TurnToTech

I’m currently learning iOS development in New York City at “Turn to Tech.”  I’ve had an excellent experience with this program and STRONGLY recommend it.  The reason why I chose it over the other ones I considered (and what I still especially like about it) is that it has a really positive and collaborative atmosphere.  

The curriculum is designed so that you learn as you work your way through a series of increasingly challenging assignments/projects.  For example, an early project might be to simply create your own class using Objective-C or Java, while a more advanced project that you’d get after a week or two might ask you to build an app that has features X, Y, and Z.  As soon as you finish one assignment, you move onto the next (working at your own pace).  Each project introduces new concepts that build incrementally on what you have already learned.  From what I can tell, they are constantly tweaking the curriculum to reflect the latest trends/demands in the job market so that by the time you are done with the program you are highly prepared for your job interviews and have the skills that employers expect.

Anyway, as you work your way through the assigned projects, the instructors and the more advanced students who are further along in the program all kick in and help you as you figure things out.  You also have the chance to collaborate and talk through things with other students at your level who are working through the same assignments.  We change up seats in the lab fairly regularly, so that we all get to know each other.  

I think this approach has several distinct advantages.  First, I think it’s much better than a lecture-based program because you learn completely through 1-1 interaction with the instructors and other developers around you.  You don’t have to sit through extensive explanations of topics you already understand, and, on the flip side, if you don’t understand something, you can simply take as much time as you need to figure things out and ask for as much help as you need.  You never have to feel like you're "behind" where you should be or that you’re being held back unnecessarily. 

Second, you constantly have the chance to test your understanding of concepts by explaining things to your peers.

Third, you can get as much or as little help as you need/want.  When I came into the program, I knew virtually nothing about programming and asked a TON of questions.  The instructors sat and worked with me individually until I understood things and guided me as I developed a stronger grasp of the concepts.  As I’ve advanced to more complex projects and started building apps, I’ve consciously tried to be more independent in my approach by asking for help less and less and by reading Apple documentation and class references to try and figure things out for myself before asking.  This is encouraged, since it helps you to develop the research and problem-solving skills you need in the real world when the instructors aren’t there to help you.  At the same time, you can still ask for help whenever you don’t understand something or are stuck and can't figure out how to debug your code, as everybody does who is still learning.    

Ultimately, though, I can’t emphasize the positive atmosphere thing enough.  It really is a tightly knit community where everyone encourages and helps each other out.  Alumni from the program who are placed in companies around the city drop in daily to talk with us, and this is great because they are able to tell us where the newest jobs are and what we should be doing to prepare for interviews. It's also awesome for networking.  I’m not sure if many of the other programs in the city have the same kind of dynamic.

Part time (2X weekday evenings / 3 hours)  for 8 weeks. We learned the basics of the Swift programming language, including control flows, data types, functions & closures, classes & objectives, memory management using ARC.

The class went on to look at closures, algorithms, modules and linking Objective-C and Swift.

We used XCode to build simple iOS apps, using table views, collection views, and ways to access data. The class looked at creating maps, social frameworks, header files and modules and method swizzling.

The iOS Bootcamp at TurnToTech is a thorough and challenging introduction to the fundamentals of iOS programming. Unlike other bootcamp courses, this one is entirely project-based. There is no formal instruction, so you can take the time you need to understand specific concepts. You're building apps from Week 1 that increase in complexity over time, but they are broken down in a way that makes concepts easier to grasp. You will be amazed by how much progress you make in just 6 weeks.

What makes TurnToTech stand out, though, is the internship portion, through which you learn key skills that you need to know to be a professional developer, including working as part of a team, debugging, merging code. And you get to put everything you learned into practice, which it what seals in that knowledge and builds confidence.

The success rate for graduates is impressive. Most students land great jobs within months of starting the program, many who were completely new to iOS programming. I landed an awesome gig, and I have TTT to thank for turning me from a newbie to a solid developer.

