Sabio

I admit I was initially worried about taking out more student loans for a program that wasn't accredited (although they do offer a track through Antioch where you can get some sort of certification) and basically took the leap based on the great reviews the camp was getting. Within two weeks of finishing I had a job and was making more than 3 times as much as ever had in my life. I would say I'm pretty happy about my decision.

It's rigorous, to be sure, and there are times you will feel full of doubt and anxiety because of the mountain of learning and work ahead of you. But if you just keep pushing through it and make sure to completely devote yourself to it (and tell your friends and family that you're going to be MIA for awhile) then you will come out of it like: https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder708/500x/74950708.jpg 

It feels awesome to go to school and actually get a return on your investment, especially after such a short amount of time. In a world of trumped-up claims and promises, it feels pretty surreal to have something pan out exactly as you hoped. Don't look at any other coding camps in LA, the instructors and staff are unmatched here and you will have a lot of fun working on your project with the other students. You will get help whenever you need it and always feel challenged. Somehow despite the stress of cramming all this into your brain so quickly, it still manages to be a laid back atmosphere and Gregorio's hilarious wisdom and commentary will help you get through the difficult times. Go for it!

Sabio is an excellent program and exceeds other bootcamps on all fronts. Sabio acts as an educational dev shop where each cohort builds out feature loaded product for external clients. This best prepares you for the coding job you will inevitably get once finishing the program, by working as a dev shop building out a full product. You get to build out your own features and see how 10x more are implemented by pair programming or seeing cohort mates finished work. The instructors are industry experienced senior developers(not recently graduated boot camp members) and hold your growth to high standards and a quick clip. They also know what is expected in professional development and know how to explain and fix complicated coding problems.

My cohort is 100% employed as developers in technical jobs across the SoCal area. No graduates are hired by Sabio and their job numbers reflect true placement in technical fields. C# .Net is a fine language to start in and there a ton of .NET jobs in the LA area. C# .Net is not restrictive and I am currently programming in javascript(Angular framework) and Java for front end and server side, respectivley. I am very satisfied with my pay and am a team lead at my current company. I highly highly recommend attending this program.

If you're reading through these reviews right now, either considering whether or not to do a coding boot camp or possibly shopping around for the best one to attend, you're exactly where I was three months ago. By all means, do your own research to come to the conclusion on your own, but I can tell you: you don't need to look any further. You will not find a more committed and qualified group of instructors/mentors to prepare you for your new career. And you will not find a more supportive community to help you along the way.

For the people reading this that only care about results, I can tell you that it's for real. I'm a college graduate who, just three months ago, had never earned more than 40k in my life (30+ years old). Before the program was done, I had already signed my accepted offer worth more than double my previous max salary. Sure, maybe not everyone will end up with an offer like that, but from my perspective, the program works. Making the decision to go through Sabio is easily one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.

Go to a Sabio info session, meet Gregorio, see what the program is about, and then vet the info. Compare Sabio to other programs, and I think you'll probably end up making the same decision I did. If you do, you'll thank yourself for it.

If you're reading this then you're probably in the same position I was six months ago scrolling through course report. I hated my job and needed a career change. I come from a sales background with no college degree and had absolutely ZERO coding knowledge. I was always passionate about computers and technology so I started doing some research. I came across Sabio and a couple other coding bootcamps. I went to an info session at Sabio with Aaron(Orange County Instructor), which was my first info session. I ended up joining the pre-work sessions that same week. I don't know what it was, but I trusted everything Aaron was saying. He was not trying to sell me on joining, he was just explaining facts. I didn't even bother going to check out any other bootcamps mainly because at Sabio you have 8 weeks of pre-work to get ready for the full 12 week bootcamp and most importantly at Sabio you are working on a REAL project for a REAL client. No other coding bootcamp does this. Sabio limit's their cohorts to a max of 10 people and you're working as a real development team. 

So I joined the pre-work session's which were taught by Varr. Varr is actually teaching his own cohort come January. He does an amazing job breaking everything down in a way where someone with no experience like me can understand. 

