Galvanize

I graduated from the Galvanize Data Science Immersive in the beginning of 2021. The curriculum overall was incredibly difficult and required my full attention over the course of 3 months. Time flew by within this time period, and often times it felt like... Read More we were learning subjects in one day that could have entire college courses taught about them. It's extremely overwhelming to say the least, however you're not going through the experience alone by any means. You'll have incredible instructors that are willing to sit down with you and help you with any bits of material you're struggling with throughout the course. You'll also have your classmates, who were nothing but helpful to me whenever I was having a tough time. Many of these people I would consider a friend and have helped me even after the curriculum has ended. Speaking of, after the course is finished, you'll have the help of not only all of your cohort, but also the career services team which will help make sure you're prepared for the job hunt to come. With all of these factors, I feel like I'm absolutely set up for success in the data science world and I can't wait to see what opportunities start coming my way.

The DSi boot camp has a consolidated, well-organized lesson plan that is executed in an energetic, cohesive way, even during COVID's requirement of remote lessons. My co-hort team members are my friends and we still talk after the class. The instructors... Read More and staff show that they truly care. I feel like I get the instruction I need to succeed, the experience in coding I need to continue my journey, and the support in the job searching process. PROs -Well organized course and lesson material -wealth of knowledge from instructors and old materials -small, tight-knit cohorts -great PMs that keep the energy going -flexible and understanding with regards to personal schedule -listens to student feedback and tries to make the adjustments almost immediately -multiple payment support / options CONS -Can be rigid in certain areas regarding curriculum due to company policy -I would have liked for it to start earlier (currently 9AM to 5PM PST) -classes move very quickly and cover many many topics since it's supposed to be equivalent to a 4-year degree

I just completed Galvanize's Data Science Immersive Program in Denver, CO and it exceeded my high expectations! Although the program was 100% remote due to COVID-19 restrictions I still felt I got an excellent experience and the virtual collaboration... Read More among instructors and students worked really well. The instructors were very good and you can tell they really care you understand the material and will provide extra help to those that need it after the lectures. Also, the Case Studies and Capstones provide you with great experiences putting all of your new skills to use while working on your teamwork during Case Studies and presentation skills for both. Additionally, the career services leader is awesome and she helps make sure you are prepared to start applying for jobs before you graduate. Lastly, I liked how Galvanize required you to pass a coding challenge before being accepted in to the program so you can hit the ground running on Day 1 of class. I did not come from a very technical background and was able to self-teach myself Python and all of the materials needed to pass the coding challenge in about 4-5 months.

Note: I took the "in-person" Austin DSI. I jumped into this program as a potential shift in my career and shortly after starting the "Free Prep" material I realized they wanted you to really grasp a great amount of knowledge in math and coding before... Read More you could even take the interview. Fortunately I was only in my half way point in my Engineering degree before taking on a career change, due to COVID, into data science (remote), this helped me in understanding the math portion a lot easier. For someone who does not come from a technical background take it from one of my classmates who said "This is not easy for someone who comes from a non-technical background but I am surprised I am now able to accomplish what I have in a short period of time..." So it is very crucial you set yourself up for success. The course and structure is only made in a way so you get a great deal of understanding in the field and so you get a structured learning for what you paid for but all the knowledge you acquire will be solely dependent on your hard work and if you are struggling you will have an amazing community, ready to help at anytime, as long as you reach out. For the Job Search it is very much the same. You will be steered in the right direction but landing your first job will also solely be dependent on the hard work you put in to reach out, get interviews scheduled and follow through with a job! Overall amazing program and great community!

I came into the program with a technical background and had previously done some software development - so please understand this review comes from that point of view.

I believe the data science immersive (DSI) is absolutely a worthwhile program if the... Read More fit is right. There simply is not enough time in three months to go from beginner-programmer to well-rounded data scientist. However, Galvanize does a great job at giving you as much academic load as one can handle, fantastic career services, and sufficient skills to be able to get an entry- level data science job.

I thought the staff was amazing and the content presented was usually the right balance of breadth and depth.

That said, the program caters to self-starters and problem solvers with a decent handle on Python. The students who seemed to have less success exhibited at least a couple of common traits: they struggled to write clean code quickly, they struggled with moving on before concepts were thoroughly understood or assignments were completed fully, they didn't enjoy collaborating with their peers, or they struggled with the math.

I think Galvanize tries to assess incoming students to make sure they are properly prepared and a good fit- but am not sure if this process couldn't be improved to ensure that the students in the class are the students who will get the most out of it.

If you are confident in your ability to solve problems in Python AND feel prepared to take on the math involved AND are willing to put in a lot of work both in and out of class AND are prepared to make peace with moving on from a topic before you are completely ready AND enjoy working and learning as part of a group- I am sure the program will give you a 5-star experience. The less of those things that are true, the less you will enjoy what Galvanize has to offer.

Note: review is based on my experience in the Data Science Immersive on the Denver-Platte campus.

If you have prior work experience, are self-motivated, and ready to work before/ during/ after the course, this program will be for you. Be advised this... Read More program is rigorous, but that comes with the territory of a 12-week course.

To those with no work experience, current undergraduate students, or those aspiring to enter the field of data science: I’d strongly suggest gaining some relevant experience before considering enrollment in the program. This includes business intelligence, data analysis, data engineering, databases, or software engineering, or some form of programming skills (Python & SQL being preferable). You'll be better prepared coming into the program, and more qualified than others coming out.

For the job search: be prepared to be on your own when searching for positions. Some of this pain can be attributed to having no prior work experience in data analysis, data engineering, or relevant fields. If you don’t have prior work experience, it’s more difficult for companies to consider you for a role. I do wish admissions screened for prior experience before admitting candidates, as this makes the student experience that much stronger.

