DigitalCrafts

The instructors were extremely competent. Solid style and they didn't get off topic with overly inflated concepts to flex how smart they are which makes them easy to follow and didn't make me feel elementary or discouraged. They all questions or get you... Read More pointed in the right direction to find it yourself.

I have a background in construction and building, but had no experience in software. After attending DigitalCrafts online bootcamp I came out confident in the job market and with a tool belt filled with the latest cutting edge technologies and languages!... Read More My instructors really cared about my success in the course and were always willing to stay after hours to make sure I wasn't lost. Don't get me wrong, bootcamps are really hard, especially for someone with no background in software, but it's not impossible. DigitalCrafts is there to help you navigate through your new way of thinking in the tech world and will do everything in their power to ensure you are well prepared for the job search after.

I completed the part time flex bootcamp. It was all virtual. I started in August and ended in March. I really enjoyed my experience. I learned a ton and really felt like the teachers and other staff care about me and want to do everything they can to... Read More help me get a software developer job. I tried learning to code many times, but lacked the discipline and plan to learn on my own. DigitalCrafts provided the support and plan that I needed. If you can learn on your own, that's the cheapest option. But if you are like me and need/want the support of fellow learners, teachers and a plan to learn then I 100% recommend DigitalCrafts!

I just graduated from the online flex full stack bootcamp. Was pretty good. I'm definitely a better developer now than when I started (I already work in the field), and they provide a lot of support for job search. Curriculum and instructors were top... Read More notch. Would recommend.

I don’t know exactly where to start, so I’ll start here...I wanted to make a change in career and in life. Being a military veteran I’m used to staying busy, but with a purpose. Intro to finding DigitalCrafts and making the decision to jump headfirst... Read More into the rest of my life. I honestly can’t say enough wonderful things about the school, from the owners, the Director of Operations, Director of curriculum, Student Success Team, Instructors, to my fellow students and now fellow alumni. It truly is one big family that has nothing short of your best interest at heart and in mind from beginning until you tell them that you don’t want them around anymore (but why would you want to go and do a silly thing like that?!). My advice for ANYONE out there that’s nervously contemplating making a change in their lives for the better starting with DigitalCrafts...DO IT!!! Yes, you’ll have frustrating days, you’ll have days with epiphanies, you’ll have days where you feel defeated. STICK WITH IT! The feeling of family and accomplishment is more than enough to get you started in a flourishing career and a life that shows you that you CAN and WILL do better once you put your mind to it.

MAIN DILEMMA I enrolled into the October 2020 Full Stack Immersive Bootcamp, I think my experience at DigitalCrafts (DC) is a unique one, given that the original instructor was let go due to his inability to adapt to his students' needs. To elaborate,... Read More it is a given that bootcamps are fast-paced but instructors should also be wary of how their students are doing, because if the students are not understanding the fundamentals of what it being taught then regardless of how fast-paced the bootcamp is, the students will always be left behind. This is a 'skill' that the instructor needs to have, especially in the the world of programming since everything is built off of one another. I took the time to mention this because DC made the executive decision to let the original instructor go and my bootcamp was replaced with another instructor, this new instructor was amazing. He took things a little bit slower and ensured that the students had a good understanding of concepts before moving on. He also took the time to review concepts when necessary and created resources / examples that demonstrated some of the complex concepts that we learned. I will say that I am a quick learner and that there are times where lecture was a little slow for me but this new instructor made assignments for those who were further along when he could. This was an okay experience since his attention would be divided but he still did his best to be there for all of the students. Finally, this transition from the original instructor to the new one changed the momentum greatly. Ultimately it was for the best but it wasn't a smooth transition especially when it happened towards the middle of the bootcamp. How do you make this transition smooth when concepts taught pre-new instructor were still hazy and we still had a schedule to adhere to? Well, to be fair, I don't think you can. The final capstone (graduation) day remained unchanged so we had to forgo some concepts and learn these concepts at an optional timeframe post-graduation. CURRICULUM I think the curriculum is a good one since it includes a lot of the popular technologies in today's industry but I think that the front-end development side of the curriculum could use more work. While I'm not exactly sure how this experience would differ with the new instructor, (at the time, my bootcamp was taught front-end technology by the original instructor), I still believe there is room for improvement. For starters, I think that SASS (or Sass) should be taught at DC, it is essentially CSS but a lot more to offer. Why do I bring up this up? Well when comparing other technologies with their relative field I felt like DC would not meet the standards of someone who would want to specifically go into front-end development. I understand that it is a 'Full Stack' web development bootcamp but the front-end development aspect was glossed over. Furthermore, other libraries and frameworks such as Bootstrap were introduced but the original instructor did not really go into detail with how to use such frameworks. You would think that they might make your life easier but depending on what you want to do, it actually might mess everything up. Many of my classmates tried to use Bootstrap but then ended up with fighting with it more than coding. Like I mentioned earlier, during this time it was pre-new instructor, so I'm not exactly sure the difference it would have with the new instructor from the beginning because at its very core, the curriculum was not enough for front-end development specifically in CSS / SASS. I had to learn new technologies outside of the curriculum and that is tremendously difficult given that lecture was about 40 hours / week but that doesn't include time spent studying the concepts and assignments outside of lecture. Another concept that I felt like was lacking was algorithms, this is a concept that is inevitable, any developer will be met with a technical interview and then there it is, algorithms. My bootcamp barely touched them. I'm not sure if they were even supposed to be apart of the curriculum or not but with that being said, we touched them for a moment and never turned back. It's disappointing because now when I am taking the time to learn it, I think it's important to understand the many data structures and algorithms that there are and how to use them to help solve issues when it comes to code readability, time and space complexity. It felt like the advice from DC was to just go onto LeetCode and do problems until something magically clicked for you versus, understanding what is the best method to solve the solution via data structures and algorithms. Overall I think that the curriculum was good for any new developer who wants to get a good foundation of what they should know and how to continue to grow post-bootcamp. But to be honest, you could do the same with a Udemy course, however you do have access to instructors and DIRs (teacher assistants) who can help you. I think that is the main perk of DC, that you have experienced developers that you can interact with and to help you to start thinking programmatically. FINAL THOUGHTS In conclusion, would I recommend DC? To be honest, I would. Because like I said, in the beginning, my experience at DC is unique, it may not be the same for someone else. I met a lot of people from all over the world who shared the same passion as mine, and that is exciting! Everything that occurred during my bootcamp was unfortunate but DC did everything that they could to handle it in the best way possible and that's all you could really ask for. I made meaningful connections with other developers, the instructors and DIRs. We are a community that I'm proud to be a part of. I will say that if you are considering DC, please be prepared, do the pre-work that they sent out or take an introductory Udemy course. Also there is a lot of free resources (YouTube) that you could watch that will help you get acquainted with some of the concepts that DC will cover. Look over the syllabus and start exposing yourself to these concepts. This will only help further your mastery. If you are serious about a career change or this passion: what you put it is what you get out of it, and you cannot expect DC to do the work for you, it is ALL YOU. With that being said, I do believe that DC can help jump start your career in the right direction.

