DigitalCrafts

The might be a little misleading, cause I have very positive praise for DigitalCrafts and the Boot Camp style of learning. So let's dive in.
Let's start with me. I am a career medical professional with 16 years of practice. I had tinkered around with coding,... Read More mostly just HTML and CSS, but decided it was time to expand this knowledge and take on the challenge of doing Full-Stack Development. After all, it couldn't be as difficult as my medical training, right? WRONG! Learning this stuff was more difficult. Mostly because YOU CAN'T JUST MEMORIZE IT! There is just too much. And it changes all the time. In fact, right in the middle of us learning React, Facebook issued an update that forced our instructor to jump to teaching us React Hooks 3 days early!
However, I did change how I would study and learn and was able to grasp the concepts needed. And remember, it is a Boot Camp, so be fully prepared to learn at warp speed!

Now for DigitalCrafts. I researched the other programs available and I choose DC 1) because they had a campus in Houston, where I am, and 2) because their curriculum seemed to be broader and covered more languages and frameworks that I had heard were more relevant in the workforce.
I am glad I choose DC and when I choose to do it. Our Cohort was totally online due to COVID-19. And yes, we were on Zoom for 6+ hours every day and had to have our camera's on. While this might not sound too appealing, I have to say that I wouldn't want it any other way. I feel that this made us better problem solvers because if anyone was having an issue, they could share their screen and we all could debug as a class.
Our instructor was very skilled at full-stack development. He was very funny and kept the fast-paced learning light, which made it easier to grasp. The admin staff, career services, and DiR's were also top-notch. They were all very helpful and really cared about our education and our success.

Yes, this was drinking water from a fire hose. But I feel that DigitalCrafts was the best choice for me. I gained new skills and also many new friends. I feel I was prepared for the workforce and can integrate into any area of development, including, Frontend, Backend, or Full-stack. And if I can do it coming from a medical background, anyone can do it!

Negative feedback is used against you. One student was actually bullied for leaving bad feedback and was asked to quit (though to their credit, they didn't). Calls for help are roundly ignored. Students who need the least help receive the most, and vice... Read More versa. Favoritism is rampant. The online experience was poorly organized and impersonal. I don't feel ready to enter a new career and regret the experience.

DigitalCrafts has excellent instructors and covers all the necessary languages and tools to set you up for a job in software development. Multiple projects through the cohort allow you to work with others and build out your portfolio to use when applying... Read More for jobs. Career assistance happens for a few days and helps to polish your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn profile. Great staff overall make being a part of the program an awesome experience.

DigitalCrafts has a great fullstack training program. I was in the July 2020 immersive course which was also remote. I enjoyed being able to safely learn and have access to all the resources that I needed. DigitalCrafts has excellent career services support... Read More and a curriculum that supports modern fullstack web development.

DigitalCrafts does everything the can to make sure that you succeed. From a really solid curriculum to career and interview prep, you learn the skills needed to advance in the world of web development. I was able to not only learn the technologies and... Read More languages that were taught during my time but learned how to learn code so I can expand my knowledge with other aspects of software development. Would recommend that anyone who is trying to learn on their own and gets distracted easy by a shiny new technology really consider taking this bootcamp. The structure and coding fundamentals really help you progress a whole lot faster than trying to learn on your own.

Digital Crafts was recommended to me by an acquaintance who happens to be an executive at an IT staffing company. I had been looking to make a career change and get into the web development/IT for several years but didn't really know how to start the... Read More learning process. I come from a technical theater as well as a learning & development background and knew that having a classroom environment would be critical to my success. After looking at a few other options, I applied to DC. Their admissions process includes an "interview" (I don't know if anyone actually ever fails the interview since it felt more like an information session) with one of their staff. I met with Jake Hadden, one of the co-founders, so that was kind of cool. The second piece of the admissions process is a coding challenge. Now I'm going to be completely honest and say that this felt more like a challenge to find the best place to copy/paste the answers to the problems, but once in the class, I discovered that learning how to Google and find answers to your challenges is a big part of becoming a Developer. So I guess they are helping you down that road early, but it still felt weird. Once accepted, you select your cohort date from the available classes and are given prework to complete. Let me just sat, complete as much of the prework as you possibly can! Now, they do go over everything that the prework covers, but because the class moves so quickly, having a base knowledge prior to class really helps to keep you from getting too overwhelmed too quickly. But don't worry, you'll feel overwhelmed anyway!

