Thinkful Bootcamp Reviews - ComputerScienceHero (2024)

Thinkful Reviews and Complete Guide

Thinkful offers a wide range of programs to people who are looking to break into careers in computer science, product management, digital marketing and more.

With several locations and a personal touch, Thinkful offers many unique benefits for a self-paced bootcamp.
What Do You Need to Know about Thinkful?

Thinkful is a coding bootcamp with more programs than you usually see from smaller bootcamps. Students learn through online classes, with communities based in various cities around the US.

Though Thinkful is a bigger program than most, it still offers one-to-one mentoring and the career services that make you a priority.

Where Are Thinkful’s Campuses Located?

Thinkful has locations across the United States. Although students take all of their coursework alone, Thinkful pairs them with mentors in their area. These cities also have their own unique events, job fairs, lectures, and hiring partners to help students enter each area’s workforce.

• Los Angeles
• Portland
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Austin
• Dallas
• Houston
• Phoenix
• Salt Lake City
• Atlanta
• Miami
• Raleigh
• Orlando
• Tampa
• Chicago
• Denver
• Detroit
• Minneapolis
• Boston
• Philadelphia
• Washington, DC

Every location is different from the next because of the already highlighted unique mentors and perks.

How Much Is Tuition at Thinkful?

Thinkful courses cost from a low of $4,500 to a high of $18,500. Most courses offer a more inexpensive flex program and a costlier, more in-depth immersive option. Tuition varies based on the program students select.

How Can You Pay Thinkful Tuition?

Students have many options for paying Thinkful’s tuition, including ISAs, loans, special discounts, and a month-to-month payment plan. Payment options vary based on location and program.

Tuition Discounts

Thinkful doesn’t offer scholarships to its students, but it does extend discounts to women, non-binary individuals and veterans. Students that don’t fit these criteria can also get discounts by enrolling within two weeks of acceptance or paying their tuition in full before the program start date.

ISAs

Income share agreements allow students to put off paying for their bootcamps until they’ve landed a job. When students are hired at a qualifying job, they pay Thinkful a fixed percentage of their income each month for a fixed period of time, or until they reach a specified maximum repayment amount. Students in the immersive programs have the additional option of applying for an ISA with an added living stipend.

Loan Financing

Thinkful partners with Skills Fund to offer students private loans with interest-only or immediate repayment options.

Installments

Installment plans allow students to spread the cost of their program into smaller monthly payments instead of paying one lump sum upfront, easing their financial burden.

Can You Use the GI Bill at Thinkful?

Thinkful does not accept the GI Bill at this time, although they do offer discounts to military veterans.

What Courses Does Thinkful Offer?

Thinkful offers courses in a range of computer science, design, and digital marketing fields. Almost every course gives applicants the options of a flexible program and an immersive program, with the exception of product management.

Data Analytics – Online

This Thinkful course aims to transform students into data analysts, who look at data sets to help clients make decisions about their futures. Students cover five objectives in this course, beginning with creating charts and visualizations in Excel before learning how to use tools in the following modules. These tools include PowerPoint, Tableau, SQL, Python and third-party APIs.

Data Science – Online

Students also have the option of learning data science at Thinkful, the field where people help hone the process of modeling data with various techniques. You’ll learn these techniques at Thinkful with courses on Python, RESTful APIs, SQL, machine learning, and data science specializations.

Digital Marketing – Online

This course gives students the tools they need to market products online. Attendees learn how to identify trends, collect and analyze data, create and run campaigns, and tailor content to a target audience. After nailing these objectives, students then move on to mastering branding, content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and search marketing.

Product Management – Online

This flex-only option teaches students the ins and outs of product management, the art of developing products from conception to rollout. Thinkful has you covered with lessons on UX research tools, technology and data considerations, data analysis and visualization, and legal and ethical concerns.

Software Engineering – Online

Thinkful’s software engineering course gives you everything you need to work as a software engineer in a modern environment. The modules in this course are designed to teach students full-stack web development and software engineering with a variety of tools. Students in this course master the JavaScript stack with React apps, Node.js, Express Servers, PostgreSQL, Knex, and instruction on the agile method, data structures, and basic algorithms.

Technical Project Management – Online

This course has a key difference from the product management course. Instead of focusing on general product management, which can cover products as varied as PC parts to tires, this course focuses specifically on the skills needed to launch products in the technology and IT fields. To that end, students have a similar curriculum based on forecasting with data-driven decisions, the various components of IT infrastructure and delivering IT service, and building out their communication skills.

UX/UI Design – Online

Students in Thinkful’s UX/UI design course get the intensive training they’ll need to design beautiful and efficient products and services for consumers. Students start by learning design terminology and interfaces with common UX/UI design tools, then move on to working with user-centered discovery, user flows, wireframing, prototypes, moodboards, marketing requirements, team collaboration, and drafting.

