Galvanize is a company that invests in startups, hosts tech events in its space, and helps to educate the tech community. gSchool is a part of Galvanize's mission to teach tech. It accepts beginners who are passionate about learning but they do caveat that by saying most of their students have a college degree and a technical background.
While there isn't really a day to day breakdown of what you will be doing, expect to spend all day working with instructors learning to code. Outside of the time you will spend in class, you should also expect an additional 20-30 hours a week of reading and project work.
In order to apply, you should fill out their online application (you need to sign in to do this...if they aren't accepting applications then the sign in doesn't work...or generally just doesn't work). It might take up to two weeks to hear back about your application. If you pass their qualifications, you will be invited for an hour long in person or video chat. You should expect a final decision in about a week. Once you get an offer you have one week to submit a deposit to save your space.
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Galvanize programs
| Programs | Cities | Duration | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program: Data Engineering | Cities: Austin, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle | Duration: 12 weeks | Cost: $16,000 |
Galvanize’s 12-week data engineering bootcamp prepares graduates not only for careers as data engineers, but also other possible roles including software engineer, data scientist, machine learning engineer, and data product manager. Students have opportunities to network with potential employers during career day. More than 75 companies have hired Galvanize bootcamp graduates. |
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| Program: Data Science | Cities: Austin, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle | Duration: 12 weeks | Cost: $16,000 |
During three months of study, members of Galvanize’s data science bootcamp will work through actual data sets to learn skills such as data munging, modeling, communication, validation, and visualization. At least 94% of Galvanize data science graduates have promptly landed jobs with average annual starting salaries of $114,000. |
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| Program: Fullstack Web Development | Cities: Austin, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, San Francisco, Seattle | Duration: 24 weeks | Cost: $21,000 |
Galvanize’s six-month full stack developer bootcamp ends with a career day, during which soon-to-be graduates can meet with dozens of potential employers. At least 97% of Galvanize’s full stack web development bootcamp graduates have landed job with more than 75 companies. The average starting salary for Galvanize-trained web developers is $77,000 a year. |
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Galvanize reviews
Verfied answers from graduates of this school will include this badge 
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I'll start with the good. The lead instructor has a great mindset when it comes to focusing on the students and how they learn and grow individually. I dropped the program early since the second half just felt like a prison and all the work is self guided anyway, but career services seemed pretty good from the bit that I went through. Good advice on setting up LinkedIn and resume building, but maybe don't expect much more than that. Most of my gripes are from the curriculum and environment. The curriculum and environment... The curriculum is almost completely taught by videos and self-guided time. You will be in class for 60 hours a week (so that they retatin accreditation), if you're five minutes late at any point in the day, expect a third of an absence, three absences you will be removed from the program. You will be pulled out of class or asked to change locations several times a day, often right as your just making progress/settling in. The building presents a hip, techy workplace at first glance, but the more time you spend there it quickly turns into the lifeless building it is. The amount of effort that goes into presenting that environment would be better used actually building it. Every office around the building has giant glass walls that you can expect to feel like a zoo exhibit. They put on regular workshops in the middle of the space so they can make sure you see them being techy, or entrepreneurial, or whatever their angle is. It's an exhibit more than an incubator or school. Overall it's a very disruptive environment. Also, not sure if this one is me being jaded by prior experience, but only expect to really walk into a job using the exact tools they teach the curriculum on. Instructors will not be able to provide advice unless you adhere exactly to what they have used and is part of the curriculum. Engineering is honestly a misnomer for what they selling here. Data structures are very loosely touched on and never in the course is the application of engineering principles really taught. Expect to be handed a project with some test cases and told to go have fun. Assignments and tests are done by bullet points or following a list of instructions. It doesn't inspire free thought, or how to solve a problem using engineering. The first six weeks of the course is definitely where the majority of the course lies. It does a good job of familiarizing you with javascript, but the second half where you're learning how to build actual applications. You're handed a business document and a rendering of a website and told to go make it. It's easy to make something show on the screen through code, but the means in which you accomplish this is where the term engineer comes from, and this is what is not touched on a single time through the course. My advice coming out of this.. if you need the in classroom setting, do the part time course. You're interaction is probably the same even if you're there full time. But at least you have you're own schedule and can have a less distracting environment. The price tag is high. If like online learning, do online, maybe look at some of the paid courses available elsewhere. You will get a lot more material for your dollar. So the real question. What are you paying for at Galvanize? The space (not great), the curriculum (has value early on, but definitely not 20k), the instructors (hardly any instruction or mentorship), career services (resume, linkedin, cover letter, interview advice, pay negotiations, overall valuable stuff, but again not 20k), oh, and the name Galvanize/Hack Reactor, which does carry value. So long as they don't tarnish it.