I choose to start in March which ended up being when COVID-19 forced everyone to stay at home so my desired classroom would now be a virtual environment. As it turns out, my class ended up being the first to go completely virtual. Let me just say that although I was initially hesitant, the staff did an amazing job of pivoting to using video classes! Of course, we were the guinea pigs, but they, particularly our instructors and DIRs (more on that in a moment) did a fabulous job of providing a great experience in an everchanging environment. Utilizing Zoom with breakout rooms used for personal assistance outside of the main "classroom,"  there would be a lecture and demonstration that students would be able to personally follow along to. Then deeper exercises would be given for us to work on individually. If you hit a wall, the instructor or a DIR (Developer in Residence, basically teaching assistants who are previous students) will work with you individually to help you solve your issue.  Our instructor was Lachlan and he was/is amazingly skilled at his craft and if he doesn't know an answer, can find it pretty quickly and shows you his process for that as a learning experience. That's as it turns out what the whole class is about; it's not so much about learning a particular language, it's about learning to "think like a Developer" and teach yourself how to solve your problem. As the class went on, they were very receptive to feedback regarding how the class was going and things that would help. They even implemented some of our suggestions with the cohort that started while ours was getting toward its end.

The curriculum is intense and extremely fast-paced. Just know that you will feel like you are running away from a tsunami the entire class. You aren't alone. Give yourself some time after class to work on projects and utilize the resources of the DIRs and your instructor as much as possible. They want you to succeed and know you feel like you are barely treading water! Part of the curriculum is personal career prep with resume' writing and portfolio site creation help. In fact, you can't graduate until they see you have a workable set of resources to begin your job hunt. 

They are holding all of their classes online now, and the experience is great. If you want a great school with a wonderful support staff, Digital Crafts is a great place to start your journey.

DigitialCrafts provided a well-planned curriculum that allows us to develop confidence in building applications with JavaScript. The instructor was awesome and my fellow students were incredibly supportive. I do wish that we spent more time writing real... Read More SQL queries in our exercises and that there was a way to learn some Java.

I did a lot of research on different schools and coding bootcamps, I'm glad I settled with digitalcrafts. They are fully committed to assisting you along the journey of becoming a full stack developer and they do this in 16 weeks of coursework. The instructor... Read More is world-class the developers in residence wer wonderful and all the staff outside of the classroom we're beyond helpful. the amount of networking I have been able to do because of this school in such a short amount of time is unbelievable. I truly believe if you are around a campus you should definitely apply to go to the school, even if you aren't they offer it digitally. When I signed up it was for in-person Monday through Friday 9 to 5 however we all know the events going on in the world so that changed. With that said I am utterly amazed at their ability to structure a digital course out of what has always been in person with little to no notice at all. They pulled it off and I'm sure they had no planning for this I head of Time. Any school that can still deliver on their commitments after being thrown a blocker like that is a school worth going to.

That is all I can really say, everything about it was positive I don't have a complaint

If you are reading this review, I think you are ready to become a software engineer.
get ready for the hard work, long hour days nights and weekends - in return, a new career - software engineer.
time invested in the program is definitely worth it!
ask... Read More a lot of questions, don't be afraid of asking questions, your classmates are probably and most likely stuck on the same thing you just asked.
practice, practice, and more practice.
start networking early, find the teammates early, and do a lot of pair programming.

Good luck with your journey!

Prior to attending Digital Crafts, I had very little programming experience. You get what you put into it but for me it was worth every penny. I attended the from March until July 2020. 16 weeks is not a long time and I find that a bootcamp is best for... Read More structure, networking, building projects that will ultimately help you in landing a job.
This program is not for thoroughly understanding algorithms, data structures or OOP concepts. It’s more hands-on getting you to build code rather than learning Computer Science concepts.
Honestly, the material I learn at DC was not unique, I was told many times by different people that I could learn everything I learned at the cohort at home, which ironically due to the COVID-19 pandemic I did but through remote learning at Digital Crafts.
The difference between self-learning online and attending Digital Crafts was structure, accountability and my fellow builders in the cohort. Assignments and projects have due dates, you must work in teams for projects and there is a sense of camaraderie. All these things kept me on track and responsible, an element that is missing from self-learning (depending on the person).
Boot camps take a lot of commitment. If you’re thinking Digital Crafts does everything, they don’t. They give you tools to be successful; they offer you all the help you could want and more. Class starts at 9am but class does not end at 4pm. You must commit to reading, practicing and watch videos. Take other tutorials to find a way to understand what you have learned. Otherwise, you’re cheating yourself.
Class is fast paced; you get 1-2 days on a topic and then you move on to the next. To be successful I would suggest using google and stack overflow, these will be invaluable as you go along in the cohort.
The Instructor (Azam) was very personable and full of knowledge but he was also a real person. He let us know as developers you won't know everything; it's almost impossible to. You will experience Imposter Syndrome, and eventually you'll get over it. It's normal.
Even today I'm still googling, still asking questions on Stack overflow and I'm researching new technologies.
Digital Crafts will teach you how to code, how to interact with other developers and most importantly network. Something learning online for free can’t provide to you.