Turing School of Software and Design

This review was originally posted on coursereport.com:

I think the investment of time and money into Turing is worthwhile, but I was fortunate enough to complete the program without repeating any modules. This isn't true for a huge portion of students.... Read More I think that anyone applying to Turing needs to know that, from what I've seen, it is one of the more difficult coding schools out there. They'll throw students in the deep end and let them drown for a while, but help is there when anyone asks. Students struggle together and create a support network for each other. Every single week has at least 50-60 hours of commitment between project work time and class time. It can be more than that during the final week or two of each module. When I say it's hard, I mean that in order to succeed, you need to expect to take a break from everything else in your life.

I also like to mention that although Turing is very transparent about reporting their graduation and placement statistics, their metrics measuring these numbers have changed multiple times in the past couple years. In general, they have declined. For example, when I decided that I would apply to code schools in late 2015, Turing claimed to accept 8-14% of their applicants while placing well over 90% in careers that paid on average more than $80,000/year within 3 months of graduation. They also offered a tuition reimbursement guarantee if you didn't get an offer of at least $65,000/year in the first couple months after graduating. These are written in my notes from code school research, and they came from Turing's website in 2015. Those numbers have continuously declined, both while I was a student and after I graduated. They stopped guaranteeing tuition reimbursement just before I started in May 2016. The code school market is much more competitive now.

I still think Turing is a great life-changing experience. Is it worth the investment? Depends what you must sacrifice to get there. I obviously can't speak for the other coding schools, but Turing has competitors that claim better job placement, better starting salaries, and even competitors that don't make you pay any tuition until your first offer comes along. If you're located in Denver, I believe Turing would be a solid (and probably the best) choice. If you're planning to move in order to attend Turing, I'd weigh more options and look thoroughly at each one.

One additional component worth mentioning is that Turing takes to heart it's mission of developing not just skilled developers, but developers that are aware of social issues and how the web development world is engaged with, or impacts these issues. Everything from the gender wage gap, to accessibility for disabled persons, to examination of workplace stereotypes is covered in school-programmed discussions and activities. I don't know that this element exists at other coding schools. I appreciate what I gained from engagement in these discussions.

Turing is an incredibly welcoming and inclusive environment to learn, filled with highly qualified and personable instructors. Not only will you learn the technical skills, but also how to better communicate and collaborate with other developers. This... Read More is a vital piece to learn and practice that will help you throughout all of your career.

Turing's structure is set up well. While it might seem scary to think about "failing" a module and having to repeat, the structure is only there to help you ultimately become a SUCCESSFUL developer. Turing is built on the backbone of educational best practices. Their goal is NOT to churn you through the program, take your money and run. Instead, their goal is to set you up for success and ensure you have a deep enough understanding of the current module's content before throwing a bunch more at you. This will only help those who (like me) are changing careers and want to ensure they get a job quickly after graduating the program. The certificate you get for graduating is hardly worth anything. The skills you acquire however will be a solid launching point into a successful (and lucrative) career.

Lastly, Turing's reputation is only growing. I have worked at two companies now since graduating and both have spoken highly of the difference they see in Turing grads from your average "junior dev". The difference is real. Going to Turing has changed my life for the better and I am confident if you give it your all and work through the program, you will not regret it...Not to mention it allowed me to double my salary in less than 2 years since attending...just sayin'.

Pros
You will relearn how to learn
You will learn how to code
You will learn how to test your code
You will learn the latest frameworks
You will learn soft skills

Cons
You will burnout at least once (it's intentional)
You will live in a basement for at least... Read More 7 months
You will work 60-70 hours a week for those 7 months
If you fail a final you will repeat a 6 week module and incur additional tuition costs
If you fail too many modules you will get kicked out
Slower learners and parents tend to repeat or get kicked out
There are no real world projects for real clients
There is little to no job support

My experience at Turing was amazing. The curriculum, the instructors, and the other students were all top notch. It was good enough that I'm not sure how the experience could have been better for me. There are certainly some things that weren't perfect,... Read More but Turing is so responsive and adaptable that I either saw them fixed in my time there, or I'm certain they have been fixed now.

I did have some personality conflicts with one staff, but it never got in the way of learning, and that's just how life works. It wasn't even serious enough for me to think of raising a complaint. Other than that, I would count a lot of the staff there as friends.

Overall it was an excellent experience.

However, Turing is not easy, and you will not just walk into a high-paying job. Turing is for people that don't mind working hard to achieve something. I don't know anyone who finished Turing without at least a few 14 hour days. Everybody gets challenged at Turing, and some people simply aren't able to grasp the concepts, there is a high dropout rate. The staff will do everything they can to give you the attention and extra time that you might need, but at the end of the day, some people can't get it figured out.

