GW Boot Camps

I am currently enrolled in the George Washington University Boot Camp for Full Stack Development as a part time student, and I expect to complete the course in May 2019. So far it has been a very positive experience for me. I entered this program with no prior coding experience. At first I found this course daunting and the wide scope of subject material intimidating. As I have progressed I have found that it is not that intimidating. The pace of the course is fast but it is very easy to measure your improvement and development. From day one until now, about a third of the course, I have made very measurable progress. The instructor, Mr. Ranjan Biswas, is very knowledgable and engaging. The teacher aids that attend class are very helpful and offer first hand knowledge as former students. There are times that I have wondered whether this was the right choice for me and if I will be able to succeed in the field, but this course is what you make it. Your input determines your output. Due to the fast nature of the class and wide scope of material you will have to put in many hours learning outside of class and doing homework. For people looking to make a career change and learn a new skill, I fully recommend this class.

The Good: 
The curriculum The GWbootcamp offers is a solid, self-paced course broken up by subject to make sure you fully understand each skill before moving to the next. The course will cover the fundamentals of front-end, how to use file sharing and version control such as Github to its work environment potential, and ends with covering in depth on a backend language.

The instructors are THE best resource a bootcamp can offer. They are knowledgeable and almost always available to help you when you have questions. But not only that, they do not just tell you the answer, instead help you work through the issue. This little piece is what creates good developers as you learn the skill of active problem-solving.

Assignments on a weekly bases take your level to the next step, Ranjan makes sure that every student is giving his best. The whole team is awesome they all work unstoppably to make sure all students land their dream jobs in a timely manner also Kyle will help and keep pushing you till the end. 

The Bad: 
I cannot think of any.

Conclusion: 
I really do recommend this bootcamp, and any faults that it has are minor and can be overlooked. Especially with its extracurricular resources like the instructors and mentors. While they don't guarantee a job, they do give you all the tools you'll ever need and more to land a position if you are committed.

The George Washington University Full-Stack Bootcamp challenged and prepared me to succeed in the ever-changing tech industry. We not only learned the most relevent and used technologies, but the skills to continue on and be lifelong learners. We were pushed hard with difficult challenges, which were rewarding when completed. The group projects allowed us to not only be creative and come up with our own ideas, but also let us practice working on teams in an Agile-like way. The instructional staff was supportive, our TAs would help us at any hour of the day and be there in class to answer questions and give suggestions. The class instructor was very knowledgable and helped guide the class towards finding the answer, rather than just outright telling us, giving us more opportunity to learn the content of the class. Career services routinely check in to help with any questions or advice we may need through our job search. Three months after graduating I am still having regular "check-in" calls with my career services advisor. I have already recommended this class to a handful of people, some of whom have already signed up for the next cohort. If you are in the DC area and are searching for the next step in your career, or even a complete career change, I could not recommend this enough. 

I came into the part-time (M/W/S 6:30pm - 9:30pm) GW Data Analytics and Visualization bootcamp with no coding background, just art and physics. I have a master's degree in physics. I took this bootcamp to gain tools to help me transition into data science and even use tools for my science. I was a bit apprehensive at first that I would be able to keep up but the instructors (and two TA's) do a great job at providing academic support. I never missed a single homework assignment, and tried to go to class as much as possible. I tried to do all of them and I googled as much as possible if I got stuck. I even bought a book for one topic just to get a different perspective on the material. Group works are tough (you have to do three group projects). Sometimes you may not get along with the people, or work may not be coming in at the same weight for one reason or another. You learn valuable skills this way, like how to work together regardless of differences in culture, knowledge, etc. I made sure to allocate time for this course. I would not recommend the bootcamp if you are working full-time, especially at a place with long hours if you are new to programming because it will be overwhelming, and you will fall behind fast.

Pros of Bootcamp:

• You will be learning a lot of tools which will help you in all fields of work. 
• Your teacher is not remote, you also have two TA's, and online recorded videos for additional help. 
• There are a lot of homework assignments and three group projects. 
• Bootcamp staff is supportive and willing to help at all times. 
• Sometimes the instructors provide free food and desserts. 
• Instructors and TA's are exceptionally gifted at what they do and know. 
• Opportunity to work with them as a tutor while you transition to your job. 
• Career support (resume help, interview help, virtual tech fairs).
• Class is in-person and you will meet friends. 
• Location is across the street from a fancy new restaurant/hotel/coffee shop called Eaton. 
• After hour acces to the building floor so you can work on projects/hw whenever you want! 
• There is free one-on-one virtual tutoring available for students once a week. 
• They allow occasional remote work for special circumstanes (family emergency etc.)

Cons of Bootcamp:

• Classes are also on Saturdays so that kills half of your Saturday. 
• Part-time classes run late from 6:30pm - 9:30pm so you may need to rush dinner. 
• The career help is a bit lacking, and there is no physical place to go to for job help. 
• You must put in 30+ hours outside of class to devote to homework and projects. 
• It costs $10,000 (you can do monthly payment plans). 

 Overall, I would say this is a fantastic option if you are new to coding, and want to learn many different tools in data science which allow you to visualize data, and if you learn better in a classroom setting with lots of interactivity and hands-on-learning.