Data Analytics Flex

I had a great overall experience at Thinkful! I did the 6 months part-time course while I worked full time. Thinkful offers lots of support and the curriculum is curated which I think is very important! Means they have control over the information they put out and it's more relevant. The mentor sessions were helpful to clear any questions I had and also get face to face interaction with someone working in the industry. The price is definitely worth the course. The only "critique" I have is that they don't do job placement really. But you do get to work with a career coach to help you after you finish the course!Overall, worth the price!

After working in healthcare, I was inspired by my patients and was curious to push the boundaries of data and statistics to find solutions to improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery. This sparked my love for data and emphasized on the potential of data-driven decisions to help drive a business. With zero programming experience, I was searching for the best remote course that would challenge me and help me develop job-ready skills as a data analyst but also support me. The Data Analytics Flex program allowed me to continue working full-time while learning technical skills such as Excel, SQL, Tableau and Python part-time. The community at Thinkful including fellow students, alumni, mentors and coaches were extremely nice, supportive and helpful. It is a great environment to be in to better yourself as a data analyst and person. Overall, I highly recommend the Thinkful program and would not be in my current role today as a data analyst without my experience there. 

I recently graduated from the Data Analytics Flex program and was able to shortly land an HR Analytics Analyst position with a Fortune 200. I come from a non-technical Marketing background when I enrolled and left with the necessary tools to succeed in finding a solid first position in this new data field.

I signed up for the Data Analytics Flex class online and was hoping to change career paths. The work was challenging and rewarding and I was supported the entire length of my course. My adviser met with me at least twice a week, answering questions, providing insights, and pushing me in a positive direction. As a result of this class, I was considered... and hired for a job related to data analytics. Without this coursework I would not have been considered for this promotion.

I started the Data Analytics Flex program in June 2019 and completed it in December 2019. I enjoyed the content and variety of the course material. It was written very well and was most times, easy to follow. The projects and capstones were challenging and fun to complete and interacting with the graders was very helpful. I highly recommend spending time really immersing yourself in the material and other resources provided to really take in what you’ve learned and of course continue to practice after you have graduated, in order to keep what you’ve learned fresh in your mind until it becomes second nature. Anytime I had an issue or a question, it was resolved quickly on Slack or with my mentor. I would work on developing a good working relationship with your mentor and if you do not feel comfortable, request a new one. The career coach was a great resource and held me accountable, which is a big thing that I was missing prior to starting this program. Overall, I had a great, well-rounded experience with Thinkful and would recommend it. 

I completed the data analytics flex program in October 2019. When you start applying for jobs you realize the curriculum left a lot to be desired. They definitely don't dive deep enough for you to be really competitive in the field with the technologies you're using. There were a lot of holes in the readings that I needed elaboration on throughout the course. My mentor and career coach were the best part of the whole experience. They were always very eager to help which is great because office hours weren't always useful. Sometimes I would go to office hours and the people in there that were supposed to be "experts" would have know idea how to fix my python code and say something like, "Sorry I'm more comfortable writing in R." Like, what? That does me no good. Grading assignments was a whole other doozy. You don't get the same person grading your assignments, so one person could request a revision and when you turn in that revision the next grader says you still did it all wrong and tells you to do it another way. You end up doing 4-5 revisions based on peoples' stylistic preferences. When it came to getting a job, luckily I got one through a referral because I don't feel like my learning was very deep or thorough into the subjects taught and employers noticed. I bought additional courses on udemy to try and dive deeper so I could build better projects to showcase. I shouldn't have to do that if i just spent almost $8000 on a program (which they have since lowered the price and refuses to give out any kind of reimbursement for recent grads). All in all, look at requirements for analyst jobs and take classes that match on udemy or take a certificate program on coursera, it's basically the same thing.

Prior to the program, I had work experience with Excel and a little bit of experience studying SQL and Python. I really wanted to move my career in a more technical direction, but didn't know how to start. I had a little bit of exposure to Data Analytics, but not enough technical skillset to get the job. As much as I was eager to learn, for a technical job, you always need the experience to get the job and you also need a job to get experience, so I decided to sign up for this program! I found it through a Google search and what drew me in the most was their tuition guarantee for a job. I am so glad that I found and finished this program. I was able to get hands-on experience in Excel, SQL, Tableau and Python and feel more confident with my data analysis and presentation skills. The program is very well-structured with an organized curriciulum. My Academic Success Manager was always quick to reply back to all my questions about the course. My current mentor is also very encouraging and offers amazing insights on real world application. I loved the Slack community, especially the technical coaches - they were so nice and always made sure my questions were thoroughly answered. While anything nowadays can be learned online, I feel like doing a bootcamp is better because of the certification and doing projects that are relevant that has been reviewed by someone who can give feedback is so important. I'll be moving on to the career phase of this program and I'm impressed so far about the resources they provide! 

