Tech Talent & Strategy

Tech Talent South has been everything I wanted from a bootcamp and more.  The material provided in class is concise and well-written, but the best part of my experience has been my interactions with my course instructor, community organizer, and fellow students.  

My instructor has been a senior rails developer for years, and he is one of the few instructors I've had throughout any educational institution who has exhibited expertise in the subject matter, effective teaching ability, and legitimate care for how well his students go on to use their newfound knowledge to better their lives once the course has ended.  In addition, my community organizer has been an invaluable source of pertinent job assistance and knowledge in what tech meetups are happening in my area.  She also took initiative in arranging several meetups and guest speakers for our class specifically as well as finding job opportunities she thought were good fits for us as individuals.

After an initial extra-curricular meetup encouraged by our instructer, my fellow students and I have continued to meet together once a week to code together and share knowledge.  This sense of community has helped drive my learning experience forward after the class has ended.

Before I took this course I was intimidated by even trying to search for jobs in the tech industry, but the people involved in this bootcamp have helped me both find where to begin and how to continue growing from that point onwards.

I have no regrets about taking this course, and I recommend it to anyone looking to start coding.

Tech Talent South(TTS) has been a game changing experience for me, I came to the program after leaving behind a career in management. I learn best by immersion and decided to go with TTS after their chief of student success and diversity personally called me to recruit me to the program.

This personal touch, and willingness to build a deep connection is one of the core aspects of the TTS program. Most bootcamps are just that--bootcamps. Tech Talent South is a village.

My instructor is a senior Rails developer at a large corporation here in Dallas, and he became personally invested in my cohorts training. Our community organizer is amazing and will hand pick and send us jobs she thinks we'd be perfect for. Our class has already graduated but we still meet up every week to code together, support one another, and look for work together.

What I learned from TTS moreso than coding(its tough to do this thing Part Time) was the culture and mindset of a professional developer. The knowledge my instructor passed on to me about the Tech Industry and software engineering has been invaluable. We didn't just learn HOW to do things, he taught us WHY and he also taught us WHAT the industry standard is at major corporoations.

I'm confident that with TTS and just one app project I'll be able to get a solid job and that I'll have a community of dedicated, gifted programmers around me for life.
 

Coming from the medical field and being frustrated with the development cycle as well as the very frustrating technological hurdles concerning the usability, accessability, and research design of the work I was involved in. I decided that a career change was in order to help change spur technological changes in the industry.

With very little experience in coding I decided on TTS as my coding bootcamp of choice due to a recommendation from my friend who had a very positive experience there. The curriculum is fast paced and challenging with extra office hours available to those who need extra help. Along the way I have discovered that I really enjoy the problem solving involved in programming and believe that technology can affect great change in the community.

I enjoy the understanding and journey to self actualization that they have provided for me and am looking forward to a more productive path of work. Everything at TTS has been an enjoyable experience throughout!

The course set up was very nice and the curriculum was well thought out for the amount of time that you have. The class location was very functionable, a little cramped when we have a full class but not overly cramped. ( I am a big fella so that might have contributed to my idea of cramped) The commuity organizer, Taylor Weese, did an excellent job accomadating for everyone and went out of his way to help people with all the things that come up during a boot camp! Jill is a real asset to helping during and after with your resume with timely advice and recommendations. The instructor was very knowledgable on the subject matter and provided excellent documentation of the course lectures and activities. I had three instructors during my boot camp, Clarise and Leslie were awesome and really took time to listen to people and find new ways to help them understand with patience and respect. I would highly suggest this bootcamp to anyone considering learning coding!

I recently completed the Full Time Code Immersion course and am glad that I enrolled.  I was a little skeptical about how much you would actually learn in a short amount of time but was pleasantly surprised by just how much knowledge I gained.  With that being said, it really is up to you to put in the hours after class everyday to make sense of what you are actually doing.  It's easy to follow along with instructions but it won't always stick if you're not taking the time to practice what you are being taught.  I enjoyed spending time in the classroom and getting to know the other students.  Everyone comes from such different backgrounds so it's nice to have this common ground with everyone.  The Community Organizer (Taylor) did a great job with making sense of it all when a few people felt lost.  He has taken the class before so he was able to explain how he made sense of it all when he was sitting exactly where we were sitting.  You come out of the class with real world projects to add to your portfolio to help show future employers.  I would highly reccomend this class to anyone looking to make a transition into the tech world and has an interest in learning to program. 

