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Thinkful

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 Ranked 2022 Best Bootcamp

About Thinkful

Location: Online

Thinkful teaches students how to become equipped for the world's next workforce with fast paced, job-ready programs in software engineering, data science, data analytics, and design. Students learn cutting-edge industry standards and work 1-on-1 with... Read More

Thinkful's Engineering and Data Science Immersion programs, Engineering Flex, Engineering Nights & Weekends, Data Science Flex, Product Design Flex, and Data Analytics Flex programs have unprecedented levels of support, with weekly 1-on-1 mentorship, 40+ hours of Q&A sessions, and a bustling Slack community of mentors and fellow students.

The Engineering and Data Science Immersion programs are among the most in-depth and rigorous available. With five full months of expert instruction, team project building, and career prep, the course sets the standard for immersive programs. If you graduate but are not hired as a developer or data scientist within six months, Thinkful refunds 100% of your tuition.

With Thinkful, you'll gain guidance from an active community, attend online office hours and offline local community meetups, while using various tools and resources to help you change your career.

Courses

Data Analytics Flex

Cost: $8,000
Duration: 24 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

The Data Analytics program combines an in-depth, project-based approach with two 1-on-1 sessions every week with a professional Data Analyst. This program is built to help those with no prior experience in data or technology land their first full time job as a data analyst - at a flexible pace and without having to quit your current job! You'll work side-by-side with a professional data analyst to learn statistics, analysis and experiment design, how to work with visualizations in Tableau, a thorough understanding of Excel, SQL and Python. You’ll also have the option to meet in person with fellow students and mentors to share ideas and work through problems.

Subjects:
MySQL, Python, Data Analytics, SQL, Data Visualization

Data Analytics Immersion

Cost: $12,250
Duration: 15 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

A rigorous and structured full-time program built to get you a job as a data analyst. Benefit from instructor-led learning, a virtual classroom environment, 1-on-1 mentorship, and a robust support team.

Data Science Flex

Cost: $9,500
Duration: 24 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

A flexible, online data science course aimed at helping you launch a career. One-on-one mentorship, professional guidance, and a robust community network are on hand to help you succeed in this highly advanced profession.

Subjects:
Data Science

Digital Marketing Flex

Cost: $4,900
Duration: 12 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

Learn the technical skills needed to build an audience, create a brand, and drive sales. Study with a flexible, online schedule, a personal mentor, and peer groups. Professional career coaches guide you with networking advice and personalized resume tips to help secure a high-income marketing role.

Subjects:
Digital Marketing

Engineering Flex Program

Cost: $9,500
Duration: 24 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

The Engineering Flex program was designed for students whose schedules vary week to week or for those who can’t commit to regular class times in the evening. The program is flexible, allowing you to set your own schedule to fit your life. By dedicating 20-30 hours a week, you can be ready for a new job and graduate in six months. The program is on your own time but you have to be committed to make it work.

The course teaches students web development fundamentals such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as well as advanced skills in Node.js, React, data structures and algorithms. Students will build full stack JavaScript applications and come out with strong portfolios. Before graduation, students will conduct mock interviews and polish their resumes, Linkedin and Github profiled with insight from career coaches. Thinkful programs are backed by a tuition reimbursement guarantee - if you don’t get a job within six months of graduating, we’ll refund your tuition.

Engineering Immersion

Cost: $16,000
Duration: 20 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

Thinkful’s Engineering Immersion program is designed for people to immerse themselves into web development and get hired as fast as possible. The pace pushes students to become hirable web developers in five months and requires 50-60 hours of effort per week. The fully online program features constant support, as students interact daily with their classmates, instructors, and mentors. Each student will have a dedicated mentor, who they’ll meet with 1-on-1 for half an hour multiple times per week.

The course teaches students web development fundamentals such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as well as advanced skills in Node.js, React, data structures and algorithms. Students will build full stack JavaScript applications, learn to collaborate in teams, and come out with strong portfolios. Before graduation, students will conduct 5 mock interviews and polish their resumes, Linkedin and Github profiled with insight from career coaches. This program offers an income shared agreement - you won't have to pay tuition until you're hired and earning an income above $40,000/year.

Technical Project Management Flex

Cost: $6,500
Duration: 20 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

Break into tech as a project manager. Learn how to plan, schedule, and budget in a business setting while developing the leadership skills for long-term career growth. A flexible format that works around your schedule, with industry mentors and career support until you’re hired.

