BrainStation

I've had good experiences with Brainstation. I've now taken both their Data Science and Machine Learning certificate programs, and I'll be commenting on the Data Science one here. First off, the instructors I've had have been top notch. Andrew was my... Read More instructor this go round, and it was evident that this guy works data science for a living. You can tell by the way he codes, changes code on the fly at such speed, and debugs code when it's not working. He also seems to be genuinely enchanted with Data Science as a whole. He answered all questions, even my dumb questions, clearly and cleanly. The course content itself is solid. I highly recommend you know Python prior to taking this course, rather than just knowing a programming language in general. Everything is coded in Python from day 1, to include using some more "advanced" features like list comprehensions, so having a good grasp of Python I think is integral to your experience with these courses. The only thing I really wasn't high on in the course content was the Statistics section; it's simply too large and broad of a topic to cover in the scope of this course. In my opinion, a basic statistics background should already be had before jumping into Data Science. Most classes and topics are like that, but the statistics portion really stuck out to me. Jupyter notebooks are provided, so the material is flexible and easy to work with. The instructors provide solutions-included notebooks after the lessons, which is handy for someone like me that wants to watch them work the problems and then figure them out in my own manner later. Due to the nature of these part-time courses, and the material covered in such a short time, don't expect to just listen to lectures and be good at Data Science. You will need to work through the Jupyter notebooks on your own time, and do additional research on your own as well. This should be expected for anyone who has ever coded before, but for those who might think it's a sit back and learn it all class, it's not that easy. A hanging point for some people is that there's no 'job guarantee' or assistance with BrainStation. To those folks, I ask you do you truly believe that you're going to get a dream job out of a bootcamp's career assistance or guarantees? I think it's a worthless perk for the average student because you're going to have to know your stuff to be successful in the field anyway, and if you don't know your stuff, you're probably not going to stay in that job long even if it's given to you. It may work out for some, but I didn't see it as a requirement. Overall, I would recommend BrainStation to others, particularly if your company is willing to help with the tuition.

My initial form of contact occurred in early December. I spoke with an advisor to discuss my background and interest in the program. Within that conversation, I discussed my economic status at that time and became attracted to Brainstation because scholarships... Read More were offered to applicants. I made certain to clearly articulate that I would need full coverage offered in a scholarship in order to pursue a course such as web development since I was not employed. The advisor then expressed that they admired my interest and drive in order to understand the program. The advisor also discussed previous instances where a promising candidate had a financial need and was offered more assistance financially. Overall, the conversation was very positive and the advisor invited me to apply for the web development program on their site. I submitted all parts of my application by mid December. An important part of the application included an assessment challenge, which I spent a considerable amount of time on. I went as far as scheduling a phone call with the advisor at the end of the assessment challenge just to make sure that my assessment was well done. Once I submitted my assessment challenge, I received an email invite for a virtual interview; this occurred three days after I was affirmed of completing the assessment challenge successfully. The interview also went positively well. I recall even discussing ways that I would improve my assessment even further, using real world scenarios. Overall, I was extremely passionate and excited to have found a Boot camp that seemed to have accepted my situation as it refers to my economic and employment status. That same week, I received an email congratulating me on my acceptance into the web development program and quickly shared the good news with my family. My consistency and hard work had paid off and I was on my way to becoming a software engineer. At this time I awaited my official agreement to be drafted and updated on my online application for my review. Two weeks from my approval I emailed Brainstation as I was yet to see a drafted agreement update on my application. The New Year arrived and there was still no reply to my follow up. I became a bit concerned since I looked forward to knowing the details of my agreement and needed to make informed decisions financially ahead of time to pursue the program. Still I remained patient and hopeful. A week prior to the start of the program, I was yet to receive any form of contact or update from my advisor and/or Brainstation. Still I remained patient. Finally, I decided to contact my advisor regarding the matter. The program was to start that Monday and I had not seen any updates on my online application. The advisor reached back to me a few hours later. The conversation opened up with a general hello. The advisor then followed up by asking me if I have considered other boot camp programs, to which I replied “no.” At the moment, I was confused as to why I was asked this, being that Brainstation was the only boot camp of my interest based upon thorough review of the coding program. The advisor stated that I certainly was more than capable based on my successful completion of the application. I followed up the conversation stating that I had emailed Brainstation weeks in advance since I did not see updates to my agreement on my application. I continued to explain my growing concerns on whether the program was still active since no one reached out to me. The advisor confirmed that Brainstation had over 100 successful applicants and that the boot camp was set to begin next week. At this point, I was offended and felt cheated out of an opportunity. The advisor then began a slew of apologies and mentioned that they failed to communicate with their co workers during the time they were away from the office due to sickness. From a professional standpoint, I expected Brainstation to meet me halfway since on numerous attempts, I followed up with the organization. The advisor apologized once more, as he knew I was coming from a good place of heart, but told me that Brainstation could only offer a scholarship of $3,000 as a result. I was asked to consider applying for their February cohort. Quite frankly, this did not suffice as the cost of the boot camp is $15,000. It also demonstrated that he did not truly consider my financial situation through his lack of communication. The advisor lastly stated he will update my agreement for my review at that moment. When I made the decision to pursue Brainstation, I rearranged my schedule and strategically planned to join the January Cohort as I knew that the following cohort in February would not work out for me. I was clear, thorough and consistent in explaining my economic status through communication. Brainstation showed itself to be very unprofessional and quite frankly offensive in several respects. I decided to write and share my experience for several reasons. Firstly, I have been unable to contact anyone in the corporate office via (800) 903-5159. Secondly, I want those of you who are reading and interested in the program to experience what I went through. Lastly, I hope that Brainstation reads my story and improves their communication and professionalism overall. Thank you.

