Ada Developers Academy

I have waited a long time to write this review because I didn't want it to reflect badly on me while I applied to other bootcamps.  But my 1:1 interview was so disheartening I thought I should finally write it now that I've attended another bootcamp, graduated, gotten an apprenticeship, and finally have a contract extension offer.

The application process from start to the first 1:1 interview was about 2 months, and the overall process took 3 months.  I applied in March of 2020 and didn't get an in-person interview 'til May 2020, then I received my rejection in June 2020.

1:1 Interview (Phase 3 in Interview Process):

• From the moment the interview started I felt like the interviewer was disinterested and not engaged.  This interview took place at 11 pm for me because I was living in Norway, but for the interviewer it was 2 pm PST.  
•  I was asked how to scale the code I produced for phase 2 for a larger audience.  I came up with an answer with a little help.  I read online that many people aren't able to come up with a solution and still get in.
•  At some point in the interview I used the term 'girls' to refer to the class and was promptly chided & told not to ever use that term.  I felt like the interviewer made a lot of assumptions about me based off that one word, not even taking into account my progressiveness indicated in my essays.  As someone who had been living abroad for 5+ years I wasn't aware terminology had shifted.  I care a lot about people and their identity, so after this faux pas I've made an effort to use 'y'all' or 'students' instead.  I went to an all-women's college and we referred to ourselves as an "all-girls" college, so I think that also influenced my use of the term.

Thankfully, I ended up getting into a different bootcamp.  One of my classmates mentioned they had also applied to Ada and I asked how the experience was and she said, "Honestly, I didn't think the interviewer liked me, and when I tried to engage he just smirked.  I left feeling like I couldn't code and had to motivate myself to apply somewhere else".  

I confided that that's exactly how I felt.  She and I have gone on to great apprenticeships and we've both been given offers.  So, if you don't get into Ada, look into other non-profit bootcamps that have job placements at the end.  It's worked out well for me :) 

Ada Developers Academy ( ADA ) delivers what it says it does. You will receive a top notch education in programming, computer science fundamentals, and preparation for whiteboard style interviewing. You will not be charged tuition and you will receive a stipend at the end of each month of your internship that is the equivalent of 35 hours a week at $15 an hour. Taxes will not be taken out of your check as your role is that of a contractor. Most of your class will have job offers before the cohort ends, but not all, often for reasons not under ADA's ( or the Adies' ) control. You will graduate ready to enter the job market as a junior developer. You will think that you should feel more skilled and experienced once you reach that point but you won't ( what you hope to feel like usually takes 5 years of experience and work to achieve ). You will have a strong network of graduates to lean on and the support of ADA during future job searches and dealing with the challenges that the tech industry brings.

Teaching will usually be spot on, but there will be missteps and errors along the way. You will be doing more independent study than you anticipate. Your instructors ( 2 per 24 students, 1 floating instructor, 1 Jumpstart instructor, a dedicated Computer Science Fundamentals instructor, and an outstanding student counselor ) are supportive, committed to the mission of ADA, and eager for you to succeed, but they are human. Things more very fast and you have to advocate for yourself and your classmates. Sometimes tutoring is available, sometimes not. If you start to fall behind you need to recognize it quickly and get assistance immediately. You may have to go outside of ADA to do that.

You will receive education and training about social justice, including the concerns and challenges of women of color and non-binary individuals. You will be personally be challenged. You will learn things you didn't know about yourself, and didn't necessarily want to know. You will learn that there is difference between ADA and the Adies alumnix. It was the alumnix who made the commitment to "no woman left behind". Students have been expelled from ADA. Not all of us got in on our first try. Some were admitted on their 5th try. There is some Redshirting. You will form some of the strongest friendships of your life, but you won't like everyone. Lateral aggression is minimal, bullying almost non-existent. ADA was worth it, the Adies especially so. But it is hard. The process hurts. It hurts alot. But it was worth it. Eyes open, keep your expectations in check, and it will be amazing. You will be amazing. Apply.

It sounds like Ada used to be a high-quality school that genuinely cared about its students, but it’s gone downhill fast. I wish I could give negative stars for all the gaslighting and wokewashing. I feel so bad for all the women and gender diverse folks who were hoping for a compassionate school that could help them succeed, but left feeling used and borderline traumatized. Their are tons of people supposedly there to advocate for the students, but when it comes down to it, the bottomline comes first. The teachers are terribly overworked and while they do a great job, it shows. Get ready to be abandoned when you need help the most.

It's hard to imagine where I would be right now if I hadn't been lucky enough to be accepted to and subsequently complete Ada. The year in the program could be brutal, particularly the classroom period, although the internship certainly came with its own challenges too. But the payoff has been huge in so many ways—intellectually (the job I have now is 1000x more interesting and enjoyable to me than any past job I've had, hands down), financially (I make in the low 90s—not a figure I think I would've ever come close to reaching in my pre-Ada field), and community (the women I met through Ada are some of the smartest, most interesting women I've met and they're a wonderful network to have, both friendship and career-wise). And all of that for $0 tuition, and a chance to get a foot in the door interning with some big names in Seattle tech.

Getting to this point wasn't always smooth sailing, and Ada is an imperfect organization. The staff is very small, while the undertaking of what Ada is trying to do is absolutely enormous and always growing. Things fall through the cracks, and sometimes I think they bite off more than they can chew. They've shown themselves to be open to feedback and the curriculum and program is ever evolving based on that. Sometimes it's amazing to recall just how young the organization is—only about 2.5 years old.

At the end of the day, I would do it all over again without even the slightest bit of hesitation. I can't say the year was exactly "fun" (it had its moments), but it was so, so very worth it. Which is why if you get accepted (acceptance rates have been around 8% but I think they're working on trying to ease that at least a little) and can possibly swing it, DO IT. The year will be hard, draining, and stressful (technologically and emotionally), but you will amaze yourself with the things you learn while changing your life's trajectory utterly and completely.

I graduated from a recent Ada cohort in year 2023. The curriculum was decent but basic, deep diving felt like it was almost discouraged by some of the instructors, and Thursdays at Ada were a joke. My classmates were "diverse" in that it was about 45% Asians and 45% white people, while the only 3 black people in my cohort's class were all half white.

While it offers a USP that very few other bootcamps do aka the guaranteed internship, please be aware that as of 2023, internship placements are no longer guaranteed and there are currently dozens of students who are put in limbo for 6 months while hoping internship placement opportunities will be secured for them in 2024.

The internship placements process very much determined where you ended up full-time, as full-time loops are no longer offered by Ada due to market conditions. Despite having 3 big tech internship interviews with 5/5 feedback and a hiring manager who wanted to stay in touch, I was placed on a team that I had a poor interview experience with, despite going through Ada's defined process and filing a report re non-standard/uncomfortable interview. 

Now that Ada is asking for alums to contribute back, I hope the students it opaquely and un-meritocratically placed at Amazon can help keep Ada afloat, since their signing bonuses are literally 3x-7x that of other students, not to mention a higher base too. I will not be contributing, and honestly I would not be opposed to seeing Ada in its current form fail if that means making space for a more meritocratic bootcamp.