DigitalCrafts

Before starting DigitalCrafts, I has a career in sales and business development. I had no former technical training and almost no coding experience. A few months before I enrolled in DigitalCrafts Full Stack Immersive program I dabbled with free resources such as freecodecamp and code academy but I wasn't learning as quickly as I wanted too. I needed to be in a classroom setting with an experienced instructor so I can learn more, quicker. For all potential candidates reading this, I'll give you why I chose DigitalCrafts over the other numerous bootcamps in the Atlanta are and my criticisms of the program. I chose DigitalCrafts because they offered a 16-week program as compared to the typical 12-week programs offered by their competitors. Honestly, you want as much time as you can get in the classroom with your instructor. My instructor Rob was absolutely incredible. I can't imagine having to get through a coding bootcamp with out him. He is both a great developer with so much experience in so many technologies and he's a great instructor. You are going to get frustrated in coding bootcamp, you are going to feel like you're not picking it up quickly enough, you are going to feel dumb, ad there will be times when you question your decision to quit ypur job, abandon your career, and go to code school fulltime. BUT you will be amazed at how much you can learn if you push through. It important to have an instructor like I had that is dedicated to teaching you the material and helping you understand. I had a very positive experience at DigitalCrafts and I had a great instructor. I would definitely recommend checking out DigitalCrafts if you're in the research phase of checking out code schools. Jake and Max will be very honest about what you can and can't expect from the program. They are both personally invested in seeing graduates find employment. 

When I found DigitalCrafts my career was going nowhere, if not backward. After being starved out of full commission sales as a financial advisor in 2011, I spun my wheels working hourly for much less than I deserved with my bachelor’s degree. I didn't know where to turn. I had some technical background and an MIS degree, but my skills were dated. I couldn't seem to get back into IT. I found DigitalCrafts through their meetup group, and scheduled a meeting with Jake, a founder. Within a couple of weeks, I was signed up. I wouldn't say I was ready to go, because the pace of the course was staggering. I really had to get disciplined about working hard. By working hard I mean studying before and after class and on weekends. I would say my work week was 70 - 80 hours. We had an instructor with a Masters in CS from Georgia Tech. The DC team is still really small, and the founders, Jake and Max, are right there taking care of you. The Atlanta Tech Village is an awesome place to learn too. It took me a few months after my cohort to get a job, but I kept working hard. It finally paid off. I'm now a full-time software engineer at Home Depot in Atlanta. I am so happy to get my career jump-started again! I would recommend DigitalCrafts to everyone!

I just completed the 16-week immersive program at DigitalCrafts and it exceeded my expectations in every way possible. The instruction is extraordinary, the class size is perfect, the curriculum is rigorous and challenging (but doable as long as a student is committed), the professional/career support is extremely helpful, and the administration truly cares about the ongoing progress and success of every student.

I'd recommend DigitalCrafts to any prospective student as long as they are ready for a challenge and are willing to put in the effort and time necessary to be successful.

Attending DigitalCrafts has been a great experience. I decided to go to DigitalCrafts because I saw Max's answer on Quora comparing DC to other coding bootcamps in Atlanta, plus detailed student reviews from various platforms. DC has a more comprehensive curriculum and the length of the course is longer. After 16-weeks (probably much earlier than that), I'm pretty sure that I made the right decision.

Here are some aspects that I really like about it:

1. Instructor:

a. Our instructor Toby is very knowledgable, organized and fun. He is able to and is willing to drill down to every aspect of the topics and explore an variety of topics - in an highly structured way. He makes detailed slides for each topic and thinks carefully about what approach is the best for teaching the specific topic. When one approach doesn't work as well as he expects, he try other ones.

b. Students with different skill levels all get abundant and proper attention. Being a teacher for 5 years, I know how hard it is. Toby is worried about the slower students all the time, and he spends a lot of time and efforts to make them catch up. For the more advanced students, he also makes sure they don't get bored. He gives extra tasks that are one level up (or slightly above the students' level) to enhance their skills.

2. Curriculum:

a. The curriculum is designed to the cognitive curve of most learners. It starts with the most basic (and most important) things like data structures (strings, arrays, objects...) and algorithm. Two mainstream programming approaches - object-oriented programming and functional programming - are emphasized from the beginning.

b. Along with the fundamentals, we also learned technologies that are "cutting edge" and highly valued on the market (such as React and Redux), which is one of the most important reasons for employers to choose a boot-camp graduate over a college graduate with a CS degree.

c. Students have opportunities doing many projects with those technologies, including individual and group projects. Being able to do a group project (or more) is very valuable experience, since you would have to work with people in a real-world developer position. We don't always follow instructions and steps, instead, we get to create something from scratch. DigitalCrafts offers plenty of help and a very good environment.

