NC State Digital Skills Bootcamps by ThriveDX

I have been in the IT field for over ten years but have never held any real credentials. Though my experience speaks for itself I had long wanted to start accumulating some certifications and advance my career. I believe Cyber Security to be one of the biggest waves in the IT industry currently so when I saw the ad for the NC state Cyber Security boot camp come across my Facebook feed it had my attention. 

I requested more information and very quickly had a person contact me. The boot camp was well marketed, and I decided to give it a shot. I would say it's well put together but does not come close to touching a full curriculum that would focus on Cyber Security. If you have no IT background, do not go this route. For me this boot camp looks somewhat ok on paper and combined with some certifications looks even better but the only reason is because I also have so many years of experience and prior work history. If you do not have the experience and work history, I would urge you to take a different path. This program cost upward of 15k and I am currently not working in the Cyber Security field. Currently I'm adding certifications to my roster which will help high light this. 

For those that are already in the IT field with relevant experience, this is a cool little program but at the end of the day certifications or a program that gets you certifications is the way to go. There is no guaranteed job placement and any job you do interview with will expect you to know the curriculum you learned well and then some.  I encourage all to follow certification paths to your end goal versus spending this kind of money without a guarantee. 

Other areas of opportunity included: Cywar which rarely worked and i also think the grading could have been a bit stricter. There were some pros as this program was easy to accommodate with a day job and it also had several solid instructors that I enjoyed. All in all, I think these boot camps have the potential to do great things in the future, but they will need to a bit longer, more cost effective, and have some sort of guarantee of job placement. 

I signed up for the boot camp to transition from one career to another.
The instructors are varied and professionals in their current field which means they provide great real world anecdotes but overall are not educators. There were two during the courses I took who seemed to be interested in actually engaging and utilizing student feedback. The others had a very side-gig attitude but by extension also very understanding when classes were our side gig.
The course material had typos that we were able to troubleshoot with instructors (rapid change in tech means their textbook and labs already need updates).
Most disappointing was job assist for me personally. I wanted to integrate boot camp skills with current knowledge to apply to jobs not necessarily SOC analyst. The counselor was great to talk to but all the actual placement-help pushed you into pre designed boxes that had to be met to continue to receive aid. That deeply frustrated me and actually caused me to derail my job search completely.
If you're looking to get your start in cyber and want guidance this program will help you. Wasn't necessarily the best choice for me.

I attended this bootcamp hoping for a transition into Cyber Security and came away completely regretting that decision personally and financially.  This Bootcamp showcased excellent teachers/training and the fellow students were great, but it does absolutely nothing to get you closer to breaking into the field of Cyber Security.  If you already have a degree or significant job experience, then this bootcamp may be an option for you but it is far too expensive compared to the benefits for the average student in it.   This Bootcamp offers training in several certifications; however, you will be paying to take these certifications completely out of pocket.  I can only assume this is due to NC State wanting to profit as much as possible off students or that they don't feel like their training has students ready for certifications.   I couldn't even get a student discount on exam vouchers because NC State will not give you a school e-mail.  These classes also will not transfer, when you request transcripts from NC State, they will state that they aren't eligible for transfer because it was part of their Continuing Education program.  The job assistance program is laughable.  You will get monthly e-mails for internships, contract work or incredibly low paying jobs, that I really think they never plan on you applying for anyway.  Several people in my class did get jobs before the program ended but they all had prior degrees and extensive backgrounds in IT.  They also happened to live in the same area as the classmate who helped them get these jobs.  I feel like the bootcamp was a pretty minor part of the job process for them.  I have kept in contact with several people since the Bootcamp has concluded and none of them have received a job because of this class.   I believe this Bootcamp overall was a complete waste of time and ALOT of money.  I compare this to other colleges that cost one third the price every 6 months and pay for your first two exam attempt vouchers for EVERY certification that you are training to.  My best advice on this is to do your research, find better options and don't pay this school over 17 thousand dollars for almost nothing in return, you will come away regretting it as well.

This bootcamp taught way more than just a handful of coding languages, it taught me the best way to think like a programmer and how to learn new languages as new problems present themselves. Every instructor I had was great and they seemed genuinely invested in me actually learning the material, not just passing an assignment. This took almost every issue I have had with school and threw it out the window but was able to keep me engaged and accountable anyway. The career section at the end was invaluable and I still can't believe how straightforward it seemed to jump from a mediocre job with little future to the job I've always wanted and plenty of room to grow. I can't recommend this program enough, it genuinely opened more doors for me than I could have thought. Some of the instructors still reach out to see how I'm doing and to make sure I was able to reach all of my goals. Overall incredible experience, just make sure you are able to hold yourself accountable and put the hours in!

As an overachiever, self driven individual I was able to get some core building blocks out of this program, and use those to drive my own self studies. However the course teachers ranged from amazing and insightful to terrible and unapproachable. 
This course is liking drinking through a fire hose, which can be fun and exciting but for 10 months it can be a bit much. Some core concepts are skimmed over to save time, and depending on the teacher there is no follow through.
 The recruiters paint a rose picture of job recruiters knocking at your door after the program, that’s not going to happen, you will need to really work for the interviews and beyond. Just be prepared for this and accept it for what it is and you won’t be disappointed. 