I came to the Web Development program at BrainStation from a design background. I had some experience with HTML and CSS, but no broader or deeper understandings of web technologies. The pace of the program is fast, and there were moments of feeling like... Read More I wouldn't be able to keep up. However, whenever I would stop to reflect on where I was the week before, I was consistently amazed at how much ground I had covered in such a short amount of time. There are so many technologies and ideologies out there. It would be impossible for programs like those delivered at BrainStation to cover it all. The beauty of BrainStation is that it reveals to you just how much you can do. After completing the program, I now have the confidence to know that if I need to learn a new web technology quickly, I absolutely can. Pros Community mindset, confidence in independent learning, rich resources Cons There will be more than a few late nights / early mornings depending on your sleep schedule.

My experience as a BrainStation student was one of the best experiences in my life.  2020 was a year that could be defined with the word change. Like so many other people around the world, I was challenged by the pandemic and lost my job due to covid.... Read More Learning about digital marketing had been in my mind for years now, but it was one of those things that I didn't pursue before because of time, routine, being comfortable at work, etc. The overall experience was very positive, starting with the learning advisors that made the time to answer every question I had and really walked me through the whole process step by step.  The program was fast-paced. I can't emphasize this enough. This is a challenging program that requires your full attention and dedication. I understand every student is different, but in my case, this was the only thing I was able to work on during those 3 months. Between lectures and working on my projects I probably spent around 60 hours per week. The program was challenging but in a very positive way. At first, I was a little bit intimidated by it, especially after 13 years since I attended school, but I was able to adapt very quickly with the support of my educators, my classmates, and family. I would define my overall experience taking this program as "the perfect storm", (right timing, right educators, and right classmates). The educators (Josh Muirhead and Justin Lowe) were amazing, both of them leaders in their area of expertise and now with a commitment to share their knowledge in order to help shape a new generation of digital marketers. Learning from them was one of the most rewarding experiences during this time. The instructors' styles of teaching were very different but in my opinion, I feel we received a very well-balanced learning experience. The content was relevant, the examples they used were always current with what's happening in the industry, and we were always encouraged to seek extra sources of information to stay updated with newer digital marketing trends.  The introduction of the capstone project wasn't only a perfect exercise to apply everything that we learned throughout the course but also the perfect output to start our own portfolio to use for potential job opportunities.  I could continue describing what my experience or my day to day was like during this time, but all I can say is that this was the best investment I've ever made.

I’ve taken two courses (UX Design and Product Management) and can’t recommend it highly enough. The instructors for their courses are world class, who are experts in their respective fields, so much of what they are teaching they have real-life experience... Read More in. Most instructions also work at some of the best tech companies around. They’re great at providing guidance about best practices for getting into the field and answering any questions between classes. I also found the online live course format to be an excellent option, which was not only convenient, but also provided a great platform to complete the required course work each week. The final projects are built upon weekly acquired knowledge all of which builds towards a full understanding of the topic by the course’s end. Really great courses for anyone looking to gain some new skills or learn about new technology topics.