Turn To Tech has great teachers and staff memebers. Their cuuricum is always changing and is a great place to learn the fundamnetals of IOS/Android development. Their teachers are extremly knowledgable and their curriculum is self-paced. This maximizes learning for students because they are to slow-down or speed-up depending on their needs. As more Turn To Tech grads attain jobs, their job process has become easier. It is a tight knit community of well-intentioned individuals. I enjoyed my experience there. 

After a year and half since attending TurnToTech I wanted to share my thoughts of the experience I had.

1. I urge you to read all the negative reviews here on coursereport and elsewhere because It seems like alot of the good reviews were made by TTT staff to make themselves seem more legit.

2.  If your main priority is to get a job then TTT is NOT the place for you.  I suggest looking into other coding bootcamps such as General Assembly, Dev, or App Acedemy because those schools have %90 plus job placement ratings as well as better resources, infastructure, and staff.  Regardless of the pitch they give you when you go down there, out of the 10 students I made friends with at TTT only 2 of them work as devs.  Meaning 8 out of 10 students including myself that attended the school are unemployed or work in a completely different fields.  This is because there is no job placement assistance at TTT and there is almost no market for Junior iOS Devs with no experience.

3. Every couple of weeks it seemed like they would change the curriculum or schedule and I can respect that because it seems like they want to get better but at the same times it gives off a vibe that they have no idea what they're doing or talking about.  It seems like they're still trying to figure things out and thats fine but I dont think you should pay $12,000 to be part of their experiment.

4. TTT is a good place to learn about the world of mobile apps if you have no background in CS or coding.  It was a good place to understand what goes into developing apps and get an undertanding on CS fundamentals.

5. The best thing I got outta TTT was the network of friends I've made and still keep in touch with.  Even though almost all of the friends I've made havent gotten jobs, It's nice to have a network of people who are interested in aps and technology. 

First, I'm going to break down the Rating System embedded in CourseReport in the most honest way possible. I want this review to be THE review to read before you consider TTT or any other bootcamp.

At the end, I will talk about some of my own personal opinions and talk about the cost and worth of the school.

So, lets just start off with what most people are concerned about. Jobs, right?

Job Assistance & Instructors

The job assistance at this bootcamp sucks. The resume review and connection to recruiters is abyssmal and worthless. After you finish the curriculum, there needs to be a bit of soul searching done in what sort of developer you are, what you want to specialize in, and what you need to do NEXT to become a true mobile dev.

I think it speaks levels about a bootcamp when they hire alumni from their own bootcamp, especially ones with no computing background. Many bootcamps do this, and TTT is no different. For example, I've talked to a few students and they find it incredibly discouraging that one of our "instructors" was a personal trainer and has no DEEP understanding of development. The help that is provided from this type of instructor is just an iteration of problems that they have already solved in their own way. It is not innovative and never forces you or the instructor to think outside the box. 

My advice to TTT regarding this problem - Get an instructor that is from outside your school whose main priorities and passion is to teach. Don't just hire students that are unable to find a job.

Curriculum

Some of the reviews on Course Report shoot down the curriculum of TTT, but I strongly disagree. TTT's curriculum is on point and probably it's strongest attribute. If you don't strive in an environment where you force yourself to learn things, then you will not do well here. If you need someone to hold your hand and it bothers you when you don't understand things right away, close this window and look elsewhere. 

When I go to meetups and networking events and I meet alumni from other mobile/web development schools, it seems like TTT's curriculum has crafted me to be more well-rounded than most of the people I meet. Most of the people I've encountered don't have as much as deep understanding as I do.

When you start applying for jobs, you start to realize from the job application requirements that you actually know a lot. You will probably meet most/if not all technical requirements besides the '1-2 years experience of developing mobile apps'.