My overall experience with this bootcamp, is that it gives me more information about computer science (indirectly) and well cybersecurity in a less than year long. But, it has a few flaws that I wished their staffers needed to take seriously in two major problems. The first one was that instructors can go too off-script if they're too focused before the module is getting ending. I wished they need to tone down on the weekdays. And the second major problem is that some labs are dated, as I experience that even though I did follow the instructions, the VMs they provided neither refused to execute nor were incompatible regardless, of whether some labs were made a or two years ago. 

But, through everything else. It's almost very good. And could be recommended, if I have a friend or family member(s).

I took the boot camp after some research led me to believe that cybersecurity professionals were greatly needed.  They were - and are - needed but only those with significant experience and a list of certifications, and the boot camp gave me neither of those.  The instructors were excellent, the coursework was interesting and informative, and I enjoyed my cohort, but there are simply few entry-level cybersecurity jobs.  Or it might be better to say that most companies want people with substantial experience and knowledge to perform even entry-level duties, just like any other field of IT.  I have more than 30 years of experience as a database programmer with extensive knowledge of the Linux operating system, but that combined with the boot camp resulted in no responses to my applications for cybersecurity jobs - draw your own conclusions.   I would recommend that anyone interested in a career in cybersecurity should get an associate or a bachelor degree in the field (even if you already work in IT) and forget the boot camps - they are an expensive detour.  ThriveDX should consider publishing the number of its attendees since inception, the number who graduated, the number who work in cybersecurity, and the time between their graduation and their employment in cybersecurity.

I had a great time. It was a smooth process and I was lucky to have a good class full of supportive classmates as well. Would definitely recommend this course with this program. The teachers were able to explain the lessons thoroughly which was important for some of us that were new to tech as a whole. The schedule provided was able to fit my schedule and if there was any reason to miss it was easy to catch up and follow along with all the resources. I have no doubt that this program will be a major factor in the future of my career and im confident I will succeed.

I was elated to start the Cyber Security program at NC State.  First, I attended the Introductory Course which gives you a brief overview of the entire program in a one month session.  It was Intense!  We had an Advisor that connected with us individually on a weekly basis and even made themselves available off hours.  I liked how My advisor took the time to get to know me and my interest in the field.  She helped us get acclimated to the Canvas environment, TDX Arena, and identify financial assistance for signing up for the actual bootcamp program.  Dr. Edwards and his Associate Mr. Rizzio, really motivated students and got them excited with the TDX Arena Challenges & practice activities for each module.  They really broke ground in getting the students to be more aware of Security Hacks and the damage it caused organizations.
The workload gave you a vast understanding of Cyber Security as a whole.  Enough to make me dive right into the full program.  I have no regrets thus far.

I began the next course in the bootcamp program, Microsoft Security, immediately after taking the Introductory course in January.  The instructors have had long standing careers in the Securities Industry and were extremely knowledgeable on the content.  The course is far more intense than expected.  The beginning of the class you are required to set up your virtual box, Virtual Servers and Clients. If you have never done this before, it can be a bit overwhelming.  The instructors guide you through each step and if you get stuck, miss a step or have and issues, you can always jump into a breakout room and get more detailed assistance.  The breakout rooms were quite large in the beginning.  It would have been nice to have an additional instructor to support the volume of students in breakout.  One wasn't enough.  Our Associate instructor was wonderful, she had the patience required for all learning abilities and took the necessary time to solve each student's concerns.  What is really wonderful, Is the Lead instructor provided Panoptu Videos (Recorded videos of the live class sessions); students can always revisit module lectures, lab demonstrations & setup, processes and strategies to complete each module.  In addition, they have Level up Sessions (1 hour Tutorials) in which you can receive additional support.  The sessions run from 8-11pm, daily.  TDX Arena (an application tool that test your ability of both hacker and defender to work with real-world cyber events) is available if you needed additional support tools.  To be successful in this course, I recommend, downloading all supporting files for each lab and reading the textbook chapter associated with the lesson prior to attending class, review you notes, review the lecture video/notes & attend at least one of the level up session each week.  Make a point to study the terminology for each module, the acronyms can throw you off.  Rest assure, you will get through this course with all the support opportunities that are given to you.  Try to attend at least one career seminars to help you zone in a Cyber Security career of your choice.  Take time to build your resume, and resume building.  Lastly, what ever sales pitch you received prior to beginning of the program, focus on the end game.  Talk to your Advisors, Instructors so they can help you become successful. Each course is unique.  I really enjoyed Dr. Tomlin and Associate Instructor, Ms. Siegler-Nave; both were passionate about the subject matter, great personalities, strong in content, lots of patience, and extremely supportive.  It was good that the instructors went over the labs during class, some of the material didn't always match the instructions, minimizing time for errors.  Although, the class was much more intense than the introductory course, they did inform us that the first few weeks of setting the virtual machine, etc. difficult.   We had a student success manager but they only reached out once or twice.  The advisors for the introductory session touched based on a weekly basis. Not sure if the effort was place to gain more student enrollment but it worked.  I was glad to see several of my classmates from the introductory course in our Microsoft course. The  se ratio may be greater or expectations might be to have students to reach out to them instead.  I would say a PRO for the Bootcamp and its organizers is that students asked for feedback on a regular basis; here you have an opportunity to reflect on the work performed, share your concern/successes and make recommendations for improvement.  Sounds pretty fair to me.  I highly recommend the program so far.