Pros:

- tremendous support from the teacher and community organizer both in and out of class (office hours, tours, meetups)

- flow of curriculum was well-paced, rigorous, and relevant

- well-rounded exposure to both front-end and back-end languages

- online access to lessons/slides was very helpful for studying

- wonderful alumni communication and support

Cons:

- homework gets a little long/repetitive at times

- students might benefit from a more discovery-based approach to creating an app where they brainstorm what needs to put in place instead of being told

About me and my experience:

I had been a high school teacher for five years when I decided that I wanted to pursue a new career path.  I knew I wanted to go into web development, but I wasn't sure how to go about it.  I had basically no knowledge or experience.  Should I enroll in a university?  Should I take classes online?  I wasn't sure.  Then a friend of mine suggested the Tech Talent South Code Immersion class.  It was simply the perfect fit.  From being welcomed via email after I enrolled to meeting my instructor on the first day of class, everyone made me feel comfortable and important right away.  It was clear that there was a structure of support already in place.  I learned tremendously from my teacher and felt like I was really sinking my teeth into relevant information and skills.  The community organizer was very enthusiastic and helpful in immersing the students into the code community and helping us make connections that could lead to jobs.  I have only been out of my teaching job for six months and I'm already prepared to apply for a job as a developer.  I can't thank Tech Talent South enough for making this all possible for me!

I enrolled in the part-time coding immersion program with no prior experience in coding. I thought this class was a very good introduction to many coding concepts, and upon finishing the class I felt that I had a great set of tools to continue learning and practicing on my own. The instructor was knowledgeable, experienced, and patient, and the community organizer was very eager to help introduce us to the tech community in our city. I also liked that this organization helps give back to the community through offering free kids coding classes. Perhaps the most valuable part will be the continued connection to the organization, as they are very good at keeping in touch with and engaging alumni. 

This full-time immersion course has had a great impact on my life. Not only has it instilled the fundamentals for creating production ready apps, but it solidified my confidence that "I can do it." I previously had an engineering background, but was more focused on hardware. So software seemed somewhat daunting to learn. But after going through this course, I know how to build web apps (fullstack!). I also learned that I have a good eye for frontend, but also understand the main components of backend. My peers were awesome and inspiring as well. The teacher was great and always made sure everyone stayed in sync and followed along.

I would highly recommend this course. Be prepared to learn hands-on and get the tools to continue learning even after the program. This course is an critical step towards bright future in software development.

Tech Talent South (TTS) provides so much more than just,"Here's what code is, here's how to write it." The efforts that go into student acceptance selection and course delivery ensure you're sitting beside individuals that are just as excited about learning the content as you are. That thing you get really excited when talking about... ya, your fellow student probably does too and also found this new way you weren't aware of that opens up a completely new approach; and yes, they'd love to hang out after class on the couch or meet for coffee on a Saturday and "geek-out" about it with you. Once you factor in the community factors of TTS (Local Start-Up Tours, Networking Events,  and TTS Community Team that want's to here and help you on your journey to success, however you define it); it's really a no-brainer that the lasting benefits and resources you'll get will be worth far beyond what you pay for a course.

Disclosure: I took the TTS Part-Time Code Immersion Course in order to familiarize myself with terminology, concepts, practices, and general knowledge to enable myself to better communicate with our technical team and better support their efforts, not to directly acquire a technical role, though many of my peers in the course were there directly for that purpose. I definitely got out of the course far more than I expected, I had no clue about all of the value I'd find in the community and peer networks. I would personally recommend Tech Talent South to anyone; not sure if a full course load is right for you? (I was concerned about my time commitments) Go for part-time or get your feet-wet with a weekend course! Once you get a hint of what the TTS course offerings are all about, you'll be signing up for your second or third course in no time.

Our cohort became a family.  That is the best way that I can describe my experience with Tech Talent South's Startup Primer program.  I think that the main reason why we were able to bond so well is because our class size was small, and we were able to get to know eachother and our businesses a lot better with the little time that we had.  I loved how the teachers were so open to help and how much we were able to share and support eachother in and outside of the classroom. It was amazing to see our ideas from the first class grow into awesome pitches in front of many of Charlotte's startup industry leaders.  If you are thinking about starting up a business, Startup Primer is a great place to start! :) 

I attended the full-time code immersion course. Before I even attended the first class, the staff was there to help answer any questions or concerns I had. It’s been a long time since I’ve stepped foot into the classroom setting, so I was a little bit nervous about starting over. But the instructor and teacher’s assistant set up a great environment so you felt like you can slow the pace down at any moment. The course was very frustrating at times, but very rewarding once I figured out things through the trial and error process. If I still had problems, they had office hours to help go further in-depth of what I needed. A couple of times a week they would have speakers and/or tours set up to help start our networking process. I definitely would recommend anyone who is thinking about going into this field to look into joining the TTS community.