Full curriculum that touches all aspects of the coding experience! You'll learn various languages like Python and Javascript while touching on frameworks like React, Node, and much more. They'll teach you to build real world application that you actually... Read More deploy! The staff is great and they're always one message away. They have people who can help you with building a resume, finding a job, further help outside of class time, and much more through Slack, a communication platform. The environment is engaging and you never feel left out, regardless of your skill level. All instructors and DIR's (developer in residence) are happy to help with any problems you face. The community you have doesn't go away after you graduate. You'll be moved to an alumni channel where there are always people there to help and designated recruiters finding positions for you. The amount of help you get goes far beyond graduation and that was the best aspect of DigitalCrafts for me.

Coding Bootcamps are not an easy thing. I had a great experience at DigitalCrafts. By the time I graduated my classmates became family. I think getting through the struggle together made us a lot stronger. If you are thinking about doing stop, take the... Read More decision to change your life. My recommendation is to do the pre-work mainly in Javascript and Node.

The statement "culture eats strategy for breakfast" means that no matter how good your strategy is, it will not work without a good culture. DigitalCrafts has both strategy and culture. The curriculum is valuable: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node, Express,... Read More AWS. By the time you're done, you'll be manipulating the DOM, (or the Virtual DOM if you work in React), wiring up backends to create interactive data-based websites, and deploying your work on the internet. You will get the content you so desperately need. But with DC you'll get a lot more. The people at DC make the difference. They know you. The instructors and teacher assistants are extremely supportive. Our instructor was dedicated to helping each student get to the next level, and I saw DigitalCrafts make hard decisions that demonstrated their commitment to student success.

I had no prior coding experience except the coursework provided (by DigitalCrafts) prior to starting the class. The course is by nature fast-paced. You learn a lot in 4 months but by the end I felt I had a pretty good grasp of software development and... Read More had a great base for further growth as junior level developer. So much of this is just learning how to structure certain things and how to think about a problem and go about solving it. Once you have that ability you can easily pick up additional skills and techniques on your own. Having someone there to be able to easily point out, correct, and explain mistakes you make in the process early on is a big help vs trying to pick it up on something like an online course where you're by yourself. Class was 3 hours in the morning with a 1 hour lunch followed by 3 hours in the evening with nightly homework the first few months that tapered off as we got into project building later in the course. I was full-time online due to the covid pandemic and classes were taught via Zoom. Students had the option to go into private rooms on Zoom after a lesson to get clarification on the topic previously covered if needed. Pros Covered a wide range of topics that are relevant to what is in demand in the industry today with a curriculum that is regularly updated. Instructors very helpful and time was provided outside of class to review what we learned with one of the other instructors. Cons Course is fast-paced but that's the nature of the learning model and any bootcamp style coding course. We spent a few weeks covering Python at the start but after that we primarily used JavaScript for the remainder of the course. I felt like Python could have better used (or more often) along with Javascript.