Attending Rithm School was one of the best decisions of my life! Like all bootcamps, it wasn't 100% perfect, but to me, the drawbacks are completely outweighed by the benefits. Here is an honest review of Rithm based on my (REMOTE) experience: Environment/Culture: Pros: - SUPER collaborative and tons of pair programming experience. It really helped me improve my technical communication, and it was a great way to connect with my classmates. - I thought that the cold calling during lectures would be scary, but the instructors make you feel comfortable so even if you don't know the answer to a question it's not a big deal. - Everyone in my cohort was supportive, friendly, and a delight to work with. Even after graduation, many of us stay in touch regularly through weekly Zoom meet-ups. We all want to help each other succeed! - Zoom + Slack === a near-perfect virtual experience. - Rithm has a strict "anti-burnout" culture, unlike the big bootcamps like Codesmith, Hack Reactor, App Academy, etc. In my opinion, this made learning much more efficient and enjoyable. Cons: - Although the remote environment was as good as I think it could've been, it would've been extra awesome to attend Rithm in person! Instructors: Pros: - The instructors are super knowledgeable and friendly - I always felt comfortable asking questions. Due to the small class size, they were usually very quick to hop into our Zoom breakout rooms when we needed help. - You get assigned one instructor to meet with 1-on-1 every other week. This is a great opportunity to get your code reviewed in more detail, do mock coding interviews, or just chat about random stuff. Cons - Some instructors are more prepared to help with certain topics than others, so the time it takes you to get "un-stuck" may differ depending on who joins your breakout room. Curriculum: Pros: - The curriculum was extremely up-to-date and relevant, and I loved the emphasis on testing, documentation, security, and fundamentals of how the web works. - If you find yourself with extra time, there are PLENTY of "further study" materials that will push you to learn and practice with more advanced topics. - By the end, you'll have built tons of mini projects and a few big ones! Project-based learning is highly useful for solidifying topics that you cover in lectures. Cons: - They would probably need an extra week or two to fit this in, but more of a focus on CSS/accessibility or DSA would have been nice. - "What you put in is what you get out". You do have to meet the minimum requirement of passing the weekend assignments, but you can also learn way more if you put in extra time to ask instructors more questions and/or do the optional "further study". This isn't really a drawback, but just something to keep in mind - knowledge won't just be handed to you, you have to put in the work to make it the best experience possible. Company projects: Pros: - Company projects set Rithm apart from all of the other bootcamps. No other bootcamp that I've heard of does this. It is basically a mini-internship. - You get to work on a team to build some cool things in a complex codebase! By the end I had great real-world experience for my resume and I was a much more confident engineer. Cons: - Instructors are busy during this time preparing for the upcoming cohorts, etc., so they are sometimes spread pretty thin depending on the size of the team (my team was on the larger side with 6 people) and the complexity of the project. It usually wasn't an issue, but sometimes it took a while to get help when I was stuck. - Some of the company projects aren't with actual companies - one of the projects in my cohort was an open-source project. Still a really cool experience, but just a bit misleading. Outcomes and Job Support: Pros: - I got a job at a company I'm really excited about only 3 weeks after graduating! Although a big part of it was luck (I was referred by a friend in my cohort), I owe a lot of my success in the interviews to Zach (the career coach) who helped me prepare for interviewing and negotiation, and the whole Rithm experience for training me to be a skillful and confident software engineer! - After graduating, Zach was always available to answer questions and meet with us regularly. He even found time during his busy day to meet with me right before I had a scary negotiation phone call! You can tell that he loves his job and is passionate about helping us find HIGH QUALITY jobs. - It's been a little over a month since graduation and at least 5 out of the 16 people in my cohort have gotten job offers already! (4 have accepted offers). 1 person went to grad school, so it's more like 5/15 people. - The alumni network keeps growing and is filled with supportive and successful engineers that want to help Rithm grads land great jobs! Cons: - I can't really think of any significant areas of improvement here! If anything, perhaps a few more mock technical interviews would have been useful. * I will also add that they regularly had us fill out feedback surveys. Rithm is continuously improving their curriculum and experience based on the feedback - they truly care about providing you with the best learning experience possible! TLDR: If you're debating between Rithm and the other top bootcamps, choose Rithm for the small class sizes, excellent curriculum, company projects, and overall great learning environment and culture!! You won't regret it. | 