Grand Circus

#1 advice I can give as a graduate is in order to get the most out of Grand Circus, you have to put in the effort and take initiative.

Overall a solid experience though, I had unfortunately started my bootcamp during the pandemic so there was a little disconnect with going virtual. Otherwise, the instructors I had were the best, they're genuinely cared about us and were willing to help even outside of class on their own time. In terms of curriculum it was pretty current technology we were learning but there were some missing such as Bootstrap and React, maybe they're now a part of the curriculum but they weren't there when I was there. Keep in mind it's called a bootcamp for a reason, it is tough and while I had prior coding experience going in, it was an overall challenge but not impossible. Even without coding experience it's doable, don't let that stop you from doing it. You're not alone! 

In terms of Career Services, they were very helpful but also super helpful was the community slack channel as well. Career Services would post job listings on the channel and any fellow alum would do the same but outside of that it was your responsibility of applying and network to the right people. that being said, the people at Career Services helped out big time. They were available to answer my questions and throughout the bootcamp we had soft skill sessions for important topics such as LinkedIn profile management, elevator pitches and networking, even down to helping us prepare for interviews via guidelines and mock interviews. I even found my current job thanks to their tips(and a posting they actually put on the channel). Its like one big family and we're all here for each other. Career Services equipped me with the soft skills needed to land my first job in tech, they will provide the tools but what we do with those tools is up to you. Networking is key!

In conclusion, while I can't speak for my peers in my cohort, I had a fantastic experience, I'm still connected with some of my classmates, it was a very tight community and an overall pleasant experience. As stated in the beginning, make sure to continue studying. I cannot stress this enough, self-study is highly encouraged throughout the bootcamp. Keep growing those skills and never be afraid to reach out to the people at GC for help or even just to network. We want to see you succeed and we're here for you. 

Key takeaways:
-Instructors and Tutors were top notch!
-Curriculum was solid although missing some content.
-Career Services/Job Assistance was very helpful and a lovely group but more emphasis is placed on the student and their initiative. There could be more than just job postings and the occasional employer visit.   Read less

They tell you going in that you can get a good paying job coming out, but the best you will do is an internship, likely unpaid.  They make a huge deal about the final project and demo day, but not a single employer showed up to see any of the projects we spent weeks on.  Read less

This program is not worth the 11k or whatever tuition is up to now. Can you learn the basics of coding during this class? Yes. Are any of the other things they boast or advertise about true? No. ~90% job placement? No, first of the fine print there is within something like 6 months and second there is no placement you are essentially on your own getting a job. They make blanket statements that they don't expect to get responses to, such as, "if you have 30+ applications out and haven't heard back positively contact one of our career services team members and we'll try and help figure out what we can do to help" so I reach out and say I have 30+ applications and have maybe 6 automated rejection letters and nothing else. Their response, "oh well, we consider rejection letters a positive contact and 6 out of 30+ is within our expectations". So, they did nothing and that was the end of that. They estimate they have 60 students total each quarter, plus maybe 10-15 in the after hours half year program. On top of that they rent out the second floor to very small business for co-work space. Tuition is ~10k, multiply that by 60 students and in one quarter without rented space or after hours programs or the weekend seminars you make 600k a quarter, and they make their TA's contract workers making 15/hr without benefits, or if they want benefits it ends up being something like 11-12/hr. Yet, advertisment says average salary for people coming out of the program is 50-60k. I can't imagine teachers get paid much better, since I found out at the end of my time there that, one year prior my teacher had been the TA, and one year prior to that she had been a student sitting where I had been sitting. They obviously aren't paying well enough to keep high quality instructors with years of experience, so I ask where does all that money go? It's a good question for CEO and Founder Damien Rocchi, because he certainly seems to be living large. A huge ad campaign for GC is helping diversify tech by getting minorities into the tech field. Most of my class and the other full time classes were Caucasian. If the goal was to make this accessible you would make choices that would bring cost down. I can only imagine that they space they occupy across from Grand Circus park in Detroit, is insanely expensive, easy way to bring down cost? Move to Southfield or oak park, other areas with high minority population, but a fraction of the cost for space. Too many things added up through this program to me to think of it as anything more than a scam. Don't waste your money, you can pay maybe 1k for an all online course to teach yourself with guidance from a TA or proctor. With GC's policy of "ask Google" you're basically going to be doing the same thing either way, just one costs less and doesn't make false promises, or fake rationales for policies.  Read less

