Constructor Academy

I've always had a passion for software development. The fact that one could use their software development knowledge to fuel their creativity and bring their ideas to life through applications that can make peoples' lives easier and more productive has always pushed me to learn more and more about how it all works.

I decided to enrol in SIT Academy's Full-Stack Web Development program in order to further improve my knowledge, and to gain the exposure that I needed in order to be ready for the challenging demands of the software development market.

Since my first day in the program, I knew that it was the right choice to be there. The instructors are extremely helpful, and also quite knowledgeable. They do their best to ensure that everyone understands the curriculum and gets the best out of it. The assignments were rather challenging, but they're designed in a way that helps you learn and understand the logic behind every line of code that you write, and not just memorise things without understanding them. They also help their students build their portfolios/networks in order to be able to find their place in the job market.

Pros:

• Excellent teachers.
• The curriculum is well-structured and some of the assignments are very challenging (in a good way).
• Everyone is passionate about what they do, which makes the overall experience fantastic!
• You get to learn soft skills along the way! (working in a team, dealing with different personalities and so on).

Cons:

• If you're attending the class remotely, you could face some technical issues sometimes. (probably something that got fixed anyway!)

At the start of 2021 I have never written a line of code, at the start of 2022 I started as a Junior Software Developer in Zurich. 
I applied to SIT Academy for a change in my carrier after working in the insurance industry for five years. I had zero prior knowledge up to the moment I applied.  After I passed the interviews SIT Academy gave me access to a bunch of preparation work which really helped giving a basic understanding of coding and setting a level to excel from during the bootcamp.

The bootcamp is very demanding as there is so much to learn. I really enjoyed the teaching method used by SIT Academy as they give lessons during the mornings and in the afternoons you are free to do as many exercises as you wish to help you understand the topics taught. We also worked on three big projects which you can put into your portfolio and show to potential employers.

In the end and after the bootcamp the SIT Academy team will help you prepare your ideal CV and will support you finding a job as a developer.

I would highly recommend SIT Academy to everyone who wants to change career paths or wants to learn a new skill. You need to be motivated as you will gain extra knowledge according to the work you are willing to put in.

Propulsion Academy's full-time Data Science Bootcamp is without a doubt one of the most intense learning experiences I have ever had. For 3 months, I was taught all the necessary skills about statistics, programming with R and python, machine learning, deep learning, NLP and machine learning engineering. All this along with by many practical examples, supervised by teacher assistance and instructors. The instructors were up to date with the latest technologies, as many are currently working in the field.

I attended 100% remote and everything worked perfectly.

The academy has a wide network of contacts in Switzerland, which allowed me, at the end of my training, to do a real project for a startup in the health industry and a few months later to start my new job as a Machine Learning Engineer.

As a person working in the data field, and having no prior experience with Machine Learning, I have to say that the Applied Machine Learning course is a must for people that want to get up to speed with Machine Learning fast. 

Really well organized course, that covers all the basic knowledge that a person needs around Machine Learning: from Unsupervised and Supervised learning to local and full deployment of models, the Applied Machine Learning course covers all the points that are listed in the description.

I was really happy with:

• The curriculum of the course: Wide variety of topics, covered everything a person needs to know when starting to get involved with Machine Learning
• The structure of the lessons: Each lesson had a lecture part and a hands-on part, where we tackled real life problems and applied the knowledge we got from the lectures. I cannot say which one of these two is the most important but what I can say is that their exact combination is really well thought and applied. Each lesson I learned something new and I had the chance to see it in action. 
• The course materials: The structure of the materials was amazing. Slides and videos of the lessons, python notebooks with the solutions of the examples, etc. There was never a time that I needed something and I felt I couldn't find it.
• Videos of the lectures: I put this in a new bullet because I think it is one of the best features of the course. The fact that I have the opportunity to rewatch the lectures or the hands-on examples at a time of my choosing is invaluable. This was a great help throughout the course, especially when I was working on my final project
• Teaching staff: Both Dipanjan and Albin are key pieces of the course's success. Dipanjan is such a good teacher, with a deep knowledge around Machine Learning. His pace was good, his teaching style was nice and made everything understood. I liked the fact that he encouraged us to discuss and ask questions. He wouldn't continue until he knew we understood each point. I learned a lot from him and I wouldn't change him for another teacher. Albin was also a key role for this course. His support on the course and on me was big. There was never a time that a request would be unanswered. He would always assist us in every way he could. It was nice to have a person like Albin as teaching support. Without him I wouldn't have been able to finish my final project.

