Claim Academy

As a recent Grad of the part time cyber security course here was my experience.

Attending in person I got to learn aside other in person students and learn from real instructors under a well structured and organized program.
If your going to do evening be prepared by either working a morning shift job and/or let aside 3 hour blocks from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

I worked a mix of shifts and if you can manage a 6 to 2:30 or 7 to 3:30pm that would be ideal, any more than 40 hours snd it will be a massive struggle, trust me I worked 10 hour shifts and it was tough.

As for the program itself you will be lectured with breaks built in and quized everyday and/or given hands on labs or labs on the laptops, the labs are of real life work experience task you would perform in the field. so I advise you pay attention.

Ultimately your success is determined by your ability to show up, ask questions, study, do the assigned homework and participate in class, its not free so i suggest you get involved. Read less

It was fantastic experience studying in claim academy, very experienced instructors with full energy, genuinely I have learned tremendous skills in cybersecurity field, I recommend this place to everyone who wants have best career in future. Thank you Claim Academy. Read less

I had great experience at Claim Academy as a part time full stack java student. When I joined Claim Academy, I had no coding experience. However, after learning five months at Claim Academy, I am able to build various web application. Again, Thanks to Claim Academy for providing such a great opportunity. Read less

I went from knowing being in educator to, transforming into a full stack developer. the 20 week part time class was an excellent program and has helped me meet me goals. Thank you claim. I look forward to being awesome and great. Nkazi is awesome! Nkazimulo Sibanda. Remember me Claim.   Read less

Claim Academy gave me the tools to began my full stack java development journey and made me feel confident pursuing a career in software development. Nife was an exceptional instructor and was able to explain complex terms in ways we could easily understand. Eric, campus director, and Cristina, student success, were always willing to help with networking and searching for a job. I would have never been able to learn what I did at Claim Academy if I would have continued doing online courses. Read less

You're likely only going to receive assistance with employment if you take the Java class and live near St Louis, MO. Javascript class seemed thrown together at the last second and I was given a transcript for the Java class because they didn't have anything prepared for Javascript. Staff stopped replying to me after the 4th incorrect transcript was sent to me.  Read less

Attended Claim Academy in person 2022. Very knowledgeable instructor and mentor currently working in the cybersecurity field. Friendly staff dedicated to making learning an enjoyable experience. Went through course with no background in cybersecurity and left confident that I could pass the Security + exam. Instructor and mentor encourage questions on what to expect in the job, not just the exam prep. Veteran friendly school. Read less

I do not know where to begin. I am a Veteran and used the Vet Tech program.

I went through the course late last year in 2021. The day I graduated was the day I lost contact with Claim Academy. The one person I had contact with was leaving the next day. Since then, I have not received any assistance, for resumes, job placement, or even a follow up on the job search. If you are a veteran, be very careful of using GI Bill or Vet Tech to fund this program. All they must do is send 1 resume to any potential employer. This can happen even without your knowledge or having been selected, and they follow Gi Bill/VetTec requirements. Be prepared for possibly no assistance. The turnover rate is high for their employees. My instructor only taught 1 semester. A couple cohorts before me had 3 different instructors teaching the same class. Be prepared for different teaching styles as well. Instead of the 8 hours of training, My cohort only received 3 during the evening. If I didn't have previous coding experience, I may not have been able to perform well on the coding challenges we had. There is supposed to be a mentor (teaching assistant) available, however they were very absent, given the impression that he was a student instead of faculty

When you sign up for the Vet Tech program, you are required to fill out paperwork when meaningful employment has been found, whether you initiated the process yourself, or if Claim Academy aided with or without your knowledge. If you fail to submit the proper paperwork, Claim Academy will send you an invoice for half of the amount of the tuition, and threaten to send you to collections. They may even invoice you for the wrong classes entirely, such as in my case, when you try to email them about this they will not respond.

Vet Tech will erroneously claim they attempted to reach you multiple times but lacks actual response during the timeframes stated in their system. Be aware that the administration may fill out incorrect paperwork as well, such as in the case of a fellow pupil whose last name was referred to as “Something”, instead of clarifying his full legal name.

