Turing School of Software & Design

I had the luxury of going through Turing as a white guy with a master's degree and a history of being affirmed in the STEM field. I highlight this to say that my perspective on the challenge of Turing is pretty pure to the work and curriculum itself and not to larger systemic or identity pressures and stressors from things like race, class, gender, education, etc.

That being said, Turing is *really* hard. It really is non stop work for seven months for at least 60 hours a day (and a mellow day at that). The Turing difference is that you develop insane endurance for problem solving and spending all day thinking like a programmer.

I went through the back-end program covering Ruby and Ruby on Rails, but the curriculum and instructors pave a road for students that leads them to a place of very generalizable knowledge that applies to many contexts in software development  (almost two years out from graduation, I work on a completely different stack).

Turing helped me completely alter my life trajectory in terms of opportunity and fulfillment. If you want to see what coding is like or if you even like it, don't apply yet. It's not a kiddie pool! If you are serious about wanting to become a professional software developer, it is the only slam-dunk option in my mind.

I loved my time at Turing and think that my decision to change career paths and enroll in their FE program was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I started in the third cohort of their FE program and found the coursework really challenging but organized and presented in a way that enabled a lot of learning and growth (becoming a coder is not just about how much JavaScript you know but also about how you approach learning, challenges, etc) throughout the program.

As someone coming from the education space, I also really appreciated the schools focus on professional development for their instructors.  Since most developers are not trained educators who know how to write an effective lesson plan, I thought this focus by the school was a real differentiating factor - they really care about their instructors (and pay them well). I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Turing is a nonprofit - as all schools should be - the focus of the organization is on its staff and students growth and development and that is not always (or ever) the case when a company is trying to turn a profit.

I also really appreciated the 4 module structure with short breaks in between. I think it allowed me to recenter myself and stay more grounded and focused on the areas I needed to improve in throughout the process - it also gave me a bit of time to spend with my wife and to catch up on sleep.

I ended up having to take an extended break after completing Mod3 due to a family emergency and Turing was extremely understanding and accommodating to my situation and new timeline. 

I ended up finishing up the program and, after getting a bunch of great interview prep/support from Ian Douglas and other instructional staff, had 4 pretty strong offers to choose from.  I am now a full-time software developer in Denver and loving my new career.

Graduated from Turing's backend engineering program about a year ago. Turing will prepare you for a quality, competitive software dev role. After 7 months, you'll be a quality junior developer on the verge of mid-level developer roles. 

Program is a full-time commitment which you need to be prepared for but you'll learn how to use command line efficiently, build games, data structures, and of course web applications. 3/4 of way through you'll be able to build apps like Airbnb, e-commerce sites, secure login with email or sign in with facebook, google, etc confidently with or without external libraries. By then, you can concentrate and learning what you're most interested in (outside of the curriculum) and be prepared to figure it out, like building a mobile app, because you'll have a solid process of working through errors and new technologies. You'll learn coding practices to contribute quality code by writing tests, pair programming, learning how and when to reach out to mentors or more senior developers for help. 

If you're prepared for the time commitment and difficulty in keeping up with the rigorous curriculum, this is a great choice to get into software development.  

Turing is a nonprofit which means all funds go into quality instructors and your education. I would personally never attend a for-profit school since their responsibility is to profit before quality.

I attended Turing in 2017 and started with Cohort 1703, I had a wonderful experience with the program and loved nearly every minute of the experience. I struggled at points and ended up repeating my 3rd module which meant I graduated 7 weeks later than originally planned. I went through an extended job search after graduating and definitely found this to be the toughest part of the process. But if you follow the sage wisdom provided then you will not encounter many difficulties on that front. I now work as a QA engineer and make over 80k a year! I was making less than 36k previously. Truly life changing!

Last year, I made the decision to attend Turing's front-end program. The program itself is great. I have never worked harder in my life. I can say that you should definitely consider how stressful the program will be for yourself, and perhaps more importantly, for those close to you. I witnessed more than a few breakups and divorces. With that said, I definitely learned how to code. I learned all of the fundamentals of frontend development, from HTML and CSS to JavaScript and all of its relevant frameworks/libraries. I also made some great friends while in the program. The instructors were really good, for the most part. Any problems I had in regard to the staff were taken incredibly seriously by Ellen Mary, which was greatly appreciated. 