3. Administration and career support:

Everybody in administration is nice and helpful. Students get a lot of career support such as how to create a portfolio, a resume, cover letters and opportunities for mock interview. If you learn coding by yourself, it would definitely be harder to seamlessly transfer from a amateur learner to a professional developer. DigitalCrafts has a network of employers that they connect you to. However, looking for a job takes a lot of efforts and networking. You have to work hard on it yourself as well.

I didn't come from a background of science and engineering, but I got an offer before graduation. I'm very happy about it. Plus, I find coding is beautiful and enjoyable. I'm glad that DigitalCrafts helps me to take the initial steps of the career change and a journey of learning a lot of interesting things.

My experience at DigitalCrafts was absolutely amazing. Before starting the program I’d been working in Government / Politics for about 8 years and had absolutely no exposure to coding.  About a year before I actually enrolled in DigitalCrafts I started teaching myself online but I quickly realized I needed a more formal education in order to break into the field. DigitalCrafts was exactly what I was looking for. Here are some of my take always from the program:

1. Length of the program – it’s about 4 weeks longer than most other programs. I think this is crucial. I ended up with a very solid portfolio and understanding of the topics covered that was easy to show off to potential employers.
2. Solid Foundation - I think DigitalCrafts places a bigger emphasis on fundamentals than other bootcamps. I feel like part of those extra weeks are spent on making sure students understand the fundamentals of programming before moving on to the more advanced and specialized topics like React and Redux. If you don’t really understand how functions and loops work you’re going to be lost when things get harder.
3. Support – the support of the founders (Max and Jake) and the instructors is phenomenal. I felt like each one of them was personally invested in me doing well and reaching my goals. It’s that kind of personal attention that I don’t think other bootcamps that are run more like a big corporation are doing.
4. Great industry – Bottom line is this is an amazing industry to be in. I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d be so sought after by employers. I actually didn’t apply to a single job but I had several companies and recruiters reaching out to me asking me to interview and ended up getting 2 offers before the class was over. That never would have happened without the instruction and guidance DigitalCrafts gave me.  

Note: This review is in reference to the first Houston cohort from November 2016 - March 2017, also with general thoughts regarding the program.

The Digital Crafts program in retrospect was a great decision and overall I couldn't be happier with that choice.  Initially, I was certainly a bit nervous about being the first cohort since that could possibly include many growing pains as Digital Crafts tries to get a foothold in the Houston market.  But those first few weeks definitely alleviated those concerns.  Be it a bootcamp or even traditional school, the most paramount part of the experience is the instructor.  I can’t even begin to describe how incredible Damian was in not only teaching us the material but understanding how to conduct a classroom with individuals at all different levels, temperament and managing to keep everyone engaged and challenged simultaneously.  We lucked out as a class to have him teach this cohort.  On top of that, he cultivated an environment where we all became closer and actually had fun, which I believe is a necessity in this environment.  A bootcamp by its very nature is intense, difficult, it can be draining and you have to understand knowing when to push or when to back off.  Damian understood this and paced the class perfectly.  I was constantly learning but never felt too overwhelmed.  Again that isn’t to say the material is not difficult but he just intuitively knew how to present it to us and how to push us to work harder when we needed it and how to relax things as necessary.  Damian was just amazing!  I can’t thank him enough for everything.

I will say this, much of what you get as with most things in life, is truly based on what you are willing to put in.  This couldn’t be any more accurate then for a bootcamp.  You have to understand going in that you’re going to sacrifice the next four months of your life to build a new career and that time commitment is non-negotiable if you want to achieve success.  Damian or any other instructor can only present the material and get you off on the right path but it is incumbent upon you to be willing to work hard and go the extra mile to truly find success.  The hours may say 9am-4/5pm but be prepared to work well beyond that and weekend if need be.  If you’re willing to take that sacrifice, Jake, Max and the Digital Crafts team will get you where you want to be.  The same applies for the career services aspect of the bootcamp.  You will not be handed a job coming out and it’s gonna be full time work to find one.  Digital Crafts will try and send out leads but it’s incumbent on you to make it happen.  Being new in Houston there isn’t much of a built in employee network.  I’m hopeful that will change for future cohorts but right now the onus is on the individual to look.  Jake has been incredibly helpful and will go above and beyond to make it happen but you’ve got to be prepared to work hard to land a developer job.  Overall, I was really pleased with the experience I had, I became really close with the cohorts in my class and ended up landing a job in a field that I’m excited about.  It’s a lot of work but it’s well worth it!

