DigitalCrafts

I'm lucky enough to have been able to both graduate from DigitalCrafts' full-stack immersive bootcamp and attend a corporate training session conducted by Rob (who also was my bootcamp instructor). The corporate training was for AWS certification prep, and this morning I passed the certification test. The instruction was 2 full days, which sounds like a lot until you realize how much meterial there is to cover. Rob struck a good balance between covering all the material while keeping it interesting enough to not get oversaturated with too much information all at once. He was super prepared to present the material and answered questions using his own experience, real-world examples, and official documentation. He engaged the class by having us tell about our experiences, which provided context to the material and proved helpful for the exam. He also brought along 2 teaching assistants who were able to quietly and efficiently handle questions and technical issues without disturbing the class. While Rob was his usual entertaining self, he also took the material seriously, which was important for us to be able to take it seriously. Overall I would highly recommend corporate training from DigitalCrafts as their instructors are top-notch and the whole experience was as enjoyable as corporate training could possibly be.

In the past I attended a part-time course by MakerSquare in Austin and was only able to retain the HTML/CSS portion of the class. I was left very discouraged.

I have two friends that have gone through DigitalCrafts and decided to join because of them. I am very glad I did.

If you're looking to attend a coding bootcamp in the Houston Area, DigitalCrafts with Veronica is the course you should enroll in. Veronica's teaching style and patience surpassed all expectations. She is very thorough with her examples and will make sure you are not lost at any point during her lectures. If at any point you are feeling discouraged just remember that it is part of the learning experience. There were many days throughout the course where I spent a day or two on a piece of a project and just felt it was impossible to get it to function. These are the days you will learn the most even though it doesn't feel like it at the time. With the help of Veronica and our great TA Katy, I was able to complete the course and retain the knowledge learned throughout the 16 weeks. 

I am a recent graduate of DigitalCrafts Full-Stack Immersive program in Houston. This course was a great experience fo me. My background is in hospitality and the medical field, so coming in to the program, I knew nothing about programming. The course was 4 months long, and by the end I was comfortably creating full-stack web applications with in demand technology. The instructor, Azam, is very knowledgeable, and was able to help me with any problems I had along the way, while teaching me how to get past these problems on my own. I would strongly recommend this course to anyone looking to make a career change or become a confidant developer.

Before you consider going to a boot camp do yourself a favor and try to learn by yourself for at least 3 to 4 months, you will fail but it will test you commitment to coding. The majority of people that do really well had been trying to learn how to code online for awhile.  Think of coding as Vocational Education, but the time you graduated you will become a "welder apprentice" that’s the key realizing that you need to continue to learn, learn and learn.

Read coder to developer by Mike Gunderloy, read joelonsoftware.com or any old software developer out there that teach how to think software!  Learning syntax is not all there is to it, that's probably 40%, the key is how do learn to use your short term memory so you can juggle many things at once and connect them.

DigitalCrafts is great, you’ll learn the basics  and make good friends, the founders are always there and take their time to be at every demo.

Thanks to Jason, Chardonnay , Azam, Stephen and James! :)

DigitalCrafts is absolutely amazing. We mostly focus on the MERN stack here (with Postgresql as our main database over MongoDB), but we're really taught how to learn as a developer, instead of just learning a specific stack. Many people did their full-stack projects in different stacks (I did mine in Python/Django) because we knew the overall structure of how frontend and backend works.

The career services is amazing. They identify what you're interested in, and they help find opportunities for you. I got a phone interview from a company that I hadn't previously looked at because the career services team sent my resume to them based on my interests. So they're very invested in your professional success.

Also it's right in the Atlanta Tech Village, which is full of startup companies. Some people in my cohort were offered jobs with people right here in the building, so the location is a huge plus.

10/10 would recommend for anyone SERIOUS about diving into software development. (If you're only trying this to make more money, there isn't any bootcamp that will help you. It's about your drive too).

