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

I am currently halfway through the course at Skill Distillery.  Prior to this, I was attending college using my GI Bill.  I had taught myself a little programming, but I had no direction and it was a very slow process.  I found Skill Distillery and decided to take a chance on something new, and I have zero regrets!  It has been a great experience so far, and I am amazed at the knowledge I have gained from this school.

The classes are a mix of lectures, labs, partner projects, and individual projects.  I noticed some of the other reviews said that there was not enough hands on time, and that is definitely not true.  The instructors always make sure to balance lecture, examples, and hands on time as needed.  The material is not easy, but it is manageable if you are willing to work hard.  Very knowledgable and helpful instructors and TAs are always available and willing to assist you.  There has not been one day where I went home with a question unanswered.  Overall, it is a very relaxed and friendly environment with all of the resources you could ever ask for.

Also, for the veterans - Skill Distillery offers a great value for your GI Bill, and I would encourage anyone that has the opportunity to consider this school.  I don’t think there is any other place where you can use part of your GI Bill benefits to gain such profitable skills.

If anyone has any questions about my experience here, feel free to email me at alexmp1689@gmail.com.  I will also be updating this review after I complete the course.

My experience at Skill Distillery has been top notch. I feel as if the team, the curriculum and mission are strong and resonate throughout the culture and results that the bootcamp provides. I am about halfway through the program and I am continuously impressed by the depth of topics covered as well as the responsibility that we are taking on in such a short amount of time. 

In my latest blog post on Chadington.com https://chadington.com/2016/04/12/codingbootcamp/ I have shared a more in depth perspective on my experience and what one should consider especially if they are coming from a "sucessful background" but are either looking to recareer or launch a tech startup company. Please feel free to reach out at ChadingtonChat@gmail.com to continue the conversation. Thanks!

Excerpt from my blog post: Coding Bootcamp! It was the “______” decision of my life!

...While that 4-year CS degree served as a gold standard entry point into the aforementioned career trajectory, there are certain forces at play that have changed the dynamic. The demand for a technical workforce has exploded. Specialized technical talent is hard to come by.

I've wanted to break into the web development industry for probably about two years now. After graduating college in 2008, I spent 5 unfulfilling years working in the insurance industry and then 2 years working for a small business and trying to teach myself code on the side. 

I needed professional guidance! 

Since beginning my training at Skill Distillery only 9.5 weeks ago, I am amazed at how much I've learned already and what I've been able to accomplish! 

Skill Disitllery has proven to be everything I wanted in a coding Bootcamp. It's extremely challenging but there is no short supply of guidance and personal assistance when needed. The instruction has been of the highest level I've ever experienced! 

It is challenging and certainly not easy; but if you're looking for easy then you've probably picked the wrong field! So far I believe I've been given everything I need to succeed and am confident it will continue! The days are a perfect balance between lectures and hands-on coding along with group and paired coding projects. 

It was a great decision choosing Skill Distillery! 

I am about half-way through and will look forward to posting an update upon completion! 

Hey Folks!

I am back updating my review from 1/12/16 like I promised I would!! I'm a woman of my word. 

All jokes aside- I'm not going to lie, the negative reviews that I read on this site bothered me. Paying $16,000 for a school that had a lot of negative reviews while I was still in the program, made me worry about what was to come. They made a lot of changes from the cohort before mine, and so my experience was much better than theirs.

I am honestly so glad I stayed. I had ZERO coding experience before the program, and at times, I truly did struggle and worried about whether the program was for me. But the instructors, the TA's, my fellow students, and our school director, helped me stick through it, and man is that the most rewarding experience to say that I graduated! I am so thankful for the program and people I've met.

I now will be working as a junior java developer at American Healthcare Technologies, where I was doing marketing before. 

I wrote the review "Grateful" and needed to write an amended review.                             (Admin, if this needs to be combined with that review, please feel free to do so.)

I just received a Job offer from a mid sized company for a Java Stack Web Developer.

(I still have 2 weeks left in the program at Skill Distillery and received the job offer.)                

I had ZERO professional experience before this school and Skill Distillery was able to assist me in getting to a place that would help me have a career in web development.

