What Employers and Alumni Really Think About Thinkful’s Impressive Career Services

Thinkful is one of the most successful bootcamps in the market today. Students at this bootcamp can learn many different tech disciplines, from data analytics to software engineering. Thinkful even offers courses on UX/UI design, product management, and more for people who may not be interested in working in such code-oriented fields. 

But the technical training you receive at Thinkful is only part of the story. Thinkful goes beyond teaching students how to do these jobs and adds instruction to help you find a new job. This school has a great track record of helping alumni complete their career changes. 

Depending on the program, Thinkful alumni enjoy employment rates up to 91 percent in their field after graduation. Thinkful’s strong career services are a key part of its success in helping its alumni make career changes. We’ve spoken to both employers from Thinkful’s network as well as a graduate who went through the process themselves to give you an idea of what to expect from the program. 

Thinkful’s Career Services 

We’ve discussed the career coaches in Thinkful’s support team before, but the value they add to your Thinkful course can’t be overstated. These individuals provide months of individualized support to each student at Thinkful. 

This support includes individual and group career sessions. These sessions take a few different forms. Students can have one-on-one meetings with their career coach to ask any specific questions or for help tackling a specific problem. But they can also join a few of their classmates in AMA sessions with Thinkful alumni. These alumni can give valuable insight to students because they’ve been in their place before, and students can learn more about what to expect.

The career coaches also offer mock behavioral and technical interviews. Students can practice nailing a new job’s culture fit interview in addition to any coding portion they’ll encounter in the interview process. They can also help students put together an employer target list and wow an admissions team with the perfect application. And of course, they take that step further by helping students revise their job search materials including their resume, LinkedIn, cover letters, and more.

That’s just some of what the career coaches offer, but the support team has even more to offer. Students work with mentors on an individual basis throughout their time in the program. The mentors can help add industry context to the tools that students are learning and answer any questions that they may have about the industry. 

These are just two of the many support team members you’ll work with closely on the path to your new career. But there’s another Thinkful employee working on your behalf that you may never get the chance to meet. These individuals work to open new doors for Thinkful students every day.

Employer Partnerships Manager

The Employer Partnerships Manager at Thinkful works tirelessly to manage the hiring partnerships at Thinkful. Thinkful has helped graduates land jobs at successful companies like Google, IBM, Boeing, Walmart Labs, and Amazon. Companies of all sizes know they can trust Thinkful graduates to be more than capable of tackling their needs.

Thinkful works to secure hiring partners, but companies also contact Thinkful when they’re looking for high-quality talent. These companies often stay in touch with Thinkful to keep recruiting students. And many of them have lots of good things to say about the Thinkful graduates on their payrolls. 

What Do Employers Think?

Plenty of employers have had positive experiences with Thinkful graduates, and they’re quick to let the school know. 

For example, two companies recently contacted Thinkful about Los Angeles-based alumni they hired from the school. Both were pleased with the high-quality training that students received from Thinkful. Students like Anna, a graduate of Thinkful’s data analytics program.

“Anna came to LAZ with all the tools needed for data-driven projects,” said a manager at LAZ Parking. “She learned other skills quickly, adding value to our team.”

Thinkful’s students go beyond just the technical tools they need to do their jobs. They also learn to think like tech professionals, which lets them add value in other ways to companies. Andrew, for example, is a software engineering graduate that went on to work at Lynx Wallet. 

“I was very impressed by the attention to detail that Andrew displayed,” said one manager at Lynx Wallet. “He gives very valuable feedback and perspective to the problems that we are trying to solve.”

Because Thinkful is a fully online and remote bootcamp, positive feedback is a trend across several cities around the country. Sarah is a graduate based in Denver, and she displays the humility that keeps projects running smoothly, even as a new hire, according to her manager. 

“Sarah displayed an excellent sense of when to struggle on a problem versus asking for help,” said the Hiring Manager and Director of Customer Support at RF-Smart. “This balance is key in technical development.”

As Sarah and the other graduates show, employers appreciate the well-rounded employees they hire from Thinkful. They love that they can reliably return to the same place and pull in quality employees that have a great knowledge base. Employees who are also ready to learn new things as their work increases. 

“Every Thinkful graduate we’ve interviewed has impressed us with their knowledge and cohesive thinking approach,” said a representative of the Rocketmiles Global Headquarters in Chicago. 

But you won’t acquire these tools overnight. According to one Thinkful alumnus, the career services and instruction he received at Thinkful changed his life. 

What Do Alumni Say?

Joshua Vaughan graduated from the full-time software engineering program at Thinkful. He now works for Harbor Compliance as a Software Engineer. Joshua’s story demonstrates the flexible thinking that students learn at Thinkful.

“Though my current job uses a different tech stack, Thinkful’s programming allowed me the opportunity to learn to be resourceful—a problem solver,” Joshua said in a Thinkful review.

But the adaptability of Thinkful’s graduates doesn’t just stop at coding. Through the Thinkful program, students learn how to move past any challenge they encounter with confidence. 

“While I went from 0 to engineer because of the hard skills, I think that the soft skills I learned through the program helped me even more,” Joshua said. “By incorporating an intrinsic soft skill development on top of the coding lessons, Thinkful definitely gave me the confidence and knowledge on how to prepare, think on my feet, and give myself critical and positive feedback concurrently.”

Joshua found this job through his own search. But he credits the career services team at Thinkful for giving him the blueprint he needed to find a job that was worth his time and effort. They were also there throughout the process to provide important emotional support.

“Career services not only taught me how to market myself to companies but to others,” Joshua said. “They taught me what questions to ask, how to navigate the search, time and resource management, and always were there to celebrate my victories and pick me up in my defeats. They did so much more than just send me leads to apply for, and that truly inspired me to keep pushing.”

Like many Thinkful students, Joshua formed bonds with his classmates that continue long after he graduated. He also credits his success to the lessons he learned from them.

“I still have Friday Night Game nights with my newfound friends from my study group for our cohort! They all were able to help me through the struggles and give great advice,” Joshua said. “I bonded with other aspiring devs in such a way that I believe they were exceptionally integral in my success.”

Without Thinkful’s career support, Joshua feels like he wouldn’t be where he is today. Thinkful gave him more than just training, it gave him a chance to make his own destiny.

“The team at Thinkful has helped turn my life around,” Joshua said. “I went from being homeless five years ago to an engineer today, and it wouldn’t have happened without the guidance, assistance, and passion displayed by the team in every department, in every interaction. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for doing what you do. You are changing lives, and you certainly changed mine.”

Thinkful’s career team is giving people a chance to change their lives. But Thinkful has an extra safety net for qualifying students that may be unable to find a job after graduation. 

Tuition Refund Guarantee

If qualifying students don’t get a job in their field making at least $40,000 per year within six months of graduating, Thinkful refunds every cent of their tuition. If students are still making payments in any capacity, the school also cancels any remaining payments. 

There are a few eligibility requirements that students have to meet in order to qualify for the refund guarantee. Some of these requirements include being at least 21 years of age; paying tuition upfront, month-to-month, or in a partial tuition loan financing structure; and living within one hour of an approved city for the program. 

For more information on the tuition refund guarantee, visit the Thinkful Course Catalog. 

Conclusion

There’s a lot to like about your future as a Thinkful graduate. You’ve got training on the industry-standard tools that drive the market, but also the training to adapt to any new situation. You’ve got access to a broad hiring network, but also the training to find your own job and impress just about any employer in case you want to branch out on your own. 

Pair all of this training with support from your mentor, career coach, and more, and it’s apparent why both employers and alumni are praising Thinkful’s program. If you’d like to start your Thinkful story, visit its website today.