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Thinkful is an online school that equips students for new careers by offering online, fast-paced, job-ready programs in software engineering, data science, data analytics, design, and product management. Students learn cutting-edge industry standards, have 1-on-1 mentoring with an industry professional, and receive career services and job placement assistance to get a job in tech (and even offer a tuition refund guarantee). While Thinkful is an online platform, the school also has in-person communities in tech hubs around the US, where students can attend in-person events and classes.
Thinkful's flagship programs are the 5-month Engineering Immersion and Data Science Immersion, Engineering Flex, Engineering Nights & Weekends, Data Science Flex, Product Design Flex, Product Management Flex, and Data Analytics Flex. All courses include personal mentor meetings, a custom-built curriculum, and daily mentor-hosted Q&A sessions with industry professionals. Students are expected to commit 50-60 hours per week for Immersion programs and 20 to 25 hours per week for Flexible programs. Thinkful students can set their schedules, learn while they can keep their jobs, and access course materials from anywhere in the world. Students join a community of 3000+ students and mentors on Slack to get on-demand code help and build a professional network. All graduates receive lifetime access to the course curriculum.
Thinkful offers all students career guidance to navigate the job market, build a professional portfolio, and prepare for interviews. All programs guarantee job placement in a qualifying position that is full-time and in-field. If students are not placed within 6 months of graduation, they get a 100% tuition refund.
Prospective students can apply via the Thinkful website, and schedule a call to chat with an advisor. It's important to note that the Data Science Immersion and Flexible programs have more strict admissions requirements than other programs.
Recent Thinkful Reviews: Rating 4.61
Recent Thinkful News
- Meet Matt: Thinkful Product Management Flex Student
- 2019 End of Year Coding Bootcamp Podcast
- What I Wish I Knew Before Thinkful
Data Analytics FlexApplyMySQL, Data Visualization, Excel, Data Analytics , Business Intelligence, SQL, Python
OnlinePart Time20 Hours/week26 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $7,990 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoSet your schedule in a program built to turn your into a highly-paid data analyst in six months. Benefit from one-on-one mentorship, career guidance, and community support from enroll to hire.
Deposit N/A FinancingOptions: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/data-analytics/flexible/#pricing Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Beginner Placement Test No Interview Yes
Data Analytics ImmersionApplyMySQL, Data Visualization, Excel, Data Analytics , Business Intelligence, SQL, Python
OnlineFull Time18 Weeks
Start Date None scheduled Cost $12,250 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoA rigorous and structured full-time program built to get you a job as a data analyst. Benefit from instructor-led learning, a virtual classroom environment, 1-on-1 mentorship, and a robust support team.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Options: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/data-analytics/full-time/#pricing
Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level N/A Placement Test No Interview Yes
Data Science FlexApplyData Science, Hadoop, Spark, Algorithms, SQL, Python, Machine Learning
OnlinePart Time20 Hours/week26 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $7,990 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoA flexible, online data science course aimed at helping you launch a career. One-on-one mentorship, professional guidance, and a robust community network are on hand to help you succeed in this highly advanced profession.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Options: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/data-science/flexible/#pricing
Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Intermediate Placement Test Yes Interview Yes
Data Science ImmersionApplyData Science, Hadoop, Spark, Algorithms, SQL, Python, Machine Learning
OnlineFull Time60 Hours/week22 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $18,500 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoAn accelerated online program of classes, mentorship, and professional guidance designed to get you a career in data science, fast. This advanced program is designed to serve the needs of equipping degree graduates with the data science skillset they need to obtain a career in their field of study.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Options: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/data-science/full-time/#pricing
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Advanced degree Placement Test Yes Interview Yes
Digital Marketing FlexibleApplyDigital Marketing, Growth Hacking, SEO, Data Analytics
OnlinePart Time20 Hours/week12 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $4,950 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoLearn the technical skills needed to build an audience, create a brand, and drive sales. Study with a flexible, online schedule, a personal mentor, and peer groups. Professional career coaches guide you with networking advice and personalized resume tips to help secure a high-income marketing role.
Deposit N/A FinancingOptions: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/data-analytics/flexible/#pricing Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level N/A Placement Test No Interview No
Engineering FlexApplyAngularJS, HTML, Git, JavaScript, CSS, React.js, Node.js, Front End
OnlinePart Time20 Hours/week26 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $9,500 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoA flexible program built to get you a career in full-stack web development. Study online at a pace that works for you, while a team of mentors, career coaches, and peers guides you every step of the way.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Options: https://www.thinkful.com/pricing/#financing
Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Beginner Placement Test No Interview Yes
Engineering ImmersionApply
Start Date None scheduled Cost $16,000 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoA fast-tracked, full time program of online classes, mentorship, and career coaching. Skills, tools, and the support you need to become a highly paid full-stack web developer.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Beginner Placement Test Yes Interview Yes
Engineering Nights & WeekendsApply
Start Date None scheduled Cost $12,900 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoAn online program that will turn you into a full-stack web developer after hours. Work up from the fundamentals, write strong code, and build the perfect job-ready portfolio.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Options: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/web-development/nights-weekends/#pricing
Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Beginner Placement Test Yes Interview Yes
Product Management FlexApplyDesign, Product Management, User Experience Design, Business Intelligence
OnlinePart Time26 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $8,650 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoThis flexible, online Product Management course is built to help you start a brand new, high-paying tech career. You'll receive a personal mentor, work on real-world projects, and benefit from career coaches.
Deposit N/A Financing Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level N/A Placement Test No Interview Yes
UX/UI FlexApplyHTML, Git, JavaScript, jQuery, Design, User Experience Design, CSS, Front End
OnlinePart Time20 Hours/week26 Weeks
Start Date Rolling Start Date Cost $8,500 Class size N/A Location Online, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Raleigh, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, San FranciscoSet your schedule with an online program aimed at taking you from newbie to a confident, highly-paid product designer. Learn the skills and the best way to present them with a team of mentors, career coaches, and community supporters.
Deposit N/A FinancingAvailable through SkillsFund
Options: https://www.thinkful.com/bootcamp/product-design/flexible/#pricing
Scholarship Self-identifying women and US military members (active or discharged) are eligible for reduced tuition.
Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Beginner Placement Test No Interview Yes
Thinkful Reviews
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- Not so great- 2/24/2020juana • Student • Course: Flexible Web Development Bootcamp • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInI was approved to start the program immediately (Part-time, flex). I did not do any pre-work for the boot camp, was just thrown in. Later found out people did pre-boot camp course work, which no one suggested I do that first.
I hope you get a good program advisor that cares about you instead of being a number to fill their quota or don't do the part-time flex since they don't know you exist until you supposedly hit a point in the program. which they (program managers)
if i had to do it over again, I would not go here
- The best of the best- 2/19/2020Trey Tiller • Digital Marketing Specialist • Graduate • Course: Engineering Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInI mean what else can I say... They changed my life. To save time if you don't want to read all of this I'll quickly say 2 things:
1. This program is not for the faint of heart. Prepare to be challenged, and feel completely lost the whole time.
2. If you're up to the challenge then take this program. The curriculum is amazing, the projects you build are amazing, the mentors and people you meet are so supportive, and the amount of knowledge you learn in the time allotted is astounding.
Now, to dive deeper. I'm going to layout 3 of the biggest things that Thinkful impressed upon me.
1. The Mentor and Program Manager support team -- This is such an amazing aspect of the program that a lot of others don't have and something you'd never get self-teaching. These counselors help you with anything and everything you need and work with your schedule. The program managers are personable and are there to make sure you're doing okay mentally with the curriculum and that you're following the pace you want to follow in the program. The mentors are highly intelligent and experienced programmers that make time for meetings and can teach you easier ways to do things. Greatly thankful for the support I had during the program.
2. The projects and capstones are as amazing as you want -- I came out of the program with 4 working, functional, and well-designed projects that helped me get my job. The amount of learning you do while working on these projects is insane. Towards the end of the program, you're kind of given free rein to build whatever you'd like which is really cool and allows you to become passionate about what you're building. My advice is to take time on the projects. They're your biggest leg up in the job market and can push you to learn more.
3. The curriculum -- This is sort of negative and positive. To put it plainly, the curriculum is vastly dense and can be difficult to follow at times. This results in a disconnect when assignments come up asking you to do something you feel like you've never seen before. That being said... That's the life of a programmer. The best skill you can learn is problem-solving, and the curriculum, being the way it is, inherently makes you get better and better at that. So, it ends up being a necessary evil that you're kind of thankful for by the end of the program.
To sum it all up if you're hard-working, self-driven, organized, and have good time management you'll be fine during the program. I recommend anyone who is interested in programming to take the introductory webinar and spend a couple of weeks in the introductory material they provide for free. If you find you really like programming take the Thinkful course. It's an amazing opportunity and will change your life. They're the best of the best!
- Data Analytics Flex Program- 2/10/2020Daniel Pellegrini • Adjunct College Professor • Graduate • Course: Data Analytics Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInThis program goes in depth in regards to excel, SQL, tableau, power point, basic stats, and Python.
