V School

VSchool was a great learning experience, unlike other bootcamps here you getting a job is the final goal, how fast? Depends on you, on how much you put in, just like anything else in life we get what we put in, in my experience I had to take a few brakes because life is full of unexpected situations, they were kind, supportive and did not rushed me to get back in the curriculum until I was ready to do so, if I had been at another bootcamp I would've been removed from it leaving me with thousands of dollars in debt, at VSchool you getting the job is the final goal, not some arbitrary and sometimes unrealistic date set by people that in most cases just want to get you in and out as fast as possible so they can bring the next person in.  
The quality of the staff is by far the best thing about the school,  the instructors are always willing to help, the TAs are ready to answer questions and jump on 1:1 zoom calls to help you move forward with the curriculum, the SSM -Student Success Mentors- they are genuinely good people that want to make a difference in the student's career, Joseph Huson was the best SSM I've ever had, he always treated us like family, his encouragement and support helped a lot of us to keep going, not just with the curriculum but with life.

The curriculum is designed so you can follow it at your own pace, at the end of each module you have an assessment so you only move to the next one if you're ready, but if you need to go back and retake the assessment you can do so without fearing of being removed from the program if you fail x amount of times. I had a great experience, I'd definitely recommend it!

This is a complaint- I feel that V School exploited me.

I began the UX program and only made it through level one and put 20 hours into the program total before realizing it wasn’t for me and withdrawing.

They are having me pay 13% of my income over 8 months (if it’s over 40k per year)

TL;DR

$4500+ for ~20 hours of working on the intro to UX and figma. I’m devastating and feel totally exploited.

If you withdraw they will f***ing take your money and run. 

I can’t recommend, especially when what they charge is exploitative to begin with! I should have thought twice before signing their agreement.

V School have everything organized in a nice and concise way. It is a full online FullStack JavaScript Web Developing or UX Design bootcamp that offers the opportunity to learn, practice, masteries skills  that are in high demand at the moment. What really blows my mind is that they stick with you until you land your first job. Every student have a SSM (student success mentor) that motivates you and teaches you career prep so you know in advance how to look, apply, interview, and negotiate salaries in a tech job. In my little time, I have met great mentors and other students with the same goals as me and I have been learning from all of them. 


I had a degree as a software developer prior V School, and I can say that I didn't learn as much as I am learning now through V School. Regular education pushes so much information that student don't retain or work on app or programs to showcase to employers. I joined V School because I needed experience to boost my resume and couldn't during my degree. By the end of the phase 1, I had 3 projects as part of my portfolio that served me as practice and for recruiters to see what I have learned. I am currently looking for a job, but I have seen students graduate and land a job in less than a week. One student landed a job while in the program. 

V School accepts GI Bill for military and qualified members. They also work with an income share agreement, in other words, you will pay back whenever you get hired. That is another reason that V School needs to place you in a job. The only thing I regret is not knowing about this opportunity before. 

Making the decision to make a career path or career change was daunting for me but honestly the staff at V school made it feel easy and we’re very supportive. After making the decision to start a Bootcamp I was still a little skeptical about the whole process but after beginning the curriculum with zero experience (other than the course pre work) it came along at a steady pace. Day after day it’s up to you to put in the work but the staff and student success mentors are there for you, it’s their job to help you succeed! Not to be cheesy but the staff are truly just good people, very positive, extremely helpful, and intelligent to say the least! My student success mentor was an amazing person who always kept positive vibes, always supported us, and made sure we were sticking to our career prep plan to help us ease into this career change. Overall, I would do it again even if I could turn back time. Also, the self paced curriculum was another bonus for me!

I enrolled in the Web Development program here and it was one of the best career decision I've ever made.  The material and lessons are structured very well and the concepts build on each other which is a huge confidence booster.  What I loved most about the program was being in the program!  If I ever needed help, there was always access to one of the instructors or teaching assistants!  I also loved that they assigned you a Student Success Mentor who was there every step of the way for me. Awesome and active Veteran Community inside too!  NO CODING EXPERIENCE TO HIRED IN 5 MONTHS! Overall...If you want to start your career in tech, this place is the real deal.  

