Software Development (Flex, Online)

 I would recommend DigitalCrafts to anyone that is committed to transitioning into full-stack software development. During the 17-week full-time program I experienced tremendous growth and was able to build much greater things than I expected. On the 17th week I was accepted into an internship and it's because of this bootcamp. During the full-time bootcamp it is up to you and how hard you are willing to apply yourself during this time. If you need to recharge, recharge. However, if you have free time, commit it to learning new technologies or improving existing skills. As I write this, I am now familiarizing myself with an entirely new codebase and beginning work with 40 other developers. The curriculum keeps you moving and lays an important foundation for new developers. Also, I would recommend Veronica as an instructor. If you're willing to work hard and you aren't just trying to "get by" - this bootcamp will be great for you. 

I had a positive experience at DC to pursue my software development career path. My instructor Veronica was well-organized and detailed-oriented. We started to use Git on Day 1 and I cannot stress enough how important it is to get comfortable with using Git. The cohort was very fast-paced but we had notes from the class instructional time to refer to and we were assigned with daily lab practice and homework to reinforce the topic/concepts daily. When I work on my projects nowadays, I still can easily find my notes to refer to so you know how organized Veronica is with her instruction :) Outside class time, I also spent a good amount of time to just review the concepts. As this is a bootcamp, you will be prepared to become a full-stack software developer in a short period of time, and it is not easy to grasp the knowledge right away. My cohort mates sometimes studied together, or find different videos to go over the same topic from a different perspective. My instructor and TA were also very helpful and supportive to answer my questions and guide me through the journey. Overall, I would recommend DigitalCrafts if you know software development is a path you want to take! 

I am a graduate from Digital Crafts. I attended the full time web development bootcamp online for four months starting in July of 2022, and have since then got my first job in software development / web development with the experience and knowledge I attained from attending Digital Crafts. There is no doubt in my mind that without the leg up I attained from a curriculum in web development as well as my fantastic instructor Veronica, that I would not have been able to land my first job in the field. Despite the fantastic experience I had with DC, there is a few things I would like to make any prospective boot camp students aware of before paying the price of admission. 1. You get out what you put into it.If you are thinking that you will be able to coast through this course like a college or highschool course, get a certificate, then get a web development job, you may, but you probably won't. More than anything else the experience and skills you gain from attending all the classes, getting a grasp on all the material offered, and being able to demonstrate your aptitude is what's going to get you a job. Having a credential/ certificate is nice, but with no experience you have to have the knowledge and projects to back you up when going on interviews. 2. It's possible to go into this with no prior coding experience and succeed, but you really should not! Going into any boot camp you will hear and read "No prior knowledge of coding necessary!". This is true, but this is not what I did, and I believe going in with a basic understanding of OOP helped me learn more and learn faster than my classmates who were completely fresh to every single topic. It's not impossible to catch up, but during your time attending DC you will have to run twice as fast to learn half as much, and as I said earlier, the more you can perform the better off you will be when you finish. I would highly recommend going through some basic programming material for a couple months before making the commitment, it will help a ton in my estimation.3. Job assistance...As you may have read from other reviews there is not guarantee that DC will do anything to get you a job after graduation. Despite some saying they do nothing, I think that is bogus, as there are networking opportunities, seminars, and the door is always open with staff members who work in career services who will give you specific detailed advice and guidance on what you need to do and how you need to do it to get your first job. It is also true that there's a good chance you can be hired as a TA ( teachers assistant ) by DC after you completed the course which will give you the experience you need to go somewhere else. It's not the best Job assistance in the world, as they will not hold your hand to your next position they picked out for you, but DC will give you what you need to move in the right direction.4. I've heard some things...During my time at DC I have heard some things that I would be remiss not to disclose here. I heard from one of my classmates who knew somebody that was taking the same course with a different instructor in part-time web development that there was a lot of funny business going on. It seemed that the quality of the classes/ assistance from the instructor was lackluster and something I definitely would not be happy about had I experienced myself. That being said this is word of mouth, I don't really know, but I would highly recommend if you want to attend, you do the full-time any way as I think it is a much better structure to begin with. 5. The Curriculum itself.The curriculum itself is pretty good. It covers full-stack web development pretty deeply for the amount of time you actually spend learning and practicing material. That being said, In hindsight I wish the course had a larger focus in back-end web development with a server side language. No matter what part of web development you strive with, you may need to allocate serious time keep learning more languages/frameworks after the fact to fill in some missing skills from your resume before you get your first position.That is pretty much all I have to report about the bootcamp. If I could go back in time I would chose to attend this bootcamp every single time. The people that I met there were all absolutely fantastic, and the fact that it accomplished for me what it was supposed to accomplish means I really have nothing to complain about. Despite that, I believe that coding bootcamps are not for everyone, and you really have to consider what you are capable of before you sign up and pay for any bootcamp.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at DigitalCrafts! The instructors were fantastic, the curriculum focuses on languages/technologies that are very relevant in the industry, and the admin team was always on top of it as my cohort mates and I navigated our 4 months in the full time Web Development program. Student success was also very thorough and helpful when it came to preparing for interviews, getting your portfolio/online presence up to speed, and all things in between.Before committing to DC, I scoured Course Report (and the rest of the net) in order find the perfect program for me. Ultimately, I'm very glad that I chose to attend DC and have not looked back! There's no BS when it comes to their approach to alternative software development education. They don't guarantee a job, instead they prepare you for the market with realistic expectations and give you all the tools you need in order to apply and interview well. Also, their Student Success team regularly posts opportunities in Slack and you have them at your disposal for life after graduating.Also, the instructors were all fantastic! I had Dre as the lead and Dez as my TA and they were rockstars. Veronica subbed for a few days while Dre was out and she was great as well! Lastly, everyone on staff always seemed happy and supported by the higher ups at DC and that trickles down to the students.I highly suggest checking them out for yourself! Contact a recruiter and ask more questions. Complete their intro course to get an idea of what their style is like. I'm confident that you'll enjoy the program as much as I did!