My biggest complaint is the complete lack of job support. I feel as if this complaint is shared among most of the people I went through the program with. It's a huge risk for almost every person there to put their life on hold and change careers like this. After 9 months I was one mod away from 'graduating' but could not afford to continue (something Turing understates immensely in my opinion), and was subsequently cut off from all potential job support. This includes consideration in their job portal, as well as resume/cover letter/outreach support. So, because I had to retake a mod and could not afford to take the last one, I am stuck trying to break into this industry alone. I feel like I paid what I could afford and worked as hard as could to be part of the Turing community everyone says is so great, inviting, and helpful, and am now out in the cold. I have applied to over 100 jobs and have gotten no interviews, let alone offers. Needless to say, I'm in an incredibly stressful position and I feel more and more every day like a lot of the things Turing says it promotes are limited at best, and non-existent in other cases. 

You'll learn how to code, for sure. You'll probably meet a lot of great people too. Don't expect anything after that. 

I come from a science and engineering background, which I believe gave me a great foundation to build upon when it came to object-oriented programming. However, even if you don't come from that type of background, there is room for you to succeed at Turing. Even though I came from that background, I hadn’t been involved in anything to do with engineering for over 5 years. Immediately before I moved across the country to attend Turing I worked in the construction industry, and before that the bar industry. Needless to say, Turing was my chance to make a move.

The staff that I interacted with were some of the most caring and invested individuals I've ever had the privilege of learning from. With the mix of industry professionals and Turing alumni, you really do get the best of both worlds. Some of the instructors were in your shoes previously and know exactly what it is like to go through the program. This gives them the ability to relate and give advice that is directly tailored to you, as a student. Honestly, the experience was one of the most fulfilling and valuable experiences I've ever had.

I'm a veteran as well and agree with portions of what Angi C. had to say. I have to say the communication about the GI Bill and how it interacts with Turing was severely lacking. There was absolutely nothing in the papers you sign at the beginning about refunds, the payment schedule, how the VA handles a student dropping out of the program, or any other information. While there is some burden on the student to determine some of that information for themselves, I believe the school should have better documentation, as they’ve been certified by the VA for a while now. Apparently, the program has been certified in a different fashion now, meaning each module is its own ‘semester,’ and if you drop out in-between two of the modules, you won’t be on the hook for the modules you haven’t taken yet. This does affect the monthly stipend however, so make sure you take that into account when planning your finances for attending. Always good to clarify those things with the staff at Turing before you put down the deposit. Having said all of that, I will say once I was ready to leave the program, the help I got from the staff at Turing regarding the VA was very helpful. I just wished more of that information had been communicated at the beginning.

I was able to obtain a job offer while in my second module and finished the third module before starting my job. I would not have been able to get that job without the education I obtained at Turing. More than the education itself, Turing gives you the confidence to speak knowledgably about programming/web development. If you have the soft skills already, Turing will just improve them. If you are working on your soft skills, Turing will help you to achieve mastery of them. I believe soft skills are one of the most important things you can bring to a job interview, and Turing’s professional development really pushes those interactions and skills.

The culture and inclusiveness at Turing is unparalleled. I challenge anyone to present a professional learning environment with more of an emphasis on inclusion. I learned more about social issues and how they affect environments such as software development than I ever anticipated. The information was and continues to be extremely valuable in my professional and personal life. I made friends at Turing that are some of the strongest and most intelligent people I’ve ever met, including my time in the military. Jeff and his staff have really designed an atmosphere of learning that encourages and supports rather than teaches and abandons. They are also extremely open to changing styles and teaching strategies that may not be working, even for a specific class. The speed of change at Turing is one of its greatest strengths and something I enjoyed.

The work load is quite a bit there, but I'm not sure that I would peg it at the 70+ hours per week like some of the other reviewers. The time you invest is really going to depend on how well you adapt to learning in an accelerated environment and how efficient you are with your time. That's not to say it's easy by any means, just don't let the workload scare you away from the program. The more work you put in now/in school, the more benefits you will reap from your job.

Overall, Turing was an extremely positive and valuable experience. I did a lot of research into bootcamp programs before I moved across the country to go to Turing, and I really believe I made the right choice. I will always look back on my time at Turing as one of the best turning points in my life. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I get that this is a big decision. I had to decide if I was going to cash out my 401k on top of borrowing a big chunk of money to do this. Luckily, it was the right decision. After going through the Turing School of Software & Design's Front End program I was able to land a job I enjoy making $73k a year. That's a big jump from the $38k I was making as a retail store manager. We're about 8 weeks out from graduation and everyone else in my cohort who has accepted positions are making as much or more than I am. So, is this a path to a better life? Yes. But you have to enjoy it because it's an incredibly intense program. I'd say I spent 60-70 hours a week working hard in Turing (between class time and project work), so it's definitely going to demand your full attention. And it's not just a lot of work, it's difficult. Our cohort started with 28 people and we graduated with 15 who made it through without having to repeat any modules. Some had to repeat one module. Some had to repeat two. Some left the program. So yeah, it's difficult. That being said, the instructors and curriculum are both top-notch, and you will learn both the technical skills and the soft skill you need to be successful. 