Overall I am really pleased with the course. I got up to speed with Machine Learning and I enjoyed my time. Right after the course I was able to start working on Machine Learning projects in my company. 
Even though I am 100% happy with the course, there are some topics that concerned me. If you could take them into consideration ,and work something out of them, then you would have a nice improvement of the course.

I was concerned with:

• The pace of the course in combination with the size of the curriculum: In my opinion the curriculum is absolutely perfect. Nothing should be removed from that. But the time was a bit limited. Six weeks are not enough to cover all the subjects in a nice pace. This meant we had to always be on our toes and there was no room for distraction. As it happens with these after work courses, there is always the case that one gets distracted for some time, due to fatigue. Then you lose track of the topic and, since we are discussing advanced theoretical topics with a lot of details, it is hard to catch up and get back on track. I would suggest maybe add a week or two, if possible, to the course. This would enable you to keep a more relaxed pace, suited for all the students
• Coding prerequisites: Even though it is self implied that in order to participate one should have a basic to intermediate knowledge of Python, still this might not be the case. In my case, since I have been working for a long time with Python, NumPy and Matplotlib, I had no problem focusing only on the new knowledge I got. But for a student who has little experience with Python, the course can be overwhelming and there could be even the case of dropping out. I would suggest, if you do extend the course length, you could use the first week as a crash course week on Python and the required libraries
• Long lessons:  The two 3-hour lessons is probably not the optimal combination. Most of the times, after the lecture, there is a lot of information to digest and it is hard to keep up with the hands-on examples. A good solution to that could be three 2-hour lessons where the first two are used for lectures (and maybe small examples) and the third one is used for hands-on examples and personal working time. 
• Little time for personal work after the lecture: I think the course would really benefit with some extra time. There were cases that we had no time to work on our own in the lesson, because the lecture and the hands-on example would take 2.5 hours of the lesson. 
• Adding small breaks in between: On each lecture some small 5 minute breaks would be highly appreciated. Like this the student gets the chance to refocus and get back to the lecture with a clear mind. 

We managed to discuss and find a solution for the last two bullets but it would be nice if you could implement it right from the start of the course.

I am really glad that I decided to join this course and I think that it paid off 120%. I would really recommend it to anyone who is trying to get into Machine Learning!

Keep up the good job!

My background is neuroscience research and I hoped to change my career from academia to industry. The course at Propulsion Academy is a perfect fit for me because it has a final project from a partner company, enough to have the feeling of industry experience. 
Even if the course itself was quite tough and challenging, I could enjoy and be relaxed because I knew the course covers almost all of the knowledge of any field of data science. The course material and personal notes are a big asset for my professional career. 
Out of the course itself, I really liked the overall atmosphere of Propulsion Academy. Staff are highly motivated and teaching assistants are always there to answer any questions. 
I also appreciate a lot for supporting job applications after the course. I can definitely say that I might not be able to achieve my career plan without joining Propulsion Academy. 
I’m sure that it was one of the best decisions in my life. If you’re serious about changing your career into data science and ready to dedicate yourself for 12 weeks, I highly recommend this course. 

I have attended the 6 weeks Python programming bootcamp (twice a week, 3 hours each session, plus one tutoring session). To start off, although having average experience with other softwares/programming languages, I had very little knowledge about Python. The first two classes were the hardest in my view, as they presented a lot of topics; they gave a very valuable overview, also introducing concepts which became more prominent in the second part of the bootcamp. Each session consisted of approximately 50 minutes of theory and 2 hours of exercises about the topics taught that day. The exercises were in my view the most useful part of the bootcamp, as they provided me with sort of hands on guided experience, also leveraging on the support of the trainer and the assistant who were available even beyond the class time.
I would definitely recommend this bootcamp to someone with little to none Python experience, even to someone with no programming knowledge at all, as these classes cover a broad range of topics related to Python which on one hand will already enhance your skills set for your day-to-day work while on the other will provide you the basis for further development on the subject.

I still remember the day I decided to contact Propulsion Academy to apply for their Full-Stack course, only a few months ago.
I was determined to become a programmer, after working for many years in a different field, but I was very unsure as to how or where to begin. 