**Be aware, many of the negative reviews come from a class that was here while I attended and they quit because they said the program wasn't teaching what they thought was important.  Clearly they were mistaken.   If *I* can get a web developer job after attending school here, anyone that has a desire to write code can do it too.  

My name is Jonathan.

I'm grateful I have attended Skill Distillery.   It's opened a whole new world of career opportunities for me to provide for my family.

I'm a Marine Corps veteran that's done mostly manual labor or a service industry job most of my life. I have very little coding background apart from this school. (Veterans...use the GI Bill here. It's worth it)

I've already had multiple phone calls and interviews from potential employers for a web developer position and I still have 2 weeks left in the program.  

The staff here are brilliant, very kind and will work with you as much as possible(no they are not bribing me to say this). They will not hand everything to you on a platter though.  If you come here to learn, expect to work and study A LOT.  

It's worth it.

Summary:

Skill Distillery is an intensive training program teaching in-demand technologies.  Being successful in the program requires dedication and hard work.  Completion of the program and understanding of the curriculum will give you the skills necessary to build and deploy a full stack Java web application (of relatively small scope).  These skills are in demand – after one month on the job market I was invited to 6 on-site interviews with different organizations and received 3 job offers.  During these interviews, employers were impressed with my knowledge of Java, the architecture of web applications, and how relevant the skills I had been taught were to the jobs they were hiring for.  Skill Distillery has enabled me to begin a career in software development and was a great use of my time and money.

Know What You Are Getting Into:

I chose to attend Skill Distillery because of their focus on Java development for the back-end.  Java is not the easiest language to learn – it is sometimes verbose and it is not always as easy to do a simple task (or build a web application) in Java as it may be using other languages/frameworks.  Java has great performance, proven scalability, and is in use on a large scale in enterprise applications.  These considerations contribute to there being lots of Java jobs out there.  Some reviews have mentioned that there is a dearth of entry-level and junior-level Java positions.  It is true that there are many more job postings for Java developers with experience than for entry-level positions, but those junior-level positions do exist and are obtainable upon completion of the program.  It may take work and time to find those positions, but you should expect and prepare for that; a job will not simply fall into your lap because you complete this program. 

You should only do this program if you are excited about the doors that knowing Java might open for you and ready for the challenges and frustrations that you will encounter while learning it.  I would not recommend doing this program simply because it is the only coding program that your V.A. benefits will pay for.  I would not recommend enrolling in this program unless you have taken some time to determine that you enjoy programming and you have a fair bit of aptitude for it. 

Curriculum and Instructors

If other reviews have not made this clear – the first quad of the program on Java fundamentals is really well put together and the lead instructor Jamie is fantastic.  Parts of the second quad were rough.  The material was more difficult and we had a guest instructor for two weeks that I felt was not very competent.  I had to do a lot of independent work in this quad to understand the material.  While there were some major issues with the instruction and course materials, the stuff we were being taught (SQL, JPA, Spring, Spring MVC, and REST) was the absolute right choice in terms of curriculum and what employers want you to know.  I am confident that Skill Distillery is working hard to make the delivery of this material smoother and more effective.  The final two quads focus on the front-end.  I felt that the front-end basics could have been taught more succinctly and would have enjoyed the opportunity to study some JavaScript frameworks (Node.js and Angular) in greater depth.  The time spent learning Java at the beginning of the program made learning JavaScript a breeze.  

Job Assistance:  

We had a resume workshop, interview preparation instruction, and the opportunity to do a mock interview.  These things were all very helpful preparation for the job search.  There were also a number of emails with job leads.  

Skill Distillery gave me the skills I needed to land a software development job that I am very excited about.  The curriculum that they are teaching is extremely well-geared toward what employers are looking for.  

I was part of the second cohort at Skill Distillery (SD) and my 19-week program ran from July through November. Of our initial class of 10 (with an additional person who audited some of it), two people dropped out fairly early, and one person joined us halfway to retake the second half of the course. We had a close-knit group where most everyone got along really well, we initiated study groups on weekends, some went to meetups together, hung out socially, and really got to know one another. Our group was dedicated and worked hard, I was impressed with how much each of us learned and I would be happy to work with any of them again in the future.

