Telegraph Academy

I recently graduated from Telegraph Academy, and I can't believe how it all flew by. I had the opportunity to work with instructors and mentors who are both technically brilliant and also incredible as people. They equipped each and every student in my cohort with strong skills in javascript fundamentals, Node, Angular, Backbone, React, Redux, D3, as well as build tools like Grunt, Gulp, and Webpack. We also spent a lot of time learning to prepare for technical interviews and learn how to break down complex datastructures. Aside from awesome skills we learned, the Telegraph team also lead by example -- they always held themselves to professional standards of excellence at every level including doing everything possible to create and grow an inclusive, beautifully diverse community in the technology space. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend Telegraph Academy and to have met so many amazing people. 

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Before joining Telegraph Academy, I was in Chicago and had no coding experience. It was laughable by my family that I was thinking about moving 2400 miles away to go some school that would teach me how to code and make 6 figures in 12 weeks. What was even more laughable was that I was going to quit my job with a decent salary, empty my savings, and sell my belongings to do so. But I did it, and I would make the same decision if given a change to redo it. 

Here's why: In order to be accepted, one must know the basics and pass a difficult entry exam administered by all of the Reactor Core schools (Hack Reactor, Makers Square, Telegraph Academy). I had no idea what I was doing, but after attending TGA's prep program, I was accepted into all of the Reactor Core schools. I decided to go with TGA because of its mission, student-to-instructor ratio, and its location (Berkeley is cheaper than SF).

Leaving everything back home was hard, but the minute I stepped into TGA, I felt ready to get to work. There is an atmosphere at TGA that I've never seen. Its full of people that are passionate about learning and instructors passionate about teaching. The cofounders are awesome and what they have created at TGA is something like a unicorn. 

The curriculum is very modern. We were coding in the most popular javascript libraries and frameworks and at the end, we have portfolio's to show for it. They teach you how to learn so you are able to pick up any language or library and build on your own. The instructors are awesome. They are there to answer any questions you have after they go over the material in a very detailed way. There were weekly guests that came to talk to us from different companies (Facebook, NPM, Solar City etc.) The career search material is the same as Hack Reactor, and leverages the same network. They give you the playbook, practice, and resources needed to find a job. My resumé coming from TGA looks outstanding, and I have yet to apply to a job and not get a next steps email in return. 

This program is not for someone looking for a quick jump in tax bracket. You have to live, love, and breath javascript for 12 weeks. This class moves at an extremely fast pace, so come ready to work. The course material is VERY VERY HARD. There are mentors there for tutoring if you get behind, however, this is rarely the case. Our class had roughly 15 students, so there was more than enough staff to accomodate students. 

All-in-all, it was a great experience for me and my classmates. We all had fun together and created some really cool applications. If you're considering TGA, strap your self in and get ready to change your life.

 

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  Joining Telegraph Academy was the best decision I've ever made.  Reading the negative reviews on this site was surprising.  I had no idea that people felt this way it wasn't something that people brought up in any way during the bootcamp, during which, there are many oppertunities to give feedback.

  It seems to me that some of the reviewers on this site are not holding themselves accountable.  Javascript is difficult and frusterating to learn, I'm convinced that there is no way around that.  TGA has always been very upfront about the learning curve.  Constant check-ins, weekly assessments, group tap-outs, you will know where you stand at any point in time...  I personally worked really hard for 3 months just to pass the test to get in, then another month and a half on the pre-course work.  There was never a sudden, unexpected shift in the difficulty of the program.  If you are looking for an in-depth cs course, you shouldn't sign up for a boot-camp.  If you are looking to accelerate your learning, and are willing to put in the time, TGA is perfect for you.

As for the instruction team,  THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TEACHING.  You don't need 10 years of software engineering experience to explain what a hash table is.  Jamil, the lead instructor, hasn't worked for a start-up, true. But he has been TEACHING for a long time, and he knows how to code.

I strongly encourage any self-motivated and accountable go-getters to apply to TGA.  It's a bootcamp, it works, but it's REALLY hard...

PS.  Preston, Bianca and Albrey all taught at Hack-Reactor when they had less experience than they do now.