As far as jobs, Turing doesn't really have partnerships set up with companies. What they do provide is a VERY thorough education into how the job market works, and a suite of tools and techniques that WILL get you a job if you do what they recommend. I personally started interviewing before I even graduated, and had an offer that I was happy with about a month after graduating.

If I had to do it over again, the only thing I would change is waiting so long to go to Turing. I should have gone a lot sooner!

The Turing School of Software and Design is hands down the best boot camp for people changing careers into coding. The three main reasons I believe Turing is the best choice are 1) It's a non-profit! 2)They teach you to understand the logic behind the... Read More code. 3) They teach more than just code. To touch on the first point, Turing is a non-profit, which means all the money they receive from students and donations goes back into the teachers, the facilities and the curriculum. Which means they are consistently looking to improve Turing. Other boot camps are more worried about if your check clears or not, and everything else is up to you to learn on your own. At Turing, if you just aren't understanding the material or decided you made a mistake going into software development, Turing will refund a prorated amount of your money based on how long you have been at Turing. That leads me to the next point, they teach you to understand the logic behind the code. At Turing they don't pass you from Mod(class) to Mod just because you finished your projects and lesson plans, they only move you on when they feel you truly know the material AND that you can speak to it. They make sure you really understand what you doing, so that when people give new issues to solve, you can think through it and know a way to solve it. I was taught the exact languages and frameworks that most jobs are looking for in developers. And thanks to the way Turing taught me, I have taught myself other frameworks and languages in a very short amount of time. Finally, we reach the third point, they teach more than just code. The professional development lessons, and gear ups were some of the most important lessons at Turing. At Turing they take the time to help you with resume building, mock interviews, cover letters, cold out-reach and even networking for you. As part of Turing you will shadow a tech job in Colorado, which usually ends with you shaking the hand of a CTO. The gear ups are really important as they cover topics like micro aggressions, debugging the gender gap in tech, and how to find a job with a good culture fit for you. I cannot thank Turing enough for everything they have done for me. I started Turing in May 2017, in December of that same year I had contract work, and a few months after that I accepted a full time job offer making more than double what I made as a state government employee. If you take anything away from this review, it is go to Turing!!!!

Turing was one of the most challenging yet rewarding things I have ever done. However, if you're looking to make a career change, I think this could be a good option for you! You will need to go in knowing that you won't have a lot of spare time for 7... Read More months, and that you will need to put in a lot of work and ask for help even when you don't want to. Not only will you gain valuable tech skills, but you will also get stronger at working with people who are different than you, how to collaborate efficiently and how to be a better team member. Not every paired-partner project goes well, and navigating those waters while being put under a lot of pressure to complete difficult projects can be tough. Both programs are difficult. If you ever hear that the frontend program is "easy" then you are being fed false information. I do remember some people in my class were under the impression that the frontend program would be more design focused, but this is not true. It's a lot of javascript and logic, with some of your scores going towards your css skills. Usually they give you a comp to make your projects match, at least in the beginning. If you think you'll be doing anything with photoshop then I'm telling you now that you won't. If that is what you want then I'd suggest looking into UX/UI programs.

I remember when I was deciding to do this that I hoped this would all work out and I can tell you that it's so worth it and it definitely worked out! I was not top of my class, but I did have 2 jobs offers before I even graduated! Keep in mind I had to hustle for these, as Turing does not hand you a job at the end, but they do provide a lot of tips on how to be successful in your job hunt. Currently I'm the happiest I've ever been in a job and can say that Turing was a big risk, but completely worth it. While you're deciding on a school to go, I'd encourage choosing a longer bootcamp over a 3-month program. There is so much to learn and I think you need to come in as prepared as possible. Good luck!

I recently finished Turing's front end program. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and that is not an exaggeration. It's a 7 month program, for me it ended up being 9 months (I had to repeat a module) which really isn't that long in... Read More the grand scheme of things, but it felt like an eternity. They call it a coding "boot camp" for a reason. Turing will test the limits of your physical, mental and emotional energy and push them to their breaking points and beyond. You will literally cry at points. You will be unbelievably stressed and frustrated. But you will learn more than you could ever imagine. I would like to share some extremely important information and things I wish I had known before taking the plunge and things to consider if you're thinking about enrolling. If you're looking for a career change, it is absolutely critical you do as much research into the program you're interested in as possible, and into the programming language used for the particular program as possible. Everything is open source for both programs on Turing's front and back end sites. Read through the lessons and look at the projects you have to do to get a feel for what you will be doing. You will essentially be learning 4 -5 year's worth of material n 6 -7 months. Again, you will be learning 4 -5 year's worth of material in 6 months, let that sink in for a moment.

