Tech Elevator

A decision as momentous as dropping your life for a few months and starting over is not one anyone should take lightly. With that being said, there is no place other than Tech Elevator that I would have ever even considered doing this. I write this review about four months out of the program and well into a wonderful job as a full stack developer.

I was quite nervous when I came in to meet with Katie and Ben. At this point, the reputation of this institution precedes it. Any small amount of research will quickly reveal the accolades this place merits. My apprehension was instantly erased upon coming face to face with the people who were going to help me guide my future the way I wanted it to go.

This program is no small challenge. People from all walks of life and the broadest of ...

I graduated August 2018 from the Java Cohort and i can’t say enough good things. Going in, I thought I knew more about coding than I actually did, so the program was very tough. And I also thought I was on-point with my resume and interview skills, which needed some help. The course feeds you info like a firehouse so was very challenging, but the instructors and staff are always willing to give you extra help and guidance after class or nights and weekends through the messaging app. If you put in the work, you will earn that reward. I learned everything i needed to get me started in a career as a Software Engineer, but I learned so much more about myself as a person. There were times that I felt I wouldn’t get to the finish line, but with help and encouragement from everyone (including ...

What is the program like?
14 weeks long, 3 hours of technical instruction each day in the morning, several hours of professional development / career-related instruction per week, daily programming assignments (sometimes solo, sometimes pair programming, sometimes both), several “mini-capstones” throughout the program followed by a larger final capstone project at the very end.

The workload is intense. For me, it was a minimum of 60 hours a week, frequently more, including a lot of evening and weekend hours working on assignments, reading supplemental materials, or crafting professional resources like my resume and LinkedIn. I thought this was a major strong point of the program. You need to learn enough material to make yourself an asset to a tech company, and the only way to do th...

Tech Elevator in Cincinnati provided me with an amazing education and job preparation curriculum. I studied in the .NET track, and had almost zero prior coding experience. Every day was structured effectively to teach us foundations and build upon it daily with relevant coding exercises, both paired and solo, each day. With 4 separate capstone projects, we all went from beginners to junior developers in just a few weeks.

On the job side, Tech Elevator delivered as well! From resume building sessions, to mock interviews (both HR and tech focused), and all the way up to the “matchmaking” program, where hiring companies came to us for two days of interviews, they gave us all the tools to succeed.

I received a job offer before the boot camp was over, as did at least half of our coh...

Short version: Definitely worth it for me personally. I went from making teenage wages in the sevice industry to landing a software developer job. Plus, It only took 14-weeks of 50-60+ hour weeks to do it. Which was a ton of work but realistically not a ton of actual time (14-weeks < 4-years for a degree). As people like to say "life changing". So if you can carve out 14-weeks for Tech Elevator I would say go for it. Mind you, my experience may not be yours.

Background: I had an Associates degree before Tech Elevator and had worked as a production/graphic designer for the better part of a decade before Tech Elevator. I moved to Pittsburgh and was unable to find work in my previous industry and fell back on the world of food service to keep myself afloat.

Instructors: Tom and An...

Tech Elevator is an incredible opportunity. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the fifth cohort at the Columbus campus and I cannot express enough how incredible the experience was for me. To start off, coding boot camps certainly are not for everyone and they are not magical job portals that just place you at companies making six figures right away, but they are incubators for people with an aptitude and passion for learning. The boot-camp model, in my opinion, is best suited to let someone who has experimented with software and wants to get into software development acquire the technical know how and best practices for the industry while also learning to traverse the professional landscape of job hunting in software. That being said, I am convinced that you cannot find a better pr...

I learned about Tech Elevator just a few weeks after learning some basic JavaScript and utilizing online tools such as freecodecamp.org. Even though I'd read their great reviews online and even heard from associates of former graduates, I was hesitant to join a program off the beaten path of attending a 4 year institution coming from the hospitality industry, but after visiting an open house event and speaking with the instructors, I was convinced that Tech Elevator was not only the smart choice for someone like me, it was the best choice.

The staff at Tech Elevator are genuine and supportive no matter what their role or daily interaction with you. Kelly, the Pathway Program Director was such an integral part of my education and preparation for entering the field of software developm...

Tech Elevator was an awesome experience. In my time there I acquired the skills necessary to transition into a career as a developer. I had a slight background in programming Java but had only worked as an IT specialist. After reading the reviews online about Tech Elevator and hearing of their extremely high job placement rate I ended up leaving college and attending this boot camp on a whim. It was definitely not a mistake. I was fortunate enough to have a job offer a month before graduation after the first matchmaking event.

If you get accepted I HIGHLY recommend attending the next available cohort. I was in the .NET class and I can say Josh is an amazing instructor. He had a way of explaining things which made things clear and easy to follow. That being said you will spend...

I came from a 10-year career in HR and had the opportunity to work at a few different tech companies, being either directly or indirectly involved in hiring software developers at three.
Long story short, I knew for a while that I wanted to move from HR into software development, but it wasn’t realistic for me to go back to school for another degree. Eventually, my family was relocated from Atlanta to Columbus and after struggling to find an HR job here that aligned with my experience and values, I came to the conclusion that Tech Elevator would be my ticket into software development.

Like a lot of people, I did a ton of research and talked to former TE grads and ultimately decided to do it. The program is designed to set you up with the tools to graduate as a junior-level full ...

So I’ll start off on a positive.

