App Academy Reviews
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Anonymous
App Academy Review
Great way to quickly get your career as a software developer started. It is an intense program and you will have to work hard but he results are very rewarding. Amazing staff and teacher who are willing to take the time and make sure you learn.
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Anonymous
App Academy
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Really great program. I learned a lot in an extremely short period of time. As a student from Canada, I had to pay the tuition upfront which I preferred because it was a reduced amount compared to the deferred plan. For the first part of the program they focused heavily on Ruby and Rails and then quickly switched over to Javascript. I understand that they wanted us to learn the fundamentals of programming using an easier to learn language, but I would have preferred dedicating more time to Javascript given that was used for the remainder of the course, is heavily used in full-stack projects, and was followed by important topics such as React and Redux which I believe were not given enough time.
On another note, because of the deferred payment policy a/A focuses on admitting only strong students which I truely believe elevated the learning experience. Everyone was very dedicated to working hard and helping each other out which was great!
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Anonymous
My experience at a/A
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My overall experience at App Academy was great. With that being said, the overall curriculum is extremely fast-paced. There are assessments virtually every week and they are crucial for you to pass in order to stay within the program. Because there is such a heavy emphasis on these assessments, the learning environment goes from learning as much as you can to try to pass these tests. Be prepared to spend hours studying and working on homework. Don't be afraid to ask questions. You pair program every single day. If you understand everything and your partner doesn't, slow down and explain it to them. Your partner will appreciate it a lot. If it takes you a while to understand, don't be afraid to slow your partner down and ask questions. It is your learning too. There is an overwhelming amount of staff support every step of the way, so don't be afraid to get to know them too. Your end goal is to absorb as much knowledge as you can and if you don't quite understand everything, that is okay too. Your full stack project is where you can solidify your understanding of everything. Overall, this is an amazing learning experience. You will stress a lot, study a lot and learn a lot, but by the end of it, you'll be extremely proud of how far you've come.
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Anonymous
Extremely challenging but rewarding experience
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App Academy has been extremely challenging but all the while rewarding. It is definitely what you make of it. If you put in the time and the effort, you will come out proud as can be thinking - "Oh wow, I really learned all of this in just a few months" and "Did I really just create a website from scratch in a couple weeks?" I really enjoyed my time at App Academy and am so glad I took the course. Here are my pros and cons of the Full Stack Intensive:
Pros:
- Great group of TA's who put in extra time to help students, even on weekends. These TA's go above and beyond to help the students. They were once students themselves and know what each student is going through. They really want each student to succeed and will make sure to get them the help they need.
- Friendly and safe environment as well as inclusive
- Admissions process really brings in people who are very well-rounded and have absolute determination to succeed (and to get in job in the end) - I was surrounded by people who I thought was much smarter than me and hardworking which caused me to push myself to improve everyday
- Curriculum includes a ton of hands on learning - projects everyday to make you apply new concepts directly to code
- Ton of pair programming - a lot of opportunities to collaborate with other programmers and learn other techniques/methodsCons:
- Some material/projects(not too many) of the curriculum were not very clear - the instructions were difficult to understand which obstructed my ability to get far in those projects during those days
- Ton of pair programming - as mentioned above, it's a great aspect, but sometimes it becomes too much - dense material can be difficult to understand in a few days and I personally found it beneficial when we had some solo programming days to really struggle through the day's projects on our ownOverall, this was a great experience for me and I definitely recommend this course!
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Anonymous
The most intense 12 weeks of my life
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Amazing organization. One of the most life changing organizations I have decided to be a part of. They provide the pace, structure, and push that I would've probably never had trying to learn their programming curriculum on my own. That being said, they are not a perfect organization and many things about their curriculum such as the relevance of certain tech stacks we work with or the deep theoretical underpinnings of some of the languages and APIs they use are not for me. I still believe they provide me with a great value for my money. -
Anonymous
Definitely worth doing
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I think about how different it would have been if I didn't choose to study with a bootcamp and tried learning on my own. I wouldn't have been able to complete as much as I did in such a short time. The information is difficult to grasp quickly, but setting your only focus for the bootcamp is important to learning the material quickly. I also wouldn't have learned as much if I had tried to learn the material on my own. On my own I would try to learn what I need to learn to make my website operational, which would have left a lot more holes in the knowledge of programing that I have now. Lastly, the price seems very steep, but I find it to be worth it in terms of the value comparison of a college education. I graduated with a structural civil engineering degree but I find this fullstack course to be more challenging, more valuable, more productive time spent for a higher education and the overall cost was cheaper than unreduced cost of my degree.
