Full-Stack Web Development w/ Java Bootcamp (Online)

For a person with absolutely no coding experience I have to say I am impressed with not only myself but the Skill Distillery team for helping me advance into my new career path. They made the bootcamp journey worth all of the struggle worth it. All of the staff from teachers to TA's are extremely passionate about what they do and truly care about each individual in the cohort. As for the knowledge I gained in the 16 week Java Full-Stack bootcamp, I believe that everyone in the cohort was set up for success from day one. We were given labs, pair-programming experience, a few quizzes, and projects to aid our knowledge in-take. I would take the course again if I could, even though I still have access to the material because the instruction team was so amazing and made learning programming challenging and fun! 

Before I joined SD, I looked for a coding bootcamp that teach Java and SD is one of very few of them. After reviewing their curriculum, my SWE engineer friends agreed that it covered a solid foundation for  a java developer, which made me feel more confident to join the program. As I joined, I liked how the knowledge was presented, especially quizzes and projects, really helped me solidify my understandings. During the lectures, I asked a lot of questions to cover all of aspects and all of them were answered thoroughly. I was impressed with their patience, communication, and experiences. I also felt supportive post graduation. Their full stack program helped me a lot during the interview at LinkedIn. I would recommend anyone to this coding bootcamp. Also, overall advice, join couple Udemy courses in advance would help expedite the learning process. 

As the 5th family member to graduate from Skill Distillery in the last 5 years I can confidently say (5x) Skill Distillery will change your life and will put you on a direct path to a successful future. The amount of resources, support, and knowledge provided during my time as a student was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. If you’re wanting to make a career change, Skill Distillery will not disappoint. 

This course is challenging and very worth the effort. If you're the kind of person that picks your education for the challenge and quality of the curriculum, Skill Distillery is the right choice. After reviewing many bootcamps, I chose Skill Distillery because of it's foundation in Java (a more challenging language than JavaScript), focus on back end development (I wanted to make things work more than I wanted to make a webpage look pretty), and its reputation for being a challenging course.It is definitely challenging. It's a firehose of information and can leave you feeling overwhelmed at times. Even so, as someone who had no background in programming, I was able to complete the course and passed all the assignments. The instructors welcome questions and are always ready to help. There are TA hours on Saturdays to help with the weekend projects.The days last about 10 hours with a one hour break for lunch. There are 10 minute breaks every few hours. The weekend projects can last anywhere from 4 - 20 hours, depending on how much you're putting into the project, the complexity of that week's project, and how many errant semi-colons or misspellings you might have made. ;-)After the course, the instructors and staff still check in with you to help you brush up your LinkedIn profile, create a resume, coach on interviews, and give mock interviews. The course curriculum sets you up with experience for some of the most popular and in-demand languages and frameworks that large companies are looking for in their job descriptions.It is difficult to land your first job in software development. The staff helps and offers assistance to keep you motivated during that process after the formal course is over. If you're looking for a great programming foundation and have the willingness to put in a lot of hours, this course is highly worth it.

The technical knowledge, experience, and confidence I gained in 16 weeks was far greater than both a college degree and a career in quality assurance combined. 
I came into the bootcamp with a computer science-related degree, and a prior career in QA automation. Any advantage I had was gone within the first week. I let go of what I thought I knew and started from scratch. It honestly would have been easier if I had absolutely no previous technical experience, which is exactly how this bootcamp is designed.
The scope of Java, SQL, and front-end material is incredibly thorough. The continuous hands-on practice, homework assignments, and group projects all drive it home. The schedule is rigorous. The amount of knowledge consumption will have you dreaming about coding.
If you invest four months of your life into this program and put faith in the instructors, the TAs, and the program itself, you will be the author of your software development career.

I attended Skill Distillery with about a couple years of (hobbyist) programming/scripting experience and no knowledge of web development.

