Actualize

I chose this bootcamp due to the amazing reviews, and it did not disappoint! I learned so much at Actualize and I feel very prepared for my upcoming job search. The class sizes are relatively small (I had 8 students in my cohort, including myself), so the instructor and TA's are able to answer any and all questions that you may have, at any point. I would highly recommend Actualize to anyone who is seeking to switch careers to software development!

I chose Actualize because I knew I wanted to learn coding from professionally trained educators. I am so glad I chose Actualize for my bootcamp experience because the learning environment, curriculum and quality instruction was unparalleled!! I am actually sad that the bootcamp is over and will really miss my instructor and peers who I have developed a bond with over the past 3 months. I joined this bootcamp with no prior tech experience, and now through this course, I have gained a solid foundation of web development skills and feel empowered to make a career change into tech. I also really appreciate the job-hacking curriculum, resources and support services available for students even after graduation, as well as their tech mentorship program and networking Slack channel for graduates. Lastly, I really appreciate that Actualize values DEI and my instructor actively upheld an inclusive space. As someone in the LGBTQ+ community I felt comfortable and celebrated here as my authentic self. Look no further if you are considering pursuing a coding bootcamp. 

I chose Actualize because:

• The materials on their website had a sense of humor I responded to
• I was able to set up a financing plan
• The curriculum includes Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, React, and jobhunting skills/resources
• The schedule fit my schedule (11am-4pm Central Time Monday through Friday)

I came into the class with some technical background and still found the experience educational and worthwhile. I'm leaving the class with a bunch of ideas on things I want to build, things I want to try out, and the confidence to tackle new subjects/languages that I probably would not have tried exploring if left to my own devices.

Actualize Bootcamp is hands down the best program I have been apart of! Katherine was the best instructor and really helped you understand topics that were confusing to learn at first.  During the bootcamp, the instructors are available every day of the week to meet with you. Not only are the instructors smart and can help you with any problem you're having, but they do  a great job supporting you along the way. Post graduation, the career advisors (shoutout to Lisa) really care about you and finding you a job. They not only continue to meet with you every week at no extra cost but they provide you with amazing resources such as tech mentors, free online courses, and a ton of documents! If your thinking about going to a bootcamp, I would highly consider Actualize!

Actualize really puts the emphasis on learning how to learn. Not only do they teach you the fundamentals of coding + they really teach you how to go about solving problems when you run into them. The course really makes you believe in yourself, and the instructors do too. My instructor Joey Harbert was BEYOND amazing! He is such an amazing teacher that really knows the in's and out's of ruby on rails, react, javascript, and the countless other topics we go over. The job program that they have dubbed "job hacking" is so great. Sarah Kercher who lead the job hacking program for my cohort was so great. She is really invested to help you find a job and it shows when she meets with you. You go over plans on how you're going to continue your coding career after bootcamp and she gives you tips and pointers on the best practices for making your resume. The only complaint I have about actualize is that it isn't longer! Im so sad that my time here is coming to an end and id 100% do it all over again if given the chance! I cant say enough good things about Actualize. If you were on the fence about it before, just read the 100's of good reviews left about this place. They're NOT LYING! It really is the real deal and you get what you pay for!

-Alex Centeno

My experience at Actualize Coding Bootcamp was exceptional and unlike any other educational experience I have had in the past. Initially, I was hesitant about attending an online bootcamp, as I had concerns about the quality of education I would receive. However, my concerns were quickly dispelled after a conversation with Peter, the Dean of Instruction at Actualize. Peter's willingness to address my technical questions demonstrated the school's dedication to the success and satisfaction of their students. Furthermore, the school provided detailed information about the curriculum, tech stack, and class schedules, including a breakdown of the daily structure.

I was impressed with the level of support provided by Actualize both before, during, and after the bootcamp. Peter, who served as my instructor, was effective in his teaching approach and made the material easy to understand. Additionally, Lisa, the career counselor, was instrumental in my success throughout the course.

Overall, Actualize left a lifelong impression on me, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn web development through their program. I highly recommend this course to anyone seeking to develop their web development skills.

