Springboard

Pros:
- dedicated mentor
- can schedule calls with random mentors for problems your having with very open times to choose (super helpful)
- access to datacamp and linkedinlearning (my favorite platform to learn data is from datacamp personally)
- Excellent administrative team
- Excellent career support team with advice well in line with reality, always super friendly
- Show you how to network properly
- Annual springboard rise event
- Involved student community

Cons: 
- too much use of videos and not enough use of reading for many of the subjects. Many of the topics could have been better explained from a book or article than watching many of the webinars from Harvard or pycon in my opinion. Those videos were often very lengthy and hard to follow along with and I found myself skimming through them. They didnt have decent background information before the these videos that would delve into complex subjects sometimes. This is my biggest complaint to be honest. 
- Some of the assignments needed better instructions such as the databricks miniproject. I know trying to figure something out yourself is the best way to learn but when you dont have the 
preknowledge on something so new to you it could be frustrating

Summary:
Springboard was exactly what I needed as someone coming from a background in business and who had next to zero technical skills such as coding. I landed a role as a  contingent worker  at Facebook as a business data analyst. Without a masters degree or more extensive work experience in tech working with data, i still havent been well suited for a data scientist position, so I'm supplementing this with starting a masters degree program in data scientist, but I believe if you already have a masters in any field and or have remotely relevant experience working with data, a masters degree wont be needed to land a data scientist position like I think is needed for me. Springboard is overall an excellent program to learn. 

After getting my Ph.D. last year, I started to study about data science and get some online certificates. However since I had a full-time job as an Electrical Engineer, it was pretty hard to find the right materials to study or build my portfolio in Github. I got lost after a few months, and there was no support and feedback.  When I found the Springboard career track program, I found it a matching base on my interest and my background. The  1:1 mentor calls every week, was excellent support and pushed for me. The other advantages were about the four mock interviews that Springboard provide to get us ready for the real interviews. 
I recommend this course to people who have a good background in coding and have some knowledge about machine learning since it is an intense program and you have to invest proper time and effort in 6-8 months. 

I just completed Springboards Data Science Career Track Bootcamp. Overall I was very satisfied with the experience. The skills I learned are super useful, and make me much more marketable as a job applicant. The 1-on-1 technical mentoring was great, helping me overcome obstacles and prioritize my time. The career coaching was also very valuable, helping me improve my resume, cover letter, etc.

Some of the chapters in the curriculum simply pointed to youtube videos, which often (though not always) excellent at explaining data science concepts. Some of the chapters linked to Datacamp courses, which are often a little too easy but do explain the concepts well. Overall, the miniprojects and capstones were great, and helped me learn all the steps of being a data scientist.

Granted I don't have a job offer yet, but their job guarantee certainly provides some peace of mind. 

I started this program to brush up on my Python skills, as I had worked in financial analysis before and was looking for a data analysis position. Most of my data analysis before had been done in Excel, with some small Python projects.

The 3-month program had a curriculum consisting of mostly third-party materials - Youtube videos, academic videos, code exercises with first-party supplements, and of course a lot of coursework/projects. You also have weekly calls with a mentor who helps you navigate the materials and gives industry insights.

The curriculum definately boosted my Python skills to the next level, while giving a good introduction into Data Science concepts. In my opinion the Machine Learning segment was a little light, but it gives you a good foundation for further research and learning.

And yes, I was able to find a position in the field even before finishing the program!

I had very little knowledge about UX going into this course, which was the perfect fit.  The Springboard UX course took me through each step of the design process, from basic overviews of what UX design is and of job opportunities in the field, to user research, prototyping and user testing.  The curriculum has a nice balance of videos and reading material, and they are good about not throwing too much at you.  Having a mentor to meet with every week was the best part, by far.  My mentor was there to keep me accountable, but never added too much pressure.  He was very understanding that I was coming from basically zero experience, and helped me create a prototype I felt good about.  In the end, I had a project I can build my portfolio with, showing a comprehensive UX design process. The Springboard support team is extremely easy to reach and was responsive when I had questions.  Overall, I'm glad I took the course and would recommend it to others. If you are diligent about making the most out of it, Springboard will serve you well. 

The course materials weren't too difficult to grasp; some were a bit repetitive. 80% of the materials are free – with a few expections such as the Lynda/Linkedin Learning lessons. At the same time, the materials were properly divided among each core topic of UX design. The pace definitely starts off slow but picks up towards the end, with projects requiring more hours and recalling skills you learned in previous modules. It was a good pace for me, someone who didn’t have any professional design or coding background. The course doesn’t touch on any coding languages or skills – but focuses on the research, interpretation of data, and materializing the information into a prototype. Every week, I spoke to my mentor for 30 minutes to go over whatever topics I wanted; ranging from their own professional experience to my course progress. Other than a 1-on-1 mentor, there are also mentors in the community answering and providing feedback to your questions and projects; they listen and care!

Since this course is monthly-subscription based, there aren’t any strict deadlines. However, I suggest doing your best to complete the course over the average 2-3 months. Maybe 5 months at most. I had to take a long break (pause my access and monthly payment) due to fatigue from my full-time job. However, the break was too long and I had to revisit all of the old materials from the earlier modules.

I just completed the course 2 weeks ago and still looking for a job. But I knew it was going to be tough to get a job straight out of any of these ‘bootcamps’ especially since my portfolio consists of just 1 project at the moment. I’m currently working on finding new ‘mock up’ UX projects and also some ‘real’ projects from a few friends, local businesses, etc. This won’t be too bad since I’m currently unemployed. haha.

Overall, a great experience with current course content, mentor calls, and a 6-month job guarantee. The course was organized in a way that it was very easy to learn and follow the design process and master key UX concepts. The mentor calls were extremely valuable! You're paired with the same mentor for the duration of the course and they will offer you insights on your projects, current industry standards and best practices, and help set expectations for your job search. And as an online course, it's extremely flexible, yet intensive. 

This class taught me so much. As a graphic designer, I wanted to further my skills and grow my knowledge base. The course was interesting and compelling but the real WOW factor came from the mentors and advisors. My mentor gave me real life applicable advise to improve on my work, truly constructive critique, as well as commending me when I did things well. The advisors were so helpful as well whenever I had concerns or questions and were very responsive. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in diving into UX! Thanks for everything!