After these lessons, students choose their specialization between UX, Visual Design, Front End Design, or Usability, and work through that path until their capstone project.

How to Get Accepted Into Thinkful

Thinkful has a streamlined process that ensures people can get the help they need to start a new life. Students can come into almost every program with very little proficiency in their chosen field without worrying about a technical challenge.

Thinkful Application Process

Most bootcamps have the same admissions process, but Thinkful’s data science course differs from the others in a few key ways.

1. Most courses start with free access to the curriculum and study support until a student finishes their prep course. The prep course gives students the necessary background they need before diving into their chosen coursework.
2. Software development students get matched with a mentor after finishing their prep course. Students and mentors work together on a one-to-one basis to go over the work every week.
3. In every program, except data science and software development, applicants speak to an admissions representative for onboarding after completing the prep course. For software development, applicants speak to an admissions representative after Thinkful matches them with a mentor.
4. Non-data science applicants enroll in the full student experience after finishing their prep course and meeting an admissions representative. Students set their schedule and partner with an academic success manager, then they begin their coursework.

Data Science Application Process

Thinkful’s data science course has a different application process due to its increased complexity. Whereas other courses are designed for entry-level students with no previous experience, this course is designed to turn experienced tech workers into data scientists.

Thinkful expects data science applicants to have an understanding of college-level statistics and probability, along with a basic understanding of object-oriented programming. Applicants are also required to have a BA or BS degree in any field along with over two years in a related technical role. Students without a degree in STEM need previous working experience as a data analyst or programmer.

1. Data Science students complete an online application over the course of 10 to 15 minutes that covers their background, goals, and expertise.
2. After submitting the application, prospective students enter the prep phase where they take three weeks of self-paced learning covering Python and statistics.
3. Applicants meet with an admissions representative for a fit interview, where they discuss their application and the program structure before deciding which data science program is best for them.
4. Provided the interview goes well, applicants select a payment plan or secure financing to pay for their program.
5. Applicants take a live technical interview to prove they’re ready for the program. The interview covers the Python programming skills and statistics training that students received in their prep course.

Thinkful Interview Questions

Most courses are designed around building up students with little to no experience in their chosen path. Here’s what Thinkful looks for in successful applicants:

• Ability to fully commit to the time the program needs
• Ability to fully commit the effort the program needs
• Ability to communicate effectively and accept constructive criticism.

You should prepare for your coding bootcamp interview to ensure success with your application.

How Can You Prepare for Thinkful?

Thinkful offers free tutorials to help applicants prepare for their program of choice. These courses range from basic tools like GitHub to more involved online courses on coding.

1. A Guide to Using GitHub Pages – This brief course gives students a step-by-step guide to building their own GitHub pages.
2. Build a Valentine’s Day eCard – This course teaches students the basics of HTML and CSS in an eCard project.
3. JavaScript Best Practices Part 1 – Here students master the best JavaScript practices with code samples and examples.
4. AngularJS tutorial – Students create their own Gmail clone to learn JavaScript’s Angular framework, a tool for building web apps.
5. Programming Fundamentals in Python – Students learn the basics of the Python programming language by building a tamagotchi-style Pypet.

Is Thinkful Worth It?

If you’re interested in advancing your career without going down the higher education route, Thinkful is definitely worth it. Thinkful offers several paths for people without any computer training to enter a more lucrative tech-based career.

Thinkful not only offers a wide range of courses, but it also has proven success in helping students land jobs after graduation.

Thinkful Job Placement

Thinkful says that within 180 days of graduation, 80 percent of data science and software engineering students were employed in the field. UX/UI Design graduates can look forward to a 96 percent employment rate, and data analytics students have a 78 percent employment rate.

Thinkful’s support team is responsible for its success in helping students find a job in their desired field. Students gain access to Thinkful’s hiring partners, exclusive events, and career services to make sure they’re prepared to take that next step when the moment comes.

Does Thinkful Offer a Job Guarantee?

Yes, Thinkful offers a job guarantee to eligible students. If eligible students don’t have a job offer for a qualifying position within 180 days of graduation, they get 100 percent of their tuition back and have any remaining payments canceled.

Should You Apply to Thinkful?

You should apply to Thinkful if you’re interested in any of the fields mentioned above, and believe you have the time and energy to take the program seriously. Thinkful is basically a one-stop shop for some of the most popular tech fields today, and the job placement rates speak for themselves.

If you like the idea of a self-paced learning experience with all of the mentorship and career benefits of a live bootcamp, Thinkful may be just what you’re looking for.