I am super happy I chose Actualize my instructor Amanda was top-notch along with her TA's all very hands on and helpful. I chose Actualize because of their values to what is needed to succeed in Software Development with teaching you how to learn so that you can teach yourself any language or concept in the future. They keep their Cohorts small so they can give you the attention you want from the instructor and TA's. I highly recommend choosing Actualize I started out with knowing basically nothing and can now build a full-stack web app!

Coming in to Actualize, I was looking for a coding bootcamp with responsive teachers, career support and a strong curriculum. Actualize met all my requirements and more. My instructor was attentive and always willing to help, the schedule gave me plenty of time to fulfill my daily obligations, and the content was engaging and relevant. After graduation, I'm still getting career support while I search for a job, which is very appreciated. Would absolutely recommend to anyone looking to transition to a career in tech. 

This was my second "transition" in my life in terms of a career change, and I was struggling to find a bootcamp that would fit my needs regarding what I wanted to learn, what kind of structure there was, and if I was able to continue working throughout the process. I wasn't in a position to quit my job and focus solely on the bootcamp, and I was lucky enough to find something that was during free time (the nature of my job is early mornings and afternoons/evenings). 

The second thing I loved about this bootcamp is that it was live. It wasn't just a "watch this recording and do this assignment" type of course. Being able to ask questions on the spot and interact with the instructor and TA's was helpful, as when you are learning something new and need to reinforce a concept, it is extremely beneficial to have that available. This is especially helpful for individuals who have limited to no prior experience with coding.

Lastly, I mainly chose this because of the career services and "job hacking" that is associated with the program. There are plenty of resources available to help guide the process of finding a job in a new industry within the program. We go over many aspects of the application and interview process and how to handle the difficulties that may arise. We are able to schedule 1-on-1's and create a sound plan moving forward post-bootcamp and adjust, as needed.

If you are looking to change careers and get a sound structure when it comes to learning how to code, definitely choose Actualize!

I was a little hesitant to apply to Actualize at first, i didn't know anything about coding or what a good coding bootcamp looked like. But my experience at Actualize, with Katherine as my instructor and her two TAs Hwieun and Caitlynn, could not have been topped anywhere else. Over the span of 3 months, plus pre work to ease you into the course, my cohort and I were taught the fundamentals of Coding through languages such as; Ruby, HTML, CSS, JavaScript.  Then taught how to apply those skills on something more tangible on Frameworks such as; Rails, React, JQuery. I can truly say at the end of this Bootcamp, I get to walk away with enough knowledge/skills to apply that to transition to a career in Software Development, ...thanks to Katherine <3

If you're interested in investing time and money into learning coding and making a career change I would 100% recommend this bootcamp to anyone. Our instructor, Katherine, was not only knowledgeable and a great teacher and that's one of the reasons I chose Actualize over other bootcamps: their assertion that they focus on things holistically and have instructors who understand education, which was completely delivered on. This was a really good way to gain some confidence, make connections, and get up to speed on foundations that might seem insurmountable or overwhelming to get started on. They are both realistic and motivating in their support to help you change careers and we grew a really nice little community in our class. I felt before signing up that it might be strange doing something like this virtually or might not be worth it but those fears never became a reality in any sense. It's tough to do while working full time but just do it, you'll get through it and thank yourself later. Apply for a scholarship and ask to sit in on a class!

I've recently graduated from this bootcamp and they've set me up for success! The instructor was amazing and really helped us learn with a solid curriculum. There was always help when confused and lots of resources shared to you throughout the bootcamp. I would recommend this bootcamp to anyone looking to get into tech. They really care about the student and when you graduate you become part of the community they've built so you still feel connected and receive ongoing help.

This Bootcamp is designed to teach students to learn coding basics and fundamental skills, and its project-oriented hands-on approach is highly effective at enabling students to continue to learn afterward. I came from almost zero coding experience and now have the ability to build full-stack web apps and code in four different languages, with experience in two frameworks. Still, more importantly, I have the ability to dive into new technologies and languages and continue to broaden my skills.The job-hacking portion of the curriculum has also been invaluable. It's interwoven in the curriculum from day one, and by the end of the Bootcamp there are numerous resources to use for networking and mentorship, and students are empowered with a guide to help map out a job search plan, with access to the same career counselor that's been working with you throughout the Bootcamp as you search for jobs afterward.The small cohort size creates a learning environment that is engaging and promotes community and truly allows interaction with instructors to ensure that potentially difficult material is understood.I could not recommend this Bootcamp enough to anyone that is truly interested in learning to code and wants to dive into software development as a career!

