Sabio

I recently completed the full-stack software development program at Sabio School of Software Engineering, and I can confidently say that it was a transformative experience that exceeded all my expectations. Sabio not only equips you with a comprehensive skill set in programming but also goes the extra mile in providing job placement resources that aid you every step of the way to that dream job. Sabio's covers a wide array of languages and technologies, making you a well-rounded developer. They delve deep into JavaScript, HTML, CSS, React, .NET Core, C#, MSSMS, and SQL, ensuring you gain expertise in both front-end and back-end development. The hands-on projects and real-world applications of these technologies throughout the program make learning practical and engaging. You're not just a student at Sabio; you become part of a tight-knit family. The alumni network is strong, and you can rely on your fellow Sabio graduates for advice and assistance even after completing the program. 

The Sabio coding boot camp presents an extensive and immersive educational opportunity. Characterized by a robust curriculum and seasoned instructors, the program adeptly furnished me, as a student, with tangible practical skills and technical prowess in web and software development, positioned at a mid-level engineering capacity. The experiential projects, collaborative ambiance, and individualized mentorship collectively facilitated a rapid acquisition of essential proficiencies, priming me for a seamless transition into the professional arena. Sabio's unwavering focus on real-world projects ensures a positive trajectory for each student, setting them apart in the competitive landscape of technology. It is worth noting, however, that the program's rigorous intensity might prove formidable for certain individuals, necessitating a commitment to unwavering dedication and perseverance.





In summation, for those in pursuit of a reputable institution for comprehensive full-stack software engineering education, Sabio stands as an optimal choice. Furthermore, the invaluable array of post-graduation resources extended to alumni underscores the institution's commitment, spanning continuous technical skill augmentation throughout one's entire technical career, with the enduring support of the Sabio community. Without delay, I urge you to initiate contact today, bearing in mind that if I achieved this feat, so can you.

