University at Buffalo Cybersecurity Bootcamp by ThriveDX

I would like to first state, that going into this program I was not told about a lot of things upfront. We were told the program was 17k but they did not accept student loans.  I had a student advisor contact me, and tell me that if I wanted into the program I had to get a private loan that moment to reserve my spot and he told me to stay on phone with him while he told me what to do and told me what options to choose and select.  I thought as a student advisor would have my best interest at heart. That was not the case, his job was to sell me into this program and lock me in before I could read the fine print.  With my loan and interest rate he selected for me, this program costed me 50k.  That is more than several years of college that actually gives you a degree. Knowing this program costed me the next 20 years in debt, I had high expectations. Most instructors were well equipped to teach classes, than there were others who should of never ever taught a program at this magnitude. My entire class reached out to advisors and program leaders about a certain instructor expressing our concerns we were not learning anything and our questions were being dismissed and mocked. So what does the program do? They ignore all our concerns, and actually assign this instructor to us again for another class. These classes that this instructor was assigned was essential for my class to be successful in the following modules. Due to our lack of teaching and concerns being ignored, We struggled above average to grasp material and many of us were saying how we had to self teach ourselves. Our concerns, were never responded to. They make you take graded exams, even though they bare no weight on actually getting a job. So between real life work and responsibilities , full time class, homework and labs you won't actually have anytime to study for the real certifications you need to be able to get into the working world.  Speaking of certifications, with all the money you pay for this course, this bootcamp does not even cover the cost of 1 certification. As well as the certification you do get for completing this course, is completely unprofessional looking.  There is no badge or seal or stamp, it is not mailed to you.  It is a microsoft word document that looks like anyone could of created it sent in a email. They don't even give you a hard copy for all the money and time you invested. Then this program tells you they only give you 6 months before they take all the material and resources you paid for away. They feel this is a fair deadline, but given that you most likely will not be able to obtain a actual certification during this program to get a job, you will not be able to utilize the full 6 months of career services. For 50k I think a minimum of a year should be the bare minimal this program could offer. Now addressing the career services. They will not even speak to you until you pass their linkedin and resume review. So even if you have a steller resume, they want it to be in their exact format or they will automatically reject it.  So after several times of resubmitting's and re making a perfect resume for them on their standards which took hours and hours of my time, it then takes up to a month to get connected to someone to even speak to you regarding job searching between that and trying to obtain your certificate, your 6 months is pretty much up and your access denied.  I feel if they had a problem with my resume, they should of made suggestions to me on how to improve it instead of just keep rejecting it. They should of personally had someone contact me and speak to me and guide me.  "Their suggestion" was a automatic response where they tell you to follow the outline they give you, but even then they kept failing my resume saying it needs more. Needs more what? I have nothing else I can add without lying.  After signing my life away into this program, I researched many other bootcamps, that don't have "career services" they actually have job placement programs. There are many boot camps that don't even make you pay loans or tuition until you get a job in the field.  This Bootcamp, will burn you into the ground, take your money and leave you high and dry. This bootcamp is not a educational program, it is a money grab. It almost feels illegal and like a complete scam for what me and my classmates paid for and what we received out of this program. The material was educational, but nothing you can't already find online for free, there were some beneficial labs but there were alot of labs that were outdated and broken and many times instructors had to put in tickets every class, and they never got resolved by the time we were on to the next class. Most labs were not even explained in real world situations, or why we would be doing those labs in the job field. What would make us check for x? y? z?  Why would we run this program? There was no explanation.  Just labs that said do this , this and this, but how can i apply that to the real world if I don't know why im doing that specific task? The material was not made to be relatable to real world situations which makes it harder to retain, grasp and apply. Overall there are many other bootcamps that are much cheaper, fairer, and have job placement programs. I would not only not recommend this program because I feel it is a scam. I would actually advise people to stay away from it. Given all of these factors, if they at least let me have access past 6 months to career services and give me at least a fair time frame to be able to get my sec + exam and be able to utilize job services it would make the world a difference. To pay 50k for this, ( because that is what private loans will charge you in interest )  just brings me mental anguish to not even give students ample time to get a certification and utilize career services and keep their material they just paid for. I have not met one single person that has said they have obtained employment yet after this program. I doubt my review or concerns will be addressed or reviewed this time either. 

I love how this program gives students a thorough introduction to cybersecurity. The lessons are engaging and hands-on, and the instructors are down-to-earth and relatable.

My main complaint is the job placement, or lack thereof. I was promised a year of access to career services to help me find a job in cybersecurity. It took me a month to even hear back from my career counselor. He gave me one job lead out of town, I said I wasn't interested in that job because I didn't want to move to a different city, and then I never got another email from him again.

The job board they give you is even more of a joke. The jobs are only open to local applicants, not applicants looking to relocate. So if you apply to any out-of-town jobs your application is immediately rejected. To make matters worse, there are only five jobs on the job board in my town, they're not what I'm looking for, and they're the same exact jobs listed on Indeed already.

I paid $17,000 for this class because I thought I would get job placement after I completed it. It's been nine months now, I've been applying like crazy, and I still haven't been able to find a job in cybersecurity. For the price I paid for this class, I expected a lot more effort from career services. I'm very disappointed.

I am a recent graduate of the UB cybersecurity boot camp and now that I have graduated I have a lot that people should know before diving into this. The first thing that has to be said is that the instructors don't overpromise that you will get a job right out of the boot camp, the job hunting is largely up to you, but they do explain that career services is always available to help so if you are looking for a job to be handed to you, this isn't for you and cyber may not be either. You get what you work for is a plain and simple way of explaining this course. Another large point is that this will not make you an expert and you will most likely not walk into a six figure job, this is a fantastic way to hit the reset button and set a new strong foundation to break into a new field if you have no experience in cyber like I did. If you go into this class thinking you will be hacking with the best of them, you just wont (I certainly cant but maybe someone can), adversaries will script circles around you, but you will have a strong foundation to build up to their level, you just need to want it enough. While the tests are not terribly difficult I don't think they matter much. Your final grade is attendance and exams but when I mean the tests don't really matter I mean in the grand scheme of everything. If you ace the test by using material you should not then you are not learning. The instructors are the gems in this boot camp, that's clear as glass. These people work in the industry and have tons of real world experience and more examples than you can understand. It felt at times like fitting 5 tons in a 4 quart bag but it really makes you understand the scope of cyber and what there is to learn. Some of the instructors are boring and read slides word for word with nothing else added but that was 2 out of the many I had, the other 90% not only gave examples, extra resources and advice but also helped me with my interview questions when they didn't have to and I have added many to my personal network and I am 100% confident they will answer any questions I have even now that class has ended. This is a long review but let me try to sum it up. The instructors are amazing, the material gets difficult, if you are not invested in attaining a career in cyber and plan to put only class time in and not extra this clearly isn't for you, if you are ready to buckle down and learn a lot in a small time and really want this, I believe in you and you CAN do it. The last thing would be the advisors, they are good people who will check up on you, give great advice and are just plain nice. The first people I talked to about the boot camp made me feel like they were selling me a scam product, which freaked me out but I needed to get out of my field and into cyber so I took the 18k plunge and it worked out better than I could have hoped for. I have a passion for learning and this was a way to get into an intellectual career and enjoy learning new things as fast as I can for the rest of my working life. The cost is high but when you can start a career at 60k+ a year and expect to grow quicker than most any other industry without a bachelors, you have to consider the gains. Don't get into cyber just for money, get into it because you want a challenge, to evolve with the times and continue to grow personally and professionally. Thank you UB and thank you TDX.