It's tough to decide where to start. This is easily the best, most fulfilling academic experience I've had. My professor, Joey, was extremely knowledgeable, thorough, helpful, and personable. Learning to code can seem like it's going to be a mundane experience but he (and my peers, TA's) made it something I looked forward to each day. My cohort was 10 people, all dedicated to learning, which made the environment a bit more intimate and made it easy to not just be another face in the room. Actualize emphasizes progress over perfection. You will hit walls, you will get frustrated, but it's about understanding how to deal with those challenges. The curriculum, mainly designed by Peter Jang,  is meticulously thought out and updated. I feel confident in my skills and ability to keep learning as I move forward. What exceeded my expectations most wast the career portion of this boot camp. Many programs will offer a job-guarantee, income share agreement, or boast about high employment percentages. Actualize doesn't market itself that way, which can be deterring when you're shopping for boot camps. But I am so grateful for the resources I've been given. Our career advisor was Sarah. She's experienced and understands that we are all searching for something slightly different from one another. The resources you have for your job search are introduced right when you start, and only become more plentiful as the boot camp goes on. I feel more confident in my career potential that I would based off a percentage or a guarantee (most guarantees are with partners, where you might not want to work anyways). Overall, I would recommend this over any other program. I spent weeks meticulously learning about boot camps, reading reviews. If this program looks like something you'd like - do it. 

My first bootcamp i signed up for was extremely shady and failed to deliver on the majority of the promises they made during enrollment. I ultimately left that program to try to dodge what remained of that bullet and my experience left a bad taste in my mouth regarding bootcamps as a whole as this was through a reputable university. A family friend eventually reached out with extremely high praise for Actualize and convinced me to give it a shot. I'm so thankful for that decision, this program is genuinely amazing. They're very transparent and make very realistic promises that they always meet. With small class sizes you receive lots of individualized support both in the camp and out, as you keep receiving their career support services for life after graduation (seemed too good to be true but they've delivered so far). I truly feel like i have been set up for success by this organization, easily the best and most fulfilling academic experience i've had in 10 years.

I started my Actualize boot camp with no prior coding knowledge. In 12 weeks, Brian Rice, my cohort instructor has amazed me with his teaching. He is clear and thorough. He is patient and explains complex ideas in simple terms. He explains the why instead of simply the what.

I can tell that a lot of thought has gone into creating the curriculum. The flow of content was very logical and engaging. I feel that the only difference between me and a seasoned developer, is the amount of time and practice given to this skill. That is a crazy thought being that 3 months ago I knew nothing.

The bootcamp is also set up with a great job search curriculum. The hours of job training and the ongoing support from the career advisors has given me confidence now that I am entering the job search.

I'm writing this on my final day, something I had wanted to do having found it on course report, and it was something they asked. I was scared to go into a bootcamp, I had failed a Software Engineering Degree as a freshman fresh out of high-school, so that added a big stigma in my mind of going back into coding. I searched around for two big things, teachers who were all about interacting with the students, working alongside them, and how their job placement program operated. After a few weeks of researching price, reviews, and each courses goals, I went with Actualize. I don't regret it, in around 4 months I feel so much more confident in my coding then when I had two full semesters of C# and Java. My teacher was always happy to help, explain further, giver demonstrations, and pretty much idea pong at any time, and would get back to me when he couldn't. The job program during class has been amazing, really educating me and how job searches work, and hiring managers are looking for, and how to build my resume correctly! I'm excited to see where it continues to take me, as not only do I receive the programs help during class, I also have access to my counselors till Actualize stop's business. 

I actually chose Actualize after coming to this website. There were countless 5-star reviews! So many, I didn't believe it so I decided to go further by asking former students on LinkedIn about their experience. To my surprise, the reviews were the same and they all recommended it. I'm so glad I listened to them and decided to enroll. Before this course, I had no prior experience with coding. I now have the confidence to say I feel like I can learn any language, framework, etc. I would highly recommend this boot camp to anyone interested in learning to code. 