- Great Experience so far!- 12/20/2019Olivia Davis • Student • Course: Engineering Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
(I'm writing this review for the people who are stuck and/or trying to decide between Bootcamps like I once was - hence how long and descriptive)
If you're contemplating even going to a Bootcamp, just do it. The cost alone far outweighs the price of college in general. Not only that, but you will absolutely have no problem at succeeding if you're actually determined to make a career shift.
My background: I was/am working in customer support, and I had no experience prior to Thinkful except dabbling and failing miserably at trying to retain information from Codecademy alone (resources like this are great and you can learn this way but it isn't for everybody).
School Structure :
- Everything is clear as far as when your assignments are due, when your mentor and manager sessions are, and where you need to go for help when you get stuck. This is why I highly recommend a Bootcamp in the first place, YOU HAVE STRUCTURE. It's hard to do it alone, and that's a big reason that people quit in the first place.
- I really can't stress this enough, but there shouldn't be any reason that you are stuck for a long period of time with this course. They really put in the work to make sure that you're covered in all aspects to get you the help you need.
Learning Curriculum:
- This is extremely fast-paced, but they did structure it so that everything is broken down into readable and maintainable parts. You will be learning the current tech stacks that employers are looking for, which is pivotal. This topic is by far the most important, and as a word of advice, you should not only be learning the curriculum but researching on your own behalf (this will help you develop skills to learn at a faster pace, and know where to look).
Price and Course:
- The course is extremely affordable (Only paying interest until I find a job, and you actually have an option to do the deferred program, depending on the specific program you choose).
- This is a great program if you have children, a full-time job, and/or a family.
- It's 6 months of learning and 6 months of career advisement and help. This really made me feel comfortable. I can confidently say that I don't think I would've lasted long at a 12-week program, you don't really get to a point of retaining anything, and I feel like the imposter syndrome would be at an all-time high even at the end of your course (just my opinion on my own learning style).
- I've seen a lot of people talk about there bad experiences with their mentors. For me, I've had nothing but a positive experience with my mentor sessions. The best part for you is that if you don't like your mentor or you have a schedule change in your life, then you have an option to simply request a new one that aligns with you. This is something they didn't have to do, so this is another sign of actually caring about the students that attend and not just the money.
Time Management:
- For this program they do recommend between 20-25 hours per week. For me, I spend about 40 to 50 hours because I have the time, and I really love doing it. You don't have to do what I do, but you really have to make sure that you are writing specific times to sit down, study, and be distraction-free.
- Recite, Practice, Teach = The formula to fully understanding what you're learning.
- Software Engineering has the same concept when it comes to Math, its either right or its wrong. You cannot fake this or procrastinate, because it will show, and you're ultimately doing yourself a disservice.
- Use Google Calendar, Evernote (personal fav), and any other time management tools. This will help you in actually being accountable for your time and daily tasks.
- I also time my study sessions and have a study log to track my hours week by week. It gives you the chance to see when you need to pick up the pace or when you're exceeding.
- The curriculum is hard, frustrating, exciting and you're constantly at a learning curve. But I've come to realize that this would be your day to day at an actual software engineering position.
- It's affordable, convenient, and transparent.
- There are times where you will feel like you're lost, give yourself time, and know that it will click. Software engineering is not an easy career it really takes time and perseverance.
- The curriculum can feel dry sometimes, but make sure to take breaks (Pomodoro Technique is what I implement), and look at other resources (Youtube) to see a different perspective.
- If you put in the time and ask for help when you need it than I can guarantee that you'll succeed.
- This is the best Bootcamp that's come to light so far. They don't just hire any person that claims to be a senior dev to mentor you (some boot camps do it), and they have poured tons of time, energy, and money to make the students feel capable and positive that they chose the right decision.
I hope that by reading this you can make a better-informed decision, about what path you want to take. Happy learning and wishing you the best!
Olivia Davis :)
- Good Experience- 12/13/2019Rabia Omer • Graduate • Course: Data Science Flex • Campus: Raleigh • Verified via GitHub
First, I recommend this program to anyone looking to start his/her career in data science. You just need to be a person who can fulfill his/her commitment, and follow a clear time management plan.
In addition, I would like to highlight the following:
- The curriculum is great for the fundamental stage, but after reaching more advanced topics, it started to become not enough, you are required to do a lot of self-learning out of the curriculum using everybody's friend "Google". It could be part of their plan to encourage your self-learning.
- They have Q&A at different times of the day. You can come up with your questions and they can help you by guiding you to the answer.
- You need your mentor twice a week. It is more than enough, and the best way to ask more complicated questions which require a longer time of guidance and discussion.
- The school is not taking it easy, they are very strict about the quality of your work. They really work on pushing you to learn and provide quality work.
- They have good and experienced mentors who can support you during your learning journey. In addition, they have a slack channel where you can post any questions or inquiries and they are efficient in providing answers if it is during day time
I just graduated a few days ago, and I am getting ready to start my job search journey. Thinkful has a tuition reimbursement guarantee if you follow their requirements and did not get hired within 6 months of graduation.
- Yes and No- 11/21/2019Courtney • Technical Writer • Student • Course: Engineering Nights & Weekends • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
I chose Thinkful because I felt it offered the best comprehensive education in web engineering. After studying on my own for about 6 months, I decided to make the educational (and financial) investment to speed up my learning.
Some facts about me:
- Went through some tutorials on freecodecamp.org and codecademy before enrolling
- Full-time employee (40+ hours a week)
One thing I can say, plan accordingly. The program is extremely rigorous (which may or may not be subjective) but depending on how you're paying, money can be highly motivating. I was offered an opportunity to transfer to the engineering n&w program and happily accepted as my discipline for learning on my own waned as topics became increasingly advanced.
Speaking of the curriculum, it was wonderful to have a roadmap to learning. That was one thing I found convenient vs piecemealing and combing through Reddit and other people's perspectives on what to learn next. However, I agree with a previous comment about maybe breaking up the information more. It would also have been nice to have a collection of links to outside sources that spoke to the content I just spent over an hour working through. Oftentimes, you'd read through the content and then be tasked with problem-solving or using concepts/techniques you did not cover in reading. I've heard this is normal and the sooner you get used to it, the sooner you'll gain confidence. If you find yourself being someone that needs additional help whether conceptual or specific, take time to figure out how you learn and how to research answers you need. Googling is really hard if you don't understand how to phrase your search. People in the slack channels are extremely helpful and I'd also encourage joining other Slack workspaces for coding. There are a lot of people who are more than willing to help. Mentors are great, as long as again, you already know what you need help with and you get on with your mentor. If you don't feel comfortable working with that designated person, ask for a new one. You're paying for this.
Having the benefit of a cohort and instructors was very helpful to building structure with my learning. However, it got to a point where pair programming proved to be not in alignment with my learning style. I found more solace in posing questions in the slack channels, googling, or reaching out to my mentor.
Just like anywhere, instructors can be hit or miss. I don't know what Thinkful pays, but you'll find some instructors tend to be more invested than others. You can tell who really cares and knows about the content vs someone who is fine with teaching but not necessarily assisting.
Another pain point I experienced was communication. Oftentimes when I'd reach out to the needed resources, it would be days before I'd get a response. This was extremely frustrating as I reached a critical point that required further instruction/next steps. And to be honest, if you pay attention in the slack channels- many people post asking who and how to reach out to people. Unfortunately, I did not get the information I needed until I was advised my loan ran out and I would need to re-enroll. (I have not graduated yet). I take full responsibility for my part in this, as I could have better planned for contributing factors. However I did reach out, repeatedly, and didn't hear back until it was too late. I'd encourage anyone to make sure you plan ahead as best you can to determine if your circumstances qualify for some sort of leniency.
Even with these qualms, I still feel like I was and am getting a quality education. Despite not being enrolled, you retain access to the course material - check the FAQ page. That's a huge benefit. I appreciate people, like admissions counselors, keeping in touch me. I know this is a business but, I think people become invested in your success and it's not just about the money. The more people that graduate, the more Thinkful's stats go up as a reputable place to get your education. And above all, you are paying for this education. Speak up and communicate.
- Engineering Immersion Graduate- 10/22/2019Whitney Wallace • Graduate • Course: Engineering Immersion • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
I just completed Thinkful's Engineering Immersion 5-month apprenticeship/bootcamp (today!). It was an incredible experience and exceeded my expectations. Prior to starting with Thinkful, I had completed another coding bootcamp that was for front-end development. That bootcamp was about 80% reading material, 10% watching videos, and 10% actually coding. My comfort level, if someone had asked me to sit down and code -anything-, would have been about 15% confidence that I could do it.
I found Thinkful and started looking into their Full Stack program (Engineering Immersion). Immediately what stood out to me was that it was a structured program with live instruction/instructors, TAs, and mentors. The structure was also based on collaborative programming and embracing a growth mindset.
The program itself was highly rigorous and very time intensive. I graduated on-time and received nearly perfect scores on my graded assessments - but that required me to put in about 60+ hours a week doing my assignments and readings, practicing the parts I didn't understand, and putting extra effort into my capstones. But it was completely worth it!