After the 8 week's of pre-work the real deal began. The 12 week course is no joke. Be prepared to devote everything to it. It is frustrating and stressful, but in the end it will pay off. All you have to do is show up, listen, and put in the work and you will be in a great place. Aaron is an incredible instructor. The guy is a genius. He had an answer to every question I asked and he answered them in a way where I would learn from it. No matter how many times I asked him the same questions, he remained patient with me until I completely understood what I was doing. Everyone has their own pace of learning and he adapts to everyones individual needs. In the last two weeks of the cohort we switch over to interview prep and job searching as the main focus while still continuing to code. We had 3 mock interviews and over 200 prep questions to study from. They set you up for success at Sabio. Even after you graduate you are connected to a network of sabio instructors and graduates, where you can seek help and advice.

On Wednesday of week 11, I received a job offer for a mid-level full stack .net developer positon which I accepted. The salary is 70k+. My first day of work is on Jan. 3rd and my cohort graduation date is on Jan. 8th. Choosing Sabio was the best decision I could have ever made.

Update—I got hired 4 weeks after graduation and I am now making 15K more than my previous job, plus benefits, in less than 6 months!

I wanted to write a detailed review of SABIO because when I first started looking at course-report, I only found a few reviews long enough to be useful. Of those, one writer described a situation like mine, and that helped me decide which bootcamp I wanted to attend. I hope my review can help you make the right decision, whether it’s to choose Sabio or to get you thinking about bootcamps in general.

#Yolo—So Make the Change.

So many doubts and so much regret.  Five months ago, that’s what I faced every day after deciding to make a career change. I had been in the medical field for over seven years, working for two hospitals, and I had grown tired of the job’s uncertainties. As a per diem employee, my work schedule would change each day. I could get called in to work a few hours before my shift, or I could be sent home because the hospital wasn’t busy. Sometimes I would get called in, then get sent home after two hours. Many co-workers told me it would be a few years before I could get a part-time position, and a few years after that until I qualified for a full-time position. The pay would shrink as I moved up because of the benefit packages. I would be working more hours just to make the same amount or less; the only perk would be the guaranteed hours. So when I decided to switch careers, I faced doubt and regrets, much of it from my immediate family. They wanted me to keep both hospital jobs because they were stable and I would eventually get to be full-time. I know my family was only trying to help, but their negativity towards my decisions weighed heavily on me. Still, despite this pressure at home to stay in my field, I knew I had to make a change.

The Search:

Luckily, I was not alone in searching for something better. A colleague/friend in the medical field decided to join me. As we researched Computer Science degrees online, we came across the term “coding bootcamps” and shifted our research to finding those in the LA/OC area. My criteria included the languages being taught, price, schedule and time. We found four geographically desirable bootcamps -- Sabio, OC Code School, UCLA extension and Codesmith -- that were located relatively close. A software-engineer relative who advised me recommended Sabio because it was the only local bootcamp at the time to offer full stack web development in short amount of time (12 Weeks). On coursereport, Sabio had the best reviews compared to others. I decided to attend an info session at Sabio.

The Leap:

We arrived at the Sabio info session in Culver City full of questions. Co-founder Gregorio explained what Sabio is, what to expect in a coding boot camp, and what full stack web development is. He was upfront about the importance of devoting 70+ hours each week, the graduation rate, and salaries one might expect after graduation. He said that although many coding camps claim their graduates start at salaries around 100k or more, the actual average is around 60k. No one will hire a junior developer with fewer than six months of coding experience for 100k. Gregorio doesn’t hire Sabio graduates to teach; all the Sabio instructors have over 10+ years of experience with different backgrounds. Gregorio stayed afterward to answer all my questions and even offered advice on my current job situation, which impressed me. After that night, I knew Sabio was it.

Pre-work:

The four weeks of pre-work was initially rough for me. I had no prior experience with coding except for codecademy’s beginner lessons online to learn HTML and CSS as a foundation for pre-work. The part-time pre-work instructors are knowledgeable, patient, and available. They provided guidance and structure to the class. The pre-work student-teacher ratio is about 15:1. When I received the good news that I had passed the assessment and moved a step closer to my goal, it was one of the best feelings I’ve had. Written assessments at the end of the pre-work session provide an idea of how well you understand the material. Don’t stress – it’s not a test, just a snapshot of what you’ve learned so far about web pages.

