entry level software engineer

equipment technician

technician

field service engineer

data center technician

Smoothstack Inc.

There are several companies like SmoothStack with business models that revolve around training promising candidates and assisting them in launching their careers. In general, these businesses should not be your first choice for entering the tech field. However, if you struggle to secure an entry-level position despite your attempts at effective preparation, you might benefit from becoming an apprentice at SmoothStack.

Most of the businesses that I saw with similar programs required some amount of up-front payment. In contrast, SmoothStack offers a train & place program in which you get hired to learn a specific tech stack (I was hired on as a Salesforce Developer). During that 3-4 month training period, you earn a small amount of money and work on a group project that will allow you to demonstrate your knowledge to their clients. Next, you get the opportunity to interview with the clients and begin working under contract with them. The contract typically lasts for 2 years, and during that time SmoothStack significantly increases your pay. After the 2-year period, you have the choice to leave SmoothStack. You cannot leave before you finish your contract or they will request reimbursement for the time and money they invested in you.

I appreciate a few things about this model:
1) They invest in you first, so they have to train you and connect you with a client effectively in order to profit.
2) Their clients often include major companies like AFS with competitive positions that SmoothStack makes more accessible.
3) The training program was fully remote for me, and the schedule was not strict outside of daily meetings with mandatory attendance.
4) Collaboration on the project provided valuable experience.

There were a few things that might turn you off from the program, though:
1) The process of pairing you with a client could take weeks or even months. SmoothStack continues to provide pay at the same rate as your training during this time.
2) They do not pay a significant amount during the training program. I received slightly more than minimum wage while I trained full-time.
3) There seemed to be communication issues between the trainers and some of the other staff. It wasn't always clear what the clients would look for in the candidates, which disrupted our project and the curriculum.

Overall, I have had a mostly positive experience with SmoothStack so far. Their business model is designed to reduce the risk for their apprentices and enforce accountability on both ends. I recommend their service to anyone willing to spend a few months training in exchange for  launching a career in technology--especially if they have already tried and failed to secure a position in the field.

I started working with Smoothstack in February. The interviewing process was comfortable and flexible, albeit the requirements for the piece of code we had to demonstrate were a bit vague. Thankfully, the bar for entry was not remarkably high; they're not expecting professional grade developers out-the-gate, only some basic knowledge of general concepts. 

The training Smoothstack provides is helpful, though mostly self-driven. I personally didn't find the classes terribly helpful in the immediate sense, however they're great for providing some context into the tech stack you'll need to learn and for getting an overall feel for what you need to know how to do. 
What was truly helpful about the training was the direction and resources. It was nice getting a feel for how things work in the industry (things such as scrum and agile and firsthand experience with meetings and demonstrations,) and having guidance to help make sure you're learning the right things at the right time. Smoothstack’s curriculum is tempered with a sense of flexibility, which allowed us to pick and choose some of our methods and supplementary technologies, as well as get advice on what to explore to solve whatever issue we were faced with.

The resources Smoothstack provides are practically indispensable: first because you are being paid to learn, which for many situations is a necessity, even if the pre-deployment wages are low. The difference that money can make is profound, especially when the alternative is paying out of pocket or accumulating expensive debt for less targeted education. 

Second, you get access to industry-specific environments, tools, and certs to master. In my case, as a DevOps trainee, I got hands-on experience with Amazon Web Services, and was even encouraged to experiment with the different tools and services offered. If you've never used AWS or a similar cloud platform before, this may not sound like a huge boon, since they offer 'free-tier' goods; however, there are strict limits on these, and when you need to set up expensive components like NATs for providing network access to private subnets, and when you need to set up a small fleet of ec2 (servers) to experiment and implement an autoscaling Kubernetes cluster connected to an RDS, all spun-up with Terraform (who's statefile is on an S3 bucket,) prices increase quickly.

The overall environment of working at Smoothstack could be a bit chaotic at time, but for the most part, everybody was really nice and helpful. Things can be a bit intense, and you should certainly be prepared to learn and do a lot very quickly, but overall, I enjoyed my training and I made friends of the people on my team.