My instructor, Katherine, was amazing. She is incredibly kind and helps with literally everything. The TAs, DJ and Matt were also the coolest. All the instructors were so willing to help and always made themselves available for anything that we needed. This program is truly student-focused. The instructors are perfect examples of that. 
It was very challenging, of course, but the experience is very rewarding. I am confident that this is the best decision I've ever made. 
I would definitely recommend the program to anyone who is looking to gain knowledge in software development. 10/10.

I chose Actualize after several weeks of researching coding bootcamps. After narrowing my search down to 4 schools, I settled on Actualize. Throughout the reviews, one theme remained the same about Actualize…Student Focus. Student after student kept commenting about the instructors genuinely cared about the growth and development of the students. And I can say I experienced that personally. My experience at Actualize was phenomenal. The program is not easy by any means, but it is very rewarding and the knowledge you walk away with is abundant.  I would recommend this program to anyone that is seeking a career in software development. 

Katherine Evans, my professor, was a literal angel. She led with confidence and had a very kind and funny demeanor. DJ and Matt, former graduates, were theee best TA's anyone could ask for. My class, the evening cohort, was full of unique, creative, determined individuals looking for a change. This was one of the best experiences of my life and I would recommend it to anyone. You can do this. 

Out of the myriad bootcamps currently out there, many of which advertise themselves through implausible guarantees, Actualize stands out by being upfront about the reality of the market, and the bootcamp format itself; there are no guarantees, and it's impossible to curate any curriculum, within a 12-week constraint, that is a universal golden bullet for the job hunt ahead. 

Instead, Actualize abandons the dogma and focuses and foundation building instead - to learn how to learn, to decompose complex problems, to rapidly internalize new technologies and implement them and, most importantly, how to sustain that process on your own. 

I just completed the 12-week full time daytime program. I had an excellent experience and I am so happy that I chose Actualize. The live online instruction is the way to go. I did not have any coding background so I was nervous that I would need a lot of personal attention and help to be able to keep up. The curriculum never seemed overwhelming and I felt like I had all the support that I needed. I had access to my instructor and two TAs every day. They created an environment where I was comfortable asking for help and admitting that I didn't know how to do something. My instructor, Joey, who was amazing, laid out the path for me to be a successful developer and I will be forever grateful! The job-hacking career services are also top notch. Sarah and Lisa and are so passionate about what they do and it feels so good knowing they are on your side. I couldn't be happier.

Choosing to take the Actualize Web Development course was easily the best choice I've made. In 4 months I went from not even knowing basic operators to being able to fully develop a full stack web application. The instructor was by far the greatest teacher I've ever had, friendly, entertaining, and extremely helpful in every way possible. The teaching assistants were also extremely helpful and provided great insight to their own personal experiences. I would 100% recommend this course to anyone who wants to make their start in the development world.

I am writing as the oldest member of my cohort, and I'm pivoting away from a 20 year career in entertainment.
The pandemic left my industry closed for 18 months, and I discovered an interest in programming. I was determined to become a programmer by myself, self-taught, and that should be enough to maybe get an entry-level job, so I joined Codecademy.
For the next 8 months, I spent 6 days a week, 1.5 hours a day, not trying to just complete the courses, but to digest them and take copious notes. I thought that was my path, but, I knew there was a world of information I was missing that I couldn't even imagine.  How do I ask a question about a topic I can't begin to describe?

I came to Course Report in February 2022. The algorithm here puts the most reviewed schools/programs in the top-billed spots, which objectively makes sense.  I sent out applications to a few different schools, but nothing felt like a fit. It wasn't until day 3 of looking that I found Actualize. I hadn't seen it here on Course Report, which puzzled me, so I searched.  Actualize IS on Course Report, and it was consistently ranked higher than every other program I was pursuing. Read that again.  Actualize is higher ranked by students than other, larger schools. If you don't believe me, search right now.  If I'm wrong, I'll eat my hat. That's something the kids say, right?

The staff was immeasurably helpful through registration. There is financial assistance available, which may help curb the cost of enrollment.  I would ask you consider that, as the initial price tag is steep.  Having lived it, I would have paid more, which is crazy to say.