Coming to DigitalCrafts, I had absolutely no experience in coding. I was very nervous to jump into the coding world, but I am so glad that I did. My instructor at DigitalCrafts was Veronica, and she was incredibly thorough and made sure that every student understood the material. The amount of coding resources on the web can be quite daunting, but after the DigitalCrafts BootCamp, you will be ready to start your career as a junior developer! If you are on the fence about taking the Full-Stack Web Development course, this is your sign to go for it! In six months, you will be very glad that you did.

I ended up narrowing it down to Digital Crafts as my bootcamp of choice after researching options for 4 months and couldn't have been happier. The in demand skills they provided along with the small class sizes were what really sealed the deal for me. That along with how great my instructor was really made it an overall amazing experience. I would highly recommend DC especially if you want to learn react and redux (in demand job skills currently). I have no complaints, but I think if you are like me and enjoy smaller class sizes and are considering DC, it's important to ask how many students they cap at. Mine was 10 students and apparently there was a smaller cohort before me as well, so it seems like it really varies on how many people are applying and are accepted in.

I want to start by saying that the title of this review is NOT hyperbole (and I'll explain why in a bit).I weighed the pros and cons of taking DC's Immersive Web Dev course for over two years and am quite glad that I waited, even if partly by sheer (pandemic-induced) happenstance. You can rest assured though, as their new, fully-online model feels entirely fleshed out. These aren't passive "online classes" like you'll see in various university courses. You're paying for a dynamic, fast-paced learning community which you'll be accessing from the comfort of your own home.While said convenience is extremely enticing, this isn't to say that you'll breeze through the course. Every morning, you'll be making your coffee, gathering today's ready-and-willing brain cells into a small pile, and then buckling up, as the information comes at you FAST. This intensity is a double-edged sword, of course. You'll be drowning in all of the excess water you're spilling when "drinking from the firehose" at times, yet you'll be SHOCKED at how quickly the bootcamp cuts through the BS and gets you writing WORKING code.This is neither a joke nor an overstatement and should echo the title of this review. I started this bootcamp as a professional musician/beer brewer in his mid-30s with no more than a high school diploma and in TWO WEEKS had built a fully-formed, text-based RPG in Python using Object-Oriented Programming. Two weeks. Not two months (or years...). Two. Weeks.If I can do it, so can you.I didn't get to the end of this ordeal alone, obviously. Our instructor, Veronica Lino, basically walks on water. She can't help but be a teacher by nature, as her passion for writing "dope code" is matched only by how much she just wants to see her pupils succeed. Because of her guidance, I'm looking forward to many years of crafting "buttons that BETTER work". ;)Pieces of advice for folks seriously considering DigitalCrafts' Web Dev track from someone on the other side, you ask?1. DO THE PRE-WORK. For a metric, I left my job almost exactly one month before the start of the bootcamp, took a long weekend to recalibrate, and then spent 6-8 hours per day on the pre-work, at least 5 days-per-week. I felt "slightly over-prepared", but that also may have been because I had a bit of experience with HTML and CSS from my old job. I guess my point is that if you wait and just kind of lazily stumble into the pre-work a week or so before "Day One", you WILL start off behind your classmates and you may never catch up. Yes, it moves that fast.2. Don't be afraid to ask questions that you deem "simple". It's very likely that a number of your classmates were wondering the same thing and "looking it up later" is a waste of your time.3. Assemble a diverse team. You'll be coding in pairs as well as groups, so get ready for collaboration. If you only focus on your immediate strengths and don't acknowledge your weaknesses, you'll code yourself into a corner. The folks in your future cohort will be coming from a WIDE range of professional backgrounds, so don't be afraid to let opposites attract. (Word-to-the-wise: Well-crafted/-timed puns SLAY in a coding bootcamp...)4. Studying, writing your own code, banging your head against your keyboard, searching the web for code-you're-simply-too-green-to-understand-yet, and then finally completing projects just in the nick of time while your imposter syndrome approaches levels of mania will be your life for the entirety of the bootcamp. The course is advertised as 35 hours-per-week, but that's just the classroom time. I was averaging around 60 hours-per-week in front of my computer and this bootcamp is like any type of schooling: You get out what you put in.5. Use your extended network, as sparse as it may be. DC's Career Services team will pack an incredible amount of battle-hardened insight into a short amount of time (and the "Job Postings" Slack channel is mana from the heavens...), but don't forget about the folks you already know. For instance, I reached out to an old acquaintance that I hadn't spoken to in over 5 years simply asking for advice concerning the job hunt. He not only congratulated me on the feat of completing a study program as grueling as this one, but also said that his company was about a month away from publicly announcing the search for Jr. Devs. Having that one personal connection can pay dividends, as he was not only certain that I'd be a bang-on cultural/social fit for their growing enterprise, but he also said that he'd personally deliver my assets to the hiring manager before the positions were officially announced. And, thanks to DC, I've got an industry-ready portfolio and resume ready to go.6. Finally, have fun! Frankly, since you aren't getting paid, you won't feel inspired to work on a project that you aren't invested in. You'll be surprised how far you'll push yourself when being proud of your work (and growth!) is on the line...This isn't a TED Talk, so I guess that's enough, heh.So, what's the bottom line? I went from feeling borderline trapped in the service industry to being in the running for a job with a growing team that Delta just invested $75,000,000 into simply by giving DC's course my all. I would've laughed you out of the room in September of 2021 if you had told me that I'd be writing a sentence like that in this review, but it's like my dad used to say, "Luck is just what happens when you set yourself up to succeed."