PreparationThe course was mostly backend oriented at the time of my attendance, focusing on a Java Apache server with just a bit of Javascript/Typescript/Angular towards the end of the bootcamp. I’d highly recommend basic familiarization with the above technology. If you want to be more comfortable with Java: you should be familiar with syntax, types, and general object oriented patterns (if you work with any object-oriented language such as Java, you will be forced into these patterns most of the time) at a surface level. Any multitude of the first steps in a Java course (free or paid) can give you this knowledge. Understanding the tools at your disposal is far more important than anticipating where you need to use them.With Angular and Typescript/Javascript, it’s not hugely critical but helpful in your search for employment. I had no knowledge of these but worked with other dynamic programming languages and frameworks prior. I believe just a cursory understanding of Javascript and using npm packages with your own code will be enough to give you a decent boost.Also knowing how to use Git (and Github) to: push, pull, make a branch, make a pull request, merge a pull request, and lastly how to deal with merge conflicts, are practical skills that will help you in the course and beyond no matter where you work in the future. It may seem like a lot, but just having a slight understanding of what happens when any of these actions are performed is more than enough.

The WorkDays were about 10 hours in length but decently paced with approximately ten minute breaks at the end of every hour and about an hour for lunch. Lecture was most of the day with some small asides to work with things we were learning about on our own or every now and again with one or more other students. These were largely informal and allowed us to (attempt to) exercise what we had just learned in a few minutes. There were small projects to accomplish most weekends and one paired project at about the midpoint of the course. Additionally, we had two group projects; a “midterm” and “final” that were significantly more work and involved at least three people creating some form of full-stack web application over several days. These were very practical endeavors in retrospect and certainly what I would say were the most valuable experiences I got from the course.I felt the program was well balanced and overall about the right amount of time (a few months) for a full-time course if maybe just slightly short, though I didn’t have finances to worry about while attending for any longer than that.
I will say that I immediately began working on serverless architecture with a NOSQL database, which is essentially the opposite paradigm to what I was taught during the course. However, I believe in the long run I was better off learning how to setup my own server in the long run as I understand more of what is "under the hood" with cloud services such as AWS or Google. The transition was not a problem in the slightest.
ConclusionSkill Distillery gave me a solid foundation for web development. They introduced me to Test-Driven Development, pair-programming, databases, web frameworks, Typescript, Angular, the list goes on. I used Java and TDD to help me get my current job, and I use TS, Angular, and collaborative programming daily as well as numerous other skills I picked up during the course. 

I graduated from Skill Distillery's 16-week Full-Stack Development with Java (fully remote) boot camp in July of 2022. The course was 1000% worth the time and financial investment. Each of the instructors demonstrated deep knowledge of the subject matter, be that Java, SQL, Java Script, or Angular. Each student question was met with patience and total competence. The materials were well-structured and detailed. The time commitment was high, although I managed to keep most of my Sundays free for some R&R. 

Like many others attending coding bootcamps I was tired of my previous career and was looking for a rewarding change of pace. After doing a lot of research into bootcamps I decided to go with Skill Distillery. I was lucky to be able to use my GI benefits and take advantage of the VetTec program that covered my tuition to SD. From my initial screening phone call to post-graduation the support from the staff and other alum was outstanding. The course is difficult, and you will get out of it what you put into it. Don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions, the staff is always happy to answer questions. Post graduation the instructors will still provide support with mock interviews, setting up a resume, tweaking LinkedIn pages, and providing any advice towards the job search. The alum channel is active and there to provide referrals and advice to fresh graduates. I was able to land multiple offers 2 months after graduation and the skills I learned at Skill Distillery set me up well as a Jr. dev. I would recommend SD to anyone looking to get into the world of programming. 

I was very new to coding before I started at Skill Distillery (had done some courses through freecodecamp, mostly html and css). It is a very intense, very extensive school, but because of the in-depth curriculum and the dedication of the staff, you will be prepared to get a job with your new skills right away. They have Saturday hours where they help you with your projects and are always available for questions or help even after you have graduated. You will be amazed at the things you are able to accomplish if you persevere through the hard times in class. Lean on your classmates for help! My cohort was amazing and we made sure to help so everyone would succeed. 