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I chose to attend Telegraph Academy becuase I fully believe in the mission and wanted to learn how to code in an exclusive environment. I'm a minority, so I recognize the challenges I face entering a career in tech. I wanted to be part of the vibrant community of talented and strong engineers being built at Telegraph. I dont feel like I could have benefited from my educational experience the same way if I went to another school. I didnt want to be just another number being churned out by some of the other bootcamps, Telegraph's staff cares about each one of their students success and encourage student to reach their fullest potential.

That being said this is not a program for people who just want to be spoon fed answers, or give up easily when things become challenging. I feel as an engineer one of the only things that will stay constant through out my career will be my neccessity to learn and grow. This is my biggest take away from Telegraph. It has helped me feel comfortable in a perputaul growth mindset. I gained the tools neccesary to find my own solutions and with the support from the staff the confidence that with hardwork those solutions will come.

Every step of the way I felt the prensece of the staff checking in. At no point did I feel my view or opinions couldn't be heard. We were give the opportunity to provide feedback as we progressed through the course so that staff could evalute and improve upon the existing systems. I felt like this level of attention provided the sense that not only could I be contributing to my own learning process but hopefully contributing to the improvment of others down the line. I enjoyed feeling as though I was a part of building something special. 

Attending Telegraph Academy was one of the best decisions I've made. I was fortunate to have a cohort of like-minded indiviiduals who supported and challenged me to grow throughout my entire time as a student. I'm happy to say that I've become close with all of them and now have a network of talented engineers who I can share my experience with as we take on new endeavors out in the field. 

I highly recommend Telegraph to my friends on a regular basis. The only caveats I express to them before I go in about how awesome Telegraph is as a school and an experience is this. Are you willing to work? and do you love coding? Because with the work you will most certainly see the rewards and the work itself is rewarding if you love learning and love coding. 

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i didn't pay hard earned money to be taught by former students who have worked on nothing in production. ask for the teachers' credentials from any bootcamp you go to and stay away from those who don't hire qualified teachers with AT LEAST ONE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING JOB. this is a joke. it's true that their instructors have no experience. only mark has had a real job out of the entire staff including the cofounders. 

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Having gone through the prep program, I decided against moving forward with TGA mainly because the assignments had many bugs and were always thrown together at the last minute.  It seems like TGA in general runs like this as they try to make an asset on their website...

"We may be small, but we're scrappy and nimble. We use student input to constantly improve our curriculum and processes. Students who come to Telegraph Academy are excited about getting in on the ground floor of a movement and want to contribute to an organization that is constantly fine-tuning itself."

It feels like it is not fair that TGA is charging as much as Hack Reactor, which is a very solid program, despite the fact that they are still getting their sh*t together.  And the fact that this program is supposed to help diversify tech yet costs so much seems to not make sense.  I really do hope TGA does improve and invest in stronger teachers and more organized administrators because I do believe in their mission.

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many of the core instructors have no real software engineer experience (take a look at linkedin for yourself). new grads from the first cohort are now teaching the curriculum which is a travesty because they barely have a grasp on what's going on and you can tell with how they answer questions. i'm worried about the future of this school. i recommend going to another one of the hack reactor schools if your going to spend $18,000 until they hire people with real experience. 

Follow Up:

I think having graduate acting as instructors is not necessarily a problem per se. Hack Reactor too employs graduates as lecturers. OTH, the lead instructor at HR is an experienced veteran software engineer who can step in and fill in the gaps when necessary. 

Telegraph Academy too can certainly benefit from the presence and leadership of an experienced lead instructor. I believe both of TA's co-founders have had industry experiences. It would be nice if they can be more involved in the teachings and trouble shootings. 

Follow Up:

well let's take a look at the instructor's real world software engineer "experience" according to linkedin:

preston = one month contract

bianca = one to three month contracts

albrey = none

claire = none

jameel = none

they often have opinions of "well this is what the real world is like", but have they held any real world jobs? nope. if you want to go there, be my guest. they have a great mission, but don't have the staff needed to carry it out. there are better alternatives for this kind of money considering their job stats are the worse than hack reactor, remote beta, and makersquare. why just watch recorded lectures from hack reactor when you can go there

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This review is for Telegraph Academy and not Telegraph Prep

I am a Telegraph Academy alumni and currently Hacker in Residence. I searched nearly a year before settling on Telegraph Academy. This was one of the most challenging and amazing experiences of my life. If I had to guestimate, I probably averaged 13-15 hours of coding, everyday for 3 months. I had no room to think about anything else.  