Prior to joining DigitalCrafts (DC), I researched several bootcamps, narrowing it down to two that I felt would best serve me in my career change journey. I highly recommend doing your homework and understanding what you are getting into, as any bootcamp experience is a large undertaking. That being said, I am so happy I decided to go with DC. A few things that set this program apart for me included it being a 16 week program (as opposed to 10-12 weeks for other comparable bootcamps), the robust curriculum, career support, and stellar reviews. My instructor, Veronica, was hands down AMAZING. I'm so happy to have known and worked with her. Veronica knows her craft very well, and that shines through all she does during instruction. She understands the learning process, makes a commitment to presenting information in a variety of formats, and scaffolds instruction appropriately based on student needs. Veronica not only teaches you the how, she makes a point to explain the WHY behind the concepts. This is important because this seemingly small difference in instruction makes a difference when it comes time for you to learn on your own. If you expect any bootcamp experience to teach you all you need to know about programming, you need to take a step back and reconsider what you are signing up for. No program is going to be able to teach you everything you need to know, and if they claim that, please just walk away. Software development is an ever-growing and changing field, and part of your role in that field is to be adaptable. It is easier to do that if you know the right questions to ask and have a wealth of background knowledge to draw from. That is the experience you can hope to gain with DC and Veronica's instruction. Aside from day-to-day instruction, you will also find strong career support and a community of developers in DC's network. To say I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people I found willing to help me along on my journey is an understatement. I've felt supported from day one. All of the employees at DC really truly care about your success and growth. All of this to say, take some time to make your decision. Understand what you are signing up for. Ask questions. Review the curriculum. Make sure you're in a good spot financially to make the best of this experience. I am 100% happy that I chose DC, and I would highly recommend this program to others, but please make sure you're making the right decision for you.

First off DigitalCrafts is not only a school but it’s a community. My instructor Veronica Better known as Ms.V is absolutely amazing. She’s funny, understanding, loving and a great communicator. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

I just completed the 16 week Immersive Web Development course with DigitalCrafts and have nothing but good things to say about my experience! I choose DigitalCrafts because I liked the looks of their curriculum and I liked the fact that their immersive program is 16 weeks long rather than 12 like many other programs. I was not disappointed with my choice. From day one all the staff have been great. The communication during the application process was clear and timely. They give you a very clear pre-work outline and online resources to prepare you for day one of your program. (Side note to prospective students, do the pre-work! It will help you when you start the course!) I was nervous at first about doing an all online virtual program but I have to say DigitalCrafts is doing a great job of making virtual learning work! All the lectures are live and you have the opportunity to ask questions of the instructor and dialog with other students. You are also given the opportunity for live online study groups which is awesome. I truly felt just as involved and supported as I have ever felt in a in person class. The curriculum is robust and moves fast, which is something you need to be prepared for going into any bootcamp type learning environment, but you will have a ton of support from the instructions, teaching assistants, career support staff and all the folks that work for DC! I never felt like I was in this alone, or felt isolated in my learning struggles for one minute! 

Deciding to attend DigitalCrafts' Full Stack Web Development Bootcamp was hands down one of the best decisions I have made for my career. I tried for months to self-study before taking on the program, but lacked the guidance that DigitalCrafts was able to provide me. Because of them, I am now more equipped and ready to take on this new journey with my career! And a major thanks to my amazing instructor Azam for always pushing us past our comfortable zone. 

I had a great experience at Digital Crafts. I self-taught for a while and learned a lot but had no direction as to how to apply and connect the different things I was learning. At DC I learned how all these different languages and frameworks work together and got a really well-rounded understanding of software development. My instructor, Veronica, was really great and SO knowledgeable. I made some really great friendships with my classmates and got very comfortable working in teams on projects and pair programming - a very valuable skill when looking for jobs down the road. Highly recommend!