In my case, I had no background in coding/programming at all before Turing and came from a teaching background. If you're looking for a career change and have no background in coding, if I could go back, I would have done some self-studying for AT LEAST one year before enrolling. If you have an engineering and math type of background or are really good thinking logically, you will have a good leg up.

Some other general things to make note of: You will not be able to have a job while being enrolled in a program at Turing. There is literally no time for anything else, you have to dedicate all of your time to the program to be successful, 60 - 80 hours a week. Be prepared to not have a life, but do make sure you make some time for yourself or you will go crazy, trust me. They have a "try coding" weekend where you can try out some coding to give you an idea if you might like it or not before enrolling. I would strongly recommend doing so especially if you don't have any prior experience. Just know, that the try coding experience is just BARELY scratching the surface of what you will actually be doing in the program.

Pros:

- The content/technologies you learn are phenomenal, and top of the line.
- You will actively be applying and coding out what you learn and building projects the entire time, giving you 1 -2 year's worth of experience and a very solid portfolio to show employers.
- The community is absolutely amazing, everyone is willing to talk to you, help you, and give advice. You will have an assigned mentor. You can ask for help from a total stranger in the school and they are more than willing to help you, I was never turned down when asking for help.
- Turing has a professional development curriculum with each program in addition to all the technical things you learn, which will help you prepare for getting a job and also work on and develop your soft skills and prepare you for job interviews.
- They have a decent job outreach plan, full-time career coach who you can talk to anytime, they give mock interviews and interview questions, etc.
- The staff (most of them) are all really great people and know what they're doing.
- Turing has an extremely good reputation with employers in Denver. Companies who hire Turing grads tend to hire more of them.
- Strong alumni network in Denver.

Cons:

- You are not guaranteed a job after graduating. They will help you as much as possible for what to do to get a job, strategies, etc. , but it is not guaranteed upon graduation, that's all on you.
- I thought it was a little misleading that the only requirements to get in were passing LSAT logic problems. There needs to be a higher standard and more prerequisites because both programs are very, very difficult.
- Turing moves EXTREMELY FAST. too fast really. You are being fed information through 10 fire hoses at once the entire time and then they throw more material at you, and then on top of that you have projects to do.
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Pros: incredible staff. intentional curriculum tailored to what is needed to be a successful entry level dev. Held to high standards that ensure you graduate knowing what you need to. Lots of support. Strong alum network, especially in Denver.

Cons: closest... Read More I can come to a con is that it takes up most of your time for 7 months which can be difficult.

If you decide to attend Turing and do the things you're told to by instructors and job staff you will graduate and get a great job.

Students, teachers and all employees make Turing a very special place, I not only learned to code but I learned how to be part of a community, how to work with others and how to contribute to the web development industry!

The seven month program was... Read More super hard but it was worth it

Modern life is so saturated with unwarranted uses of the phrase “life changing” that it’s status is largely reduced to paper-thin cliché with scant genuine meaning.
But, in stark contrast to this sublimely negative intro, I can unequivocally say that Turing... Read More changed my life for the better - and not merely through a career upgrade - but through the memories, community, and work ethic that I gained in the journey.

Too often the chief metric of success is post-completion salaries - which, of course, makes basic sense, the field is dominated by a perspective rooted in stats and hard numbers. But when weighted above all else, it misses the forest for the trees, leaving no room for the perspectives, confidence, and work ethic one can gain - and it is precisely in this dimension that I feel Turing shines brightest.

It is entirely possible to teach yourself how to code without the aid of any external programs. But with Turing, you’re not paying to simply “learn to code” (a dreadful mindset to be in) - you’re immersing yourself into the ranks of an absurdly varied cast of characters, a delightful amount of whom are, in equal measure, both intelligent and driven. You learn more, work harder, and experience more than you think is physically possible, so much so that the 7 months stretches out to feel like years (in a good way) because you’re actually living and learning each day on a near-unheard of level, cutting a stark contrast against Modern Life’s all-too common rhythm of “Work. Netflix. Sleep. Repeat” that blurs your days and weeks and months into an uninterrupted and mind-numbing dirge with few moments of note or genuine excitement (despite what carefully choreographed Instagram of Facebook feeds would suggest).

Never before had I been a part of a community so many people who were consciously working towards their goals, and the emboldening spirit of it all is positively infectious.

Turing’s curriculum imparts a fantastic level of hard skills, and it’s culture stokes a phenomenal work ethic and spirit. After my time there, I was eminently prepared for a full-time career as a Software Developer, and (more importantly) I was provided with the right attitude and mental frameworks to continue to succeed and learn moving forward.

Did I agree with everything? No. But I traveled to Denver to jump into the deep end of the pool, struggle, fail, succeed, and redefine my trajectory. Turing delivered on that more than I ever could have anticipated, it is an outrageously honest product, and I am a better person for having experienced it.