p.s. - You'll make life-long friends in here to

     It’s difficult to summarize my overall feelings about attending V School. I began the course back in August 2020 and completed the program in March 2021. 1 year after completing the course, I am not working in the tech industry and I am employed in a position that does not utilize the skills I learned at V School. When I decided to take out a $16,000 student loan to pay for the bootcamp. I did it with the idea that this money would be an investment for my future. I was motivated to attend the bootcamp because of the school’s overall message that they would assist me in landing a career in tech. They did say this was not guaranteed but that I would have the full support of the school to assist me in the interview process. However, I was naïve into thinking that by completing this course, I would be a qualified candidate for any entry level web developer position.       I quickly began to experience employers not extending interviews and the feedback I received by some recruiters was that I simply did not have the background to be successful in the interview process. I began searching for jobs back in April 2021 and by August 2021, I had submitted well over 100 applications to various companies. Out of those applications, I only received 4 interview invites. My first technical interview exposed my incompetence in answering basic CS based questions. I was tasked to live code data structure and algorithm questions but couldn’t get past the first question. I was deeply embarrassed and had a rude awakening that I was not qualified for a basic front end developer position. I was deeply discouraged by this and began to see my ability to break into tech simply fade away. After August, I began to look at other career paths because I was running low on my savings and had to begin making nearly $500 a month payments on the $16,000 loan I took out to attend V School.      My career success mentor that I was paired with at the beginning of the bootcamp was instrumental in motivating me in completing the course. I felt I had an advocate that was supporting me and gave me a voice in the program. However, she abruptly quit the bootcamp in June without warning. I was scheduled to meet with her one day before she had announced she was leaving the school. After her departure, I felt I did not have a voice, and no one was advocating for my future in tech. Although I was paired with another mentor, I felt that I was not receiving the same assistance as other students. I began to see students who started at the same time as me receive direct assistance in securing interviews with companies. One of those students was hired by a reputable company in Utah. I was encouraged to submit my application to the same company but received an immediate rejection after my submission. These events left me feeling depressed and hopeless. Although I had successfully utilized React Native to build and deploy an iOS app to the Apple App Store, I continued to see other students receive support in landing roles with companies.   
     Looking back and knowing all that I have experienced these past 18 months, I would have not attended V School. I am paying back a loan that simply financed my ability to learn how to code online and receive underwhelming feedback from instructors and career success mentors. I could have spent substantially less by subscribing to different online courses such as Scrimba. Ironically enough, Scrimba was used as part of the teaching method for this program. A website that takes pride in advertising as a cheaper alternative to a bootcamp. A founding member of the school currently is employed at Scrimba, which is ironic for a bootcamp to use a platform that showcases itself as an alternative to a bootcamp. My current career path is utilizing my M.S. in biochemistry that I received prior to enrolling in the bootcamp. This degree cost me substantially less than the $16,000 piece of paper that I received from V School. If I had not graduated in a middle of a pandemic and was desperate to find a job, I would have not attended this bootcamp. I was desperate at the time and this school was my answer to my desperation. However, I was naïve into thinking V School would support my path to break into tech and have a meaningful career in the industry.

     At the end of the day, V School is a for profit school that needs to have a steady source of income in order to finance their ultimate goal of assisting anyone to break into the tech scene. Part of that process involves marketing themselves and posting positive images and videos of former students who they assisted in becoming employed in a high paying tech role. I know the school will point to those alumni and say how they are achieving their goal in getting nearly a 100% placement rate. There will also be alumni who will probably chime in and share how they were employed in a lucrative tech position days or weeks after graduating. However, I know there are other alumni like myself who struggled to get hired let alone land an interview. 

     I worked really hard to complete the program at V School and that hard work is showcased by my iOS app that is on the App Store. I had the motivation, talent, and potential to become a better developer. The problem I saw was that the school simply ignored this and chose to assist other students in securing interviews. I didn't expect V School to just hand me a job but my expectation was that they would make that initial connection to an employer on my behalf. Many but not all students received this assistance. One student that began at the same time as I did is now employed at a reputable company in Utah. This individual personally thanked V School during an alumni interview for making that initial connection. Seeing other students get this type of help while I struggled to get any interviews furthered hampered my confidence and made me feel as if there was favoritism occurring at the school. If the school was making these personal connections on behalf of some students then this type of connection should be offered to all students. After all, we all paid the same amount to attend this school, some of us actually used our own money and didn't get any 3rd part assistance in financing our studies. 

     At the end of the day I would not have attended this bootcamp if it was not for the pandemic. In August 2020, I was unemployed and desperate to find a path that could assist me in gaining the skills that could make me a more competitive candidate for employers. V School was that answer to my desperation and I sincerely trusted them in helping me make my dreams of working in the tech industry come true. I fell for their sales pitch and I am now paying the $16,000 price for it.      

I graduated V School in October 2018 and as I reflect back to my experience I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.  It took me 4 months to land my first job, started out with a 60k salary and within a year earned over 6 figures.  I was able to do so because of the things I learned at V School.  The robust curriculum provided me with a solid foundation and helped expand my knowledge in software development.  The community and the staff are awesome and genuinely want you to succeed.  

Attending V School was one of my best decisions and I highly recommend it!