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Pros: -The instructors are generally fairly knowledgeable and are nice people -Campus and amenities are nice -Career services is actually pretty good, and they clearly care about trying to help you, even post graduation. Cons: Pretty much everything else -Probably 80% of the instructors are people who literally just graduated from the program, and have never spent a day actually working in Web/Software Development. -The instructors might know Web Dev well, but few of them have any formal teaching experience. Being a great coder doesn't make you a great teacher. -I've seen pick-up Basketball games that are more organized than this place. Half the mornings the instructors had no clue what was supposed to happen that day and would just pull lessons and exercises out of their ass. We would frequently be told to do warm-ups that we had done 2 days ago because they were just throwing things together. -Their attitude towards learning is essentially "teach yourself!". If that's the case, why don't I just spend a few hundred dollars on UDemy courses and not $21,000 here? -People get pushed through the course with little to no regard as to whether they actually understand the material. During my "final interview", I don't think I answered a single technical question correctly, and they graduated me anyway. Need to get the next batch of people in! -Accountability for students is non-existent. I told them essentially every day that I had no idea what I was doing and was falling far behind. They kept insisting that "you're doing fine!". Now I'm graduated (see above) and still feel like I know nothing. -Way too crowded. They have 3 classrooms in the basement, and now they've had to literally take what was originally a break area and convert it into a classroom because there's probably 100+ people in the course. -Instructor turn-over is insane. During my time in the course, we lost probably 6 different instructors, and the Faculty Director and Lead Instructor both quit (as far as I can tell, they were "asked to leave"). -I don't know what the current job placement rate is for Galvanize, but be weary of any numbers you see from 2017 or before. We had 20 people graduate from our class about 8 weeks ago, and I think the only one who has a job had the job before graduation. Maybe my expectations were too high, but for $21,000 I expected FAR more than what I got here.
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Got Multiple Offers After Graduation! Intro I used to work as a principal software engineer at a big software company for many years doing full stack Java web development. I wanted a new job but everything in web development has changed from Java/php/Ruby to JavaScript frameworks. I looked at a few bootcamps in the (Coding Dojo, Hack Reactor, Dev Mountain and Dev League in Hawaii - nice but no time to surf) and was accepted by them all. They are all good schools but Galvanize was 6 months (24 weeks), not 3 months to help us learn more and one of their instructor Josh used to teach at Hack Reactor and gave us a free Saturday course in JavaScript. Precourse I was accepted at all the schools. Hack Reactor had a one month prep course, other schools were easier to get in and Galvanize had an online test with an instructor, Oli. Josh gave me some last minute tips and I passed with flying colors but I would recommend people learn JavaScript first. They also like us to have a pre course project making a web page. I reached out to a few grads who helped me with Galvanize. Quarters The course was taught by Nestor and the resident was Michael (a recent graduate). Both were very knowledgeable in the materials. The first quarter was web (HTML, CSS) and JavaScript. We created an image scraper JavaScript web application. Each quarter we get about one week to work on a final project and etween quarters we get a break week. Second quarter was on React. This was the first cohort to learn React in the second quarter and probably the first to really deep dive on Redux, Think middleware and JS testing! We all made React web and React Native mobile apps projects for second quarter! Third quarter was on Node and database development with the project to be integrated with our React projects to be hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services). We all worked together and got everything done right before the Thanksgiving holiday break week. Fourth quarter was our final project (3 weeks) and prep work, CS concepts for interviews. I worked on a React Native mobile app and our cohort had the most diverse set of applications throughout the program (5 mobile apps, e-commerce apps, video game for 2 players) and technologies (React, React Native, GraphQL, Python, Socket IO, and many more)! The limited amount of time the students had (1 to 3 weeks) to build full stack applications was truly amazing and inspirational! As for career services, James encouraged us to go to informational interviews (I met with 18 tech professionals and wrote a blog about it http://siliconvalleycoffeetalk.blogspot.com/2018/03/interested-in-silicon-valley-coffee-talk.html), set us up to interview with many companies and even had follow up interview preps to help us months after graduation. This was free to graduates and we also get six months access to Galvanize workspace and lifetime use of the Alumni lounge. After graduation, there weren't that many companies hiring and I went to Galvanize interview prep with help from their director Sherif. He gave me a few pointers which I tried at an interview and it got me an offer from a start-up. Overall I received multiple offers two months after graduation, had interviews with big companies (had to cancel a few due to the job offers) such as Apple, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Netflix, Amazon, IBM and many more. Thank you Galvanize. Even though I graduated and got a job, I still go there to help with the new students and go to meet ups as it encouraged me to pay it forward with people new to tech. I highly recommend this school!
