Thinkful: Reviews, Cost, and Comprehensive Guide (2023)

Thinkful is one of the best online bootcamps in the market, and it is good for beginners and experts alike. The Thinkful coding bootcamp is unique in that it sets each student up with a personal mentor, who guides them through the material in one-on-one training sessions. In this Thinkful review, we touch on courses, costs, payment methods, student outcomes, and more.

If you’re thinking about enrolling in a coding bootcamp, the information in this article will help you decide whether Thinkful is the right school for you. We’ve even read through and summarized bootcamp reviews from Thinkful students and alumni, and you can consult our summary as you go about your decision-making process.

What Is Thinkful?

Thinkful is an online coding bootcamp that helps students advance their tech skills. The platform offers online courses, so you can access the lessons from anywhere. Thinkful was established in New York in 2012 and has achieved success by being one of the only online tech schools that offers extensive individualized support throughout its programs.

The mentorship experience is what Thinkful is best known for. Its mentors are established professionals with extensive experience in tech, and Thinkful places you with the mentor that best suits your learning style. They’re there at the start to give you an overview of Thinkful’s services, and then to guide you through the material as you get going. Thinkful also offers group workshops and online support forums to help you along the way.

Thinkful Courses

Thinkful has six different courses. You can study to become a data scientist, data analyst, software engineer, digital marketer, UI/UX designer, or technical project manager. Several Thinkful courses include a full-time and part-time option. You can view the Thinkful course catalog online and get a syllabus by entering your email address on the Thinkful website.

Thinkful Prep Resources

Instead of prep courses, Thinkful provides free resources to help you get ready for your course. Examples include a Python tutorial, a guide to JavaScript best practices, and an AngularJS project. These programs are essential for students who are new to programming and want to make sure they are prepared for their Thinkful program.

Thinkful Software Engineering

You can take this coding bootcamp from Thinkful either part-time or full-time. In this Thinkful course, you learn the essentials of front end development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It emphasizes project-based learning so you can face any engineering challenge. At Thinkful, the software engineering curriculum also stresses relationships with clients, so your skills will be more well-rounded and marketable.

Thinkful UX/UI Design

If you want to become a web designer, you should try out this Thinkful UX bootcamp. Like the other Thinkful programs, it has a curriculum that you can complete either part-time or full-time. This course teaches you how to use Figma, Sketch, and Webflow. UX design at Thinkful is about understanding the nuances of UX and UI design and thinking like a design expert.

Thinkful Technical Project Management

Thinkful’s project management course teaches students how to make product roadmaps for companies, taking them from planning to launch. With a specific focus on creating budgets, developing unified strategies, allocating resources, and motivating others, Thinkful’s product management curriculum helps you build your leadership skills and learn specialized tools.

Thinkful Data Science

The part-time data science program is fully online and takes six months to complete. Data science at Thinkful is taught with an emphasis on the two major forms of machine learning, supervised and unsupervised. After mastering the fundamentals of data modeling, students choose a special topic, like deep learning or big data, to study in greater detail.

Thinkful Data Analytics

Unlike its course on data science, Thinkful’s data analytics program is available both part-time and full-time. It also involves less advanced mathematics and more storytelling. Students learn how to use Excel and Tableau to dissect data and present their findings, and then use Python for statistics and SQL for communicating with databases.

Thinkful Reviews

Coding bootcamp reviews of Thinkful are generally glowing. The most reviewed course is the software engineering program. Reviews of Thinkful’s Full Stack Flex course, now known as Part-Time Software Engineering, praise the combination of flexibility and mentor support. One Thinkful review even described the mentorship experience as “amazing.”

Other Thinkful reviews give the curricula high marks, and students with full-time jobs are especially fond of the part-time course content. The only potential downside is that students who aren’t self-motivated are unlikely to learn the material. The most committed students who have reviewed Thinkful’s bootcamps have expressed that they both gain the necessary skills and feel prepared for their job interviews.

There have been far fewer reviews of Thinkful’s data analytics, data science, digital marketing, UX design, and technical project management courses. One review of Thinkful’s data science bootcamp, however, did mention that the online program was “well-curated” but that the capstone projects could have been better organized.

If you’re interested in reading Thinkful reviews of the digital marketing, data analytics, project management, and UX bootcamps, you can find testimonials from former students on Reddit, Quora, and other online forums.