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Anonymous
It will change your life.
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I actually got a job after completing App Academy's in-person full-time curriculum in NYC. I wanted to wait until I actually got an offer, so here it is.
If you're looking at this review, you're probably looking to make a career-change or gain an edge in landing that first software development role after graduating University (or High School?). For me, it was absolutely worth it.
1. This is one of the only coding bootcamps which hold you to a certain learning-pace with weekly assessments for the first 8-ish weeks. If you fall behind and fail two of them, you're out of the program, and trust me this will take a lot of work to pass. It ensures that you actually learned the material and can do the basics, but the pace of this program isn't for everyone. You will wake up in the morning, get to the office, code all day, go home, work on HW assignments, code some more, sleep, then repeat for 3 months. You will literally live/eat/breathe code for the duration and you'll learn so much, but this brings up my second point.
2. You will have no life during the program. When people say this in the reviews, they're not being excessive. I almost had a panic attack on the night before my first assessment (Sunday) because I was struggling with some concepts. You will learn a new concept and then be expected to pass an assessment on it the following week, while already learning new material. Tell your friends/girlfriend/family/dog that you'll pay attention to them after 3 months. (For reference, my cohort had like 20% of the cohort drop out... This isn't a joke)
3. You will meet some of the most brilliant people you've ever met in your cohort. We've had Ivy-League grads, WallStreet guys, Entrepreneurs, Musicians, Basement gamers who want to finally get a job, etc... They were from all different backgrounds, but almost every single one of them were brilliant in their own way. I actually felt dumb for the first time in my life. Being surrounded by these people and pair-programming with each of them every single day will help you learn and see code in a different way. You'll also learn how to deal with not-so-favorable people, which will help you during your actual job (stubborn/argumentative people, keyboard hogs, etc), but these interactions are rare.
4. The Job-Search support is actually one of the best parts of this curriculum. Technical and Non-Technical interviewing is a skill just like programming, and you'll gain a ton of practice white boarding and talking about yourself/background. My career coach was the best hype-man I could've ever asked for, and I think he actually helped me ultimately land my first role.
If you put in the work, and you pass all the assessments, you'll land a job. A vast majority of my cohort all landed jobs within the first 6-months after program completion.
The most important part is putting in the work after you actually finish the program (Job-Search is honestly the hardest part because there's minimal hand holding and you're actually competing for roles against other people who often have CS degrees). There's no time for an extended break after completing the program. Start working on more features on your fullstack project, start learning data structures / algorithms more in depth, white board at least once a week, etc... It will take a lot of work. The best part is that you have access to the office at all times, so you can go in to work while you look for a job even after you complete the program.For me, this program changed my life and I'm thankful I went through it.
Lastly, I want to share one tip: Before you start the program, you absolutely should complete a beginner's web-development "course" on freecodecamp or Udemy. It goes a LONG way, trust me.
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Anonymous
Extremely stressful but excellent education
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With graduation near, I can't wait for this program to be over, but I am confident that it has prepared me well to land a job as a software developer.
The good:
App Academy is a high quality coding bootcamp, and if you make it through, you will be well prepared for a career in software development. The curriculum is clear and thorough. The program is continuously updated to reflect changes in the industry. The students and staff are passionate about learning and coding. The staff are very helpful, and due to the tuition agreement, they are very invested in the students' success.The bad:
App Academy advertises that there is no coding background or experience required for their 12 week bootcamp. This technically is not wrong, but I would never recommend this program to someone with no coding experience. If I were to do this over, I would spend several months teaching myself to code and would take some free online classes before starting App Academy. The stress and lack of sleep I'm experiencing during this program are affecting my physical and mental health, and it would be much more bearable if I had known a lot more coming in. -
Anonymous
Unique opportunity to work alongside extremely motivated cohortmates
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Overall, I’m very satisfied with the experience I had going through App Academy.