Cohort:

After the first week or so revisiting pre-work concepts so that everyone is on the same page, each cohort starts on a project that involves an actual client with a web app concept for real-world use. The client may show up now and then to answer questions, but it’s the instructor who guides the cohort. In a semblance of Agile methodology, every day begins with a standup meeting in which each person discusses what he/she is working on, any issues that may have come up, and what today’s work will be. Following lectures or code review, each person gets to work on a part of the app. Since the student to teacher ratio is small – usually around 10:1 – everyone benefits from one-on-one interactions. After a few days, the instructor is there mainly for guidance or troubleshooting; otherwise, you research and code on your own or as a team. This exposes you to many of the available developer tools to help you write and debug your code. You learn a lot, including how to start thinking like a coder. The goal is to get everyone coding like a professional web developer. You should work no less than 10 hours a day so you can fulfill the strict commitment to a 70-hour week, which is no joke; you get out of it what you put in. Each day you come to learn, and each day you will improve. I was fortunate to have a great cohort. Everyone came from a different background and brought unique ideas and perspectives. Since we spent so much time together, Sabio became my second home, and my cohort was my second family. (Months after our work at Sabio was finished, we still Slack one another and visit Sabio for monthly professional development sessions.)

Interview Prep

As you wrap your cohort project for the client, Sabio instructors take turns conducting mock job interviews, white-boarding and coding tests. They want you over prepared so that the real interview is a piece of cake. In the week or two before gradation, you get help writing your resume, and you start to apply for jobs during the day and continue coding at night. Gregorio is also a great resource for interview preparation and is available most of the time to answer questions or offer advice. The interview preparation was such a success that many of my cohort found jobs before graduation.

The Finish Line

Good luck with your research. I hope this review was helpful. Sabio is a great bootcamp that offers tremendous support during and even after you have found a job. Gregorio and Liliana go above and beyond to make sure everyone has a successful transition from beginning to end, including offering free professional workshops to help you continue developing your skills even after you are working. They commit to each person for five years and/or until you’re earning $100K.

Do you feel unsatisfied with your current job because it lacks challenge or feels unrewarding?

If so, you should learn to code.

Coding is difficult, but the satisfaction that comes from writing good, functioning code is like receiving 100 presents, and a kitten, on a nice, snowy Christmas morning.

Simply put, by learning to code, you open an avenue of endless growth. As long as you code, you will always be learning, thus you will always be challenging yourself.

Are you having trouble choosing between different bootcamps?

Don't sweat it. I was in the same boat. I had a difficult time choosing between three bootcamps in Los Angeles, but ultimately chose Sabio.

Why?

Sabio was the most transparent. They didn't post outrageous average grad salaries. Note, it's extremely unlikely that a boot-camp graduate will receive a full-time (non-contract) offer of over $100k in southern California.

Also, Sabio's blog is super informative and it played a large role in my decision making process.

If you don't know where to start, go to an info-session and get your questions answered!

What's the curriculum like?

Code err'day.

But seriously, 70 hours a week of hard coding. You gain practical and professional experience by building a product/web application for an entrepreneur.

Once you complete pre-work and pass a coding assessment, you get 12 weeks to munch code like nobody's business.

What are the instructors like?

They are absolutely incredible developers and S-tier mentors.

My instructor was Mike, and he is the greatest sensei I've ever had. Sabio did a great job hiring him because his enthusiasm and passion for teaching influenced the way my cohort functioned (no pun intended).

My other instructor was Gregorio and he is one of Sabio's founders. He's a fantastic person with tons of wisdom. He's actually a wizard. Gregorio the Grey. :)

Overall, my instructors were invested in my growth and I appreciated that.

What was your cohort like?

They're my awesome friends and I'd trust them with anything. 

We support each other, unconditionally, through good and bad. 

Although we've headed in different directions, we still keep in touch and I genuinely feel happier, seeing each of them succeed.

Also, we're getting KBBQ soon.

Overall impression?

Sabio is a life-changing experience. There's nothing quite like it. I'm a recent UCLA graduate and Sabio is, in a sense, my master's program. I don't regret my decision to attend at all.

In terms of ROI, Sabio beats most graduate schools. Think about that for a minute.

Lastly, Gregorio and Liliana, the founders, are the nicest people in the world. They want you to succeed and work hard to make sure you do. It's humbling to experience.  

