Skill Distillery

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE REVIEW IF YOU WANT A 100% IN DEPTH  ANALYSIS OF COHORT 3 AND THE REVIEWS POSTED BELOW

First off, because Mr. Anonymous two reviews below mine is suspicious of the five star reviews, lets ignore ALL of the positive reviews on this page. That leaves SIX reviews, of which FIVE, I believe were written by students from my cohort (SD3). Some of their comments are justified, but I feel that they may have been decieved by their own expectation of a program that was never offered to them. I only say this because I was one of the people who complained constantly, requesting more changes to be made. I now realize that the program structure is in tact and the program need not make changes for one particular cohort. In this review, I will attempt to address all of the grievances that the previous reviews have mentioned. I will discuss EXACTLY what happened throughtout my time during the course of my enrollment. 

1. Quad 1 was by far the most promising portion of the program. The instructors were great (which EVERYONE else below me has confirmed) and everyone felt confident with program structure, as well as course material. Labs and keyboard time was abundant and 5 of 9 people who took the exam, including myself, passed the Associate Java Programming certification, which I felt was a good percentage based on the difficulty of the test. I came into this bootcamp with zero (AND I MEAN ZERO) programming experience and learning Java was an ambitious task. Yet, I managed to pass the Oracle certification with the help of extremely knowledgeable TA's (Andrew and Kris) and instructors (Jamie and Rob). As a prior Air Traffic Controller, I thought controlling live aircraft while adhering to hundreds of pages of rules and regulations was hard. I expected to cake walk through this bootcamp. That was most certainly not the case!

2. Quad 2 was when things became more difficult.  Some of that was due to the difficulty of course material. We were warned numerous times that quad 2 is the bottom of the curve in regards to “The Pain Cave". As if the program couldnt get any harder, learning SPRING MVC was an @** whooping to say the least. I feel that it was in this section that everyone lost motivation. Many of the complaints were about dry material and long lectures. I can say that based on our classes feedback, changes have been made and were made at the time of complaint! It hurts me that they would write reviews saying that the school did not attempt to adjust course content based on student feedback. I am seeing those changes every day. I wont say that im not disappointed seeing others reap the rewards from my criticism. Its discouraging in a way to see the next cohort benefit from these changes, but thats how life works right? I do want to mention that I am MORE than comfortable with building full applications using Spring and Java! Yes, Quad could have been taught in a more interactive (meaning more keyboard/lab/project time) manner. However, that has changed and I feel that we were given enough tools to learn the material. 

Also keep in mind, from my understanding, NO other bootcamp teaches you SPRING MVC. That already puts you ahead of the competition if you can mention that you have built (even small) applications front to back using these technologies. 

3. It is ABSOLUTLELY FALSE that the school did not consider our feedback! Approximately two weeks into Quad 2, and realizing the difficulty of learning SPRING MVC, many people (INCLUDING MYSELF) began to complain about the teaching methodologies of the program. This was completely disregarding what we were told multiple times that two other cohorts had gone through the same program structure/curriculum/course material. Due to our persitent requests from class organized/one on one feedback sessions, the school attempted to cater to our needs. We asked for more lab/keyboard time. WITHIN 48 HOURS this was created for us. The TA's also spent time outside of work to create a lab that they felt was more accomodating to what we wanted. Ultimately, we were unsatisfied (AGAIN INCLUDING MYSELF) with what they had orgainized. Everyone wanted to do a project that showed individualism and creativity, rather than showcasing a project similar to everyone else in the class. However, what we failed to realize, is that it is extremely difficult for instructors to control the scope of everybodys project when students are given free reighn to determine what they want to build. I realize now that the ideas we were confident in implementing were not realistic based on our capabilities at the time. I also realized that although individuality shows creativity, most employers are concerned with collaboration and team work. We were offered this opportunity in Quad 3. 

4. In quad 3 the complaints kept building and the school made, in my opinion, too much of an effort to cater to what we felt was good for us in hopes that we would be satisfied. This is something that will NOT happen again because they have realized that their structure is solid and produces legitimate programmers. We have had countless hours of feedback during quad 3 and changes were made within 24-48 hours. This is not to say it was exactly what we wanted. And I feel this is one of the reasons for everyones departure. 

5. Paired programming has now been implemented in the course structure starting with SD4. Although that may not have been the case throughout my time at Skill Distillery, it is something that will be focused on moving forward. Also, what the other reviewers failed to mention was that paired programming and Agile was expected to be implemented into quad 4 of our class. But its hard to see the results of the feedback if you leave prior to giving the school a chance to making the appropriate adjustments.