In my opinion, one of the most successful parts of Thinkful's program is their use of paired programming. Now, at the end of the course, I am graduating with well over 500 hours of paired programming experience. Not only is that one way I was able to get such a deep understanding of what I was learning, but it also helped hone my collaboration skills in the context of a development environment. Paired programming helped me learn from and teach many different styles, attitudes, and personalities - which I feel like is invaluable.
The technical interviews at the end of each section were also a huge highlight. It helped me take everything I was learning and synthesize it into words. It has prepared me for the job search and given me an extra confidence boost that I can answer those questions.
The capstone projects were an eye-opening experience. They really gave me that vote of confidence that I could actually DO what I was learning. And that was only possible because every single day I was coding with a pair. Not reading, not watching videos, or watching someone else code. I was in the thick of it, sharing my screen, working with another human, trying to understand and solve problems. When it came time to put all of that knowledge together and do the capstone projects, I was ready and excited!
Thinkful has very few flaws, in my opinion, and has been an incredible experience. One flaw that I ran into was the use of Mentors. I have talked to many of my cohort members that have had incredible experiences with their mentors, but unfortnately my experience was very lack luster and a waste of time. I look forward to Thinkful giving mentors a little more structure so that when students need help, they can get it. However, the TAs that were available every afternoon were INVALUABLE. The amount of time they would take to explain a concept - even using props, playing cards, drawings, etc to help illustrate a hard concept - was truly amazing. So many of my successes were built off of a TA taking the time to work with me when the concept was first presented.
All in all, I would recommend Thinkful to anyone who has a strong work ethic, who has that drive to reach their goals, and has the time to commit to the program. I would recommend doing some free coding/JavaScript lessons so you don't feel like your feet have been swept out from under you when the prep course comes along. Along with many things in life, the program is what you put into it. And if you put in 100%, you'll get an incredible education experience with job-ready skills.
- Excellent program, highly recommended- 10/8/2019Ben • Graduate • Verified via LinkedIn
I have just graduated from Thinkful's Full Stack Flex program with high accolades for the most part.
Firstly, I was working full time when I started the program, so the very fact that the program is offered online was a tremendous selling point for me. That being said, It's not the kind of commitment to take lightly. The good people at Thinkful make a point of saying right from the get-go that it will be a serious undertaking to which you must devote many many hours a week if you are to make any progress.
Their model is really efficient and highly professional. The bi-weekly mentor sessions are an invaluable resource, and my program manager was tremendously helpful with any issue that would come up. If the mentor you are assigned turns out to not be a good fit, they will assign you a new one right away. It happened to me, and my new mentor was great and helped me through to the end.
Outside of mentors sessions you have Thinkful's slack channel where you can ask for help on your project from qualified technical coaches. It's a good option for when you're on a pause period to catch up and mentors sessions are not available.
The curriculum and its sections are well crafted and they walk you through it at eye level. The non-programming related tools like the LinkedIn and resume guides they provide are also extremely valuable and go a long way even long after graduation.
The few things I felt they could improve is the layout of the actual material. Incoporating more visual aids just to break the monotony of walls of text would go a long way for me. The curriculum is really heavy on the reading, and if you have ADD like me it gets tiresome to try and keep your brain sharp during long studying sessions, especially after coming home from your day job. Not everybody would feel the same as me, just one man's opinion.
Overall, I highly recommend Thinkful's web development program if you can afford to make the commitment.
- Full Stack Flex Grad- 10/4/2019Christina • Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: Engineering Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via GitHub
I found Thinkful to be well worth the money. It is such a great investment into your future! My main reason for choosing Thinkkful was that it was online, yet you still had support from mentor meetings and office hours. I never felt overwhelmed, since I knew that I had such a great support system. I did this while working full time, which is exhausting (you definitely have to put life on hold), but well worth it. I was able to master in demand skills that helped me land a software engineering position before graduation. The salary increase alone paid for the program several times. If you stay focused, which your mentor is there to help with, and put in the work, then you will be successful in the program. The course helped me gain confidence in interviews with thier set of mock interviews throughout. I think that was one of my weakest areas at first. By the end, I was a pro at selling myself and showing off all of the skills I have obtained. If you are interested in web developmet, I highly suggest Thinkul!
- Came for the price, stayed for the mentor.- 10/2/2019Alexandra • Graduate • Course: Data Analytics Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
My prior skill level:
None. I have a BA in History and an M.Ed in Special Education. The closest I had come to coding were the kids coding challenges on code.org.
Why I chose this program:
I used Course Report to review several boot camps and decided on Thinkful because of its price compared to others and its job guarantee. The deal is that if you don't find a job within 6 months, you'll get a refund. When reading the fine print, I found that you have to meet a lot of requirements in order to qualify for the refund, such as make 8 phone calls and apply 2 places a week (or something like that). I was okay with that though, because I know that's what it takes to find a job in a new field. It's a good incentive to keep pushing. I also found out that if you finish before the 6 months are up, you can get a prorated refund for the time you didn't use. I wanted to take advantage of that, but the program did take me a full 6 months (and then some extra).
Why you should choose this program:
The most valuable part of the program is the mentor pairing. I met with my mentor twice a week for 45 minutes each session. That is the accountability I needed to go through a self-paced program. I feel this is much better accountability than assignment due dates like in academia. Any problems I had with an assignment, I knew I would be talking through them with my mentor soon. Other boot camps didn't seem to offer this level of partnership.
I don't know how the curriculum compares to other programs, but I can comment on the pedogogy. One of the most difficult aspects of any curriculum is creating a Transfer of Knowledge. This means being able to apply your newly learned skill to a new situation. Many of the Thinkful assignments require replicating a process with a different dataset - much like how Math is taught. The problem with this is that if there is any difference between what you have learned and what you are asked to do, you could get stuck and become frustrated. At times, I found myself copying and pasting Python code from the lessons in order to complete an assignment without understanding what was happening. While I know this is part of the learning curve, it did affect my final capstone when I couldn't understand why the code I copied and pasted from Stack Overflow wasn't working. I wasn't able to transfer what I learned in the program to new pieces of code. It seems like this is a problem for coding in general, given how much copy-and-paste-code there is in Stack Overflow. It's only if you're lucky that someone explains their code step-by-step, which enables you to understand where in the process you went wrong. This is something you should keep in mind regardless of what boot camp you choose.
Job Placement:
I just started the "Career Services" part of the program this week, so I can't comment on that. I haven't found a job in the field yet.
- A step in the right direction- 9/30/2019John McGowan • Student • Course: Data Science Flex • Campus: Boston • Verified via LinkedIn
I am about halfway through the course and am liking it pretty well. Strong points have been finding the right mentor and communicating with technical support- getting the right people to help you through difficult concepts makes a giant difference.
The curriculum at times jumps abruptly from subject to subject (somewhat expected given the 6-month span), which makes it hard to tie subjects together and learn cumulatively. My advice here is to click EVERY link to additional resources when provided-this info is much more helpful and central to helping you learn course material than it would initially seem.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but since the target audience is people with little to no prior experience in programming there could be a bit more clear explanation of the code written in the curriculum for students to reproduce the results.
- Data Science graduate - Do your research- 9/29/2019Sean McManus • Data Analyst • Student • Course: Data Science Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
I am going to endevour to be objective in the review and point out Thinkful's pros and cons.
- Cheap
- Self paced
- Introduced to a broad range of topics (...but at low depth)
- They do not hold on to their more talented staff for very long as they underpay and under deliver on promises about workloads. I lost my mentor half way through due to Thinkful's inability to provide him with a steady stream of students. Instead they decided to funnel students to individuals who didn't even know the code the curriculum was written in. They do have a handful of awesome mentors, but many are just not up to the job and as I mentioned, the good ones don't always stay around that long.
- I hate to say it, but the curriculum sucks. Things are not explained in any depth, there's typos, mis-statements. The math is never addressed. Some of the assignments are completely non-sequiter. Many of the lessons end abruptly once you get into the meat and potatoes of the content - often with a glib: 'That's enough for now! We don't want to go too deep here!'.
- They take on way too many low quality students - their personell resources are strained due to the fact that they use their platform as a cash cow. Many of the technical (non-mentors) assume the students are bumbling idiots, and they're a reason for that. Can make group sessions difficult if you're engaged and knowledgable.
- Employement rates are kind of attrocious...about 1 out of 3 people who start end up with a job.
- Horrible marketting campaigns that encourage prospective students to 'Quit your job!'
Now despite all of this, in the aim of being objective, I did learn a fair amount from Thinkful (not without quite a lot of extra work being put in outside the course load). I was offered a job before graduated and never ended up finishing the actual course (context: I also hold a PhD). I am inclined to believe I would have learned just as much by paying for a private tutor and teaching myself from other online resources (many of which Thinkful points to when the going gets tough)...overall I would not reccomend Thinkful. It can provide some useful resources at low resolution to motivated science and math graduates but i'm not sure the value for money is really there.
