A life-changing marketing program! - Intern Marketing Digital Creative Institute Employee Review

I am part of the first cohort and will be graduating from DCI in a couple weeks. I'll be frank, the first cohort was definitely a trial run with lots of learning curves in terms of the processes, course load and timelines but a lot of that has been smoothed out for cohort 2 (which is currently still in session.) In my cohort, everyone has different education backgrounds and different levels of experience. I am the only one with a degree in advertising, another in English, business, cultural studies, and PR but everyone shares the same passion to learn, grow, and values creativity. The first week is Boot Camp, in which you learn the entire inbound marketing process through HubSpot and build out a campaign and become HubSpot certified. It's a great introduction to the inbound process and builds a common language, which is incredibly important. You'll also get an introduction to lots of different mentors and coaches. The rest of the year consists of sessions two nights a week in which you'll usually have about two weeks to complete a different certification or learn a new skill. It requires a lot of out of class participation - lots of reading. Throughout the year, you'll have coaching sessions for your business and personal development that will help you learn your strengths, weaknesses, values, preferences, priorities and ultimately by the end of the year what your long-term goals are.

Here's where I'll be real with you - unlike the others in the cohort, I didn't find a permanent placement for work while in the apprenticeship. Instead of starting off with a DCI partner company, I make a bad decision to work for another company in town which didn't end up working out beyond one month. For three months I was out of work, starting to freelance, while DCI tried to line up interviews and eventually I started working remotely from Geekdom for a startup. Amidst changes in the startup, they only hired me on for three months and I left. I had several interviews after that but I finished off the year inspired to go out on my own and just start my own marketing consulting company. All this to say, Brad and everyone at DCI have been committed to supporting my growth and finding opportunity for me wherever possible. I feel confident that I have the talent and skills to run my own company because of the support and networking through DCI. The coaching sessions with Aurora have really helped me discover what my passions and talents are and how I will be successful. If you decide to join DCI, you will learn, you'll build a great network and community, you will be challenged, you may fail but you will ultimately succeed and have more to show for it.

My peers were the only good thing about this program

FIRST they make fake job postings which trap you into the apprenticeship. They really are just out for your money. I decided I wanted to disenroll after finding a job (I knew I would have to pay SOMETHING) but they wanted me to pay the WHOLE $7,000. They claim that they've been helping for the past six months when in reality before you actually START the apprenticeship program you have two weekly calls for literally 30 minutes. Then its YOUR job to apply to 10 jobs a week. They had NO HAND in me getting my job, that was all me. I was under the impression that they would help set me up with partner companies but that's not the case until you absolutely can't find a job. The only reason they do this is because they're about to lose out on that person paying their tuition. ALSO if you quit the apprenticeship without a job and they find out y ou get a job in the 90 days after that (in digital marketing) they will still try and charge you the $7,000. You also think you are making really good connections with the staff but that all changes when you want to leave.