The very bottom lines (for me): 

1. VERY competitive (Hack Reactor Partner School), meaning this not a place for people who want to "tryout" software engineering to see if it's something they might like it. If you make through the admissions process, you're already a dev. They're going to give you the tools to slap on a turbo and supercharge yourself. You'll come out feeling like a rocket scientist who can solve, build or fix anything.

2. Amazing, diverse, group of people where nearly EVERYONE was represented and I was able to truly be myself which allowed me to really focus on my code. 

3. While coding skills are important, being able to work with others is a MUST. You'll spend most of your time paring with others and working in teams. You won't believe it at first, but this takes your dev skills to the next level. 

4. AMAZING support system and dev community. Tons of Hack Reactor support and here is this official info on the HR organization and where TGA fits in: Announcing… Hack Reactor Core 

5. Top 3 of my best life decisions with no movement in sight. I got far more than what I paid for.

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Telegraph Academy was one of the most intense experiences of my life. I was pushed to the limit every single day for 12 weeks and can confidently say that I grew personally and professionally beyond my expectations. I chose TGA because the curriculum is the most challenging and I wanted to be around students driven enough to pass TGA's technical interview. Never before have I been surrounded by individuals as intelligent, hard-working, and caring as the students in my cohort.

If you're considering enrolling, just know that you're going to be in good hands. The quality of instructors and curriculum are top notch and the entire staff cares about each student like family. I'm glad to be a part of the community TGA has built and I look forward to watching it grow in the future. 

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It has been a challenging and tough 3 months. But well worth it in the end. Telegraph Academy has created a safe and inclusive environment for everyone to come and learn. It has prepared me with skills to enter the workforce with. They have helped me develop my coding skills as well as soft skills. A wonderful experience overall. 

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  Telegraph Academy (TGA) provided me with exactly what I was looking for. Most importantly, I wanted something that would push me and put me through a rigorous experience, and TGA accomplished that. For reference, I attended Cornell University (Ivy League) and got a BS in Materials Science & Engineering. This was at least as challenging as that. You're coding 11+ hours day, 6 days a week as a baseline. The method of instruction is one that while initially frustrating, is ultimately empowering and rewarding. They provide direction for you to go in, they support you, but you realize that the best thing TGA teaches you is how to be self sufficient in solving your own problems. When you’re working on a problem and you can’t run away from it, you realize that no one is going to solve it for you, and you learn to be resourceful and figure things out. I feel equipped to troubleshoot in any arena…I don’t know anything about auto mechanics, but I feel that given some good documentation, I could eventually tackle  some problems.   I wanted a bootcamp that would prepare me for jobs in software engineering - CHECK. Javascript and the many frameworks that are built with it are the future of the web and a huge part of software engineering. I am confident that my javascript skills are as solid as they need to be for any job I’d encounter, but again I want to stress that TGA prepares you for work in many flavors of the industry. Having programmed previously in Java and Python, I realize that TGA gives you a language agnostic approach that will allow you to get a job in an area that interests you, and not just one where you’ve had previous training. We learned the fundamentals that you’d get in any undergraduate CS program (control logic, data structures, algorithms, etc).   TGA provides training on many aspects of career preparation including:   -resume workshops: TGA provided a specialist to rip apart our existing resumes and helped us perform countless iterations of revision   -Interviewing practice: TGA grills you with coding challenges and questions that you will face during job interviews.   -Job expectations: How to make an impact right from the gun on the job.   Last but certainly not least, TGA follows the spirit of its mission: it works to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities in technology. Not everyone who attends meets the typical definition of “underrepresented” but all who attend realize that diversity can be a tremendous boost for companies that choose to implement it. Since people of all backgrounds are using technology today, why not work to produce engineers from all backgrounds as well?   Overall, TGA gets my highest recommendation. It requirements a substantial effort, but for those willing to undertake it, it’s worth it.  Five stars across the board.  Read less

One of the best decisions I've made for my career! TGA prepared me with the tools and best practices to jump right into software engineering. The focus on creating an inclusive space and pair-programming really set it apart from other spaces I've learned in and motivated me to continue pushing myself. I also enjoyed developing my soft-skills through presentiations and public speaking. 