- Got a Job- 9/28/2019Steve • Software Developer • Graduate • Course: Engineering Flex • Campus: Denver • Verified via LinkedIn
I had a little bit of coding experiance before taking the Full Stack Flex program and I enjoyed my time and learned a lot. The carriculum will give you enough to learn the basics and most best practices but if you aren't a self-learner Thinkful might not be the best fit for you (or really any bootcamp). I felt confident that I could teach myself coding but took this program because you don't know what you don't know and it gave me clear direction on what to learn and what was important to know to get a job, and I think for the most part it does that.
My first mentor was not very knowledgable. That mentor only mentored people through the first month of basics and my understanding is that some people don't make it past that point so I think they try to save money by hireing less experianced mentors when students are early in the program. My mentor sessions basically just consisted of him checking my questions on stackoverflow. I learned nothing from him. I don't know if this was normal or I just happened to get a bad first mentor. It would be helpful for Thinkful to make sure all of their mentors have more experiance, even when a student is in the begining of the program.
The curriculum I went through was, in my opinion, really deficent in front-end testing. If you want to do any legitimate front-end testing you will have to teach yourself. It also does a terrible job of giving the student a good idea on what good front-end unit testing coverage would look like. I understand that the curriculum can only go so far in 6 months but i think this is the only place in the curriculum that really falls flat and doesn't set the student up for success.
Sometimes it felt like it took forever to get assignments graded and sometimes I got the feeling that little effort was put into the grading. I'm not sure that any grader ever actaully reviewed my capstone code and I suspect they spent maybe 10 minutes mindlessly going through the rubric. You'll get a few UI suggestions and they look for accesability isues but I didn't learn anything from the graders that made me a better coder. It would be much better if graders gave more feedback on code and checked for codeing best practices and also spent time to tell you what you did well. It's frustarating to spend a month on a project and the grade comes back with basically just, "Good job" as the only comment.
My second mentor was great and incredibly knowlodgable and I learned a lot from him and I think his experiance alone was worth the price of the program.
Now that I have a job in software development I can say that the curruculum did prepare me well for a job. But with that said, you do have to be a self-learner. The curriculum will give you the basics and will point you towards what you need to become competent but you will have to challenge yourself with your capstones to learn new things.
I think I may have just gotten lucky but I got the first phone interview for the job I ended up taking the same day that I officially graduated. Talking to other students a result like that is not typical, but most did get a job in the field within 6 months.
Thinkful is online but it did have a lot of resources to take advantage of if I got stuck on something. Most hours during the day there is someone online that can answer questions and help you out. I never felt like I was stuck and had no one to talk to.
I never felt like I was doing busy work or wasting time. I was always learning and felt like Thinkful was getting me ready for the job field as quickly as possible.
Disclaimer: Thinkful offered me a $15 dollar giftcard to write a review
- Engineering Flex- 9/28/2019Jared • Graduate • Course: Engineering Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
I took the Engineering Flex course. It wasn't quite what I expected going into it. It is a lot of information and a lot of reading going into it. Also, there will be some outside studying you need to do to really grasp the concept. Overall I found it really helpful and am really thankful for the course as it taught me a lot! The best thing about the course is definitely the mentor sessions or a least the mentor I had. He was very helpful and would go out of his way to make sure you understood the concepts.
- I'm doing it!- 9/27/2019Steven • Student • Course: Engineering Immersion • Campus: Houston • Verified via LinkedIn
I am currently halfway through the Engineering Immersion program offered by Thinkful and I am absolutely blown away by how much I have learned and retained in the passed 8 weeks. I have learned several different libraries and languages in order to further my goal as a developer. I am getting ready to start learning Computer Science algorithms and building my capstone projects! Everyone around me including the teachers, my mentor, the TA's and other students are extremely helpful and collabrative. That being said, do not take the warnings lightly. I spend on average 50-60 hours every week for this class and treat it as a full time job plus some. However, if you can handle the work load, you will walk away feeling supported, valued, and happier! If you're on the fence give it a try! They offer a free trial period!
- Not for Everyone- 9/27/2019Jaycee B. • Director of Financial Aid • Student • Campus: San Diego • Verified via GitHub
As much as I loved what Thinkful had to offer, I can now say that Engineering Flex program was not for me. As an older learner, I felt that the curriculum could have been better written which is why I am giving it 1 star. Many details of whatever subject matter you are on feel like they are left out or not fully explained.
The best analogy I can give is, imagine if you were enrolled in a Driver's Education program. The program gives you online lessons that talk about getting in the car, putting your key in, starting it, using turn signals, and then it talks about the Automatic transmission and outlines all of the different gears. It then leaves you with a short description on transmissions like 'Automatic transmissions are the most common transmissions in cars today. There is also a manual or stick shift transmission available but we will discuss that later.'
The lesson continues to talk about when to use your turn signals, when to put your car in Drive instead of Low Gear, and then discusses seatbelts or something else related to driving the car. When it comes time to actually drive the car, the lesson presents you with a vehicle, you get in, start it, then come to realize that it's a stick shift/manual transmission. You then have 30 minutes to google the solution on how to drive a stick shift. That's where a lot of my frustration came from.
I've shared my feedback with the Thinkful staff and they were very responsive but unfortunately, the curriculum can't be changed overnight. That said, that isn't to say that this isn't a good program. For applicants with some prior coding knowledge beyond simple HTML and CSS, this is a great program. For people that are new to coding, I strongly recommend getting a foundation from other coding resources before enrolling because you will always feel behind the curve especially if you are trying to complete this program within the six months on the Flex Program.
I have since withdrawn from the program to pursue an in-class program that caters more to my learning style. My last issue is with the refund policy. The policy states in the student catalog that a student may be eligible for a refund after the trial period but when I pressed the finance department on this, they said that I wasn't eligible for a partial refund because they don't calculate refunds on a per day basis. That should be clearly stated in the school catalog.
In closing, I'd like to thank my Program Manager and my Mentor for being patient with me and for their encouragement which is why I gave an overall rating of 3 stars - they were the ones that made this learning experience bareable.
- Its great if its what you want.- 9/27/2019Tony bento • Verified via LinkedIn
The program is amazing great staff and great teachers. A mentor always there if you need help and plenty of places to go to for help. But if you are not ready for the time dedication or you don't think you will be motivated then don't waste your time. they will give 100% if you give them 100%.
- One Bad Apple- 9/7/2019Kelli • Student • Course: Engineering Immersion • Campus: Denver • Verified via GitHub
This review is highly detailed, as it needs to be to fully outline my experience of being removed from Thinkful's Engineering Immersion Prep Course.
After years of apprehension towards pursuing Programming, and approximately 1 year of considering Thinkful, Inc. as my final choice for a school, in August of 2019, I applied to attend Thinkful's Engineering Immersion Program and was accepted. I had a great interaction with one of Thinkful's admission advisors as he explained how admission, prep course and the EI course would work and we discussed my financing options.
I live in a major city so the living stipend was an option for me; I applied for the living stipend and the ISA (Income Share Agreement) issued via Lief Technologies, Inc.
I was approved for both the living stipend and the ISA the day after I applied and signed the contract as well. Things were going off without a hitch and I was very excited to get started.
I met with my Program Manager who gave me plenty of resources of how to stay connected while in the prep course. She made sure that I knew of the various avenues of community help and even local communities in my area; all things that allow a person to feel & remain grounded while studying in what may feel like an isolated environment, as distance/online learning can feel like at times. I credit 2 of her correspondences with me on tech evaluation preparation and progress in the program as one of the primary reasons I remained motivated throughout the latter part of my stay in the prep course.
During Thinkful's 4-week prep course, you are assigned to a mentor who you meet with twice a week to help iron out any kinks in your understanding the material that you would study independently for those 4 weeks. My mentor was [redacted by moderators].
The dynamic with this mentor who was assigned to me wasn't as harmonious as it could have been and we definitely had different teaching/learning styles and a few too many awkward silences where he didn't control the flow of the session, but given the return on investment of a career change and being approved for the living stipend and ISA, it was a simple decision to just take these biweekly sessions on the chin, use the opportunity to learn all that I could and push through the material, as not all partnerships will be ideal. Not to mention, this was only the prep course and not someone who I would be assigned to for the duration of the course.
During my second to last session with [redacted by moderators], we'd gone over a few principles and he gave me some code to practice and told me to practice writing the code over and over in order to drill in the syntax; no problem there. In all of our sessions, I made sure to fork what we'd worked on, or copy and paste the code to practice it in a separate editor, but NEVER would I change or add to the code he wrote during a mentor session.
The next day when I was practicing the syntax he wrote, none of the code would run.
Additionally, this rang true for the rest of the code he asked me to practice from the repl.it file we were working on that previous session. NONE of the code worked!
So during our next and last session, after our initial greetings, I asked him "Is the code we were working on the other day supposed to run? I was practicing writing it and none of it runs in the editor and I'd like to get it cleaned up so I'm practicing the correct syntax."
To which, he passive-aggressively replied, "Can you give me a link so I know what you're talking about?"
And instead of cleaning up the code I brought to his attention, he immediately began to shift gears and began reviewing and teaching me the same code block that was incorrect, and quizzing me on the code. I reiterated that my primary concern was to make sure this code is written correctly so I wouldn't be committing incorrect syntax to memory. Also, I just wanted to be able to cover new material in this session after the code was corrected.
