The Software Guild - CLOSED

I'm 35 and have a family to support. I've been working in the non-profit world and hit a dead end a long time ago and really wanted a change both in my career path and financially. I had known for a while I wanted to go into web development but knew my... Read More options were extremely limited. I live in Nebraska and there are a ton of .Net jobs - I wasn't going to move and I couldn't quit working to make this work. So, the first session The Software Guild had available for their online .Net program I jumped. There was only one other .Net option at the time and the Guild by far stood out as the better option. It was hard work but the support was there to make it happen. I was almost always able to get help within a couple of hours of needing it on most occasions and often within minutes. The staff is awesome. The curriculum was clear and easy to follow. I really appreciated all the videos and the ability to go over them as much as I needed to figure things out. Pre-work to graduation it took me 1 year to complete the entire program. I graduated in March, it is September now. It was hard to find work initially and took a lot of reaching out on my own. It makes sense that the Software Guild doesn't have connections in a lot of cities. No one knows who the Software Guild is here. After a few months it became clear that an internship to get my foot in the door was the right thing to do (especially in a college town where school just graduated a new class of Devs). So I took the internship and it paid. More than my non-profit job! The demand is there. Last week I was hired on full time and have increased my income by 20k/year with a promise of another 10k at the end of the year if I keep growing and working hard. Hard to believe... I still have a ton to learn, but the foundation is there and my employer is happy with how I'm doing. I'm so glad I took the risk. It will pay for itself this year.

I had a great time learning how to code with The Software Guild. The instructor was very good and helpful, and the Employee Network Manager (the guy helping you to get a job) was even more helpful, especially since he kept in touch long after I finished... Read More the class!

I am a full stack javascript developer since 2 years. My journey to becoming a programmer started at the age of 25 when I started dabbling in programming for fun. My first true step forward was the decision to go to the software guild in Kentucky. The... Read More course was intense as it should be for 3 months for learning JAVA. There was probably no other way in which I would have learned so much in such a small amount time. It was great having small class of 10 of like minded people doing the same. The teacher was great and so was the facility but honestly another route for ME would have been better. I am European, ideally I would have liked to get a job in the states that did not pan out because I would have required a sponsorship which is hard to get in general. In Europe these bootcamps I guess are not as recognized as in the states because I did not find a job right away. I did a 4 months internship and there after got a job. I feel like people care mostly about experience on your cv. So for me the better route would have been doing an internship with no pay. None the less the bootcamp was great and you come out of there not knowing how much you actually know, which is more then you think. So a good alternative would be to do an no pay internship.

I quit my job as a Registered Nurse to attend the Software Guild in Minneapolis in 2017 hoping to make a career change into Software Development in a short amount of time, and that's exactly what happened for me. The Software Guild prepared me with the... Read More base knowledge and some connections that helped me land my first job in Software Development within a couple months of graduation. It was the most intense educational experience I have ever had (and I made it through Nursing School). If you are willing to set aside three months to completely focus (There will be little time for anything else) on the curriculum and making the most of the experience, it is well worth the cost. The Software Guild gives its students the opportunity to meet and speed interview with several companies in the Minneapolis area, as well as coach its students on how to apply for jobs in the industry. If you're able to carry yourself well in an interview and keep an open mind regarding what your first job out of the Guild may be, you are given some great opportunities to land your first development job right out of the gate.

I'm not going to say that their curriculum was perfect, but it definitely was relevant. The instructors are experienced and excited to share their knowledge about any interests you may have outside of the curriculum and offer support even after graduation.

The Software Guild helped me to change my occupation from Registered Nurse to Software Developer within 5 months. I was nervous to take a chance on a Bootcamp, but I can speak for my experience with the Minneapolis branch of the Software Guild and say that enrolling was the best career decision I ever made.

I participated in the cohort to change careers, having never studied computer science or having coded before I began the pre-work. I came with a lot of corporate professional experience. I completed the course when I was 42.