The strong reputation that App Academy has in the industry is well-deserved - the quality of education is excellent, and the instructors do a great job of presenting the material in a clear and concise manner. The curriculum designers are also constantly aware of current technology trends, and are unafraid of completely revamping their instructional materials to ensure that what they teach is relevant in industry.
However, while the program claims that no prior programming experience is necessary to get in, I found that the vast majority of people who completed the program and excelled in my cohort had some kind of technical background, ranging from CS/STEM majors, to some basic web design experience. This is not to say that those who came in with no experience did not finish the program, but rather that they had to be a lot more self-sufficient and proactive about learning the material in order to keep up.
The program is rigorous, but it forces you to push yourself to higher levels of productivity than you ever thought possible, and getting to work in an environment surrounded by people who are self-motivated and all working toward a similar goal is incredibly satisfying. -
Anonymous
Fast Paced
The course is very fast paced and they cover a lot of material but it's a lot of fun.
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Anonymous
Learn to Learn
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At a/A, there has been many challenges. You go through test assessments, 3 hours of homework, full stack projects...etc.
For me, if you told me I'd be able to pass all this 3 months ago, I would have felt this was way over my head. In the last 10 weeks, I've learned about myself. I've learned to learn. There has been a great amount of help from TAs and classmates. I've learned to take all their styles and watch how they work and just pick a part of it. One clear example was while working on my CSS for my project, I was going back and forth between my text editor and browser to see changes I've made. After having a TA to come help solve a bug, I got to see how they handled CSS and found a more efficient way to work by making changes in the browser that has a immediate change. That is just one of many example of how I've learn to work through the techniques of others.
There is a lot of content to learn, but with the well structured curriculum that a/A gives us, you're more than prepared to be successful.
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Anonymous
App Academy Review
App Academy is a rigorous three month program full of hard work and supportive people. The course is very fast paced while remaining digestible. From learning fundamentals of coding in the first week to building a fully functioning single page web app by the end of the ninth week, it was a very rewarding experience.
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Anonymous
intense program
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This is my honest review about app academy, this bootcamp is the most intense but also rewarding experience of my academic studies. Be prepared if you really want to succeed, I spent two month before this bootcamp just learning code, still feel overwhelmed during the program. You will need really good fundamentals and a modest talent at coding to get through the program.
The coding curriculum is two month, so you have to learn very fast and be willing to work very hard. The materials provided by the curriculum is valuable and can be best used going through them thoroughly. They also structure the program in a very competitive way to weed out the weaker students who failed multiple tests, which forces you to learn and give your best shot.
My overall experience there is positive, if you are a person enjoys challenges then this is for you.
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Anonymous
My review
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App academy has a curriculum that can be challenging for people with no prior experience, but it isn't impossible. The curriculum is slightly dated, but there are several people working to update it daily. To succeed in the course isn't hard if you are a diligent student, but you will get back how much you put in.
There are several students have had to leave due to failing multiple tests, which is fair, and lets them know that the pace is too fast for them, or this style of learning is not appropriate for them. a/A has been nice in terms of paying back the students.
Pros:
- Decent curriculum that covers basic knowledge, create full stack applications, and learning the skills to learn on your own.
- Community of learners with the same goal
- Nice TAs.
- structured learning for those who need it.
- deferred payment plan.Cons:
- Some projects are poorly written, and require more effort to understand than is necessary.
- short time to work on projects toward the end, but you can improve on them later. -
Anonymous
Review
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Being at App Academy has been one of the most intense and rewarding experiences I've ever had. At times, I was completely confused and wondered if I would make it through the program in one piece, but the TAs were always extremely helpful and willing to sit down and walk us through our mistakes and logic. Almost weekly assessments may be a constant source of stress, but are totally doable if you put in the time. If you're willing to study hard and put programming as your first priority for a few months, App Academy is your best choice.
