Turing School of Software and Design

Right up there as potentially the best decision of my life. Amazing staff, great student culture (not by accident), extremely rigorous curriculum but with a great support system, and top-notch professional development. Had no tech experience...graduated... Read More with multiple great offers. Far from atypical, too - a significant amount of my cohort didn't even complete Turing because they had already been scooped up for jobs. You WILL get a job if you listen to the staff and put in the effort. I'm working as a Software Engineer now at an amazing corporation in my #1 industry of choice (remote, very well-paying, great benefits), and every day I'm using not only coding skills I learned at Turing, but processes and workflows that are industry standards. I spent months, legit MONTHS, researching coding programs and college programs (as one should for a big career change). Don't bother. There's a reason Turing got its accreditation. Stop wasting your time looking at other schools and go to the best one.

I decided to join Turing after I lost my job during the pandemic. It felt risky at the time, but now I truly believe it was the best decision I ever made and I wish I’d done it sooner! I came out of the pandemic with a new career in a high-paying field... Read More and am so excited about my future and the opportunities this will bring me. I chose Turing for 2 main reasons. First, I liked the length (7 months) and the focus on only front end or back end (not both). There is so much to learn as it is and other programs cram full stack into an even shorter amount of time. I started my first job as an engineer already and feel totally prepared for it. Second, the community at Turing really stuck out to me. I love Turing’s mission, I’ve made life long friends there, and the alumni network is SO, so valuable.

It's hard to put into words how much Turing changed my life. Honesty, I've postponed writing this review for two years, as I felt incapable of distilling the vast experience into ~1000 characters. I started Turing 10/1/18 and graduated 6/6/19. That was... Read More some time ago, and a lot has changed in the Turing program, ie Turing is now fully remote, while it was in-person, when I went... however one thing always remains constant, Turing is consistently integrating feedback and iterating on their lesson plans to improve the program. The staff even send out weekly feedback surveys, followup with the students, and noticeably integrate the feedback they receive. To be clear, the Turing program was really good when I went, but legitimately, it keeps getting better and better. As an alumni, I now mentor current students, an each time I receive a new mentee, I'm consistently impressed with how robust and advanced the students are, earlier and earlier in the program. Back when I was researching changing my career (my background is in retail and customer support), I looked into a handful of school, went to workshops at several of them, and spoke with alumni and teachers. Several things stood out to me; - The teachers stay longer and are more technically advanced than many of the other boot camps - Turing is a non-profit ie they're focused on investing in student growth, rather than maximizing the student population for profit. - Turing has a much longer/stronger track record of success (including published statistics on the average graduation rate and time it takes to get the first job) I found out about Turing through some friends whom are a couple. One of them went to Turing, while the other went to Galvanize ... their advice was, "look at all the other programs... but to go to Turing". Whenever I'm speaking with someone interested in taking the coding program leap... I now echo that same advice. Upon entering Turing, I came to understand that the student/alumni network is extremely robust and active. For instance, from day one, I was assigned a mentor, and upon graduation I went to alumni happy hours in the Denver area every 7 weeks. I've been on the job, for ~2 years now and was extremely well prepared for it. I did Turing's backend program, but actually got a full stack (front end and backend) job on a team with four other Turing grads. (It's definitely common for a company to hire one Turing grad and be so pleased that they decide they would like to hire more). I couldn't be happier with my decision to: 1. Go to a coding program 2. Go to Turing specifically. Turing 100% changed my life. Now, I work remotely, set my own hours, and have incredible flexibility. I'm very grateful.

I believe that my previous experience as a teacher was celebrated and put to use as I learned software development. The instructors work to address the anxieties that come with the leap of the faith that it is to basically put everything on hold for 7... Read More months to learn software development. Be aware, when Turing warns that you will not be able to work during the duration of this program, they mean it. However, the longer program meant, for me, that I was able to learn testing and leave the program feeling confident in my abilities that would lead to a job. As an underrepresented gender and person in tech, I felt that this community actively pushed against the boy's-club mentality as well as participated in addressing unconditional biases.

