Practicum: Coding bootcamps

I found Practicum at the perfect time in my life. Standing at a crossroads of choices I was searching for an opportunity to enter the coding field without vacating my current position, and it was difficult to track down a solid bootcamp that could be... Read More done part-time and online, until I came across Practicum. Pros: Practicum has a tightly knit curriculum that follows the agile methodology, which some of you may be familiar with. It's a framework to complete tasks that utilizes 'Sprints' rather than deadlines. Being about 3 months in, I am confident in my abilities to support a front-end team, and I still have much more left to learn from the program. The curriculum itself is well-made and easy to digest, however, if you are not a fan of self-learning I could see how this could get difficult (some people prefer to learn in a traditional, teacher's lecture style, and this program does not have that). They give you the full responsibility on how you decide to manage your time, and also lessons on time management. These lessons include tactics to divvy up your study time to maximize efficiency while also maintaining your focus and energy. The tutors are all very knowledgable and provide adequate support as well as perfectly divided attention to each student that needs it. The community managers are very supportive and there are many systems in place should you need some more time or support! Cons: As mentioned before, they do not have traditional style teacher lectures as I know some would prefer, but I personally learn better on my own so this was no issue for me. I struggle with self-pacing and making sure I am allocating my time properly, however I feel that through the curriculum I am improving on this skill and am confident i will be a stronger time manager by the end of my tenure. Conclusion: Practicum is a perfect fit for those that have been thinking about jumping into coding, but don't want to give up or vacate their current obligations just to enter a new and unfamiliar field. This however does not mean the curriculum is easy and can be done willy-nilly. The presented concepts are challenging and stimulate critical thinking, and you should be prepared to sit in front of your screen pondering the solution to a single problem for hours (For those like me that like to arrive to solutions on their own, if not you can easily search out support from the tutors or even the internet)! Such is the nature of coding...

Pros: - Great Curriculum that will make you think like a data scientist - All projects can be put on a resume - Support can help through Slack - Also give you Software Development Experience to make you comfortable with Git and Github - Overall, I've... Read More really enjoyed the experience Cons: - Sometimes can take time to respond to questions or concerns - New material still working out the kinks Overall: - Very much enjoyed the program and hoping to find a job soon

Pros: The platform where you learn the theory and practice coding is very learner friendly and there is support within the platform if you get stuck. Lots of office hours and seminars to keep you on track and learning from actual people in this career.... Read More Flexible deadlines have kept me on track and motivated and the Community Manager has been amazing helping me when I need a few extra days, it helps make it not so stressful. The project focused format is excellent because you are able to get real experience and generate real usable code, all within the first month! They offer job support. There have already been many webinars to get us informed and planning for our future after practicum. I think this will be a very useful tool once I am ready. Cons: Its not a cheap program, though in my experience it has been worth it. Time differences mean I have had to wait to have a question answered, this is only a con because I get antsy when I am stuck. Its not easy!! This is a tough program you are learning a lot very quickly and it has been very tiring at times. If you are a parent and working full time (me!) there wont be much time for anything besides studying. On that same “con”: one thing about the program that has been inaccurate is the predicted time each sprint takes. They often claim a sprint will take a certain amount of time but as a total beginner it often takes me much longer.

As as analyst, who needs to make good projections for proper planning, I realised that I needed to up-level my skills to push my carrier. There is a lot of data, and I lacked tools to analyse it to make proper decisions. My friend, who is an IT guy, suggested... Read More Practicum Data science course. So I joined the bootcamp. I spend around 20 hours per week, and that's enough for me to keep up with the course plan. So there's no problem to combine the studying and working, all main workshop sessions are held on Saturdays, and tutor sessions, where I can ask everything are held daily in the evening. So it's super convenient for me. I also like that there're many ways to get help if you're stuck. There's active community in slack, and I can ask for anything at any time and share my thoughts with the others. And sometimes I use support chat button in the planform itself, and it's 24/7 so I can get answers immediately at any time. I really enjoy studying platform and environment a lot. Information is well structured and it's easy for me to go through the course. And what I like most of all, that there's never too much theory. Each piece of information goes with the exercises and my mind is always concentrated and I can learn the material in a very efficient way. I also like the feedback, which I get after submitting module projects. Even if I did everything correct, the tutor shows alternative more efficient solution and useful hints. Before joining the course, I hesitated a lot, was afraid that it would be super hard for me. But so far with every next module I want to study more and more. So don't hesitate, and if you decide to join this course, just do not be afraid to ask all unclear points, there're a lot of people to help you and you'll enjoy you study journey!