I tended to go in pretty early each day and often stayed late, plus I was reading and practicing coding for many of my evenings. This is not a bootcamp to sign up for lightly - it was very consuming and challenging, forcing us to assimilate a great deal of knowledge, introducing us to a large variety of topics, and requiring a passion to learn and experiment on your own to really get many of the concepts. I chose to learn at Skill Distillery because they were the only bootcamp I could find that was teaching a "real" language like Java whereas most of the other bootcamps offered framework languages like Ruby on Rails or did JavaScript for the full stack (both front-end and back-end). I wanted a true foundation to build a new career upon and I wanted that to be either Java or .Net.

Following the course, I took some time to myself to relax for the Thanksgiving holiday and then spent the first two weeks in December getting my resume polished, crafting my website to showcase several examples of code I had written in and out of class, ordering business cards, and starting to network more heavily in meetup groups. But the job market was pretty much shut down for the holidays by that point and it wasn't until the new year that I felt like I really got serious about finding a job. Two weeks from that point I had my first two job offers, and in another week, I had negotiated and accepted a position as a Java Developer I for a mid-size company (I start at the beginning of February). The technical interviews, that I was nervous about when first going in, went great, with questions about Java and object-oriented programming that I could answer immediately and correctly, and I really got the sense that my interviewers were impressed by the depth and amount of what I knew, and that most recent grads from bootcamps do not have as much command of these foundation concepts. While technically it was about 8 weeks or so from graduating to securing a job for me, given the holidays, it seems to me like it was really only two-or-three weeks from when the business world came back to life to getting a job.

Was the Skill Distillery program perfect? No, of course not. There was a TON of information to get through and some concepts went by way too fast, and for others it felt like time was a bit wasted going over older technologies to develop an understanding and appreciation for newer technologies. I thought most of the Skill Distillery-written material was good, but there were some questionable materials which I understand are being replaced in future classes. I think the program could be strengthened by having more consistent teaching (in an effort to introduce us to different perspectives in the industry with guest teachers, I think less of that and more consistency would be better) and having projects that built up with the student's knowledge (i.e., take something simple with console output to eventually have a fullblown website dynamically drawing from databases and providing output where the complexity and techniques used in the backend evolve and mature with new concepts, etc.) rather than "throw away code" from tutorials that was abandoned. I actually think they should have MORE homework and grading and reading assignments, and I say that already recognizing that we were working at a full pace schedule with little time to ourselves already. 

But a bootcamp is supposed to be hard -- if you are not in 110%, if you have too many distractions or obligations, this may not be for you. You need a support structure for yourself, resources taken care of so you don't spend study time worrying about things. If you have a spouse/partner, they need to understand what kind of commitment you are taking on. I have always been very big in volunteering my time and serving on the boards of non-profits, but I had to trim my schedule a lot to make room for this course, and in retrospect, I should have trimmed even more off my schedule to dedicate to study. Further, Skill Distillery wants to be able to take someone new to coding and get them through all this at a breakneck speed. I wouldn't actually recommend that -- do a course or two online BEFORE you start a bootcamp, make sure you have the real basics down and that you are committed and self-disciplined and really desperately interested in the subject enough to take this plunge. 

I'd even suggest that Skill Distillery consider reducing the scope of the bootcamp. Right now "Full-Stack" is the buzzword everyone says they want but no decent size company actually wants the person designing the UI to also code the backend logic and database connections. The skillsets and talents are too different to make anyone a master of both (although I'll agree with enough experience, one could be decent at both). Instead I think Skill Distillery should go all in on what they are really good at: Java back end coding. Maybe spend a few weeks introducing JavaScript and some of the frameworks, but in my opinion, there were too many specifics to cover to get good enough at any of them. I feel like I learned enough about HOW to approach libraries, APIs, and frameworks, and far less about any particular one. 

But that is what companies want from junior developers: they want someone who knows HOW TO LEARN NEW THINGS. We're juniors - we're not meant to know a ton about anything, we're meant to know how to take in a great deal of knowledge, integrate it into the basic concepts that we understand, and start the practice with good coding techniques. That's where I feel like I am coming out of the Skill Distillery bootcamp. 