Life changing is the best way to describe Skill Distillery. Prior to this bootcamp I was an EMT, looking into healthcare degrees. Burnt out from working healthcare, I was looking for the next thing. Before Skill Distillery I knew nothing about coding, after the 16 week program, I felt extremely prepared to apply for jobs. I landed a job 6 weeks after graduation. I love my new job, it’s flexible, pays well, and provides a lot of new opportunities for me. It feels crazy to look back less than a year ago and see where I am now, totally life changing. I highly recommend this program.

Skill Distillery provides an excellent and proven pathway for learning job-ready skills involved in full-stack development with Java. I was impressed with the thoroughness of the program from the first day through the last. The material is comprehensive and challenging, requiring strong commitment in regards to time and effort from the student. No matter where you start from (new to the field or with some experience), if you show up daily, engage with the assignments, projects and lectures, and see it through to completion, you end up with foundational skills, an applied body of knowledge, and the confident ability to learn, build and contribute as a modern developer.

TL;DR - If you're going to invest the time and money into trying to change your career, Skill Distillery is bar none the best investment. I'd been thinking about trying to attend a coding bootcamp for quite a while when I made the decision to start interviewing at a few places in Denver. I interviewed at Skill Distillery and was pretty shocked at how welcoming and accommodating they were, especially after talking to several other bootcamps and seeing how they operated; I'd assumed I'd just be one number among many many students. But that's not how Skill Distillery works. The staff goes above and beyond to make sure students are getting what they NEED out of the program. They genuinely want every single person that attends to go on and better their lives. They're truly invested in you as a person, not just as a number on a sheet. The instructional staff is accessible, kind and patient. The material is incredible, you'll learn more than you could possibly imagine. It's crazy to watch your understanding of something grow so quickly over the course of just a few months. Whether you're interested in learning front end or back end development, this course teaches something for everyone. You learn Java, which is an amazing way to be introduced to programming, it sets a great foundation for further learning. The last thing to say is that it is genuinely hard work, it takes a lot out of you. And the more you give the more you get out of it. By the end of my cohort, I felt that I had really given 100% of what I had, which was a really fulfilling experience, personally. They prepare you for job hunting, help you set up your resume and LinkedIn, and continue to reach out to contribute to your job search in whatever way you might need. Seriously, 10/10 experience, wouldn't trade it for the world. You end up learning so much more than just code! 

I finished the SD31 cohort earlier this month, and had a fantastic experience. Application process: I worked with Briana to enroll, and she was always very responsive and I never felt like I was getting any copy/pasted answers from her. I appreciate her quickness and helpful information.Material: Skill Distillery teaches primarily Java and Javascript languages, as well as other important coding information. Looking through the job market after graduating, I can see why. It seems like nearly every job has Java/JS as requirements, and angular preferred (which we also learned). The coursework is challenging, but felt fair at all times. You definitely have to commit to the course, but it is well, well worth it.Time commitment: It's almost 50 hours a week, and nearly every single weekend has homework. Once class is over for the day, I never felt the need to continue working. I was able to work every Sunday throughout the class, and never felt as if I couldn't complete all of my homework on Saturdays.Instructors: Fantastic. It's so rare to get a group of people together who genuinely want their students to learn the material. They were clear, thorough, patient, and encouraged questions to a level I've never seen before. They also really, really know their stuff, and bring humor into all of their lessons. Overall: I strongly recommend Skill Distillery. Within two weeks of graduating (some classmates began the job search during class, I didn't), I have a job making over $40k more than last year. The value for what you're getting is incredible. I had a fantastic 4 months working my butt off, and I really believe the effort that you put in multiplies what you get out. 

A really great program that prepares you for the workforce and teaches industry standards, rather than abstract theory. The courseware provided all of the information I needed to nail my interview and I was able to secure a job before graduation. 