UX/UI Design Immersion

Cost: $12,150
Duration: 20 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

Learn career-ready skills in research, web design, and teamwork on your path to a high-paying role in UX/UI. One-on-one mentorship, interview prep and community support take you from newbie to hired and beyond.

UX/UI Flex

Cost: $9,500
Duration: 26 weeks
Locations: Online
Course Description:

Thinkful's UX/UI Flex program is an online, flexible training program for busy, career-focused adults to become job-ready designers. UX/UI Flex is a holistic learning experience that includes mentorship from skilled designers, an industry-vetted curriculum, graded assignments, and a community of fellow designers to support you. Over 90% of senior designers say designers need to know how to code in today's market. You'll study the design process in depth, including UX research, visual design, AND frontend development. You'll also build a portfolio of real-life projects. These skills, combined with dedicated support from career services, will help you land your first job as a designer, or your money back.

Subjects:
UI Design, UX

Thinkful Reviews

Average Ratings (All Programs)

Thinkful logo

4.64/5 (663 reviews)

Kateryna Rozhko
Co-founder | Graduated: 2020

7/17/2020

Course
Digital Marketing Immersion

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Thinkful was one of the best investments I ever made!"

Today, I graduated from Thinkful Digital Marketing Immersion Course. It was a challenging 2 months, brushing up my skills and building up my portfolio.

Joining a bootcamp was one the best investments I ever made. The education they give you is practical... Read More

Stephanie LeBlond
Senior Program Manager | Graduated: 2020

7/17/2020

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"An incredibly rich, demanding and rewarding full stack web development program."

I learned industry best practices and practical software development standards during an intense 8 month remote learning program while juggling my full-time job. I created and deployed mobile-first applications while learning new languages and frameworks.... Read More

Annie Yang
Graduated: 2020

6/12/2020

Course
Data Analytics Flex

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Great Community and Program!"

Prior to the program, I had work experience with Excel and a little bit of experience studying SQL and Python. I really wanted to move my career in a more technical direction, but didn't know how to start. I had a little bit of exposure to Data Analytics,... Read More

I found it through a Google search and what drew me in the most was their tuition guarantee for a job. I am so glad that I found and finished this program. I was able to get hands-on experience in Excel, SQL, Tableau and Python and feel more confident with my data analysis and presentation skills. The program is very well-structured with an organized curriciulum. My Academic Success Manager was always quick to reply back to all my questions about the course. My current mentor is also very encouraging and offers amazing insights on real world application. I loved the Slack community, especially the technical coaches - they were so nice and always made sure my questions were thoroughly answered. While anything nowadays can be learned online, I feel like doing a bootcamp is better because of the certification and doing projects that are relevant that has been reviewed by someone who can give feedback is so important. I'll be moving on to the career phase of this program and I'm impressed so far about the resources they provide!

Anonymous
Graduated: 2020

5/28/2020

Course
Engineering Immersion

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Thinkful is a low-risk loan office with a 70% interest rate. This is not a school."

So bear with me for a few minutes as I go through this. Thinkful is a glorified loan company that offers a sub-par program as a guise for their ridiculously high-interest loans. I was interested in the engineering immersion class, with the ISA and stipend.... Read More

I have 8 years experience in LPC, which is a dead language now and a sub-branch of C. I had never even looked at HTML, CSS, or JS before I started the prep course. I went through the entire prep course in 4 days and knocked it out of the park. Their timeline is a little over 3 weeks. I was done and approved before I ever spoke to my mentor for the first time. My first call from admissions was rescheduled by email 5 minutes after the call was supposed to come through. When I did finally receive the call a week later, I could tell immediately I was talking to a salesman, not an admissions officer. He did little more than send me what he called as an application, but it was simply a a permission form for a credit check. Nothing more.

It's notable to mention that up to this point, after having finished the prep course so easily and so quickly, both my mentor and this saleman were very eager to extol all the wonderful things about Thinkful and kept alluding to the prep course being some sort of os scholastic-type test for potential students, and also to make sure all students started with the same basic knowledge. This was utter horse crap all around, but I'll get into the curriculum itself momentarily. After having hyped me up about how great they are and making me think my performance on the prep course actually mattered, they denied me the ISA and stipend both within 24 hours.