If you do choose to attend Sabio, please understand that you aren't joining some coding school. You're joining the Sabio family.

Even after graduating, you have access to tons of resources. You are always welcome to attend workshops or even use a room on campus. If you're struggling at work, you can always DM someone for help.

In short, you're never on your own. You'll always be a part of something great, and that in itself is priceless!

Where are you now?

It's been one month since I graduated. 

Since then, I have accepted an offer with a Real Estate tech company. And because everyone wants to hear it, I make a lot of money with tons of awesome benefits.

It's fulfilling, for me, to be called a "top candidate" when talking to hiring managers and receiving offers. And this isn't because I'm smart, it's because Sabio prepared me for interviews and taught me the invaluable lesson of working hard.

That being said, what are you waiting for???

A famous video game character once said, "hesitation is the seed of defeat".

Empower yourself in 2017.

I’ve been eagerly waiting for the day to write my Sabio Success Story! 

I was just like you, scouring Course Report and carefully weighing my options. Because I was living in San Jose, Sabio had stiff competition against bootcamps in the Bay Area. I had a list of top 5 schools and after serious consideration for each one, Sabio turned out to be THE BEST all-around coding bootcamp. 

I had absolutely no technical background prior to attending Sabio. I have a BA in music and was working for a symphony in the Bay Area. Understandably, I was met with skepticism from people who saw me as a musician. But I thought, “Why not?” 

It was March 2016 when I first signed up for Codecademy and even heard of HTML. Liliana checked in with me several times before I moved down to LA and made sure I had a head start before PreWork.

I started PreWork in July and performed well enough to move on to the 12 week intensive in August. 2 weeks after finishing the program, I had a job offer! Thanks to Gregorio’s guidance, I increased that offer by 6k and now I’m earning 20k more than the job I left 5 months ago! 

The best advice I can give when deciding on a bootcamp is to DO YOUR RESEARCH! Know what you’re looking for and what your values are. My top priorities were the quality of the education and the support. I couldn’t find any other bootcamp that had reviews as consistent and positive as Sabio’s. Their online presence was hard to ignore. And now that I’ve gone through it, I too can echo that Sabio delivers THE best education and support you can ask for.

Sabio has been there for me in more ways than just learning how to code. Whenever I felt incapable or inadequate, I could easily ask Gregorio or Mike for a chat about how I'm feeling. Being a woman I was concerned about inclusiveness. I’ve read horror stories of women at bootcamps being subjected to less than ideal learning environments. Take comfort in that Sabio keeps a high standard of respect in the classrooms. Whether you’re a woman, POC or LGBT, you’re more than welcome here. 

I’m so grateful for Gregorio, Liliana, Mike and my Cohort for believing in me more than I believed in myself. And making sure I didn't fall behind or get sucked into my own self-crippling doubt. Like I’ve said and so many others, Sabio is there for you 100%. You’ve come to the right place. 

Sabio has a great program that will teach you core principles and give you a solid foundation for coding. I felt it was true that the more I put my effort into the program, the more I got out in return.

The instructors were always invested and did their best to answer any questions or concerns I had. It made me feel comfortable about learning new concepts which helped me keep motivated throughout the entirety of the program. I appreciated the learn by doing approach, with my instructor giving helpful advice and pointers to challenge my thinking.

One of the aspects of Sabio that I truly appreciate is the sense of community and the support for students, even after graduation. My instructor was happy to help me and give advice on my job. It really is reassuring knowing that you get more out of this program than just the skill of programming.

Thanks to them, I've been able to keep up at my new job, despite having to work on technologies that I was not familiar with. It shows that you come out of the program with a solid foundation, and support when you need them.

Let me start by saying that I was, am, and probably always will be a skeptic.

What this means is that, when I was stuck in a job I detested 6 months ago and considering escape routes, I didn't actually, truly believe this would work. I wanted a career where I would be challenged and could learn new things constantly. Tech seemed like the logical choice, and a boot camp seemed like the simplest, fastest way to get there, but it seemed wildly unbelievable to me that a 12-week program would get me industry-ready.

I picked Sabio because their statistics were fantastic (and unpadded!) and because I would get to work on a real project with a real client rather than a variety of small, inconsequential assignments. The skeptic in me didn't allow me to get excited about everything else they promised - continued support, a truly caring community, incredible instructors... So I focused on the concrete, quantifiable promises instead. I committed to this because I was desperate to get out of where I was, but all the while I doubted that this would seriously work.

