App Academy Reviews
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Jean Woo Ha Verified via LinkedIn
Worth it?
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Be prepared to make this your #1 priority as this is an intense program that'll need you to do just that. Spending around 80 - 100 hours a week to learn, understand, and apply the material will be needed to be able to do well. You will jump from one thing to the next and you need to be able to keep up as it'll be harder when you fall behind. If you are ready to do just that, you are well on your way to attend an awesome program.
I've previously learned coding at my university; however, this was different in the fact that everything was fast-paced and they were more practical rather than how it was in school. Well of course, this is a 12 week program, everything jumps out at you just like that. Please do not get discouraged by the fact that I said that I had a bit of coding experience, it really doesn't make a big of a difference. The majority of the people in this program haven't coded before and they've come to enjoy coding and built a passion for it. The material was intense, however, if you keep pushing, you can do it.
The thing I like about this program is the community. You attend the same program with 30-40 other people, work with them, and build a connection. The networking community builds from that and who knows where that'll take you. You will be glad to have met your cohort-mates as this experience was well worth it.
Putting in a lot of work to learn the material and build projects take up a lot of your time, but when it comes down to it, you made something. You learned something. You were able to do something. If you are not committed to learning code or think that this program is a waste of time, then this program isn't for you. If you'd like to delve into the world of coding and know that you might have a passion for coding, then this is definitely the program for you. I highly recommend it 100%.
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Andrew Dong Verified via LinkedIn
A very rigorous bootcamp
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In just 3 months, I learned a lot of theory and practical skills. The instructions for the daily projects were quite detailed and high quality. Help is always available. The curriculum covers diverse aspects of software development and is always taught with a practical focus.
The curriculum at App Academy is particularly rigorous. Getting behind is quite easy to do. Many times, there isn't enough time to revise previously learnt material unfortunately.
Overall though, a very important summer for my self-development. -
Chris Verified via LinkedIn
Completely honest review (NY)
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I plan to be honest and critical, but full disclosure: I am receiving a hoodie for writing this review. I graduated a/A last month, and next week I'll be starting as a front-end developer.
Here's what you need to know:
- the a/A curriculum is fantastic. It covers a lot of ground quickly, so make sure this is something you're good at/enjoy before commiting. I spent 12-14 hours a day coding while in the first 9 weeks of the program. If you're not into that, don't sign up.
- the structure is 9 weeks of learning, followed by 3 weeks of working on projects and preparing for the job search.
- the "job search" is a 1 year commitment. They require you to apply to 40 jobs a week, and keep doing so for at least 6 months during this time. You can only accept offers over 60k, and it must be full-time.
What I liked best:
- The curriculum is comprehensive, and really pushes you to learn this stuff inside-out.
- My classmates were amazing, hardworking people. Made a lot of friends while in the program.
What wasn't so good:
- The job search is 100% on you. They have no employer network, and do absolutely nothing to connect you with employers. You will have to find companies to apply to, apply to them, go through 3-6 rounds of interviews, and negotiate your own offer.
- 95% of companies will immediately dismiss you because you have no experience and no CS degree. a/A's reputation does not permiate in NY, employers usually have no clue what a/A is, and aren't interested in hiring bootcamp grads
- That being said, the 5% that let you in the door will be impressed by your skills. So keep your head up and keep applying and working on projects. The offer/offers will come.
My overall experience was good. But this is tough stuff, don't be a fool and sign up without thinking it through. You must have resiliance, and some degree of natural talent with code to get through this process. If you have those things, it will be the most rewarding and empowering experience of your life.
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Donguk Kim Verified via GitHub
App Academy Review
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In a short period of 3 months, I've learnt a great deal of theoretical and practical knowledge. The instructions for the daily projects are very detailed and of high quality. Help is always there when you need it. The curriculum covers diverse aspects of software development and is always taught with a practical focus. By the end of week 6, students will be able to create fullstack applications from scratch.
The curriculum at App Academy isn't designed to be forgiving. Getting behind on the material is the last thing anyone would want to do. Many times, there isn't enough time to revise previously learnt material but this is understandable since there is so much to go through in such a short period of time.
Great course overall.
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Kevin Choy Verified via LinkedIn
My experience - App Academy
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After college I began to become interested in learning how to code. There are a lot of free online courses out there, but it was hard for me to motivate myself to learn code on my own. I did not want to take another four years of school, so I looked into a bootcamp. I looked into a few other bootcamps, but choose App Academy because one of my friends highly recommended their program.
