Devmountain

I took DevMountain's part-time web development class. It was a great school, class, and learning environment but I want to learn more.

For me, I don't think the part-time class was enough. I wish I would have taken the full-time class. I just don't have... Read More the time to be able to drop everything I am doing and dedicate full-time to learning code.

I think I just went into the part-time bootcamp thinking things would be easy because part-time = less time, which means less work. I think myself, along with many other students, came into the class expecting it to be a fruitful endeavor while also being a breeze. On about week 1 or 2, myself and my classmates realized that was not the case. The bootcamp was a kick in the pants.

I would only recommend taking DevMountain if you are 100% serious about learning these difficult skills. It really showed me what it truly takes to become a developer. Students at DevMountain needs to be dedicated.

The part-time class was perfect for me because I was still attending a local university. Attending DevMountain in the evenings was ideal for my schedule. But I do wish I could of dedicated even more time to learning.

The curriculum was seriously challenging. We all buckled down and put ourselves to work. Our mentors and instructors were super helpful in the whole process and now that the class is over I feel really comfortable with my skills.

My goal was met in taking DevMountain, I just wish I had time to take the full-time class.

Unfortunately, I do not have very many good things to say about DevMountain. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have chosen a different school.

PROS:
Free drinks
Access to a TV
A 'graduate' name from a good school

CONS (story time)
-DevMountain understates... Read More that it is accelerated learning. We are basically expected to drink from a firehouse without any assistance or understanding. Classes are Monday-Friday from 9:00am-5:00pm, but only 2.5 hours of that is actually spent learning. We are given an hour lunch break and 3.5 hours of project time. That in itself is unacceptable. During the 2.5 hours of learning, we are thrown information from mediocre instructors who clearly do not have an act for teaching. After the lecture and an overly long lunch break, we are given a project to help reinforce what we learned earlier. Well, the projects do NOT reflect what we learned in the morning lecture (so we are constantly sitting around in confusing waiting for people to hold our hand and walk us through it), there are countless spelling and grammatical errors (making me question how fast the projects were thrown together in the first place), and when we need help on the project, we are encouraged to "Google Everything First". Umm. No. I did not pay to be told to google everything.
-I paid $10,000 to attend this course. Is it wrong for me to expect a certificate of 'graduation', competent teachers, and a reassurance that I will understand the material? I don't think those expectations are that high.
-The statistics given of students being hired within the first 3 months after graduation are absurd. They say the hiring rate is 95%, but the majority of people I have known/looked up on Linkedin, have not received a job. I firmly believe that the stats were made up to bring more students in and herded through the program.
-During my cohort, there were 2 classes coming through, but half way through, we were kicked out of our classroom (which was furnished with new chairs, tables, and computer monitors) and tucked into another classroom with all of the old chairs, warped floors, broken/wobbly tables, and an A/C that's so loud you can't think. I see what they did here, get you excited and feeling like you have the best quality equipment and environment that you'll want to stay for the 6 weeks, but after the 6 weeks (and the last opportunity to receive a refund) they dump you in the back because it's too late to leave.
-I put the word 'graduate' in quotations earlier and now because you can fail at everything and still 'graduate' at the end of the 12 week course. There are no tests, mandatory projects, or accountability that you are understanding the material. You're brought in, herded through and sucked clean of your money and time (most spent figuring out what you 'learned' in lecture earlier that day by googling everything that night), and then pushed out at the end saying "Congratulations! I successfully sat through 12 weeks of useless teaching!"

Lastly, I continue to question where all of my tuition money is going. While attending, I paid for 450 hours of education, but in reality, I received 120 hours and a whole lot of hardship with my after school life trying to make up for the lost time. Below is the break down of the time you're actually paying for.

Monday - Friday (9:00am-5:00pm) ---> 5 days a week ---> 12 weeks = 450 hours
Lunch Hours (12:30pm-1:30pm) ---> 5 days a week ---> 12 weeks = 60 hours (390 hours of learning)
Pointless Review Time (9:00am-10:00am) ---> 5 days a week ---> 12 weeks = 60 hours (330 hours of learning)
Non-helpful Project Time (1:30pm-5:00pm) ---> 5 days a week ---> 12 weeks = 210 hours (120 hours of learning)

After that break down, it's clear to see that I actually dropped 10K for 120 hours of learning. Hmm. Yeah. From the material, the environment, the teachers, and the 'support' system they provide, $83.33/hour is NOT worth it.

