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Thinkful Bootcamp Reviews and Complete Guide
Thinkful is a top online coding school for beginners and experts alike. It offers one-on-one training for a personalized education. It has bootcamps for everything from web design to project management. If you’re interested in enrolling, read our comprehensive Thinkful review below. We’ve compiled payment options, student reviews, post-grad experiences, and more to help you make the right decision.
What Is Thinkful?
| Thinkful Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Cost | $7,000 – $13,600 |
| Start Dates | Rolling start dates |
| Locations | Online |
| Courses | Software Engineering, UX/UI Design, Digital Marketing, Data Science, Project Management, Data Analytics |
| Available Programs | Online, Full-Time, Part-Time |
Thinkful is an online coding bootcamp that helps students advance their tech skills. The platform offers online courses, so you can access the lessons from anywhere. Thinkful was established in New York in 2012 and now boasts over 7,000 students. It’s one of the only online tech schools that offers personal support and 1-on-1 mentorship.
Thinkful places you with the instructors that suit you best. Its teachers are established professionals who have extensive experience in the real world of tech. Thinkful also offers group workshops and online support. There are open forums where students can help each other, and professional tech workers also help out.
Is Thinkful Worth It?
Thinkful is worth it in many respects. It offers student-centric learning at a fair price, and the online courses are flexible for any schedule. It’s transparent about its job placement statistics and always provides help when you need it. Thinkful prioritizes honesty and communication, which not many tech schools do.
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Thinkful Job Placement
By its own accounting, over 80 percent of Thinkful graduates land jobs at top tech companies. These include IBM, Google, and Ubisoft. Thinkful provides more specific statistics on its own outcomes page, where you can see which programs have the most success. It also shows median salaries. For example, its data science graduates make $73,000 per year on average.
Thinkful has a strong career coaching sector that can help you put your best foot forward in the job market. It helps you create a portfolio, prepare for interviews, and more.
Does Thinkful Offer a Job Guarantee?
Yes, Thinkful offers a full refund job guarantee. If you don’t get a job within six months of graduation, or if you don’t earn over $40,000 per year, you can get your money back.
Thinkful’s job guarantee comes with specific exceptions. If you pay using its deferred tuition option or income share agreement, you will not be eligible for a refund. You should also graduate within the stipulated timeline and pass any background checks.
How Much Does Thinkful Cost?
The online courses at Thinkful can cost $7,000 to $13,600, depending on the course you select. Most of its courses go by monthly plans, and in some cases you don’t have to pay until you graduate. Thinkful offers multiple scholarships for women in tech and other minorities.
How to Pay for Thinkful: Scholarships, ISAs, Installments
You can pay for Thinkful in a few different ways. The most effective form of payment is upfront, but Thinkful has financing options for students who need extra help. Here are some ways you can pay for your coding bootcamp at Thinkful.
Scholarships
Getting a scholarship is an excellent way to pay for your Thinkful course. Thinkful is particularly passionate about helping women get their start in tech. It works with Lesbians Who Tech, Fairygodboss, Girl Develop It, and Women Who Code to provide tech scholarships.
Thinkful offers $600 to women who sign up for the part-time web development bootcamp and $1,200 for the full-time web development package.
ISAs
Income share agreements can be an essential service if you’re struggling financially. Thinkful lets you study and accomplish your goals, then pay after you get a job. You only have to pay it back once you make $40,000 per year. The payment standards are affected by the courses you select.
Loan Financing
Thinkful has a partnership with Skills Fund, where you can get a loan for your education. You can speak to one of its advisors and find out what kind of payment plan works for you.
Installments
If you’re not willing to pay upfront, you can use installments. The cost of the installments varies from one course to the next. With Thinkful, you can pay only a couple thousand dollars a month for your course.
Discounts
Thinkful is keen on making its courses all-inclusive. It offers significant discounts to veterans, women, and non-binary people. You can ask one of Thinkful’s admissions representatives to learn more about its coding bootcamp discounts.