Overall Experience

If you haven't been scared away yet and are still interested in this bootcamp, don't hesistate to check out the school for yourself. The first step I would take is to learn on your own. If you get frustrated and feel like you're getting nowhere, come to this school. The guidance is real and the experience was life-changing. The main difference between TTT and most mobile bootcamps is that they actually care that you learn. The curriculum might take you longer, and that's okay. As long as you're not too lazy and make sure you are learning everyday, you are going towards the right direction to becoming a true developer. I personally know people that come from other bootcamps and their bad experiences are wayyy worse than the negative ones at TTT.

Some Opinions to End Off On

Personally, I feel like the few negative reviews on here are people that assume the role of "playing the victim". They expected to have their hand held and just handed a job without doing proper due diligence of what the school or development is truly about.

That's perfectily fine. More than likely, that type of person is not a good team player and would not thrive in the world of development where you have to teach yourself many new things constantly. You don't want to work with people that complain just because they have constantly learn and re-learn new things to stay relevant.

That is literally why developers get paid well, because you are learning until you retire/die.

Most jobs just check if you have your Marketing or Business Admin degree, and then you're set.

The Cost ($12,000)

This is what I get when I google "average cost of college".

'According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2015–2016 school year was $32,405 at private colleges, $9,410 for state residents at public colleges, and $23,893 for out-of-state residents attending public universities. '

4 years at the cheapest school equals $9,410 * 4 = $37,640.

Like most people, I learned nothing relevant in college. I learned to figure out what I'll be tested on, studied the tested material, then I'm handed a number grade.

TTT has done something for me that four years of college could not. I can honestly say I've been re-wired in terms of the way I think, my approach to complex problems, and building programs. When people say this bootcamp is life-changing, I believe that is the part they are referring to. 

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It's been a well-known fact for a long time that you can "learn programming for free". Learning how to code is easy, but building an app from scratch and going through the whole process from nothing to a working product is a feat. This takes real guidance and is something that most people cannot do by themselves. 

I really enjoyed my time at TTT and if I had to do it again in another life, I would do it all over again.

Before you spend $12,000 to attend TTT theres a few things you should consider.

• Almost NOBODY finishes in 4 months. There are numerous students who are 8+ months in and still have not finished.  On average it takes 5-6 months for most sudents to finish the cirrculim then begin job search which itself is a long process.
• Almost half of the students that started the bootcamp in my time there that finished dont have jobs.  TTT is a good place to learn about mobile app development but you wont necesarily get a job.
• There is no job placement assistance at TTT. Teddy(who is a great guy), will look over your resume and refer you to online job boards to apply for jobs.  I dont blame him because he had multiple roles at TTT and isnt a full time recruiter. They used to have some on staff recruiters but they work on commission and there wasnt enough people getting jobs for them to stick around.  Other bootcamps such as Dev Bootcamp and General Assembly have paid fulltime job assistance employees.
• TTT used to have a nice space in Flatiron next to all the other tech companies but couldnt afford the rent anymore so they moved into 2 classrooms inside of a foreign language school in downtown.
• When I attended there was a lead instructor named Oren and another instructor named Kaushik.  From my understanding Oren left for another company so Kaushik is the only teacher left.  He is very knoledgable and smart but hes not the best teacher because hes not good at communicating due to a language barrier.
• There is no real curriculum at TTT. You are given a pdf document with things to read, projects to build, exercises etc.  And they are there to answer questions.  This is good because they are teaching you how to teach yourself because coding is always changing and theres always new things to learn.  This is bad also because some people would like knoledgable people to teach them concepts in a more formal setting like they do in other bootcamps.

Looking back I probably could have taught myself everything I learned at TTT using free online resources including Lynda.com, Youtube, Stackoverflow etc and gained a network of fellow developers by attending meetups.  So I cant say it was worth the $12,000 if thats alot of money for you because it was for me.  If $12,000 isnt alot of money for you then you will gain a unique experience at TTT.

TurnToTech is mobile.  