I graduated from Digital Crafts in July 2020. I went into the cohort with very little coding experience and just completed the pre-requisites that were assigned before we started instruction. I started my first job as a software developer on August 5th, 2020. So Digital Crafts did supply me the tools and instruction necessary to actually get a job as a programmer. Things I liked:My instructor was Mr.Azam and I really enjoyed being in his cohort. His teaching style was great for learning how to code. He would give you the basics and let you struggle with the code and figure out how to make it work on your own before asking for help. I believe this set me up for success in my job because I now have to figure every issue out without any external help. Also Mr.Azam did a good job teaching via zoom even though we planned on doing an in person class. The material I learned was exactly what I am using every day at work. I work in React, Firebase, and node.js. The material they teach is relevant and modern. Career week really helped me set up a decent portfolio and resume to have me confident enough to apply for jobs. Expect to spend hours job searching as they can set you up but you still have to do the searching. I found a job in the last week of class but I also spent 5-6 hours a day applying for jobs. Overall I recommend Digital Crafts but expect to do a lot of work yourself as at the end of the day you get out of it what you put in. Things I didn't like: My only negative thing to say about Digital Crafts was I paid for a full-time in person course. Due to Covid we were unable to go in person until the last few weeks of my cohort. I felt like I didn't get my full tuitions worth as I was looking forward to using the facilities at the physical location and learning in person. I understand it is not the fault of Digital Crafts that covid restricted our in person studies, but I feel as though they should have discounted the price of everyone who was in our cohort. As we weren't provided exactly what we originally signed up for. 

MAIN DILEMMAI enrolled into the October 2020 Full Stack Immersive Bootcamp, I think my experience at DigitalCrafts (DC) is a unique one, given that the original instructor was let go due to his inability to adapt to his students' needs. To elaborate, it is a given that bootcamps are fast-paced but instructors should also be wary of how their students are doing, because if the students are not understanding the fundamentals of what it being taught then regardless of how fast-paced the bootcamp is, the students will always be left behind. This is a 'skill' that the instructor needs to have, especially in the the world of programming since everything is built off of one another.I took the time to mention this because DC made the executive decision to let the original instructor go and my bootcamp was replaced with another instructor, this new instructor was amazing. He took things a little bit slower and ensured that the students had a good understanding of concepts before moving on. He also took the time to review concepts when necessary and created resources / examples that demonstrated some of the complex concepts that we learned. I will say that I am a quick learner and that there are times where lecture was a little slow for me but this new instructor made assignments for those who were further along when he could. This was an okay experience since his attention would be divided but he still did his best to be there for all of the students. Finally, this transition from the original instructor to the new one changed the momentum greatly. Ultimately it was for the best but it wasn't a smooth transition especially when it happened towards the middle of the bootcamp. How do you make this transition smooth when concepts taught pre-new instructor were still hazy and we still had a schedule to adhere to? Well, to be fair, I don't think you can. The final capstone (graduation) day remained unchanged so we had to forgo some concepts and learn these concepts at an optional timeframe post-graduation. CURRICULUM I think the curriculum is a good one since it includes a lot of the popular technologies in today's industry but I think that the