This is my review of the Sabio 17-week coding bootcamp. Before you read this, I believe you should know what point of view, or perspective this is coming from. So first, a little about myself:
-I am in my early 20's, and joined the program with little to no background in web development (besides a freecodecamp HTML & CSS crash course video)-I am a prior Navy submariner-I utilized 'Vet Tec', and only the Vet Tec program in order to attend & complete the bootcamp.-The only thing I 'failed' within the program was a SQL & .NET technical interview, around the 8-week mark.
So, now that you know a little bit about who wrote this review, let's get into it.
Sabio's 'coding bootcamp' teaches you web development; even though it is somewhat clearly stated on their website, some cohort members were still confused about what they were going to be taught upon enrolling. With that being said, I do believe Sabio does a decent job at teaching you a great deal about web development. However, I do not believe it is a program for the, 'exceptionally motivated' as stated on their official Twitter & Instagram accounts; I believe it is a program for individuals who are willing to put up with a lot of headaches; allow me to explain.
The way that the program is structured is somewhat complicated. There are a total of 3 'modules' cohort members go through; the first 2 are almost entirely focused on learning from pre-recorded videos that the founder (as well as some other instructors) have made. I say almost, because every once in a while (more-so at the beginning of the program), there are live instructor-led lectures. Throughout all 3 modules, all cohort members are required to report their status via a 'Daily stand-up meeting'; if you are a remote student, you get on a zoom call every morning with an instructor, as well as a seemingly-random assortment of other remote cohort-members. If you are an in-person student, your daily stand-up meeting is done in-person (as of recently). This 'status report' consists of talking about what you did over the past 24 hours, as well as what you will accomplish over the next 24 hours. This is done Mon-Fri with instructors; cohort members are supposed to get together & do it amongst themselves on Saturdays.. but no one ever does. Another thing that happens ~ every 2-3 weeks, is a technical assessment; these happen all throughout the bootcamp. Additionally, you are expected to get on the 'Queue' at least once a day, Mon-Fri, regardless of what mod you are in (with rare exceptions). The Queue is your opportunity to get one-on-one guidance with an instructor, with certain limitations. Most of the instructors are fine, however there are definitely 2-3 questionable individuals. You are not limited to getting one-on-one help once a day; you can keep going back to them as much as you'd like.. as long as you're fine waiting anywhere between 5 minutes - 2 hours for one. The only other thing you may be required to attend day-to-day are miscellaneous meetings. These range from anything to the founder, Gregorio, shitting on your Cohort for not sending out enough job applications over the weekend, to other cohort members' project presentation, and even Sabio superstar graduates talking about how they somehow landed a job at company X, Y, or Z.
After the daily stand-up meeting, most of the day is spent going through videos as well as exercises & tasks that allow you to apply what you should have just learned from the pre-recorded lectures (unless it is a Friday); this is true for the first 2 modules. However, these 'exercises' are mediocre at best. The exercises provided by the bootcamp are buggy, riddled with spelling/grammar mistakes, and just seem overall rushed. I know what you're thinking.. 'It's a coding bootcamp not a spelling bootcamp'. I would not bring this up if it didn't hinder the overall clarity of these exercises' objectives. I remember spending close to 2 extra hours on an exercise simply because I could not understand a part of it.
Remember how I said that was a typical day, except for Fridays? Well, Fridays are test days (most weeks). These tests are basically exercises, but stepped up a notch. What I mean by that, is that they are longer, require you to pay more attention to detail, and require a formal submission process within an allotted time frame (ranging from 1-4 hours). The formal submission process depends on each test. However, because they are basically just lengthier exercises, they are still riddled with grammar & spelling mistakes. With that being said, it is obvious that a special level of attention to detail was placed when creating these tests, because I only ever encountered one bug while taking a total of 8 tests.
For the last part of the bootcamp, aka module 3, your task is no longer to consume pre-recorded videos for the major part of the day; from this point forward, you get a task in a 'product'. Every product is a work-in-progress website, sometimes in development for a customer/organization, sometimes completely fake (meaning the site is probably trashed after it is finished). This is the most valuable part of the program in my opinion, as you get what I presume to be somewhat realistic experience as a fullstack software developer. The first 'tasks' you are given are relatively simple, however they quickly ramp up in complexity. At this point, you are applying everything you've learned so far (except jQuery) in order to accomplish whatever task you were given. However, you will have to occasionally look up stuff on your own. You are expected to contribute to the product on a weekly basis (minimum).
For the last 2 weeks of the program, you are expected to contribute to the product weekly, as well as apply for at least 50 jobs a day. Throughout the entire program, they slowly steer you in the direction of whatever they think is a good LinkedIn profile, resume, and profile picture. However, they really ramp this up throughout the last 2 weeks. Instructors/'career counselors' will threaten to give you 'notices' for not complying with their advice. A notice is basically a penalty you receive for any multitude of reasons; basically, if you don't comply to anything & everything they say, you are subject to receive a notice. If you receive enough of them, (seems to depend on a case-by-case basis, as well as what program you used to enroll; as a general rule of thumb, they are WAY more lenient with you if you enroll via your own hard-earned $$, or G/I Bill; they really like to keep their Vet Tec members on a leash, and it is way more likely that) you get the boot.
On the last day of the program, you get the privilege of taking up all individuals that are currently going through the program's time with your project presentation. These usually last between 2-3 hours.
That is a brief overview of the Sabio bootcamp; this next section's purpose is to discuss the things I dislike about the program (don't worry there will be a thigs I liked too):
-The 'out of office' implementation: No one can reasonably expect you to attend this program that is 17 weeks long, 5 days a week, 9am-6pm PST without not being present for the entire day at least once. Because of this, the program implemented this thing called an 'out of office form' which is how you can let instructors know that you will not be present at a certain date(s) and/or time(s). However, regardless of what the reason is, it is ultimately up to the Director of Academic Affairs whether to give you a notice for it or not. You are never told whether your out of office form is worthy enough. You would think that a bootcamp, made up almost exclusively of software developers, that they'd be able to come up with a solution for automatically notifying cohort members upon evaluating their out of office form; however, that is not the case.
-The Queue implementation: This seems to be the program's flagship features.. the ability to talk to an experienced (or at least a recent Sabio graduate that got hired as a) software developer within a 2 hour window. Even though it is such an important feature that you are required to interact with daily, it is buggy. As. Fuck. In order to get on queue, you have to fill out a bunch of information, such as: a) why you want to talk to an instructor, b) the error you are receiving (if applicable), c) a code snippet (if applicable), d) a screenshot, etc. HOWEVER, on multiple occasions, I found myself not being able to go through all of the sections; if you can't go through all the prompts, you cannot submit, and get on queue. Or, if I was able to get through all of the prompts, I would not be able to fill out all of the applicable sections. Because not all of the applicable sections were filled out, an instructor would see my queue card and kick it back for not being completely filled out. This was beyond frustrating, and happened ~ 10 times. It was even more frustrating, as the 'engineering' team would keep pushing out new features to the website, while seemingly putting already existing & known bugs such as this one on the backburner.
-The LinkedIn profile requirements: I get it.. the goal of the bootcamp is to land you a job.. however, there are some pretty questionable LinkedIn profile requirements that the bootcamp tries to make you implement. The first one that comes to mind, is that they tell you to add 50 'Skills' minimum. This is absolutely ridiculous, especially if you have no prior work/education before the bootcamp. I found that, at most, I could add ~ 20 skills that were software developer related, without just repeating the same skills that show up under a different name (HTML5 vs HTML, for example). This is a far cry from the minimum of 50 they want you to add. If any technical recruiter would like to provide insight, please do; I'm begging you. I will eat my own words if recruiters really do want to see an abundance of generic skills such as, 'Critical Thinking' and "Creativity" lol.
-Certain Instructors: Don't get me wrong, most of the instructors were fine; however, the more 'senior' they were, the more disrespectful, and just generally condescending they acted ( there were still some great senior/product instructors). Often times, there'd be cohort members that would ask about what time they should expect a live-instruction session to take place later that week. Most, if not every time, they were disregarded and told to 'focus on the task at hand, man. don't be worrying about tomorrow'. Another thing that really bothered me, is the clear lack of teaching experience most of the senior instructors have. Not only that, but it is clear that one instructor specifically hates his job at Sabio. Not only would he put close to no effort to his 'live instructions', he would also consistently be late to them.
-Changing the schedule: On the last week before my cohort graduated, Sabio decided to implement a schedule change; this mostly affected in-person students, by making them attend 5 days a week instead of 3 days a week, as was originally agreed upon. Supposedly, this change was prompted from the VA; however I'm not so convinced. Even if it was and they had no choice what date it got implemented, why not make an exception for the members that had a week left?? This wouldn't be the first time they've made 'special exceptions', so it was definitely possible. Instead, they basically told us to suck it up or not graduate.
-The classroom environment: If you decide to attend the bootcamp in-person, you should know that neither campus currently offer a quiet work/study environment. Although I had no issue concentrating with the background noise, it was quite annoying listening to other Cohort members talk about their favorite animes, or how they are about to go on a hot girl walk, etc. Although there's no way for me to verify, I am quite certain 2-3 cohort members I started with dropped out because of the loud background noise.
-Sabio Success Stories: This seems to be the standard among coding bootcamps for some reason, and I do not understand why. Once a week, you are forced to join a huge zoom meeting with a previous Sabio cohort member that happened to land a job; one of the technical recruiters asks him/her questions for 1-2 hours, and then the floor opens up to general Q&A from other cohort members (it's basically a giant circle jerk about how great the program is). I get it, there are superstars that land jobs immediately after graduating the bootcamp.. but why do you have to waste the time of in-session cohort members with this every week. If anything, it should be optional. Most (successful) members that made it through the bootcamp would join the meeting, mute Zoom, and continue working on their own Sabio-related task/exercise; the workload is already so much as it is, you don't really have time for that.