I started looking for a change of career early in 2016. By Spring I knew I wanted to get back into Web Design and Development and by July I had narrowed down that I wanted to attend an in-person boot camp.

Digital Crafts was just coming into Houston and they were offering something other code camps weren’t – Full Stack Development.  After the reviews online, speaking with Max and the campus director Jason and checking out other local competitors, I decided that Digital Crafts was the best option for me. It was the best decision I have ever made.

Being the first cohort in Houston I expressed my concerns to them about the instructor – Rob in Atlanta was getting great reviews and I had read other places (some right in Houston) where the instructor just wasn’t right and it ruins the experience. They assured me they are very thorough and selective– they make sure they find someone who fits their culture. And they didn’t disappoint. 

Damian, our instructor, made our cohort what it was. He was very methodical with his code but would explain everything in a way that the entire class would understand. If you didn’t understand something, he would make sure to give other examples or even talk one on one until you understood the topic.  I can’t speak more highly of Damian and the level of professionalism he brought to our class. He would teach us but also do the exercises himself. We would go over the answers and he would show us his thought process and how he would attack each problem. It was awesome to see him work and to be able to base it into the real world – not just the classroom.

Don’t think this is a class you can sit in on and just “get it”. You need to put forth the effort in order to get the most of your experience.  It’s stressful and at times you will feel overwhelmed. But the amount skills you will learn in the 16 weeks will make everything worthwhile.

I will stay though, the Houston cohort is still new, so naturally there are some things they are working out. But between the curriculum, the overall D.C structure and the level of passion the owners, Jake and Max have – it’s an amazing course and I would recommend it to someone that is looking to attend a boot camp.

DigitalCrafts was definitely worth my time and my money. To learn full stack development within 4 months is an incredible and challenging experience that I would definitely do again. DigitalCrafts is located in the Atlanta Tech Village, Atlanta's startup hub. There were ample opportunities to meet and network with those who work in the building.

After talking to a friend who attended another bootcamp, it became apparent that there are no others like DigitalCrafts. I joined DigitalCrafts shortly after receiving a psychology degree without any tech experience, and the curriculum at DigitalCrafts allowed me to entertain both front-end jobs and back-end jobs. They taught everything I know about coding and I'm happy to have received an offer as a software engineer one month after graduation.

Having just accepted my first job as a Software Engineer at a start-up in Atlanta exactly one month after the end of my cohort I feel ready to review DigitalCrafts! This bootcamp is fantastic. I chose it over the other ATL options for three main reasons:

1. Length - 16 weeks felt like nothing. I can't even imagine completing a bootcamp in less time. I feel I absolutely needed that extra month compared to other bootcamps to really solidify my knowledge and contextualize all the different technologies. This give you time to review, retain, and continue to deepen all you've learned in a supportive environment. That extra month goes a long way in developing relationships with the instructors, your classmates, and the program staff, which makes DigitalCrafts feel very personal and invested. 

2. Personal Touch - Digital Crafts from the start was in constant communication with me and took the time to seriously consider my personal goals - an amazing aspect which I didn't get from any other bootcamp I looked into. Having moved to ATL just before my cohort began, many students, developer-in-residences, and even the staff themselves, spent their time answering all my questions and even allowing me to sit in and observe a class one afternoon after a current group of students had lunch with me, told me all about their experiences, and answered all my questions - unplanned and just because DC attracts wonderful people. During my cohort, many other potential students can to tour the classrooms and we'd often hear Rob, our instructor chatting to them, telling them it definitely IS possible to teach yourself and it totally depends on what style of learning is best for you - very refreshing to hear! It's very obvious that Rob, Jake, and Max don't take your concerns lightly and they absolutely do not try to sell you on this bootcamp - they want you to be successful in your own way. 

3. Full-Stack Curriculum - You're learning how websites are made from top to bottom. I feel a front-end or back-end only curriculum doesn't allow contextualization of what you've learned. If you are thinking about investing so much time/money/energy to learn how websites are built, wouldn't you want to FULLY understand it and not just one-half of the equation? I think for me, as a beginner into the tech world, without understanding BOTH client and server side programming, I wouldn't have a satisfactory grasp of how development actually works. We learn how to host websites on Amazon Web Services (AWS), build the back-end with python and node, and use javascript (react and jquery too) on the front-end. From what I experienced in my interviews after the program, if you want to compete with CS-degree holders, this is VERY requisite, important knowledge. 