An extremely useful and helpful bootcamp. Instructors and Career people knew what their stuff, and were always willing to help, be it with a bit of code or an interview. Career people have an interest in seeing you land that position and stay in touch after everything has come to a close, offering tips, interview help and pointing you in the direction of open positions. Read less

I graduated from Grand Circus in September 2019. I did the full time Java Bootcamp. I was working close by and saw they had an intro to coding class so I took it. Afterwards I thought this could be something I could see myself me doing. I took a weekend Java workshop at Grand Circus just to be sure, and after thought I am definitely all in. I knew that I needed to make a change in my life I was bouncing around job to job and not really using my degree. I was intimidated at first, but Grand Circus helped me understand the material. The instructor was the best. I am working as currently a Quality Engineer in Ann Arbor. I would go into this knowing that you will have to work hard (not just as coding but with teamwork and communication), and know that you will always have to keep learning even after. I am happy with my experience.  Read less

 

 

 

 

 

I am 30, I hold a bachelors in business, and have +10 years of management experience.

I coded as a hobby, and believed that I could make a living doing it. 

Grand Circus was an amazing experience. It felt like a great work/learning environment, mixed in with a group of learners from different backgrounds that you quickly become close with.

If you are making the financial investment, ensure that you are ready to do what needs to be done to succeed. Slacking shouldn’t be in your vocabulary. You can’t have a victim mentality.

My instructor and TA were very down to earth and helpful. The rest of the staff provide a comfortable atmosphere and a home away from home.

In my experience, no entry level positions were looking for AngularJS experience, so I do hope that the curriculum adjusts to React/Vue/Angular 7 quickly. I know my instructor was making the case for adding A7 to the main curriculum.

I was able to find meaningful employment within 3 weeks of graduating from the Front End bootcamp.

I do recommend looking at what jobs are most plentiful, mixed in with what you actually want to do for work. You don’t want to go on a learning path that won’t be fruitful.

Words of wisdom. Be engaged, be early, swallow your pride, prep your loved ones, do meaningful job research, practice self efficacy, CODE CODE CODE. 

 

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Going to Grand Circus was one of the best choices I have made in my adult life. I went from staying at home with my kids to working as a software developer. I attended the after hours .Net/C# program.

The classes were excellent and prepared me for my first job. Our instructor worked as a senior architect during the day, so he knew what was going on in industry and expected a lot of us. There is a lot of work required outside classroom hours and a lot of independent research needed. GC will help you, but students had to really put the effort in to succeed.

The biggest positive about GC is the career network. There are a ton of alumni who want to help and career services actively goes out and talks to employers about the program and students. I actually got my first position through a connection I made there.

I'd highly recommend going to check out the school or talking to alumni, it was a great move for me.

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I had an awesome experience with Grand Circus Detroit. I attended and graduated from the Java Bootcamp in September 2017. My teacher was Peter Guenther and my TA Alexandra Born were awesome in helping with understanding core Java principles and with working with me on projects. I came to Grand Circus with minimal front-end experience and they pushed me to have an open mindset to challenge myself to become a back-end developer.  Grand Circus gives you all the soft skills you need to achieve any job in Software Development. Cody Grant was awesome with his job skill trainings and giving different approaches with interviews. My program manager Charlene Donelson was one of the most awesome, dynamic people I worked with and she encourages you that no matter what, YOU CAN achieve anything you want with dedication.  Last but not least Kim Driscoll our Director of Learning was full of life and great energy to help you through those long days of learning and coding!!! In Conclusion, I LOVE GRAND CIRCUS!!! GC MADE ME WHO I AM TODAY!!