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If you aren't already in a related field, this is not going to get you a job. Gschool is grabbing at all the money coming it's way and diluting their product to the point where it's no where near as valuable as it once might have been. I was in g38 and way over half of that cohort hasn't gotten jobs (we also were promised a career day and other outright lies about placement that never came true). They move so fast through material that you never develop solid understanding just a smattering of puddle deep knowledge. Do not believe you'll get a job for just completing their coursework, you won't.
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I went through Galvanize's Web Development Immersive (formerly full stack immersive) program last year, graduating in mid-December. The first thing that I'll say about them is that the classroom environment was excellent. My instructors were intelligent, knowledgable, funny, and friendly, and I can confidently say that I learned a lot from the course. That said, Galvanize's stated end goal is to get it's graduates jobs, and in that endeavor they have failed pathetically. When I applied for the program, one of the aspects that most interested me was the fact that the course culminates in "hiring day." I knew from friends who had been through gSchool previously that hiring day was an incredibly important event wherein a huge number of graduates found jobs immediately after graduating. About halfway through my cohort, our lead instructor made a comment about how Galvanize no longer does hiring day, and every student in the class looked at him with a baffled "what do you mean they don't do hiring day anymore" look. He informed us that career services had decided to replace hiring day with "Capstone Showcase," and nobody had bothered to tell us, despite the fact that we had all spent $21,000 on the promise of hiring day. It's worth noting that at that point, I went to galvanize.com and found that they were STILL advertising hiring day as a major component of the course. Once capstone showcase rolled around, it was painfully obvious that it was NOT a good replacement, and that career services had put little to no effort into organizing it. First of all: they combined my cohort with another one from a different campus, meaning that there were somewhere between 50 and 60 presenters in one day. In a not at all shocking turn of events, most employers who came to see the presentations left long before the day was over, because who the hell wants to sit through 50 presentations? This meant that my capstone presentation was done in front of a room full of fellow students, which isn't exactly the most productive way of going about trying to get a job. Speaking of employers, it's worth noting that there were almost none at the event, and there was only 1 person between the two cohorts who managed to get a job as a direct result of capstone showcase. To call it a miserable failure would be a massive understatement, and it's certainly worth mentioning that one of the people from career services was actually fired as the result. We are now less than 2 weeks from the 6 month since graduation mark, and there are no jobs on my horizon. I've attended the "alumni anonymous" meetup that Galvanize holds for graduates looking for jobs, and it's nothing more than a couple of overpaid people endlessly editing resumes and giving you deep insights like "just keep applying!" All of this is to say that anyone reading this should not attend Galvanize. I learned a lot, sure, but I'm out an awful lot of money with nothing whatsoever to show for it, and have received little to no assistance from Galvanize post-graduation. I constantly regret not screenshotting the "hiring day" portion of their website when it was still posted, as I would absolutely be pursuing a lawsuit against them at this point if I had. Galvanize lied to me, promised things that they had no intention of delivering on, and has left me in the dust, endlessly applying to jobs that have no interest in hiring a bootcamp grad. Do not attend Galvanize.
