Thinkful

My experience with Thinkful was the single worst educational and customer service experience of my life - which is saying a lot. The online curriculum is definitely subpar and there are no explanatory videos or live sessions as there are with other bootcamps.

The program provides you with bi-weekly mentor sessions to answer any questions your may have and to guide your progress. I went through 5 mentors - FIVE. 4 of whom 'ghosted' me and did not show up for our scheduled sessions. The other one chain smoked and made inappropriate comments throughout the duration of our sessions.

Most of the mentors commented on how poorly structured the program was and how there were better bootcamp programs available. One mentor even said that it would be difficult to find a job without knowin...

I just finished Thinkful's Engineering Immersion full-time program. I went from minimal/no programming experience to building full-stack (frontend, backend, database) in less than 6 months. It was equal parts exciting, difficult, rewarding, and exhausting.

Not for the faint of heart, but a great way get into web development. I put in an average of 60~70 hrs of work per week.

I would recommend studying a bit of JavaScript and SQL on FreeCodeCamp to give yourself a bit more time to digest the material.

Pros:
- Well-rounded curriculum.
- Deep discussions of topics are available.
- Very active online community

Cons:
- The local community could be more organized and activated.
- More structure around the capstone projects would be useful
- More active mentor supervision is needed.

-Pros -
It will provide you with good and updated material to get your skills sharp on the language that they are teaching you.
It is fast paced, it will make time fly and you will be learning a lot really fast.
It will challenge yourself as a professional, and you will understand the meaning of "detail oriented'.

-Cons-
- Why didn't I start this program earlier? - I ask myself this question almost everyday.

It may seem overwhelming at the beginning but trust me they will provide you with the tools for your success. Understand that this boot camp is what its name means, it will require of your time to sit down and put the hours in. I currently have a full time job, my afternoons and evenings I have to dedicate to the program in order to stay on meeting my dates.

Note: My experience was with Thinkful's Engineering Immersion program. There are several tracks within Thinkful, and each is structured slightly differently.

Deciding to join a boot camp is a very nerve-wracking decision. For me, it was a total career change, so I wanted to minimize my risk as much as possible. I decided to go with Thinkful after seeing that they regularly post their job placement rates online and that they have a job placement guarantee.

The actual program ended up being extremely challenging. I put in anywhere from 40-70 hours a week, depending on that week's content. The material is challenging, but the pace felt spot on for what I wanted to get out of it. During the program I always felt pushed, a little overwhelmed at times. As a result, I left the program...

I’m just beginning to finish up my Fundamentals Modules for the Product design Track on Thinkful and so far I’m super impressed. I left my full full time job to pursue this and it’s hand down the best investment I’ve made in myself to date. The curriculum is super thorough (which is super helpful to someone with no experience in the field such as myself), and the feedback from the graders is always helpful (unless you pass right away, in which they usually say something that can be summed up in a “job well done”). My mentor is great, and is an awesome match personality wise. Having the two 45 minute one on one sessions each week is a huge perk. I don’t see how anyone could do this well with out them. If you’re hesitant and reading reviews to help make a decision, I say take the jump!

...

I am a couple of months into Thinkful's full-stack flex program, and I could not be happier! For me, the most important thing has been my sessions with my mentor. Having one on one time with a seasoned developer is absolutely priceless. The program managers are amazing, they are there to cheer you on and be there for anything you might need. Then, there is the Thinkful Slack community, just open lines of communication and students, alum and support staff helping each other out non-stop. It is clear from day one that Thinkful wants you to succeed and will be there with you every step of the way. This is a top-notch program, and I would recommend it to anyone!

I am really enjoying working through the Thinkful curriculum, and the support of my Thinkful mentor and the community has really helped me through the process. I am currently a part of the Full Stack Flex program and one thing I really appreciate about this program is the flexibility to be able to get the work done outside of working my day job. The curriculum provides a lot of helpful reading, which I can sometimes do on-the-go, and the way the projects and assignments are structured is super engaging. They have elevated the program even more to include more online community among students as well as some local meet-ups and networking events.

Before Thinkful I was working in IT. Thinkful gave me the tools and resources to help me launch my career in tech. My mentor was really helpful in answering my tech/non-tech related questions. After graduation, I was able to land my engineering job within my current company. As someone that already has student loans, I was a little bit on the fence but it was worth it in the end.

Thinkful's Data science flex program was truly a wonderful experience. I met some supportive and knowledgeable people here. The program stands out for it's one on one mentorship and i was matched up with an excellent mentor. He walked me thru every concept and gave me pointers to improve my projects. Curriculum covers almost every topic in data science briefly and it's up to the student to choose a specialization towards the end. Mock interviews and presentations helped me boost my confident levels and exchange ideas with other mentors and students.

Overall it was a great experience and i managed to graduate in 6 months with a full time job.

Pros:
Having a good mentor is a key component. My mentor was available whenever I needed help and was very patient. The mock interviews and the presentations helped with my confidence level. The mock interviews were very helpful as they pointed out how and where I needed improvement. The curriculum was updated while I was still on the old curriculum. I did go back and look at one of the new curricula for regression and the new lessons are better. I wish I had them when going through the course. But all in all, the experience with Thinkful has been pleasing. It was hard work and I did find myself getting burned out midway through. One good thing is you have pause time to use if you need to step away and regroup.

