Devmountain

I decided to join the Devmountain program after a year of self learning. Devmountain took my learning and programming skills to the next level. The instructors and support staff make you feel like you are not alone in the learning journey by always being available to answer any questions about new concepts even in a remote setting. Overall the program was one of hardest things I have done but I feel it is equally as rewarding. I am now confident going into my job search with the skills I have learned! 

I had debated about joining the Software QA program for a couple of years. I finally took the leap while Covid was going on. Entering the program, I knew nothing about Software QA. I would spend extra time studying and working on what we had learned at night after class was over. The program was 9am-5pm, but for me it was more like 9am-12am some nights. The teachers were great. Even with the program being online, everyone in our program was responsive and helpful. You have class and mini-assignments during the day, then homework at night. Toward the end of the program you complete a personal project as well as a group project. After completing the course, you receive help with your resume and LinkedIn. I followed all the advice and applied to every job posting that fit what I was looking for. Even during Covid, I have been through multiple interviews and have received a job offer! I can now start a career path that I'll be happy in. It worked out for me, but I worked hard. Only do it if you're ready for a change and willing to work hard.

Overall, I had a really great experience. <$10k for 13 weeks of quality instruction--and an environment conducive to learning web development and making connections with likeminded folks--was a great value relative to the price tag. The cost factor was the main reason I went with DevMountain, as I couldn't fathom spending $10k-$20k+ on a boot camp (at that point, you're probably better off just going to a local community college and then transfer to an in-state accredited 4-year Bachelors in CS [Computer Science] program honestly). And I definitely feel that I got my money's worth, and then some.

I went the boot camp route to change careers, and I am really glad I decided to do so with DevMountain. I previously completed a degree in Engineering (non-CS) and had been working on programming in my spare time for the preceding 2-3 years, including taking a few CS courses online focused on C++ via my local community in the year preceding (2019) the start of the boot camp (2020). Therefore, I came into the boot camp with a solid background and specific goals/intentions: to learn full-stack web application development. And that is precisely what I got out of the boot camp: nothing more, nothing less.

Relevant, focused curriculum over a relatively short time period (13 weeks), getting you up to speed relatively quickly. I am generally skeptical of other boot camps that cover 2 or 3 full stacks; starting off going into a junior developer role, it's much better to be proficient at one stack than mediocre at 3. To this end, as of this writing (2020) DevMountain's web development curriculum v.3 (https://github.com/DevMountain/web-curriculum-v3) covers HTML/CSS and full-stack JavaScript via React/Redux (front-end/client-side) and Node.js/Express with PostgreSQL (back-end/server-side). This is a very in-demand and useful stack for the current web development job market.

Furthermore, the Outcomes department is very engaging and helpful, even post-graduation. They work hard to coordinate events and put alumni in touch with employers for opportunities. While I ultimately ended up finding a job in my local market independently of Outcomes, I really appreciate their hard work and good-faith effort to put alumni in touch with prospective employers.

It would be nice for the curriculum to put more emphasis on unit testing (covered briefly in the last week of lectures), that was the biggest blind spot I had coming out of boot camp going into my first role as a junior. But there's only so much they can cover in 13 weeks, so on the whole still a pretty solid curriculum.

An important CAVEAT for prospective boot camp students (not specific to DevMountain students, but rather BOOTCAMPS IN GENERAL): do your DUE DILIGENCE! I strongly advise against doing a boot camp if you have no prior programming experience, and this is for several important reasons:
- 1) Firstly, if you are going to spend thousands or even $10k+ on a boot camp, make sure YOU ACTUALLY ENJOY PROGRAMMING. This is not a get-rich-quick field, it takes a lot of time and practice to gain proficiency, and continuous learning to stay current with the field even after you are hired as a working/professional developer. If you're just looking to punch a clock 40 hrs/week expecting to make six figures, look elsewhere. The reason programming pays well is precisely because it is hard, and not many people are cut out for it.
- 2) As a corollary to the previous point, be sure to do some preparatory work. Learn the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which also should give you a good idea of what programming will entail. This will be your life week in and out if you choose this career path, so figure out first how well it suits you and whether you have the core competencies to make it as a programmer. Furthermore, with a solid background coming in, you can focus on learning the more advanced/important concepts during the boot camp, rather than getting bogged down with the basics of programming right out of the gate. The program moves FAST so it takes a lot of effort to keep up, even for students coming in with some experience.
- 3) Lastly, be sure to manage your expectations. A boot camp with a solid curriculum will have you leave the program at a level of competency commensurate with a junior developer; to this end, I am extremely satisfied as an alumnus of the program. However, while the skillset is valuable in the marketplace, there is no guarantee of employment, and you should expect a challenging job hunt--junior developer roles have ALWAYS been competitive (even pre-COVID), and the current economic slowdown due to the pandemic only makes this more challenging. In my personal case, I was able to land a junior role under a month after graduating. BUT, I have an Engineering degree (non-CS) from a reputable university, and 5+ years of experience (unrelated to software development) in the same industry where I received both offers. Your mileage WILL vary. 3-6+ months of focused job hunting (i.e., applying daily) is reasonable to expect to land a job, particularly with a shaky economy.

