Turing School of Software and Design

Module 1, Sunday, beginning of week 5... One may judge that a review like this should not be written this early into the Turing program, but it's happening. 22+ years of experience in public education may give readers more initial respect for one 47 year... Read More old woman's opinion. This experience totals 15 years from CCSD (Dell H Robison MS, Las Vegas) and another 7+ in DPS(Denver): all inner city/at risk, all middle school (primarily 8th grade), teacher (math, art, title 1, yearbook, writing), learning strategist(custom created position supporting all subjects in the classroom+ data analyst). Education awards, accolades, professional organizations, committees, workshops, peer tutoring programs, state school improvement teams etc... are available upon request. Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (May 2000, UNLV) classes taught what learning environments could aspire to achieve. The Turing School of Software and Design is all that is advertised and more. Did not know it was possible to have a truly accelerated learning program at this level. The community is real, the curriculum is ever changing for the better, the staff delivers daily mind blowing lessons in coding and life. The Turing School is extremely difficult; think tears, frustration, self-doubt, anger, no sleep. All of these things lead to proving that the impossible is possible in that special basement on 15th Street. You join a very unique family, filled with brilliant, kind humans, as soon as you walk through that door. Believe the hype!

I wasn't even going to write a review here but somebody using my name wrote a really negative one so I feel the need to set the record straight.

First of all, I was their for 9 months, not 7. I got sick and had to miss a module. The course goes in four... Read More 6 week modules with a week break in between each.

Ironically, what the fake me said about being able to do the same thing on my own in half the time of self study is the exact opposite of how I actually feel. I went to Turing specifically because I was getting nowhere with self study. It was at Turing that I received the structure and support to really take my abilities as a web developer to the next level.

Even though this shouldn't matter, since the fake me brought up Jeff supposedly having a huge ego or being a problem I will comment on him. I can not think of a single other human being who I am more neutral to on a personal level than Jeff Casimir. He is not exactly the most sociable guy but he is friendly enough and I can honestly say that I neither like nor dislike him. However, as a program administrator there is nobody better than Jeff. He went out of his way to make Turing work for me even when I repeatedly screwed things up. Jeff takes the success of his students very seriously and there was never a time that I was there that I had any doubts about his commitment to everybody doing well and finding jobs after the course was completed.

The rest of the staff is great too. Honestly it is really the staff that makes Turing. They are all so friendly and helpful. They really go the extra mile to give you the support that you need to be successful.

As for whether I'd recommend it, it really depends on what you are looking for. If you really want to learn how to become a better web developer, and can afford the time and monetary commitment then definitely go for it. For my own part, I feel like going to Turing was one of the best investments I ever made. That said, it is a lot of money, a lot of time and it's stressful as well so I'd only recommend somebody pursue it if they really wanted to learn web development. If you aren't passionate, I don't think you can make it unless you are a super genius, in which case you don't need a coding school/bootcamp anyway.

-- The REAL Adam Smith

A year ago, I recognized that I was unhappy with my career and decided to make a change into Software Development. After researching several programs, I ultimately decided on Turing for a few reasons:

1. Their emphasis on the importance of pedagogy
2.... Read More A (relatively) longer program sounded appealing
3. The reputation of Jeff Casimir within the industry

Overall, I am beyond satisfied with my decision. At the risk of sounding fanatical, it's probably the best choice i've ever made.

As a student, you are surrounded by a wonderfully weird and diverse group of intelligent, driven, and empathetic individuals, all working toward a similar goal. Most of the instructors come from an education background, and do a remarkable job of patiently walking you through very complicated subjects. In addition to the teachers and more 'advanced' students, you also have access to an ever-growing network of mentors that provide one-on-one guidance.

That said, the program is incredibly demanding, and you get out what you put in. It's up to the individual student to fully utilize the resources which are provided, and often you will be thrown into the deep end without much hand-holding or direct guidance. This can be very frustrating at times, but also forces you to learn how to problem solve on your own, creating confidence to tackle problems in a professional setting.

A previous review gave Turing 1 star, which seemed aimed more at Jeff Casimir the individual than Turing as an educational program. There's no doubt that Jeff is a polarizing individual, but you'd be hard-pressed to find many leaders who aren't, and it's my opinion (and that of almost everyone I know who completed the program) that Jeff does what he does because he legitimately wants to make a difference. As far as the efficacy of the program, there's not much room for debate: Almost all graduates find good jobs upon completion of the program, and tend to perform better than expected for Junior developers.

After 7 months, I landed my dream job. If that wasn't such a common occurrence among Turing graduates, it'd be remarkable.

Cons => It eats your entire life and soul for 7 months (seriously I'm pale and have only been on like 3 dates in the past 6 months).

Pros => Its exceptionally challenging. LONG HOURS. Don't come here and expect to coast (seriously... you've been warned).... Read More

I have built (from scratch):

A Binary Search Tree (an almost logarithmic searching algorithm).
An ORM (Object Relational Mapper) similar to ActiveRecord.
A webserver to observe web traffic (kind of like google analytics).
A complete e-commerce platform => http://fasterfood.herokuapp.com
A job platform with multi-tenancy and user auth => http://githired.herokuapp.com
A twitter clone (can do all of the base functionality of twitter).

Many, many more assorted tutorials and small projects.

This is a 5-star program.

I graduate in three weeks, was a university student before this and have a non technical background.

Turing is by far one of the toughest and most rewarding things I have ever done. Jeff Casimir and the Turing staff have created a great program where... Read More - if you are motivated and work hard - you can become a software engineer in seven months. The instructors at Turing won't teach you how to code, rather they will teach how to learn and how to solve problems by yourself. We learn Ruby and JavaScript, but alumni are offered jobs writing Go/Python/Java/* because they are confident Turing students know how to get up to speed with new languages and concepts quickly. Working as a software engineer requires constant learning and if seven months of code-alongs would be a waste of everyone's time, especially your own. Learning happens when you struggle, and the staff know how to constantly challenge you throughout the program.

One of the best things about Turing is the community. As students we have access to a BIG network of software developers that are more than willing to act as mentors, answer questions and offer support. Turing is demanding both intellectually and emotionally and having the opportunity to talk with alumni about the experience is very valuable. In my opinion, Turing is the best place to learn software development and how to become a good software developer. If you are willing to work hard and really immerse yourself in the world of Software, Turing is the place you want to be.