front-end development side of the curriculum could use more work. While I'm not exactly sure how this experience would differ with the new instructor, (at the time, my bootcamp was taught front-end technology by the original instructor), I still believe there is room for improvement. For starters, I think that SASS (or Sass) should be taught at DC, it is essentially CSS but a lot more to offer. Why do I bring up this up? Well when comparing other technologies with their relative field I felt like DC would not meet the standards of someone who would want to specifically go into front-end development. I understand that it is a 'Full Stack' web development bootcamp but the front-end development aspect was glossed over. Furthermore, other libraries and frameworks such as Bootstrap were introduced but the original instructor did not really go into detail with how to use such frameworks. You would think that they might make your life easier but depending on what you want to do, it actually might mess everything up. Many of my classmates tried to use Bootstrap but then ended up with fighting with it more than coding. Like I mentioned earlier, during this time it was pre-new instructor, so I'm not exactly sure the difference it would have with the new instructor from the beginning because at its very core, the curriculum was not enough for front-end development specifically in CSS / SASS. I had to learn new technologies outside of the curriculum and that is tremendously difficult given that lecture was about 40 hours / week but that doesn't include time spent studying the concepts and assignments outside of lecture. Another concept that I felt like was lacking was algorithms, this is a concept that is inevitable, any developer will be met with a technical interview and then there it is, algorithms. My bootcamp barely touched them. I'm not sure if they were even supposed to be apart of the curriculum or not but with that being said, we touched them for a moment and never turned back. It's disappointing because now when I am taking the time to learn it, I think it's important to understand the many data structures and algorithms that there are and how to use them to help solve issues when it comes to code readability, time and space complexity. It felt like the advice from DC was to just go onto LeetCode and do problems until something magically clicked for you versus, understanding what is the best method to solve the solution via data structures and algorithms. Overall I think that the curriculum was good for any new developer who wants to get a good foundation of what they should know and how to continue to grow post-bootcamp. But to be honest, you could do the same with a Udemy course, however you do have access to instructors and DIRs (teacher assistants) who can help you. I think that is the main perk of DC, that you have experienced developers that you can interact with and to help you to start thinking programmatically. FINAL THOUGHTSIn conclusion, would I recommend DC? To be honest, I would. Because like I said, in the beginning, my experience at DC is unique, it may not be the same for someone else. I met a lot of people from all over the world who shared the same passion as mine, and that is exciting! Everything that occurred during my bootcamp was unfortunate but DC did everything that they could to handle it in the best way possible and that's all you could really ask for. I made meaningful connections with other developers, the instructors and DIRs. We are a community that I'm proud to be a part of. I will say that if you are considering DC, please be prepared, do the pre-work that they sent out or take an introductory Udemy course. Also there is a lot of free resources (YouTube) that you could watch that will help you get acquainted with some of the concepts that DC will cover. Look over the syllabus and start exposing yourself to these concepts. This will only help further your mastery. If you are serious about a career change or this passion: what you put it is what you get out of it, and you cannot expect DC to do the work for you, it is ALL YOU. With that being said, I do believe that DC can help jump start your career in the right direction. 