Before enrolling in this bootcampe, I was trying to decide if I wanted to pursue the law or pursue programming.  The law was calling, but I didn't want the risk of $150,000 in debt with no guarentee of a job in the end.  I figured that the things I liked (logical thinking within a clear rule set) would be present in programming, and the risk was comparatively low.

Turns out that I love programming more than I thought I could.  The instructors at Digital Crafts are top notch.  The curriculum has some lecture everyday, but the real value comes from the hands on projects and having access to such experienced and brilliant minds to help you through.  In addition to the lead instructors, there are 1-2 "Developers in Residences" (DIR) who act as T.A.s to make sure you don't get stuck.  They don't hold your hand, but rather show you how to think through your problems.

I was a DIR after my cohort ended, and while the pay was terrible (whatever you are thinking, think lower), but if you can get the position after, I highly recommend it.  It gives you continued access to the instructors and further develops your ability to communicate about code.  Also, debugging code (paticularly beginner code that can have some "interesting" patterns) is great preperation for jumping into a code base once you achieve your first full-time position.. 

As far a results, I am now a full-time software engineer with great benefits.  Also, while my workplace doesn't require me to work long hours, I find myself doing so anyways because coding is inherently fun.

When you enter the ATV location - where DigitalCrafts is located, you feel an eagerness budding. It has a fresh, well managed, and holistic feeling to it. By holistic, I mean ATV has a fully stocked kitchen, nap rooms, a gym, networking events, free (limited) monthly massages and open spaces attend to all of a member's needs. DigitalCrafts itself has a very holistic approach to a coding school: the paradigm of career - knowledge - support are captured well. Their teacher's assistants (referred to as developers in residence, or DIR for short) weave between students desks, to make themselves available for any student that is stuck, or needs clarification. The program director has a permanent presence at DigitalCrafts, and is incredibly accesible for all your concerns.

The career week gives ample time to focus on what the school emphasizes for gaining employment: writing a resume (with a full grade and broken down review) linkedin account, portfolio website, and interview etiquette - including this week is a mock interview. Also for the duration of the course, there are job related skills that are worked into the curriculum: the use of git (github in particular) for collaboration, pair-programming, agile-style stand-ups, test-driven development, AWS and deployment.

I researched bootcamps for a several years before choosing DigitalCrafts, and with its CIRR report (see below for more detail), comparatively high amount of instruction hours, raving reviews, and offer of  in-demand programming languages taught in their curriculum, I chose DigitalCrafts.

The curriculum is comprehensive and most current for fullstack development. A student begins at DigitalCrafts learning command line (useful for any developer in debugging, running servers, accessing files/directories), then quickly moves onto Python, a robust back-end language that is used as an introduction to programming language syntax that can be translated to the languages later used in the curriculum. Then you begin what you spend the remainder of the course on: JavaScript and all of its many forms (frontend, backend (Node), React, Redux).There are projects interlaced throughout the program, that give a student the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess of what they have just learned. Along with projects, there are in-class exercises that have specific requirements and that as a class, you progress through the steps together that add complexity to that exercise, or application.  Don't confuse this with a starter kit, or a code along. It's neither, it's a bit of demonstration and instruction, with class time to execute that feature. This is where the beauty of coding lies: stumbling and error messages are where you’ll build up your repertoire in debugging abilities. These debugging abilities give you insight on the fundamentals of how that programming language works. I encourage you to embrace the struggle long enough to precisely understand where your problem exists and then ask for help from your instructor or DIRs.

The instructor I had was wonderfully meticulous, and taught us best practice in coding protocol. He redirected those of us who drifted off-road of the best practice coding, with grace and patience. His methodology of teaching was to cause a lot of active learning, a proponent of existing in a constant level of struggle to facilitate learning. What this meant is the program wasn’t easy, but my curiosity couldn’t have been more piqued by what I was being exposed to. He provided enough background information to let independent coding commence, but not enough to avoid subsisting in that level of struggle that the instructor favored.