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Not a huge fan. When I went, the staff was incredible - but they have changed teachers over and over again and the quality of instruction seems to have decreased.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 17th, 2016
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Love it! It helped me change careers and make a new life. The instructors are great and peers were supportive and helpful. They respond to student feedback and make changes when necessary.
Answered by graduate
Rachel K
on August 17th, 2016
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The instructors are amazing and one of Galvanize’s best assets. The course is longer and more expensive than others so take that into account when you are looking at bootcamps. While you do get more time with the instructors to go over content (6 months vs. 3 months) understand that it will still be up to you to prove yourself worthy of open positions, there is no magic wand and it may take 3 months plus.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 16th, 2016
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It was good but could have been better. All the instructors, although great, were new to Galvanized and I feel that weakened the learning experience, because they were essentially developing the curriculum as we went along. Also like most bootcamps, they promise that you do not need any prior experience coding, however that's not exactly true. My class was made up of 25 student where most had CS degrees/engineer degrees and/or had been learning to program for a number of years. While that's not a bad thing on its own, I feel classes should have been better organized so that everyone's abilities were more closely matched. But with that said, I still learned a lot and Galvanize continues to be a big help when I need it.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 16th, 2016
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Excellent program, responsive to a dynamic market. Our class was essentially the pilot for the MEAN stack; despite being guinea pigs, we had solid instruction and curriculum.
Answered by graduate
Barry B
on August 16th, 2016
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Honestly, I thought it was overrated, too expensive, disorganized, and disappointing. Several students wrote letters expressing concerns throughout the program, but all of their questions/concerns went unaddressed. Two of our instructors quit halfway through the program, and the other was fired at the end. To be fair, I have heard other campuses/cohorts had better experiences than mine. My campus/cohort may have been an exception.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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Incredibly poor. We started with 3 teachers. One Galvanize transferred from our class to go teach All State employees how to code. He was not replaced. Another had a child and was never replaced. The other was a Junior Teacher and was made the ONLY teacher. Galvanize also had him doing front-end work on Galvanizes dashboard. He quit mid course and at one point we had no professor at all. They did bring in some TAs in the final month and a halfish but one claimed he was too hungover to help a student and Galvanize took no action against the TA. The majority of the TAs were code school graduates that had graduated from a competing code school (that costs half the price an dis half as long). Some of the TA's didn't even have a full year of experience. One had literally no experience. He was in the cohort before me and graduated when I was 3 months into my program. Incredibly unprofessional. You're paying for the name when you go to Galvanize.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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I was self taught for about a year before deciding to jump into Galvanize fulltime. I wanted to get the collaboration experience and direct access to ask my questions as they came up, and was not disappointed. I have been able to connect with a very strong network of colleagues and mentors, and entering the work force felt very confident that I had the skills necessary to be successful in this industry. Galvanize came through on all accounts, and it is the best decision I have made in my professional life. It was an excellent experience that I would highly recommend to anyone considering entering classes at Galvanize.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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The teaching staff was phenomenal. I learned an amazing amount - and all but three of my classmates have found great dev jobs. However, every one of my instructors has since left Galvanize. My feeling is that Galvanize attracts great talent, but can't keep it because the company isn't organized. Also - although I was initially attracted to the 6 month program length, I burned out sometime durning month #4 and stopped retaining as much information.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 15th, 2016
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Galvanize is a great place to learn to web development. The instructors really meet each student where she / he is at in their learning and always makes sure everyone is being pushed along at a reasonable pace.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 11th, 2016
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It was excellent. I really feel that the fact that this course is roughly double the length of most bootcamps makes the difference between knowing and understanding the skills that are taught. Beyond that, the community that you get both with the classmates in your cohort as well as Galvanize alumni and instructors is invaluable when it comes time to move into the workforce. I talk to my former classmates on a daily basis and we leverage each other in a bunch of different ways in order to excel in our careers.
Answered by graduate
Ryan Douglas
on August 11th, 2016
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It was an incredible, but very difficult experience. I showed myself that I am capable of learning anything I put my mind to, and can produce work I am proud of under stressful time constraints, both by myself and in a group setting.