Of course there are many other good things I could say about the bootcamp. To have a community of peers while you immerse yourself in something so new and challenging is so important and I think DC does a great job of attracting wonderful people. There was definitely room for improvements including more structure in the back-end part of the curriculum and a more holistic lesson on web development with Python versus just programming games. Our final project was 3-weeks in duration. Personally I would have preferred 2 and used the extra week to continue learning Python or even just repeating/reviewing important concepts such as callbacks, promises, or higher-order functions. I do feel some of the more advanced students were given more personal attention to their questions than those struggling, which ended up somewhat isolating those who learned to withhold their questions or ended up turning to peers instead, for help.

Do not expect this or any other bootcamp to suddenly make you a rockstar. Expect to struggle and feel frustration constantly - that's what learning feels like. Expect to stay late and come in early. Let DC give you a structured learning environment but know that to be successful you can't rely on it to give you ALL the knowledge. Learning about topics not covered in the curriculum. Buy a udemy course and learn from that simultaneous. Expect that there is a world outside of DC with which to complement your bootcamp education immensly. Go to meet-ups, send out 5 cold-call emails a week to people at companies you find interesting, talk to former students, be humble and show that you want to learn. I was able to negotiate a 8% increase in my starting salary with ZERO job experience because I proved I was committed to the extra-curricular side projects and networks I've involved myself with outside of my bootcamp education in order to keep learning. 

DigitalCrafts was a fantastic experience and I'm happy to have achieved all the goals I had set when deciding to attend. 

I had some coding experience before starting DigitalCrafts. I was in software QA for 5 years and during that time I was able to write a few "one-off" scripts and programs to automate tasks or help developers fine-tune their feature improvements. I was always excited to code, and took every opportunity to learn. But my job didn't require me to code. It required me to manual test day in and day out. After time, I realized that I wasn't able to code enough to preserve or build on my skills. I wanted to code full-time so I began researching and applying to bootcamps.

I applied to a few, but ultimately decided on DigitalCrafts for these reasons: 1) Curriculum, 2) employees, and 3) location.

Curriculum. I learned from the web team at my previous job that the more javascript you know the better. Thus, I had the idea that attending a bootcamp that taught Node would be better than a Rails shop because I would get that much more javascript experience. This extra exposure to javascript has served me well. Also, DigitalCrafts teaches React with Redux! It is such a pleasure to build UIs with React/Redux! It's no wonder why more and more companies are embracing this platform.

Employees. I thoroughly enjoyed the administrators and instructors during my time here. Rob, my instructor, had 13 years of experience as a web developer. He has a strong grasp of what it takes to be a developer in today's market, but what sets him apart is his ability to teach. He can hold an audience so well. He's very good. The administrators are very friendly and caring as well. Jake, Max and Natalie constantly work to ensure students have all the tools to be prepared for the market after graduation.

Location. Buckhead. A booming tech spot in a booming tech city. The building itself makes for great learning environment. You don't have to worry about snacks and coffee for instance, they are provided. Just keep yourself feed and concentrate on learning. This actually went a long way with me in my decision to attend DigitalCrafts. I didn't have to spend a lot of time planning for food, just my lunch and dinner. The building also houses a lot of startups, some of which even employ alumni.

I had a great time spending 4 intense months with these people and would do it again if I could! DigitalCrafts took me from someone who wanted to could but didn't really know what to code, to someone who can confidently build complex and beautiful full-stack web applications.

Last summer, I was in a small beach town in Spain where I was trying to find myself after a devastating breakup. In the midst of all the Eat, Pray, Love -- I found DigitalCrafts. 
 
I applied to a few coding bootcamps, but this one stuck out to me. I could tell Jake (co-founder) really genuinely cares about his little baby coders succeeding. That meant a lot. So I went for it. And what a wild ride it was. 
 
This cohort was like season one of The Real World. There were laughs, there were tears, there were beers, and there were a lot of moments of frustration. There were definitely times where I felt like I couldn't do it and/or I didn't want to do it, but fortunately I had Damian to lean on and my amazing classmates who were also going through the struggle to look to for strength. Which brings me to my next point -- Damian is the Lebron James of teaching people how to code while simultaneously being a great friend and mentor. I absolutely would not be where I am as both a programmer and person without him. And for me, that's where the value in this program was. If I continued trying to do it on my own with online tutorials and such, I never would've gotten the mentorship of someone as brilliant as Damian. I was really fortunate to have been able to have him as my instructor. 
 