He insisted on reviewing, after which he removed the incorrect pieces of code at the end.
This happened over 2 blocks of code I brought to his attention.
He then wrote an exercise he wanted me to write code for and I noticed it was the same exercise with precisely the same instructions from our previous session; code that he wrote and corrected in the end.
So I reviewed that exercise and wrote what I saw in the earlier exercise. He asked me why I wrote this "anti-code" and I showed him the code that had his instructions word-for-word attached to the exercise and it mirrored the exact exercise we were currently working on and I told him I was just reviewing the code he wrote in the same exercise in our previous session.
[Mentor name redacted by moderators] then became very defensive and said he didn't write it and accused me having changed code after-session.
All of this immediately after cleaning up code he'd written and had instructed me to practice.
I wasn't very pleased with how this session went, so I emailed my Program Manager because I remember she mentioned I could contact her if I needed to. I asked if we could arrange a time for consultation before our next scheduled meeting.
My goal in that meeting would have been ensuring that, if possible, I could be assigned another mentor for the duration of my stay in prep course and any additional study materials for the upcoming technical evaluation I was on track to take.
I never received a response to that email.
Later that afternoon however, I received an email from my program manager stating that my mentor reported that I had violated the code of conduct and displayed disrespectful behavior during the session and that I would be withdrawn from the prep course effective that day.
I was never questioned about the session by Thinkful.
My reaching out to the program manager wasn't taken into consideration, no investigation whatsoever.
It was just a staff employee's word over a student's.
I replied to the program manager that I did in fact have questions and I hoped that the sessions were recorded at the very least.
I received no response.
My advise to other student hopefuls is if you are considering Thinkful or PARTICULARLY if you end up with this mentor is to Cover. Your. Back.
Keep a record of everything and record your sessions if you don't think they are going the way they should. Don't shy away from requesting a different mentor if you feel it may be necessary.
Do not allow one bad apple to ruin your progress, or in this case, cost you the opportunity to be awarded a stipend.
Onward and Upward!
Response From: Theresa of ThinkfulTitle: Engagement FormatsTuesday, Sep 17 2019Kelli,Thank you so much for bringing this matter to our attention and taking time to leave such a thorough review. It's our goal to find expert mentors who will tailor a curriculum that best fits YOUR study style from day one, to help you achieve your goals.
We will definitely investigate this situation further. If there is anything else you'd like to share about what happened in your prep course experience, please email me directly at firstname.lastname@example.com.
- DO NOT ENROLL AND WASTE YOUR MONEY- 9/4/2019Kara • Business Analyst • Graduate • Course: Data Science in Python • Campus: Online • Verified via GitHub
This course is awful. While they pair you with a mentor and that's a plus, the curriculum is TERRIBLE. There are no videos, there are paragraphs of vague explanations on complex topics (often times riddled with errors), and then a subset of code that is NOT EXPLAINED and you have no idea what each piece is doing. I completed the course successfully and definitely don't feel like I could be a successful data scientist. Don't waste your money--spend a little extra time and money on a course where you will actually learn something.
Response From: Jason Manke of ThinkfulTitle: Director of CommunicationsFriday, Sep 27 2019Hi Kara
We really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review, and I'm sorry to hear you were unhappy with the presentation of the course materials. Your feedback is invaluable as we determine how best to present courses in the future.
I personally spoke with your program manager and was excited to hear you secured a position in the data science field. While I understand the journey wasn't what you expected, I trust you're enjoying the results of your hard work – a new career path.
Please contact firstname.lastname@example.com if you have any additional questions or concerns.
- Good Overall- 8/12/2019Dylan • Full Stack Developer • Graduate • Course: Engineering Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via GitHub
I enrolled in the Full Stack Flex boot camp because I wanted school like structure because I procrastinate without deadlines. Curriculum is pretty good, but you'll still have to learn a lot by yourself that isn't covered. I had 2 mentors. The first was not great. He missed meetings, didn't go out of his way to teach me anything unless I explicitly asked. Second one was really good and I wouldn't have graduated on time without him. They do guarentee a job but only if you complete it the course in 6 months or less. I got employed about 3 months after graduating and I'm really happy with my job.
- Data Analytics Flex Program- 8/10/2019Lisa A. • Student • Course: Data Analytics Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInI was looking for a flexible/part-time data analytics course available online and, after reading up about the program (here on CR!) & then discussing it with someone in admissions at Thinkful, I decided it was worth it. What attracted me to the program was the careers assistance portion as well as the mentoring and the number of Capstone projects (3) that you have to complete.It is a text-based learning format where you follow along and then complete checkpoints (ie: mini-projects in Excel, Tableau, Postgresql & Python) and submit them for review. They use pgAdmin4 for the SQL portion and Google Colab for the Python modules & you will need to set up a Tableau Public profile.It is a challenging program at times (I do have prior experience w/SQL & Python), but, it is very thorough. What's great is, if you ever get stuck on an assignment, there is always someone in technical support available via the Slack channel or, a workshop Q&A. (I can't say enough positive things about the technical support staff). Another aspect that I really appreciated was my mentor who was incredibly helpful and supportive whenever I had questions about a problem I was working on, or, if I had questions about whatever "real life" data analysts encounter. (You meet w/a mentor 2x/week).One thing that I think set them apart from other programs that I researched (besides cost,) was the career modules including resume & LinkedIn profile guidance and mock interview prep. There are two rounds of each type of interview--behavioral, case and culture fit. Let's face it--everyone gets nervous in an interview, but, like anything else, if you practice, it helps. The feedback that I received from the mentors for the mock interviews was insightful and very helpful. They want you to succeed and they do push you to do your best.Just remember, you have to put in the work. While the DA Flex program is a p/t program, this is not a program that you can complete on the weekends alone, you must devote a solid block of time every day. When learning anything new, especially coding--you have to be repetitive and keep at it so the concepts stick in your brain. I'm glad I enrolled and look forward to the next steps--to see where my new skills take me.
- A long road I'm glad I took- 8/9/2019Kelly Harrington • Graduate • Course: Data Science Flex • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedIn
Starting the Data Science course to this program, I had no computer science background. I had earned a master's in biology 5 years prior and really enjoyed processing the data (Excel, sigma plot and sigma stat). After comparing a few programs, I decided Thinkful was the way to go since they are so sure of the program that they offered a money back guarantee if you don't get a job in the field within six months. I just graduated the program, so I will start my career search now. What I can say about the program is that I learned a TON. Some of it I may never use, but I am glad to have the information. Other info such as the supervised learning techniques I see as indispensible. I started with a mentor who eventually left the company and I therefore ended up with a really helpful mentor half-way through the program. He always gave great advice and was super encouraging. I did not find Slack, the online collaborative chat to be very helpful, as I would often just get responses that sent me to stack overflow links that I had already seen and did not help my situation. I would also say that the timing estimates were not all that accurate for me. Some tasks that were only supposed to take a few days took me weeks. I work 40-50 hours a week and was anticipating dedicating 20 hours to Thinkful but it ended up being closer to 30-35. I used all my pause days as I juggled work, a family emergency, and an unexpected trip so it took me about 8 months to do this six month course. But therein also lies the amazing thing about this program: I was able to balance my life with this program and I came out of it with so much more knowledge than I had 8 months ago. It's cheaper than some of the other programs I looked at as well and for someone who, again, was starting with no foundation, it was necessary to endure a longer program as I don't think I would have understood anything going into a 'Learn Python in a week' course. I also ended up with two different program managers in the course and they were both amazing. Super nice and encouraging and always very quick with their responses and help. I think the curriculum could use some tweaking as some assignments are a bit ambiguous, or show you something simple and then ask you to do something far more complex. Overall though, I learned a lot and was glad to work on real world problems and not just theory during this course.
- Data Science Course Review- 8/8/2019Matt Francsis • Data Scientist • Graduate • Course: Data Science Flex • Campus: Houston • Verified via LinkedIn
I enjoyed and strongly recommend Thinkful.
The program is fundamentally a broad, though shallow, overview of the core data science toolkit. It's primarily designed for people without a coding background. The curriculum features a structured, top-down, conceptual overview of topics and algorithms followed by hands on exercises, challenges, and capstone projects. Thinkful does not provide a holistic, nor deep-dive, into the math behind the algorithms but the lessons often have links to additional resources for the students to consider in due course. Given that students come from diverse backgrounds, I think this is smart.
The real highlights of Thinkful are the things which go beyond the actual data science curriculum, namely all of the technical support. This includes: one-on-one mentorship multiple times a week, open technical coach "office hours" multiple times a day, an active student message board with mentors available 10 hours every day, and finally, a career support team to assist with your job hunt after graduation. It amazes me that they offer so much personalized technical support. This is the strength of the program in my eyes.
They created a successful program to lift students into the data science field. I couldn't have asked for more from a bootcamp.