Your eligibility is based solely on that credit score and current employment. Nothing else. NOTHING. Leaving me wondering why the hell I was given any work to do at all before they ran my credit score. I busted my butt and excelled in every way, even with the poor materials they provide. In reality, the ISA is nothing more than a $16,000 loan, and the stipend is just adding $7,500 to that loan, bringing the total loan up to $23,500. If you couldn't go out to a bank and get a loan for this amount, you won't qualify for the ISA or the stipend. The payback price is $40,000 at 25% of your gross income for 4 years or until paid. That's close to double, and any bank could do better.

I received a call from my salesman again within 15 minutes of being denied, urging me to apply for the 6 month course instead of the 5 month with stipend, which still costs 16k and takes even longer, and I would still have not been eligible for. Jobless, almost no credit history, no debt to speak of. I don't even own one single credit card. I've always lived with what I have and never borrowed. When I tried to just tell this guy to forget it, he started in with the sales pitch again, and when I didn't bite he actually accused me of trying to just scam the school out of the $7500 stipend. As if that was a lot of a money and even worth the hit to my already crappy credit score. He was quite rude once he realized I wasn't going to take anything less than what I signed up for, or I was going elsewhere. When I tried to find an avenue of complaint over his behavior, I met nothing but dead ends. I emailed the one link in my course material that goes to someone vaguely official and got no reply.

So if you thought ISA was some kind of helpful service you end up paying out the butt for, you're wrong. There is zero interest in your ability, aptitude, or state of need. This company would rather have a double digit IQ and high credit score than a potentially amazing coder with a low credit score. There is zero interest in helping you, only in putting you in debt. I also got the impression that if I simply paid the 16k up front and didn't owe them anything, I would be placed at the very bottom of the list on helping me find a job after the course. Since there is no certification of any kind given after the course is complete, you would be out 16k with nothing but a few simple projects to show for it, while Thinkful steadily places all the graduates who owe them 40k into a job.

The curriculum was no better. The three week course covers what would amount to your first two classes in a tech school. It is stressed up front that an actual programmer knows how to find the information they need without help from outside resources. Which is totally true, except in this case it's a way of covering their repeated mistakes in code and the various pieces of misinformation you are given. I'll give a few examples.

In the demo on assigning multiple classes to one element, they create a class called "bold" in the CSS, and then use "heavy", which is undefined, in the HTML, making the demo worthless. The examples don't show properly. The video and instructions on how to properly publish a web page on Github are incorrect and result in a fail. You are plainly shown wrong instructions and neglected being told that your repo name has to be created in a specific way or the site can't find the files. This was huge for me, because this isn't even coding, and it's a necessary step in completing your final assignment. Then, on the final assignment, if you place the CSS normalization link in the head that they literally recommend you use, it causes the test to fail and have to be resubmitted. The link is good, the grading code is bad.

Those are just a few of the various mistakes and pieces of false info I found. And this is the PREP COURSE designed to draw people in. It's awful, and for the same price you can easily go to a technical institute for a degree and actual job placement help. This is a scam.

Anonymous
Freelance Web Developer | Graduated: 2020

5/26/2020

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Thinkful provided me with the confidence, knowledge (or ability to acquire the necessary skills) and support to work as a freelance web developer after only 3 months in the Engineering Flex Program."

I considered becoming a software engineer for 8 years and researched bootcamps for 1 year before selecting Thinkful. The greatest strength of the program for me was having an experienced mentor debugging with me, pair programming with me, and providing... Read More

I pivoted into tech after working in Property Management for four years. After completing three months of Thinkful's program, I was asked to consult for a small business and design and develop their website, and the best part is, I had the confidence to do so because Thinkful taught me to embrace the unknown and to approach challenges methodically with the belief that you will learn and solve for any problem that comes your way. Highly recommend if you are looking to learn a relevant stack, change your career, and/or build a great portfolio of projects.

Anthony Z
Graduated: 2020

5/26/2020

Course
Data Analytics Flex

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"An Excellent Bootcamp and Career Accelerator!"

