Pros
Connecting with fellows (students) can be genuinely refreshing. Most non c-suite and non upper management are enjoyable to work with. Its a job that pays money.
Cons
I want to start by saying I don't usually write reviews for anything. But if you are an individual who is thinking about joining Pursuit (As an employee or fellow), the following is for you. The problem this organization is trying to solve for is not an easy one. With that being said, the deficiencies of upper and middle management will forever make working here a complete nightmare. I will now go into detail for those who are interested. Pursuit is an organization that aims to take individuals from untraditional and overlooked communities and turn them into tech professionals. It is not an easy road. In the past Pursuit has had great success landing fellows jobs, but the harsh reality is fellows are just not getting jobs like they did in years past. Upper management at Pursuit will of course point to a small amount of success cases from each cohort (class) of fellows. Despite this, let me be blunt, majority of the fellows who join Pursuit will not get jobs in tech. There are a myriad of reasons why fellows struggle to land roles in tech even though finding them jobs is the very reason Pursuit exists. Keeping in mind that you will not be working there after taking my advice I will just leave you with the most egregious. The people with the loudest voices at this company have no clue what they are doing. I have professional experience as a software developer so I can firmly say this program does not properly prepare fellows for the roles they claim to be training them for (Yes that includes this current AI iteration of the program). My time working here was marred with confusion, chaotic changes, and broken promises. Pursuit will tell you that this is being "scrappy". It's incompetence. A handful of times I was scheduled for events in person on my off days (no compensation). Each time this happened there was no conversation or request beforehand. However each time I was patted on the back for being a "good teammate". As an Instructor I needed to explain the inadequacies of my higher ups when a "new and exciting curriculum" that was promised was literally YouTube videos. I wish I was joking. This lack of capability goes even beyond the classroom. Directly after an event where a student was put in physical harm during a return to in person learning initiative, a message was given was to just "buddy up" on the way to the office. Furthermore, this issue was brought to the attention of the community by fellows. Staff only made a community statement AFTER fellow to fellow conversation on the issue gained traction in Slack. Most of what I'm saying here will be sugarcoated or denied. Thankfully, the truth is in the data. If you don't trust me I understand. I'm just a stranger on the internet. I implore you to ask what class sizes are and then ask how many fellows are actually getting hired. Ask for class attendance data. Ask to speak to a handful of fellows who have been there a couple months. You will start to notice patterns. Pursuit is a sinking ship. A bootcamp (that's not a bootcamp) surviving off the success of an easier job market years ago. This organization's moment is long passed. While they will sell you delusions of grandeur about the exciting world of AI, the truth is the decision makers who work here will never be clever enough to actually frontier the emergence of artificial intelligence. It's all smoke and mirrors. If you do decide to read this and join Pursuit I wish you luck. Just remember I told you so.