I pretty much started from zero knowledge about coding, and was able to finish the App Academy curriculum. Would I say I am now an expert at coding, no, but I now feel that I have a solid general understanding.
I graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I would say that the two months of curriculum at App Academy was more difficult than any two months of my college career. During this program, you eat breathe a sleep code so be ready! -
Brian Jeong Verified via LinkedIn
Great Bootcamp Experience
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PROS:
- As tiring as it was, I enjoyed pair programming because having another perspective when tackling a problem allowed me to learn better.
- Instructors are always willing to help when you need it, but won't be babying you throughout the curriculum.
- Curriculum is structured well and by the end of the 9-weeks, you'll be able to create a full-stack application.CONS:
- There are a couple solo days, meaning you don't have a pair. I think there could be a couple more because some people like myself like to solidify what I know by trying it out myself. -
Jason Wong Verified via GitHub
Tough, but rewarding experience
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App Academy is a great experience with lots to learn. The program is a long 12 week program, 13 for SF, and has you coding and interacting with others everyday from 9 am - 6 pm. In addition to the days work, you have readings and homework to prepare you for the next day making App Academy a full-time experience. While it does take up your entire life for many weeks, the programming experience is great and you definitely learn a lot. Being in an environment with others trying to achieve the same goal allows you to bounce ideas off one another which helps facilitate problem solving, depending on who you're working with.
Pros:
- Working with others was by-far, one of the best experiences. Being able to talk your code out with another coding individual helped me many times.
- Rewarding coding experience
- Robust coding fundamentals. The alpha curriculum preps students with the fundamentals of basic coding
- Great Staff. The TA's provide a great experience and help when you're stuck
- Bagel DayCons:
- Will consume your life. Be prepared for a lifestyle change
- At points, curriculum was unclear and leads to some frustration, but having others share the experience mitigates and the staff is ready to answer
- Towards the end of the coding curriculum, there is less staff interaction or wait times will be significantly longer. However, you have students as a resourceOverall, App Academy is a tough, but very rewarding life experience. It will consume your life, but you have others with you to share the the experience.
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Steven Chen Verified via GitHub
App Academy - Wild Ride
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Pros - App Academy goes over a good amount of material at a great pace - really providing us the tools to become full stack engineers in three months. I like the amount of practice we get with critical skills like React, which gives us an edge over certain candidates that may have more theoretical/backend focus. The staff is friendly, helpful, and knowledgable. I really enjoyed the work environment as well. We were pushed and challenged to be the best we could be, but also guided and not left without help.
Cons - I wish we had more time to work on our projects, but we only have a limited amount of time to cover so many things. It can definitely feel draining at times, but that's just the nature of a bootcamp. The price tag is a bit steep, but deserving with the >99% success rate. Overall no real cons - just a fast-paced curriculum that forced us to become better.
In summary, I had a really positive experience at App Academy. I'd recommend anyone trying to get into coding to give it a shot, as long as they're willing to put in the effort.
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Steven Verified via GitHub
Very rewarding experience
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App academy is no joke. You will spend every single day, night and day for the next 9 weeks reading new material, watching videos, doing homework and debugging, all the while drinking endless cups of coffee. You are required to check in 3 times a day (9AM, 1:30PM, and 4:00PM) or you will get a strike. 10 strikes and you're out. Overall, you will learn Ruby, SQL, Rails, JavaScript, React, and Redux. You won't get much practice on HTML/CSS, until you get to your full stacks in week 8, where you put everything together to clone a website. For the first 7 weeks, the daily routine is basically HTML/CSS in the morning, lecture until about lunch time, then pair programming the rest of the day. The last 30 minutes are spent with your "circle" discussing your day. The evenings are spent on reading and watching videos on tomorrow's material and usually accompanied with basic exercises. The readings and videos will take a decent chunk of your time, so I suggest doing them ahead of time if you can. There are 6 assessments throughout the course. They tell you almost exactly what is going to be on the assessment, they give you a practice assessment, they give you a test generator to time yourself, they give you a video of a TA going through the practice assessment. Basically you shouldn't feel lost when studying up for the assessment. All the resources are there for you. When full stacks arrive on week 8, things change. No more lectures, no more circle time, and no more readings and videos. You work on your full stack all day, helping each other out when you hit bugs, giving tips to others who are doing the same or similar websites.