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Anonymous
Tough, but rewarding
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App Academy has been an incredible experience. Just a handful of weeks ago, I had little to no knowledge of coding but now am proficient in Rails, CSS, HTML, and multiple JavaScript frameworks. However, to succeed in this program, it is imperative that you commit yourself 100% to it. That can mean giving up a lot, but as long as you are willing and able to put in the work, App Academy will give you the resources to learn more than you would think possible. A lot of that is in part due to how they structure the course. Most days, you will be pair programming with a partner, which creates a much more collaborative environment, in which people learn to help one another through problems. I feel as though this was the best way possible for my own learning, as it teaches you both how to listen and interpret other's ideas and express your own clearly.
The best advice I can give is stay on top of your work. There is no time to catch up if you fall behind because the course moves so quickly. The assessments are stressful, but as long as you keep up with the workload, they aren't impossible.
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Anonymous
App Academy Review
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App Academy is an incredibly rewarding experience — I've been attending the program in SF for 9 weeks, and just finished the first section of the course, and I can't even describe how much I've enjoyed it. We've learned Ruby, SQL, Javascript, React, Redux, Rails, and completed a full-stack clone of an existing application. There are people of all ages and backgrounds here. The youngest being 17 (by a pretty wide margin), and the oldest 40+. There are quite a few CS majors, but also people with engineering, accounting, sales, etc. backgrounds. However, the gender ratio for this cohort was pretty bad: about 1/12 are female. There are definitely people who are a lot better at coding from the start than others, which may change over the course of the program, so be prepared for that.
In my opinion, these are the two most incredible parts of a/A:
1. How much you learn, and how fast you learn it. The workload is intense (see below), but you'll amaze yourself with how capable you are of absorbing it!
2. The people. The TA's are very intelligent and genuinely want to help you succeed. The culture is not competitive at all. Everyone supports each other. We help one another with bugs, explain concepts to those who are struggling, get lunch together, and generally have a good time while coding. This community is actually very important, especially considering that we spend at least 45 hours together/week.
When you apply and pass the interviewing process, you must complete an Alpha Course — essentially a pretty packed curriculum on the basics of Ruby and Object Oriented Programming. a/A recommends that you spend 4 weeks on this, which is definitely a good idea. However, completely it in less than that time is doable if you can fully commit all your time to doing it. I finished in less than 2 weeks, although I had some prior programming experience in Java. I also spent nearly the entirety of every day working on it.
Each day during the first section of the actual course looked pretty much the same, save the material we learned that day: 9am start, lecture for around 2 hours, then pair program for the rest of the day to practice the material taught in lecture, with a break for lunch and a brief one in the afternoon. After the school day is over, we do 1-3 hours of homework. The homework consists of readings/videos and a small assignment that cover the material for the next day, which will be reviewed during the lecture. This is why a/A is definitely a full-time commitment — really try to keep up, and this is totally doable if you are sufficiently motivated and allocate your time wisely. At first, it was pretty difficult to adjust to this schedule: my eyes would be really sore by Thursday of each week for the first 3 weeks, and there are no windows so it's a little stifling. However, by the end of that, I was fully adapted.
There are a total of 6 assessments spread across the first 8 weeks, and if you fail twice, and then fail a retake, you are kicked out, no exceptions. This is a really strict policy, and it's definitely a lot of pressure. About 25% of the people in my cohort were kicked out, so please consider this carefully. I failed the third assessment, and was really stressed for the rest, but passed them without a problem. These assessments really are not designed to get you or anything like that. They provide practice assessments, and as long as you do those until you can finish it in about half the time you get for the real assessment, you will be totally fine. Just make sure you understand the material — don't simply memorize!
Overall, an amazing experience, and I would definitely do it again given the choice.