Being part of the very first, guinea pig, test-dummy cohort in Houston definitely had a few kinks and quirks and oddities, but being the first to do anything comes with those things. I mistakenly thought that the job assistance would be an active part of the program throughout, but it's something that mostly begins towards the end of the program, and it's mostly resume and portfolio assistance. It wasn't a dealbreaker for me though. Basically, if you apply for jobs and put yourself out there and they'll do the best they can to hype you up and make you look good.

As for my career now, one week post-grad: I've been approached about and hired for several freelance remote design and front-end gigs. I decided that while it's great knowing how to work the back-end, it's not something I'm interested in pursuing as a career right now. That's another cool thing about DigitalCrafts -- they're totally supportive of whatever direction you decide you want to go. 
 
(Sidebar: Digital Crafts teaches full-stack web development, and doesn't do design, UI/UX stuff. They spent probably 2 or 3 days on CSS and Sass, but it was enough to light a fire in my heart that sent me running towards it.) Obviously, your mileage will vary, but if you find something that speaks to you while you're in the course (for me that was front-end stuff) run with it and work on it in your spare time, you'll probably be able to find someone who wants to pay you to do it.
 
Anyway, I think Jake and Max are on to something here, and I'm excited to see what Digital Crafts HTX becomes in the future. If you're considering doing this, I'd say go for it. I know pretty much everyone else has said the same thing, but man, it's true -- this changed my life.

Wow... The team at DigitalCrafts does the impossible every day. Rob, the lead instructor, at our graduation admitted, 

"The whole bootcamp model is stupid! We take people who don't know how to code at all and in 16 weeks, transform them into Full-Stack developers who can dominate the job market. That shouldn't be possible!".

And yet, I feel like everyday was a whole new experience with new challenges and multiple successes! We learned so much, that I can pretty much say that most if not all of us will have a fantastic leg up in the software development market.

This really was the ultimate transformation I needed in my life. Coming from somewhat of a technical background, I knew a little about websites, and html/css, but I was nowhere near confident. Starting with the pre-work and all the way through the course, I learned so much that my brain hurt! The pace, while hectic, was manageable with lots of self study and leaning on my fellow classmates, the Developer in Residence, and Rob, my instructor.

By the end, I was looking forward to pushing my skills to the limit and attempt some amazing projects. I will continue to learn and grow throughout my career. I definitely am hooked!

Throughout the course, there have been multiple times where we have been able to participate in hackathons, networking events, meet recruiters and get personal introductions to top tech companies. Jake and Max, along with our fantastic campus director, Natalie, have been instrumental in preparing us for the market every step of the way!

If you haven't figured out yet, I heartily endorse the whole DigitalCrafts team for the work they put in every day!

If you are willing to put in the time, money, and effort, this is the most fantastic way to find a lifelong passion and a career that you will enjoy for many years to come.

Final thoughts: in the immortal words of Shia LaBeouf, "JUST DO IT!!" Make your development dreams come true at DC!

I attended DigitalCrafts looking to fast track a career change and the program delivered amazing results for me. I had a technical background and some experience with computers, but no coding experience when I started DigitalCrafts. The program quickly helped me lay a strong foundation of core programming skills and introduced me to some of the hottest technologies in the industry. I am currently employed as a Node.js developer and believe that I am on par with many developers in the industry with several years of experience. 

Personal attention is one of the strongest attributes at DigitalCrafts. The founders are approachable and speak with you one on one to ensure you have a great experience. If you have a problem you can call them up or walk into their office and the issue will be handled on the spot. It is very rare to have access to the leadership of a company and have them working directly with there customers. DigitalCrafts also fosters an open and friendly environment with events, meetups, and continued interaction with its alumni. The instructors will work hands on with you and give you one on one attention to ensure your success. Also if the class size grows, they will bring in additional teaching assistants to ensure every student gets enough personal instruction to succeed. 

The instructors are terrific! Toby was my instructor for the 16-week bootcamp, and I was extremely impressed by his commitment and dedication to me and the other students. He truly wanted us to succeed and achieve our goals! I also was Rob's teaching assistant for a short time and had a great experience working with him and his class. Rob is also deeply invested in the success of his students. All the Atlanta instructors are extremely knowledgeable and boast impressive resumes, educational achievement, and work experience in the industry.