TurnToTech lives, eats, sleeps and breathes mobile dev. The other schools that claim to do mobile in NYC (Flatiron School and General Assembly) just recently started doing mobile. The Flatiron School is a web dev school that started teaching mobile to capitalize on the demand for mobile developers. It was clear to me, after meeting and interviewing with The Flatiron School and speaking to some of their students and alumni, that they are don't go deep in mobile because they are most concerned with their web development curriculum. General Assembly tries to be everything to everyone, and after taking their info session for their iOS program and speaking to students and alumni, I belive they are just trying to make a buck, because their real goal is growth. GA wants to be everywhere and teach everything to everyone in every city, country and country.  

I took 3 months to research The Flatiron School, GA and TurnToTech.  Most of the grads who I spoke to from The Flatiron School and GA were not happy after graduating because they were still looking for mobile dev jobs (some even 10 months after graduating). 

My experience with TurnToTech has been a life and career changing experience, literally!  I dabbled in CS in college but I pursued a non tech career path and was not happy even though I was working for 2 years in my chosen field.  

I had heard about the emergence of coding bootcamps and decided that a mobile bootcamp was the the right call for me because I truly believe mobile is the future.  

I interviewed with 3 people at TurnToTech and eventually took an assessment which I passed because they accepted me soon after.  I gave my 2 weeks notice at my employer and immersed myself in TurnToTech's iOS immersive iOS program for the next 4 months.  It was not easy, but I was very focused and I trusted that the instructors, founders and career services staff knew what they were doing.  They motivated me to put 110% into this 16 week program.  After their project-based curriculum and educational internship, I received an offer from a NYC tech firm that TurnToTech had a realtionship with and have been there now for 7 months.

I am very happy with my new career and very grateful I decided to attend and learn iOS development at TurnToTech.

If you decide to learn mobile, TurnToTech is only serious game in town.

If your self motivated, disciplined, and desire to learn mobile development turntotech can be a great experience for you to get your foot in the door of the app world. It's important to not be a shy introvert and ask the instructors for help as well as other students, that's the whole point of going to ttt because you can take code courses online at home. Making friends with fellow students and having people like you in general will help you at ttt and your career after. It seems like the people that get jobs are people who constantly make an effort to network and the people that sit in the stairs or corner by themselves have a harder time getting a job post bootcamp. I have been out of the bootcamp for a few months now looking for a job, be prepared to not have a job for a couple of months. 

For all prospective students - I urge you to read and focus on the negative reviews of any bootcamps. You need to understand that for every negative review there are a handful of unhappy students too scared to speak out - because they are still relying on that particular unsatisfying bootcamp to look for a job. This is not a blow towards any bootcamp. This is making it fair for the students to assess every factor. They are the ones investing thousands and thousands. They should not be mislead.

This is going to be quite lengthy, but it encompasses what I have observed over the years as a fairly old bootcamp grad.

Before you make any type of decision towards any coding bootcamp (not just TurnToTech), you must understand that you cannot "become" a programmer in 13 - 16 weeks. Let alone a good one. If that were possible, there wouldn't be such a demand for programmers. Bootcamps, no matter how much they do not enjoy admitting it, are essentially crash courses. In any crash course - you're going to have the overachievers, the normals, and the strugglers.

So how do code bootcamps solve this issue? There are two ways. The first is to have a challenging admissions interview - filter the prospectives students until only those who've had solid programming fundamentals and/or CS backgrounds remain. These students hold the highest promise for getting a job upon graduation in a few months. Few normals get in, and all the struggling individuals are declined.

The second way is to rely completely on the curriculum. The program needs to have a curriculum so thorough and complete that it can take a beginner and guide them through the learning curve. This is TurnToTech's method.

I am not going to berate the program, because I believe there were a host of important technologies covered in its curriculum. However, there are a host of things that TurnToTech could do better for its students - and these are things that were expressed by other negative reviews here.