I graduated from Thinkful's Data Analytics Flex program in late March and was recently hired for a new position -- I had an overall excellent experience with the program! The curriculum is comprehensive and rigorous, focusing on Excel, SQL, Tableau, and Python. These are core skills for any data analyst; Excel and Python are especially emphasized, and you will mainly use these to complete three capstone projects throughout the course. Although a little bit more weight could be placed on SQL and Tableau, i.e. requiring their use for independent projects, the curriculum provides a solid foundation for all of these tools; students could easily apply them to their own separate projects if desired.The instructors are great; you get paired with a mentor for 1-1 sessions twice a week, and an academic success manager whom you meet with every 1-2 months or so. Both my mentor and success manager were very helpful and responsive. After completing the curriculum, you get paired with a career coach for up to six months of career assistance; this stage requires you to apply for jobs and participate in networking activities. I did really appreciate Thinkful's job guarantee, as it demonstrates their confidence in landing new roles for their graduates. Thinkful is currently providing added support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which I also really appreciate and believe will be very beneficial to students and recent graduates.All in all, I loved my experience with Thinkful and greatly appreciate the education, guidance, and support they provided me in my career transition!

Initially, I had done a lot of research on different boot camps and was at a standstill on which options to go with however, because Thinkful had a one-to-one mentor ship program that stuck out to me in the end, I went with them and did not regret it at all. You get a two week grace period where they wont charge you and you're able to see if that is the right program for you. The program should take you 6 months on average however, it was fairly straight forward enough to where I finished earlier while working at my current job throughout the week. The program lays out the fundamentals on what you should know to be a successful data analyst and provides numerous examples. Each module has an assignment at the end for you to work on so that you can really understand what you learned and you'll be required to do projects in between to showcase what you have learned. Each week, you'll get to meet with your program mentor that will help guide you if you need help, however you can always reach out to them at any time of the week through slack or email. Not only that but you'll have access to an abundance of technical coaches on their slack channel whenever you have a question or need help with something. The program does a good job guiding you however, a minimum degree of technical skills such as how to manage through excel would help greatly. Some cons for when I took the program was that I wish it had videos that explained certain concepts, however a change that they incorporated into the program while I was pretty much finished with the program was video explanations which is great because they take into consideration feedback on how to make the program even more smooth and intuitive. 

A health informatics grad student's review of a data analytics 6 month long online bootcamp for improving one's analytical skills.I love Thinkful and really enjoyed my experience with this group immensely. I learned skills that were more relevant to the jobs I am looking for than at grad school. All the mentors and tutors are really nice, the management staff are very flexible and answer all of the student's questions. The curriculum is set at a flexible pace that students can finish at a reasonable time. Since everyone worries about this, let me clarify. You are getting a great deal on the education and training you'll receive with excellent job assistance afterwards to help you find the job you want for the fees you are paying. I highly recommend Thinkful to anyone wanting to improve their technical data skills and more 'soft-skills' presentation, networking, and interview skills. It was a life changing experience for me. 

This program goes in depth in regards to excel, SQL, tableau, power point, basic stats, and Python.

I just graduated from the program and was able to complete the would-be 6 month course in under 3 months. I come from a completely different career field (left dental school after 1 year, only about 1 months worth of programming experience). It is pretty extensive in the topics covered, so far including Excel, SQL, Tableau, Python with Pandas, Seaborn, and Matplotlib. Your experience can vary depending on your mentor, mine was a very experienced and helpful guide who focused mainly on the Python aspect in our sessions. I would say the assignments will challenge you enough to test your independent skills while the Capstones will be what you make of it. The more in depth you go, the better your eventual portfolio will be. Do not phone it in if you are doing the flex as your skills you build will be dependent on the work you put in, and my interviewers for job positions have been pretty excited about the projects in my portfolio because of this.  My only gripe: the grading team seems to be either in need of more members or be better organized. I had them cancel my presentations 5 times, delaying my graduation. While the academic team was helpful in remedying this, it was a major frustration for me and remains a huge problem for an online course that employs remote contractors.

I went into this program looking for:

External accountability to learn the skills
1-on-1 mentorship
A curriculum that would give me the skills needed to land a job

I have not gone through the careers portion yet, so can not say from personal experience whether it's done that, but the working data analysts and scientists I've talked to all agreed it was a great base to land that first entry level data analyst job.