TL;DR Devmountain is awesome, and the outcomes team has the keys to the kingdom of Dev Jobs.

I loved my time at Devmountain. The course work was very challenging, but learning mastering, and then Badging the course were incredibly satisfying. When I graduated in 2018, the career placement help was not the best. It took me about a year to find a job. A few months ago I got laid off from my job in June. The reason I am writing this review is feedback and a public declaration of admiration and gratitude for Christian Dickerman and the rest of the "Outcomes" team. Christian and the team have a simple job; give you the help, feedback, insider info, and encouragement you need to successfully obtain a job. After a few weeks of tweaking and council with Christian, my LinkedIn profile views Doubled literally the day after we implemented the final set of changes. We finished on a Thursday and by Tuesday of the next week I had 3 interviews  with 3 separate companies in Ohio all offering more than 75,000 dollars to a kid with 1 year of experience in the industry. I did my own job search for roughly 3 months and went from 0 interview 3 FOLLOW UP interviews over the course of 3 days thanks to Christian. We worked together and I worked hard while we weren't on call, however I fully credit the knowledge he gave me with my new found success. I obviously use the knowledge I got from coding everyday. Without the excellent staff and curriculum I wouldn't be where I am. The coding and studying knowledge has proved unbelievably important to my success. With equal emphasis I can say that the New (to me at least) stuff that the Christian and the team has cooked up is just as important as being able to code to find a job. 

Ill end this review with 3 pleas each to different people.
1. To the person who is looking into Devmountain as a potential bootcamp: This thing works. I went from a $12 an hour job as a computer repairs person with 0 coding know how,  to an intern making $21 an hour, To in talks with 3 separate companies for 3 separate jobs all offering at least 75,000 a year plus benefits. The amount of work before, during, and after the bootcamp is  INTENSE, but its worth it and it works. 
2. To a fellow graduate: PLEASE keep coding. PLEASE keep applying. PLEASE LISTEN TO CHRISTIAN/Outcomes team. He/they know their stuff, and spoiler, the $#!% works.
3. To Christian's Boss: For the love of God give this man a raise.

Overall, my experience with DevMountain was great. I miss being as immersed and loaded with new knowledge every day. The curriculum is packed with quality content. Only a couple of days did I feel like what I was learning wouldn't be useful. Breakfast on Fridays, game nights and the campus itself was great to have. I don't know what other boot camps are like, but I'm happy with what I paid for at DevMountain.

The instructors and mentors I had were amazing (Matias, Andrew, Cole, and Scott). They were very knowledgeable, available, and helpful. Cohort wasn't so large you couldn't get help quickly.

Information from on-site recruiters was just ok. It could have been due to COVID-19, but I didn't feel like there was enough in terms of job prep or support.

I chose DevMountain because it was the only in person iOS immersive bootcamp that was out there. The fact that they provided housing is what allowed me to attend being that I don't live in Utah. I was in the cohort that was in person for 3 weeks before they had to turn fully remote during Covid-19. While I think in person is always better because you're in a classroom and it's more motivating when you're physically around other students when are learning with you, I do still think that moving online worked pretty well in terms of the learning.