The curriculum is bleeding edge! DigitalCrafts boast an extremely impressive curriculum that is constantly changing to keep up with the industry. During my bootcamp the company changed the curriculum midway through the course and taught Python instead of PHP as part of it's second technology stack. I was extremely impressed with there willingness to make this change. They have continued to change the curriculum by adding React to an already impressive technology list that includes Node.js, JavaScript, Python, MongoDB and many many more. 

Career assistance is still in its infancy. The career services program is still lacking an established network of employers that know and trust DigitalCrafts graduates. Part of this is due to the youth of the company and low number of cohorts that they have graduated thus far. I due believe that this will improve as more and more students enter the industry and companies see them perform at a high level. The staff works extremely hard introducing job opportunities to each student and coaching you with resume tips and interview practice. This should not deter you from exploring DigitalCrafts as a choice for a bootcamp.

Overall, I was extremely happy with my experience at DigitalCrafts and would attend them over any other code school I have researched. They are committed to improving and you may have an even better experience than I had as this company continues is climb toward the top of the coding bootcamp mountain. 

My experience with DigitalCrafts was fantastic and the best experience I have ever had in an educational environment. I started researching coding bootcamps because I wanted a career change. I was unhappy with my current job and wanted to get back into tech (I have a Computer Information Systems degree from several years prior), but I wanted to get into web development. I emailed and met with several of the schools around Atlanta, but from the very first correspondence, I knew DigitalCrafts was different from the others. I scheduled an in-person interview, spoke with Jake and Max, and they exceeded my expectations. I met Natalie later on and she was just as amazing. I chose DigitalCrafts because of the curriculum they offered, length of the program, location of the school, electives that were offered, and the staff. DigitalCrafts felt more personalized to me and it was evident that the instructors and the staff were very involved with each student and the success of their students.

I attended the September 2016 cohort and from day one, we hit the ground running. Other than the code challenge and pre-work, I had never seen a single line of code before attending DigitalCrafts. Every day we learned something new. The days and nights were long and exhausting, but very well worth it. I lived further away than most of my classmates and my drive was anywhere from one hour twenty minutes to two hours one way, so I stayed late to work on assignments, as well as did other students. We sometimes took advantage of this time and had a small study group session or just helped each other with projects. It was a lot of hard work and very overwhelming at times, but it was worth every single minute. Also, be sure to do the pre-work and if time allows, do more! You can not be too prepared for this immersive course! You will need to have at least a basic understanding of programming concepts and fundamentals. You must be willing to devote a majority (if not all) of your time during this 16-week program to learn everything you can.   

Unlike the other coding bootcamps, DigitalCrafts stays on top of the market and adjusts their curriculum as needed to ensure that their students are learning what the industry is demanding. You will receive help and guidance with your portfolio site, resume, LinkedIn Profile, mock interview experience, as well as hear from speakers in the industry talk about their experience and tips to landing your first developer job. The staff and the instructors were always very accessible and attentive to each student. You had several ways that you could contact anyone you needed to get in touch with and the response was always very timely. Also, DigitalCrafts is located inside the Atlanta Tech Village. The people and the atmosphere at ATV are incredibly motivating! You will meet and get to network with an amazing group of people. The energy at ATV is unlike anywhere else! It is intoxicating to be around so may enthusiastic, driven, passionate and genuinely nice people that are involved in tech in one way or another.

If you are looking to attend a coding bootcamp, I would highly encourage you to apply to DigitalCrafts. You will not find a school that is more highly invested in your success. When you are making this type of investment into your future, you will want the best and DigitalCrafts is it! 

Around a year ago, I too was pouring over CourseReport, Quora, and whatever else I could find in my initial search of coding schools that I might consider for making a career pivot into the world of software development.  The options were overwhelming to some degree, and I defintiely found reviews of those who'd gone before to be extremely helpful, and I'm somewhat regretful for having taken so long to post up my own experience.

A year ago, my experience with coding equated to:

1.  Taking Treehouse tutorials for a few weeks at a time, then doing nothing with coding for months.  Then I'd come back, take a few more weeks, and then take a break again.  Basically I was excited about all of the information that was out there, but was failing to make the commitment needed to actually build up any base level experience with much of anything.  I knew a little HTML,CSS, and very very basic Javascript at this point.

2.  I'd taken a CS-101 course through a bootcamp out in Seattle around 4 years ago (I've been dabbling in this for some time), which was actually a really solid month long course that was basically geared as prep/feeder into their bootcamp program.  Unfortunately I had a 2 month old son at the time, as well as a full time job, and I basically only absorbed what I was able to understand from the lectures.  In failing to do the labs and the projects, I again, failed to really build any lasting knowledge or understanding.  