My name is Will Newsom. I currently work in sales and have for the past few years. I wanted to try something different. Something that could put to work my statistical mind to work. I was scouring the internet for masters’ programs in statistics, data... Read More bootcamps and all the in between. I found many courses but none of them fit my criteria whether that be price, location, or intensity of curriculum. I signed up for a consultation with Practicum but honestly forgot about it. I received an email late December that was a zoom meeting for my consultation for Practicum. I honestly for got what it was but decided to join anyways. When I joined the recruiter/salesperson told me about the curriculum, price, and all the in between. I liked everything but still didn’t know the format of the course. They gave me a demo to try out for a week to see if I liked the UI and then if I could do the basic python studies. I instantly fell in love with the platform. I wanted to sign up the next day, but I had to finish the mock course first. I joined Practicum at the end of December. I was super excited but probably not mentally ready. The format of the course is each topic is a sprint and each sprint has subtopics called modules. Each of these are meticulously made to give you the best possible route of education. I won’t go too in depth about the sprint but the first is basic python. I pretty much breezed through the first one but got stuck on the second. I had to take a 2-month break to get my mind back in order and now have been working for 6 months straight. Studying for the material is one of the hardest things. Especially if you are working a fulltime job, you will have to dedicate your nights and a part of your weekends for about a year, but it is worth it. I work eight to five so I would take an hour break to eat and relax then jump into coding from 6 to 8,9,10 depending on the sprint/module I was on. Each sprint has a project at the end that allows you to test yourself on the material that you learned to make sure you truly understand it. This is a twofold blessing as you get to repeatedly practice the material that you learned, and you can later add these projects to your GitHub to build a portfolio. I’m in the data science course so my GitHub will have 16 projects at the end of my tenure. My favorite way to study was just to sit in an extremely, quiet room or a room with a lot of noise (weird I know) and not get up until I solved the problem. Google and YouTube will become your best friends if they aren’t already. Practicum has so many good features that its hard to focus on just one. The platform is great as it combines reading material and the coding section on one screen so you can ingest the material and then practice it live on the same screen. The projects as I mentioned are a great help because they add to your public profile and make the job searching process, which is a job slightly better. The learning team is great, Practicum provides you with tutors and community managers. My community manager is Evgenia. The job is self-explanatory as they manage the online communities of practicum. They do a great job at it. She holds me accountable for deadlines for materials, makes sure I’m understanding the curriculum, if I’m not she gets me a one-on-one session with the tutors. More than anything she makes me feel special and necessary in the online environment, making it feel like a physical school. The tutors are available on various schedules. You can post questions into slack, and they will answer them when they are available. They also have specific office hours that that have almost everyday where you can post questions and they will answer them live. Practicum has helped me so much on my journey in becoming a data scientist. First in foremost they taught me the technical package of skills that I am using on a day-to-day basis in my data. They explain real world scenarios in how, when, why to use specific packages. To supplement the technical skills, Practicum teaches us soft skills. The best data analysts/scientists know to use technical skills and soft skills in tandem with each other. Practicum also has a career prep and acceleration class. These courses prepare students for their data science jobs and the latter helps them get the job. The modules inside these sprints are not limited to LinkedIn creation, resume revamping, interview prep and more. I began my coding journey just under a year ago so I’m no expert but there is no better time than today to start. I think if you are passionate about technology, looking for a career change, enjoy math then you should join Practicum and start your coding journey. I have worked many jobs and took so many different courses/classes and I have not enjoyed one more than I have Practicum. The value received from the bootcamp is so much more than I paid for. I could never imagine another bootcamp providing me with the level of classwork that it has, career prep and acceleration, great ui and a community feel, all at an amazing price. I love Practicum so much that I got my fiancé who has been an early education teacher for the past few years to start the Software engineering cohort. She has only been doing it for a few weeks but said she has fallen in love with coding. She is the type of person that would have never touched a computer b