Answered by graduate
Louisa Reese
on August 11th, 2016
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Great introductory material but not enough class structure to turn the foundation into application. The limited class structure and flexibility made for a positive environment but perhaps detracted from the overall learning process.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 11th, 2016
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It's a fantastic program. They are always developing their curriculum, and are extremely flexible with following industry trends to keep their students current. It's hard work, but you get out of it what you put into it.
Answered by graduate
Jaylyn S
on August 10th, 2016
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I love it. Galvanize not only gives me the opportunity to expose myself with various technologies. It also improves my life-long skill of "how to learn". I like how instructors don't just feed me the answer. They encourage us to learn by ourselves and ask questions when we get stuck. It's something that we will be exposed to in the real world, so we should all know how to google questions that we don't know.
Answered by graduate
Chris Chang
on August 10th, 2016
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Galvanize is out to make money more than anything else. Their curriculum is disorganized as well as their teaching staff. They're hiring choices are below average all around. Save your money and try to teach yourself how to be a developer. If you go into Galvanize you'll end up teaching yourself anyway because you will get barely any help from the teachers.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 9th, 2016
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Stellar, you get out of it what you put into it. Both my wife and I when through in diff cohorts and 3X our salaries afterwards. It was well worth it for us. Some students came with some experience and others came with none. That did not have any impact on how they did AFTER the program. It was all based on how hard they worked. No bootcamp is the golden ticket, but if they give a damn and teach you "how to learn" then you can always go figure stuff out on your own. They did the best they could to support the large amount of grads they are having. Basically, no one is going to go get you a job afterwards. Students that are struggling to find jobs need to do two things: 1) keep coding everyday, learn something new and show it off. There is a never ending list of new technologies/languages to learn and you will raise your worth big time. 2) Go out and shake hands at events and Meetups. STOP APPLYING FOR JOBS!!! Go meet people and ask them if they are hiring or know anyone who they could refer you to. Leverage your network and if you don't have one, go make one.
Answered by graduate
Tristan Rubadeau
on August 3rd, 2016
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Wow, what a generic question. Your survey could use some enhancement.
Answered by
Anonymous
on August 2nd, 2016
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Positive. I think Galvanize does a solid job of giving someone robust exposure to modern DS/ML work, as well as forces them to learn & learn how to learn. As being part of cohort 6, there were still things I would've liked done slightly better (more SQL, hammer home PEP8 / coding best practices) - to which they've addressed the concerns with updated curriculum. I'd recommend. My background for reference: http://indigoinsights.co/2015/03/30/im-enrolling-to-zipfian-academy/
Answered by graduate
G Scott
on August 1st, 2016
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It was a fantastically immersive program. I was in an earlier cohort so they were still figuring things out but even then I feel like it gave me a strong foundation in web development that led to me joining a startup as a technical cofounder. I went into the program with a relatively strong background in computer science and I still found that there were many ways for me to challenge myself. I went to Galvanize's G-school when it was taught by Turing School of Software and Design instructors. I think it's important to specify who I was learning from.
Answered by graduate
Quentin Tai
on July 29th, 2016
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I had a great experience at Galvanize. My instructors there were excellent (though none of them are there any longer) and I was impressed with the diverse backgrounds and commitment of most of my peers. I was able to learn enough javascript and ruby in 6 months to produce two projects that I was proud of, and I was able to find a job after graduation thanks to the program's career counseling services. While I think I would have been more confident and prepared had I pursued a full 2 or 4 year CS degree, I'm glad I chose the shorter route.
Answered by
Anonymous
on July 28th, 2016
Talk with Galvanize graduates
- Would like to understand about job guarantee.
- 1
- Hello sir, Im Dinesh from India want to enter your course but before that am i eligible to learn from India with remote option provided
- I'm planning on taking the Data Science Fundamentals: Intro to Python 6 week course in Seattle. I am not looking for job placement but to be educated. If you've taken the course or any course in Seattle, please share the pros and cons. If it not worth $1000+ I can just set time aside and really teach myself online. Thank you!
- I want to start my 9 yo son right now to learn coding - please recommend an approach - thank you! JR
- How would you describe the culture at Galvanize?
- What advice would you give a new student?
- How effective were your instructors?