My journey into a full stack dev boot-camp was interesting, if not somewhat discouraging to start, but lets start at the beginning… I began my journey at Helio Training.  I attended for a week and 3 days, in which time I felt very lost and like it was me that wasn’t grasping on to what was being spoken about. It was like there was no set curriculum to follow and pass off. I felt confused and frankly, sorta pissed off. My intuition was firing hard and screaming at me to look beyond the scope and take an interview with another full stack school that has all the values and essentials one needs to pursue this endeavor.  After reading countless review boards and write ups, I found my nest. V-SCHOOL!!! I won’t lie, boot-camps are tough! BUT, you CAN do it!  Not only can you do it, but you can really extend your network beyond the boot-camp and really reap the rewards of all V-School has to offer. This extends far beyond the core-curriculum (which I might add is ON-POINT and I am highly impressed given I have the perspective). The lectures are straight-forward and classrooms are immaculate. From the chair up, truly, three cheers for the best ergonomic chair award that i’ve ever encountered at ANY school! A dual monitor to plug into that moves up and down, etc. The instructors give their lecture live (writing code and showing you what it is doing in real-time) on the big screen while students follow along a very well written topic outline (that later can be referenced for the assignments). I am so grateful I followed my gut. I feel so motivated and like I am in the right place now that truly cares about their students well-being and success.  The instructors KNOW what they are talking about.  When you ask a question, it gets answered and in a way that you understand. Again, this 3 month venture is going to be strenuous, mind-bending and rigorous, but the end results are clear. 7 students just last month received internships with Adobe, multiple others with other companies both local and out-of-state. These are facts and V-School stands behind their word that they will get you to the next step.  It’s all about what YOU want and how hard YOU want to work to achieve this end result.  The student:instructor ratio makes everything amazing as far as asking for help and getting 1-on-1 attention.  They never make you feel dumb or scared to ask for help.  You feel like you are part of a family at V-School.  Families take care of each other and the V-School Fam is no different. Student housing is a mere 2 blocks away (Brigham Apartments)**amazing location**, eliminating the need for public transit.  There are endless places to eat and grab whatever you need within a .5 radius in every direction. The vibe is radiant and the aesthetic.. Well, let’s just say I was sold the moment I walked off the elevator.  It’s eccentric and modern, yet nestled in the heart of downtown salt lake, the location “buzzes” like a hive (hypothetically, all the lights are LED panels). If you are thinking of pursuing a boot-camp for Full Stack Javascript or UI / UX, don’t pass up the opportunity to see for yourself what being a member of the V-School Family is all about. I am so grateful I did. I feel at home. I’m confident in my instructors ability to make sure we ALL understand the concepts.  I am truly “getting IT”.  BONUS!! V-School provides yoga twice per week to ease the spirit and decompress the mind & body.  Their parking is amazingly convenient and safe.  The staff is wonderful, I am so happy with my decision to invest in my future at V-School.  I know I made the right choice. Thanks V-School! Happy Coding!!!

It’s the curriculum and the community that shine at V School. While no 12-week course is a substitute for 1-2 years of experience, this curriculum provides a solid, professional-grade foundation for those seeking to make a career change.

The Instructors are knowledgeable and patient, and like everyone else in the V School community (including administration, career guidance, and V School alums) they have a genuine desire to support students and see them succeed.

V School helped me to take my basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript and learn the foundations of front and backend web development. The second half of the program is dedicated to getting students up and running in a Javascript framework (React, at the time of my enrollment). V School makes great effort to stay at the cutting edge of a fast-paced, quickly evolving industry. The program’s timely switch from Angular to React proved to be an asset when I began my job hunt. Even coming in to a company as an intern, my knowledge and experience with a newer, in-demand framework made me in demand.

v School helped me to change my life and I highly recommend this program to anyone looking at Bootcamps. 

I recently graduated from the full-stack javascript course ( MERN stack ) that V School offers in downtown SLC Ut. The people at V school have an honest interest in your success, and it's obvious in the way they teach and run their program. 

There is no substitue to the type of jumpstart that V school gave me.  I was hesitant to spend money on school again as I had already received a 4 year degree, but this was so worth it.  I have graduated from a program with a set of skills that are in-demand and valuable. The coursework is constantly being adapted and updated to current industry trends and practices, which was one of my big problems when taking tutorials.  Along with learning a great deal in my 12 weeks, I am now apart of a community of fellow web developers that are warm and accepting.

 

 

I began my search for bootcamps not long before finding V School. I traveled from the east coast to Salt Lake City because they provided housing, were prepared to answer all of my questions, and reassured me that I was ready after completing my precourse project. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at V School. They are successful in creating a tight knit community of students and alumi. The provide access to the school space 24/7 which encouraged me to take full advantage of all they had to offer. Evenings and weekends were spent with current and former students learning coding and working on projects. They allow each cohort to . kind of mentor the next which was a definite plus! To be honest, you will get out of it what you put in. V School goes above and beyond to include you into the tech community within all of Utah and provides ample opportunity for you to grow as a developer. I would HIGHLY reccommend V School!