I never had any experience in coding or even in any other IT tools that professionals use in the IT industry except Excel. Coding was a nightmare for me. I decided to pursue my Masters in Germany, where candidates should need a minimum level of German... Read More to find a job in sales. So, I decided to shift my career, but I was never sure about taking data analytics, even though I like understanding the logical reasons why things happen. This is where I heard of boot camps, and decided to enroll in one. I was collecting information from various students of different boot camps to understand which I should join. The two things that my major concern was, whether there is a Bootcamp that will help the candidate to build his path even if he doesn't know any basics of coding. And whether there are boot camps that are intensive and at the same time interactive? for both these, I understood I can go for Practicum. Not only me, but many of the alumni who had completed their Bootcamp in practicum also shared the same experience about the structure of the curriculum followed by Practicum. It was the best decision I have made. They have tutors who are very knowledgeable and eager to help you! There will be someone always when you need to clear your doubt. Then they have your assigned community managers to help you on the admin side of things and keep you motivated! The best part about this is, in parallel to the completion of this Bootcamp, you develop a portfolio for yourself which will take you ahead in the journey of job searching. I would recommend this to anyone who is still in a dilemma about whether to choose or not.

I'm towards the end of my journey with the Practicum Bootcamp and it's been great! The courses definitely do a good job of teaching you the subject and I appreciate that they're continuously adding features to make learning easier. The thing that makes... Read More Practicum stand out is they really have a great community to help support you. We're always being checked up on, there are weekly office hours to deep dive into questions, and if you need quick help there's slack where you can just ping someone for guidance. I wish I had this level of support when I was in college! It's not easy work by any means and you do have to put in the time but they definitely provide you with the resources to succeed. I've recommended Practicum to one of my friends and will continue to recommend it to anyone looking to break into the programming world.

It's been a great platform with a helpful community! I've been wanting to learn how to build websites and applications as a full-stack developer for a while now. I was searching for an ideal Bootcamp and reached out to a lot of different ones. After carefully... Read More analyzing the pros and cons of each, I decided on Practicum. For me, Practicum offered some benefits that stood out from its educational competitors. Flexibility, the length of the program, curriculum, price, and a nice money-back guarantee, how did I not find this program sooner? The platform is completely online and self-paced with due dates, they have very awesome tutors available with decent office hours every day. At any time, you can post your questions in the Slack channel, where current tutors and other students can help out. You learn some code and theory, practice the code, complete a project, and then you move on to the next set of lessons and projects. It's a pretty cool program, and so far I'm enjoying it. I hope in the end, I can find a new career that allows me to make a positive impact on the world. So far I feel like I'm gaining great skills and confidence to keep on the computer programming path. If you're reading this, good luck with your journey, and I hope you find the right path. Cheers!

In August 2022 I would start my Master's studies in Business Analytics but because I was worried that it would be too hard of a degree to handle I decided to start a Bootcamp prior to beginning my master's studies and so my research began. I was looking... Read More at a variety of different Bootcamps specifically in Data Analytics but from the very first time Practicum stood up to me. The clean design, great reviews, and strong structure made me wanna dig deeper and ask people on LinkedIn (that have previously attended the Bootcamp) about their experiences, everyone was speaking so highly of the program and this is when I decided to pull the trigger. Since then I have loved every single moment in the process; the platform is extremely easy to use, the tutors are always available and ready to help and most importantly I learn a lot while building a great portfolio to have to show to future employers! I was able to manage to start the Bootcamp a few months before my MS degree's first day and this strategy has helped me be one of the best students in my university all thanks to Practicum. It's important to note that it is a challenging Bootcamp and requires lots of time and dedication but is so worth it. I have been telling everyone about it and I am so glad about my decision, by far is the best Bootcamp you can find for Data!

I am two months into Practicum's Data Science bootcamp, and so far it's been a challenging experience. I work a full time job so most of my spare time is spent studying the course material. The material goes quite in depth and really pushes you to understand... Read More the concepts before moving onto the next piece of coursework. My community manager is very helpful and checks in often to see how I am doing. The tutors are excellent as well, and they hold regular learning sessions on the weekend that further flesh out the material you learn in each section of the course. You definitely get back what you put in with this course, and Practicum gives you all the resources you need in order to achieve a high level of understanding of the course material. I am looking forward to progressing further in the course, since it means I am one step closer towards become a real data scientist.