Some constructive criticism. The lectures, especially toward the end of the curriculum, were particularly long, and most of it was very similar to our homework that we already completed the previous night. I honestly only found those lectures useful for asking questions, but I did not feel the need to spend 2-3 more hours on the same topic we already spent hours learning for homework. The instructions for the daily projects are outstanding, providing step-by-step instructions on what you need to do next and why, that is up until around the end of week 6. Often times there will be a bulleted-list of directions telling you to implement so-and-so, when before these bulleted-list of directions would each have their own paragraph, supplemented with code snippets and explanations. In the React projects especially, they would tell you to implement something, and a few lines later, they'd provide the exact code you should write. I don't think that is helpful to our understanding. Some TAs are older and more experienced, others are recent graduates of App Academy themselves. Some are clearly better at explaining, while some kind of just look at the solutions and tell you to write what the solutions did. I'm thankful they are all trying and willing to help, but I'd always hope for certain TAs over others when hitting that "Ask a question" button.
All in all, it was a very rewarding experience. I've met and made many new friends. Knowing that everyone else in your cohort is going through the exact same thing is reassuring, that everyone else is sleep-deprived and feeling exhausted all the time, that if you ran into a bug that someone else will most likely have also ran into the same bug, that you have others who also committed the next 9 weeks to change their life. I've learned more at App Academy and produced more projects that I am proud of than I did in 4 years in college as a Computer Science major. If you are thinking about attending App Academy, I'd definitely recommend it. Be prepared to make some great friends, and also be prepared for some feels when your new friends drop out. There's always a few that can't handle the load.
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Mark Verified via GitHub
It will Change your Life
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Your life will change (super cliché/corny, I know, but it’s kind of true) after finishing this program. Especially if you don't have any technical background, like myself.
As for the prepwork that App Academy provides, the curriculum isn’t as well developed as it could be, and you’re going to run into a lot of frustration with realizing that the things you need to learn to do some of the exercises are covered in later chapters or that in the later chapters. I recommend going out of your way to look up your own documentation of the concepts introduced in the Alpha Course Curriculum. Chris Pine’s Intro to Ruby free online course helped me a lot in that regard, you can google it but I believe App Academy should have also linked you to that resource.
The program is intense, even for people with cs degrees. People with background will definitely catch up concepts faster and some will be a review for them. But it doesn't mean its not hard for them. As a someone without tech background, came to aA everyday including weekends to study. They are not lying about 100 hours per week of studing time. for the first 9 weeks, I've never slept more than 6 hours.
This is my personal case, some people can study only 70~80 hours and still do super well.This program is NOT for everyone. You really have to be passionate to learn how to program. Even if you are, this style of learning may not be for you. I personally loved it and enjoyed every moment of it. I strongly recommend to everyone, but please take everyone's warning very seriously. This is one of the hardest coding bootcamp.
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Daniel Moisoff Verified via GitHubMy experience at App Academy
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I enjoyed the program overall. It was stressful though dealing with the tests and the daily checkin times. After completing the code intensive part of the curriculum I felt like I had a good understand of the materials, but I would need more time to cement the knowledge within me. The teachers were very helpful and a good support system to have when things got stressful. It was a worth while program.
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Nosson Verified via LinkedIn
Great experience
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It was definitely a bit more intense than I anticipated, even having read reviews. 90 hrs a week is not an exaggeration, and assessments can be terrifying. That being said, the amount of knowledge and experience that you walk away with is incredible. I came in just recently having learned what a 'while loop' was, and am now able to build a web app using rails, React, Redux, and styling. Easily the best choice I've made, 10/10 would do again in h heartbeat. -
Alex Gonzalez Verified via LinkedIn
App Academy
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App Academy was a very structured program that I learned a lot from. It keeps you motivated to work hard through having assessments every Monday and practice assessments prior to the main ones. This helps to constantly let you know what you need to do to stay on track. If you're looking to become proficient in ruby on rails and react App Academy is a great way to go! The program also gives you the tools that you will need to pick up new skills as well and continue learning on your own even after the program is completed.
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Ken Verified via LinkedIn
It's so much more than a coding bootcamp
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App Academy is an incredible coding bootcamp. I came into the bootcamp with many expectations of what it might be like but I never could have imagined what I have experienced so far.
To start, the learning environment is positive, supportive, and encouraging. App Academy constantly reinforces a culture of collaboration, pair programming, and sharing knowledge. The best example (and my favorite aspect of the program as a whole) are the TAs and instructional staff. These are mainly past graduates who have decided to help new students find their way through the intense 9 week curriculum. Because they have been through the program themselves they know what the students are going through, and do an amazing job of providing support when needed - be it technical help on a tough coding problem, or providing some much needed reassurance when the grind becomes real - they really do care and will spend hours (literally) with you until you understand a concept comfortably.