I graduated from Thinkful's Data Analytics Flex program in late March and was recently hired for a new position -- I had an overall excellent experience with the program! The curriculum is comprehensive and rigorous, focusing on Excel, SQL, Tableau, and... Read More

The instructors are great; you get paired with a mentor for 1-1 sessions twice a week, and an academic success manager whom you meet with every 1-2 months or so. Both my mentor and success manager were very helpful and responsive. After completing the curriculum, you get paired with a career coach for up to six months of career assistance; this stage requires you to apply for jobs and participate in networking activities. I did really appreciate Thinkful's job guarantee, as it demonstrates their confidence in landing new roles for their graduates. Thinkful is currently providing added support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which I also really appreciate and believe will be very beneficial to students and recent graduates.

All in all, I loved my experience with Thinkful and greatly appreciate the education, guidance, and support they provided me in my career transition!

Peggy Sturman
QA Engineer | Graduated: 2020

5/19/2020

Course
Engineering Immersion

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Thinkful is a Wonderful Way to Upgrade Your Skills"

I attended Thinkful's Engineering Nights and Weekend course. I graduated in May 2020. I would not hesitate to recommend Thinkful. I originally chose Thinkful because of the tech stack that they teach (JavaScript, Node, React, Express, SQL). I choose that... Read More

I feel I got a well-rounded exposure to a full-stack web environment in a supportive environment. In order to help you succeed here are a few things I wish I would have known going in:

* Have down the basics of JavaScript before you start. There is a JavaScript module, but you really need to go in having a good solid base. If you are new to coding or JavaScript, I recommend doing work (either from free resources or find a good low priced Udemy class) until you are really comfortable with the basics (writing a function, what is an object, array's, etc.).

* After each section, you will be tested. The test will consist of verbal questions and live coding. Make sure you are comfortable with both. I get very nervous so I wish I would have known that. That being said, while they can be nerve-wracking, they are exactly what interviews in a real-world environment are like so these are really helping to prepare you!

* If you get a mentor that you don't feel you connect with it is perfectly ok to ask for a different one. This happened to me. My original mentor while good, did not meet my needs. I requested a new mentor and I was assigned a new one right away. He was amazing!

* Make the most of your mentoring sessions. If you don't have anything that you want to ask your mentor for help with in a session, ask for drills that you can do, etc. Never go in without a plan of something you want to work on. While the mentor is there to help, you must drive your own learning. So if you don't need help, you could go in and ask, I want to get better at X, can you give me some drills to do, or can we talk about X.

* Coding is hard and you will swear and be frustrated often. This is normal. Just do not give up. Get up, take a break, and get back to it. If you are stuck you have mentors, classmates and technical coaches that are there to help.

* Get comfortable with troubleshooting and doing research. I see a lot of new students asking questions, such as "I can't get into X site". Did you open Dev. tools and see if there is an error, did you try a different browser, did you clear your cache, did you restart your machine, etc. If you are having problems troubleshooting getting into a site, how are you going to feel troubleshooting when your code is not working. I do realize this is a new skill for some people so it is not meant as a criticism. If you are new to tech and not really familiar with troubleshooting problems, I would do some reading on how to do that. It really will help you in all areas.

* Give as much as you get. There is a vibrant Slack community of students. Try to get to know other people and contribute where you can. I'm a big believer in giving back where you can.

Hsin Ling Hu
Graduated: 2020

5/18/2020

Course
Engineering Immersion

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Engineering Immersion program"

I just completed Thinkful's Engineering Immersion program! My experience was amazing. I knew nothing going in and learned so much by the end. This is not a program in which you participate casually. It is a hard Bootcamp, I’m not gonna lie, but my effort... Read More

Anonymous
Graduated: 2020

5/18/2020

Course
Data Analytics Flex

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Great"

Pros: -curriculum up to industry standards
-lots of support from mentors and slack channels
-clear guidelines to pass assignments
-career support for different types of interviews and professional documents (resume, cover letter, etc)

Cons: -pacing of the... Read More

Matt Childers
Data Scientist, Consultant | Graduated: 2020

4/23/2020

Course
Data Science Flex

Overall

Curriculum

Job Support

"Data Science Flex for Motivated Learners"

I just finished the Data Science Flex course and recommend it for any motivated person who wants to update their analytics skill set in a remote learning environment. The operative term is MOTIVATED. You have to self-discipline and motivation to get through... Read More

As a former college professor who has taught both in person and online, I have been on the both sides of the learning experience and prefer in person courses because they are more conducive to higher quality learning. But, I was not in a position to enroll in a bootcamp in person nor was I in a position to take a full time course for 12 weeks. Thinkful was appealing for three reasons: it provided you with a mentor who was a senior data scientist and you would meet twice a week during the course, it provided a lot of other online support like virtual office hours with other senior data scientists and Slack channels with technical coaching support, and it was part-time with a flexible schedule.

