Devmountain

I placed a big bet on Devmountain considering I, as the sole breadwinner in my family of four, stopped working for thirteen weeks to become a developer. Although I had heard about Devmountain for years I still researched multiple other schools and camps.... Read More There are so many choices available right now (a great problem to have) but as I reached out to people I actually knew who were working in software and web development, most of them had gone through Devmountain so I pulled the trigger (keep in mind, I lived and and worked in the Lehi/Provo, Utah area at the time which is where Devmountain started and could explain why so many people in my network had gone through it).

Since I was looking to enroll a few months after COVID really became a global concern the tuition was heavily discounted and what used to be an in-person program was being offered in a remote context. I couldn't ignore the value and accessibility Devmountain was offering so decided it was time to make the plunge--and I'm so glad I did.

From the beginning I got a sense that Devmountain, which had been around for a while at that point, was pushing to innovate and improve their program. Their student experience and outcomes departments especially were two services I hadn't fully considered when shopping for bootcamps and they delivered beyond my expectations. The outcomes department has been revamped within the past year and provides a huge network of past grads, recruiter networking, mentoring opportunities, career prep resources, as well as job search and interview training. The student experience department reached out consistently throughout my thirteen weeks, just checking in to make sure I was doing well and to be a third party I could talk to beyond the instructional/mentor staff. My student experience manager even responded to some messages I sent her while she was out of office traveling to a family wedding and a I was having a particularly overwhelming day.

The Devmountain staff pushed us as a group yet allowed for us to learn as individuals at our own pace while making themselves available as resources at every point.

I can't express enough how much I felt like they more than delivered on the their promises. I couldn't have made this change at this point in my life without my experience at Devmountain (or at least made this change as confidently).

There were a few things that could have been better. I had fairly consistent problems accessing lecture recordings for review. That mostly had to do with the platform we were using (GoToMeeting) and the growing pains of switching an in-person learning experience to a remote one. For the most part I was able to work around those hiccups though and access recordings of the same content from other cohorts who were behind and ahead of me.

Devmountain has been a game changer in my life and career. I'm so excited for what I've learned there and I feel like I have the tools to push myself and keep progressing on my own. I can't recommend Devmountain enough.

Something to consider: The Devmountain instructional experience is heavily dependent on the instructor. I got to try a few "samples" of different instructors by checking out past lecture recordings and on days where another cohort's instructor subbed for our instructor. Luckily the curriculum was uniform but I definitely found that, at least for me, the instructor was the biggest factor on the quality of my learning beyond just my own practice and self-guided study. I never had an experience with a bad instructor during my time, but definitely felt like having a bad or less competent instructor could have easily ruined my experience. Again, from what I can tell, Devmountain is aware of this and seems to provide the best instructors they can find. No complaints, just something to consider when making your choice.

I was working my way thru various self learning sites like Udemy, freecodecamp, etc..., but had a hard time with my focus and what to learn next. Although they were great ways to learn, Devmountain really helped add structure and answer questions I would... Read More have struggled to answer myself. From the beginning they are there for you and really help in breaking down complex problems so that you really understand whats going on with the code. I am very happy with my choice of attending their remote program, but keep in mind you get what you are willing to put into it. If you're not willing to work hard with extra hours you will struggle. They are essentially shoving a year or so worth of knowledge down your throat in 3 months so be prepared to be confused and willing to put in the extra work to fully understand it all.

I truly loved my time at Devmountain. My skill set grew measurably over the course of the bootcamp at a ridiculous rate. More than that however, I have changed as a student. I feel empowered to continue learning on my own-- no longer limited to what courses... Read More I can afford or fit in to my schedule. My cohort was entirely remote due to COVID-19, but the enthusiasm of the faculty and staff at Devmountain still shone through. I love Devmountain!

Great experience looking forward to developing more iOS app now that I have the process under my belt. It started out as a very intense learning process, but once I got enough of the concepts down, the development process started flow. Group group of... Read More instructors and mentors who are willing to take the time to help you learn.

DevMountain had a rigorous, fast-paced web development course. I was taught the most up to date tech at the time. To be successful, you have to work hard. If the pace is too fast, they also offered a go-at-your-own-pace curriculum, which is really great.... Read More They offered interview prep, resume review, and are always alerting alums about job opportunities and career fairs. I've talked to bootcamp grads from other bootcamps and I feel like I was better prepared for the job than they were. Overall, attending Devmountain was the best career decision I ever made.

