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Review: Flatiron School's top courses, plus great alternatives
Flatiron School at a glance
Locations | Austin, Chicago, Denver, Houston, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., or online |
Price range | $0-$16,900 |
Courses | Software engineering, data science, cybersecurity engineering, product design, intro to coding, intro to data science, intro to cybersecurity, intro to product design |
Start date | Rolling start date |
What is Flatiron School?
Flatiron School is a bootcamp provider offering immersive courses in a variety of tech subjects. Flatiron School's goal is to help you launch a new career in tech through its four bootcamp programs. The school is committed to helping students learn the skills they need to succeed in their new careers.
This Flatiron School review provides an overview of Flatiron's bootcamps as well as some of their free lessons. We also discuss the pros and cons of Flatiron School and offer a few alternatives to consider as well.
What subjects and courses does Flatiron School offer?
Flatiron School offers immersive bootcamp programs in cybersecurity engineering, data science, product design, and software engineering. Flatiron also offers 12 free courses in coding, data science, cybersecurity, and product design, including intro to JavaScript, intro to Python, and how to prevent phishing.
Time to complete: 15 weeks full time, 20/40/60 weeks flex
Price: $16,900
This Flatiron coding bootcamp prepares students to become software engineers. Students learn front-end development, front-end web applications, back-end development, and back-end web APIs. Technologies covered include Ruby frameworks, SQL, Redux, React, and JSON APIs.
Time to complete: 15 weeks full time, 20/40/60 weeks flex
Price: $16,900
The Flatiron data science bootcamp covers data analysis and engineering as well as scientific computing and qualitative methods. Students learn machine learning fundamentals before moving on to more advanced machine learning. Technologies covered include Python, Jupyter notebooks, SQL, and Git/GitHub. The curriculum reviews booleans, functions, looping, data structures, web scraping, and accessing data through APIs.
Time to complete: 15 weeks full time, 20/40/60 weeks flex
Price: $16,900
The cybersecurity engineering bootcamp covers network security, system security, logs and detection, threat intelligence, and application security. It also covers governance, risk, and compliance, as well as applied cryptography. Students start by learning basic network protocols. Other topics include system exploits, command line tools in Linux, and scripting in Python.
Time to complete: 15 weeks full time, 20/40/60 weeks flex
Price: $16,900
This Flatiron bootcamp covers both the UX and UI design process. Students learn how to use the tools available to them to produce UX and UI deliverables. They learn how to come up with solutions to design problems and present their design recommendations. This course includes two studio sections, during which students complete UX/UI projects from start to finish.
Time to complete: Self-paced
Price: Free
This free tutorial covers HTML syntax, semantic HTML, boilerplate HTML, and common HTML elements. It also teaches how to create and link stylesheets, style text with CSS, use CSS box models, and style HTML using CSS selectors.
Time to complete: Self-paced
Price: Free
This free tutorial covers the basics of programming in Python, including Python data types, how to create and manipulate Python lists, and how to assign a list to a variable.
Time to complete: Self-paced
Price: Free
The introduction to cryptography lesson teaches cryptography basics and how to apply them to cybersecurity. Students learn about the HTTPS protocol, cryptocurrency, encryption, cryptographic keys, and cipher-block chaining. They practice encrypting and decrypting messages using a Playfair cipher.
Time to complete: Self-paced
Price: Free
The think like a designer tutorial introduces students to design fundamentals. Students learn how to understand users' problems, needs, and desired user experience. They gain skills in innovating solutions and sketching wireframes. Participants discover how to design prototypes and test them to make sure they work properly.
Who is Flatiron School for?
Flatiron School is great for students who seek a quicker route to a new career than the traditional four-year degree.
Bootcamp graduates often land new jobs within months of completing a bootcamp, and a Flatiron bootcamp takes just 15 weeks to complete for full-time students. Students interested in the flexible online option can spread their work over 20, 40, or 60 weeks.
Flatiron School can also be a great alternative for students who can't afford a four-year college education. The $16,900 price tag on a Flatiron bootcamp is much less than four years of tuition at many public and private colleges and universities. The downside is that bootcamp students can't take advantage of federal financial aid such as the Pell Grant.
Anyone who wants to start a career in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity engineering, or product design may benefit from Flatiron School's career-driven curriculum.
Flatiron School employment
For on-campus bootcamp graduates from calendar year 2019 or graduates who were scheduled to graduate in 2019, Flatiron School boasts a 86% employment rate. Graduates who accepted full-time salaried roles reported an average starting salary of $69,599. Average pay for a part-time role was $24/hr.
For online graduates, the employment rate is 84%, with an average starting salary of $71,000 among graduates who accepted full-time salaried roles. Average pay for a part-time role was $30/hr.
These figures are based on the portion of Flatiron School's graduates who actively sought employment. Graduates were counted as employed if they were working full time or part time, whether working as employees or contractors. Graduates completing internships and apprenticeships were also considered employed.
Flatiron graduates work at a variety of tech companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Spotify. About one-third of Flatiron graduates work for small companies, one-third for medium companies, and one-third for large companies.
Pros and Cons of Flatiron School
Features
Pro: All of Flatiron's bootcamps are available online.
Con: Lack of support leads some students to feel that they have to self-teach.
Quality of Courses
Pro: Flatiron School has an excellent curriculum.
Con: There is a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time.
Pricing
Pro: Flatiron School is cheaper than most four-year degrees.
- Con: Flatiron School is more expensive than the median bootcamp cost, which was $13,500 in 2020.
Flatiron School alternatives
If Flatiron School is not the right choice for you, one of the many other bootcamp providers might be a better match. Here are a few Flatiron School alternatives to consider.
Fullstack Academy
Programs starting At: $15,980
Technical Disciplines: Cybersecurity Analytics, Data Analytics, Web Development (Coding)
Fullstack Academy charges slightly less than Flatiron School and offers three of the four disciplines Flatiron does. Fullstack's web development program compares to Flatiron's software engineering course.
Galvanize
Programs starting at: $17,980
Technical disciplines: Software Engineering
Galvanize's software engineering bootcamp costs a little more than Flatiron's but takes 12 weeks to complete instead of 15. If you are eager to reenter the job market, this bootcamp might be a better fit for you. Galvanize also offers bootcamps in Boulder, Los Angeles, and Phoenix -- convenient for students in those areas who want to attend an in-person bootcamp.
General Assembly
Programs starting at: $14,950
Technical disciplines: Data Analytics, Data Science, Front-end Web Development, Product Management, Software Engineering, UX Design
General Assembly offers similar technical disciplines to Flatiron at a slightly lower cost. This bootcamp provider has locations in some cities not covered by Flatiron School. Students in or near Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Diego may want to consider an in-person bootcamp through General Assembly.
Is Flatiron a good bootcamp?
The bootcamp provider offers a top-notch curriculum that provides the basic skills needed to land a job as an entry-level software engineer, data scientist, cybersecurity engineer, or product designer.
Is Flatiron School hard to get into?
Yes. Flatiron School states its application process is rigorous. Students must go through an admission process that includes a written application, a video call, an assessment, and a technical interview. Applicants must be at least 18 and have either a high school diploma or a GED. They must complete any required pre-work prior to being accepted.
Does Flatiron guarantee a job?
Flatiron School has an 86% overall placement rate. However, no bootcamp provider can truly guarantee job placement. Although attending a bootcamp will likely increase your chances of landing a job, the results of your job search will depend on your efforts.