When I registered for the V-School Full-Stack course the only things I knew were HTML and CSS. But now I am glad to say that I graduated as Full-Stack JavaScript Web Developer, and it's all thanks to V-School, the curriculim is well written, also the way the way they teach you these new languages and frameworks is just perfect, and the thing that I liked the most about this course is the how they teach how to improve and learn new techonolgy on your own, which is really important because technology is constantly changing.

After more than 20 weeks of coding, finally I am v school graduate. The program that I was given was more intellectual than only being academic. This school with its curriculum and its instructors, with its style had altered my life to the better. Regarding the content of the course, I didn’t only learn how to code in java script and how to be a junior web-developer, but also how to have the problem-solving mentality, how to think logically and rationally, how to deal with everything as case and I get credits if I solve it, and how to get rid of all the fears. Also, regarding the way of teaching, this class thought me how to be dependent in my education and how to be committed to my education without having the stress of the grades and the stress of the exams. It taught me how to be not ashamed of having no idea about something I love to learn. The idea of vocational training and then certifying the students in Full Stack and making them eligible to work even if as freelancers amazed me and took me to the class every day at 6:00 pm though all the fatigue. It gave me hope and opened my eyes to a lot of change that needs to be done and can actually be done by commitment, patience, ambition, and creativity. This class is one of the best things that happened to me and I’m grateful that I had the chance to join this wonderful family.

V School’s full stack javascript course has impressed me at every step! The curriculum is well thought-out, perfectly paced, and relevant to industry needs. From the front-end HTML5 and CSS3 to the of back-end database and server creation the course work is challenging and engaging. The Instructors at V School are knowledgable, and really care about the success of their students! They will go above and beyond to ensure your success, staying late in the evenings and coming in on weekends to work with students. In fact, when students on our cohort expressed interest in learning React in addition to Angular, extra classes were arranged with a React instructor. 

The addition of having housing arranged for me, was incredible, and one of the things that made V School the perfect choice. I didn’t have to worry about rent, or leases, or furnished/unfurnished. I just arrived in Salt Lake and had a place to stay and a transit pass to get around!

On the career front - V School will give you the tools you need to have a successful job hunt, and will support you fully in the job hunt process. They will arrange field trips to tech companies, have weekly tech industry speakers, and connect your with people in their social networks that might help you land that perfect job.

From day one V School has been the perfect choice, and I can’t possibly recommend them highly enough! This is a coding school that really does care about you and your progress towards an exciting new tech career!

I just started my 5th week, as a member of the February cohort, and so far I could not speak more highly of V School. I will reserve my full review of V School until i graduate, but as of right now my experience as been extremely positive.

THE STAFF/INSTRUCTORS - This is probably V-School's strongest suit. All of the instructors are extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. They all know the ins and outs of web development so any question you could possibly have, they will either know the answer or point you in the right direction. They never spoon feed you information, but at the same time are always ready and able to help when you are 100% stuck. As far as availability goes, they're always willing to help and take time oustide of class to answer questions. 

THE CURRICULUM - Whoever designed this curriculum is a genius - it is very, very well put together. The exercises are all designed to strengthen the material you went over in lecture that day and all of the lecture material is up to date and easy to understand. The curriculum covers all the important information you could possibly need to know to truly UNDERSTAND the code you are writing and not just be a copy/paste coder. 

DAY-TO-DAY - Every morning we start with warmups which are typically algorithmic in nature to get our brains in gear for the lectures and exercises that day. We typically receive multiple lectures every day by the instructors, each folllowed by its corresponding exercise. The exercises are intended to solidify the lecture material. At the end of the week, we are assigned larger projects that encompass and utilize several concepts to ensure we understand everything. The structure of our weeks so far, has really helped me gain a good grasp on the material.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT - We have received solid information, starting from week 2, regarding career development. On a weekly basis we attend lectures on things like resume and linkedin building. Additionally, we frequently have QA sessions with industry experts such as recruiters, UX engineers, ReactJS developers, and hiring partners. The amount of resources availale is honestly amazing.

MY ONLY REGRET SO FAR - is that I am a remote student. The free-housing that the in-person students get seems like an amazing perk and the ability to make friends with one another in person seems invaluable. That being said, everyone has been really friendly to me even as a remote student. My advice to anyone thinking about doing V school is to try and go IN PERSON if you can because I'm sure the experience is that much better. If remote is the only option though, like it was for me, then its still totally worth it.

 

To Be Continued when I finish...