- Graduate- 7/20/2019Charla • Graduate • Course: Data Science Flex • Campus: Online • Verified via GitHub
I chose Thinkful over other boot camps because of the cost, the mentorship, and the job guarantee. My experience has been positive on all fronts. I can't say enough about my mentor and my program manager, they were the key to my success along with my hard work. My program manager was there to assist with any questions I had about the program, such as staying on track to graduate on time. My mentor was patient, helpful and knowledgeable about various Data Science topics. If you don't have the math and programming skills, you will definitely have to put in more time. I am glad I stuck with this course and finished strong. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. It's never too late to start something new!
- Truly Life-Changing- 7/14/2019Clinton Owen • Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: Engineering Immersion • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
Apologies for the wall of text that's about to follow! Apparently I had a lot to say, so I hope that some will find it useful.
Overview (TL/DR)
Enrolling at Thinkful is one of the best decisions I've ever made. They have a solid curriculum with staff who are really invested in student success. Not only do you graduate the program having obtained a highly-sought-after skillset, but Thinkful continues to support you in your job search and provides the strategies, resources, and connections that will really help you reach your goal of becoming a Developer.
Why Learn to Code?
I assume that if you're reading this, you've already thought about the answer to that question. For me, I started coding as a side-project when my former company asked me to redesign their website—I had no prior experience, but it was so rewarding to dive in, solve problems on-the-fly, and emerge with something I was really proud of. After taking some time to reflect, I decided that my interests and skills were more aligned with a career in programming.
I found it helpful to figure out my own, personal "why" and think about what I really wanted to get out of this journey. Defining a simple, reasonable, quantitative goal gave me something to aim for and helped me to stay motivated and focused. The goal I came up with for myself was to "obtain a growth-oriented software developer job in the Chicago area within 6 months of graduating from boot camp with a salary that would allow me to comfortably start a family."
One of the first major steps I took was to complete Udacity's "Intro to Computer Science" course, which validated my feelings that this is something I would really enjoy doing. There are many similar resources out there (freeCodeCamp is another good one) where you can get a taste of what being a programmer is all about and decide if it's right for you. Additionally, Thinkful has a mandatory Prep Course (which I'll discuss in more detail later) that also allow you to dip your toes in the water before taking the full plunge.
Why A Boot Camp?
One thing I know about myself is that when I'm trying to learn something on my own, I can spend hours just researching the "best" way to learn it, often to the point of paralysis by analysis. That's why the concept of a boot camp really resonated with me—allowing someone else to handle the "what" and "how" of my education by curating a solid curriculum would help me stay focused and moving forward. My next step was… research!
Why Thinkful?
Using sites like SwitchUp and CourseReport, I created a comparison spreadsheet of all the boot camps I was interested in. Thinkful's Engineering Immersion program checked all the right boxes—it combined the ideal qualities of a modern, comprehensive, project-based curriculum, high-quality teaching staff, regular 1-on-1 mentorship, daily peer collaboration, and outcome-oriented career services. From the glowing reviews of alumni, I got the impression that Thinkful is constantly striving to improve and update the program to the benefit of future student cohorts. So, I decided to take the leap and applied for the July 2018 cohort.
Prior to Starting
After applying to the Engineering Immersion program, I had a phone call with one of Thinkful's program coordinators to make sure that I was a good "culture fit." They mainly wanted to hear about my background and why I was learning to code, answer any questions I had, and go over the next steps.
The Prep Course also included a few short lessons on communication and other soft skills which provided some tools and strategies to help you work well in a group environment. I loved that they provided this and it gave me the impression that they really wanted everyone to have a great experience collaborating in our cohort.
Towards the end of the Prep Course, my Mentor helped me prepare for the Technical Evaluation, which you need to pass in order to be admitted to the full-time program. They asked some general questions about the topics covered in the Prep Course and then I had to complete 5 coding challenges using JavaScript.
Once I passed the Technical Evaluation and was admitted into the full-time Engineering Immersion program, I had an orientation session where I got to meet all of the other students in my cohort and got an overview of the program.
The Curriculum
There were four main instructional "units" of the program, each led by a different instructor. After each unit ended, we would schedule a mock interview (similar to the Prep Course Technical Evaluation) which would focus on the material covered in that unit.
The first unit (2 weeks) covered JavaScript, jQuery, and how to architect and build asynchronous web applications, culminating in a 3-day solo project where I built my own web app.
The second unit (4 weeks) was all about server-side programming, using Node/Express to build RESTful APIs, PostgreSQL and Mongo to build databases. We also learned how to write tests and construct user authentication strategies.
The third unit (2 weeks) was dedicated to learning React and Redux, an extremely popular framework for building web apps.
The fourth unit (2 weeks) was on data structures and algorithms, a very useful topic to prepare you for programming interviews.
Interspersed between and around these core instructional units, we had about 7 total weeks dedicated to working on projects, both solo and in groups. In the final week of the program, we focused on completing our online portfolios and polishing up our projects in preparation for the job search.
Overall I was extremely impressed with the quality and freshness of the curriculum. One of the program coordinators told me that they try to make at least one substantial update to the program after each cohort of students, and it really shows in the quality and attention to detail of the curriculum. You can tell that Thinkful really cares about what their students think. There are many opportunities to provide feedback, both solicited and unsolicited.
There were a few scattered instances of an outdated or broken link, but that just comes with the territory of a curriculum which is constantly improving and evolving to keep up with the pace of the industry.
Thinkful was really, really good about teaching us to be independent developers. There was some necessary hand-holding in the beginning as we learned the basics, but they pretty quickly transitioned us to working both independently and on group projects where it was really up to us to come up with an idea, organize the projects, research different technologies that might be useful, study documentation, and work autonomously.
A Typical Day
Class started at 9am (Central) every morning with a lecture by the lead instructor for that unit of the curriculum. This was typically about an hour long and was held in a group chat room where we could watch the instructor and ask questions via text, voice, or video. I really enjoyed this format and thought that the instructors provided a lot of great insights. They were also very good at explaining things in a way that was easy to follow and understand.
Next, we would break into pairs (we had a different partner each day) and work on coding exercises using a technique called pair programming—this is where you take turns writing code ("driving") and providing direction ("navigating"). This definitely took some getting used to, but quickly started to feel more natural as we progressed. It's great practice for learning to work with different people and different personalities, and it helps us pull each other along—I noticed on some days that my partner was teaching me a lot, while on others I was doing the teaching. Most days it was a mix of both. If you ran into any trouble, you could always message the instructor/TA's, who would join your room and help you figure things out.
After a 45-minute lunch break, we'd have an afternoon lecture, which was usually a short review or small addition to the content we covered in the morning lecture.
Then, we'd break into our pairs again and work on some more exercises until the end of the day (4:30pm Central).
In the evenings, we'd meet with our personal Mentors at an agreed-upon time for 30 minutes. Thinkful Mentors work regular jobs in the industry and provide mentorship on the side, so in addition to getting help with your coursework, they can provide valuable insight about life as a real Developer.
We'd also usually have an assigned reading each night to introduce the topic for the next day's class. Thinkful recommended that we dedicate at least 2 hours per night to studying outside of class. Obviously, the more time you put into it, the more you'll get out of the program, so it's important that your family/friends understand the time commitment you've made so that they allow you time to focus and study. I found that in order to keep up" at the level I wanted to be at, I had to devote more like 3-4 hours every night, plus an additional 3-4 hours per day on weekends.
The projects were a great way to really apply our knowledge in a practical setting and review and reinforce some of the lessons we had learned. They also provided great material for our portfolios.
The highlight of the program for me was our first Full-Stack Capstone project. We had finally reached the point where we had the knowledge to build a complete web application and then were given two weeks to brainstorm, plan, design, build, and deploy a full-stack project of our choice. While we still had regular progress check-ins with our instructor, it was so cool to have the freedom to flex our skills and creativity and dive deep into a project.
During the final Capstone project, I was on a team of five, where we came up with the concept for an app, decided on the features we wanted to implement, created user stories and wireframes, organized our tasks on a Trello board, and had daily morning stand-ups to discuss our progress and any hurdles we encountered. I think we all learned a lot about the importance of communication, organization, and version control when working in a collaborative environment. It was so cool to be put into an Agile development environment, simulating the type of tasks and interactions we might encounter in our professional work.
The pace of the program was very quick—it often felt like we were just starting to wrap our heads around one subject when another would get introduced. Some days were definitely more difficult than others, but the days seemed well-balanced so it never got too overwhelming.
I sometimes wished that I had time to read more about a few of the more complex topics we covered, but then you run the risk of going down a rabbit hole and losing focus, so overall I'm happy with the pace and structure. It did feel at times like I was literally just coding, eating, and sleeping, but I knew the program would be time-consuming, so it's hard to complain, especially when I look at how far I developed in such a short time.
Job Search
One of the key selling points for the program was the focus on giving me the skills required to land a Developer job, and that includes the soft skills. There was an entire section of the curriculum dedicated to crafting application materials, networking, and interviewing.
Upon graduating, I was also paired with a dedicated Career Coach, who would meet with me every 1-3 weeks (more frequently earlier on) to go over your application materials, talk about different job hunting techniques, and help you refine your strategy if things weren't working.
They definitely expect a lot from you during the job searching phase (see the specific requirements in their Tuition Refund Guarantee), but it's all designed with the goal of getting you a job as quickly as possible.