In 2016, I committed myself to making the transition into a developer a reality.  At that point, I think I felt certain that I could accomplish it all in a matter of months.  Just sign up for a bootcamp, and BAM, I'd be all set and ready to go.  I can't speak to how often that actually happens for others, but I can share with you how my year went.

After doing what you're doing right now (investigating options), it became overwhelmingly clear that the top bootcamp/coding school option out there was Hack Reactor.  From what I'd read and seen, it looked really like nothing else even came close.

I signed up for the Fulcrum prep program (I'm not sure if they're still offering this by the same name) with the intention to take 6 weeks to devote myself full time to this prep work, applying to bootcamps once I'd convinced myself that I was willing to commit to the change, and that I was capable of making it.  

A few weeks into Fulcrum, I'd still failed to pass my first check in (which is basic JS--Codecademy level stuff), and was seriously feeling as though I was going to wash out of all of this after all.  Luckily for me, a mentor there took special interest in me, gave me additional work, and encouraged me to keep pressing.  After another week to 10 days of hard work, I passed that initial check in.  Then I passed the next one (which was working through higher order functions), then I passed the recursion check in.  The momentum was building, and I'd managed to tackle the first of what I think most people will run into throughout this process:  the "Can I actually do this"' moment.  

All of this to say, I think it's important to experience that moment before you even think about applying to a coding school. I think you run the risk of wasting a lot of time and money if you haven't faced being utterly lost, having to demonstrate to another human being (not just passing some entry level coding challenge) some basic grasp of the fundamentals of programing, and in that process coming to a point where you grapple with that fear or rejection, and figure out how you're going to move past it.  

If a coding school that you're applying to doesn't seem to appreciate that, or have teachers/mentors that approach pushing you in that direction, then again, I think you're doing yourself a disservice by signing up for that.  

I will be forever grateful to Hack Reactor and that mentor as I truly don't believe I'd be where I am today without it.

Now, since this is a review of DigitalCrafts, let me get back to the story.  After a couple of months with the Fulcrum online prep course through Hack Reactor, I'd pretty much 100% decided that I personally wanted an in person bootcamp expereince.  Some people can likely pull off the online only thing, but that just wasn't working for me.  I wanted to be around other people who were pursuing this dream, in an environment set up to make sure I had the best chance for success.

Prior to this point, I had honestly not been very interested in Atlanta area schools.  Beyond the poor reviews for GA and Iron Yard, I didn't really like their program structure, or have much interest in learning Ruby.  This is not to say that people aren't doing well with these schools--I just had no interest in them.  Hack reactor at that point was MEAN stack in its curriculum, and I wanted to find something that mirrored that.  **This is before I came to realize that these JS stacks are flavors of the day.

DigitalCrafts was brand new at this point, which gave me pause initially, but their curiculum was what I wanted, it was 4 months, instead of 3, and it was located in the Atlanta Tech Village, so I decided to reach out to them.  After coming down for the interview, I was completely sold.  Class sizes were capped at 16 people.  The professors stayed at school all day (ie not just TA's around for afternoon labs, but the actual professor).  I could tell that Jake and Max were completely focused on creating that premiere bootcamp experience seen in other cities that Atlanta seemed to be lacking.  

I paid my deposit, got on the waitlist, continued doing prep on my own, and started in the September 2016 cohort.  

Days are long in these programs, and working on your own after school is something that I (and most of my classmates) did routinely.  Our coursework started with Python, learning foundations of programming, along with HTML and CSS, before moving into SQL databases/queries/schema's.  After that we learned our first framework, and built a webapp for our first group project.

I'll say this as a plug for in person coding schools as well: the group project component is extremely valuable:  not only is it where you're sythesizing much of the topics that you're covering, but nothing mimicks the reality of an actual software dev workday like those weeks spent in the group projects.  Again, I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you miss out on that experience.

From there, we moved into all things JavaScript: JQuery, Ajax, Angular, Node, Express, Mongo.  It should be noted that DC is now teaching ES6 and React, but again, JS frameworks are going to come and go.  Understanding that there will always be flavors of the day, along with  a strong grasp of the fundamentals is going to set you up well to be able to transition on the day that Angular and React are no longer around.