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Anonymous
App Academy Review
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Attending App Academy has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had. There were many times where I felt completely lost, but the TA staff at App Academy was always super accommodating and willing to patiently teach any of us that needed the help. I can't thank them enough for the help they gave me every time I felt ready to give up. If you are willing to drop everything and commit 9 weeks to see if coding is for you, there isn't a program out there I'd recommend more so than App Academy.
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Anonymous
Awesome 3 months
App Academy is one of the best experiences I've had in my life. It's crazy how much you can learn in a matter of 3 months. The curriculum may seem manageable at first but once you start working on your personal projects, is when you really experience the intensity of the program.
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Anonymous
Intense but rewarding
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The 'boot camp' in the name of this course should not be ignored. You will need to work 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week, for the first 9 weeks in order to keep pace. There is no downtime and falling behind is a real danger in the assessment portion of the program. That being said, the amount of learning that takes place through this process is incredible. I honestly feel that grad school was easier. Not for the faint of heart but worth it if you can manage.
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Anonymous
Good stuff
Incredibly motivated environment. Instructors are very helpful and the coursework is very relavant to todays markets.
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Anonymous
Very rewarding experience
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My experience at App Academy is absolutely the most hard working time in my life. The average work time of 80 - 100 hours per week is no joke. There is new material taught to you on a daily basis and the last thing you would want is falling behind. Use your weekend to not just study for weekly assessments but also revisit materials from weekdays The purpose of the program is really for you to understand everything instead of passing the assessments.
All the instructors are knowledgable enough to take any question you throw at them and they give awesome lectures. Take advantage of what you are paying for and ask questions if you get stuck with a problem more than 30 minutes. I personally make sure that I ask at least 5 questions a day.
Taking the prep work seriously is crucial to your success in the program. Going over the alpha course as many times as you can will help you substantially on your understanding of 'object-oriented programming', which is a huge part of the program. This is a really intensive and demanding program so take good care of yourself! -
Anonymous
Challenging but rewarding
You'll be pushed hard, this program is no joke. But the instructors are knowledgable, patient, and teach you to be a self-sufficient software engineer in no time. I never could have gotten through the curriculum on my own, let alone at the pace we did in class. At the end of the program you'll have a strong portfolio of projects to your name and be in great shape to get a job in industry.
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Anonymous
A great experience
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App Academy is a great place to further your knowledge in programming and the curriculum is very rich with information that if you master them, I can say that you'll do very well as a web developer. However, this doesn't mean that you'll become proficient from just attending the course. The course will only prepare you for what a work environment will be like and the rest is up to you. Self-studying and personal projects on the side is what will help you grow after graduating.
Here are things for people intending to attend App Academy or are already accepted:
1. The 90+ hours of studying per week is real. You really have to study every night and do the hw to be prepared for next day's work.
2. I can't stress this enough, master the alpha course that they give you when you are accepted. A lot of people fail out because they didn't take it seriously.
3. If you really are a true beginner when it comes to coding as in you know nothing, really ask yourself: "Do I learn really quickly and if not am I really going to put in the work to make up for that? "
I started the program after learning Ruby for 3 weeks, and I can tell you that not having a background in coding really harmed my learning experience at App Academy. I was able to survive the course, but wasn't able to absorb as much of the curriculum as I originally intended to.
4. They are not kidding about failing 2 assessments and kicking you out. The assessments are a great way to gauge if you on track but for those who have testing-anxiety a single bug on the examine can mean life or death. I want to say that if you studied enough, then you'll do fine but there days when you might not be able to find that bug because it's as simple as a spelling typo.
Final advice it to just stay on top of your game, assessments are important but don't prioritize it over studying for the week's material.Lastly, The most important question of all: Is this really what you want to do with your whole life? Are you willing to throw everything away for a minimum of three months to get it?
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Anonymous
App Academy Review
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App Academy has definitely been the most rigorous academic program I ever attended. The pros for this program is the ability to learn so much information in such a short span. Most of the time you will feel like you are overwhelmed with knowledge to the point where you feel like you'll forget the material when it comes to applying it later. To my (and many other students') surprise, applying your knowledge will feel like second nature.