I looked into a dozen other boot camps before deciding to go to DevMountain and I couldn't be happier that I did. Less than a month after graduating I got a job offer at an awesome company and couldn't believe how much had learned in those short 12 weeks.... Read More DevMountain is the boot camp you are looking for.

Pros:

I learned so much, so quickly. Seriously every day is just a firehose of knowledge and you are trying to catch as much of it as you can. In the past I finished my bachelors degree and this was so much more intense. The Instructors are so good and... Read More the mentors were always there to answer the questions I had. Also the Job preparation week and instruction was one of the most useful courses that I have ever participated in. I did get a job very quickly afterwards.

Cons:

You will have to work...HARD. There were so many nights that I stayed there until 9 or 10 at night. You need to have that expectation, so that you can be successful. Expect to struggle. You will have new concepts being thrown at you left and right, and the struggle is real, but totally worth it.

DevMountain was a great experience. I learned more here, faster, than I could've in probably two years on my own, and came out of it making about twice what I was making before, doing something I love. The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is because... Read More (when I went, over winter 2015-2016) the curriculum badly needed to be updated and made consistent. I've heard from later cohorts that they've put a lot of effort into that, though. I'd definitely recommend this place over just about any other bootcamp (I did my research beforehand and ruled out all others except for HackReactor and DevLeague).

Dev Mountain is great for anyone who wants to work hard and play hard. I moved to Provo from Chicago to attend Dev Mountain. It was by far the best career move I had made. I went in not to be a programmer, but to understand how software works. Now I work... Read More as an Engineer at Morningstar Inc.

You will learn a lot especially if you work hard and surround yourself with passionate students/instructors. I stayed after hours, worked weekends and worked tirelessly on my projects. I was also having a lot of fun. Passion is important if you are going to enroll yourself at a boot camp because it requires long hours.

Instructors were great. Every instructor is different and has a different teaching style. Some of you will struggle with certain instructors because that may not be your learning style. I kept asking questions till I understood the concept. They care to teach, so ask questions!

If you attend the Provo campus then you are setting yourself to have a great time. By having a great time, I don't mean party every weekend. There are mountains all corners of the campus. If you want a break, you can walk, hike, or ride your bike. Your surroundings matter when you are working in an intense environment. Provo is just that! It helps you relax and helps you stay focused. If you are coming from a big city or a non-Mormon world, people will question you for going to Utah. People in Utah are perhaps the nicest people I've come across. Don't let that be a decision factor. I learned a lot about the culture along with writing how to code. It was an awesome experience outside of school -- getting to know people, learning about communities, and tons of hiking & outdoor adventures.

Provo is also cheap overall and Dev Mountain takes care of housing (A HUGE BENEFIT). When you are learning, you don't want to be thinking about your finances especially when you are without a job. They want you to focus on learning not finances.

If you are willing to work hard and give your all then go for it! You won't regret it!

This was literally a life changing experience for me. Prior to attending DevMountain, my work history consisted of working either in crappy low-paying retail jobs or waiting tables. I always had a penchant for coding but never knew how to take what was... Read More a hobby for me to the next level and turn it into a career, and DevMountain was the transition that I was looking for. Just last week I accepted a job offer as a software developer that will now allow me to support my family in ways that before were just something I wished I could do.

It will not be easy and your success will be entirely up to you. You get out of it what you put into it. I was in the immersive 9-5 m-f class, and there were days where I stayed until 10pm or longer working on projects -- not because I had to, but because I was driven to because I was determined to succeed (and also because I began to enjoy the challenge and the process of creating something!).

As for the reviewer that gave it one star and mentioned it being "an all Mormon school" -- I have no idea what he's talking about. Religion never once came up, everything was all about code. I myself am Jewish and never once did I feel out of place or uncomfortable. While mentors have 4-5 students assigned to each of them, they are more than willing to take you aside and go over material on a 1-on-1 basis with you if you need help. I saw it happen regularly. They want you to succeed.

Again, only you can do the work needed to be successful, but if you're willing to put in the time then DevMountain can provide you with the tools you need to unlock your path.

My experience at DevMountain was literally life changing and a highlight of my established career and education. Prior to enrolling, I attempted to learn the basics of web development from YouTube, Team Treehouse, friends and other various tutorials.... Read More While there is a wealth of quality self instruction available on the internet, it is only accessible if you are fluent enough in the the syntax of development to take advantage of it. I would follow a tutorial and then get stuck at a "basic" point. I never progressed or gained enough comprehension to have any degree of autonomy. I was sick of being frustrated and it was obvious I was only going to learn from an instructor, so I jumped on the chance to attend DevMountain's first Dallas cohort. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I came to the school with a clear expectation of leaving with the ability to build a fully functioning web application. Logins, security, external API's, permissions, testing, hosting... all of it. Not only did DevMountain meet my expectation but they beat it by consistently over delivering. Others have covered the curriculum basics, so I won't rehash that, but I do feel it is necessary to address some of the negative reviews I've seen here.