Cons:
I wish you could extend the Bootcamp by a week so that if ...

For context... I am almost through the first phase of the course and getting ready to submit my first capstone project.

So far my experience has been fantastic and I don't expect that to change. The curriculum is challenging yet there is that flexibility of completing it on your schedule.

In my opinion, the way they have it set up is great. You get a mentor, program manager, career coach, and career services manager. So far I have only had the pleasure of interacting with my mentor and program manager, but if the career support team is anything like what I have experienced so far then I would expect 5 stars all day long.

For me, it all comes down to that mentorship. That is what really sold me.

Yes, I can sit there and read lessons and examples and comb through StackOverflow...

Apologies for the wall of text that's about to follow—apparently I had a lot to say, and I hope that some will find it useful.

Overview (TL/DR)
Enrolling at Thinkful is one of the best decisions I've ever made. They have a solid curriculum with staff who are really invested in student success. Not only do you graduate the program having obtained a highly-sought-after skillset, but Thinkful continues to support you in your job search and provides the strategies, resources, and connections that will really help you reach your goal of becoming a Developer.

Why Learn to Code?
I assume that if you're reading this, you've already thought about the answer to that question. For me, I started coding as a side-project when my former company asked me to redesign their website—I had no pr...

Thinkful's data science program provides the flexibility to continue working full-time without losing the support I need to succeed. I have a mentor that I meet with 1-on-1 twice a week, technical coaching for any problems that I run into that I can't solve on my own, and plenty of open office hours for other issues. The non-curriculum support team (finance, program manager, etc) has also been very helpful with anything that I need.

The work is challenging and rigorous. I've learned so much already and can't wait to continue my journey into data science!

I am currently in Thinkful's Full Stack Flex program. I work full-time and I needed the flexibility. I had some experience going into it, and I honestly think you need to have at least some of the basics down (know some html, css, js). The program is thought, and it’s recommended to dedicate 20 hours a week to keep up. From my experience you need to put way more time in to really grasp all the concepts and become confident in what you learn.

The course is layer out in modules and for each module you read the material and do the drills and projects. The material is very rigorous and provides tons of extra resources as well. If you get stuck solving a drill or need help understanding a concept, you can reach out to people on slack or you can go into office hours and ask your questions...

Thinkful gives students a mix of 10% theory 90% application. They do not TEACH data science, instead they MAKE data scientists. They do this by assigning you a program manager, whose task is to be your accountability buddy and help you get to the right resources within Thinkful (payment team, career resources...etc). In addition, they assign you a mentor who meets with you twice a week to give you applicable experience (which is the experience I highly value as a job seeker). My mentor has a PhD and is knowledgeable in navigating projects and challenges.

On the career search side, I have not taken any of the 5 mock interviews yet but I look forward to. They guided me on starting to build and follow companies, job titles, and trend setters in data science. They also note in one of the...

...quite thoughtful, if you'll forgive the pun. In my experience with the program over the last few months, I've come to this conclusion on more than one occasion. From the screening process to the curriculum development to the mentoring, there's ample evidence throughout that the community which designed & developed this bootcamp put a lot time and effort (and therefore a lot of thought) into its creation & maintenance. I think the most impressive aspect though is the confidence that everyone on staff has in the mission to prepare you for a job when you're ready, or upon completion (it's up to you, truly). And that goes for the resources that are made available throughout: it seems that there is a constant drive towards what is relevant whether it's a project management tool, or anothe...

Thinkful understands the value of supporting their students and almost provides too much support to utilize. Weekly mentor sessions, q&a sessions, open slack channel, technical coaching for hardware/software issues, and peer support are just a few of the opportunities that are provided for all students. I read about 200-250 reviews on Switchup's website before deciding to pursue this option. The nights and weekends program does require a ton of time. They clearly stated I would be spending 25-30 hours outside of my normal work day on this work and I absolutely am putting this amount of time if not more into the program. You will lose sleep as I am averaging 4-5 hours per night, but I also have a full time job, am a husband, and father to two young boys. I do not regret this decisio...

Overall I had a great experience learning at Thinkful. I completed the Engineering Immersion program as I thought it would be the best fit for me and I am very happy with my decision. I did quite a bit of research before deciding to take the plunge on a bootcamp as it is a big commitment of both time and money and after all is said and done, Thinkful certainly lived up to my hopes.

The curriculum is focused on technologies and languages that are in demand at the moment and in my job hun/interviews post graduation the stack I learned proved to be a desirable skill set. The teachers, mentors, and support staff were all very knowledgeable, friendly and happy to answer questions. It was clear that everyone that works at Thinkful is passionate about what they do and excited to help the st...

I'll be graduating from the Thinkful Analytics Bootcamp this week. It has been an enlightening experience. This is a great course for individuals with no previous analytics experience as well as those looking to "sharpen the saw". I've been an analyst for 4 years now and I primarily work with excel. Building on those skill with SQL, and Python helps me to "up my game". The Thinkful community was very helpful! I've enjoyed the course so much I'm actually attempting to become a mentor post-graduation.

PROS:
1.Curriculum
2.Technical Coaching
3.Projects to help you develop business acumen
4.Great community

CONS:
1.Cost
2.Job support
*You will not be spoon fed a job, you must work for it. Not necessarily a con but it's good to know what to expect. You get out what you put in.