Devmountain

 

 

At the end of 2018, I had begun my search for the perfect Bootcamp for me.  I looked through various other Bootcamps and none of them had really piqued my interest until I found DevMountain.  Once the applications opened up for their end of July start date I applied.  The application process was super simple and I was contacted in a reasonable time.  Prior to my entry into the camp, the administration of DevMountain was super helpful.  they provided me a number that I could text/call with any questions or concerns, and the staff was super friendly and professional with every step of the process.  

A few months prior to the start of the program some pre course work was given.  These activities were challenging and at times difficult.  However, I was not alone.  When I reached this point in the process I was given an invite to join my cohorts slack channel which gave me access to iOS mentors who worked at DevMountain. Any questions I had I could send to them as well as a code snippet of what I was working on.  

Housing in DevMountain is provided free of charge, which was a game-changer for me as it allowed me to focus on the program and not where I was going to sleep that night.  The housing is split between two different locations.  The one I stayed at was a very clean and very nice space.  

The program itself is unlike anything I had ever experienced.  For the first 6 weeks, I felt like I was drinking from a firehose.  Every morning we would work together as a class and build guided projects that would help us understand different topics.  During the Afternoon we would be paired up with another classmate and asked to work on a project together.  This is silently genius because it required me to not only learn from someone else but to also learn to communicate my ideas effectively.  and then after 5 pm we were given our homework, which primarily consisted of videos that would prepare us for the next day.  

After your break week, you begin the last 6 weeks of the program, which is very different than the first but still in a good way.  It's at this point that you are now ready to build your own personal and group apps.  every day you will be working on your app's and I can say that while the first 6 weeks of the program were awesome this is where the real experience comes in.  This project your making is your own and these problems and questions your going to have are unique to your program and how you built your app.  This sounds terrifying but is absolutely brilliant because at this point you now have the skills and the understanding to know what to search for, and what to avoid, and if you get stuck or can't figure it out the mentors are always a few desks away ready to help you learn. 

In conclusion, I can say that DevMountain was an excellent experience and worth my time and investment, and that i would do it all over again in a heartbeat.  

I really appreciated all the preparatory help DevMountain provided. During six weeks of self-learning before the program started, I got to chat with a mentor about my progress and any topics I was having trouble with.

During the actual program, I liked how the mentors were there if we ever needed help with the random bugs and errors we would encounter, but they never stepped on my toes. The curriculum was awesome, and I felt like we were learning the most current top tech skills.

The first few weeks of the course were a good review and knowledge-solidifier. As time went on, we got to focus more and more on learning by doing and putting together personal and group projects. The staff was very knowledgable, the facilities were great, and I have never had so much fun during a school program! If we needed a quick break, the fooseball table was right around the corner. Not to mention the video game systems (thank you Super Smash Bros!).

As we got closer to graduation, the employment specialists gave excellent assistance and feedback on our resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn profiles.

I felt like my time at DevMountain really helped me learn how to learn, and how to pick up new technologies that I may not have as much experience in. I'm excited to see where things go from here!

DevMountain is a great alternative for those who don't want to spend 4 years going to school before getting started in their career. The course is very intense for those who have no coding experience going in to it (like me). I would not recommend trying to do the emersive course while working. I needed all the time outside of class that I could get. DevMountain is a little more costly than some other bootcamp options I considered, but they seem to invest quite a lot into helping alumni get jobs. That is a very valuable asset to have, which is why I went with them even without taking advantage of the student housing. You will get out of DevMountain as much as you put in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t like giving bad reviews and this is not meant to put down DevMountain in any way, but I had a really hard time with this program and I seriously regret starting it. I tried to work 3 different part-time jobs and do this full time (twice), and even tried doing the evening courses after, but felt like I kept getting stuck after a few weeks of each retry. It’s difficult to support a family and do the immersive courses. Everyone else seemed to soar through the courses and it didn’t seem to come naturally to me like it did others. I’m still in a lot of debt with DevMountain that I don’t think I’ll be able to pay off anytime soon. I don’t want to blame anyone at DevMountain particularly because I felt like I lot of the instructors are nice people, they have a sincere desire to help you and a willingness to sit down with you. Despite this, I feel like some people (while they may be EXPERT coders) are not able to teach as well as they are able to code to help others learn.

The nice thing about DevMountain is the fun environment, the people you meet, the nice, fun instructors and the professionalism they maintain. Jeremy is a smart guy and I really enjoyed his lectures. They really will try to help you if you’re struggling, but for me personally, I still had a tough time even with help.

Before you join DevMountains immersive courses (and I wish someone had told me this) make sure of a few things:

1. Make sure that You can afford to NOT work for the full 12-week course. You MUST be able to focus completely on the courses!

2. Study as much code as you possibly can before you start. Make your LIFE about code!

3. You are responsible for your learning here. While you can get help if you’re confused, YOU need to make sure you are caught up on assignments and not fall behind. My work made that extremely difficult and burned me out.