Once I was accepted, I had a few weeks before pre-work started, and I was humming with anticipation, mostly because I only had word of mouth to go by, and testimonials like this. I had no idea what to expect, and I usually like to walk into new situations a little more prepared, but eventually pre-work began. Also, I signed up for the evening sessions, as I work better at night.  I'm a vampire with a capital "B."

If you have taken a course of Codecademy Pro, the pre-work will feel very similar to an "Intro To..." course. It was paced out well for me, but I had an element of familiarity with core concepts across all languages (Strings, Integers, Booleans, Loops, Arrays, Hashes/Dictionaries, Classes, OOP, Functions). This course is designed to help you even if you don't have this foundation. You don't need this foundation, but it helped. To make this clear, I had not taken the Intro to Ruby course, which is the first language you will be taught, but I felt well equipped to begin.

I enjoyed my pre-work instructor, Kevin.  Cool guy, good knowledge base, and was fully prepared to admit when he didn't know something.  That's an idea I had to get comfortable with myself.  Ask questions if you have them, friends. You will get as much from any course of study as you put into it. If the instructor doesn't know, they go to your eventual instructors to ask! This program is a populated by a community of people who are coming together to help you learn best.  I get the sense that every cohort (your class) teaches our instructors how to teach the next group better.  It's that passion for teaching well that sets them apart.

Expect 20 hours a week of instruction by video for the pre-work window.  Every Thursday was 2 live office hours with Kevin, where he would answer questions about the "homework" from the past week for hour one, and the second hour would go into greater detail about one of the more difficult practice problems of the week.  It's nice to begin to be able to speak to another person about code.  I didn't know how much I wanted that until I got it. The pre-work group is pared down into smaller classes for general instruction.  I think my group went from pre-work 15 students to cohort 7 students.

I was lucky enough to have Peter Jang, the full-on Dean of Instruction, as my teacher. This guy has forgotten more about code than I've learned in my first ten months, but not in a bad way. It was actually exciting, because I was finding out keyboard shortcuts, or industry specific jargon, or random conventions on my first day than I hadn't discovered in months of self-teaching.  I was immediately learning the things I didn't know I didn't know, and I rode that high for weeks. I knew I spent my money in the right place on the first day of official instruction, no joke.

The evening cohort's schedule (for me, in California) 4:00pm - 7:30p M-Th, 7:00am - 3pm Sun (1 hr lunch). I loved the evenings. 3.5 hours of new information every day was the perfect amount for my brain.  Sunday was a little rough, because 8 (7) hours, but The day is broken into 3 hours of instruction, lunch, one hour of "job-hacking," and then three more hours of instruction.  That last 1.5 is rough on Sunday, but doable.

I won't lie, this can be dense stuff.  More often than not, you will be asked to do something before you understand it.  The understanding will come through repetition.  Connections will be made almost subconsciously as you practice you Rails CRUD, but it happened.  Peter uses the two-week paradigm to calming us down: Just remember where you were two weeks ago, and how that foreign concept seemed alien, but now you basically get it.  It's not foolproof, but it was a pretty reliable way of keeping me from spinning out, and I always noticed results.

Nervous Nellies, listen up: The program will teach you that working with other people will be integral to your upcoming career. It seems obvious in retrospect, but your job will, most likely, be for someone else's company, updating their code with a group of people whose responsibility is to ensure you are doing your job. I was not looking forward to group anything.  I'm not super confident in my coding, and the last thing I want to do is show it to other people. Guess what? Suck it up, buttercup. Day 2 you are paired off with a fellow student. I don't remember coding that day with a partner, but every class session begins by pairing or grouping students into break-out rooms, and they are given conversation prompts to help break the ice.  Oof. Nothing feels worse than being forced to talk to someone when you don't have any idea who they are.  If the program hadn't forced me out of that comfort zone, I never would have chosen it for myself, and I think they get that, too... Which is why they force you out.

They knew better than me, by the way. I only had six fellow cohort members, but I looked forward to catching up with someone after a few days of not speaking. Turns out, I really dig these people.  I would not have learned as much, or been as motivated, if I was left in a corner to do my homework. You may be shaking your head.  I wouldn't have believed me either, but I plan on keeping in touch with some of the folks I really clicked with.