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I had a fantastic experience with Grand Circus. I completed the Java full-time bootcamp in 2018. If you’re looking to make a career change, GC can make it happen. I had little coding experience going in (had been through a few online tutorials), but the curriculum at GC is designed to give you everything you need, not just to learn how to code, but how to handle the emotional ups and downs, and how to eventually find a job. For me personally, it was a lot of hard work, but absolutely worth it.

Some details: The instructors are great! They are friendly, supportive, work really hard, and are great at what they do. The staff is welcoming and fun. GC felt like more than just a class, it’s a community you can become a part of. It’s also great to belong to a cohort of students, a chance to meet lots of good people and form friendships, and be able to learn from each other.

In addition to programming skills, GC offers additional guidance, including how to find the right jobs, how to apply, and how to interview. GC has a great asset in Cody Grant, who was really helpful with all of these essential extra-curriculars. They bring in employers for you to meet and host events where you can meet alumni. GC is a community with a lot of knowledge and a lot of enthusiasm, and you just have to remember to take advantage of it. This is the kind of thing where you get out what you put in. There are a good deal of resources made available to you, but you have to be active, take ownership of your education and your career transition.

The experience can be intense, intellectually and emotionally. For me, it was long hours, and I was fortunate to have a spouse who supported me. You learn a lot in a short amount of time. You really need to have a growth mindset, be able to endure those moments of self-doubt and feeling totally lost, and be able to keep going. And then you’ll surprise yourself, you will push through, and you’ll feel amazing.

The time-to-employment part varies, and depends on luck and timing and finding the right fit, but that’s the case with any endeavor. I was able to get a job about 6 weeks after camp ended, and not just any job, but a job that I love. To me, that’s remarkable, and I feel grateful to everyone at GC for making it happen.

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I loved every aspect of my Bootcamp experience, and would recommend Grand Circus to anyone who has interest in software development. Everyone on the Grand Circus staff team is amazing at their job. They are incredibly passionate, knowledgeable, and supportive. They are always looking out for their students best interest,  and they treat you like family. 

The instructors and teaching assistants are extremely knowledgeable and willing to help all students to reach their goals.

In addition to the technical training, we had soft skills training helped us to create a better resume, LinkedIn and improve our interview skills.  

I liked the weekly surveies they gave us, and how they take actions on the feedback they recieve. They always enhance the program for the best results for the students. 

The Bootcamp was a wonderful experience, and I am so glad I did it. I'll start my new job on Monday!

 

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Hey, my name is James Jackson, I graduated the q1 full-time asp.net boot camp and I just wanted to share my experience.  first of all, I came into this boot camp with plenty of programming knowledge, I taught myself front-end technologies for the past 6 months before joining this boot camp.  that being said I still felt like on the education front, my teacher did a good job keeping me challenged.  we would start the day 9 am, do some class code review then learn a new topic then we were pretty much left to code and talk about our code the next day.  

    Personally, the most challenging part of the boot camp for was the soft skills, so on one side we had technical, where we would learn to code and improve our skills, and on the other, soft skills.  So soft skills are just the idea of being able to communicate effectively with your teammates/co-workers and well anyone really. We also learned how to market ourselves as professional developers and mingle at meet up events.  This was difficult because coming into this boot camp I was pretty new to this whole shmoozing world.  Overall this part was challenging, but they gave me the skills I needed to land a job after the boot camp.  I start my first job as a jr intern developer at Quicken Loans April 23rd, 2018 and honestly, I owe to the opportunity offered by Grand Circus. 

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Grand Circus was an incredible experience where I picked up innumerable technical and life skills. The crew at Grand Circus go over and beyond to make sure that you feel comfortable with the material you're learning and provide every thing you may need to be successful in finding your future job.

In addition to the technical training, we also had Soft Skills seminars where we took the time to learn how to present ourselves as practicing professionals covering topics such as linkedin, interviews, resumes, and writing the perfect email.

The most benefical part about Grand Circus was the amount of resources available to us. While we had incredible teachers, great peers to work with, and access to coding meetups in the building, the people at Grand Circus were more than helpful, post-bootcamp and during, to check-in on our job search and forge any connections with potential employers. 

I would most definitely reccommend Grand Circus to anyone considering a change.