I attended the full time code immersion program at Tech Talent South. My instructor was exceptional and spoke in plain language for my non developer mind! Each class was intentional and organized with an extremely high level of professionalism. Beyond the course itself, I loved the community atmosphere that is created and upheld by the staff and alumni. I had so many opportunities to meet with potential employers as well as network with other new developers. To me, this type of community allows me to stay connected and make the most of my course! FIVE STARS!!

I wanted to take the time to relay my experience(s) with Tech Talent South. I found out about the Charlotte chapter of TTS through a friend and strongly disliked the current career path I was on so I decided to take the plunge. I ended up enrolling in the Full-Time code immersion class and I absolutely loved it. The class is set up in order for you to get your feet wet and to learn the basics in both front-end and back-end web development. Although I definitely got a lot out of the class, it was not easy. You have to have the mindset that you are going to dedicate yourself to learning all you can during the eight week program. As in life, the more you put into it, the more you will gain from it and you can really gain a lot. When you finish, you will have a solid foundation of knowledge of Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, and so much more. 

Tech Talent South also offers a variety of other classes including the Big Data class. As our society continually evolves and our reliance on technology continues to increase, the need to analyze the data will be extremely important and the Big Data class introduces you to the fundamentals and ideas that will help start you on the path to learning more about data. 

If you are looking to solidify a role in the tech community, then starting with Tech Talent South is the way to go. The instructors and the staff are great (especially in the Charlotte area) and I don't feel like you will regret the opportunity that you will create by joining the TTS community. 

I had the pleasure of coming across Tech Talent South whenever I decided to make a career switch into web development. The classes were very interactive and provided a lot of resources. They offered a ton of volunteer opportunities like Kids Code Night and I personally had the opportunity to teach kids to code at Davidson College for a Tech Talent summer bootcamp! The CEO, Betsy, has felt more like a close friend and a mentor than any average CEO. Any issues i've had (which, lets be honest, it'd code- there are always issues) there were multiple resources and extensions that were available to me. Tech Talent has been such an amazing experience and I highly recommend taking courses! 

I started this class eager to learn. I am a self-taught, self-employed business owner with a background in MySQL databases. Until this class, I taught myself everything. With that being said I yearned for a classroom environment.  I already have done my research about Ruby and Rails before joining the class. With my background in databases, I knew this was the right class for me. Then the journey started, the pain came and the dreams began. I’m glad I choose the part-time class. The pace was fast and learning was abundant. I strongly enjoyed the dig in and code approach our instructor Shane took. The class pushed me to learn faster than I would have done if I continued to take the teach myself approach. This forced me to really think. The turning point for me was our introduction to Rails. Because Rail's dealt with databases this was right up my alley. Then came the dreams. Since week 4 I don’t think I went to sleep without dreaming about how to troubleshoot, do something better or do something different in my code. Now all I want to do is CODE CODE CODE! I can confidently say that taking this class is going to change my future and help me build my brand. Thank You TTS!!!!

After my last contract ended I had some time to pursue an idea for a business I've always wanted to try. I began to attend several meetups across the city and speak to people I networked with in the Charlotte startup community. I quickly found that while the startup scene is now growing exponentially here, it is still in it's infancy and the scene was very difficult to navigate. I came across an ad for the TTS Startup Primer course and made the call. I was immediately impressed because the first person I spoke to was Zack who creates the curriculum- so he knew exactly how the course was going to be run and he answered all my questions. The TTS team on multiple occasions expressed to me that they were more interested in finding people who would be the right fit for the program and with one another than accepting the masses- which told me they were putting a lot of thought into the program to make it a great experience. Carly our mentor was really helpful in providing us with tools, directed thinking, and just good advice along the way. The classes were fun to attend as industry experts came in to speak to us about their individual subject matter (marketing, research, analytics, legal, VC, etc). As if this wasn't enough, at the close of the program, I needed help and Betsy the CEO met with me at a local coffee shop to offer advice and more importantly connections to people who could meet the need I had. 

I could not be more impressed with the whole team at TTS and the startup primer program. My only constructive criticism is that I wanted some of the subjects to go longer because I was getting so much from them. I know the TTS team is planning to have a wrap up meeting with us individually to get our feedback- so the next class will be even better. Sign up for this program if you are looking to get an idea off the ground- especially if you are in a city like Charlotte where the startup scene is exploding but not yet organized in any useful way- this class will help in meeting your goals.