Skillcrush

While I like the mission statement that Skillcrush promotes - giving women (a minority in tech) a comfortable place to learn tech skills - there are a few issues I have with the curriculum itself. Prior to taking the web development blueprint, I had some... Read More experience with HTML & CSS but wanted to better hone my skills before moving along with learning about Wordpress and visual design. Given what I paid, just for the front-end developer portion, I think I could have invested that in another program entirely (ex. Pluralsite or Codecadamy pro) and supplemented with some YouTube or Udemy and learned more for less. My biggest issue with the initial blueprint was a serious conflict in the video content vs the practice assignments. It was as though they would update some parts of the curriculum but not others. In tech, you need to keep things relatively up to date. I notice issues with some things being out of date or out of sync with one another. Not all of the materials cover the most up to date techniques of languages. They have you struggling through floats when there is flexbox and grids. I really questioned the value of the material.

Unless you do your research - hopscotch all over their site through the Q&As - you're going to be misled about additional costs to the courseware. When you review the visual design or web design courseware, you are left to think the courseware is the only thing you are paying for. Some parts require PS, which is not cheap (can cost $600 a year) and doesn't always qualify for a student discount (~$10.99 a month) unless YOU email Adobe and request a student discount. Not everyone gets one. Skillcrush suggests emailing Adobe, but they don't offer any guarantees, and they have no arrangement with PS so they can't just give you a code to use as a means of getting the student discount. I found this out AFTER I signed up for the visual design portion of a blueprint. No * or small note on the site warning about additional costs with the blueprint. If you are completely new to tech or design, how are you going to know or anticipate there will be additional costs atop the class?

As to their online presence, many of the videos, especially those on Youtube, are old, like ~2014. When they have webinars, they are difficult to watch and listen in on as there is invariably some feedback, echo, or technical issues with video quality. I would think as the face of women in tech, they would have protocols in place to ensure better audio and video quality.

Anyway, many of the resources are great. I especially love their tech pdfs available throughout their website. Support and customer service was great. The professors really do go out of their way to help, and there are class groups where students can hash out their coding issues.

By the time I got to the Javascript portion of my courseware, my enthusiasm for Skillcrush petered out. Ultimately, I requested a refund for the remaining blueprints and have since sought out other online learning avenues. I think the overall concept is great, and I can tell they are growing, but there are some areas that need improvement.

I have a background in digital photography and a couple years ago decided to get serious about adding web dev to my skillset. I have a background that is almost strictly in art and philosophy, no prior computer programming or math aside from college requirements.... Read More Needless to say, once I started learning javaScript, things got a little tricky. I paid for one bootcamp in particular for about 15 months, got 75% of the way through a Front End track, but kept getting stuck on functions. So, I used several other classes I found online, but still felt that though I understood the concept, could not grasp the nuts and bolts of the syntax of functions in order to write my own. Enter Skill Crush.

This platform, all videos and lessons were created by women for women (yes, men are allowed to take the classes also). I believe there is much to be said for women being able to speak women's language. There are exceptions of course, but with 1 hour spent here on functions, I finally understood the syntax and could write my own functions, to the point where even when it wasn't required in the lesson, I was writing a function because it made more sense!

Personally, finding a space like this helps me get over the emotional hurdles of 'Can I do this?' 'Am I too old?' (I'm in my early 40s.) And the way Skill Crush goes about projects and the concepts needed to write projects is so much better than what I've seen. I was a home schooling mom and had my kids learning to code, which is what brought me to do it myself. I have used at least 8 other free and paid coding schools - all of which have been helpful to some degree - but the way in which the content is taught as Skill Crush clicks for me much quicker. I am 70% of the way through Front End, so I can't speak yet to job support.

They have tracks in Front End, Full Stack, WordPress and Visual Design. The support is AMAZING and the cost is so low it doesn't seem real compared to other online bootcamps!

Skillcrush took the money from me for the course that I don't want to be in and not giving me the money back. I tried to contact Skillcrush for a refund but they refused. Now they are charging me around $200 every month for the course that I'm not using.... Read More

I already made 9 month payment for them. I had to contact my credit card company to stop paying for Skillcrush. After that, Skillcrush blocked me from the course without notification. When I called them on the phone, it went straight to their voicemail. I feel like they didn't want to deal with me in person.