TL;DR your experience is what you make it :D I came to Turing after 7 years as an elementary educator with minimal programming knowledge and no technical experience. I started the front-end engineering program in January 2020. Turing also offers a back-end... Read More engineering program. I attended one module in person before the school switched to a fully remote model. I chose Turing because of the strong in-person community, length of the program, as well as their mission to foster inclusion and diversity in tech. I witnessed the community go online due to the pandemic. Turing instructors and staff adapted to remote learning gracefully and graciously through it all. I was grateful to be immersed in a learning community during that time of isolation, global stress and trauma. The curriculum is broken into four six-week modules with 1-week intermissions between each module aka mod. Mod 0 is prework that you must pass to start. Students are able to repeat up to two modules but not the same module twice. I did not repeat any modules. There is no shame in repeating and many of my classmates who repeated had a stronger foundation for their first jobs upon graduation. Modules 1 to 3 are front-end or back-end focused and Module 4 brings both programs together to collaborate on a full-stack project. It is project-based learning, meaning you learn by figuring out how to build things. Knowing how to learn, problem-solve, communicate and work with others are critical skills for the field. You will graduate with an impressive portfolio of projects and hopefully strong collaboration skills. Turing has some sessions on privilege, power, and ethical issues in the tech industry but I would like to see these important topics delved deeper into. I completed modules 2 to 4 remotely which worked well for me. I appreciated getting back commute time to take care of myself which supported my learning. Remote work skills are valuable in the tech industry even if you end up in a hybrid or in-person role. The curriculum also includes professional development for getting your first job. After graduation, mod 5 provides job-seeking support, meaning you have to put in the work but people are there to help. I graduated in August 2020 and was privileged to be able to take an extended job search that included some downtime. I enjoyed getting involved in Women Who Code and mentoring current Turing students during my search. I felt supported by the team throughout and was hired for my first full-time role in June 2021. You can continue to get support from the school and alumni network for your second job and beyond. Having a growth mindset is critical to success. Learning anything new comes with some discomfort and struggle. If you decide to attend Turing or any coding bootcamp, know your why and remember it when things are hard. You will always be learning and problem solving as a software developer so get used to it now. Trust in the learning process and practice self-care. Do your best and you will succeed.

Overall a great experience. The instructors were knowledgable, the curriculum was focused on current industry standards, and the community created was life-long. I have absolutely no doubt that the education and connections I have made through Turning... Read More will serve my career for my entire life. My experience was one of re-education and career change. I was in public service for years, and graduate school educated; but ultimately there was no room for growth and upward mobility. I loved the work, but the pay was paltry. For the price tag, the return on investment was incredible. After graduation I was employed as a software engineer at a start up, using a cutting edge tech stack, and doing exciting greenfield work in the data/media space. I've been employed now (at the same start up) for just over 18 months, and am loving it. The work is satisfying, the team is amazing, and knowledge that I'll have job security for as long as I want to work is amazing. Of course there were some small qualms with the program: the React/JS curriculum is a *tad* behind industry standards, and I wish the program was more like 12 months instead of 8. 8 is barely enough to get ur foot in the door (but obviously enough, since it worked for me.). But neither of those gripes would prevent me from encouraging others to join the Turing community.

This program is HARD but AWESOME. I came out of this program with an entirely new set of skills ready to enter the industry. The best thing about Turing is it teaches you how to learn. The tech industry is always changing and so you have to continue to... Read More learn new skills throughout your career. Turing prepared me for that. I did not enter the industry knowing everything I needed to do my job effortlessly but I was equipped with the skills to figure it out. On top of this Turing has a wonderful and lasting community. I made great friends and have the support of other alumni.

Attending Turing was the best decision I have ever made. My life has improved drastically since going through the program and I am extremely happy with my career as a software engineer. As many people say, it was challenging on a lot of different levels,... Read More but honestly I would do it again in a heartbeat. I learned so much and connected really deeply with a wonderful new community. The instructional staff is well trained academically but also unusually compassionate and caring. It is honestly hard to consider Turing amongst all the other bootcamps because of the level of rigor and the duration of the program. I graduated with a great job waiting for me and I feel more optimistic about my career than I ever have as an adult. Turing changed my life and if you are deciding where to enroll, it is definitely worth the money and the time commitment.

TL;DR: Turing is a fantastic choice that is extremely challenging but ultimately very rewarding. Be prepared, don't underestimate anything about the process and you'll be happy with the end result.

I consider attending Turing one of the best decision I've... Read More made in my life. I spent 10 months in the program and it was extremely challenging. I was by no means a "top" student and repeated modules multiple times. Early on in my time there, I felt like I didn't have the chops to personally succeed in the program. But I had great teachers and a mentor who really supported me when I'm not sure I deserved it. As time progressed through the program, I made some personal life changes that helped me get to the very end. If you're considering this program, I'd highly recommend that you do it but with a caveat. Do your best to get your personal life in order. Turing really requires a 100% commitment to be successful. I personally didn't realize just how much of a commitment it was until weeks into the program. Don't be like me. Go in there with clear expectations of what it'll take and you'll be in a good place mentally. And after spending 7 months or more in the program, you'll have great fundamentals to jump into a rewarding career in the software engineering industry. You'll make life long friends and have a great alumni network.
Turing also does a great job at preparing students for the first job interview process. You never really know what that's going to look like until you actually do one, but I was happy with their commitment to that part of the process.

Making the choice to go through Turing's program was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's hard. That's no joke. But it's also a very good program. I did a lot of research into options when I was making this decision, and there were a number... Read More of reasons Turing came out ahead for me. Their status as a nonprofit was a big one. Another was the campus. It's humble. It just has what you need to do the thing, and for me, that was a selling point. It said to me that they are confident enough in the core of what they are doing to let that speak for itself. That assumption was right. The staff is excellent, they genuinely care about every student there. And do their best to help you be successful. I have a new life now because of this program. And it's a far better life than I came in with. I'm a year out now, and on my second job. For the first time in my life, I love what I do, and I look forward to work. I could not have done any of this without Turing.