Skill Distillery

 Hello prospective bootcamper,  [Im starting with some general talk about attending a bootcamp...skip down a bit to read about this particular school]  ******************* deciding whether a bootcamp is right for you ********************  Hopefully I can help you decide whether this bootcamp is right for you. As a disclaimer, I had access to VA funding to complete this course so the cost to me was simply an opportunity cost of time, and the loss of a future benefit to be used elsewhere. As someone who finds the slow pace of university learning unbearable...I was happy to use up some GI Bill for this type of course. If you're plunking down some hard-earned cash...you will just have to make sure you get a job afterward (at this school, the numbers are very, very much in your favor) and the rewards of starting a software career should make the cost a write-off within a year as compared to the median salary in the U.S. As I'm writing this, I cant imagine any of my coworkers going to work as a newbie developer for less than 60k. My brother took a 55k starting salary after a less rigorous bootcamp in Ohio but he took a job in Ohio which probably ranks on the lower end of salaries. But his first raise was to 70k after just one year, so yeah...you can be optimistic about your pay prospects.  Alright, let's talk about the elephant in the room...the C.S. degree that you're not getting. Im sure you've done a fair bit of reading thru Reddit and getting disheartened by some negativity about boot camps. I am a C.S. degree dropout. I started at ASUs software engineering program and switched to University of Alaska's C.S. program when I moved to AK. Not a super prestigious pair of schools but they are both ABET programs so they're legit. I have absolutely no regrets about not finishing my university program. It was too slow, I didn't give a single hoot about advanced calculus and physics, and only really enjoyed the courses that directly employed coding and/or circuit/computer design. Actually I did really enjoy discrete math as well. But for every course I enjoyed there were 2 or 3 that just severely annoyed me with their lack of practicality in the workplace and excruciatingly slow pace. Keep in mind I was 34 years old when trying to complete my degree and I already had sufficient professional writing, problem solving, and teamwork experience from my prior military time.  ******************** My experience with Skill Distillery *********************  This course is absolutely high-quality. It is not perfect, but no course will be that aims to instruct more than one person simultaneously. There will always be compromise for different learning styles and to educate the highest number of people for the highest number of jobs. However, they continuously integrate student and employer(!) feedback to improve the course. It's DIFFICULT. And it is really long. I will admit a loss of motivation about 3 weeks from the end because my brain was just tired of learning new stuff. This course will whoop your a** and you will be exhausted at the end. This is how it should be though. The whole reason a course like this exists is to pack in as much knowledge and experience as possible to maximize the value of time and money spent. I have no regrets choosing this school and when my brother was able to compare our respective course syllabuses and length, it was obvious that Skill Distillery was a much more in-depth and higher quality course.  It never felt like a money-grab. I have never experienced such a patient and caring group of instructors. In four months you will feel like part of a small family. They really care about making you succeed. There is ample help with developing your projects, crafting your resume, job-hunting, interviewing, etc. The staff is very empathetic to your learning and career struggle and many of the staff members are former students. They are experts in their fields and the more senior members have tons of collective experience. They also seem to do a pretty solid job of choosing who is admitted to the program because everyone was fairly sharp and able to learn quickly enough to keep the course moving forward. Of course, I can only speak of the experience of my cohort. Also, I should mention the alum network...it seems rock solid. There is a lot of interaction in the job hunt thread of Slack and there are plenty of job leads coming in. Skill Distillery is quite a mature school so they have a large list of historic employers and those employers have been able to experience the quality of SD grads. This is very valuable with such a large pool of bootcamps out in the world of various quality.  The main aspects of this course that I did not enjoy were mainly due to my lack of research on what full-stack development is and not having time to polish up projects to my liking before moving on. I also struggled to learn concepts on team-based assignments vs the ones I could complete on my own (your experience will likely be different, I'm just such a read the book and do it myself type of learner). And there is a lot of team-based work, but this is what employers have communicated wanting in grads so I had to basically just suck it up. But here I am, one of the first grads to secure a job in a mainly Java-developing role so in the end, none of it mattered too much. I am a bit of an outlier though, I had 10+ years of telecom experience and the job I secured really was a carbon copy of my past experience and the course material. If you are coming from a non-tech background, you are going to have to do the interview grind for a while...maybe up to 2 months so just mentally prepare for that and manage your expectations. 

P.S. You don't need a bootcamp to get a software job, but its hard for me to imagine pushing myself to the level that this course did and within the same timeframe. I say go for it! Good luck!!!

After working for one year as a software developer, I can say with confidence that my life would not be the same without attending Skill Distillery's full-stack Java bootcamp. Sure you can take online courses or even other bootcamps, but my knowledge and experience would not be the same without their 16 week program. I know this because I complete an online bootcamp and other courses before attending Skill Distillery. Those courses didn't even come close to what you learn in the first month in their program.

