Techlab Education

My 9yo daughter took two weeks of half-​day summer camp at TechLab. She learned to code in Python and built a robot with Arduino. She really enjoyed her time there! We hope to continue with TechLab, perhaps with a weekly class once school starts. She thought the instructors were mostly very good, and she liked the format of the camps (she had adequate guidance and attention, she could get her questions answered, and she liked the challenges given. In fact, as a super bright kid, my daughter isn’t normally challenged enough in the classroom, and she thought this camp was a good challenge for her — hooray!). Keshav and his staff are friendly and happy to talk to parents during pickup and drop-​off.

My child is very fond of Tech Lab, its founder Keshav and his staff. It’s there that my child found a raison d’être. My child had been there for almost 2 yrs, taking weekend classes and summer camp. But sadly, I’ve moved my child to another tech oriented school where s/​he is learning to code.
The one huge area sorely in need of attention is the lack of communication with parents. Our inquiries need to be returned promptly. If we email you questions (usually to
), we need a reply within the next day or two. Every email seems to vanish into the nether. Phone calls are not returned. Classes are moved around without notice. I’m never quite sure whether a class is really and truly taking place. Will they be in business by the time the class comes around? I’m never sure.
If you just take summer camps — and if you arrived on the scene after they finally got things up and running — you will be satisfied. You logged in, you registered, your kid showed up and the classes were fun and educational. You will feel that he or she has hit the big time in SV, programming at age eight! But if they continue as they did in the past, changing classes at whim, pushing out the date without notification, and not replying to parents’ inquiries, the experience will be tarnished.
I feel they need an office manager!
There is SO MUCH MORE I could add (by way of suggestions for improvements –it’s endless) but as a TL;DR:
Kid rating: 4 stars for the classes
Parent rating: 2 stars for the lack of communication with parents

While searching for a python/​java summer camp, all of which costs around $ 1500 per week, in 2014, I came across this TechLab. Being a highly conscientious shopper and geek mom, I tried to connect with the company over a period of a few months. It initially appeared to me that they were not too organized, which made me wary at first until I read about Keshav’s educational background (University of Illinois, highly ranked for Computer Science). After checking their prices/​schedule, $ 50 for 2 hours, I felt it was worth a try. I took my son (11 years old) there for his first workshop on Sat. Being engineers, both my husband and I stayed for a few weeks to assess the workshops. From the beginning we were impressed with Keshav’s ability to make the class «fun» and educational (relating learning computer science to math and video games). I need to qualify «fun» because this Java workshop is for kids who are interested. For kids who are young (my son), Java is tough and will require time. For parents who expect immediate results (i.e. 1 week camp, a few months = an expert), my experience is that unless the kid spends a lot of time doing the programming at home, it will not happen immediately. Although we saw no progress for a few months, my son always asked to go to the workshop. I think the reason is that it provided a fun club atmosphere. My son recently did some assignments at home by himself because he was interested in developing the game, and that’s where he learned the most. From this experience, I learned that for average kids who like the idea of developing games and math, the Java club is fun and interactive. I recommend it to all parents who like to cultivate an interest in programming. If your kids is not nerdy, I do recommend other classes that Techlab offers. I recommended the website development camp to my friend’s son, who told me that he loved it. So there is a workshop for everyone. This is a comment of a mom who has observed/​experienced the service quality of this company since the beginning of 2014.

Such an amazing place. The employees there are also amazing. Great place for future engineers and computer science majors and anyone else who just wants to have a lot of fun. The kids that go there will shock you at what they can do.