I had 3 great learning experiences at BrainStation, both in person and online live. Most recently, I completed the 5 week Product Management course. In this case, I was gearing up for a career switch into the tech industry, and I just got hired as a PM... Read More (not knowing very much about what the role involved). Without a doubt, the course at BrainStation helped me develop a foundation I needed to be successful in my career switch. One thing that's consistent about all BrainStation courses is their focus on keeping the curriculum current and updated with all the developments and digital skills required in industry. They provided a great overview on PM processes as well as real-life examples from our instructors (who actually work as Product leaders in industry). I found that the reading I was doing on my own complemented the course material very well. Also, as with all BrainStation courses, there is emphasis placed on applying skills through a project. I think this is where I derived the most value from the course. There is a lot of theory and processes in Product Management, and it differs between companies, but I found that going through the project enabled me to begin to form my own "philosophy" and unique approach to PM. I would certainly recommend this course to anybody starting off as a PM and encourage them to couple the course content with some independent reading on PM. I would be ready for 2-4 hours of extra work per week on the course project as well. Also, take advantage of the close, small-class environment (even online) and reach out to other classmates and engage with the instructors both in class and on Slack.

I took the 10 week Brainstation Product Management course virtually (through their Online Live platform) over the course of the Fall - finishing up this December. It was the perfect thing to do on dark Tuesday evenings in a pandemic. This was my second... Read More Brainstation course and highly recommend it if you’re looking to familiarize yourself with PM concepts. I’ve been a PMM before, so I was familiar with many of the units covered in class from observing PM’s on the job, however, I never really had the opportunity to practice them myself. In order to complete the course, you have to do a project - either alone or in a group - and present your Go-to-Market strategy (though the presentation part is not mandatory). I found myself looking forward to spending time on the project and it’s really the best way to actually absorb the content. I feel confident that I could apply my learnings to real-life situations, either on the job or in a job interview. I learnt more in these 10 weeks than the last year+ of reading product management and agile methodology books. Pros: - Instructors from the industry who have relevant experience and teach in a practical approach - Project must be completed which allows you to practice concepts - Minimal commitment: 10-weeks for 3 hours in the evening - Very intuitive digital student platform to retrieve course material and submit projects Con: - Only downside of the Online Live approach is that the unit that covered agile methodologies and SCRUM would have been best in-person. The chance to practice a real Sprint planning exercise in a group of people would have been a worthwhile exercise. They could perhaps do this virtually, but would have to be an 11th class (bonus exercise) as there's no extra time within the 10 classes

This was my first time taking a course with BrainStation, and I am glad that I did it. I was always interested in elevating my skills and knowledge in product management to start a career shift from product design to product management. I found this course... Read More very useful, and it brought some confidence in me to move towards my career goals and plans.
The course is a well-balanced mixture of concepts and theories, in-class activities, case studies and actual hands-on work for the final project. I learnt new and useful toolkits, which I had the chance to apply to my project. However, the significant value that I got during class was the in-depth feedback I received from the instructor and peers. Due to the pandemic, the course was fully online, but I think it worked well and did not impact the quality.

This was my third course with Brainstation and the second I've taken through the Online Live platform. I've always enjoyed that the instructors have industry experience and can offer practical advice, along with theory. I found my instructors engaging... Read More and tried their best to make the course content understandable. I will say, if you do not have a background in statistics, this course may be more difficult for you. I personally didn't have a background in statistics, so the latter half of the course was challenging. Despite that, I definitely learned a lot and was able to complete my final project and receive my certificate.

Over the past ten weeks I completed the Web Development Online Live course through BrainStation. Coming into the program, I did not have a web dev or programming background and found that it wasn't a prerequisite to be successful in the program. In the... Read More span of 10 weeks I went from having no knowledge to being able to build a fully responsive web page with HTML and CSS. I've since been able to extend this learning to my job in ways I never would have thought possible. The instructor was engaging and a true industry practitioner. Highly recommend for those who are looking to take their first steps into web programming.