The biggest drawback is the assessments and the consequences of failing these assessments. People spent large sums of money, left their jobs and invested their time for App Academy. To know that you can be let go if you're at risk creates a high level of anxiety. I personally left my job and was on the brink of failing from the program. Knowing how much I sacrificed to only be let go and not have a job to go back to is a serious problem. It's great that I passed through, but my situation would have been completely different if I was kicked out for academic reasons.
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Anonymous
"probably the hardest thing I've ever done"
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App Academy is great if you are serious about learning the skills to be a software developer in the shortest humanly possible time. You will be surrounded by other motivated and smart individuals (filtered by a rigorous selection process), and if you are also motivated, you will succeed. It is quite amazing to see people come in with minimal programming experience, and come out able to make really good looking web applications using several different tech stacks. Looking back, this is definitely something that I, and probably most people wouldn’t have been able to achieve themselves within 3 months.
Pros:
The program does what it says it does, and graduates do find jobs
cons:
very stressful, intense, and will test your endurance
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Anonymous
Life Adventure
App Academy transforms lives and mentalities -
Anonymous
Thanks App Academy
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I checked out top 10 bootcamps and decided to go with App Academy and joined their Premium Bootcamp Prep Online and started learning JavaScript. It was really good experience. Instructors and TA’s are very supportive. The curriculum is also fine. Finally I finished the bootcamp and interviewed for full time software engineering program. First interview was technical and second non-technical. After a day I got an acceptance letter from App Academy for April 16, 2018 San Francisco cohort. The journey has just begun.
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Anonymous
Tough but fair
Pretty much everything you've heard about App Academy is true.
A ton of experience crammed into ~10 weeks.
Work-life balance is a foul joke
If you fail two assessments you're out
Stress is a factor, if not THE factor
It's a ton of fun
It prepares you for a job.
8/10, would recommend.
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Anonymous
App Academy
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App Academy is incredibly demanding. If programming and web development are not your passion and becoming a professional software engineer is not your dream, don't apply. If it is however, prepare yourself to dedicate your life to programming for 3 months. You will learn a ton. You will get stressed out. But if it really is your passion you will also enjoy a lot of your time at App Academy. Being surrounded by incredibly talented people all working towards the same goal can be an inspiring and productive work environment. App Academy really does seem to care about your success and while some of that is undoubtedly because of the tuition model, a lot of it is just because of the great staff. There are some flaws in the curriculum and the occasional uninspired lecture (the curriculum is always in progress). The chairs, desks and computers are also not great. But a/A seems like they're always trying to take in as much feedback as possible and improve the program. I have just entered the job search portion and will try to remember to update this review after I have found employment. *I will receive an App Academy hoodie for writing this review but that was not dependent on the score I gave*
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Anonymous
Unique experience
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The title says it all. Before App Academy(a/A), I was such an lazy person, passively looking for jobs, but ever since I attended a/A, everything has changed. I entirely quit my bad hobbies. Instead, I've spent my whole day coding. I never coded this much before. I've become so productive in a very nature way. When you decide to join a/A, you should also decide that you will be giving up other things for your bigger purpose. Yes it is difficult, and even when I fortunately have coding background before, I still found it very challenging.
An advise I would give to you is: if you don't have coding background, and you think you are not ready. DON'T force yourself to be ready because this course will be overwhelming than you would expect. If you live far away and feel unsure, you should take some more time getting yourself familiar to coding before attending. You don't want to move here and realize that you cannot make it. As you already know, it costs a lot in SF.
However, I don't regret my decision -
Anonymous
Learned a ton in a short amount of time!
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I came into App Academy knowing practically nothing about coding having taken a single online MIT course for Python but nothing more than that. Before starting the course I had read reviews about that stated how intense the curriculum would be, and now that I am finishing up the curriculum, I can say that it truly is a lot. The course runs you through a bunch of languages and libraries in a short amount of time but does so in a way that works for most people. That being said, you have to make sure that you are ready to work. If you do not put in the time, you will more than likely be released from the curriculum. With that being said, the entire team is there to support you as much as they can. They will sit down and provide needed explanations if you ask them to and, if you are like me, that is incredibly helpful.