-The resume truth-stretching: Sabio heavily encourages you lie about certain aspects of your resume; and if you don't, you receive a notice for every thing you do not follow. For example, they want you to put that you have been a 'fullstack software developer' from day 1 of starting the bootcamp... not as 'education', but as 'work experience'. If that isn't a lie, then I don't know what is. Additionally, I had a senior instructor literally tell me to put down something that I LEARNED how to do during the learning phase of the bootcamp as a bullet-point under this, 'work experience'. Not only does this feel unethical, it feels sketchy and can lead to some pretty awkward conversations with a recruiter.
With all that being said, the only thing that I liked about the bootcamp:
-The course really crams an insane amount of stuff into a relatively short time frame; throughout this course, I've learned a lot about the following languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, & C#. I've also learned how to utilize the following: jQuery (JS library), React (JS library), Bootstrap, (CSS framework), & the .NET Framework (including ADO.NET); on top of that, I've become fairly proficient at utilizing the following applications: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, & Postman. Not only that, but I've also developed plenty of knowledge regarding source control, utilizing Git commands, how to handle merge conflicts, and how Github works.
In short, although I probably would not recommend this bootcamp to any sane person.. I am thankful for what it has taught me in such a short amount of time; I challenge the co-founder Gregorio to take this somewhat constructive criticism, and fix the issues that currently exist with the website, classroom environment, as well as instructors.


One last thing worth mentioning: I would take their 'job placement rates' with a grain of salt, as they can 'kick you out' of the program even after graduating; more specifically, if you used certain benefits to enroll (Vet Tec for sure), they try to force you to keep them updated EVERY SINGLE DAY Mon-Fri regarding how many jobs you've applied to, how many interviews you've landed, why you haven't gotten a job yet, etc. I get that they need to keep track of people getting job offers, however this is literally micromanagement if I've ever seen it; it should be a weekly checkup at most. If at any point in time (within 6 months of graduation) you stop adhering to this, they change you from a 'graduate' to a 'drop' for statistical purposes. u/G8Rojas please prove me wrong if this is not the case.

Sabio has a challenging curriculum but gives you the tools to learn how to learn. The most valuable tool you have is your motivation and drive. If you want to level up and trust Sabio has your best interest in mind, you will be successful. The process will test your true intentions. Do not attend thinking this is traditional lecture style learning, Sabio will demo how to code, let you exercise it and provide help to naviage the blockers but won't spoon feed. As a successful graduate and after being hired, I can say if your willing to set aside 17 weeks of long hours and have the fortitude to overcome the many challenges.... you will succeed. Sabio also has many examples of sucessful graduates and a large alumni network that can help you even beyond the course completion and into job searching. I recommend this course to anyone who is serious about leveling up and willing to put in the work. 