6. This is DEFINITELY worth your GI Bill. Yes, it takes 9 months of your alloted time. However, just based on the first 4 weeks of the course, I would be able to skip ONE YEAR of intro to programming courses in school. Also, you are unable to take web application courses without previously taking intro programming courses. This alone will take you AT LEAST 2 semesters of school, which equates to 8 months. That is ASSUMING that you are able to fit in Javascript/Node.js/Angular.js/CSS/HTML etc into your course schedule.

And by the way, a university will not spend money, nor train you for a week, for an Oracle Java certification. You'd be lucky if you were capable of even taking and passing a java certifcation test after an intro to java course!

7. NO ONE GUARANTEED JOB PLACEMENT! The school DOES care about your job placement and they actively work with employers to assist you after completion of the program. Their network of employers may not be as big as some of the other bootcamps. However, I just went to an event in Denver and multiple employers were familiar with Skill Distillery and personally mentioned that the school has been in contact with them regarding employment! Keep in mind, we were told ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL that there is no guaranteed job placement. However, this is the case for every bootcamp that I have talked to (Hack Reactor, Dev Bootcamp, etc.). This is not to say that they arent pushing for you to find a job. Why would ANY institution care about enrollment and not about job opportunities? They wouldn’t be in business for very long.

One of the complaints below mentions marketability as a java programmer. I WANT TO NOTE that one of my classmates was one of 15 students to SUCCESSFULLY complete Dev Bootcamps New York program, a class that began with 40. I asked him why he decided to spend another 16k to come to Skill Distillery. His response was that upon completing Dev Bootcamp, he asked his instructor what the next best step would be to take in becoming a successful programmer. His instructor said to GO LEARN JAVA! 

Skill Distillery doesn’t pride itself in students becoming expert Java developers. They pride themselves in producing smart and capable programmers that can be groomed to learn any language based on their exceptional fundamentals in Java! 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me via email.

I attended the SD program prior to the authors of these other reviews, and I feel compelled to add my thoughts to the discussion.

Following the same format…

Pros: I like the location and the building SD is housed in. There is a common area, kitchen, and additional space for students to study. Garage parking is free for students, and there are restaurants surrounding the school. The program started out very promising, with the first quad’s Java instruction being top notch. Spirits were high during and immediately after the Java certification exam, but this enthusiasm didn’t carry through to the remainder of the program.

Cons: I agree with the thoughts of other students that Java EE is not suited for bootcamp instruction. While the material presented was fascinating and well taught, there are fewer job opportunities for entry level Java engineers than for entry level coders of different languages. Modern technologies were not covered, and students leaving the school are at a disadvantage competing against other boot camp graduates when interviewing for local jobs. Job placement assistance was non-existent, and the program's voluntary attrition rate looks to be extreme. 

I find suspicious the five star reviews from students that have yet to complete the course. The shortcomings of SD appear after the first quarter and I suspect some damage control is taking place. I wish everyone the best and hope that things improve for current and future students. 

I cannot recommend the school at this time. 

Do not be deceived by the five star reviews.

Overall Experience: The first part of the program was superb. If I were to have written a review during the Java portion of the course, I would have given it five stars out of five. After five weeks of studying and practicing pure Java, about half the students were able to pass the Oracle Certified Associate - Java Programmer exam, which is impressive in my opinion.

The program self-destructed in the second quad of instruction. In stark contrast to the first quad, there was very little hands-on time. The few exercises that were featured in the second quad consisted of copying and pasting code written in a book. The materials were absolute garbage. If you truly believe you can learn databases, MVC, and Java EE from someone reading out of a dry, uninspiring book, then perhaps this course is for you.

The same continued in quad three, which was the front-end portion of instruction.  At this point, most of the students would show up to the classroom only to tune the lecture out and try to learn on their own. Before the quad concluded, eight of the eleven students decided to withdraw.

Instructors: This was the one part of the program that made it bearable. The instructors are extremely knowledgable and able to effectively communicate with students in spite of the tremendous gap in knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, they can only do so much when given awful material to teach from.

Curriculum: The program prides itself on offering instruction on “non-trendy” languages. There’s a reason other bootcamps focus on Ruby, MEAN, etc: People are able to obtain employment in them with little experience. Do yourself a favor and research entry-level Java jobs before making a decision, as most of them require one to three years of previous development experience to be considered.