Is Thinkful Worth It?

Thinkful is worth it for the student-centered learning at a fair price and the flexible online courses that fit every schedule. As any Thinkful review will tell you, the school is transparent about its job placement statistics and always provides help when you need it. Thinkful prioritizes honesty and communication, which not many tech schools do.

With a decade’s worth of success under its belt, Thinkful is a good bootcamp by any definition. The measure of any bootcamp’s value, of course, is whether its students get jobs. And by that measure, Thinkful is definitely legitimate. Depending on the program, between 62 and 91 percent of Thinkful grads end up with jobs within six months.

Thinkful Job Placement

By its own accounting, over 80 percent of Thinkful graduates land tech jobs within six months of completing their programs. Thinkful’s job placement statistics also take stock of median salaries and salary increases. The average Thinkful graduate reports a $17,000 salary bump, and average salaries after graduation range from $56,000 to $76,000, depending on the program.

These Thinkful job statistics are a testament to the school’s strong career coaching services, which can help you put your best foot forward in the job market. It helps you create a portfolio, prepare for interviews, and more. Previous Thinkful students have used this help to get jobs at high-profile tech companies, including Google, IBM, and Amazon.

Does Thinkful Offer a Job Guarantee?

Yes, Thinkful’s job guarantee comes with the promise of a full refund. If you don’t get a job within six months of graduation, or if you don’t earn over $40,000 per year, you can get your money back.

Thinkful’s job guarantee comes with specific exceptions. For example, you will need to graduate within the stipulated timeline, pass background checks, and make significant strides toward finding a job. If you jump through these hoops, you will get your refund, as several online Thinkful reviews indicate.

How Much Does Thinkful Cost?

The online courses at Thinkful cost $4,900 to $16,000, depending on the course you select and whether you choose the full-time or part-time option. For example, the bootcamp cost for Thinkful’s part-time software engineering program is $9,500 while the full-time version is $16,000. At $4,900, the part-time digital marketing program has the lowest price at Thinkful.

Thinkful’s tuition covers the curriculum, career services, and mentorship program. Most of its courses offer monthly payment plans, and in some cases, you don’t have to pay until you graduate. Thinkful offers multiple scholarships for women in tech and other minorities, and if you’re worried about the pricing, Thinkful’s living stipend is an option that can help you afford the cost of living while you study.

Thinkful Payment Options

You can pay for Thinkful in a few different ways. The most effective form of payment is upfront, but Thinkful’s payment options go beyond that. There are other financing methods that students can use to pay their way. Below are some ways you can pay for your coding bootcamp at Thinkful.

Scholarships

Getting a Thinkful scholarship is an excellent way to pay for your course. The school is particularly passionate about helping women, veterans, and non-binary folks get their start in tech. Through its scholarships, Thinkful is able to provide tuition discounts, from about $200 to $500, for qualifying members of these three underrepresented groups.

Loan Financing

If you want to get a loan for Thinkful, you have a couple of options. You can either explore private lenders to find the right student loan for your Thinkful bootcamp, or you can team up with Ascent, one of Thinkful’s partners, on a deferred tuition plan. The deferred tuition option is discussed at length below, in the section on income share agreements.

Installments

If you’re not willing to pay upfront, your next best Thinkful payment option is to use monthly installments. The cost of the installments varies from one course to the next. For most of Thinkful’s courses, you can break up your tuition and pay just a couple thousand dollars a month during your program.

Discounts

As we discussed above in the section on scholarships, Thinkful discounts are available for veterans, women, and non-binary people. Thinkful prides itself on making its bootcamp all-inclusive, so if you’re eligible, you can ask one of your admissions representatives, who will give you a Thinkful discount code that you can apply at checkout.

Income Share Agreement (ISA)

Thinkful’s ISA option has been discontinued. An income share agreement is an alternative to student loans that allows learners to defer most of their tuition until after they get a job, at which point they owe a percentage of their income until their tuition is paid off. In lieu of an income share agreement, Thinkful offers deferred tuition plans backed by a job guarantee.

Deferred Tuition

Thinkful’s deferred tuition option is available with or without a living stipend. As with an ISA, you don’t start paying until after you get a job. Unlike an ISA, it isn’t tied to your income, so the payments are fixed. While you will owe interest if you get a job with a salary of at least $40,000, you may be eligible for a full refund if you are unable to secure gainful employment.