The curriculum is very good.... Read More The instruction I received was adequate. It was the instructor's first time through the material, so I'm sure they are better at pacing and teaching the cohort curriculum now. I lucked out in my cohort-mates. There were some very talented programmers in class with me. I often learned as much or more from them than I did the instructor. The focus on paired programming really is a great teaching and learning tool for all of the students.

Acquiring a job after the cohort was not difficult for me. It can be hard to find a work place that takes inexperienced coders, but that seems to be changing for the better. Job placement is as much about professional work experience and personality fit as it is about raw coding ability. I've often thought that the cohort experience prepared and framed my thinking and skills to enable me to become a good developer, more than it turned me into a coder. It's the first big step in a much larger career of learning and growing. Boot-camp really is a good term for it.

I had been trying to learn software development on my own and youtube just wasn't cutting it. I had heard about a free program in town that teaches software development and helps you land a job. The only problem was the incredibly long waiting list and... Read More you only met in the class once a week. But right next door was The Software Guild, an everyday for 3 month program that took you from knowing nothing about coding to helping you land your first job! At the time, the price seemed to be a lot but the starting salary for entry-level developers in my field was 5-6x more than the price of the school! I learned a lot of great things and met some great people!

Pro's :
- A small class size for individualized help
- Great resources for out of the classroom learning
- Becoming friends with your classmates and helping each other solve problems
-Great atmosphere, i never felt like i was going to be judged on my coding ability if it wasn't up to speed with everyone else

Con's:
-Extremely difficult to work while going to school, make sure you have support while attending.
-The curriculum moves very fast, you will need to keep up with all of the information in front of you
-Getting to class by 9am.... I am not a morning person

Overall I had an amazing time and I would go back again if I could! Whenever i talk to someone who is interested in software development, I recommend The Software Guild every single time!!

Learning to code and make web applications is not a one step process. Many many things are involved in this process. So while learning this on your own is definitely possible, it is quite a daunting task. I took many courses online and learned how to... Read More do some simple code and make simple websites, but I never understood how the whole thing came together or how to make a web application with a backend and database.

This bootcamp brought it all together for me and made me understand the nitty-gritty to the whole big picture and helped get me into a place where I could get a software engineering job at a company that is not only in the Fortune 500 but also in the Fortune 100.

It was great to spend three plus months focused on learning without distractions and with a group of like-minded people. It is definitely a huge upfront investment in time and money, but if you make it through the pre-work without much trouble and are very interested in this field, just keep continuing on the path and eventually I believe you’ll come out happy like I did.

But this bootcamp is not magic. You must like coding and computers. You must be motivated to learn and code. If you are getting into this career for the money, you will probably drop out of this program quite quickly like several in our cohort did.

I was a part of the Java cohort in Minneapolis in 2016. Michael was our teacher, and he honestly was not the best, but us students still made it through. Now, I hear the teacher is Corbin. He is amazing. You won’t be disappointed.

Overall, this bootcamp changed my life and I am so happy I took the chance.

I worked retail in a print shop for 9 years before I became absolutely fed up with a dead-end job. I'd looked for jobs periodically throughout that 9 year span, without success. I also didn't want to go back to college. I came across the concept of coding... Read More bootcamps, and my research showed me that The Software Guild was the best option in my area. I gave it some thought, and signed up. That was the best decision I've ever made. I'm in a new career, working better hours, doing more fulfilling work, and making more money. All wins, across the board!

The Guild has a great curriculum that starts slow with the basics of programming and gradually moves faster between topics. If you're familiar with programming then the first month will probably be a recap for you. The instructors are helpful and insist... Read More on asking questions. They have resources outside of the scheduled lessons for more detailed learning, so you can learn at your own pace. Their facilities are excellent and equipped with everything you'd need to feel comfortable and prepared. They have social activities where you can meet alumni and software developers. And they're committed to helping you find employment once you're finished.