How TripleTen's Curriculum Moves You Forward

With so many free learning resources available online, what’s the advantage of paying for a bootcamp? Whether you have zero tech skills, or know some coding already, a bootcamp is the fastest way to build skills that get you hired. Unlike with YouTube videos or self-guided tutorials, with TripleTen, students receive structured and interactive instruction, expert feedback on their code, community support, and even career coaching to land a job in tech.

Anna Kildisheva, a TripleTen Curriculum Quality Manager, gives an inside look at what makes the TripleTen platform tick, and how it ensures all students keep on learning.

What is the TripleTen platform?

The TripleTen curriculum is a fully online, flexible series of modules and lessons_{A Guide to TripleTen’s Unique Learning Platform}. Each lesson includes text, video, and multiple short questions that help students absorb and practice the material as they go. Every learning sprint lasts two to three weeks, with deadlines that encourage students to stick to a schedule. And each sprint culminates in a project, graded by experts in the field. These projects can then go into the student’s portfolio_{Secrets of a Stellar Portfolio: Guidelines and Checklist}.

Anna said that while the curriculum is online, "We work hard to make it interactive." As students work through the course, they have access to TripleTen tutors and fellow students to reach out to for problem-solving and discussion. Students also have the option to complete externships_{What TripleTen Externships Are Really Like: Rebuilding Synthesis Workshop’s Website} and get job search support through TripleTen's career coaching_{Career Coaching at TripleTen: What It Is and How It Helps You Land a Job} program.

Starting with training wheels

You may relate to TripleTen grad Francis Flanagan_{The Three Most Underrated Things About Bootcamps}’s observation that “There is so much information online that it can be hard to figure out what path to go down. The fear of getting stuck in ‘tutorial hell’ was a real one for me.” TripleTen eliminates this guesswork: each course is structured with information and skills that layer one on top of another, starting at a level even a novice can understand. 

As you go through the courses, you’re learning through examples, questions, and code snippets. Long before you reach the interface that mimics a real coding environment, there are code snippets that students can observe and tinker with to get used to the digital language.

This is a piece of code you can run as many times as you want, to see how it works. And we also have little code snippets that students have to complete in order to make the code run. Anna Kildisheva, TripleTen Curriculum Quality Manager

Her team’s research shows that these examples are a big favorite for students.

One advantage of an all-online program is that it’s easy to see where students get stuck. That’s where Anna and her team come in. For example, the data showed that one module in the Quality Assurance Engineering bootcamp was notoriously frustrating, stumping many students. Seeing that data, Anna's team reworked the section to have a clearer explanation and task. 

What if I get stuck?

Anna's team is tasked with making sure students can keep advancing through their course. The worst thing would be for a student to get so frustrated that they drop out. So there are many layers of support built into the curriculum: "We are trying to create a curriculum that is non-blocking for students, so there wouldn't be any task or any piece of curriculum that would leave students stuck without any chance of going further,” Anna said.

For example, in the real world, you’ll get an automated error message if your code doesn't work. In the TripleTen coding environment, though, Anna and her team have added tailor-made error messages depending on where students make a mistake.

We collect feedback from tutors and our experts, and based on this information we write these error messages. We try to foresee the kinds of mistakes students are going to be making, and we try to give them more personalized feedback on how to fix those mistakes. Anna Kildisheva, TripleTen Curriculum Quality Manager

TripleTen's AI assistant, Dot_{Yes, You Can Master Software Engineering. Our AI Will Help.}, can also be a great helper, offering hints to keep you moving. Although major projects are evaluated by humans, Anna said that “if you’re working on a quick coding task, the AI will give you personalized feedback based on the mistakes you made.” The AI assistant is trained on the TripleTen curriculum, and offers hints and suggestions, not immediate solutions. 

But TripleTen won’t keep the answers from you if you truly get stuck: "Students can always just click ‘show solution’ so they can run the code." If that happens, it's smart to reach out to a tutor to figure out why you had so much trouble, and to make sure you can understand the upcoming units. You'll need to know your material once you land a job_{Will I Be Able to Start a New Career After Completing the Bootcamp?}.

Many layers of support

In addition to tutors, the student community_{It’s About Community: What Sets TripleTen Apart} on Discord is a great place to get support, encouragement, and a reminder that everyone gets stuck sometimes, but that there’s also a way through. Francis reflected, “When I was studying on my own, there were periods where it felt like a pretty lonely experience. One of the best aspects of a bootcamp is having a group of people who are going through the same lessons and tasks as you are.”

What this means for you

Other than the course projects, there are no formal tests like you'd have in school. That means TripleTen's programs work best if you're self-motivated to learn and practice the material on your own. But with multiple layers of support, accountability, and encouragement available to students, TripleTen is committed to seeing students succeed and launch their new careers in tech.

Want to find out more? Talk to one of our experts.

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