 Hello prospective bootcamper,  [Im starting with some general talk about attending a bootcamp...skip down a bit to read about this particular school]  ******************* deciding whether a bootcamp is right for you ********************  Hopefully I can help you decide whether this bootcamp is right for you. As a disclaimer, I had access to VA funding to complete this course so the cost to me was simply an opportunity cost of time, and the loss of a future benefit to be used elsewhere. As someone who finds the slow pace of university learning unbearable...I was happy to use up some GI Bill for this type of course. If you're plunking down some hard-earned cash...you will just have to make sure you get a job afterward (at this school, the numbers are very, very much in your favor) and the rewards of starting a software career should make the cost a write-off within a year as compared to the median salary in the U.S. As I'm writing this, I cant imagine any of my coworkers going to work as a newbie developer for less than 60k. My brother took a 55k starting salary after a less rigorous bootcamp in Ohio but he took a job in Ohio which probably ranks on the lower end of salaries. But his first raise was to 70k after just one year, so yeah...you can be optimistic about your pay prospects.  Alright, let's talk about the elephant in the room...the C.S. degree that you're not getting. Im sure you've done a fair bit of reading thru Reddit and getting disheartened by some negativity about boot camps. I am a C.S. degree dropout. I started at ASUs software engineering program and switched to University of Alaska's C.S. program when I moved to AK. Not a super prestigious pair of schools but they are both ABET programs so they're legit. I have absolutely no regrets about not finishing my university program. It was too slow, I didn't give a single hoot about advanced calculus and physics, and only really enjoyed the courses that directly employed coding and/or circuit/computer design. Actually I did really enjoy discrete math as well. But for every course I enjoyed there were 2 or 3 that just severely annoyed me with their lack of practicality in the workplace and excruciatingly slow pace. Keep in mind I was 34 years old when trying to complete my degree and I already had sufficient professional writing, problem solving, and teamwork experience from my prior military time.  ******************** My experience with Skill Distillery *********************  This course is absolutely high-quality. It is not perfect, but no course will be that aims to instruct more than one person simultaneously. There will always be compromise for different learning styles and to educate the highest number of people for the highest number of jobs. However, they continuously integrate student and employer(!) feedback to improve the course. It's DIFFICULT. And it is really long. I will admit a loss of motivation about 3 weeks from the end because my brain was just tired of learning new stuff. This course will whoop your a** and you will be exhausted at the end. This is how it should be though. The whole reason a course like this exists is to pack in as much knowledge and experience as possible to maximize the value of time and money spent. I have no regrets choosing this school and when my brother was able to compare our respective course syllabuses and length, it was obvious that Skill Distillery was a much more in-depth and higher quality course.  It never felt like a money-grab. I have never experienced such a patient and caring group of instructors. In four months you will feel like part of a small family. They really care about making you succeed. There is ample help with developing your projects, crafting your resume, job-hunting, interviewing, etc. The staff is very empathetic to your learning and career struggle and many of the staff members are former students. They are experts in their fields and the more senior members have tons of collective experience. They also seem to do a pretty solid job of choosing who is admitted to the program because everyone was fairly sharp and able to learn quickly enough to keep the course moving forward. Of course, I can only speak of the experience of my cohort. Also, I should mention the alum network...it seems rock solid. There is a lot of interaction in the job hunt thread of Slack and there are plenty of job leads coming in. Skill Distillery is quite a mature school so they have a large list of historic employers and those employers have been able to experience the quality of SD grads. This is very valuable with such a large pool of bootcamps out in the world of various quality.  The main aspects of this course that I did not enjoy were mainly due to my lack of research on what full-stack development is and not having time to polish up projects to my liking before moving on. I also struggled to learn concepts on team-based assignments vs the ones I could complete on my own (your experience will likely be different, I'm just such a read the book and do it myself type of learner). And there is a lot of team-based work, but this is what employers have communicated wanting in grads so I had to basically just suck it up. But here I am, one of the first grads to secure a job in a mainly Java-developing role so in the end, none of it mattered too much. I am a bit of an outlier though, I had 10+ years of telecom experience and the job I secured really was a carbon copy of my past experience and the course material. If you are coming from a non-tech background, you are going to have to do the interview grind for a while...maybe up to 2 months so just mentally prepare for that and manage your expectations. P.S. You don't need a bootcamp to get a software job, but its hard for me to imagine pushing myself to the level that this course did and within the same timeframe. I say go for it! Good luck!!!