The community at Turing sets it apart from other bootcamps. Almost any coding bootcamp can teach you the same coding skills but you can’t get the quality of community that you get at Turing at other bootcamps. The support I received from the staff, alumni, and other students contributed to my success throughout the program and ultimately helped me get a job before graduation.

Alumni are available and eager to help current students as mentors. For current students, it is valuable to have the insight and support from other students who had been through the program, job search, and had spent a few years as a software developer. 

The Turing staff and community does a great job of creating an inclusive environment that breeds a diverse student body full of amazing people. I made life-long friends during my 7 months at Turing and felt supported by my fellow classmates from day 1. 

Even before my first day of class, I could tell the staff cared deeply about students’ success. Throughout the rigorous curriculum, they were supportive and always available to help. They all go above and beyond to make students feel confident and make sure students know what they need to know to be successful engineers (not just get through the program - they want you to be successful as an engineer in the real world). Additionally, staff is very open to feedback and is constantly adjusting to better serve students and they are available and eager to help with job support throughout Turing and after. Bonus: they’re all amazing humans and enjoyable to be around (which makes a difference when you’re in class with them 40 hours a week).

I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated my experience at Turing. I've had a lot of formal education over the years (clinical doctorate in physical therapy and a combined BS/MS in biomedical engineering), and I also worked a few years as a middle school teacher. From being involved in many areas of education as both a student and teacher, I was very impressed with how Turing's curriculum (technical and professional development) is designed. You can see they make a strong effort to use best teaching practices and to emphasize key skills in software development throughout the program. It's also quite impressive how quickly the curriculum adapts. Every module, students give feedback to the instructors and often the next module changes are already in place. Turing definitely teaches and follows the agile workflow!

I completed the backend program and the technical curriculum focuses on Ruby & Ruby on Rails for 3/4 of the program and JavaScript with a little React for the last 1/4 (this may have changed slightly since I graduated). It's very heavily focused on Object Oriented Design with relational databases (PostgreSQL). The backend program also strongly emphasizes Test-Driven Development (super valuable way of developing software that is maintainable and readable). Some concepts from a more traditional Data Structures and Algorithms course were not emphasized as much during my time at Turing; however, you will be exposed to these concepts (and it is certainly encouraged that you explore this more). There just isn't enough time to cram all this information into a short 7 months!

If you are looking at other bootcamps, I would really recommend Turing (its non-profit status was a huge plus to me). I would be very hesitant to do any part-time bootcamp of similar duration (unless you absolutey need to) as I do not think one's level of understanding would be sufficient to be a junior developer. As for other full-time bootcamps, I would say Turing likely has the highest standards. I would say it is common for ~10-15% of a module to have to "repeat" (especially in modules 1 and 2). Although this may feel like a negative, I think this demonstrates that quality of a Turing graduate over other bootcamps. The faculty will work with you if you are struggling (they often set up study hours just for students that need more time), and there are different difficulty levels for various projects.

The curriculum is quite rigorous and you will need to get comfortable with diving into a project feeling like you don't know anything (but by the end you will have learned a lot more with this approach). You can certainly become a self-taught developer, but if you can I would really recommend doing Turing as you are paying for the collaboration and learning environment (in addition to very quality instruction). Also you are forced to work in a very fast-paced environment, so you could probably learn much quicker than if you did so by yourself.

In terms of job placement, I was very fortunate as I had a job offer before graduating. This isn't as common, but about a quarter of my cohort had job offers upon graduating. Also Turing does support you throughout your 4 modules on campus and even after (during "module 5"). I have friends that kept going to Turing after graduation to get office hours help with their job search.

Overall, Turing is such a supportive, dynamic, and collaborative environment. It opened the doors to an awesome new career for me, and I hope it does the same for you :) I wish you the best in your decisions!

-Lee

Turing gave me what I needed to start a new career. Before I attended Turing, I was trying to teaching myself web development online when I came home from my teaching job. Eventually I reached a point where I knew I needed to take a leap and commit to a rigorous program in order to gain the skills necessary to get a software engineering job.