For me, Skill Distillery delivered what I was looking for and expecting. I have a firm understanding of a fundamental programming language that will always be relevant and useful. I got some experience with integrating databases and using some frameworks and libraries that help me do the work better. I feel like I am starting with good coding practices that will serve me well and an understanding of the importance of testing and working together on a team. I never thought for a minute that Skill Distillery would be the end of my learning, but just the beginning. I am making a huge career transition into something I always wanted to do but never thought I would be successfully able to transition to. Now I'm going into my first developer job and I'm excited, and a little scared, and yet confident, too, that I'm going to be able to build on all I learned and was introduced to at Skill Distillery to make a great career for myself

You had better bring you A game, because these guys are not playing.  I'm serious!  If you are going to walk the walk and talk that talk you had better be ready to sweat.  I'm talking 10 hours a day and catch up on the weekendes.  You are going to compress 1500 hours of coding into 16 weeks.  If you can't adapt to the needs of the job, if you can't take intellectual pressure then get out of the kitchen.  BUT!!!! if you can hang in there and hold on until the end you will be ready to handle anything the job market has to through at you.  You wont find better.  Easier yes, better doesn't exist.  Try, hit up Seattle, San Fransico, New Your, or India.  To be honest thier should rename themselves to the IronWorks.  So roll up your sleaves and get ready to job.

BTW Rob and Jamie are the bomb!

I attended the SD program prior to the authors of these other reviews, and I feel compelled to add my thoughts to the discussion.

Following the same format…

Pros: I like the location and the building SD is housed in. There is a common area, kitchen, and additional space for students to study. Garage parking is free for students, and there are restaurants surrounding the school. The program started out very promising, with the first quad’s Java instruction being top notch. Spirits were high during and immediately after the Java certification exam, but this enthusiasm didn’t carry through to the remainder of the program.

Cons: I agree with the thoughts of other students that Java EE is not suited for bootcamp instruction. While the material presented was fascinating and well taught, there are fewer job opportunities for entry level Java engineers than for entry level coders of different languages. Modern technologies were not covered, and students leaving the school are at a disadvantage competing against other boot camp graduates when interviewing for local jobs. Job placement assistance was non-existent, and the program's voluntary attrition rate looks to be extreme. 

I find suspicious the five star reviews from students that have yet to complete the course. The shortcomings of SD appear after the first quarter and I suspect some damage control is taking place. I wish everyone the best and hope that things improve for current and future students. 

I cannot recommend the school at this time. 

Do not be deceived by the five star reviews.

Overall Experience: The first part of the program was superb. If I were to have written a review during the Java portion of the course, I would have given it five stars out of five. After five weeks of studying and practicing pure Java, about half the students were able to pass the Oracle Certified Associate - Java Programmer exam, which is impressive in my opinion.

The program self-destructed in the second quad of instruction. In stark contrast to the first quad, there was very little hands-on time. The few exercises that were featured in the second quad consisted of copying and pasting code written in a book. The materials were absolute garbage. If you truly believe you can learn databases, MVC, and Java EE from someone reading out of a dry, uninspiring book, then perhaps this course is for you.

The same continued in quad three, which was the front-end portion of instruction.  At this point, most of the students would show up to the classroom only to tune the lecture out and try to learn on their own. Before the quad concluded, eight of the eleven students decided to withdraw.

Instructors: This was the one part of the program that made it bearable. The instructors are extremely knowledgable and able to effectively communicate with students in spite of the tremendous gap in knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, they can only do so much when given awful material to teach from.

Curriculum: The program prides itself on offering instruction on “non-trendy” languages. There’s a reason other bootcamps focus on Ruby, MEAN, etc: People are able to obtain employment in them with little experience. Do yourself a favor and research entry-level Java jobs before making a decision, as most of them require one to three years of previous development experience to be considered.

Job Assistance: I have no way of sugarcoating this. They do not care what happens to you after you complete the program. Concerns arose when previous graduates were not finding employment, and we were told they were of questionable character and talent. The word “zeroes” was used to describe previous graduates. This lack of professionalism did not sit well with anyone. In addition to this, we were constantly told companies were inquiring about hiring graduates and that we would receive emails as proof, but that never happened. If you are considering this bootcamp, you are likely a mid-career professional looking for a change, so keep this in mind before you make any life-changing decisions.