Speaking of the grind, App Academy will test you. But that’s what a bootcamp is meant to do. Sleepless nights, hours of homework reading and problems (after 9 hours of coding), and weekly assessments will push you to your mental and physical limits. You will experience moments where the last thing you want to do is write another line of code, or spend another hour trying to debug your program. The most important thing is to keep on trying, and ask for help when you need it. The support system is there for you to take advantage of, and everyone is happy to help.
But it’s not all bad. In fact, there is so much more that is good about this bootcamp. For as much stress and frustration you will go through, you will experience twice the amount of achievement, learning, and moments of triumph. You will learn to build so many cool things and come away with the confidence to continue learning on your own afterward. You will build new and deep friendships with classmates going through the same struggle and grind. The alumni community at App Academy is healthy, growing, and super friendly.
If you are thinking about App Academy, I highly recommend it. This bootcamp is has not only been an opportunity for me to step into the tech industry as a software developer, it has been a challenging experience that I can look back on with gratitude and pride.
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Timmy Jing Verified via LinkedIn
Sweet awesome!
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Enrolling in AppAcademy was a chance for me to switch careers and I do not regret it. At the end of the day, it really is what you make of it. I did a lot of research on web-development and delved around in multiple free curriculums such as freeCodeCamp and TheOdinProject prior but it was hard to keep myself accountable. Due to the massive amounts of tutorials and references available through open source, I found it hard to make serious progress as I would jump from language to language, not sure of what I should learn with the limited time that I had. AppAcademy provided me structure and forced me to be disciplined and I was able to make massive progress in 3 months, much more than I ever did when I was self-studying and not fully immersing myself.
I would say that most of the knowledge is picked up through pair programming. Having to work with another partner daily during the curriculum really sharpened my understanding of not only the material but my ability to articulate it to other people. You'll also learn a lot when you help your cohort mates debug and vice versa. The curriculum is very fast-paced and it is amazing how fast you feel that you can fall behind in only a day. The React/Redux portion was probably the most challenging week in the curriculum as new material is just piled onto you.
Our cohort is currently in the job search curriculum so I cannot comment at the moment regarding the job search. Needless to say, I am looking forward to opening up this new chapter in my career.
To answer some questions that I had when I was making the decision to enroll:
- The language you learn doesn't matter. Once you are familiar with how web-development works, you realize that there are similar patterns/conventions that are fundamental to each language. Different programming languages can all achieve the same means.
- Make sure you enroll ahead of the months notice that they tell you to. You do have pre-curriculum prep that you have to do before the cohort that requires at least two weeks of time. I personally went through the prep work twice before my cohort started as well as learning as much JavaScript as I could. This goes a long way between determining how stressed you feel during the lecture part of the curriculum when you're learning new materials everyday.
- I did a good amount of problems on CodeWars and CodeFights and LeetCode during my preparation for the application. While it helped me learn how to problem solve, web development is actually a totally different beast! Don't get discouraged if you struggle at these tricky word problems because it doesn't mean that you can't build killer apps.BTW: Hawaiian shirts on Fridays. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
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Robin Verified via GitHubundeniable the only school you need to apply to
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App Academy is awesome! The curriculum is fantastic and the Job Search portion teaches developers how to network, apply to openings, negotiate salary, and so much more. The TA's are all very talented and very knowledgeable. Spending upwards of 9 hours a day including weekends has created a pseudo-family between classmates. Everyone is super supportive of each other in the learning experience as well. Like Dave Meltzer, I'm going to break the 5-star system and give a/A a solid 6 stars.
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Kartik Verified via GitHubThis is the bootcamp you're looking for.
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If you want to be ready for the job market, be skilled with ruby and javascript, meet the best and the brightest to coming into the market and have the mindset to be able to work as long and hard as it takes, this is the place for you. Use it as a learning experience on your path of becoming a software developer.
It will not come easy but it's all about time and perseverence and eventually you will become a software developer and see the rewards of your effort.
I can't imagine having better TAs for the curriculum. Some of the brightest people have come through these halls. I encourage everyone to take a chance and make that step towards a better career.
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Matt Verified via GitHubEmpowering
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The learning culture at App Academy is pretty much as far as it gets from university. They value a very collaborative culture through pair programming every day, and value understanding the material over just completing it. There were only a couple days where we managed to get through all of the days projects, but it's expected.