I had a great experience with Sabio! I did go through the Vet Tec program and that is how I found out about the school. Probably like a lot of people here I read comments and researched about the school first and while there were some not nice reviews I felt the general consensus was that it was a good school so I decided to try it. I also was really nervous probably like a lot of other people who may be wanting to use Vet Tec. I heard you can't fail and you need to get on the queue twice a day and I kind of scared myself a bit as I'm naturally a quiet person. I also got a bit nervous with the time needed as it was 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Despite all that I quit my job and decided to take the risk. My whole motivation for doing this was I wanted to learn something that was relevant and give myself desirable skills that pay a lot. It did take me a few months after I graduated but I landed my first job now making $90,000 and fully remote so the reward was definitely worth the risk. I almost doubled the salary that I was making before. 

A little about the school. I live in Florida so I did fully remote EST and didn't have any trouble at all. I did have to stay up later on some days but not much at all. I also did the Full Stack so I learned JavaScript, React, C# / .NET and SQL. I'll also say I joined this school with absolutely zero knowledge of coding whatsoever. I totally get everyone's feeling of joining and questioning if you're able to do it. I've seen so many people graduate and finish this school same as me so it's definitely possible! When you get that first job it will all be worth it. 

I will say like I've heard so many times while I was coding is that Sabio has it's own process and everything has a reason. The learning can be fast paced and you are learning a lot of things but it's like that for a reason. You want to change your life in 4 months? This is the way. You will go through feeling like you don't understand anything like I did and then one day everything you do will click and you will be like "I got it!" and that's the best feeling. As long as you ask a lot of questions when you are stuck, use your time with instructors well, use other people in your cohort and code code code, you will be fine. Everything has it's reason and you will really put it all together. Sabio has a lot of resources to help everybody and the amount of success they had speaks for itself. 

Overall I really enjoyed my time at Sabio. I definitely learned a lot. I went through challenges but it's all worth it in the end. In 7 months I went from 48k to 90k. There is no other way you can do that. I could have probably been at my last job for 20 years and not make that much. That right there would be all the motivation I need to join. When you look back on your life a year or two from now you'll thank yourself.
 

A life-changing experience! Sabio is an excellent choice for anyone looking to learn full-stack web development. The program is challenging, but the support provided by the instructors and the Sabio nation community provides continued mentorship and support throughout their careers. This network is a valuable resource, providing graduates access to industry professionals, networking opportunities, and job leads. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, Sabio will change your life.

Attending Sabio has been one of the best career decisions I've made. I used to work in facility maintenance and after just 6 months, I jumped into a career as a software engineer working with one of the top military contracting firms in the U.S., nearly tripling my previous salary.

Sabio curates their coursework that almost identically mimics the actual day to day of software engineer. This could come as a shock to some, as it isn't necessarily a completely hands on approach to teaching, as they slowly ween you off of lectures and teach you to self research and also utilize what they call the Q, a process to which you can speak one on one with an instructor to receive guidance. I almost found this annoying at first, but you learn that this is what the day in life of a software dev is, and that's utilizing every resource you have to solve problems given to you by an employer. I have spoken to a lot of different bootcamp grads all different schools and Sabio consistently comes up as a school that not only prepared the developers in getting a job, but outperforming their peers in the workplace as they have the experience to take care of problems that are given to them. They also stand out by selecting developers to work on an MVP for real entrepreneurs, increasing your confidence on working with a real development team. This helped greatly with the interview process, as you're given real life experience that you can speak on and show off.

I used VETEC to pay for the course, but I've seen some reviews that state Sabio is harsh on VETTEC users, but I do not want those who use the benefit to be thrown off. The VA has strict guidelines that Sabio has to hold developer accountable to. I know this as I initially had an issue for an academic probation, but after speaking with the VA, I was explained of the strict rules that the bootcamps are held to. As long as you follow the curriculum and what is asked of you, you will have absolutely no problem utilizing any VA benefit with Sabio.

Sabio Bootcamp has been one of the best decisions I have made. I came out of this bootcamp as a full fledged software engineer, with a job offer in hand. Sabio gives you the skills that are needed to start a career in tech, and significant support during the job search and after graduation. I am still actively participating in an alumni mentoring program to help others with their job search. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is looking to become a software engineer. I favored a boot camp over a college degree because it was less time and I would leave the program having applicable skills for a job. This bootcamp is for those who are motivated and dedicated, as it is a big commitment. The course itself is 17 weeks (with a 13 week option if you can pass the entrance test). The time commitment is full time, 6 days per week. It is fast paced and at some times overwhelming. The instructors are very intelligent and helpful, and give great direction while working on coding problems. They are no-nonsense, but also really care about your success. Unlike other bootcamps, Sabio provides experience working on real projects. I was part of a brand new start up that our team built from the ground up. We did daily stand up meetings and code reviews, exactly like I do in my current position. This has been an extremely rewarding experience.

Don't walk, RUN.
This is THE best boot camp on the west coast (possibly the country). If you're a veteran looking to break your way into the tech industry and start making a salary of $80K in less than 6 months, look no further. No prior code experience needed!! No degree needed!!