In DevMountain, as with life, you are going to get out what you put in. The students airing grievances about staff, curriculum, projects and job prospects were 100% down the line the same ones who NEVER ASKED A QUESTION IN THREE MONTHS. Unsurprisingly they were also the same ones bitching about accommodations, desks, coffee, elevators, etc. It was a theme I saw from day one all the way through the hiring luncheon.

The staff is not there to cater the entire program to a particular student's ability or attitude. Nor are they mind readers, channeling each student's inner thought for signs of comprehension. There are there to deliver quality instruction, answer questions and help students work through more complex problems. In three months, I never encountered an instance where DevMountain staff was unable to provide clear, actionable answers to my questions. If the did not know an answer immediately, they would research and loop back to you later in the day or keep pushing the question up the chain until someone could answer it properly.

Regarding the curriculum, yes there are times when something is unclear or slightly outdated. Guess what?!? That's exactly how it is when you enter the workforce. Get used to it. If all problems were solved, there wouldn't be a need for employees. I get the impression that some negative reviewers are long on opinion and short on real world experience.

I also don't understand some of the intolerant comments on Mormonism( I am not Mormon). These folks (and not all were Mormon) were some of the nicest, most accommodating people I have ever meet.

I wholeheartedly recommend this school. While others left with piddling complaints, I left with a fully functioning web application my company now uses daily and a set of valuable skills that allow me to learn more and build more in the future. What more can you ask for?

As a recent graduate of DevMountain, I thought of writing a review with my experiences only after getting a job! It is kind of selfish of me, but that is a reality. Well, I didn’t have to wait too long! I got a job offer from a reputed company within... Read More one week of graduation! This company was amongst many others who had been invited for the employer meet-and-hire event hosted by DevMountain. The event provided me with a great platform to interact with these companies and showcase the applications that I had worked on personally and in a group.

Their course syllabus is carefully built to give you the most learnings and a joyful experience executing it. I was in their full-time immersive Web Development course. They focused on the MEAN stack that is so in-demand today. This way you can go in-depth with JavaScript across the application layers making you very adept at it. I can attest to their approach since going depth-first helped me become skillful in developing full-stack applications and deploying them. Not only that, I can now quickly draw parallels to other technologies out there and find it easy to conquer them too. DevMountain’s approach makes sense to me, it is very effective and I love it.

DevMountain’s syllabus also provided a much needed chance to work on a personal project mid-way into the course and also on a group project towards the end. With my personal project, I got a chance to implement all that I learnt from their instructors and mentors. DevMountain’s instructors and mentors have a lot of industry experience and a great passion for teaching. This helped me a lot since I got distilled knowledge and real-world application best practices that otherwise would have taken me years to achieve on my own. I got my money's worth many times over right there. Their group project provided me with an experience of working in a team as I would in the IT industry. There are so many things to learn from the dynamics of a team that you would only when put in one!

DevMountain is also unique in that they provide free and fully-furnished housing! For me, the housing was so close to their campus that I could walk over every day and come back in the evenings. My wife was very relieved to know of this accommodation by DevMountain. It freed up my mind too of all worries with regards to my safety and convenience of stay. I could remain focused on achieving my goals. I am forever grateful to them for that.

Absolutely nothing comes to my mind that DevMountain could have done better for me and others in my class. I attribute a big part of my success to the learnings I had from their experienced instructors and mentors. They are the best out there. Getting a job within only a week of graduation proved it for me and hopefully it will for you also.

The Web Development job market is so hot right now and it is only going to get hotter. If you want to get in and invest your time learning, you should do so judiciously. There is absolutely no time to waste! So, if you are still on the fence, you shouldn’t be anymore. I believe my experiences with DevMountain will help you decide your next course of action. I wish you all the very best indeed.

DevMountain put all the pieces together to make this an option for me. I was considering leaving the state for several months, without the ability to work and pay $12k+ for tuition. Instead I was able to stay here, still work and pay a fraction for a... Read More high quality coding education that has opened the biggest/best door in my life. I never completely understood enjoying a job/profession until I became a developer. Thanks to DevMountain I have a solid foundation and intense passion for programming plus a well-paying career I love!