I had a fantastic experience here but I must say it is not perfect. The course is 3 months total but they fit the entire learning portion of this into the first 2 months. I wish it was 4 months and we had a little extra time to learn and understand some concepts from a more foundational level, but now that responsibility falls on to the student after graduation. Also, the last month is all about getting ready for the job search and that month has you juggling what feels like a dozen different things at once and is easy to fall behind.
To sum all of that up: App Academy is a ton of fun, you learn more than some do throughout an entire college experience and you come out ready for a job. 9/10 Experience to me.
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Anonymous
"A great decision."
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I decided to enroll at App Academy to jump start my career change to software engineering. I have a graduate degree in another professional field, and had been working in that field for five years. Given my established career, I had reservations as to whether the course would be challenging enough to warrant the expense and time commitment.
My concerns were quickly alleviated once the course began. App Academy's curriculum is rigorous and challenging. The daily work load is basically endless, and you can learn as much as you have the energy for. After completing the course, I do not believe there is any other way I could have learned so much in the same amount of time. The curriculum forces you to push yourself, and in the end, you will be a competent developer.
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Anonymous
Good Program
A great program that helped me learn how to program fullstack projects and learned specific algos.
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Anonymous
An intensive (but rewarding) experience
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I am a student 9 weeks into the full-stack curriculum at the New York location. If I remember, I will go back and edit this after going through the job search. I have greatly enjoyed my time at App Academy so far. Looking back, it is astounding how much ground we have covered in that time. Myself and all my classmates have just finished our full stack web applications—and it amazes me how far we were able to take them. I remember sitting in the classroom on the first day, apprehensive and excited to start learning… since then it has been a whirlwind of learning and doing. You will look back and marvel at how far you have come in so little time.
That being said, this program is hard work. You will need to steel yourself for long nights and stressful exams and projects. Some, of course, will have an easier time than others depending on your background and how well you’ve prepared for the bootcamp. But at one point or another, everyone who gets through puts in a lot of time and effort to do so.
I have often been running on 5-7 hours of sleep—less on particularly intensive nights. I estimate I’ve put in roughly 80-90 working hours a week (more if you include my commute each day). If you want to keep up and get all the readings/activities done, expect to be spending many hours learning and coding. Fortunately, if you’re anything like me and most of my cohort-mates, then you’ll enjoy learning software development.
By this point you’ve probably read a lot of reviews telling you App Academy is hard for many people. This is true. Some do not make it to the end. About 15 people from our class failed two assessments and a retake and were asked to leave as a result.
However, I am a firm believer that if you’ve gotten through the applications process at App Academy, you have what it takes to make it to the end. If you end up going to App Academy, please believe in yourself, and work your ass off. A good number of my classmates failed the first assessment (by far the easiest one), bunkered down, and killed the rest. Do not be discouraged if you stumble.
I’d like to close my review with some advice for prospective students. I have done fairly well with the program thus far and think it is prudent of my to share some of my preparation and study strategies that got me to where I am.
- If you’re looking for introductory materials, I definitely recommend the MIT eDX course, ‘Introduction to Programming in Python’
- Do as much preparation as possible. Of particular help to me was training fundamentals in Ruby on codewars. Aside from that, do what interests you from the options below:
- Learn HTML5 and CSS3 at least to a basic level. In particular, learn the basic input types for html and how to use flex in CSS (look up flexbox froggy). If you can, try and recreate static versions of popular webpages from pure html and css.
- Learn SQL. We did this is about half a week, but it was pretty rough for some. If you’re dedicated, you can do the same and not have to stress about it during the course.
- Learn about the Model, View, Controller design pattern and its advantages/tradeoffs. Research ruby/rails or some other framework and see if you can learn the basics of app development. I would not recommend doing this before having a solid grounding in all the fundamentals though.