Thinkful Locations
Thinkful is an online bootcamp, so you can learn from any location. It also has a running partnership with the University of San Diego to help people develop skills in coding. Check out Thinkful’s communities tab on its website to see resources and alumni in your area.
Thinkful Courses
Thinkful has 13 different courses for prospective tech workers. You can study to become a data scientist, software engineer, digital marketer, UI/UX designer, or product manager. It offers one to two courses in every discipline. You can view every syllabus online if you enter your email on the Thinkful website.
Thinkful Prep Resources
In lieu of prep courses, Thinkful provides free resources to help you get ready for your course. Examples include a Python tutorial, a guide to JavaScript best practices, and an Angular JS project. These programs are essential for students who are new to programming and want to make sure they get off to the right start.
Software Engineering Bootcamp – Online
You can take this coding bootcamp from Thinkful either part-time or full-time. This course will teach you how to apply your skills with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It emphasizes project-based learning so you can face any challenge in software engineering. Thinkful also has a strong focus on client-centrism, so you can succeed in your tech job.
UX/UI Design Bootcamp – Online
If you have an eye for web design, you should try taking this Thinkful bootcamp. Like its other courses, you can complete the curriculum either part-time or full-time. This course can teach you how to use Figma, Sketch, and Webflow. Thinkful will immerse you in the nuances of UX and UI design so you can think like a design expert.
Product Management Bootcamp – Online
This part-time course offers leadership and organizational skills training for product managers. You’ll learn how to design KPIs and OKRs to make sure your products do their best in the field. Thinkful also provides career coaching throughout the program so you can get a job right after you graduate.
What Is the Thinkful Schedule?
Thinkful provides both part-time and full-time options for almost every course. Its bootcamps range from seven weeks to six months, depending on the program.
Full-Time
For full-time courses, you need to dedicate at least 40 hours each week. Thinkful’s immersion courses can help you jump into the tech world. You’ll be ready to get a job in tech right away.
Part-Time
These courses are part of Thinkful’s flex program. For the part-time course, you only need to study a maximum of 15 hours each week to graduate. This option is better for people who are already studying or working.
How to Get Accepted into Thinkful
Thinkful attracts thousands of students, mentors, instructors, and industry recruiters every year. The school has a long checklist to ensure it admits the best students to its programs.
The school requires you to be at least 18 years of age, a United States citizen or resident, and a high school graduate. You also have to be fluent in English and have basic computer skills. If you’re a passionate hard worker, you can get into Thinkful.
Acceptance Rate
Thinkful does not disclose its acceptance rate, but most people don’t have trouble getting in. The application process is fairly simple. Thinkful focuses on preparing students for their courses, and anyone can take them with the right attitude.
Application Process
The Thinkful application process is all online. Below are the basic steps you’ll follow when you apply to Thinkful.
- Use the free access sign-up on the site until you are sure you want to apply. You can get free reading material and study support to help you make your decision.
- Fill out an application online. It will ask you basic questions about who you are and why you want to take a bootcamp. There is no formal interview.
- Once you’re enrolled, you will get paired up with a mentor who will review your course work on a weekly basis. They will also help you navigate the current job market.
Is Thinkful Right for You?
Thinkful is right for you if you’re ready to dedicate yourself to mentorship and one-on-one learning. The instructor has a clear view of what you are working on and can give clear directives as you learn. As you create real-world projects to add to your portfolio, you will get insightful feedback and advice from someone with years of coding experience.
Best of all, the job guarantee means you can complete the bootcamp with less stress, taking full advantage of Thinkful’s helpful career resources along the way.
If you’re looking for an immersive, well-reputed bootcamp, Thinkful might be the one for you. It can help you find a job in the tech world with the best skills possible. If you have a positive experience, Thinkful may even bring you on as a mentor one day.
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Anonymous
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.
February 7, 2020
Anonymous
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!
April 9, 2020
Anonymous
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, 2020
Anonymous
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.
July 28, 2020
Anonymous
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.
August 6, 2020
Anonymous
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.
October 11, 2020
Anonymous
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, 2020
Anonymous
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, 2020