Thinkful

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.

June 7, 2019

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!

June 9, 2019

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!

June 11, 2019

It has been a really good and challenging experience!

-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.

June 30, 2019

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.

July 6, 2019

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 feeling like my skills were good enough to not only land a job, but to be comfortable in a new role.

For the Engineering Immersion program you’ll meet with an instructor twice a day to go over the day’s material and check in on everyone’s progress. Then, you’ll pair program with another student until the end of the day. There is always support from the instructors and from mentors. On a typical day, we could have someone helping us within 5-10 minutes if we really got stuck on a tricky concept. Having that support meant that I never felt like I was wasting my time. Twice a week you’ll meet with your mentor to go over anything that you feel like you need help with. Finally, after the course is complete, you’ll be assigned a career coach to help you navigate finding that first job. For me, landing that first gig took just under two months from graduation.

Thinkful is a challenging, rigorous program. If you’re looking to skate through with minimal effort and start applying to jobs, this probably isn’t the program for you. If you’re looking to build solid foundational skills and put in the time to learn, then Thinkful has the right resources to help you succed.

July 11, 2019

It’s a very well curated program in data science.

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.

October 21, 2019

I just completed Thinkful’s Engineering Immersion 5-month apprenticeship/bootcamp (today!). It was an incredible experience and exceeded my expectations. Prior to starting with Thinkful, I had completed another coding bootcamp that was for front-end development. That bootcamp was about 80% reading material, 10% watching videos, and 10% actually coding. My comfort level, if someone had asked me to sit down and code -anything-, would have been about 15% confidence that I could do it.

I found Thinkful and started looking into their Full Stack program (Engineering Immersion). Immediately what stood out to me was that it was a structured program with live instruction/instructors, TAs, and mentors. The structure was also based on collaborative programming and embracing a growth mindset.

Before being admitted to the program, a three-week prep course was required and a technical evaluation. I was shocked that the 3 week prep course covered nearly everything that my previous bootcamp had taken months to do. It was a good refresher for me, but I was also very thankful that I had some JavaScript background since this prep course was so intense.

The program itself was highly rigorous and very time intensive. I graduated on-time and received nearly perfect scores on my graded assessments – but that required me to put in about 60+ hours a week doing my assignments and readings, practicing the parts I didn’t understand, and putting extra effort into my capstones. But it was completely worth it!

In my opinion, one of the most successful parts of Thinkful’s program is their use of paired programming. Now, at the end of the course, I am graduating with well over 500 hours of paired programming experience. Not only is that one way I was able to get such a deep understanding of what I was learning, but it also helped hone my collaboration skills in the context of a development environment. Paired programming helped me learn from and teach many different styles, attitudes, and personalities – which I feel like is invaluable.

The technical interviews at the end of each section were also a huge highlight. It helped me take everything I was learning and synthesize it into words. It has prepared me for the job search and given me an extra confidence boost that I can answer those questions.

The capstone projects were an eye-opening experience. They really gave me that vote of confidence that I could actually DO what I was learning. And that was only possible because every single day I was coding with a pair. Not reading, not watching videos, or watching someone else code. I was in the thick of it, sharing my screen, working with another human, trying to understand and solve problems. When it came time to put all of that knowledge together and do the capstone projects, I was ready and excited!

Thinkful has very few flaws, in my opinion, and has been an incredible experience. One flaw that I ran into was the use of Mentors. I have talked to many of my cohort members that have had incredible experiences with their mentors, but unfortnately my experience was very lack luster and a waste of time. I look forward to Thinkful giving mentors a little more structure so that when students need help, they can get it. However, the TAs that were available every afternoon were INVALUABLE. The amount of time they would take to explain a concept – even using props, playing cards, drawings, etc to help illustrate a hard concept – was truly amazing. So many of my successes were built off of a TA taking the time to work with me when the concept was first presented.

All in all, I would recommend Thinkful to anyone who has a strong work ethic, who has that drive to reach their goals, and has the time to commit to the program. I would recommend doing some free coding/JavaScript lessons so you don’t feel like your feet have been swept out from under you when the prep course comes along. Along with many things in life, the program is what you put into it. And if you put in 100%, you’ll get an incredible education experience with job-ready skills.

November 22, 2019