On the other above criteria, I would also say that Thinkful came through. I loved my mentor, Alex, who went above and beyond to help me out with my comprehension and my capstone projects. Paying into a program and having an academic success manager and, again, the mentor, helped with that external accountability too. My academic success manager, Cali, was great too.

I found the technical coaching, which is supposed to fill in the gaps between the twice a week mentor sessions, was a little lacking. While I did find a few tech coaches that were extremely helpful and willing help me understand, sometimes I was frustrated feeling like no one wanted to spend time to help me comprehend.

The curriculum, overall, did what it was supposed to. Since it's the newest program that Thinkful has, there's some bumps in it still that were kind of irritating, but they're very open to feedback and I believe they will continue to improve it. Be prepared to take your education in your own hands (as you should do anyway) and look online for alternative explanations when the curriculum isn't making sense to you.

I was reluctant to do the mock interviews at first but now that I'm finished I'm really glad that I did them-- they were great practice.

Due to the flexibility of the program, I worked on it part time for two months and then full time for two months and was able to finish it in 4 months instead of 6, so I'll only be paying for 4 months, which is cool.

Overall, my goal was to bridge the gap to help me get a job in a new field ASAP. I feel conifident in the skills I acquired through the program, and confidence is everything going into a job search! Thinkful did the job I wanted it to and I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a similar outcome as well.

Hello! If you're on Course Report reading up reviews on various bootcamps, you're likely where I was several months ago: curious and considering a change in pathway for your careerpath because you're seeking to build a better life for yourself. Considering the fact that majority of the jobs out there are to be obsolete in the near future, you're indeed wise to be searching bootcamps to better secure yourself. While everyone else I know are sitting around complaining about being unable to find a job or unhappy about their pay, you've decided to not be one of them. Good for you!

I considered going back to a university and commiting myself to learning material for the next few years, but quickly learned that the things taught could be outdated by the time I complete another degree. While accepted into Berkeley's Extension Program after a placement test, I saw that reviews were either REALLY good or REALLY bad- that's a red flag. You want to see some level of consistency in reviews. Also, it is smart to read up on reviews for the course you're interested in- some bootcamps may be stronger for certain career sectors or courses than others. Meanwhile, you'll want to avoid certain bootcamps that don't offer you adequate support. In this sense, I chose Thinkful. While bootcamps like General Assembly are reputable for accepting anyone and everyone (many people compare them to McDonald's- "fast food" but doesn't keep you "full"), Thinkful requires you take the time to reflect and apply with WHY you want to bootcamp. They not only have someone to speak to you by phone while going through the admission process, but equip you with a program manager, mentor, 24-7 support on Slack, support on the Thinkful dashboard where your materials and assignments will be, and much more. YES you have to be willing to put in the time and effort and do your work, but YES you're also held accountable and there are no excuses not to complete bootcamp into succession. The learning material and assignments are well organized so it's easy for you to follow along and follow through. I'm about 1/3 through my course in Data Analytics and am loving it! My mentor has been more than just a mentor- he's been my "punching bag" to vent all of life's miseries and hurdles, to which he has had great wisdom and sense of humor to share with me. The team behind this bootcamp consist of individuals who WANT to help and support you, and not those with just "jobs" to do...and that, my friend, makes a world of a difference. 

My prior skill level:
None. I have a BA in History and an M.Ed in Special Education. The closest I had come to coding were the kids coding challenges on code.org.

Why I chose this program:
I used Course Report to review several boot camps and decided on Thinkful because of its price compared to others and its job guarantee. The deal is that if you don't find a job within 6 months, you'll get a refund. When reading the fine print, I found that you have to meet a lot of requirements in order to qualify for the refund, such as make 8 phone calls and apply 2 places a week (or something like that). I was okay with that though, because I know that's what it takes to find a job in a new field. It's a good incentive to keep pushing. I also found out that if you finish before the 6 months are up, you can get a prorated refund for the time you didn't use. I wanted to take advantage of that, but the program did take me a full 6 months (and then some extra).

Why you should choose this program:
The most valuable part of the program is the mentor pairing. I met with my mentor twice a week for 45 minutes each session. That is the accountability I needed to go through a self-paced program. I feel this is much better accountability than assignment due dates like in academia. Any problems I had with an assignment, I knew I would be talking through them with my mentor soon. Other boot camps didn't seem to offer this level of partnership.