Do your research before you make a decision. Look at job advertisements to see which technologies and languages have the lowest barrier to entry in terms of experience. Don’t take a bar chart on a website as gospel. Perhaps the program can change for the better over time, but at this point you are probably better off spending your time and money elsewhere. They advertise 25+ years experience in teaching programming, which is true, but it is stated in a deceptive manner. Their experience is in shorter corporate classes, which has virtually no relevance in a bootcamp environment.

Pros:  

The Java instructor was excellent.  He is a true teacher whose gift has helped many and will continue to do so.  The first portion of Java was successful.

Cons:

This bootcamp did not produce as promised.  After the first portion of Java programming, everything fell apart.  The course content was advertised as unique and created in-house, however, instructors ended up reading out of external courseware manuals.  The learning process consisted of unengaging lecture with very little hands-on programming.  Important concepts like Agile methodology, paired-programming, and GitHub were not adequately understood or practiced.  Instruction in later portions was substandard for a variety of reasons: some instructors had little or outdated industry experience, while others were simply not skilled at teaching the material.  Additonally, there was no career planning component and very few graduates currently are employed in the industry.  Lastly, prior and current student personal information was not kept in confidence, which created an unprofessional atmosphere.

If looking for a bootcamp that offers GI Bill support, please wait for other area bootcamps to receive approval from the Veteran's Administration.    

I came to Skill Distillery with no prior coding experience whatsoever.  I was worried, but the excellent instructors and support staff at Skill Distillery have made me feel at home, and I'm learning so much every day.  I looked at coding boot camps all over the country, and frankly,I could not be happier with my decision to attend Skill Distillery.

I enjoyed my time with Skill Distillery. The staff were courteous and professional, and they cared about the students. It's a genuine challenge to fall through the cracks at their school.

I went to SD for the enterprise Java development aspect of the program. It's a very difficult school to complete successfully. I think a large part of that is due to the nature of Java as a full-fledged programming language and not a scripting language. After working my face off in the program, I’m now working with startups in Denver, Houston, and Santa Barbara. I can’t describe the sense of pride I have from completing something as difficult as SD’s program and being a success afterwards. Their curriculum is great; it hits all the major topics that you need to get going as a developer, and it provides a springboard to something even greater if you put in the work. My advice is to work your ass off and make great projects.

I can attest that the staff take feedback very seriously and act on it quickly. The only "downside" that I saw was that the location isn’t "cool," but that’s not really what you’re there for.

I was hired before I graduated the program, so they must be doing something right!  If you want to be a developer, go to this bootcamp. They teach the most prolific technologies with an expertise rarely found in other training programs.

I was never a student and got turned down for the November 2015 cohort.

I AM NOT HERE TO PROTEST MY REJECTION.  

I would like to simply provide feedback on the lack of professionalism shown by the admissions staff.  During the process, I was really more curious as to what my shortcomings were so I could develop them and re-apply, if able.  Throughout the process, multiple emails and phone calls went unanswered by Admissions Rep, even though she told me in-person that ALL applicants are given feedback, regardless or their acceptance or rejection.

After 3X emails to her, I had to physically visit the office to confront her for a simple explanation as to my status.  She immediately claimed she gave my application to the School DIrector for review and notification.  If this is true, he simply never followed up with me.  Why?  You'll have to ask him.

As of 1/4/16, I followed up to see if I could re-apply for the FEB 2016 cohort.  The School Director choose to email the next day claiming that the application process would not be revised until July and that I was unable to apply until then.  I see no fault in this, as the school is free to do what they choose.

However, i'm not OK with the fact that the School Director offered to answer any questions I had in his email, but has yet to reply to anything I asked about...i'm still waiting.

Overall, it appears that Skills Distillery is CHOOSING to treat people this way...and that's their prerogative...as long as they are willing to deal with the consequences:)

FYI...I did take both Learn by the Byte courses offered by the school on Udemy.com.  The online Instructor was excellent...and i'm sure he's probably even better in person.