I attended the Immersive - QA course in Jan-Feb2019, I was nervous due to having no experience other then construction and warehouse. It turns out I loved it, It was a lot of work and it was a big gamble. Luckily the instructors we're helpful and caring.... Read More They even spent some time upon my request to go back over a few things which help my confidence level a bunch by the end. I even maintain my relationship with them and talk with them monthly.

After completing I took a unpaid internship at a startup while I looked for work, it didn't last long. I got hired 1 month to the day of completing based on the networking I had done which was part of curriculum of the course.

It's been a year and a month since I completed, my life is completley different now. I make 2x more money then I've ever made in my life, I actually am excited about the job I do and its interesting and challenging.

The company I work for prefers DevMountain QA's opposed to other applicants due to the skill set that course teaches.

I'm not sure if theres anything "magic" about the DevMountain program compared to other immersive bootcamp programs. That said if you are looking to break into the field and give yourself some rocket fuel to reach your goals, an immersive program like... Read More this is exceptional. Course content is nothing special either... certainly you can find all the information from various sources online. That said, having a massive amount of skin in the game ($10k+) and an expectation that you are there all day every day is, at least for me, exactly the level of motivation I needed to get things done. I had procrastinated and drug my feet for years trying to learn online from self-paced resources. If you go through DevMountain and REALLY COMMIT yourself and work your brains out, you WILL be successful.

I came out of the program and secured a $70k / yr job and am now (a few years later) making 6 figures. You can do it too. Hard work, dedication, grit will get you there. You can't halfa$$ it.

I would like to preface with the end of my cohorts experience moved to online due to the covid-19 quarantine.
I already had a good amount of front-end knowledge so learning back-end and how it works using Node was a big help in understanding the whole... Read More ecosystem.
The beginning of the course was more of a recap of basic fundamentals of front-end programming. The basic HTML/CSS and JavaScript was a nice refresher and I felt like it really cemented things I already knew or things I had questions about.
The more advanced parts such as React/Redux were a nice addition to my tool belt and I'm glad I had instructors to walk through examples.
The main reason I came to the school was to dip my toes into back-end development. We used Node connected to a Heroku database. We also learned authentication using bcrypt and sessions. For the database, the architecture was made by us (the students) using Postgres. Critical thinking and planning was very important in this state of creating tables and cells.
Lastly we spent a day on testing modules for react and a day for job search prep and resume building.
By the last month we were asked to move from in person to remote and out of the 5 instructors/mentors that we started with, only 1 stayed the duration of my cohort.

PROs:
I had accountable for all of my work.
The COVID-19 pandemic was handled very professionally. For each cohort there were special circumstances for partial or full refunds. Along with some refund when moving out of provided housing with a refund of a set amount.
Planning was very important in the project. Learning how to plan pieces and layout the plan was a skill I didn't know I even needed.
I feel as though the knowledge they were teaching was very marketable and could be used to branch out to other technologies I would be curious about using or implementing.
They also provided housing in downtown Dallas with all things needed to cook and a comfortable living space.

CONs:
The knowledge checks and certification process needs to be more strict to make sure that students are retaining knowledge. Simple things like going line by line in random sections of exercises or projects would highlight students that need additions attention or are not ready to be certified.
I felt as though the instructors/mentors were checkout because they had jobs lines up and were ready to leave by the time we got there.
The main knowledge the instructors/mentors provided was mainly aligned with the curriculum or they were fresh graduates from the boot camp with no other experience.
Final/Group Project: There was a very real chance of having partners with little to no skills to contribute to the project. It was obvious that these partners took credit even though they did not help.
School is putting values on arbitrary milestones that had nothing to do with skill or knowledge for badge requirements, which is an extra certification step to show additional skills and readiness.

Devmountain did a great job delivering what they said they would. I did a lot of research beforehand and was satisfied that my experience matched the research. Great facility, staff, instructors, mentors, and peers. I felt like a bought a product called... Read More Devmountain and am so glad I have continuing access to those resources I had as a student.

My time at DevMountain was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My classmates were really about helping each other and the staff was super supportive. The mentors and instructors seemed to be very invested in our success. They were always available... Read More to help if we got stuck on something and even assisted after business hours, when needed. Our campus manager provided many encouraging words. The entire Dallas staff maintained an open door policy to help in any way possible.