About me - BA in Mathematics with an emphasis in Statistics from a State University (2019). 3.0 GPA -28 years old at the time -No internships, relevant work or volunteer experience in the tech field. In fact, my general work experience was 3 years at Mcdonalds, then 7 at a Resort as a bartender. -Spent 30-50 hours a week studying. 10-20 hours a week working on my resume, cover letter, connections, and job searching. -Got a job offer and accepted an entry level Data Scientist position at about 4-5 months into the program. Currently still in after 3 months, love it. Pros: -Springboard itself is great and has a lot of the materials needed to learn the basics of DS. The reading/videos/coding can be tiresome at time, but just take it one step at a time and you'll near the end eventually. Take good notes and read every single line, do as much as the coding as you can but don't spend too much time on it, spend more time on your capstones as these are what will probably make or break your chances of landing a DS position. Make a daily/weekly schedule to make sure you complete the program on time. I recommend 5-7% completion every week, at least for the first couple of months. It will get harder as you go and you will suffer burnout too. But if you could accomplish more early on when you're still full of energy, then you'll have some room to slow down or take a break later on in the course if needed. -Mentors are smart and always there if you need something -Career coaches are great. I recommend getting to know them early on as I feel like besides learning the DS skills itself, this part of the program was the most beneficial. Unfortunately, if you're like me with a not so pretty background, the coaches might hit you with some reality that you will most likely become a Data Analyst first before ever becoming a DS. But if you run into one that truly cares, they can help you out so much. I attribute my current DS position to my career coach's help. So while all the career coaches are great and helpful, if you can find one where you see that they truly care about you and your job search, I recommend making a connection with that person and making as much calls to them as possible. -Cost is relatively doable for the bootcamps I've looked at so far. The payment options are nice as well -Customer service is excellent and quick to answer any questions Cons -Not sure if this is a true con, but many of study materials are free or attainable with a subscription fee. But that can be said about most schools too so. What's great is the structure and how one can learn the materials through repetition even though the beginning may be quite confusing. -Signed up for DS career track, but was told by many, except one, that I will most likely land a DA role before getting a DS position. Although that one person did help me beat the odds and get a DS position even though I've no true experience. But this is rare apparently, and requires dedication. -There's not too much cons about Springboard itself.... Overall, if you stick to Springboard and can push yourself then you'll succeed. Springboard is a great bootcamp that helped launched my career and can yours as well. | 