I'm a Navy veteran and found myself at home with Sabio. They specialize in helping veterans transition into tech careers. They have veteran staff members and are very knowledgeable in GI Bill assistance. This program is tough, but fair. No hand holding here. This is a learning environment but treated like a work place. THIS IS HANDS ON LEARNING. YOU WILL DO! No studying textbooks or writing about concepts! You will be given the tools needed to succeed and pushed to your limits every day. This was the hardest thing I ever did academically but it paid off big time. 

Within four weeks after graduation I had received two job offers- both at $80k, one had stock options of $20k, and an offer for a full time internship with Sony. I work remote now and was able to move closer to family. I work for a company who is currently paying me to learn! Making me more valuable and knowledgeable. 

Three things that set this bootcamp apart from others:

1. You will work in teams to develop code for a real company.
You'll have regular practice on integrating your code with others (welcome to the world of git), you will talk about code and how to communicate what it is doing (very helpful when it comes time to interview), and code review sessions that will help you learn to read code you didn't write (also helpful during technical interviews). Towards the end of your training you will be selected to develop a real working web application for a real company. This means REAL work experience!!

2. The community. 
Sabio alumni regularly help current fellows when it comes time for the job hunt. It's one thing to have a Sabio staff member say you're job ready, it's another to hear it from someone who just graduated and landed a position. Alumni help in fine tuning resumes, mock interviews, and overall accountability and support.

3. Up to date on demands from the market.
Sabio teaches a full stack software development stack that is in high demand. This translates into more interviews and multiple job offers. They have partnerships with big time companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Google - to name a few) with multiple graduates receiving job offers from these partnerships monthly. That's right, you could be working for FAANG with less than 6 months experience being a software engineer.

Who this program IS NOT for:

- Anyone who cannot dedicate themselves to a full time program. I'm talking 12 hour days Monday-Saturday. It's a big time commitment. Tell your family and friends you're changing your life and you will be dedicating yourself to this for at least 6 months. No vacations, no happy hours, no weekend getaways. It's a sacrifice but it pays off!

- Anyone who thinks they can do the bare minimum and get the big pay off. Coding isn't rocket science but it does take time to learn. Sabio has endless resources to take you from zero to hero but it's up to you to put those resources to use.

- Anyone who isn't coachable and adaptable. You MUST trust the process! Everyone at Sabio has the intent to help you. Remember, it's tough love here, but it's all love.

- Anyone who does not like to learn. Technology is ever changing. You will never know everything there is to know. Talk to any software engineer- they've learned how to learn and it makes them more valuable (aka more money!).

Sabio CHANGED MY LIFE. It can change yours too.
You don't need to be a super geek or computer nerd to succeed here. I was never at the top of my cohort, I didn't grasp concepts quicker than anyone else, I'm not a genius who found their niche. I'm a regular person who knows how to work hard, who never gives up, and shows up every day with an attitude to learn and better myself. That's all you need to be successful in this program.

Use your GI Bill or VETTEC benefits to have your learning paid for and collect BAH. No military background? No problem. Sabio offers scholarships and financing. This is MUCH cheaper than getting a four year degree in Computer Science and finding out you can't get hired because you have no work experience.

This company is very transparent and will answer any questions you have. Visit their website to attend a Q&A to speak with an onboarding specialist and most likely a recent graduate. You'll probably meet me there because I can't tell enough people about this amazing place that changed everything for me.

RUN.

Attending Sabio completely changed my life. I was self employed before Sabio and working long hours. I decided to take a risk and attend Sabio. I was nervous about this since I did not know anything about Software Engineering. I was a complete beginner and did not understand HTML nor CSS. I completed the 17 week course and they prepared me to be a successful Software Engineer.

The course material was given at appropriate intervals. The bootcamp is challenging and should not be taken lightly. The beginning can seem overwhelming at first. Once you are used to routine, it seems like everything gets easier. I loved that you complete an application for an actual business versus a personal project. This provides you the experience of working with a real business and provides a team experience.

Sabio prepared me more than enough, that I was able to accept a position with Amazon as a Software Engineer. I would have never thought/believed that I would be an engineer for Amazon. Overall I am very happy with the results that Sabio provide.

I have been working in tech since I graduated from Sabio in 2018.  I definitely make more than the median that is listed for Sabio graduates.  I changed careers much later in life than most people, as my college major was Communication.  I had done some highschool coding classes in Pascal, and done another certification for programming in some quick tech school, but that was years and years ago, before the advent of the modern paradigm of MVC and JVM's.  And Sabio helped start my new career in tech and all, so I do owe a great debt of gratitude.  So, you may ask, why the not perfect scores?  I'm glad you asked.

This was in the spring of 2018, I joined the Sabio bootcamp in Culver City.  At the time, there was a pre-course of javascript before you joined the actual cohort.  The problem that stuck out to me was at the end, when we first encountered asynchronous operations.  That should have been a good teaching point to end the javascript pre-course, but that didn't happen.  We were left to wonder why were our ajax calls coming back in some crazy order.  Maybe even hint to us to look for the MSDN for "promises."  Nope.  So, I was just this frustrated little ball trying to figure this puzzle out on my own.  Whatever.