Full curriculum that touches all aspects of the coding experience! You'll learn various languages like Python and Javascript while touching on frameworks like React, Node, and much more. They'll teach you to build real world application that you actually deploy! The staff is great and they're always one message away. They have people who can help you with building a resume, finding a job, further help outside of class time, and much more through Slack, a communication platform. The environment is engaging and you never feel left out, regardless of your skill level. All instructors and DIR's (developer in residence) are happy to help with any problems you face. The community you have doesn't go away after you graduate. You'll be moved to an alumni channel where there are always people there to help and designated recruiters finding positions for you. The amount of help you get goes far beyond graduation and that was the best aspect of DigitalCrafts for me.

Coding Bootcamps are not an easy thing. I had a great experience at DigitalCrafts. By the time I graduated my classmates became family. I think getting through the struggle together made us a lot stronger. If you are thinking about doing stop, take the decision to change your life. My recommendation is to do the pre-work mainly in Javascript and Node. 

Full-Stack Developer

The statement "culture eats strategy for breakfast" means that no matter how good your strategy is, it will not work without a good culture. DigitalCrafts has both strategy and culture. The curriculum is valuable: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node, Express, AWS. By the time you're done, you'll be manipulating the DOM, (or the Virtual DOM if you work in React), wiring up backends to create interactive data-based websites, and deploying your work on the internet. You will get the content you so desperately need.But with DC you'll get a lot more. The people at DC make the difference. They know you. The instructors and teacher assistants are extremely supportive. Our instructor was dedicated to helping each student get to the next level, and I saw DigitalCrafts make hard decisions that demonstrated their commitment to student success. 

I'm current wrapping up my fall cohort with DigitalCrafts and I have nothing but rave reviews. I've pretty much spent everyday of the last 5 months coding one thing or another and I've gained so much real world experience from it. It was also cool that there were so many vets in my program, I don't if if that's common but it was my experience. The instructors were great and had a ton real world experience. We weren't just building todo apps, we built real applications that are used everyday, one of the guys in my cohort build a gamer social media type app. Currently going through the job search as of the last couple days and I've already started going through the interview process with a company. Overall I've had a great experience w/ 0 regrets.

I participated in the full time immersive program. Because of covid, it was all done online but everything went pretty smoothly for the most part. I fell really lucky to have had Azam as my instructor as his teaching style matched my learning style perfectly. Concrete examples on all the topics and a full review on the next day. All his coding lectures were done live on the spot with the ability to answer questions at any time. Career week was great as well for someone like me who usually struggles with Resumes/Porfolios. Was also lucky to be part of a great cohort with a ton of awesome students