What Makes Practicum’s Bootcamps Unique?

In this article, we zoom in on the learning experience at Practicum to see how it meets key criteria in choosing the best bootcamp such as the cost and payment options, learning support and career services provided, and practice-oriented teaching methods.

Before we go into Practicum’s web development, data science, and data analysis offerings, let’s get to know this tech bootcamp.

What Is Practicum?

Practicum is an online bootcamp with a strong curriculum, 24/7 support, and career acceleration. Practicum offers six to ten-month online coding bootcamps. Students can currently choose from three tracks: data science, data analysis, and web development. All bootcamps incorporate real-world know-how you won’t find in any textbook and are designed for career switchers.

Each bootcamp includes full access to an interactive online platform, real-life projects, tutor support from experienced developers, code reviews, online webinars, and live-coding sessions.

Software Engineer

Practicum’s Software Engineer program is an online part-time bootcamp designed to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills to become web developers within 10 months. During the program, students master full stack and front end web development, specifically honing the following skills:

• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• React
• Git
• Express
• MongoDB
• Node.js

The total cost of the program is $8,900. Students can either choose a one-time payment option or an installment payment of $950 every month. 

Data Analyst

The Data Analytics program is an online part-time bootcamp designed to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills to become data analysts within seven months. During the program, students learn the following skills:

• Python programming
• Statistical data analysis
• Exploratory data analysis

The total cost of the program is $8,500. Students can either choose a one-time payment option or an installment payment of $1250 every month.

Data Scientist 

The Data Science program is an online part-time bootcamp designed to equip students with the essential knowledge and skills to become data scientists within nine months. During the program, students learn the following skills.

• Python and essential libraries
• Statistical hypothesis testing
• Machine learning
• Natural language processing (TF-IDF, BERT)
• Computer vision
• SQL
• Soft skills like project sharing and networking.

Students develop 15+ projects throughout the program. The total cost of the program is $11,000. Students have the option to either pay up front or make $1,400 monthly payments.

Eight Reasons to Choose Practicum

Sometimes, people get stuck in deciding where to begin their career journey. Choosing between cost and quality can be one of the stumbling blocks that set them behind. On the one hand, they desire a quality program that can land them their dream jobs. On the other hand, quality programs rarely come cheap.

Practicum understood this challenge and came up with a solution.   

Accessible Programs

Practicum is aiming to make an entrance to the tech world accessible for everyone regardless of their background. That results in feasible prices while keeping the quality of the curriculum and support up to the industry standards level.

The average cost of tech bootcamp programs is around $11,727, according to Career Karma’s State of the Bootcamp Market Report 2021. With a length from seven to 10 months, Practicum’s programs cost between $8,500 to $11,000, which is still below the industry average. Monthly payment options are also available for students who can’t afford to pay up front.

Comprehensive Training

The programs offered at Practicum are tailored to prepare students for the ever-evolving tech market. Therefore, the priority is to equip them with in-demand skills regardless of the chosen program. 

Students complete on average between six and 15 projects before the end of their program. This prepares them for the real world, builds their portfolio, and increases their confidence to tackle complex problems.  

In addition to the curriculum projects, you’ll get the opportunity to bolster your portfolio and LinkedIn profile by building a website for a real company. “It’s what Practicum does best—they help you build a portfolio so you can show anybody that you really know how to do it. The job I’m working for right now only had one interview, and all they did was go through my portfolio,” alum Pinwei Wu, who is now a developer at Workday, said.

Check out what the companies have to say about Practicum’s student projects here.

Well-Rounded Support

Practicum has a robust system that provides round-the-clock support to its students. The school offers support on multiple fronts through its tutors, code reviewers, career services team, community managers, and senior students. 

“There are community managers and educational advisers that provide guidance for career and educational matters as well as emotional challenges,” said Polina Anisimova, Product Lead on Practicum’s Data Programs Growth team.

The training is structured to help Practicum alumni propel in their professional pursuits—be it working independently or assuming a role in top tech companies like Tesla, Microsoft, Spotify, Accenture, Nielsen, and more. 

Flexible Study Hours 

Deciding to switch your career shouldn’t cost you your current job. That is why Practicum has designed its part-time programs to allow you to gear up for your future career in tech without having to quit your day job. 

Students work in sprints lasting from two to three weeks. Each sprint includes a set of lessons and tasks on our interactive platform (which is available at any time) and a project. It’s up to you to allocate your time during the sprint, but you need to have completed your project by the end of it.

Career Preparation

Practicum offers a career acceleration program, supported by a team of career coaches and tech experts. The program seeks to prepare graduating students for the next leg of their journey to tech: finding a job. To do so, students sit through mock interviews and get connected to tech experts who review their portfolios and offer tips for improvement. By the end of the program, students are equipped with critical job skills needed to stand out in the job market.

“We’re passionate about helping our students make the right choices about their careers,” said Anastasia Cherepanova, a product manager for the Student Acceleration & Employment at the Web Program at Practicum. “We are committed to boosting their networking skills, and to help them get to know their job opportunities using the career map, as well as training them to identify and present the unique value proposition that will allow them to become valuable contributors to the tech community.” 

Landing a job isn’t the end-all-be-all for Practicum. In fact, graduates who have already secured a job can still connect with Practicum during their first few months of employment should they need further guidance on how to navigate the workplace. Put another way, Practicum alumni enter the industry with the confidence that whenever they face difficulties, there is a support system built to guide them through.

Personalized Feedback 

Students at Practicum receive regular feedback on their progress through multiple channels. That helps them to navigate through the learning experience better, mastering their skills at practice. 

One of these channels is code review, where one developer checks the code of another developer and offers suggestions. At Practicum, code reviewers check students’ code line by line according to best practices and industry standards. It’s personalized and positive, a Practicum developer will always point out where you excel.

Tutors are also a valuable source of feedback for the students. Practicum’s tutors guide you through the entire learning experience, helping you to zoom out and get a bird’s eye view of your future career path. They can answer questions about course material, tasks, and projects. Because they’re working professionals, they know what’s expected in the industry and can also provide insiders’ insights to budding data scientists.

Unique Platform

Before enrolling in the program, Practicum allows prospective students to explore the introductory courses for free through its free demo learning platform. Prospective students have free access to the intro courses which contain real-business case studies. This allows students to decide if the field is right for them, all while familiarizing themselves with Practicum’s learning platform.

“The platform is created by learners-experienced designers who designed it to be goal-oriented. This makes it easy for students to interact with it. Imagine a platform that is designed to guide you in addition to having guidance from tutors. This is what makes the difference,” said Anisimova.

Money-Back Guarantee

If you’re still on the fence about attending Practicum, know that the bootcamp offers a money-back guarantee to its students. The promise is this: within six months of their graduation, students will have landed a job in tech. Otherwise, Practicum will give them a full refund of their tuition. No money lost, just in-demand skills gained. 

This guarantee speaks to the confidence of Practicum in the quality of support and training it provides. If you commit to the program, you’ll gain the skills you need to stand out in the job market and start a career in tech.  

Test The Practicum Difference

To sum up, Practicum provides industry-standard training for more than half the price of an average bootcamp, without compromising the standards of the programs. To see if you are cut out for a tech career, choose any of the professions on Practicum’s website and try out the free intro course today.