Galvanize advertised SQL & Python at the top of their copy, and tested us weekly.

We had two lectures on SQL. "Passing" on the tests was 30%.

Instructors had "industry" experience, it just wasn't data science industry experience- they had engineering industry... Read More experience.

Galvanize advertised twice monthly industry networking events with local businesses. What we actually got (& they argued it was the same in a legal document) was study meetups with other job seekers.

Class was supposed to be 830-530 m-fri to get the (very) expensive hours we paid for. Most of the time it was 9-5, and they tried to short is another two full days until I pointed it out.

One of our instructors was completely new and regularly showed up not knowing what we were doing that day.

Both instructors only lectured, didn't ask questions or engage in any meaningful ways, despite the fact that our small class -5 - was perfect for interactive learning.

The quality of the program depends on the instructors. In my program, the instructors were all Galvanize alum and had less than 2 years of actual industry experience combined. This limited the experience to domains or topics you could gain depth in to... Read More only those the instructors were familiar with. For example, my instructors were not business people so it was rare to have discussions on how a predictive model or an evaluation metric would affect the bottom line of a business. Also, in many lectures, the examples and visualizations were directly copied and pasted from textbooks - which was troubling considering the cost of the program (~$17k for 11 weeks). The career services is also poor - it's on par with a typical college career workshop. A simple Google search for career advice and you'll find everything you need on transferrable skills, STAR method, and resume/cover letter review/LinkedIn profile review. Granted, I was committed then when I decided to transition into data science and I am committed now as I continue to learn on my own and look for a job. But these are just the facts. There's so much hype around technical bootcamps these days, and these programs are businesses that sell hard with their $95k salaries at a 90% placement rate. Make sure to do your research and model out your cost-benefit scenarios (including the opportunity cost of being unemployed for the duration of the program + 3-6 more months it may take to secure) before deciding if this program is the right one for you.

Every experience in your life will always be what you make of it. Your time at Galvanize will be no different. If you devote yourself to breathing in Data Science and Python you'll be incredibly prepared for most data scientist, analyst and your coding... Read More knowledge would be transferable to other IT related fields such as data engineer or full stack developer. Although this is not a course geared towards the later two fields, you can leverage the problem solving skills you'll develop in the program to tackle these challenges.

I have friends across different master data analytics / data science programs as Ivy league schools such as Columbia in NY. You will learn more in 13 weeks than my friends learned in a 1 year data science program. You'll be more confident in your programming, development, analytics, and possibly statistics knowledge than most of these graduates from masters programs. I graduated with a master degree in statistics and still learned a lot in the statistics portion because of code focused approach they use for it.

What you won't get, brand name recognition of Galvanize compared to Columbia or other top tier programs is no comparison at all even if your skills will be much farther ahead than peers at those masters programs. It will still be up to you to sell yourself, and prove to recruiters that you are ready for a professional life as a data scientist. The great thing is Arthur will be there to guide you through this process of teaching you how to sell yourself and meet with you weekly after and during the program to help you get your job.

Overall I'm glad I choose Galvanize.

I'll start with the good.

The lead instructor has a great mindset when it comes to focusing on the students and how they learn and grow individually. I dropped the program early since the second half just felt like a prison and all the work is self guided... Read More anyway, but career services seemed pretty good from the bit that I went through. Good advice on setting up LinkedIn and resume building, but maybe don't expect much more than that. Most of my gripes are from the curriculum and environment.

The curriculum and environment...

The curriculum is almost completely taught by videos and self-guided time. You will be in class for 60 hours a week (so that they retatin accreditation), if you're five minutes late at any point in the day, expect a third of an absence, three absences you will be removed from the program. You will be pulled out of class or asked to change locations several times a day, often right as your just making progress/settling in. The building presents a hip, techy workplace at first glance, but the more time you spend there it quickly turns into the lifeless building it is.

The amount of effort that goes into presenting that environment would be better used actually building it. Every office around the building has giant glass walls that you can expect to feel like a zoo exhibit. They put on regular workshops in the middle of the space so they can make sure you see them being techy, or entrepreneurial, or whatever their angle is. It's an exhibit more than an incubator or school.

Overall it's a very disruptive environment. Also, not sure if this one is me being jaded by prior experience, but only expect to really walk into a job using the exact tools they teach the curriculum on. Instructors will not be able to provide advice unless you adhere exactly to what they have used and is part of the curriculum. Engineering is honestly a misnomer for what they selling here.

Data structures are very loosely touched on and never in the course is the application of engineering principles really taught. Expect to be handed a project with some test cases and told to go have fun. Assignments and tests are done by bullet points or following a list of instructions. It doesn't inspire free thought, or how to solve a problem using engineering.

The first six weeks of the course is definitely where the majority of the course lies. It does a good job of familiarizing you with javascript, but the second half where you're learning how to build actual applications. You're handed a business document and a rendering of a website and told to go make it. It's easy to make something show on the screen through code, but the means in which you accomplish this is where the term engineer comes from, and this is what is not touched on a single time through the course.

My advice coming out of this.. if you need the in classroom setting, do the part time course. You're interaction is probably the same even if you're there full time. But at least you have you're own schedule and can have a less distracting environment. The price tag is high. If like online learning, do online, maybe look at some of the paid courses available elsewhere. You will get a lot more material for your dollar.

So the real question. What are you paying for at Galvanize?

The space (not great), the curriculum (has value early on, but definitely not 20k), the instructors (hardly any instruction or mentorship), career services (resume, linkedin, cover letter, interview advice, pay negotiations, overall valuable stuff, but again not 20k), oh, and the name Galvanize/Hack Reactor, which does carry value. So long as they don't tarnish it.