On to the real cohort.  We had a choice:  .NET or Node.  If i could go back in time and pick one, I probably would have picked .NET.  Technology wise, they were about the same.  The problem lay in the magic behind Sabio.  Sabio Instructors are AWESOME.  They have tons of experience in the technology field.  They're smart, charming, and John Darragh was especially handsome.  None of the stuff Sabio did matters, if the instructors weren't as awesome as they were.  And this is also where the problem lies.  If the instructor was thrown in last minute into a technology he's not 100% in, it's going to be a problem.  I don't fault John for making the attempt; I blame Sabio for putting us all in that position.  Someone made the decision to go through with the MERN stack cohort.  It would have been a lot simpler to have two cohorts of .NET.  I made friends with people in both cohorts, and I was able to see the difference between instructors.  John was doing his best and he's awesome, and his experience in the tech field really shone through.  On the other hand, in the .NET cohort, because there was a someone who was much more familiar with the tech stack he's teaching, it allowed that cohort to become more ambitious (which ultimately bit them in the butt) and comfortable.

John's experience carried our cohort:  we were less ambitious and our focus became that of deliverables.  Our cohort was awesome, because, once things picked up, we definitely got going.  Thinking back to our MVP, we could have used a little more time architecting out our app, and could have looked at the algorithms we were going to use and optimized it.  But, at the time, we were still struggling to deal with asynchronous operations.  That and that steep learning curve from JQuery to React.

Another critique was during our morning stand-ups, we should have been pushed into deadlines.  ie, we should have been guesstimating how long our features were going to take to build.

Oh... and the curriculum?  We kinda did the work, ran into problems, and problems became the curriculum.  One thing sooorely lacking at the time was code review.  We merged our code into main almost willy nilly.  This would have been VERY frowned upon in 3 of the 3 companies I worked for.  Usually the senior guy, or a peer would need to approve the merge.  Not in this cohort, lol.  That code review could have very well been part of the curriculum.

At this time, even if the instructors would stay from 9-6, some of us would stay waaaaay later than that, to get more code in.  Literally, the security guards would have to kick us out from the classrooms at night so they could lock the doors.

Then came the day of the presentation.  Both the .NET and Node cohorts had list of features that were unimplemented or incomplete.  Come to find out, there was another cohort in the OC that barely got anything done (there was some drama).  Remember I told you about the ambitious .NET cohort?  They had a ton of great features, but it lacked the polish our limited scope of a Node app had.

Btw, it was months before I found anything.  months.  I had relocated to be near the school, so I couldn't take advantage of going to the nearest Sabio (I lived in San Diego) location.  Eventually, I did find a job... but in a totally different tech stack...

Overall, would i recommend Sabio?  Hell yeah!  Having said that, this course is very, very driven by the amount of work YOU put into it.  It is very, very easy to slack off during the day, because no one is supervising you.  If you need to take couple hours off, no one will bat an eye.  If you don't complete a feature, it doesn't get merged to main.  You'll still complete the course.  Sabio will gladly take your money and give you a certificate.  The environment Sabio puts you in is very much the environment you'll find in tech.  You're expected to figure it out.  The seniors might not have the answer (or could be flat out wrong).  You.  Yes, you.  Its okay to not know, but it's not okay to not deliver.  Copy that code, change the parameters.  Get the output you need.  Get it working 1st, then when documenting, figure out why it works.  Don't get hung up on the how/why, implementation comes first.  If that bothers you, Sabio probably is not for you.  There isn't enough time to teach everyone theories of Computer Science, but there is just barely enough time to drill implementation steps of a technology stack.  You'll learn all that other stuff, with enough time and effort.  (Think Big O, data structures)

TLDR;  Tech stack, technologies don't matter in the long run.  Get to know your instructors before jumping into the cohort.  They will make or break your experience in Sabio.  Focus on IMPLEMENTATION.  If it workas, and passes tests, it's good.  Wonder why it works later.  Sabio will make you uncomfortable, and you have to be okay with it.  What you learn, and what you eventually put in your resume is completely up to you.

Attending Sabio was the best decision I ever made!! 

The curriculum was superb, they teach you real life skills. The coding part is only the beginning, they teach you to ask questions, work together as a team, how to speak to product owner, and in the end they give you the fundamentals to take with you to interviews. The way the curriculum is structured is the way your everyday work life will be structured. 

All the instructors are extremely knowledgable, have worked in the industry for years, and are extremely patient. No question is a dumb question. In fact, the more questions you ask they more likely you are to succeed. 

Once you are done with the bootcamp, they don't just kick you out the door. There is a wide range of alumni at your disposal that are either trying to get you into their company or are helping you with mock interviews and what to expect along the journey. Liliana, one of the founders, was always willing to lend a therapeutic ear when I felt down on myself. There are not enough words to tell you how grateful I am for this community. 