Job Assistance: I have no way of sugarcoating this. They do not care what happens to you after you complete the program. Concerns arose when previous graduates were not finding employment, and we were told they were of questionable character and talent. The word “zeroes” was used to describe previous graduates. This lack of professionalism did not sit well with anyone. In addition to this, we were constantly told companies were inquiring about hiring graduates and that we would receive emails as proof, but that never happened. If you are considering this bootcamp, you are likely a mid-career professional looking for a change, so keep this in mind before you make any life-changing decisions.

Do your research before you make a decision. Look at job advertisements to see which technologies and languages have the lowest barrier to entry in terms of experience. Don’t take a bar chart on a website as gospel. Perhaps the program can change for the better over time, but at this point you are probably better off spending your time and money elsewhere. They advertise 25+ years experience in teaching programming, which is true, but it is stated in a deceptive manner. Their experience is in shorter corporate classes, which has virtually no relevance in a bootcamp environment.

Pros:  

The Java instructor was excellent.  He is a true teacher whose gift has helped many and will continue to do so.  The first portion of Java was successful.

Cons:

This bootcamp did not produce as promised.  After the first portion of Java programming, everything fell apart.  The course content was advertised as unique and created in-house, however, instructors ended up reading out of external courseware manuals.  The learning process consisted of unengaging lecture with very little hands-on programming.  Important concepts like Agile methodology, paired-programming, and GitHub were not adequately understood or practiced.  Instruction in later portions was substandard for a variety of reasons: some instructors had little or outdated industry experience, while others were simply not skilled at teaching the material.  Additonally, there was no career planning component and very few graduates currently are employed in the industry.  Lastly, prior and current student personal information was not kept in confidence, which created an unprofessional atmosphere.

If looking for a bootcamp that offers GI Bill support, please wait for other area bootcamps to receive approval from the Veteran's Administration.    

First off, Jamie Placensia, Why are reviewing a school you never went to? Second, move on! Welcome to the real world, no one owes you anything.

I am a current student at skill distillery and so far, so good! Jamie is an excellent instructor, TA's are helpful, and there's a good group of people in my cohort who come from all kinds of backgrounds. We all kind of help each other out. The program kicks your butt, but what do you expect? I feel myself being constantly pushed, but I know at the end it will be a rewarding experience. 

I will update this review when I graduate :) 

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Hey Folks!

I am back updating my review from 1/12/16 like I promised I would!! I'm a woman of my word. 

All jokes aside- I'm not going to lie, the negative reviews that I read on this site bothered me. Paying $16,000 for a school that had a lot of negative reviews while I was still in the program, made me worry about what was to come. They made a lot of changes from the cohort before mine, and so my experience was much better than theirs.

I am honestly so glad I stayed. I had ZERO coding experience before the program, and at times, I truly did struggle and worried about whether the program was for me. But the instructors, the TA's, my fellow students, and our school director, helped me stick through it, and man is that the most rewarding experience to say that I graduated! I am so thankful for the program and people I've met.

I now will be working as a junior java developer at American Healthcare Technologies, where I was doing marketing before.

I enjoyed my time with Skill Distillery. The staff were courteous and professional, and they cared about the students. It's a genuine challenge to fall through the cracks at their school.

I went to SD for the enterprise Java development aspect of the program. It's a very difficult school to complete successfully. I think a large part of that is due to the nature of Java as a full-fledged programming language and not a scripting language. After working my face off in the program, I’m now working with startups in Denver, Houston, and Santa Barbara. I can’t describe the sense of pride I have from completing something as difficult as SD’s program and being a success afterwards. Their curriculum is great; it hits all the major topics that you need to get going as a developer, and it provides a springboard to something even greater if you put in the work. My advice is to work your ass off and make great projects.

I can attest that the staff take feedback very seriously and act on it quickly. The only "downside" that I saw was that the location isn’t "cool," but that’s not really what you’re there for.

I was hired before I graduated the program, so they must be doing something right!  If you want to be a developer, go to this bootcamp. They teach the most prolific technologies with an expertise rarely found in other training programs.

I was never a student and got turned down for the November 2015 cohort.

I AM NOT HERE TO PROTEST MY REJECTION.  

I would like to simply provide feedback on the lack of professionalism shown by the admissions staff.  During the process, I was really more curious as to what my shortcomings were so I could develop them and re-apply, if able.  Throughout the process, multiple emails and phone calls went unanswered by Admissions Rep, even though she told me in-person that ALL applicants are given feedback, regardless or their acceptance or rejection.

