Vanderbilt University Boot Camps

This has been an amazing experience, the instructors are very knowledgable in their fields and are willing to go the extra mile to help you. The course work is challenging and it does require a number of hours outside of class to get the most out of the program. 

The Success Manager had been a great help to talk to, she has helped me work through some of the issues surrounding the bootcamp (job search nerves, impostor syndrome, etc.) and is always around and available.

Lastly the Career Services team has been fantastic in their presentations and information that they provide to help us with our searching. 

Overall: worth the investment. 

Vanderbilt's Full Stack Coding Boot Camp has been an amazing experience. The instructors are extremely informative, patient, and available when it comes to helping the students. Tutoring is an option, as well, so the support is always there. We also have a great Student Success Manager who is available to help with any issues that may affect our progress, such as life events and personal needs for learning. The curriculum has been designed to help students learn skills that are currently in demand, and the career services allow the students excel in the job market, as opposed to being somewhat competitive. The career aspect of this program is important to me, as I was laid off from a tech start up and will be looking to start a new career in coding soon after graduation. I am confident in the skills I am learning and the amazing support behind me.

I left my job after a buyout so I found myself looking to make a career change at age 55. I was googling bootcamps and Vandy's popped up. As a previous RN & perfusionist at Vandy, I knew that it would be a great place to go. Knowing myself and the way I learn best I also knew I would stay on track better with going to a physical school & having deadlines instead of trying to learn on my own. It was absolutely the best choice for me, I love the friends I've made and my awesome instructors and TA's. At halfway through, I have no regrets and am learning soooo much in every class. It definitely was out of my comfort zone so I want to encourage others to persist if interested and don't let fear stop you. If I can do it you can as well, it just takes grit and persistance and it does eventually sink in and get easier!

I started this program back in June with hopes of furthering my knowledge base in Data/Business analytics. I was contacted by the recruiting team to start my application. There was a lot of inconsistency with communication and I also had to sign a contract. I thought this was weird for Vandy but I dismissed as a lot of businesses have changed practices post Covid and Vandy is a good school. I don't have a lot of prior skills in data analytics and also work a full time job. I asked recruiting if I would still be able to complete the program successfully considering and I was informed that I would have no issues. Unfortunately, I realized that this couldn't have been further from the truth. For starters, Vanderbilt is not actually administrating the course and you are not actually a student of Vanderbilt. The school's likeness is used and I think they may screen the instructors but I believe that is as far as it goes and maybe not even that far. I bring this up as its not clear upon researching the program and some of my cohort and I joined thinking this is a Vandy college program. Secondly, you will be taught via firehose and the curriculum has zero pacing. I have experienced many educational programs at different levels for other reasons and while a curriculum may be aggressive and labor/skill intensive there is always a method to the madness and adequate flow to the design. This course had none of that. It really seems like they just throw a whole at you really fast and if you are lucky to retain it good for you but if not oh well. You dont really have time to analysis if you are actually understanding what you are being taught and by the time you do the class has already moved on twice. This is why A LOT of people fall behind and never catch up. You can go to the instructor and TA's during office hours which is before and after class once a week but firstly you are sharing them with the entire class and personally I was so in the weeds I didn't know what question to ask. I can say my instructor was knowledgeable and the TA's were there. I cant say I had a lot of help from the TA's though. There was a time a TA suggested I skip an assignment because they couldn't help me understand or get through a exercise. The school does allow you to have a tutor but you are only given and hour per week. I found myself supplementing my on education via other sources (LinkedIn, Youtube and etc) this infuriated me considering im paying over 10k for this course. You aren't even given a book to follow. FYI: Modules(learning material) are made by Trilogy/U2 and contain outdated videos and grammatically errors. All things considered I spent 30ish hours a weeks(1 1/5 hours in class, 1 hour with the tutor and all other studying and trying to teach myself) and I was still behind. I would say I struggled because I didn't have a lot of prior education in this but there were people who did and they struggled as well. Support is also practically non existent and you signed a contract so getting out after the 1st week is impossible as you will still be financial responsible even if you drop. I don't understand why this course is like this but in my opinion the smoke and mirror act is hiding their greed. Maybe others can and have gotten a lot out of this program but I definitely didn't. It was just an expensive lesson.