The cohort itself was fantastic.  Most of us became very close, and still get together whenever we can.  I honestly miss my school experience immensely, as there's really nothing quite like it.  You're learning something new every single day, adding it to an ever growing skill set, watching yourself beome what you've been dreaming about being for years.  Once you reach the end, and you realize that you've become that person, it's extremely satisfying and terrifying all at once. 

Toby, my professor, is still someone I consider a close friend and mentor.  He routinely checks in with me to see how things are going at my job.  I couldn't have asked for a better instructor.  I have no doubt he goes to sleep every night and wakes up every morning thinking about the well being of his students.  His expertise in the field isn't too shabby either.

As with any experience of this sort, you're only going to get out of it what you're able to put into it.  I can't stress enough the fact that if you're embarking on this journey, and you're serious about it, you need to get comfortable with the fact that your journey is going to be a series of "What am I doing?  I'm not sure I'm cut out for this. There's no way I'm going to be able to figure all of this out" experiences.  Day 1 of my new job was nothing but that feeling.  All of this to say, again, if you haven't experienced this yet--figure out a way to do so before applying to or spending money on a bootcamp.  

I and one other classmate found jobs by the end of our program.  A few others founds jobs within the weeks that followed.  Others (even those I would consider extremely sharp students) are still job searching 2.5 months out of the program.  A coding school will not guarantee a job for you.  I do believe a coding school can serve as a means of cultivating the experience needed in order to land yourself a job, along with providing a network to help make that process much more efficient.  There was plenty of job prep that was a part of the DC experience that I know was pivotal in my landing my job.

In the end, I have nothing but great things to say about DigitalCrafts, and wouldn't trade my experience there for anything.  I would seriously re-live those 4 months again tomorrow if it were possible.  I've got a great job as a Software Engineer as a result, and they were a massive part of the reason that's a reality.  I still have to pinch myself most mornings.

Best of luck to those of you looking to make this transition.  Invest in yourself---commit to the process and challenge yourself prior to applying to schools.  This is supposed to be hard--that's a good thing.  Get used to that feeling as fast as you can.  Go to local meet-ups, or school sponsored events where you can talk to actual students: that will be your best way to gauge whether it's a good fit for you.    

As a DigitalCrafts 16 week graduate, I’ve been very happy with my experience there, and I recommend their course(s) to everyone! The instruction was great and tracks the industry very well and, when I talk with graduates from other schools, I believe I had a far superior experience in terms of both instruction and support. (Biased but honest assessment.) I just feel the course was very coherent and well laid out, and, coupled with the great staff support, I’ve just been very satisfied with the experience.

Job-wise, when I graduated from DigitalCrafts I wasn’t really into doing front-end work, so that made the job search a bit challenging. Lots of great front-end jobs out there with great companies, but I enjoy working with different technologies, like cloud services and IoT, and I knew I wouldn’t be happy doing pure front-end stuff. So I took my time, worked a kinda crappy job for awhile and continued to develop my skill-sets. I really enjoy working with the full stack and the great instruction I received there provided the foundation and glue for incorporating these techs into usable products.  

The whole time after graduation, though, I was continuously sent job info from the staff, and they were amazingly supportive and encouraging. It took awhile to find my niche, but one day Jake introduced me to a great company looking for people with a diversity of tech skills like I’d been working on. I now work at that company with really sharp people developing cutting-edge IoT technology and I couldn’t be happier. If you'd asked me before attending DigitalCrafts about my dream job, I'd have described something just like this.

Couldn’t have happened without DigitalCrafts and their support. Intense doesn’t even begin to describe how tough that course was for me, but I couldn’t be happier with the results. Great school, great education, terrific support. 

This course is IMMERSIVE! It will take up majority of your life for 4 months. As with a lot of coding boot camps you will not have time for a job or much else. You can go grocery shopping on the weekends... after you've been practicing your code. To clarify, I left the program right before we really went into the back end portion of the course. I believe it was about 7 weeks in. Also to reiterate, this program is an amazing one. The instructor (Rob) I had was great and the material you learn is very valuable. I started to fall behind because of my lack of JavaScript pre-work and once you fall behind it's very hard to get back up. Make sure when you choose and get accepted into this program you do the pre work plus extra! The information was thourough and I came out way more informed than I came in. The location in Atlanta is amazing. ATV is the place to be. This program is more intensive and time consuming than 5 college courses a semester. Although set up for a "beginner" you really should have a firm grasp of base concepts and coding fundamentals. JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript. I'll be going back to school and finishing up my CS degree in a couple years instead. I would recommend this program to anyone who is interested in the bootcamp style of learning.