- For the mathematically inclined with time before the course begins, go follow along with an algorithms course online. Learn big-O notation and algorithmic analysis. I personally followed along with the free MIT OCW lectures and assignments for 6.042J with Tom Leighton and 6.006 with Srini Devadas. If you already feel comfortable with basic programming and want to be ahead of the game for the job search, this is a good option for you.
- If you really want to go the extra mile like me, go ahead and read a design patterns book (I used Head First Design Patterns, but Gang of Four is the canonical work to reference)
- During the course, hit the ground running and do all the readings you can. Definitely drop all other responsibilities (or as many as possible). You don’t want to be dealing with anything else while tackling the curriculum. If you have a decent commute, it will be fairly impossible to do anything else. Speaking of the commute, preload the readings and download the videos they give you so you can watch them offline on your way there/back. If you can, study in the office around others where you can ask your classmates questions. If the homework is taking you too long, just send it up and put it away—you will be going over the material in greater detail tomorrow.
- Lastly, and most importantly: Make friends! You have the opportunity to study alongside many with similar motivations and career goals. Your classmates will be among your greatest resources during the course and moving forward. The people who are thriving in my cohort are largely those who made an effort to be social work with their classmates. Coming in to week 9, I can count a number of my them as good friends who I can expect to keep in contact with for years to come. For that reason alone, it was worth it to me to attend App Academy, and they’ve made my time here feel so nice.
Good luck to all applicants and soon-to-be students!
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Anonymous
Intense but Rewarding
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App Academy (NYC) was the best investment I've ever made. If you're willing to put in the time, you will come out having learned more than you thought possible. Make no mistake, it is a big time commitment. You should be fully prepared to spend a month doing prep work, then 9 weeks of 80+ hours per week. However, the staff on hand is amazing. All of the TAs are extremely helpful and responsive. There is always someone around to answer your questions. For me, the best part is coming out having actually made some really cool projects. The structure really helps reinforce topics: you watch videos and do readings as well as a short hw at night, then have a lecture on that material the next day and spend the rest of the day working through problems. Another great aspect of App Academy is the curriculum. You touch on everything you have to learn to be successful, and by the time your done it will be easy to adapt to new tools and technologies.
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Anonymous
Extremely Rigorous and Rewarding
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I am approaching the end of the main curriculum as part of the 12 week full stack web development course in NYC and my experience thus far has been very positive. It is an extremely rigorous course, it is no exaggeration that it will require your total attention 10+ hours a day every single day for 3 months straight. That said, I feel I have learned more in that short period of time than at any other time in my life. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking to make a career change that is able to stay focused and is self motivated enough to stick with it
I have not yet started the 3 week job search curriculum, so I can't comment on that yet though I know people who have had positive experiences and outcomes with it
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Anonymous
Intense and Rewarding Experience
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App Academy's curriculum is a comprehensive and intense program. The program itself is a full-time commitment so be prepared to sacrifice other obligations in order to make this your top priority. You start out with working through basic concepts in Ruby to being able to build fully functional apps towards the end of the program. Dedicate the time and effort into the program, and the program will reward you with the skills needed to enter the workforce.
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Anonymous
A great camp
App Academy has a great curriculum and staff. You will be suprised by how much you learn in such a short amount of time. Requires a lot of hard work and dedication but it will pay off.
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Anonymous
rigorous curriculum
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The App Academy curriculum is filled with a ton of good material that I wasn't always able to cover because of how fast the course went. That said, I definitely learned more than I would have at any other institution or on my own. The fullstack, JavaScript, and flex project are the three projects we work on during the curriculum and really shape our portfolios. The JavaScript and flex projects are part of the job search curriculum which I feel should be structured a little better in regards to the schedule. The JavaScript and Flex projects are crucial to our portfolios but we only get a week for each while having to attend multiple lectures throughout the day but I suppose that's why it's called a boot camp. The TA's for the first part of the course were amazing and are the highlight of App Academy--the job search TAs are amazing as well but they seem slightly understaffed.