Thinkful is great about connecting with companies who are looking for Developers like you. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live, but Thinkful introduced me to quite a few companies in Chicago.
I'm thrilled to say that, having recently been hired as a Software Engineer at Groupon's Chicago headquarters, I've surpassed my wildest expectations of what I'd be able to accomplish in only a year's time. Thinkful was absolutely instrumental in every step of the way. Not only did they provide me with the current, relevant skills I would need to impress during my interviews, but their incredibly hard-working Careers Team helped me get a foot in the door by making an introduction with Groupon and helping me cut through the high volume of applications they receive on a regular basis.
One of the highlights of my life will be the moment after I received the job offer and then immediately called my wife to deliver the good news and got to hear her cries of joy. This means so much to us and our aspirations of starting a life together. It's also incredibly significant to me, personally, to be doing something that I love in an environment where I'll be challenged and inspired to learn and grow. As I think about my future and start to set new goals for my life and career, I'm so grateful for the time I had with Thinkful and for their incredible team of instructors, mentors, managers, and coaches. I'll always look back fondly on Thinkful as the pivotal factor in propelling me along my desired career path.
On-Time Graduation Rate
In-Field Employed
Change in Salary


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Spring Prize Draw Winner!!
Fri 2 Apr 2004
Congratulations to Stephen Roche of Surrey, the winner of our draw made at the end of March. Stephen won a beautiful glass decanter and funnel, identical to those we use at our wine tastings.
Thank you once again to everyone who entered the competition, and a special welcome to the new members of our Wine Club. Do remember that to qualify for our next quarterly Prize Draw, either you will be automatically entered when you make a purchase of some wine, or you must visit the competition page to to register your entry. Our next Prize Draw will take place at the end of June 2004 and the winner will receive a case of white wine, selected from our wine list, perfect for those long lazy sunny days in the garden.
For those of you who can't wait that long, we have been very fortunate in acquiring a small batch of our oaked white Rioja, Agnus de Valdelana, at a special price and are able to pass on these savings to Wine Club Members. Shipped in wooden cases this wine is normally £90 per dozen bottles through our web site, but while stocks last you can purchase 18 bottles for £99 plus delivery - a saving of £35! This offer is only available to Wine Club members and is not available through the online shopping mall on our web site. All you have to do to take advantage of this special offer is to drop us an email, telephone or fax your details through to us on:
Email: email@example.com
Tel: 01372 376127
Fax: 01372 386615

subset: commoncrawl


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this is a discussion within the Pelicans Community Forum; /4/2005, 10:53 p.m. CT By BRETT MARTEL The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) ÃÆââÃâìâÃâ¬Ã Chris Andersen had his second straight double-double, and the lowly New Orleans Hornets also doubled up with a rare two-game winning streak. With guard Dan Dickau ...
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Hornets 92, Jazz 85
/4/2005, 10:53 p.m. CT
By BRETT MARTEL
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ÃÆââÃâìâÃâ¬Ã Chris Andersen had his second straight double-double, and the lowly New Orleans Hornets also doubled up with a rare two-game winning streak.
With guard Dan Dickau failing to score in double digits for the first time in 22 games, Andersen had 12 points and 11 rebounds in a reserve role to help New Orleans control the inside play in a 92-85 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night.
"We should go on a nice little streak here," said the flamboyant Andersen, who's known as "Birdman" and is a crowd favorite. "We need to take a stand for ourselves ... everybody going to the glass."
J.R. Smith and P.J. Brown each scored 14 points as New Orleans snapped Utah's three-game winning streak. Jackson Vroman, so active under the basket he seemed to be flailing around at times, scored a career-high 12 points and had nine rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Lee Nailon also had 12 points for New Orleans.
"They were tougher than we were," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "They just waxed us out on the floor. You have to give them credit for being able to push us around. They went after loose balls a lot harder than we did. And we did a poor job of trying to block them out. They seemed to be a little hungrier."
Andrei Kirilenko led Utah with 21 points. Raja Bell added 19 points, but only four in the second half. Matt Harpring scored 18 points, and Curtis Borchardt finished with 11 rebounds.
Kirilenko had two late putbacks in an 11-3 run in the fourth quarter that cut Utah's 13-point deficit to five with 2:27 left.
But Utah could get no closer, despite poor free-throw shooting by the Hornets, who missed four late free throw tries to finish 24-for-37 from the foul line.
Utah, relying heavily on jump shots, was outscored 46-30 inside and shot just 33.7 percent from the field, with several long-range misses in the last two minutes. New Orleans shot 45.2 percent.
Rookies Vroman and Smith helped the Hornets stretch their lead to 12 in the third quarter. Vroman scored on a strong inside move and was fouled by Kirilenko. He later grabbed and errant floater by Smith and dunked it in one motion.
Smith also made a tough driving floater as he fell over the baseline, added a pair of free throws and scored on a driving layup.
"They bring a lot of energy and we need that. We need guys who can be up tempo and get the crowd into it ÃÆââÃâìâÃâ¬Ã get everybody excited," Brown said. "Guys are making a conscious effort inside to go in, jump and go for dunks or go for rebounds."
Casey Jacobsen's driving basket made it 68-56. Then early in the fourth quarter, Jacobsen, who finished with 11 points, added a pair of free throws to give New Orleans its largest lead at 76-62.
The Hornets led by 12 with 4:10 left, then Utah started its late run.
Dickau all but sealed the outcome with a runner with 19 seconds remaining to make it 90-82.
New Orleans, which led 47-42 at the break, got points from 11 players.
"We didn't play good defense and we let New Orleans take a lot of layups," Kirilenko said. "They played like a real team. You take a look at the stats. I don't think anybody scored over 15 points, six or seven guys in double figures. They really helped each other and played the kind of basketball that ... you should play."
Notes:@ The Hornets missed their last seven free throws of the first half, finishing the half 7-for-14 from the foul line. ... Kirilenko shot 9-for-10 from the line for the half. ... New Orleans native and former LSU star Randy Livingston, who recently signed a 10-day contract with the Jazz, entered the game in the second quarter. He had two points. ... Dickau finished with four points.
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- Page 1 Canon EOS 650D Review
- Page 2 Performance, Image Quality and Verdict Review
- Page 3 Sample Images: ISO Performance Review
- Page 4 Sample Images: General Images Review
- Touch-screen adds to user experience
- Improved autofocus performance
- Good image quality
- Touch-screen icons a little small
- Slow processing of digital filter effects
Key Specifications
- Review Price: £800.00
- 16MP APS-C CMOS sensor
- ISO 100 - 12,800 (ext. to 25,600)
- 3in, 1040k-dot vari-angle touch-screen
- 1080p Full HD video recording at 30fps
- 9 cross-type AF points
In addition to the new touchscreen the 650D also benefits from a number of other upgrades and improvements to its core specifications. Perhaps the most significant of these is the APS-C CMOS sensor at its heart. While effective resolution remains pegged at 18MP, the 650D's revised sensor now employs some of the pixels in the central part of the chip for phase detection AF. Canon calls this 'Hybrid CMOS AF' and claims that it improves focus performance when the camera is being used in live view mode and when shooting video. However, you'll still have to rely on the standard contrast-detection AF method when the subject you're shooting lies outside of the sensor's central area.
The 650D's image processor has also been upgraded to the DIGIC 5 version, and while this isn't quite as fast as the DIGIC 5 processor used in Canon's flagship EOS 1Dx and 5D Mark III models, it does offer a six-fold increase in processing speeds over the old DIGIC 4. Sensitivity, meanwhile, ranges from ISO 100-12,800 in standard mode, with an extended mode of ISO 25,600 making the 650D a stop faster than its predecessor.
On the back of the camera sits a 3in Clear View II LCD screen that offers a 1040k-dot resolution. The main difference between this and the Clear View screen found on the 600D is that the gap between the screen and the front panel has been removed – a technique used on many new phone and tablet screens to reduce internal reflections, increase viewing angles and improve overall image quality. As per the 600D the vari-angle screen pivots on a side hinge that allows it to be folded out by 175° and rotated through 270°.
Video recording capabilities extend to 1080p Full HD at a choice of 25 or 30fps, backed up by 720p HD recording at 50 and 60fps. Sound is recorded in stereo via two microphones on the top-plate, with a wind-cut filter available if required. An external microphone jack is also present should you want to attach a dedicated microphone to further improve audio quality. There's no headphone jack for monitoring audio levels, though.
Conventional autofocus has also seen a performance boost. Whereas the 600D offered only one cross-type AF sensor in the centre of the viewfinder, all nine AF points of the 650D are of the cross-type variety. This makes the 650D's AF module more flexible than its predecessor, as each AF point is equally able to function irrespective of whether the camera is being held in landscape or portrait orientation. In addition to improved AF performance, the 650D also sees a boost in Continuous shooting speed from 3.7fps to a much more credible 5fps. Whereas Canon's consumer-grade DSLRs have traditionally been a bit slower than their direct rivals, the increased burst speed of the 650D puts it on par, something that will doubtless increase its overall appeal to sports and action photographers.