On balance, I had a great experience and learned a ton. The mentor program is its strongest feature because with a good mentor you have someone whom you can regularly ask questions about anything related to what you are doing in the course (including career advice). Your mentor also keep you on schedule for two reasons: 1) you don’t want to waste their time, and 2) they can help get out of ruts when you are struggling with projects. My mentor was outstanding and helped me a lot. My biggest problem was often with syntax and python basics that I would forget and they always provided helpful code.

The material is text-based with examples and walkthroughs. They don’t provide lectures or seminars. You must be someone who learns by reading and doing to master the material. I am one of those people, but you may not be. If you prefer video instruction, you may not get as much out of the program. I, along with other students I was in touch with throughout the course went to YouTube for extra guidance or alternative explanations to help clarify some things. Be prepared, however, to do extra reading on your own on a regular basis. I think that you’ll probably do that in any bootcamp course you take.

You pay around $8,000 for six months in the program with 42 days of pause time. Once you sign up, you get a customized schedule with deadlines to help keep you on pace. Pause time allows you to temporarily stop the schedule for a period of time and push your deadlines back in case you are behind, work gets crazy, or you need to break to clear your head.

Other strengths:
Most of the material (80-85%) was accessible and focused on showing you how to apply what you’re learning. They provided enough theoretical and conceptual material so you got the big idea, but the highest quality materials made code accessible to newbies.
Technical coaching support was always great. Coaches are patient and stick with you until the problem is solved, regardless of how long it takes to figure things out.
Online office hours and other support: Mentors holding office hours were always outstanding and very helpful.
“Pause time”: they give you 42 days of “pause time,” where you can pause your timeline and get deadlines pushed back. You might get behind at some point and this is your option to
Administration: you get an Academic Success Manager who acts like a counselor throughout the course and is there for help related to anything but data-science specific issues. ASMs were always pretty good about supporting you through tough times that were outside of your control. For example, people got extra pause time during the pandemic.
You choose a specialty at the end where you dig a little deeper on a topic of your interest and that serves as the basis for your final capstone project. This is something for you and your mentor to figure out together.
Career Support: You get six months with a career coach to help you find a job, but they require a lot of work. I can’t say more since I am just entering that phase.

Weaknesses
Some of the material was not so clear. You would occasionally come across a subsection where the concept was not broken down very well or the code explanation was glib and you needed to do a lot of outside reading to figure things out. Or, the explanations about the concept and code were both pretty shallow yet there was a big leap between that and what you were required to do for the accompanying assignment. That didn’t happen often, but did so occasionally. Unfortunately for me, I specialized in NLP and the material was incomplete, requiring me to do read a lot of extra material to bring me up to speed. This caused me to take longer than I wanted to for the final project. It worked out OK in the end, but this was pretty frustrating. From my own discussions with other students, this does was not the case with other specialization modules, thankfully.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What financing options are offered by Thinkful?

Thinkful offers many financing options, such as Scholarships, Income Share Agreements, Loan Financing, Upfront Payments, and Monthly Payments.

What courses are offered at Thinkful?

There are many courses you can take at Thinkful. These include Data Analytics Flex, Data Analytics Immersion, Data Science Flex, Digital Marketing Flex, Engineering Flex Program, Engineering Immersion, Technical Project Management Flex, +2 more.

UX/UI Design Immersion, UX/UI Flex

What types of programs are offered at Thinkful?

Thinkful has Full-Time programs for students that can be taken online.

In these programs, students can learn from and take advantage of 1-on-1 mentoring sessions, personalized feedback on submitted assignments, live 1-1 assessments (usually structured as a mock interview), career services, and more.

What are the job outcomes for Thinkful?

The average salary after graduation is $64,417, and 80% of alumni find a job.

Thinkful alumni work at various tech companies, such as Google, IBM, Boeing, Walmart Labs, Amazon, and more.

What is the application process at Thinkful like?

Prospective students will need to submit an online form in order to apply to Thinkful.

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