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Grand Circus was one of the biggest leaps I have taken but well worth it! At Grand Circus I found a great environment and support group that wanted to see me succeed. The course work was hard and relevant but pushed you to learn how to code and think like a developer. I am so happy with my new career! I am able to be creative and use my problem solving skills I gained from my Fine-Arts Degree and bridge the gap between developers and designers. Without Grand Circus's curriculum, job assistants and great support I would not be where I am today. THANK YOU GRAND CIRCUS! P.S. Detroit is growing and Grand Circus is a great place to be apart of Detroit's growth.

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I attended the October 2017 Java Bootcamp. I have a computer science degree, but I had been working IT and wanted to switch to software dev. 

My teachers were great: friendly, patient and knowledgeable. GC creates a culture where you feel like you can suceed, which honestly in tech, is 75% of it. If you show up and do everything they are asking, give 105%, you will get a job. If you don't have a math or computer science or technical background, you will study outside of school, or stay late. They have plenty of resources to help you. You absolutely can do it, you have a work a little. 

I am also amazed at the community I have become apart of beyond Grand Circus through meetups and networking. This was a wonderful experience and I am glad I did it. I have a job and I start on Monday!

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If you’re curious about a job in tech, CHOOSE GRAND CIRCUS. I’ve learned so much from my instructors and peers, and have made lifelong friends as well. I went from HATING my job in sales to a junior software developer within months of graduating, and the coolest part about this is the fact that I didn’t know how to write a single line of code prior to GC - and now I work for a very reputable company in Metro Detroit as a developer. Enroll in one of their programs. It’s worth it. 

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     "Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination."  That is a reflection by Drake, the musician, that I found superbly sums up my experiences at a 10-week Grand Circus .Net (C#) bootcamp in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which convened on a full-time basis from March to May 2017. 

     Let’s begin by briefly highlighting the circumstances that spurred me to attend the bootcamp.   A career shift to backend coding was on the horizon for me after 32 years in the workforce as a writer and journalist, a stint of self-employment as a consulting web developer/marketer, a webmaster for an agricultural engineering association, and as a webmaster as well as communications manager for a nonprofit workforce-development organization.  My progress on this track was derailed in mid-2016 when my communications post was axed in a budget cut; thus, I began a year-long stint of unemployment. 

     During this period, I discovered a couple of gigantic themes about being jobless:  first, the circumstances drained my self-confidence; and, additionally, the situation compelled me to wrap my head around my complete lack of control over the job elimination I’d endured.   Both of these themes – self-confidence and gaining a feeling of control – played prominent roles in my Grand Circus experiences, as I’ll discuss shortly.

     The bootcamp was rigorous in terms of the amount and complexity of new information presented in lectures, coding exercises (both solo and team-based), voluminous reading and, finally, in the pace of networking events and job-seeking activities.  All told, the experiences were like attempting to drink from a firehose!

     I decided early to make a strong effort and invest lots of energy in the bootcamp, and there was a point during week six when concepts and coding exercises crystallized for me.  At this juncture, with new information and coding practices beginning to dovetail and make sense -- my confidence soared and I was heartened to see positive results produced by taking control and making a strong effort.

    In addition to lots of reading and lab work, I got to know Visual Studio 2015 as well as how to frame coding questions for Google searches.  I invested plenty of time using Github to post and get code. 

   The strengths of the Grand Circus bootcamp I attended far outweighed the weaknesses, of which I found only one.  On the strength side of the ledger would be my interactions with Grand Circus staff members, who were knowledgeable and good communicators.  The instructor, Tommy Waalkes, was excellent in large part because he evolved from being tentative at the beginning to delivering solid, well prepared lectures after a couple weeks.  Tommy was well versed in the material and regularly delivered thoughtful, practical instruction.      

     In addition, he wisely used the Socratic method of asking questions of me when I needed help with a coding problem, thereby nudging me to come up with a workable answer.  Tommy’s method was acutely beneficial in helping me to see how various aspects of C# and .NET linked together, thereby empowering me to make big strides forward to complete the bootcamp.