Thinkful Locations

There are no official Thinkful locations because its courses are online. This online bootcamp allows you to take courses from anywhere, and its lessons are relevant to a wide array of tech markets. To build community through your bootcamp experience, you can connect with alumni in your area by checking out the Communities tab on Thinkful’s website.

What Is the Thinkful Schedule?

Thinkful provides both part-time and full-time options for almost every course. Its bootcamps range from three to six months, depending on the program.

Full-Time

For full-time courses, you need to dedicate at least 40 hours each week, including mandatory live sessions. Thinkful’s immersion courses can help you jump into the tech world. You’ll be ready to get a job in tech right away upon graduation.

Part-Time

These courses are Thinkful’s flex options. For a part-time course, you only need to study between 15 and 20 hours each week, but you have to make your own schedule. This option is better for people who are already studying or working.

How to Get Accepted Into Thinkful

Thinkful attracts thousands of students, mentors, instructors, and industry recruiters every year. The school has a long checklist to ensure it admits the best students to its programs.

Thinkful’s admissions requirements are simple. The school requires you to be at least 18 years of age, a United States citizen or resident, and a high school graduate. You also have to be fluent in English and have basic computer skills. If you’re a passionate hard worker, you can get into Thinkful.

Thinkful Acceptance Rate

Thinkful’s acceptance rate is not public, but most people don’t have trouble getting in. The application process is fairly simple. Thinkful focuses on preparing students for their courses, and anyone can pass them with the right attitude.

Thinkful Application Process

The Thinkful application process is all online. Here are the basic steps you’ll follow when you apply to Thinkful:

1. Use the free access application portal on the site to sign up for an account and start your application. You can get free reading material and study support to help you finalize your enrollment decision.
2. Fill out an application online. In lieu of a technical interview, Thinkful’s application involves just a few basic questions about who you are and why you want to take a bootcamp program. If you meet the basic requirements, you will likely receive an acceptance note from the Thinkful admissions team.
3. Once you’re enrolled, you will get paired up with a mentor who will review your coursework on a weekly basis. They will also help you navigate the current job market.

Is Thinkful Right for You?

Thinkful is right for you if you’re ready to dedicate yourself to mentorship and one-on-one learning. The instructor has a clear view of what you are working on and can give clear directives as you learn. As you create real-world projects to add to your portfolio, you will get insightful feedback and advice from someone with years of coding experience.

Best of all, the Thinkful job guarantee means you can complete the bootcamp with less stress, taking full advantage of the bootcamp’s helpful career resources along the way.

But don’t take our word for it. There are countless Thinkful reviews testifying to this school’s status as an immersive, well-rounded bootcamp, Thinkful can help you find a job in the tech world by equipping you with a strong combination of hard and soft skills. If you have a positive experience, Thinkful may even bring you on as a mentor one day.

Thinkful Review FAQ

Does Thinkful have a cyber security program?

Currently, there is no Thinkful cyber security program. Thinkful is a great option for software engineering, data science, data analytics, UX/UI design, project management, or digital marketing. For a cyber security certificate, Thinkful is not the place to go. The best alternatives to Thinkful for cyber security bootcamps are Claim Academy and Divergence Academy.

Is Thinkful accredited?

No, Thinkful is not an accredited institution of higher learning in the United States. This means that a Thinkful bootcamp certificate is not considered equivalent to a college degree, and its curricula do not conform to traditional educational standards. However, Thinkful’s programs are recognized, to varying degrees, in Texas, Utah, and Washington DC.

What’s the difference between Thinkful and General Assembly?

Choosing Thinkful vs General Assembly comes down to what you want to study. The biggest difference is in their offerings. Both bootcamps teach data science, data analytics, software engineering, UX design, and digital marketing, but Thinkful also has a project management course, and General Assembly has a wider range of part-time courses.

Does Thinkful have webinars?

Yes, Thinkful streams webinars on various topics for prospective students. Some Thinkful webinars are related to topics that its courses cover, such as coding basics for software engineering and wireframing for UX/UI design. The other main Thinkful webinar series focuses on career advice. Regardless of the topic, all Thinkful webinars are free.