• Proactive attitude from the staff. New students receive the most "unconditional" attention. This means they are checked on without asking for help. That's awesome. Amazing. However, older students are ignored completely. Okay, this is understandable. They have been in the program for a month or two now and thus require no checkup. Unfortunately, they are still novice coders. You need to have your instructors follow a standard, more time actively checking up on every student no matter the amount of time they have spent in the program. 
• The instructors need to be more involved than just walking around giving the occasional help. There should be more than one weekly talk. Cmon. The world of mobile development is huge, and you also have an entire curriculum there. Give talks about the curriculum, expand on the instructions that are already there. Give more workshops. Your students paid a lot to be there.
• The curriculum itself should have at least a small nod from instructors. Currently, the curriculum consists of students completely a set of instructions written on a PDF. When a student finishes that PDF - or unit, they wait for a code review. Code reviews are nice, but the criteria for passing a unit is low. As in, only code functionality required. There is no test for comprehension of that particular unit. A mini proficiency test should be required for moving on.
• Continuing on from the previous point, there are students who have struggled on the PDF trying to google concepts because there was no formal introduction to them. They might have tried reading documentation but were stuck due to inexperience. I've seen struggling students take naps in class, eat multiple take-outs, reply to emails and social media, and begin irrelevent conversations while at the bootcamp. I've also seen students who come in at 9am and leave at 5pm having made no progress at all. I feel like these types of scenarios can at least be reduced with instructors giving more attention to each and every student. Though, sometimes it can be hard with multiple students asking for help.

If you are considering any coding bootcamp, please read this first:

• First, make sure you have the self drive and grit to power through. No one graduates from a bootcamp and becomes a proficient developer in 13 - 16 weeks. No one. Even the instructors and founders know this. It is however, possible to graduate through incredible hard work, and come out as a novice level programmer who can potentially be mentored at a company and grow into a budding developer. Again, this is not everyone.
• Second of all, make space in your personal life. There is no time for a two week vacation to Vegas. There is no time for a few missed days for a festival, or a day skipped due to a movie, show, or friend get together. Being at TurnToTech is particularly challenging to stay on track, because they require you making a choice to commit, but they won't encourage you. That's why the only reply to the negative reviews has been "What you put in is what you get out". That statement should be the anthem for any bootcamp. You need to be there 5 - 6 days a week, 10 hours a day of coding, reading, project building, and problem solving. 
• Third, know your mindset coming in. Are you coming in to rush through the curriculum in the hopes of getting a job? Unfortunately, all bootcamps make sweet marketing promises but the reality is that a desirable bootcamp graduate is one that graduates above and beyond his/or her peers. They graduate with excellent knowledge of their craft and an impressive portfolio of apps. I've seen examples of "currriculum rushers" during the bootcamp, and those students are still jobless months and months after graduating. Don't rush. Be in a open mindset. Learn code for the sake of learning code. It's a beautiful thing. Don't rush it. Be passionate about your craft, and do initiate your own projects separate from the curriculum. 
• Finally, if you can - come in with the basics down. You'll excel faster than most students. Learn the basics of mobile programming and problem solving using sites like Code Academy, Code School, Project Euler, Coder Byte, and Code Wars. The more prepared you are coming in, the less time you spend struggling on the fundamentals - and the more time you have on personal projects.

If you do decide to join TurnToTech, I have several tips to get your money's worth:

Do not stay silent. No matter where you are in the curriculum. Force the instructors to come to you and explain topics you don't understand - because you don't, that's why you're here. You paid over 10k. Don't be shy. Even if you've Googled a topic or read some complex documentation, ask away. Aim to interact with instructors for a good amount of time every day, because they may not automatically check on you. Ask for code reviews. Ask for check ups. Ask. Ask. Ask.

Initiate pair programming. Go out of your way to ask another student to undertake a project with you. Git is easy when you are one person managing your own commits. Learn how to contribute to one project as a group without wiping out the project data.