Curriculum:
I don't know how the curriculum compares to other programs, but I can comment on the pedogogy. One of the most difficult aspects of any curriculum is creating a Transfer of Knowledge. This means being able to apply your newly learned skill to a new situation. Many of the Thinkful assignments require replicating a process with a different dataset - much like how Math is taught. The problem with this is that if there is any difference between what you have learned and what you are asked to do, you could get stuck and become frustrated. At times, I found myself copying and pasting Python code from the lessons in order to complete an assignment without understanding what was happening. While I know this is part of the learning curve, it did affect my final capstone when I couldn't understand why the code I copied and pasted from Stack Overflow wasn't working. I wasn't able to transfer what I learned in the program to new pieces of code. It seems like this is a problem for coding in general, given how much copy-and-paste-code there is in Stack Overflow. It's only if you're lucky that someone explains their code step-by-step, which enables you to understand where in the process you went wrong. This is something you should keep in mind regardless of what boot camp you choose. 

Job Placement:
I just started the "Career Services" part of the program this week, so I can't comment on that. I haven't found a job in the field yet.

Overall, I'm very glad I did this program. Not having much experience in SQL, Tableau or Python, the curriculum takes you through these (and Excel) at a good pace and involves projects to help you practice your new skills. Also, it gives you proof of your skills (instead of being self-taught) for future employers to get your foot in the door for interviews. 

That being said, I do think it depends on what you put into the program for what you get out of it. Because it's all online, you have to be very resourceful for finding answers and ideas of how to solve problems. Yes, your mentor and Slack are provided as resources also but sometimes they are slow/busy so it's beneficial to get used to looking for answers yourself. 

The Data Analyst track is still pretty new so I would find errors or mispellings in some of the modules. They didn't prevent me from progressing but it was noticeable at times. However, I do think the way this track builds on itself - from Excel, to SQL to Tableau to Python - was very well-structured and I would highlight that for anyone interested in this program. 

Also, who you have as your mentor makes a BIG deal. My first mentor was very disengaged and didn't feel very supportive. Luckily, Thinkful is happy to work with you and find you a new mentor. And wow, I'm glad I did! The mentor that I finished the program with is what made it so worth it for me - and she is still my professional mentor after the program!

I am currently looking for a job and the career services is a huge benefit to have after you graduate. I've learned some things about the job search I never knew before and it's nice to connect with someone every week to stay motivated throughout my search. Plus, they send you great resources!

FINAL THOUGHTS - I think Thinkful is a great option for people who want something self-paced, online or part-time and the price point is fair. Also, if you graduate early, they give you some of your money back - I haven't heard of any other program that does that! Check out their 2-week free trial option to try out the track you're interested in and if you like it, I say go for it!

...quite thoughtful, if you'll forgive the pun. In my experience with the program over the last few months, I've come to this conclusion on more than one occassion. From the screening process to the curriculum development to the mentoring, there's ample evidence throughout that the community which designed & developed this bootcamp put a lot time and effort (and therefore a lot of thought) into its creation & maintenance. I think the most impressive aspect though is the confidence that everyone on staff has in the mission to prepare you for a job when you're ready, or upon completion (it's up to you, truly). And that goes for the resources that are made available throughout: it seems that there is a constant drive towards what is relevant whether it's a project management tool, or another Excel reference. Thinkful as indeed the right choice for me.

I had a phenomenal experience in Data Analytics. Usually when I am taking a course "fun" isn't usually the first thing that pops up in my mind, but I really did have fun taking this course. That is probably partly because I am a nerd and data really fascinates me, but I think it is also because I enjoyed the projects and content immensely.

A huge part of the experience was my mentor, Alicia. Not only did she help with the trickier technical aspects, but she helped me to feel really supported. I think the worst feeling when you are learning something new can be that self-doubt or feeling that you're stupid or not getting the concepts or that things are too hard. Alicia always made me feel like I could conquer the projects and master the concepts and let's be real- it feels great when someone praises you and notices the good and hard work you've done, and she was wonderful at that too!

Overall I learned a ton and felt great about the new skills that I acquired.

I’ve always been interested in data science, but with little to no background in CS and already having been out of college and working for several years, I found it a bit daunting to consider making a career change, start a bootcamp and still continue working at the start time. While it certainly hasn’t been easy, the support Thinkful provided to me through my mentor, the community and the endless number of resources has been wonderful. It’s definitely a lot of work and time management is key to stay on track, but the flexibility of the program has allowed me to adjust my schedule to allow of everything else I have to do outside of the classwork. Meeting with my mentor twice a week helps keep me accountable, while the slack channels and Q&A/workshop sessions are incredible resources to tap into all throughout the week. This program is intense and definitely a big investment of your time and money, but so far for me I’m thrilled I decided to make the jump and am really looking forward to my development as a future data scientist as the program progresses. Would absolutely recommend!