I learned more during my seven months at Turing than I ever thought possible. I also really appreciated the community of Turing -- my cohort was amazing and cohesive, and the staff are all invested in helping students succeed.

Turing was definitely stressful, but for me it was 100% worth it. I started my first dev job three weeks after graduation, and am so happy to be working in this industry.

I'm a recent Turing Backend Program grad (as of June 8th, 2018), and I highly recommend Turing for anybody willing to make a major career change and become a strong candidate in the web development job market.

My context:

Before Turing I had very little knowledge/awareness of programming, my background was mostly based in service and culinary industries. I decided to make the switch to programming after becoming frustrated with the lack of great and accessible cloud based technologies in my industries, as well as a desire for a better work/life/money balance. I spent about two months on the Odin Project learning very very basics before looking for a bootcamp. I compared all my options in Denver, and after attending intro sessions at Galvanize, General Assembly & Turing, there was no contest in my mind about which would be the most challenging and directed. (Also have to mention it's a non-profit & has a great mission statement aimed at inclusivity).

Turing was very challenging. extremely time consuming, but the reward and skills you gain by the end are more than worth the 7 month (minumum) sacrice you'll make. 

Curriculum: 

The instructors at Turing are great, knowledgeable and very empathetic with the students' experience. Given that, the point of Turing is to become an independent developer with great team skills, so instructors tend to be hands-off outside of project reviews unless you as the student are proactive about seeking their help/feedback (this has proven to be invaluable in the work place in terms of interacting with my lead engineer & product manager). The course material is very challenging coming from a non-computer-science background, and it will likely require all of your attention and most of your brain power to naturalize the concepts you pick up in the first 3 of 4 modules.

As a note - I've encountered a bit of skepticism re: our Ruby on Rails backend curriculum based on the trendiness of other languages. The skills we gained from the ruby frameworks we start with are taught with strong enough conceptual depth that they really do translate to pretty much any other high language & framework. In the last mod my cohort built projects using Ember, Node/Express, Python/Django, Mongodb and a bunch of non-curriculumn languages all while starting the job hunt.

Schedule:

I ended up spending 7 days a week working during each module, usually around six 11-hour days with one 6-hour day on the weekend - this schedule is roughly in line with those of all my cohortmates who graduated with me. During the 1 week intermissions between cohorts, I personally spent 4-5 days completing prework and doing extra research/going to tech meetups, and was able to take 4 days to decompress and show family and friends I was still alive.

Don't try to do this course if you're not going able to realistically dedicate a minimum of 65 hours weekly for 7 to 10 months (students often have to repeat modules, which I think is a great policy, as it promotes really learning material and makes sure grads leave truly ready to crush it in the job market).

Career: 

The career support at Turing is phenomenal. You leave with a strong & well review resume, references from instructors & mentors you develop relationships with, Turing alum network, and most likely a strong personal website to show off your projects.

I graduated in early June, worked really hard sending out resumes, going to meetups and reaching out to alums who posted in the Turing jobhunt slack channel, and had 2 offers less than 30 days later. This is on the shorter side for the job hunt, but I felt very supported after graduating, and think the support increases the longer your job hunt streches out. 

I'm working on a Rails API being used by mobile apps. The place I'm currently working is impressed enough with my work performance that they're already very open to the idea of hiring more Turing grads.

Turing is a lot and it is also amazing.

There is no place like Turing. They are building something new. A new way of thinking about education, about technology, and about how to survive in the modern age. It will push you in ways you have never been pushed. Before I went there, my first thought was 'Wow that seems like a lot of work and struggle'. IT IS. But the thing I didn't consider was that when you are surrounded by 100+ kids all going through the same struggle, it becomes a managable struggle. Not struggling feels weird. It makes sense to you to struggle. 

One week after Turing I got a job offer. I got my foot in there door and I honestly feel like I learned how to play this system. 

IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. Not everyone gets through it. Everyone willing to drop everything and begin a whole new world wants to think that they are going to be the ones that make it through. But from my personal experience, among my friends who didn't finish or decided to leave, they didn't make it because they didn't like it, not because they couldn't do it. So try out coding before you take the leap. 

If you like puzzles, if you like to connect things together. If you have some neurotic tendencies, you might be a good fit. 

Also, from my experience, people who are go getters, extroverts, regardless of coding skill, were able to find jobs more quickly than introverted people. But again, my personal observation.

I cannot say enough good things about this school. 

I'm really thankful for the supportive staff, the vibrant alum community and my cohort-mates who helped me through this. 

Thank you Turing :)