Finally, and most important of all, focus on your Github. Yes, it is more important than your resume as a developer. Quality over quantity. Please do not upload ugly, unpolished, and uninspiring assignments from the curriculum on to your Github. I have seen this on many resumes and Githubs of current job seeking graduates from TurnToTech. No one cares if you've made a barebones app that can record video. That's great, so has a million other developers. Literally. The apps you showcase on your Github should all be polished, finalized projects that can be submitted to the App Store.

And on that note, submit to the App Store. Aim for two apps. You'll be ahead of nearly every other mobile bootcamp student. Easier said than done right? But you already knew this.

And please, for all that is good, do not state that you are a "Mobile Developer" at TurnToTech on your LinkedIn or any social media sites, which implies that you are working there as an instructor. I've pointed this out to several recruiters who say it is indeed strange. I don't know why current students are doing it, because it is not attractive at all. It is misleading to recruiters and companies, and they'll receive red flags from you. 

If you put in the hard work, the studying, and the hours committed to coding, debugging, and project building - you will create a rich learning experience. Abuse the help provided by the instructors. You are paying for it. Ask them everything and anything related to coding. Pick their brains, pick your own brains, and pick the brains of the students around you. Who knows, perhaps you'll also inspire other students who are less motivated to step it up. It's all up to you.

I finished Android full time course at TurnToTech in mid March. It took me approximately 4+ months to finish the course. I came to TurnToTech with very little computer science knowledge. I knew how to code and was familiar with Java but was nowhere close to being good enough to land a software engineer role.

I started the program by spending about 2 weeks just learning the basic computer science concepts and after that started learning Android. The curriculum was designed so I would learn individual components of Android one at a time and then finally try to put them together through a mid size project. There was a lot of freedom with how I spent my time and I made sure I only moved forward once I completely understood a concept. 

After finishing the curriculum, I spent some time on the internship project and soon landed a job. 

Job finding process was pretty straight forward, basically apply to as many places as you can. TurnToTech helped with putting me in contact with companies and recruiters they knew and they also hosted career fairs which helped build a network.

I am glad I chose to do this program and I think it really worked out for me in terms of what I wanted to do. Currently I am working for a company in Boston as a Software Engineer, mostly developing their Android app, soon to be published.

At the end of the day you get what you put in. The program is in place for you to learn and they have pretty experienced instructors to help you navigate through it. Additionally, there is just incredible amount of information and help available online as well. So as long as you are putting in the time to learn, you will see the results.

Hope this review was helpful.

Overall I had an incredible experience at TurnToTech.  Before joining an iOS bootcamp, I really shopped around for somewhere that would teach me Swift.  When I called, I talked to Teddy who immediately addressed my concerns and invited me in.  I met with him, Aditya, and Oren and they carefully answered all my in depth questions on Swift, the curriculum, and what I could expect. I was glad they gave the option of learning primarily either Objective C or Swift, and this put them apart from other bootcamps I looked at.

The project based curriculum is a great method.  You have to work very hard throughout your 4 months, reading documentation, going through sample projects, building your own projects, and interacting with the instructors.  I feel very comfortable after the time being able to create my own apps and projects.  Each project introduces new concepts gradually that all end up adding up to lots of knowledge.

I give the instructors top notch reviews.  They are a) incredibly knowledgeable  b) patient c) have a wide array of programming experience.  Whether my question was something simple like "Hey why doesn't this work", to in depth discussions of programming patterns or potential ways to host data on the cloud, they always had patient and thorough answers for me.

I come from a slightly different background than most, as I already co-founded a startup 2 years ago.  We are now looking to add apps to our products, so I wasn't looking for a job afterwards.  It definitely satisfied my needs to learning iOS development.

If you're looking to learn iOS development, I highly recommend this program.  Everyone is out for you to succeed and with hard work you'll walk away with an incredible amount of knowledge.