- What advice would you give a new student?
- How effective were your instructors?
- How would you describe the culture at Galvanize?
Bootcamp grads love to talk. We'll find students from Galvanize to answer your questions.
Verfied answers from graduates of this school will include this badge:
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Inspiring. The building is also a co-working place so there are a ton of startups around and there is always some event/talk going on. I loved being among so many entrepreneurs and seeing/eavesdropping on what they're working on. Although it can be a little distracting at times.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 16th, 2016
Close knit, cohesive and supportive. There are a lot of startups and thus a lot of new and exciting ideas floating around. The general atmosphere is one of innovation.
Answered by
graduate
Barry B
on August 16th, 2016
This is difficult to answer as it depends on the campus you attend, as well as your cohort. Mine was rather toxic. Enthusiasm was low, instructors wouldn't show up to class or have actual lessons planed when they did show up, some class mates didn't get along at all which created tension, etc. However, I have heard great things about other campuses and/or cohorts.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
A complete joke. They spout nonsense about how important the learning environment is and then don't even bother putting enough teacher in their classrooms. The actual culture is much different than the growth facade. The company clearly gives no care to how their students perform.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
It is easy to be inspired at Galvanize, especially at the Golden Triangle campus. The community is wonderful both inside the classroom and out, and the culture encouraged learning and questions.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Student culture was friendly and inclusive. There are lots of companies around... but I have to say I didn't interact with them much. Everyone who works for Galvanize is charming and on their game. It's a great atmosphere. The only downside is that things are growing so fast - lots of things fall through the cracks.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Research and ask tough questions around who is actually running the program and get the actual information around what the hiring outcomes were for the most recent few programs.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
Prepare as much as possible before starting a bootcamp. Be ready to be overwhelmed and then just hang in there.
Answered by
graduate
Rachel K
on August 17th, 2016
Really look into each bootcamp (there are so many in the Bay Area) and find one that is right for you. Ask to audit a class for a day or two and talk to current/past students and instructors. Also, no one is going to hold your hand during the course of a bootcamp and it's easy to lower your guard when everything seems so chill and not so intense from the day to day. So you have to continue to remind yourself that you need to work hard and try to master each thing your instructors goes over. Try to also work on little side projects or add little things to the assignments, this is the time you want to go above and beyond what is expected.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 16th, 2016
Learn to find joy in what will at first be frustration. Each new assignment was a mountain to be scaled at first, but as time went on and the tools became more familiar, the daunting challenges became simply, 'challenges to be accepted'.
Answered by
graduate
Barry B
on August 16th, 2016
Do your research on the specific campus you are considering attending rather than Galvanize as a whole. Try to track down others who have been to that campus or know that campus's instructors, and see if they will give you their honest opinion. If I had done that, I would have chosen a different campus. I do believe that the campus/cohort's instructors will significantly dictate your experience and education at Galvanize.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Get your money back as soon as possible. Explore other options. The company is ran terribly and I'm amazed they haven't been sued. Numerous cohorts have ended up with 1 or no teachers mid course. Its a complete joke. Run. Run as fast as you can.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Galvanize is an excellent choice for a fullstack immersive program. However, you will not be successful unless you commit 100%, so be ready to work every day. Do all the assignments. Keep up on your projects. Do side projects. Always ask questions. Try new technologies. Collaborate with your classmates, they can be some of the most wonderful people you'll meet, but you have to create the culture. Everyone is part of the culture, and if you commit to becoming a software developer, embracing the community, and help your classmates/allow them to help you, you will be incredibly successful. You don't have to be the best at everything, but if you do the work and listen to your instructors, you actually can be. Effort here will set you up for your coming career really well.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Try to get a good grasp on the fundamentals - and then make a huge effort to learn on your own. Start doing codewars challenges ASAP and don't stop. Ever.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
My instructors were incredible - top notch people who worked tireless hours to make sure we learned a ton about software and the industry! None of them currently work for gSchool or Galvanize.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 17th, 2016
My instructors were awesome! They did not make me feel stupid when I didn't know something. They were always willing to help and cared about our success.