I came into SD with a very small amount of prior programming experience, no web experience and no exposure to object-oriented programming. The intense first five weeks at SD introduced me to OO and the Java language, and prepared me very well for the OCA exam. Web development curriculum did not disappoint either. The instructors were very available and very helpful, and consistently provided useful advice and feedback, and the alumni community proved very helpful in tracking down my first position. I would recommend SD to anybody looking to make this career change.

I cannot fully express how wonderful and helpful the instructional staff are. Every single one of the staff members go above and beyond to make sure all of your question's are answered. With that being said, there is nothing easy about a Coding Bootcamp. 16 Weeks of fast paced material. Skill Distillery does an excellent job at instructing material at a pace you can learn. I went from 0 coding experience and a medical background, to completing full Stack Web apps. Love Skill Distillery and their staff and cannot thank them enough for everything they have taught me. 

 This was the best decision I ever made! I was currently in a dead-end sales job and not happy with where my career was going. I decided to take a leap of faith and do a career pivot into Computer Programming. I have now found the passion that has been burning inside of me! The Full Stack Java Web Development Program at Skill Distillery was the best! This bootcamp is no joke, you need to put in the time, work, and effort but just know you will be rewarded 100% once you graduate! The instructors are the best and are there to help you get placed into the right job! So if you are on the fence, think no more, DO IT! You will NOT regret it! #SD27  Pros:  The course is full of knowledge and you might think you are drinking from the fire hose but it is well worth it!!!! Trust the process! The Instructors are there to help you no matter what, so you will not be suffering in silence! The money you are investing is worth it x5!  Cons: My cohort was during the Covid-19 pandemic so it was all virtual - which was still amazing! But if you're not used to online learning - that might be a challenge - but the instructors and the team are there to help you and they made it just as wonderful! The only thing i would have to say is that I wish they offered a hard copy book of the material... all the material is online - but for myself I need a text book in order to make notes in. 

Be forewarned that this bootcamp will require the vast majority of your time! But that's because you will learn so much and come out on the other end with an abundance of new skills. I believe there is another review on here saying this bootcamp is not for the inexperienced and with respect I will have to whole heartedly disagree! I had zero coding experience as did two of my closest friends in class and we all made it through having learned so much. No lie - it took a lot of work, studying, and dedication but you can absolutely do it! My only cons are sometimes the wording of the curriculum is hard to follow and towards the end we didn't get a lot of detailed critique on our homework projects. But Skill Distillery is one of the best decisions I've ever made and I feel really good about my future!

I started programming in college for a semester and discovered coding bootcamps. I found Skill Distillery through VETTEC. It was one of the few schools that taught Full Stack Java Development along with Angular. I was having trouble learning how to learn programming and getting everything to stick prior to attending. I loved the model that was used to teach. We would have a lecture and a lab to enforce what we learned for every topic. Skill Distillery allowed me to transition from the medical field into a Software Engineer position. I currently work using Angular and almost everything I learned in the bootcamp.
The instructors and assistants for Skill Distillery were very helpful and compassionate when it came to teaching and some even stayed with us after class was over just in case we needed help. Skill Distillery also had a lot of workshops for job assistance in the second half of the program as well as after we finished our final projects. I recommend working on HTML and CSS before attending and during your downtime since this coding bootcamp is more backend heavy.
I highly recommend Skill Distillery for anyone in search for a coding bootcamp. Just remember you get what you put into it. I spent a lot of time during my downtime making sure I understood the material and it paid off for me in the end.