Two months after completing the bootcamp, I signed an offer letter to work with a company that not only values their employees but also encourages them to learn and grow in their field. The money I invested into going to Sabio came back twofold in the amount I increased my previous salary. 

If you are on the fence about what bootcamp to attend, or if you want to attend a bootcamp, I strongly suggest attending one of their information sessions. There they will answer any and every question. Literally the way they are in the information session is the way they are through and through. One of the deciding factors for me was their Latina in Tech scholarship, they believe in closing the gap in tech and helping a Latina like myself change careers for the better. 

I love Sabio, and if I had to do it over again, I would do it in a heartbeat. 

Making a career change is nerve racking as it is exciting. My biggest concern was will I succeed as a professional in this new field. I’ve learned  everything I need to know, now what?  Where do I start?  What calmed some of my fears was my experience with Sabio. The curriculum is based on in demand skills that employers are seeking right now, which definitely gives you an edge as a candidate. Whether it’s an instructor, alumnus or classmate there is always someone online to answer questions, help you get through a tough spot on a project or give interview pointers. You can self-teach and find resources to learn how to code everywhere. Sabio’s value lies in the support you receive as a student, an alumnus during the job search and as a professional. They are committed to your success. Sabio is more than just a coding bootcamp. It’s a community, a professional network and one of the strongest support networks someone can have when starting a career as a Software Developer.

I have been genuinely shocked at how dramatically my life has changed. Thats probably how most of these cheesy reviews start. I expected "okay" results coming into this. At least I would come out knowing more than absolutely nothing about software development. Nope. This program set me up. Starting with the fundamentals to the job search process Sabio is the complete package to break into the industry. I landed a full-time role as an Application Developer. I loved it so much I post all the jobs that come my way in their slack jobs channel. Many other alumni do this as well. If your looking to break into the industry this is the way. One caveat, this program will consume your life for the duration of it. Give it serious effort and you will reap the rewards. Slack off or expect to be spoon fed information and this will be a waste of your time and money.

Before the course, I had always had an interest in programming. I have always dabbled in a few languages but the way things connected eluded me and I had no idea how to solve even the simplest programming task. I did the Remote Fullstack course and now I am literally about to publish the first web app ever, and I did the programming for the frontend, middleware (c#.net) and the backend. I feel extremely confident in my abilities. The instructors have a big emphasis on self-learning, so be aware that you will not have someone giving lectures or holding your hand the whole time. But you will learn the process of troubleshooting complex programming issues and digging through documentation and programming. The teachers are always there to help give guidance and feedback along the way. 100% recommend!

I was in the military for seven years and had a job lined up that would allow me to finish my degree in Management in Information Systems. It was a great plan- till COVID 19 hit. A lot of things changed, and the job I had lined out at separation fell through. I decided that I need to make a hard pivot and make a change. I looked through my VA benefits and found that I could receive funding for technical training. I explored my option, and while researching, I found Sabio. I did an info session and quickly decided to put all my chips into this career path.

You do a free Pre Work course that ensures that you have the base level skills to do well in the program. At the end of the Pre Work, you do an assessment. If you do well, you are chosen and accepted to participate in an incredible and intensive program.

Ensure that you have all your personal affairs inline because for the next three months, it is 12 hours days Monday-Friday and an 8 hour day on Saturday. You'll be pushed to learn a great deal of stuff in a small window to perform challenging tasks. It sounds like a lot because it is. However, do you want to change your career into a high paying job with a bright future? Then it is worth it.

At a certain point in the program, you will develop an application for an entrepreneur. They'll have demands and needs that you'll have to fulfill. Doing work for an entrepreneur is great because you are now essentially working as a contractor on a real product and working in an Agile environment.

There is assistance during and at the end to get into employment. Just because you finish the program doesn't mean that your time with Sabio is over. They continue to engage with you. There are other opportunities to listen to speakers, enroll again for certifications, and be surrounded by dedicated programmers. Sabio Nation is incredible.

I got my first job as an Associate Software Engineer position 11 days after graduation. This position provides for my family and puts me on a path for many different opportunities. I can't express the amount of gratitude I have for Liliana and Gregorio. I went from no options after the Navy to being a desirable worker in the tech space. 

For those of you looking for a quick summary, Sabio is... a bust. You're lured in with excellent marketing, a plethora of well produced testimonials, and, if you're like me, the rap video starring the school's cofounder and CTO is the straw the breaks the camel's back. "This is the perfect coding school for me," I thought. But, just like a damsel awaiting her prince in shining armor, my expectations were too high. 

Things started off well. I was a VA student using my VOC Rehab benefits to cover tuition, and Liliana and Gregorio were eager to have me on board. They made exceptions for me, allowing me an extra month of Prework and access to the Irvine campus while it was supposed to be closed (Covid-19). I found myself a bit frustrated with the Prework process and lack of access to live instruction, but they assured me that once I was in bootcamp, my instructors would be available to guide me as much as I might need. And so I pressed on through the Prework, taking them at their word, passed the entrance exam with only one incorrect answer, and was excited to start the bootcamp that following Monday.