I can now say, without a doubt, I couldn't have chosen a better way to start. 

Propulsion Academy is one of those rare places where you get much more than you pay for. 
Their curriculum is so well organized that it is hard to believe how a person can absorb so much knowledge in so little time, and everything you are taught is carefully chosen so that the students can already apply to competitive jobs with confidence after graduating. 

The teachers and mentors will be there for you, and they will take you through every step of the way so that you make the most of your time. And, more importantly, they will make sure that you stay motivated and keep up the hard work throughout the course. I honestly don't know how I would have survived such an intensive challenge without the support of every single person there. 

I joined Propulsion Academy with a smile on my face, and I left with an even bigger one. 
And now I'm ready for my life as a programmer :)


PS: I managed to find a great and very rewarding job just 1 month after graduating. 

I took the Python Programming course at Propulsion Academy to get my coding in this language up to speed. I initially selected the course for convenience reasons, because was offered twice a week in the evenings in an online format and was, therefore, easy to attend while working. However, I quickly became convinced by the quality of the course - so much so that I took a follow-up course in Applied Machine Learning right afterwards.
The Python course was well-structured and covered a broad range of topics - from fundamentals and advanced programming concepts to libraries needed for data science and visualization to linking Python with SQL databases, creating Web Apps, and automating reporting. The concepts were introduced in very well-designed lectures and could then be delved into in programming sessions with access to tutors. Code notebooks for the examples covered in class as well as model solutions for the exercises done in the coding sessions were provided, offering a great learning tool and a nice library to draw on for future reference. Despite the broad range of topics, they were covered thoroughly enough to allow immediate implementation. At the end of the course, mini-projects enabled students to apply their knowledge to actual practical examples. 
The teachers giving the course were absolute experts in their fields. Their enthusiasm for the topics was tangible and they went the extra mile to ensure that participants got the most out of the engagement. I can highly recommend this course (as well as the Machine Learning one). Propulsion Academy offers a great learning environment and has really high-calibre teachers.
 

The Full-Stack Development program was a great experience. It is extremely intense but for me personally, I found it exciting. As someone who had no prior experience in coding before joining Propulsion Academy, the program teaches you enough to land an internship. 

With that being said, now having been in two roles since graduating, I definitely believe the technologies they do teach are very relevant and applicable to today's job market.

Propulsion Academy is also very involved with the job search for their students. They actually helped me find my first role, which was a 6-month contract within a couple months of graduating. Before this contract ended, the school reached back out asking if they can help again with my job search! Even though I had something else already lined up, I really appreciated the gesture and it really speaks volumes on how much they value their students whether they are currently enrolled or graduated.

I decided to attend Propulsion Academy in the winter of 2020, during the height of the pandemic.  I chose this boot camp because of its location in Zurich, and because they seemed to screen the applicants well before accepting them into the program. 

I had been looking for a position as a data engineer in Zurich for most of 2020 without much success., After completing Propulsion I was able to land a job through Propulsion’s professional network. 

 I have a background working in the data industry, and I have a master’s degree in Information Science. I was hesitant to join the program because of my background, but I ended up learning so much and I came out of the program as a better engineer. 

This course is for you if you have a background in a science or engineering related field. My cohort was a group of 12, and everyone had a graduate degree from a diverse range of backgrounds. The bootcamp consists of a lot of collaborative group projects, and since our backgrounds were so different, everyone solved problems with a different perspective. Collaborative group projects were one of my favorite parts about this program -- it was such a confidence booster and skill building exercise. (Nothing like college group projects :-) 

The coursework itself is very demanding, and you will not have time to do much else. Due to the pandemic, our classes were 100% online; everyone was disappointed about this, but you know, that kind of sums up 2020.  All things considered, I really enjoyed the online format. I have taken a lot of online college classes and was never a fan, but Propulsion managed to keep all of us engaged through active participation during lectures and interesting slides. I felt like I got to know my peers and instructors personally, despite never meeting them in person. 

At the end of the course there is a 3 week capstone project that is often in collaboration with an organization. It was really cool to see how much the class had learned in the last 12 weeks.  I would absolutely recommend Propulsion Data Science to anyone with the appropriate background. You will come out with more technical skills, a better ability to perform technical interviews, and the opportunity to become involved in Zurich’s data technology professional network.