I feel bad about this review because most of the staff are genuinely great people. However, I feel that it is important to mention the things that Smoothstack will not disclose upfront.
-Unstructured training schedule.
We were literally given PowerPoint presentations twice a week (for approximately 1 hour each session) and then asked to do our own research to complete our assignments/projects. 
We were randomly called in for training throughout the week (no course agenda or schedule).
-Dishonestly from recruiters.
I was promised accommodations from my recruiter that the Smoothstack management had no recollection of until the last week of training. 
-They are not upfront about the company's "business model". They did not mention in the beginning that you would still need to interview with their so-called "established pipeline of clients". I interviewed with a variety of clients that had no recollection of Smoothstack.
-It took almost a year to get placed with a client after the training was over (along with five of my fellow Smoothstack colleagues). That meant getting paid minimum wage for an entire year as I waited for opportunities to interview. I would like to also clarify that every interview went well. The feedback was always good (they record every interview to ensure that you aren’t intentionally trying to sabotage the interview to break the contract). The hiring manager would notify us, stating that we got accepted for a position, and then “something” would always happen a week later. It was always the same excuse; either the contract was not ready or funding for our position was still not available.
-A good portion of your paycheck will go towards a prorated "housing fee". Yes, the "corporate housing isn't free. 
Overall, I felt that I could have achieved everything attained at Smoothstack on my own. All I really needed was initial guidance on what technologies were recommended to learn that are common in the industry. You are better off doing an internship.

I have had a really positive experience with SmoothStack so far. I joined SmoothStack under a two year contract as a Software Engineer Trainee before and after training was placed with a client company as a full time engineer. 

The training and trainers are great and will really work with you to ensure you understand concepts. However, trainers are somewhat limited as some were only part-time trainers and only a few full time ones there. I do think the training would be more effective if they are more of them.

 Management is amazing, as they ensure all your needs are met and are super responsive to any issues I have had, particular those dealing with my client company.   The culture is pretty welcoming as senior employees were able to help guide me through the onboarding for my client company when the time came. 

After the first few weeks of instruction, the whole structure seems to fall apart as the higher ups create curriculum on the fly and do very little to guide you. Towards the end of my time at smothstack, we were simply given a few articles and told to go and implement the things mentioned in them without much guidance along the way. As far as the learning goes, you would be better off watching free code academy as it at least has consistency and structure with guided lectures and workshops. 

During interviews and informational sessions ahead of signing on with smoothstack, they alluded to a high likelihood of being placed at a tech company with the only thing that could hold you back being yourself. My experience, however, was that only about 30% of the people in my cohort got placed and the ones that did were entirely or mostly selected because of their geographic location. The rest of us were led on for a total of 6 months by the vague promises of interviews and placements being just around the corner.

I was apprehensive about SmoothStack's business model prior to the interview and start of the program. I quickly learned that SmoothStack is a great opportunity to get your foot in the door in the software world. The amount of training you receive honestly makes you comparable to a senior developer. They continue to provide resources and assistance if you need it. The hardest part of the job was the start of training, they really want to make sure you are dedicated and the screening process is a bit rough, but it is definitely doable if you don't slack off. I personally am deployed as a Java Developer and generally work spend most of my time working on java backend. I truly believe SmoothStack is a great opportunity for anyone having trouble getting started out.

After I was laid off from my previous non-software job due to COVID-19, Smoothstack helped me pivot to a software development career and found me my next job. As a job searcher with only two college compsci classes for programming experience, answering Smoothstack's Entry Level Software Developer posting allowed me to get the training I needed to become a full-fledged software developer. After Smoothstack’s training period, they connected me with my current client who I greatly enjoy working for. Smoothstack’s instructors and staff have also been friendly and helpful my entire time here.

The only cons to working at Smoothstack I can think of are that the training schedule can be hectic and unpredictable at times and that as this is an entry level job, the pay, benefits, and pto are entry level.

Working in the apprenticeship program at Smoothstack has been an enjoyable challenge. The challenge has been enjoyable because there are some great people at Smoothstack. My fellow apprentices in the cohort have been super helpful and encouraging. The HR team is willing to listen to struggles I've had on-boarding and provided opportunities to help work on those processes for later cohorts. The instructors have been very helpful in working through understanding how the Salesforce code works and implementing it in different use cases. Truly grateful to be working here and looking forward to finishing the apprenticeship program!

I worked at Smoothstack for almost 3 years and learned a lot. Great place to start building a career and developing skills. The amount of support I received from my mentors, managers, and peers was tremendous. By joining Smoothstack you will not only get your foot in the door to Tech Industry, but you will also get a chance to work with their employer partners which are Fortune 500 companies. They focus on quality versus quantity, and they care about their employees. That's what makes them unique. 

The interview process starts with the basic interviews, behavioral & technical, then you go through 2 weeks of training in which you are evaluated based on what you've learned. It's at that point they'll extend you an offer.

I did a java full stack training. Coming from a non computer background the training was fast paced but it did get me ready for a job. I did have to interview with their clients before being assigned to them. However, even after placing with one of their clients I continued to learn on the job with their support. 

Overall if you are willing to put in the effort and time to switch careers, this could really be an option worth pursuing. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Entry level software engineer 4 salaries reported	$110,000 per year
Equipment technician 11 salaries reported	$65,000 per year
Technician 8 salaries reported	$65,000 per year
Field service engineer 6 salaries reported	$65,000 per year
Data center technician 5 salaries reported	$33.75 per hour

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