During Graduation, instead of just the ceremony(whether it is virtual or in person) you will be receiving another lecture on how to negotiate for more money, and an unrealistic amount of what you should be earning as a jr dev, which could have been handled in the soft courses, instead of tacking on another hour to the graduation of roughly around 50 students. 

90% of the soft courses (interview tips, resume writing, etc) were either not provided as claimed, or had system issues that lead to their cancellation, within an inappropriate length of time given prior to cancellation. Please also be aware that the individuals communicating with you via email, may not actually be the person listed as the contact person with that specific account.
Expect to be misled regarding the Capstone/presentation ceremony, as there is a lack of transparency regarding how many potential employers will be present Claim Academy states that there will be many employers available, but the amount described was less than half.
There will be minimal effort on Claim Academy's part with assisting in finding meaningful employment. If you don't find meaningful employment with or without Claim Academy's help within the first 120 days, you can expect that you will be personally be invoiced for the cost of the last 50% of the tuition, which clearly dictates otherwise on VetTec's website. (https://www.benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/docs/fgib/VETTECSCOHB.pdf, Page 14). Let us do some math, Claim Academy cost $14k for the course, if 10 veterans go through the course and they fill out the paperwork (for the last 50% of the tuition), because they were threatened to have the invoice go to collections, so with 10 vets at $7k that is $70k Claim Academy has made from VetTec by not helping them find a job. Read less

A great experience with enrollment, pre-prep work. Outstanding and many many kudos to instructor Brandon..... A true TEACHER, EDUCATOR and TECHNOLOGIST..... the school needs at least five more individuals like him.....An awesome experience was had when the company founder provided feedback to students regarding their final projects and presentations prior to outside company DEMO day!!!!!  If you are considering this Bootcamp and the F/S Java program be sure you have a modern  computer with at least 12GB RAM/ 500GB SSD w/ I 5 or i7 processor. Read less

I have been very interested in pursuing a coding career for several years. When I discovered that I was able to use my VA benefits through the VETTECH program to attend Claim Academy, I jumped on it. It started off well and I truly enjoyed our first teacher, Denish, as he was extremely thorough and genuinely cared about each and every student. Unfortunately, the next few weeks were not as successful as there was clearly a lack of communication between the school and the instructor. After that bump in the road, we received better instruction from Lamar. The mentor, Brandon, was phenomenal and he truly was the reason I feel successful in the course. I feel as though I have a solid knowledge of Java Development and I am excited to see where my career takes me.  Read less

This program is not for the faint of heart.  It will challenge you in ways that only a coding bootcamp of this caliber can provide.  My final takeaway for this program is that it is what you make of it (as with anything, really).  Provided that you attend all the lectures, engage with your mentors, and lean on your group, you will walk away from this as a newly-minted software developer.

The instructors and mentors are top-notch and demonstrate a great degree of patience for students at every level of proficiency.  Denish was an expert at teaching core Java fundamentals, eventually handing it off to Lamar who ramped it up into Spring and React territory.  Our student mentor, Brandon, supported us every step of the way, clarifying concepts offline and building students up to the level of competency to ensure that nobody gets left behind.

Outside of lecture, communications were a little rough at times often with little prior notice for alumni nights and other mandatory sessions.  These sessions were invaluable as one makes steps into a career, however navigating the Basecamp platform and gaining visibility of these calendar invites were hit-and-miss, and as a result I missed out on a few.

Should you decide to embark on this journey, be ready for a few sleepless nights, many lows, and many highs.  The final capstone presentation amongst your peers is a rare treat.  You will feel on Cloud Nine by the end of it, provided that you stay engaged and accept nothing short of success.  The remedy to bouts of imposter syndrome and self-doubt is to simply push through and ask questions.

As a final note: I kept my day job throughout the entire bootcamp, albeit dropped down to part-time.  In hindsight, while I made it work, I DO NOT recommend going this route.  It's probably best to block off 3 months for total immersion.  Read less