
Again, with all due respect, this is simply not true. Any additional instruction a student may receive on top of the regular sessions (which are meant for all to attend) must be initiated from the student’s end; we do not play favorites as a matter of policy. However, if a student is demonstrating a willingness to improve and consistently puts their best foot forward, and we determine that they may require some additional help to stand a fighting chance in the market, we strive to find the time to make this happen. Furthermore, if a student requests personal guidance, it is our responsibility to do what we can to provide the extra support they need.
The larger payout you are referring to is an old payment structure where the second half of one’s tuition was calibrated based on the salary they land coming out of Chroma Tech. We have since divorced this model, and everyone now pays the same price, regardless of their salary. It is worth noting that Chroma Tech also offers a free trial run of a course (which was true for your cohort as well) during which there is ample time to provide much appreciated feedback to instructors.
“The job prep review felt so pointless, the few meetings I attended, it was almost identical to my HIGH SCHOOL college prep classes. I’m not sure why I assumed the boot camp was going to name out companies that we should apply to because we’d have a chance to get hired by them. But nope that did not happen, you just apply to jobs like crazy just as you would without paying the boot camp fee lol”
OUR RESPONSE –
As the course content is delivered in a cumulative manner, so are the review sessions held. If you are only attending a few meetings, you are falling short of the plan we have outlined for the class and cannot extract maximum value out of the time you do spend with us. With that said, we treat specifically the interview prep with a degree of flexibility: after we go through a first round of reviewing every topic in the course at least once, future sessions are generally scheduled based on the students’ availability/request, and cover topics students personally decide on together. This formula has been paramount to the success of our students, as they get to tell us what they want to focus on. We’ve even had individuals come in from other schools join us for these sessions and have no trouble following along.
We, too, are not sure why you assumed “a job is promised” when you finish the course; we explicitly inform every student that this never was, is, or will be the case. This is even specifically stipulated in the contract you signed prior to the start of the course.
Unfortunately, things don’t always play out the way we originally envisioned them. We are deeply sorry that you were not able to find the success you were looking for during your time with us. However, what we can say is that Chroma Tech Academy never closes its doors to students. Your contract and payment are still valid, and you are always welcome to join us again if you ever wish to re-enter the market. We teach several classes throughout the span of a year, and Market Prep sessions are frequently ongoing.
Thank you for all of your feedback. We at Chroma Tech Academy are constantly striving to improve and are happy to have worked with you. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!