Skill Distillery provides the foundation that you will need to get into the industry. Java is still very relevant in today's job market and once you learn a core language like Java, you can learn any other language. At some point, you will become language agnostic and deciding which language or stack to learn won't even be a concern. But if you are concerned about languages/stacks, the huge advantage Skill Distillery has over other schools is that they are focused on an enterprise stack. Most mid to large companies use Java or an OOP language similar to Java, which makes the job hunt easier.

Instructors are very knowledgeable and provide daily feedback and support. All senior instructors worked in the industry for 20+ years. The class size is also great: small and plenty of staff to have hands on with everyone as needed. Job assistance is there for anyone who wants to use it throughout the course. You can schedule mock interviews with staff and they also set up luncheons with recruiters. 

It only took six months to completely change my life. I started the 16 week course on September 9th, 2019 and graduated on January 9th, 2020. My first day of work as a software engineer was on March 9th, 2020. My only regret was that I didn't start sooner. And if you're having doubts about family or responsibilities, just find a way. While attending the course, I still had family obligations to my wife and 3 year old. I still worked a part-time job at an Amazon warehouse. You can get through it. Find a way. There is a completely different life waiting for you on the other side.

I cannot fully express how wonderful and helpful the instructional staff are. Every single one of the staff members go above and beyond to make sure all of your question's are answered. With that being said, there is nothing easy about a Coding Bootcamp. 16 Weeks of fast paced material. Skill Distillery does an excellent job at instructing material at a pace you can learn. I went from 0 coding experience and a medical background, to completing full Stack Web apps. Love Skill Distillery and their staff and cannot thank them enough for everything they have taught me. 

After a 12 year career in Finance, I was looking for a challenge and a new career to go into that would be more engaging. I looked for many options but was impressed on the accolades seen from fellow veterans that had attended the school. This was before the Vet Tec Program, I used my Post 911/GI BILL and the VA worked well with Skill Distillery.
Pros: The classes were taught by people in the industry, the depth and level of knowledge they bring would only be recognize by me until I started working. From day one I knew what was being talked about at my first job as a developer, thanks to the staff at Skill Distillery. You get a thorough breakdown of concepts that seem trivial at first but it's all part of a bigger picture and its not limited to the school environment. I went from having no formal technical training to having a grasps at concepts that would later transfer into a new field, and I had the confidence to take on new challenges at work because I got the core I needed at Skill Distillery. The course is challenging but they give you the tools and resources to reach the goals that sometime seem unattainable.
Cons: This is a full time course, meaning you could be putting in some 10 hour days. The course is heavily backend based but with just enough on the front end to gain an appreciation for it.

  Being a software developer was the top option I wanted to pursue as I was getting ready to transition out of the military. I wanted to attend a program that is veteran-friendly and teaches technologies that are highly sought after in the industry. Skill Distillery was on top of the list, and attending this program was the best decision I made. Now, I work for a fortune-100 company as a Software Developer.   The program was designed to not only teach you how to code, but also teaches you the ability to learn new technologies. It’s also designed to train you how to collaborate with other developers using tools to help you be succesful at your work. Not very many bootcamps teaches Java, because it’s a hard language to learn in my point of view. But, they really make sure that everyone doesn’t get left behind.  Another good thing about this program is that they help you prepare for the Oracle Certified Associate Java SE8 Certification. I didn’t get to take it because I was one of the strugglinG students, but the fact that they offer it, is a great deal itself.
 
 The instructors were very knowledgeable and they were definitely industry experts. They have dedicated instructors for each technologies, but whenever I needed help with a topic, even the instructor from a different topic was willing to help out. Like I mentioned earlier, I was one of the struggling students in our cohort, but I got all the help that I need, from the TA, classmates, and instructors. This was definitely a great experience for me. 

Be forewarned that this bootcamp will require the vast majority of your time! But that's because you will learn so much and come out on the other end with an abundance of new skills. I believe there is another review on here saying this bootcamp is not for the inexperienced and with respect I will have to whole heartedly disagree! I had zero coding experience as did two of my closest friends in class and we all made it through having learned so much. No lie - it took a lot of work, studying, and dedication but you can absolutely do it! My only cons are sometimes the wording of the curriculum is hard to follow and towards the end we didn't get a lot of detailed critique on our homework projects. But Skill Distillery is one of the best decisions I've ever made and I feel really good about my future!

Skill Distillery was a life-changing experience for me! I went from a non-profit director to a Full-Stack Software Developer, and I do not think I would be successful in this change without the great instructors and SD course. If you choose to put the effort and dedication into the SD course, it will pay off when you begin a career as a new developer. 

My first Software Developer job was delayed because of COVID-19. I am now a developer working with Java building microservices at a Fortune-150 company at one of their Denver Metropolitan locations, but I am currently working remotely. I graduated in January 2020 and became employed in May 2020 after a seven-week delay to my original start date. 