After 3X emails to her, I had to physically visit the office to confront her for a simple explanation as to my status.  She immediately claimed she gave my application to the School DIrector for review and notification.  If this is true, he simply never followed up with me.  Why?  You'll have to ask him.

As of 1/4/16, I followed up to see if I could re-apply for the FEB 2016 cohort.  The School Director choose to email the next day claiming that the application process would not be revised until July and that I was unable to apply until then.  I see no fault in this, as the school is free to do what they choose.

However, i'm not OK with the fact that the School Director offered to answer any questions I had in his email, but has yet to reply to anything I asked about...i'm still waiting.

Overall, it appears that Skills Distillery is CHOOSING to treat people this way...and that's their prerogative...as long as they are willing to deal with the consequences:)

FYI...I did take both Learn by the Byte courses offered by the school on Udemy.com.  The online Instructor was excellent...and i'm sure he's probably even better in person.  

All thumbs down... do not attend... don't ask me why, Mr. Boyle has already told you why.

It pangs me to write this as I truly do appreciate and value the staff at Skill Distillery but unfortunatley when 9 months of my ("would-have-been-had-I stayed-til-the-end-and-not-left-half-way-through") GI Bill benefits are at stake, the exchange is idiotic. Mr. Boyle gives you the "why", I am here to confirm his sentiments. 

Perhaps as they evolve, assuming they figure out a way to do so given the fact that, last I checked, all but one student has left the third cohort, they will become a more appealing bootcamp. Until that day comes, I'm skeptical that it will. That said, stay away from Skill Distillery like its a rat with the plague. 

I want to reiterate, this pangs me immensely to write this as I did grow fond of the folks there but again at the end of the day when 16k is on the line, or 9 months of GI Bill benefits like it ultimately would have been for me, my god, do not toss the dice here. You'd have better luck taking a late night stroll through a back alley in Compton.

///Quick injection to note. The two lead instructors were more than professional. In no way does this review serve to paint an ill picture as to either their quality as individuals or developers/instructors. They were plagued with antiquated methodologies and dogma that kept them from actualizing as they could have had they, i guess "see the light" of optimal learning methodologies.///

Skill Distillery is a poorly planned and executed bootcamp that will take enormous amounts of both your time and money. A dangerous mix of incompetence and questionable integrity creates a learning environment that robs students of motivation and their money/VA benefits. Students have been exiting in droves after getting a glimpse into the inner workings of the school - my cohort started with 12 students, went down to 3, and is potentially losing more students before they finish. 

Despite advertising decades of experience, we were only their third cohort. The previous cohorts consisted of 5 and 8 students. Skill Distillery hired a couple students out of the previous cohorts, but beyond that they provide no examples or success stories regarding students getting employment. From what I gather, some students have gone back to their previous employment. They refuse to showcase previous cohorts projects, probably due to the fact that one TA described them as 'sucking.'

Simple concepts such as paired programming and integrating into the workforce were barely covered. They were shoehorned in at the last minute in a last ditch attempt at saving our class, but this futile attempt at reinvigorating the class failed spectacularly

Hours of lecture, consisting of material being read from books in a monotone, took up the vast majority of the days. Keyboard time was minimal, and consisted of editing, cutting and pasting code provided by the publishers of the texts. 

I and several other students spent hours and hours in meetings giving requested feedback to no avail. Previous cohorts were described as being unmotivated and/or of questionable talent. The lack of professionalism was a red flag, the refusal to showcase prevoius students final projects was a red flag, the disparaging remarks regarding previous students was a red flag, the terrible texts provided to us after the first few weeks were red flags, but perhaps the biggest red flag of all was the look of utter defeat on the faces of the students in the cohort ahead of us. Unfortunately, I managed to ignore all the warning signs for a while, due to my desire to make this program work. 

There was one shining part of that program, and that is the instructor who teaches the first quad covering Java. He is an amazing teacher. After that, the program falls apart. 

It is my opinion that anyother bootcamp in Colorado is superior. If you need to use your VA benefits, wait until other bootcamps get certified. Many are in the process of doing so right now. 

I have always wanted to be a developer, and I will not let the shenanigans at Skill Distillery deter me from that goal. I am attending another bootcamp in Colorado, and I will post a review once I complete it. 

It is my opinion that you should choose Skill Distillery only if you are long on time and money, short on wits, and wish to remain unemployed for as long as possible.  

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at my first and last name at gmail. Everything I have stated is factual and accurate - I have saved all emails, text messages, and slack messages in the event that I am questioned or attacked for providing honest reviews.