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While the team is nice enough, no one has any idea how to teach. They don't prepare logical lesson plans, they can't answer questions clearly and simply--newbies really don't stand a chance. Some students know what they're doing and, of course, they have to let you know it by asking really granular questions that don't edify anyone. I really, really wish I could be more positive because I really believe in the mission, but I was left feeling frustrated and disappointed. For all the "assistance" actually give you, you might as well go with Lynda.com

Telegraph Academy--please get it together. This could be a really good program, but it needs quality instruction.

 

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I attended their livestream prep program. I didn't care for the instructor. To me it felt like they were moving very quickly and didn't press the students who had a thumbs-down or side-thumbs enough. Even without seeing the attendees it seemed the class was confused sometimes based on their silence and lack of comments/questions.

Also there was an instance where someone was asking questions they should have learned from codeacademy, which was required before starting. That wasted time where someone else could have asked a question that was relevant to everyone.

Also, livestreamers could not hear attendees (other than speaker) at all and speaker never repeated questions attendees gave so livestreamers had to guess the question based on the answer the speaker gave, which is subpar if you ask me. 

 

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The livestream was a big let down.  I only attended part 1 since there is no way I would pay anything more for their product (there are two portions: part 1 is the first two weeks). The people running the program act like they don't give two cents about the livestream members.  The instructor isn't great and relies on referencing her experience at hack reactor as her merit.  I'd suggest Hack Reactor look at their affiliation with a weak product like Telegraph Prep.  

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I live-streamed and there were some pros and cons. First, let me begin by saying this is a Beta course. I think I was the 2nd class to go through this course. What they done so far is awesome. 

Pros: great structure, lecture material, setup, pace, pricing

The classes are streamed via a conference room and we chat with the TA's and other students via the slack app. Each night we run through slides, then we have practice exercises that are assigned to reinforce what we just learned. The exercises are great and if you want, you can link up with another student to pair program. They give us plenty of resources to do so. I learned so much through the 4 weeks. There were lectures from students at hack reactor and some of the teachers are really really awesome. The classes almost always started on time and never ran over the alotted period. And for a class of this type, this is the cheapest one that I've found. They are really on the right path and doing something special. Telegraph Academy is new, but they are already enrolling students in the full bootcamp while running a prep course as well. I see good things for this school.

Cons: Speed, feeling left out, sound

At some times, the teacher or speaker just blasts through the slides. For example, one night the lecture was over in 20 mins...I thought this was a 3hr/day class?? For the live-streamers, you may have a tough time getting questions answered. The teachers don't see your questions so when they ask the class are there any questions, they usually aren't referring to live-streamers. The TA's are there to answer questions, but with so many students, it may take a while to get an answer which sucks because the lecture is still moving and you have no clue of what's going on. Also, after the lecture is over, you have to decide what to do next. The stream disconnects and you are to decide if you want to pair program, work on your own, or do nothing. No one checks the answers to the exercises so being self-sufficient will be important. So nothing is perfect and Telegraph Academy is aware and hopefully implementing changes.

 

Overall, I had fun. I learned a lot and I met some cool peeps that I look forward to seeing in class in a few months. Am I fully prepared to tackle the interview? Only time will tell, but I feel like I learned more in 4 weeks than I could have taught my self in 3 months.

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Grateful and appreciative for what this team is doing, bringing code to anyone that wants to learn. I took the prep class and learned more in 4 weeks than I learned in 4 months on my own. JS is a big Octopus with many tenticles, they helped me focus on the relevent one's that  moved me into functional programming on a HigherOrder. looking forward to joining this team in a learning exp at TGA. gratitude and thanks to this team for not judging and being there to teach all.

not affiliated/only took prep so far.

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I did not get a good experience either in their PREP COURSE. I did the codecademy (Maybe that's not a hard work for some of the students ), but I thought their material are hard to understand. I did ask the mentor, but they don't explain it well.  I am sorry, but I have to say this.

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