Also new to the 650D is a Multi Shot Noise Reduction feature. This basically combines four images into one to reduce the effects of noise. In addition, there's also a new Handheld Night Scene mode that works on much the same principle of combining multiple images into one, although its primary goal is to reduce blur rather than noise. While the 650D offers a choice of six white balance presets, there isn't any way to set it numerically using the Kelvin scale. This does strike us as a rather odd omission, given how it's a fairly standard feature on other DSLRs, even entry-level ones. That said, the camera does allow you to make small adjustments towards particular colour hues, which can be quite useful.
Overall build quality is pretty good, with the stainless steel chassis and polycarbonate resin shell feeling robust enough while keeping weight down to just 575g. The grip, thumb rest and side all benefit from a rubberised finish too, making the camera feel more secure in the hand. The grip itself is rather shallow compared to some DSLR, which makes it better suited to those with smaller hands, but it's still markedly larger and more comfortable than any grip on a CSC.
In terms of design the 650D looks a lot like its predecessors, albeit with a handful of modifications. For example, the built-in stereo microphones are now located on top of the camera rather than on the front. In addition, the Menu and Info buttons have lost their edges to become round, while the thumb rest on the back is now slightly larger too.
While button shapes may have changed slightly, button layout remains pretty much the same as on the 600D, save for the removal of the Display button that used to be found on the top-plate and the addition of a dedicated 'Movie' position to the main on/off switch. While the former is unlikely to be missed, the inclusion of a Movie position on the main on/off switch can be a bit annoying as it's quite easy to accidentally overshoot the 'on' position when turning the camera on, inadvertently putting the camera into movie mode instead.
Unlike other sites, we thoroughly test every product we review. We use industry standard tests in order to compare features properly. We'll always tell you what we find. We never, ever accept money to review a product. Tell us what you think - send your emails to the Editor.


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thanx a lot for your help ,i got it fixed from a nearby lenovo support centre and now it's working properly.
You can re-partition, and reload the system as you wish without voiding your hardware warranty, but doing so can put us into a mutually difficult situation...
For both Think and Idea systems, there is a hidden partition that can be used to recover / restore to factory state as you know. The recovery software also has the ability to create a set of recovery DVDs and we encourage all users to do this as pretty much a first course of action. Many however, unfortunately do not.
Instead, they blow everything away and then run into trouble and call support where they learn that while recovery DVDs are available for Think products they are available for a fee unless the HDD catastrophically failed, in which case we would provide them along with a replacement drive. On Idea, recovery DVDs are not necessarily available for all models which means a trip to the depot to be re-imaged, and this may not necessarily be a warranty repair for free. The system warranty is not void, but it might be a billable repair to re-image it.
The other caveat is if a customer wipes the image and recovery partition and did not make backups first - say to load Linux, and then runs into a problem that could be drivers or could be hardware (say the touchpad isn't working), the support will want to return to supported config (the preload) to exclude software as a cause before we start replacing hardware.
I hope that helps to clear up the confusion around this issue.
Best regards,
My Girlfriend just purchased the G555 and I have created the recovery DVD set as of this morning. My question is this
There are 4 Partitions:
Hidden 200MB NTFS (I am assuming this contains system info for an offline recover)
D: (Lenovo) 29GB Partition ( Contains 800MB of Drivers)
Hidden 14.75GB OEM Partition ( Assuming contains ONE Recovery Image)
Is there a reason that i can not delete D:\ Partition or possibly clone the drive to say a larger HDD without voiding the Warranty?
Thanks for the answer.
Regarding the testing difficulties in the depot (i.e., that they can't be sure if it's not a software issue if I use a custom installation), Lenovo could supply the Lenovo warrany services with model-specific Windows "live" DVD-s. But I suppose Lenovo doesn't do that, or else what's on the customer's HDD woudn't mater for them. But that's really not my mistake, I mean, if Lenovo doesn't invest into creating and distributing such DVD-s then surely theycalulated that the occassional extra work is cheaper. So I hope they can't charge me for that extra work... It's their business of Lenovo how they detect and solve the hardware problem regardless of what's on my HDD, according to what you said (HDD content can't void warranty), right?
hi every one !!
m facing a series problem in G560 laptopshaving preloaded win 7 home premuim
1.)after creating the recovery dvd's using one key recovery software.the automatic recovery system that is one key recovery stops working. it leads to normal boot up of system even after pressing the "one key recovery button"
and the hidden partion (O or E). become visible in my computer.
2.) one key recovery button does not works.
do lenovo have any solution for this.??
because its a software error if some one want o fix this from service centre they charge upto Rs.2000
i had a big mistake, i changed my operation system from windows7homebasic to open suse linux.
whatever ... I think while i was resizing disk partition :C, I changed something that is causing recovery button not to work. and i also want to mention that, linux installs grub boot loader on mbr.
whatever... i hated linux and uninstalled it . after that, the okr system rescue button did not execute when i want to reinstall windows 7 again.
when i push the okr button , windows cmd.exe is opening but not system rescue.
i called the service and he says it must reinstall image file on secret partition. can i do this, if ur answer is yes , how can i do that
please help me!!!
I'm about to install 64-bit Win7 on a ThinkPad that came with 32-bit Win7. I'm not gonna touch the hidden partition.
1. Under those conditions (64-bit Win7 installed and hidden partition untouched) ... if I reboot, push the restore button, and select the Restore Factory option (F11), will it still restore me all the way back to the true original factory config? Or do I need to first install the OneKey Recovery software to make that work properly?
2. I think I found the OneKey Recovery software on the IdeaPad U150 page (the actual file is IN1OKR01WW6.exe, version 7.0.0723, 274 MB). Is that really the right software? (And do I really need to install it somewhere on my 64-bit Win7 install? The more I read about this, the OneKey Software that I would actually use is installed in the hidden partition--which I shouldn't be touching at all.)
And finally, just a comment:
Mark_Lenovo wrote:
For both Think and Idea systems, there is a hidden partition that can be used to recover / restore to factory state as you know. The recovery software also has the ability to create a set of recovery DVDs and we encourage all users to do this as pretty much a first course of action. Many however, unfortunately do not. Instead, they blow everything away and then run into trouble ...
We very much appreciate your comments and hints, Mark. Especially the suggestions about what every new buyer should do in the first few hours after turning the machine on. Very helpful. Thanks.
hey all sell ur lenovo on ebay and buy a hp pavilion laptop which is **bleep**ing awesome
07-04-2010 12:50 PM - edited 07-04-2010 12:54 PM
ad nitishmech 05-18-2010 08:14 AM:
Sorry I do not understand - what I have to do for same result like you ("...and now it's working properly"). thanx for answer.
Similar to many others on this forum, I too suffered from a drive C:/ that was vastly too short on space. After suffering for more than a year I adjusted my D:/ down and C:/ up just 15 Gb so my paging file would again function as advertised.
I now learn this is a no-no. I would like to have thought I would have picked up on this should Lenovo had the forethought to put MY DOCUMENTS on D:/ along with MY PROGRAMS. As they didn't, a serious oversight on Lenovo's part has occurred. And that oversight alone should be enough for Lenovo to send all Y410 owners a free set of restore disks… if they existed.
As that is not going to occur, perhaps someone can correctly answer this question; Several times in the forum individuals have asked what the correct size for drive C:/ should be so the OneKey ( NOVO key) recovery can function. Tho I may have missed it, I don't believe the correct size was ever stated! Does anyone know… and more importantly… if reset will normal system recovery function?
Several times in this discussion it has been stated by various individuals that all you have to do is NOVO on and create the back-up disks… so I tried this. All I got was that my Y410 C:/ was about to be destroyed! Certainly not the desired suggestion!
Now, hypothetically speaking, my HDD suddenly has stationary impact damage upon the rotating platter… and the HDD is toast! As I've done countless times in the past, I order a new HDD and slip in. run the restore disks. Now I must push the NOVO button… Will my new HDD get recovered? From what I'm reading… NO.
Will I be able to pick up the phone and order a HDD restore set for my unit for around $20.00US as I do for my many HP's. Again, the answer appears to be NO.
So I come to the end of this mild rant… For the record… I really do like the Y410 and it's suite of features. I also find the restore process truly disturbing!
What's the answer to the restore question? Lenovo does the right thing and provides owners at cost or less restore disks… or purchase the cheapest Vista Home Premium to rebuild it with and unload it quickly for another product?
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I am searching for Thomas Wilson who died at aged 34 in a silver mine "Yella Mine" in Broken Hill South Australia. He died on 15 March 1908. On the death certificate it is said he is "from" Sydney. I have been unable to find his parents, brothers or sisters so am absolutely stuck on this one.
He had two children with Caroline Bartley. I have found information on the Bartley family. The two children are Caroline and Frank Herman Wilson. Caroline re-married a Mr Sherman and the two children became known as Caroline Sherman and Frank Herman Sherman though their names were not officially changed. Caroline came to New Zealand to live and most of the family live here now.
In my 20 years of research this is one man I cannot trace. If anyone knows anything contact me on email@example.com
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