This course brings with it a kinship to the classmates you struggled along side of during the 4 month long course, which for me wasn’t recognizable until the last few days together.

Speaking of the other classmates, I’ve witnessed classmates earn jobs before the graduation of our cohort, securing salaries that the report on Council on Integrity in Results Reporting lures you into the program with. The promise of a job isn’t a lie, but it is a result of networking and job applications. On their slack channel, DigitalCrafts (DC) publishes almost on a daily basis job prospects that you either apply directly to, or submit your resume to DC’s career counselor for consideration.

This experience has felt like is has been life-altering, but that’s also dependent on my commitment to continue with a forward momentum into this industry - by studying, active networking, and consistency in submitting job applications.

I have no regrets, and encourage you to do an on-line web development course to assess your true interest. If your interest persists after the on-line course, sign up for DigitalCrafts bootcamp.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with my experience over the past four months at Digital Crafts. That said, I wish had more coding experience prior to enrolling. I was completely new to coding at the start of the course and sometimes it was hard for me to keep up with the rest of the class. If you're considering doing Digital Crafts, I would highly recommend spening at least a few months learning on your own before enrolling, and not just HTML and CSS, get comfortable with JavaScript too! I definitely learned a lot of the past 4 months, but the most successful students in my cohort had spent a lot of time learning on their own before the class started.

Almost all class excercises are done from scratch, starter code isn't provided. This is a better way to learn, but for beginners sometimes it can feel like you have nowhere to even begin. 

I don't yet have a job, but I have no reason not to be optimistic about my job search. 

I'll be brief on this, SAVE YOUR MONEY! Its overrated, over priced, under delivers on all aspects. You can pay a couple hundred and self teach this material and have a better understanding than 4 months from this bootcamp. They will sell you on the "networking" or "job placement" services but its a sham. You can network through meetups (which is what they tell you to do anyways) and your career services is nothing more than a couple presentations on resumes or portfolios that you coudl find watching videos on youtube. They are shady in giving select students higher discounts/money off tuition, and only offer job opportunities or work their connections to the individuals they deem worthy to forward their brand and name. Their director of career services isn't even local nor has any experience in recruiting, resume/portoflio critiquing, and no insights into proper grammar. Not worth your time and especially your money! Save yourself the frustration and debt from this sham of a "company".

Before attending DigitalCrafts, I had no prior coding experience. Coming from a sales background I decided to switch career paths and explore software development. Out of the many boot camps in Atlanta, I had the pleasure of visiting the DC campus and taking a tour with Admissions director Zakia. It was at that time that I knew what my decision was going to be. After being accepted into the immersive program I was giving multiple precourse work which helped tremendously. During the program, I faced many challenges, but my instructor Chris pushed me beyond my limits and motivated me daily to become better. The entire DC team is very caring and is interested in seeing each and every student succeed. It definitely makes the students feel comfortable going through the program. The most important aspect about DC is that you are taught how to learn technologies on your own even after graduation, a highly valuable skill giving the short amount of time you have during the program. Other amazing experiences worth mentioning are career week, computer science electives, interview practices, algorithm challenges, and many more fill-in-the-gap exercises that build character beyond just learning how to code. In the end, attending DC was easily one of the best decisions I've made regarding my career.  

The fact that the full-time program is 16 weeks (compared to the typical 12 weeks) was a huge plus. I felt like there was more time to understand the concepts, ask for help, and more projects and exercises to complete for more practice.

I also feel like DigitalCrafts does a great job of seeing what skills are in demand and teaching those to us as well as practical examples of how we would be using them. The Career Week is sooo helpful in getting your resume, portfolio, LinkedIn, and interviewing skills sharp to feel confident during your job search. And, they are always sharing job opportunities in your area to apply for.

Coming in with just a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, I fell in love with front-end development and also feel strong with the back-end. We had 4 total projects, which were the most useful to me for learning. If anything, they teach you how to be resourceful and figure out new things since you will always be learning in this field.