This transformation was not an easy process, but I learned the needed developer skills at Skill Distillery and how to learn new skills quickly.  It was a game-changer to me having SD's staff continued to encourage, coach, and help me after the course to help me have stronger interviews. 

I recommend the Skill Distillery Java Software Development Bootcamp to anyone aspiring to be a developer who is willing to put the hard work in and wants to make a career change. Please look me up on a business networking site and feel free to ask me about this experience.  

My former career plans had hit a wall and I was looking for an exit. The VA's VET TEC program in April 2019 provided that exit and offered three schools to choose from: Code Platoon, Zip Code Wilmington, and Skill Distillery (SD). SD was the longest course available (680 hours, 16 weeks) at the time and logistically it worked best for me. 

SD was the most mentally challenging endeavor of my life and it consumed all of my time from July 5th through October 28th. The amount of material SD manages to cram into 16 weeks is staggering and you need to understand that this won't be a walk in the park.

The teachers are supportive and knowledgable, the assignments engaging, and the curriculum is a perfect foundation for bringing a person without experience into the world of software development. I highly recommend SD if you're looking to make a change in your life and you're willing to wholly dedicate your time to making that change. Today, I have a stable and promising career path that is enjoyable. The future is bright!

*Prior to enrolling in a bootcamp, research what technologies are in demand for your target locale* 
For example, I went to Denver and learned Java at SD and then moved back to Tulsa and didn't gain much traction in the job hunt until picking up C# / ASP.Net on my own. I highly recommend speaking to a few recruiters in the cities you're interested in to get a feel for that job market. 

Pros:
+ VET TEC Preferred Program
+ Very veteran friendly, my cohort consisted of all military veterans
+ Seemingly very compassionate instructors & staff
+ Very eager to do whatever it took to ease our minds through whatever transition we would go through (OCAs, COVID, etc)
+ Made an extended family with my cohort
+ Accepting of my emotional support animal which I understand is not a service dog
+ Awesome building/facility even though one classroom has no windows

Cons (which I knew going in):
-Extremely fast paced, wish there were more reviews to ensure retention of foundational topics
-Some instructors read from slides so can lose attention easily 

I made the decision to attend Skill Distillery because I felt stunted in my career field and wanted to attain marketable skills and felt like this Java Full Stack Bootcamp was a good decision based on recommendations from prior students and other veterans. I ended up leaving my job and moving from Missouri to Colorado and quickly realized that it was the greatest decision I made thus far in my career path. Prior to attending Skill Distillery, I had worked in the cybersecurity field as an intelligence analyst but did not really have any knowledge about programming languages. We were immediately thrown into learning Java since the program is only 16 weeks. The program offered numerous labs, some that needed to be completed over the weekend, that were crucial when it came to fully understanding and absorbing the new concepts. Quickly on I did feel like I was falling behind, but through the closeness of the cohort (small class size), dedication of the instructors, and the teaching assistants help on Saturdays I was able to pull through and have more confidence in my coding ability. Throughout the program, we learned many technologies, including front end, back end, and project management tools.  I started attending the course in January and when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred Skill Distillery was very transparent when it came to communication and a way forward as lockdown was eminent. Skill Distillery was able to transition us to learning over Zoom and I did not notice any loss in the material we were learning. We were able to share our screen with the instructors if we were stuck or behind and had the ability to have breakout rooms to be able to conduct pair programming and group projects.  Lastly, Skill Distillery was very helpful in preparing me to reenter the job market by conducting career workshops, mock interviews (technical and nontechnical), and resume review. I was able to secure a job offer the week prior to completing the program. Everyone that worked at Skill Distillery seemed genuinely passionate about what they did and helping the students to succeed and overcome their imposter syndrome. Overall, I would highly recommend this bootcamp for anyone that is considering making the transition into software development or wants more knowledge on front and back end technologies.

Skill Distillery’s 16-week course was an incredible experience. I was itching for a career change into software development, and Skill Distillery made that possibility a reality. Much like whoever may be reading this, I too read every review I could -  even reached out to former students who all had positive things to say about the course. The fact that it is based on the Java language is an advantage for those wanting to gain practical experience using Object-Oriented Programming.  The course was highly fast-pace, and at times I did feel like I was drowning. However, that is expected. The instructors were incredibly knowledgeable and went above-and-beyond to help students understand difficult concepts. Within three weeks of graduating, I had two offers. The position I accepted uses C#, which is similar to Java since they are each part of the C language family. Needless to say, students gain the ability to learn how to learn, which opens the door to many jobs outside of the languages taught throughout the course.  Overall, I can't recommend this course enough. This easily might be the best decision I’ve made, but having a desire to code and natural curiosity is essential to enjoying the process. I feel like I learned more in those four months than I did in four years of college. The instructors and staff truly care about the success of each student.