Instructors
The instructors are all very solid. Most of them have actually gone through an iOS cohort in the past with DevMountain so they know the material very well. Karl, the head iOS instructor, is a great guy and an excellent teacher and communicator. Typically there are 2 mentors assigned to each cohort who do most of the teaching and help with projects. They do a good job of being available and offer good help when it is needed.

Campus
From what I understand, they are moving to a new campus right around now but the old one worked great and I'm sure the new one will be even better. The housing is solid too. It's nothing too special but worked fine for me.

Course
The course content is overall very good. I felt like the pace and how they increase the difficulty overtime suited me very well and I learned a lot. Each of the first 6 weeks is kind of it's own unit and there is an assessment every Friday on that weeks material. Most Fridays I felt very accomplished at how much I had learned that week. They try and set a pace that is good for the most amount of people which means it can be too fast or difficult for some and too slow for others this is to be expected and I think they did a good job with this. It is not uncommon for several people in a cohort to either drop out or decide to stay back and restart with a new cohort if they were falling behind. Initially I was surprised when I heard that people drop out but I think it's just the nature of the game. Coding isn't for everyone. It's very difficult and takes a lot of hard work. It's my belief that the vast majority of times someone drops out, that it's not because DevMountain did something wrong or mishandled a situation, but that it's typically a situation of the person realizes it's not for them or they don't want to do something that is as difficult as coding is for the rest of their life and that's fine.

Everyone who goes into a bootcamp needs to be well aware that it takes a ton of work and is hard. This was apparent to me coming in but it seems like there will always be people who don't have a great awareness of what they are signing up for and then really struggle when it starts.

I think what was helpful for me was the hands on environment. Pretty much all the information taught you can find online somewhere but the structure, the forced class time and project time and the environment of other motivated students and instructors are a great way to learn and learn fast. I believe that's one of the biggest benefits of any bootcamp and I benefitted from this a lot and tried to ride the momentum as far as I could.

Job assistance and placement
I am in my last week of the bootcamp so it is tough to say exactly what the landscape is for jr iOS devs right now with everything going on with the virus but overall job prep has decent. The main benefit for me was help with getting my resume done and LinkedIn more tightened up. A lot of the general job and interviews tips seemed pretty basic if you've been in a professional workplace before. 

With graduation in a couple days, I of course don't know exactly what it's like to work as a jr iOS developer but I would like point out that I don't feel like I know enough and have enough skill to go in an be a competent jr developer right off the bat. I think this is because even with 10-12 hours days for three months, there is still just so much you still need to learn to become competent. I would say I was one of the top students in my class but I still feel like I have a decent ways to go before I truly believe I'm competent. Of course anyone who's ever gotten hired as a jr dev never feels 100% competent and employers don't necessarily look for only that when they hire.

However DevMountain provided a very strong base for me to continue my learning on my own. I think everyone should iOS at DevMountain or any other course as a start and expect that you have to continue learning and developing your skills beyond that to have the best chance at getting hired. 

I am really grateful for my time at DevMountain and it was 100% the right decision for me.

My time at DevMountain was nothing short of being spectacular. From the curriculum they cover, to the one on one time mentor time, I could not come up with any complaints about the program. Even after you graduate from the program, DevMountain has a dedicated outcomes team solely focused on helping alumni hired. I have speccifically working with Christian Dickerman and Joseph Mecham on interviewing practice, resume work, and just the general hiring process. I can say that without the help of Christian Dickerman and honestly, the entire DevMountain Outcomes team, I would be no where near the position I am currently in. I would highly recommend this bootcamp and all of their staff to anybody looking to get into coding the non traditional way.

I attended the Immersive - QA course in Jan-Feb2019,  I was nervous due to having no experience other then construction and warehouse.  It turns out I loved it, It was a lot of work and it was a big gamble.  Luckily the instructors we're helpful and caring.  They even spent some time upon my request to go back over a few things which help my confidence level a bunch by the end.  I even maintain my relationship with them and talk with them monthly.

After completing I took a unpaid internship at a startup while I looked for work, it didn't last long. I got hired 1 month to the day of completing based on the networking I had done which was part of curriculum of the course.

It's been a year and a month since I completed, my life is completley different now. I make 2x more money then I've ever made in my life,  I actually am excited about the job I do and its interesting and challenging.

The company I work for prefers DevMountain QA's opposed to other applicants due to the skill set that course teaches.