I highly recommend DigitalCrafts if you are serious about making a career switch since you will learn high demand skills and be able to market yourself well to future employers with what DigitalCrafts teaches you.

I had a really great experience at DigitalCrafts. However, it you want an experience similar to college you will not get it. A lot of the learning and becoming very good at coding is left to the student; which ultimately is a good thing. It may be off-putting at first but trust me, you will be thanking the coding gods DigitalCrafts is set up that way. When you get a development job, it will be expected of you to be able to look up and learn things yourself. If you can't find an answer or are really stuck, then the teachers and TA's are more than willing to answer your question.

Overall I really enjoyed my time at DigitalCrafts and learned a tremendous amount.

I very recently finished the DigitalCrafts 16-Week Fulltime Immersive program in Atlanta. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the experience stretched me and forced me to grow in ways that I did not foresee before it began. I wish everyone -- or at least lots more people -- could have this experience.

I had had some programming experience prior to enrolling in the course, so I was slightly worried that it might be too easy and I wouldn't learn enough to make it worth the time and money. Within about a week, I knew that this would not be the case. From about the second day, my brain was already being exercised more intensely than it had been in years, as we learned not only programming languages and libraries but also new and improved ways of looking at problems in general and working out solutions.

As the course progressed, we quickly moved into new development paradigms and there were moments when I felt hopelessly lost but learned that, even though the pace was fast and it sometimes felt like drinking from a firehose, if I just kept at a difficult topic long enough, a joyful moment would come when it would suddenly fall into place and I would "get it".

The teaching approach of our instructor, Jonathan Martin, was to ensure we understood the fundamentals of a subject before introducing us to higher-level abstractions. I can imagine that this is not always the case with courses of this type, especially when students are expected to go away with so many new skills to add to their resumes, the temptation may be to skip to past the basics of functional JavaScript, for example, and jump directly into a more "here is the code you write to make this happen" approach. Jonathan would expect us to understand what tools like Express or JSX or even built-in APIs were doing under the hood before we could use them. That way, when we did use one, it was a tool and not a crutch.

Now that I have finished the program and I have a moment to look back and consider the difference between where I started and where I am now and the things I can build now that I couldn't four months ago, I can wholeheartedly recommend the DigitalCrafts fulltime immersive program. 

If you're ready to work hard and to push through some tough times, you'll come out a much better programmer and maybe even a better person on the other end.

I took the full stack immersive program at DigitalCrafts. Before signing up, I contemplated doing the journey on my own and using online free resources. Now that I've completed the program, I'm really glad that I didn't. The support of the DigitalCrafts community was amazing. The students you interact with are all so intelligent, driven and interesting. You form bonds through your shared struggle and encourage each other. It really helped me get through. There is an instructor and TA's according to class size. All of these individuals are so smart and helpful. The course moves really fast. That seems like it should go without saying but there is not way in hell I would have learned this much on my own in this time. This course keeps you moving, keeps you in motion, and the community keeps your motivation going. All together, it's having this community that really makes it worthwhile.

The flex program is way, WAY overpriced. There is value, sure, but it’s not even close to worth the price tag. Sorry, I posted anon. I knew I would get hassled to take it down if I put my name. My breakdown after finishing:

Positives:

1. You will learn… something.
2. The remote option is convenient and usually well done
3. You don’t have to quit your job

Negatives:

1. The classes are fragmented because you never know who’s going to teach
2. Unlike the full-time classes (or so I’ve heard), there is almost no support from other students because people don’t show up or have their own thing going
3. Wherever you are at, the class will go too fast or too slow (this was universal)
4. The final projects were mostly duds.

These criticisms are common of any flexible or online learning, but online learning doesn’t cost 5-figures. This does. When you finish, you won’t be poised to make any kind of career change. REPEAT: You aren’t going to be able to get a different job at the end. You’ll have enough knowledge to feel like you deserve more at your job, but not enough to actually get more. Like I said, it has value, but not enough.

What do you really get? You get code academy with accountability. That’s not worth 10 grand.