Monday came, and I was ready. I'm the type of student that's eager to jump in, is the first to speak up when asked for input, and I'm not afraid to encourage and support peers who need encouragement and support. I'm confident that if you asked any person in my cohort (C88), they would agree that, up until the final month of training, the characteristics I've assigned myself are true. But slowly, along the way, I grew increasingly discouraged, and as much I've tried to find my own fault in it, I cannot, at this point, deny that Sabio's failure to provide patient, positive, and meaningful instruction, as well as their tendency to intimidate and bully student's who're unhappy with their pedagogy, ultimately drove my discouragement to disillusion.

The first time I spoke up, it was too late. It was July 6th (nearly 4 months into my time at Sabio, counting Prework), and I sent Gregorio a private message on Slack, detailing my growing sense of despair. Instructors on the Q did not take the time to ensure I understood a solution to a problem, rather they solved it for me or gave such vague guidance that I found myself more confused. On the Q, instructors frequently seemed bothered by my questions and lack of understanding, and I was met with condescending tones often after waiting an hour or more to even ask my question. The Wiki (online reference guide for code) was more a collection of code snippets, rather than something I could turn to for deeper understanding of things I needed to grasp. I felt, strongly, that while others may have been able to work through these barriers, I was "slipping through the cracks." And those were my words to Gregorio. I pleaded for the instruction that I needed, deserved, and used invaluable time and resources to attain, and the response I got? "I told you so."

Gregorio went pointed me back to the orientation videos in which he tells you to prepare for feeling like you can't do it. But if he'd at all took the content of my message seriously, he'd have clearly seen that I was confident in my ability to make it, confident that I could learn the skills they claim to teach and confident that I would be, in less than a years time, a Full Stack Developer with no prior background in tech. But rather than asking that his instructors be more patient, rather than asking that they adapt their attitudes and approach to teach briefly, to support a student who wanted to learn skills they possessed badly, I was told that I should drop the course. "Listen," Gregorio said. "If you're not confident that things are going to work out by now, then you should just drop the course." He went on to explain all the ways in which he felt I failed as a student. I didn't ask questions well. I didn't make sense of the Wiki the way I should have. I shouldn't have been so sensitive to the instructors passive-aggressive, dismissive, and belittling tones, because people in tech have strong personalities. I felt ambushed. I felt defeated. I felt that in asking for help, I would receive it. And instead I was scolded and rebuked. But I'm one to always put a positive spin to things. I tried to see it from Gregorio's perspective, and convinced myself that should I head his advice, I could still come out of Sabio with the knowledge and ability to creative beautiful, responsive, scaleable web applications and land my first gig as a Web Developer.

Fast forward to August, I've headed all of Gregorio's advice, and find myself essentially in the same place. My graduation date is set for the 14th, and I can build components in React, but not build a React App. I can tell you what I need to build an API on .Net, but I can't actually build it. The only place I truly felt like the training clicked, was in building databases in SQL, and that's really not much more impressive than learning to count to 10. And so, when Gregorio sent me an email on August 11th asking why I hadn't been very active on the slack channels or morning standup meetings, I told him that I had not made progress. That I felt disappointed in the quality of instruction and training I received, and that all the same issues I'd said were contributing to my sense of despair in July had consisted, and prevented me from completing my training with satisfactory competence.

And that's when they really let me down. Without my knowledge, Gregorio and Liliana contacted my Voc Rehab counselor, requesting that I be removed from the program. They claimed that I had communicated to them that I could no longer participate in the program, something that was not remotely true (particularly as there were 4 days left for my cohort). I confronted them in an email which CC'd my counselor, informing them that their claim was not factual, and clarifying for my counselor what was actually said. I then received another message from Gregorio, separate from the string in which my counselor was CC'd, which claimed I was in violation of Sabio's attendance policy, and that they had grounds for dismissal. I reviewed the policy, found that I was not in fact in violation of it, and responded to Gregorio asking that he explain what exactly qualified me for dismissal. I asked that he ensure any further communications include my counselor, to ensure that no further accusations were made without proper representation being present to witness. I never received a reply, and the next day, with 2 days of training left, my access to Sabio's training site, as well as my cohort's slack channel and all other lines of communication, were cut off. I emailed Gregorio asking that he clarify whether I'd been dropped from the program or not, and again did not receive a reply.

Tomorrow is my graduation from Sabio. I participated for the entirety of the program until my access was blocked. I contributed to the "Client Project", and my work can be seen on the site still. They'd already sent a copy of my Certificate of Completion to my counselor, and yet, I've been dropped from the program. This, without any explanation or further communication from any person at the school.

I truly hope that my experience here has not been anyone else's, and that if Sabio is successful, it's because they've recognized their flaws and corrected their course. I do not recommend this school to anyone, though at one point I even helped them promote the school on my personal social media. Sabio was, by far, the worst decision I've made in my academic and professional career to this point. Do not make the same mistake I did.

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