The instruction and the instructors are incredible. These are truly some of best people I’ve ever met. The information was outstanding and the course work was challenging, yet fair. They’re committed to helping you become the best you in such a short time frame.
You’re also bound to meet some really cool people in your fellow classmates. A lot of individuals with different backgrounds that have been everything from stay at home moms, to teachers, to self-taught mobile app developers.

That being said, I don’t really have exceptional comments to make about this program. I’m not going to fill your head with fru-fru nonsense like you’ll read below. It’s very possible that this program will change your life in a positive way but it doesn’t mean that...

If you are looking to join a coding bootcamp, I would highly recommend Tech Elevator. I graduated this August and had a very good experience. I was even able to land a job before graduation. The instructors are very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. The Pathway program does an incredible job of helping you learn how to present yourself to future employers.
If there is a catch to the program, it is that nothing is handed to you. As good as the numbers are for job placements, if you do not put in the effort, you will have a very difficult time. Tech Elevator gives you all the tools you need but you have to personally put in the work to succeed.

I had a fantastic experience at Tech Elevator. I was in Columbus Cohort[5]’s .Net group and would (and have) recommended it to anyone looking for a career change who is remotely interested in a career in tech. It’s a major commitment of both time and money, but if you’re up to the task it’s an incredibly rewarding experience that opens doors you wouldn’t usually have access to. In my case, the return on investment was absolutely worth it as well. I spent ~$15,000 and 14 weeks on Tech Elevator and came out on the other side with a valuable skill set and a salary $30,000 higher than what I was making beforehand.

If I had to sum up my experience at Tech Elevator in one word it would be “support.” 14 weeks is a long time to be bombarded with new information on a daily basis while gettin...

Last year I was stuck in a dead-end job, working in hospitality as a waiter in a little family restaurant. I was at a point where I was ready to dedicate myself to a career but I felt like I simply didn’t have the right piece of paper to get started working in a field that interested me. I had always loved tech and I wanted a job where I would be able to apply myself mentally but I felt like the only way to do that was to go massively in debt, going back to college to pursue a degree in a new field. Luckily, I wasn’t the only person who realized that there was a significant subsect of society that was underemployed but willing to put in the work to make something of themselves if they were given a chance.

Tech Elevator was the opportunity I didn’t know was out there but I was waiting...

If you're looking into a coding bootcamp, attending one, or have already graduated, you probably know the "One Question" that I'm talking about. Maybe your friends and family asked it. If you're still in the looking phase, you're probably asking it of yourself. The question isn't "which bootcamp". The question is, "can't you just learn that online for cheaper?" I'm here to put that question to rest.

There are plenty of resources online, including educational videos, practice problems, volunteer and paid tutors, competitions, networking, job boards, you name it. You can learn anything online. But when it comes to making a career change, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When you can learn anything, what should you choose to learn? When are you going to start, when are you going to p...

Tech Elevator was an awesome experience. Throughout the 14 weeks everyone was always willing to help. I would highly recommend this program.

I had zero experience in IT before joining Tech Elevator.  The instructors are attentive, professional and a pleasure to work with.  After class was over, the pathway team didn’t stop until every student was gainfully employed. I wholly recommend this program to those motivated to start a new career and dedicated enough to go for it.

I had an incredible experience at Tech Elevator. I met some truly wonderful people, and learned a lot about how to teach myself, going forward. I've always been in a whirlwind of jobs that I never liked. After Tech Elevator, I'm going into a career that actually means something to me, that I'll really love.

Tech Elevator is the best decision I ever made. I went from a dead-end industry to within two weeks of graduating from Tech Elevator making a salary 2.5x as much as I was making.

Everyone at Tech Elevator cares a lot about you, the instructors are incredible. I'm convinced Brian never sleeps. He'd be up until well past 11 answering questions in our chatroom, and be back in the morning to answer the dozens of questions I had come up with by then. He even helped to walk me through a technical problem I had which was only tangentially related to class. He was also seemingly unstumpable. The longest he spent stumped by a question of mine was forty five minutes.

Running parallel to the coding instruction is the Pathway program, and here is where they stand out against the competi...

Graduated 4/20/2018 - C#/.NET Bootcamp

About a year ago, I was sitting in the same position you are right now. I was unsatisfied with the current status of my career and spent hours pouring over the reviews of various coding bootcamps available to me in Cleveland. You may find yourself reading about Tech Elevator and thinking 'This sounds too good to be true.' I can assure you that, I too, had the same suspicion.

I spent time tracking down graduates on Linkedin and pestering them about their experiences, attended the open house, and met with staff. There was reassurance along every step of the way that this was the right decision. Prior to TE I had earned a Masters degree in Music and was tired of the teaching/performance lifestyle - not only did I desire something with more con...

When I graduated from Tech Elevator, I decided to wait and see how things turned out before writing this review.

I'm now eleven months post graduation, and here's where I'm at: I've doubled my previous income, I have enviable benefits, and, for the first time in my life, I absolutely love what I do. I get to code and solve puzzles every single day with a bunch of really smart people. On Sundays nights I no longer dread coming into work on Monday morning. That's huge.

Admittedly, when our Tech Elevator cohort began, I was worried I wouldn't make it through. In my early 40s, I was one of the oldest students in my class. I didn't know if I could keep up academically or on the job hunt. However, on both fronts, my previous work and life experience ended up playing to my advanta...