I feel like this company is treating me unfairly and oppressively. They care more about the money than helping women.

Skillcrush was amazaing at not only teaching me the syntax and structure of programming but also the concepts that most don't think about when starting in the tech industry, like web hosting, using photoshop to help build your website, etc. I think the... Read More biggest take away for me was the groups of people I got to interact with on a daily basis. I always thought posting and replying on forms was such a taunting task that I convinced myself to reaserch for hours until I found my answer but thanks to the Instructors making it seem so painless and easy to ask questions, I was able to finally overcome that fear and now I actually enjoy commenting, and posting on forms. I would defitnely recommend this to anyone who's wanting to step into the tech industry.

These courses are broken down into baby steps with fun lesson challenges. It allows people who have no experience coding to get started and not become overwhelemed. There are lots of books and youtube videoes, blogs, etc... out there that you can try... Read More to learn how to code from but Skillcrush makes learning code so much more attainable with its easy to understand course work. Also, lots of support from other students and instructors when needed! I've tried to teach myself html & CSS from other resources in the past and ended up feeling defeated and confused. I am very happy to have found Skillcrush!

I did the Web Developer Blueprint and I learned some things about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby and GitHub. I came into it feeling unsure of myself and they're messaging is very encouraging so I thought it would be a good fit. But once I got into it I really... Read More felt like I was on my own. The videos you watch everyday are remarkably cheerful so it's really jarring when you do office hours with actual people who are really impatient. The Google Chat could be helpful but again the TA that was supposed to respond was really unreliable.
I did learn some information. It didn't cost me much. I would only recommend with the strong caution that their marketing and sales is more important to them than teaching. They'll email you constantly about ways they can help you by signing up for ANOTHER blueprint but are hard to find when you need help with the one you are actually doing.

PROS

- Affordable
- Easy to follow
- Fast paced
- Lots of freebies
- Community
- Awesome teachers
- Real time communication, many channels
- Serious skills! I coded my website in three weeks!

CONS

- Sometimes the classes are too big and it's not as individual... Read More
- Side costs (host, domain, ps) should be at least hinted up front from the beginning, not in the middle of a lesson... That made me stagger a little.

OVERALL

I love it and would recommend it to as many friends as possible! It's an empowering, positive, can-do approach. Great for career transitions! And networking!

Pro: Easy to understand lessons, varied paths for support, intelligent mix of plain language and technical jargon to lead you to the correct result, compassionate instructors that demonstrate they understand where you're coming from.

Con: I haven't come... Read More across one any yet. Will repost if I do.

I had been considering learning to code for awhile, but didn't know the best way to start. The blueprints at Skillcrush teach clearly while working towards specific goals. The classes are even kind of fun. Would definitely recommend getting started with... Read More Skillcrush!

I cannot say how much I love Skillcrush. When I decided to start learning tech, I started feeling discouraged after spending a while looking at other online classes that charge upwards of $1000. Then I found Skillcrush. Blueprints are 3 months long, in... Read More 3 separate sessions (and 1 week break in between each). You can pay the whole $399 up front, or do three monthly payments of $149, which is what I've done and has worked really well for me. You really can't beat that price ESPECIALLY with all of the skills you're learning, resources you're getting, advice you receive, and support you get from your peers and the Skillcrush team and teachers!
I initially signed up for the Visual Design blueprint. I loved it so much that when I decided I wanted to get into coding, I signed up for ANOTHER blueprint in Front End Development. I've learned so much so fast! (And you can learn at your own pace--there aren't deadlines, and you can work at your own speed. You own the blueprint for life when you buy it so you don't need to worry about getting behind and never finishing or anything like that. Plus they set lessons up in a very easy time frame. Just set aside an hour a day!)
Now I'm signed up for the Wordpress Developer blueprint which I'll begin once I'm done with the FED one. I'm so excited about everything I've learned and what I will learn. I have a great portfolio already, and I've only been doing this since June 2016--right now its mid-August!
If you want great experience learning with a responsive team and peers, and something you can do at your own pace as well for a great price, Skillcrush is absolutely for you! I can't recommend them enough!