   Another strength I found was the emphasis of Grand Circus on encouraging bootcampers to network extensively, and the laser focus by Grand Circus on job-hunting abilities (from resume writing, to learning vital soft skills, to polishing your LinkedIn profile) was wonderful. 

     The lone weakness I’d like to report is that the physical space in Grand Rapids was a bit too small for a class of 10 students, two instructors and associated equipment.  The setting was too cramped at times.

     My chief goal in attending the bootcamp was to secure employment.  I’m very excited to have started a new job in August 2017 and while it is not in coding or technology (I’m working in business-to-business (B2B) marketing for a parent operating group that runs several caster and wheel manufacturing companies), the bootcamp experiences contributed immensely to my landing this position.  How so? 

     By successfully completing the rigors of the Grand Circus C# .NET bootcamp, my confidence received such an enormous boost that I performed extremely well in the job interviews.  I was relaxed, made good eye contact, communicated well, provided thoughtful yet concise answers and confidently promoted myself as fully capable of accomplishing all duties of the B2B marketing job.

     Thus, I found that my journey through the challenging yet superb Grand Circus bootcamp taught me much about myself – and helped enormously in reaching my current destination!

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I graduated Grand Circus last year, full time for 2 months. I was also apart of one of grand circus's free bootcamps. We were promised if we worked hard, we would get interveiws. When it came time after graduation, we were given an excuse and told they would keep up updated. We did not hear from our program organizer until she found HER new job. 3 months later, there's a new cohort of fools like us who had interveiws afterwards. Our cohort not getting interveiws was a "fluke" according to the staff when I revisted, but other cohorts would. I ran dry my savings after going here, for nothing but very basic knowledge and disrespectful, condescending attitudes from people who aren't very diverse. The only reason I HAVE a tech job because I had to enter another program with a better cirriculum and onsite job training. I hear their paid bootcamps are better since they treat them like people instead of the way they treated us, so go here at your ow risk.

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I absolutely loved my time here. They covered everything from CSS to SASS, Node, PostgreSQL, vanilla JavaScript, semantic HTML, Bootstrap, and Angular JS; (which has now been swapped with the most-modern version of Angular available) all within 3 months of full-time learning. 

It was extremely immersive and I absolutely felt career-ready by the end of the course. 

Even a few years down the line, they will go out of their way to help me out in job searches; should I need one in any way that I can. 

If you want to make life-long friends, want access to an invaluable resource, and grow your skills from 0 to career-ready as quickly as possible, give Grand Circus a try! I'd recommend it to anyone. Read less

I graduated from Grand Circus in December 2019. I attended the full time Front-End bootcamp. Before I applied, I took the intro classes which I found beneficial. It was a good opportunity to see whether or not I liked coding and web design. I also learned a few tips and tricks before going into bootcamp.
The full-time bootcamp is a huge commitment. The material does go by at a very fast pace, but David Wolverton my instructor along with my TA Mitch Cuckovich did a great job with helping out to make sure the material is understood. There’s still a lot of studying to be done outside of class.
I think one of the biggest advantages of taking a bootcamp is that you’re not doing it alone. My cohort was great. You make friends, study together. collaborate on group projects and encourage each other.
The soft skills portion and classes were equally as important as the coding. Cody Grant, Hanna Root, Luke Salazar, and Grace Erdmann go over all the things to expect while you’re going through bootcamp (imposter syndrome) as well as get you prepared for job preparation (applying to jobs, resume building, elevator speeches, mock interviews, negotiating) as well as their network of recruiters and job opportunities they know about. Along with that, the career services team assist you after you graduate. Hanna and Cody really helped me stay on track with a game-plan to follow and helped me navigate through offers all while staying positive.
I highly recommend Grand Circus to anyone who’s interested in learning to code and wants to make a career change. Read less

Before Grand Circus I was a pretty successful Hospitality manager. I left hospitality for a tech career because I wanted a change that would be useful in the future and would give me the option to freelance. I quit my job and walked into Front End bootcamp. Its called bootcamp for a reason and its worth all of it. I could barley write a line of code before walking into the doors of GC now I'm working in design at IBM. 

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