Answered by
graduate
Rachel K
on August 17th, 2016
The instructors were fantastic! Some of the smartest people that I have met in my life and yet amazingly patient and down to earth. They take the time to make sure you grasp the material and also have a keen understanding that everybody will learn at their own pace which is perfectly ok. Simply the best.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 16th, 2016
They were effective. They were all very helpful, however I do wish they were a little more assertive when it came to completing assignments and more on top of giving code reviews.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 16th, 2016
All of them were very effective. In addition to guests brought in who were in the industry. Jeff Dean's approach is probably my favorite, he's a straight forward type who always has an answer, or will show you how to find the answer yourself.
Answered by
graduate
Barry B
on August 16th, 2016
Aforementioned, 2 quit half way through the program. Our main instructor was unreliable. He would not always show up to class, or he would not have lessons planned out. He was fired after our cohort ended. Both of the instructors that quit however, were great at answering questions. Evan, who I believe is now at the Fort Collins location is a fantastic teacher and communicator.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
We only had one instructor. He was not effective at all due to no fault of his own. Galvanize promised a minimum of 3 instructors and we were only provided a Jr whose full time job wasn't just teaching the course. The guy had no choice but to quit to stay sane. I respect his decision as Galvanize put him in a terrible situation. I cannot stress how useless the instructors were. The class would joke about how we might as well all just meet up at a starbucks.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
The instructors were a large part of my success at Galvanize. I was always treated like a professional and an equal, and my questions were taken seriously. The instructors were very thorough and really did an excellent job of not only teaching the class programming fundamentals, but teaching and encouraging us to learn how to learn.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
Oh man. I really lucked out. Not only were my instructors great developers, they were also amazing educators. From what I gather, it's really rare to find that combo.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 15th, 2016
It's a marathon, not a sprint, so make sure that you're understanding the material as you go. Get in the habit of learning how to look up information, as much of the later parts of the class is focused around teaching you how to stand on your own as a developer. Your classmates are your best longterm resource, so be sure to approach your cohort as a community rather than an amalgamate of different people who happen to be in the same program, and certainly don't approach them as competition as they will be one of your best sources for job leads when the class ends.
Answered by
graduate
Ryan Douglas
on August 11th, 2016
Work your ass off and put this experience first for this short amount of time. Research, ask questions, find out why, and have fun.
Answered by
graduate
Louisa Reese
on August 11th, 2016
Do not apply to this coarse unless you have very specific, measurable goals from the onset. Make sure your instructor knows what your goals and expectations are so they can help you reach them.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 11th, 2016
If you like solving puzzles and you're a self-motivated learner, you'll love this course. But you get out of it what you put into it - the instructors are there to help, but no one will hold your hand. Make sure it's really what you want to do before committing 6 months of unemployment to it.
Answered by
graduate
Jaylyn S
on August 10th, 2016
Be prepared to spend more than 8 hours per day. If you can, preview your materials, so on the day of the lecture, you can ask questions that you don't understand. Using external sites such as teamtreehouse or codecademy to teach yourself the fundamental, so you can set up for success.
Answered by
graduate
Chris Chang
on August 10th, 2016
Don't go to Galvanize. If you are intent on going to a Bootcamp in Denver, consider Turing. They were started by the lead instructor who left Galvanize because it was turning into a money making machine.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 9th, 2016
Shut up and code. When people are being stretched and learning new things they get very uncomfortable. Different people handle this differently. Some will cry, some will lash out at instructors, others will use it as motivation. When in doubt, Shut up and code. Its the only way to get through it and figure this out on your own. Go make something awesome! Do something that you give a shit about and it will show.
Answered by
graduate
Tristan Rubadeau
on August 3rd, 2016
Prepare and do homework. You get as much effort you put into it, and you get what you ask for.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 2nd, 2016
Practice basic Python. Practice SQL. Keep Practicing everything! Also, stay late to network, make friends & enjoy the whole experience while you're there!
Answered by
graduate
G Scott
on August 1st, 2016
The program is what you make of it. It makes available all the tools and resources you could ask for to start you off on your career as a well-rounded and prepared software developer. However, it's up to you to push yourself beyond your limits and make the most of your time. Don't expect handholding, but know that everything you need is there.