Prework started - 1 month of 15 hours/week instruction to prepare us for the real deal. We learned the foundations of front-end and middle-tier development, enough that we would not be useless when the actual 12-week program started. The instruction was more than good enough to penetrate through my never-did-this-sort-of-thing-before barrier. I got great guidance and learned a ton, but throughout the prework process I was still skeptical. Sure, things were going great, but there was no way that I would really be able to get a career at the end of all this...

And then the 12-week program slammed me in the face so hard that I didn't have the time or energy to be skeptical anymore. Sabio expects 70 hours a week from its fellows, with you absorbing and applying insane amounts of material every hour of that. The challenge exceeded anything I had ever done before. I was tested physically, mentally, and most of all emotionally, and my skepticism was melted down into a puddle of insecurity that I found myself splashing around in all too often. I wasn't doubtful anymore - I was freaking POSITIVE that I couldn't do this.

But I was also surrounded by 5 others who were going through the exact same thing. My cohort was full of extraordinary people from all sorts of backgrounds. It was a pleasure and a privelege to do this program alongside them, and I'm eternally grateful for their putting up with my insecurities and helping me when I was lost or confused. Furthermore. my instructors Mike and Gregorio were some of the most intelligent, patient, and caring people I've ever worked with.

In fact, the entirety of the Sabio community is incredible. Those promises that I had discounted in my initial decision due to my skepticism were more than fulfilled, and they turned out to be the core reason I would vehemently recommend Sabio to anyone even vaguely considering it. You will be surrounded by other people going through the program, awesome instructors, graduates, and founders, all of whom actually, seriously care about your success and will do their damndest to make sure you do well.

Ultimately, I made it through - all of us did. I learned more in 12 weeks than I thought possible to learn in a year. I scored a fantastic job with a company I fell completely in love with, and at a great salary to boot.

I'm still a skeptic, mind you - there's a small part of me that still wonders if one of these days I won't wake up and realize it was all a really cool dream. But until that happens, I am happy as hell with my decision.

Before I decided to enroll in Sabio’s 12 week program, I had already selected another bootcamp on the other side of the country that I had every intention of attending; then I found Sabio.  Stumbling upon Sabio’s website was completely accidental, but after perusing the website, I decided that attending one of the weekly info sessions couldn’t hurt. I attended an info session and spoke to Gregorio about Sabio’s program, and the thing that stuck out to me the most was that each class is given the opportunity to work and collaborate on a real app for an actual client.  While most bootcamps I had researched were touting a curriculum that would result in a portfolio full of smaller exercises, Sabio grads were leaving the program with real work experience and a working app to show to potential employers.  

And so, on a whim and a gut feeling, I decided to attend Sabio as part of Cohort 21, and 12 weeks later I became a fully employed front end web developer earning significantly more than I had in my previous career.  

The program is tough and the hours are long, but with the help of the ever patient Sabio instructors who are ready and waiting to help with any and all questions that arise during the program (of which there will be plenty), I found myself rapidly acquiring the skills necessary to becoming a full fledged developer.  Ultimately, Sabio is focused on helping you become a fully employed developer, and towards the end of the program we began focusing on finding jobs and preparing for the inevitable technical interviews.  Because Sabio’s instructors are professional developers with many years of experience, their insight and knowledge proved invaluable during the job hunting process, and after receiving a job offer less than a week after the 12 week program ended, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Sabio’s instructors.    

Quite possibly more important than Sabio’s curriculum, and more significant than the opportunity to build a professional app, is the Sabio community.  When you enroll at Sabio, you don’t just sign up for a 12 week program, you sign up to become part of an invaluable community of developers; a resource that will continuously prove it’s worth long after the 12 week intensive program ends.  If I have questions about a problem I’m trying to solve at work, I know I can look to the Sabio community for insight, feedback, and support for even the most elementary or mundane issues.     

Discovering Sabio was a perfectly happy accident that ultimately lead to an overall better career and lifestyle for me.  If you’re considering going to Sabio, or still weighing your options, do yourself a favor and go to Sabio (or at least an info session); you will not be disappointed.