Sometimes, no. Often? No. Okay, actually there will never be a time when you know everything about coding. This program effectively teaches its subjects, but the key to a successful CAREER is how well you learn to learn.  I know, I know how it sounds, but Actualize gave me foundational knowledge that I can use that will continue to help me keep learning past the last day.

The Job-Hacking portion of the program, masterfully organized by Lisa Tucker,  was my least-understood part of the program before starting. Is it job placement? Nope. It's better? I'd say yes. Along the lines of teaching you how to learn, this portion of the curriculum teaches you how to understand yourself, how to market who you are as a person using specific and proven techniques, but also make yourself as versatile a candidate as you can be. It turns out there's a science to this, and Lisa is a wizard, her staff as well. I'm not where I want to be regarding networking, but I feel very empowered to continue my job search.  You will be applying for jobs before you graduate.  

I don't want any of this to discourage you, I'm telling you this because you are about to be handed the keys to a powerful and boundless kindgom, but only if you are committed. If you are prepared to work hard, study hard, and be over-whelmed at least once where your brain just says, "You've got to be kidding me. That's it, I'm leaving," but you still come back, then I recommend Actualize Coding Bootcamp for your instructional dollar.

I absolutely loved my time at Actualize. All of the instructors are knowledgable and extremely willing to help. I chose to attend Actualize because it seemed to be a bootcamp that focused more on teaching you how to learn code rather than teaching you code. I feel like even though I've just started, I already know infinitely more than I did 12 weeks ago. I'm excited to continue learning and pursuing this career!  

Actualize is one bootcamp among many with ostensibly comparable curricula. The course currently focuses on Ruby on Rails for backend and Vue.js (Vue 3) for frontend development, though they're always making tweaks and updates to stay current. It's organized very rationally into three sections: pre-work, live instruction, and the job search. Live instruction is typically the 'meat' of what people are looking for in coding bootcamp, often giving less consideration to incoming skill level or the real-life challenge of finding a job after the live course.

The staff at Actualize are available to guide and support you all the way through, whether you're coming in with significant coding knowledge or none. Pre-work is self-paced and teaches fundamentals of Ruby programming. Live instruction is taught by one of several lead instructors (who may or may not have some great terrible jokes for the class) with additional TAs available to answer questions, and goes into some level of depth on backend and frontend web development. I was in a cohort of 12 and there was nearly always one TA in class with us, which is a significantly better student-to-teacher ratio than some other programs I researched.

Live instruction was somewhat less intensive than I expected, but there's a good deal of suggested/optional homework to both review in-class material and explore topics in more depth, if you have the time and/or energy for it. I'm moving into the job search phase now, which includes specific instruction along with one-on-one support for as long as you need.

Sure, I could likely have learned much of this material on my own from various online resources, but if you get overwhelmed with the universe of material that's out there, don't know where to start, need to be held accountable by real human beings or just know you do better in class settings, this might be for you. I can't speak to the full extent of career support at this point, but the knowledge that I will have access to career advisors and the Actualize alumni community for as long as I need, I have a feeling that will be a truly invaluable resource.

I chose Actualize because they emphasized long-term learning over teaching too many technologies in the short term. I'm leaving the bootcamp with strong foundational knowledge I can use to learn new technologies independently. I found that to be a lot more valuable than getting exposed to too many things and not understanding how to continue learning independently post-bootcamp. Our instructor also took the time to gauge how we were feeling about certain topics and would spend an extra day diving a little deeper if we needed. Our feedback, confusion, and questions were taken seriously, and he took the time to thoroughly explains things to us or change up the schedule a little to fit our needs.

During the bootcamp, I experienced varying levels of doubt/imposter syndrome in myself and the work I was completing. The best choice I made was to voice these concerns with my instructor, teaching assistants, and career advisor. No matter how many times I reached out, they were incredibly supportive and encouraging. They really helped with putting my fears into perspective so I could grow past them. Although it's not an easy process, I felt as though I had the right people in my corner to bolster me up when needed, and I'm incredibly thankful for that. 

I would recommend Actualize to anyone who wants to enter a bootcamp with a strong support system of instructors, teaching assistants, and career advisors to foster long-term success.