Answered by
graduate
Quentin Tai
on July 29th, 2016
Extremely. Our suite of instructors included people who had MS in CompSci (or equivalent), 10+ years of experience each, active open source contributors, etc.
Answered by
graduate
Ryan Douglas
on August 11th, 2016
Extremely. They tirelessly worked with us individually or in groups to ensure that we were grasping concepts and able to put them into practice.
Answered by
graduate
Louisa Reese
on August 11th, 2016
My instructor had plentiful experience as a professional in the field but limited experience as a professional instructor. The syllabus was underdeveloped and there was not effective way to track student progress. The class material and outcomes reflected this.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 11th, 2016
We had some trouble with organization about mid-way through the program, but they have long since improved, and all of the instructors are very knowledgeable.
Answered by
graduate
Jaylyn S
on August 10th, 2016
My instructors were very experienced. They were able to tear apart a difficult concept into small pieces with examples, so students with less technical backgrounds could digest easily.
Answered by
graduate
Chris Chang
on August 10th, 2016
The lead instructor was very smart and knowledgeable but was too slammed with other work to be much help. Some of the instructors were consistently high during class, which was a slap in the face since we paid 20k for the class. Overall, the teaching was pathetic.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 9th, 2016
Very, some other cohorts didn't have the same experience though as they cycle through. The instructors at these types of programs are more coder than teacher sometimes. Bear with them and you will get to the answer.
Answered by
graduate
Tristan Rubadeau
on August 3rd, 2016
Very. Maybe if you actually add 'not very effective, someone effective, very effective options'
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 2nd, 2016
I feel that my instructors were extremely effective. They were all experienced, patient, and strived to make new concepts as easy to learn as possible. They also knew when to step back and let us figure things out on our own so that the material would sink in.
Answered by
graduate
Quentin Tai
on July 29th, 2016
Their is a lot of pseudo caring and pseudo inclusion. When it came down to it, I felt neither cared for nor included. People don't answer important messages and cannot be bothered to communicate. Everything is fly by the seat of the pants and last minute.
It's very much a 'students first' mentality, for the most part. People are treated as the adults that they are and allowed to approach the course as equal to the instructors. The fact that every course has roughly four instructors of varying experience levels affords a lot of options for people to approach with questions. The fact that the campuses are housed alongside coworking spaces also allows for a lot of mixing between students and prospective employers.
Answered by
graduate
Ryan Douglas
on August 11th, 2016
The community is wonderful, not just the students, which reflect the choices of the admissions people, but the staff as well as the companies who share that space, all promote a culture of inclusion and growth
Answered by
graduate
Louisa Reese
on August 11th, 2016
Open, lively, and fun. The space itself is well designed and feels appealing. Each instructor and class is probably a bit different but I found the coarse structure to be overly flexible to the point of detriment in learning/retaining the overall coarse material.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 11th, 2016
It's a community of ambitious, passionate, and smart people. The instructors care very much about their students being successful, and you have the freedom to study whatever piques your interest.
Answered by
graduate
Jaylyn S
on August 10th, 2016
Everybody at Galvanize is very supportive. I enjoy hanging out with my classmates and be ready to learn together. I'd say that we came together as a family at the end.
Answered by
graduate
Chris Chang
on August 10th, 2016
The culture overall is one of the only positive aspects of Galvanize. There are a lot of sharp people who come around and you have opportunities to learn from them.
Answered by
an anonymous graduate
on August 9th, 2016
The community and classrooms of Galvanize campuses are awesome. The coworking space has a bunch of companies to go intern with or get a job after. The culture in the classrooms vary on instructor. Learning, laughing and crying will be found in all.
Answered by
graduate
Tristan Rubadeau
on August 3rd, 2016
Positive. Loved the people I learned with. Teachers are smart, but some concerns over turnover. I do enjoy their "Data Scientist in Residence - to which they take previous students and make them "TAs". It's also awesome to be back in an educational environment.
Answered by
graduate
G Scott
on August 1st, 2016
The people in this program are hardworking, driven, and friendly. There is a strong sense of community and inclusion between all the students, instructors, and mentors.
Answered by
graduate
Quentin Tai
on July 29th, 2016