4. Make sure you have a decent computer (windows or Mac are fine)

5. They cannot guarantee you a job. And you will have to start paying VERY expensive tuition fees once (and if) you graduate. I’m having to pay $400 a month even though I’m not graduated. 

Again, I won’t tell anyone to NOT go to DevMountain because they are awesome! But please keep these things in mind if you’re considering attending.

My review is not to put DevMountain down, but maybe it will give them some insight on how to help others in the future that did not succeed due to unusual circumstances like my own.

Do your research!

DevMountain was one of the greatest decisions that I ever made by far. I was interested in becoming a developer in early 2017 and began researching bootcamps in the area after seeing some advertisements. Ultimately I decided on DevMountain after visiting their campus in Dallas and met the team as well as some of the students. During my experience, they were EXTREMELY supportive of my every step and made sure that I was more than ready to continue on to each lesson. They never leave a student behind and if you are not doing well, they are there for you with plenty of options to make sure you reach your goal. This is why I am a successfully emplyoed Software Engineer for Beck Technology.

The first 10 weeks of my experience at Dev Mountain were a breeze.  It was hard work, but I really enjoyed it.  I loved the atmopshere, the teachers, and the entire experience as a whole.  I met so many amazing, kind, and wonderful people there.  Everyone was focused on learning as much as they could.

The last 3 weeks of school, I had a very negative experience, but there were good people working there that helped me through it.  They saw my frustration and asked me for feedback and eagerly listened to me.  The staff there really care about what they are doing.  They are always working on improving things, and they put their hearts into that school and it shows.  The negative experience I had there taught me the most, helped to prepare me for the future, and ultimately played a largely significant role in landing me a job.

Are you tired of your current job?

Do you wake up every day thinking "I wish things could change"? (that is the nice way of putting it)

DevMountain can change all of that for you.

Bottom line...  DevMountain gets it done.

Six months ago I left my teaching job in Japan to learn how to code computers, and now I have the best job I've ever had.  It's night and day.  I'm still in shock from the change and I feel so lucky.  I invested X sum of money in order to have a job in the tech industry, and DevMountain delivered in full.

On top of that, there was zero transition for me from school to job.  Everything that I was doing at DevMountain is exactly what I am doing now.  That is because the people at that school know the industry.  When I say that they will prepare you for a development job, I really mean it.  Walking in on my first day of work felt like DevMountain the sequel.  DevMountain 2: the search for more money.

DevMountain is not going to coddle you, hold your hand, and have some instant job lined up for you when you graduate.  They teach you how to do everything you need to get a job and then you have to do the work.  You have to put in the time.  You have to be determined to make it work.  If you are, and you put in the effort, DevMountain will get you where you want to be.  They fulfill their end of the deal for sure.

If you go there, just remember, you are not competing with anyone.  Ignore all the talk about how "that guy" or "that girl" is the greatest coder on the planet and scored 350 kabillion points on his or her test and now works for Google "Holy cow man!"  It is human nature to compete, and jockey for position and social-standing, and DevMountain can feel highly-competitive in that regard, but there is no need to feel any pressure to be "da best coder evar" because are plenty of jobs in this industry for people that have the motivation and drive to go after them.  If you don't believe me, just look at Linked-In or Glassdoor or whatever and see for yourself.  Just focus on your studies, do your best, never give up, and you will have a very high likeliness of succeeding.

If you want a job, then signup with DevMountain.  Most the people that I have stayed in touch with after school now have jobs in the industry.

If you are not serious about this, and you're willing to allow your dream of having a better life and a great career get crushed by carpet fungus or whatever, then don't even bother.  DevMountain is for serious people.  I have a highly severe allergy to dustmites and I'm a DevMountain grad.  If you are serious about this, you'll make it work, and DevMountain will be right there with you to help you through it.  They are highly accommodating.

Thank you for helping to change my life DevMountain.  I'm seriously grateful.  Every moment of energy you spent on teaching me and helping me I'm very appreciative.

I highly recommend this school to anyone that wants a job in the software industry.

Five stars all across the board.

DevMountain was exactly what I needed to take my coding skills to the next level. After only 13 weeks of attending I am now able to create full stack web applications. In addition to this, I have learned valuable skills for the web industry that include interviewing and planning techniques. At DevMountain I was able to learn primarily about ReactJS, NodeJS, and ExpressJS as well as HTML5, CSS, SASS/SCSS, Jest, AngularJS, and Postman. With these skills anyone can make their own web applications and will become a valuable asset to any web industry. I'm grateful for the experience I learned there as well as the wonderful help from instructors, mentors and staff. DevMountain is active in helping its students that have passed its course to landing jobs in the industry. In short, if you are looking to get into the industry in the most time efficient and productive manner look no further than DevMountain.