The curriculum as a whole is fantastic and reinforces your understanding through a variety of methods: readings, videos, homework, lectures, group discussions, and most importantly actually putting into practice your new skills throughout each day.
After completing the main coding curriculum as well as a few major projects, I've become confident in my ability to code and build full-stack and frontend apps in Rails, React/Redux, JavaScript, etc. It's also inspired me to want to pick up new stacks and tools. I've definitely learned more over these past 3 months than any other 3 month (or even 1 year) period of time.
I can't speak to those without technical backgrounds. But even though I had some previous programming experience, it didn't really matter since everything was new to me after the second week. You will definitely be spending at least 80-90 hours a week, but it won't feel like it if you love to code and learn about new technologies.
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Stephen Kang Verified via LinkedIn
Great Investment of time and money
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Attending App Academy has been one of the best decisions I've made in my career. You could argue that you could teach yourself or maybe even try to go back to traditional school, but I believe nothing is as cost or time-efficient as attending the best bootcamp in the industry. There is plenty of free knowledge and alternatives out there to learn the skills of a software engineer, but for most people starting out it is incredibly difficult to know what to focus on. App Academy will offer you a well thought out roadmap that has been proven to work for thousands of students. You're guaranteed to learn the most in-demand technologies and skills in the industry thanks to its rapid-iteration teaching approach, which provides frequent experimentation and rapid re-investment of findings back into the class. One of my favorite thing about the program is that is practical in nature, so be prepared to experience a non-traditional yet more efficient approach to education in which you'll learn by doing and collaborating with others. By the end of the program, you'll have an amazing portfolio of projects that will impress any hiring manager. And even after you are done as a student, you'll still benefit from the amazing career support App Academy provides and you'll have access to the incredible network of App Academy alumni. Be aware that attending this immersive program will be challenging, but I promise it'll be a fun and rewarding experience.
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Alfred M. Alejandrino Verified via LinkedIn
App Academy - A remarkable and rewarding experience
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Going through App Academy's program has truly been a remarkable experience. No matter what your background is and if you're serious about starting a new career in Software Development, be prepared to be challenged 7 days a week during the main portion of the curriculum. At the end, it was all worth it!
The instructional staff are very professional and are diligent about student success. They will teach you everything you need to know in short amount of time. Because of the amount of information you'll learn, it will actually FEEL like you've been in the program much longer than 3 months. -
Kegan Verified via LinkedIn
Worth It, for the dedicated
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App Academy is just as difficult as they claim. You really will need to spend upward of 85 hours a week on your studies if you want to be successful, but if you have the time and the discipline then don't be scared away. I've had very, very little free-time over the past months, but in exchange I've gained an extremely valuable skill in less time than I could have imagined before beginning the program.
The instructors are top-notch. Everything in general is conducted extremely professionally, from the location and the building/amenities (I attended the NY branch), to the assessments and the projects. Before joining the program I was under the impression that I could have learned all of the same skills on my own, using free resources online. Looking back now, this miiiiight be possible, but it honestly would have taken me more than 10 times as long to do alone. Having the instructors on call, and the other students as pair-programmers was indispensable for me. Again, the program is totally worth it for those who are serious about becoming full-stack developers. I just recently accepted an offer as a frontend developer thanks to App Academy. But remember, there is no hand-holding. If you think you can give it anything less than 90% of your time and attention, you will likely fail out.
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Archana Kannan Verified via GitHubThe best boot camp in bay area
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App academy requires you to study for a minimum of 90 hours per week excluding commute. That said, you learn a ton of stuff in 3 months. Coming from a non-technical background, it was astounding how much I could pick up in such a short time. The TAs are very helpful and go above and beyond to help you. The assessments can be stressful, as there is a threat of getting kicked out. But it motivated me to take the assessments seriously and study hard.
We also do 3 projects (1 full stack, 1 pure javascript project and 1 game), that helps seal gaps in our learning. I have just started the job search curriculum, and will update my review once I find a job. -
Tommy Pham Verified via LinkedIn
Course of a Lifetime
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Throughout my entire life, I have gone through accelerated courses whether it be the military or my undergrad. App Academy was no joke and it definitely gave me the whooping I deserved to make me humble to the vast amount of knowledge I was about to face and understand that I'll be a lifelong student in the world of tech. The reason why I decided on App Academy were their tuition model and reputation for being one of the best.
Needless to stay, they delivered. The curriculum consistently got more difficult and ranged from technical to soft skills. Both of which I receive valuable training in but I believe the soft skills are where I improved the most. I have always been the type of person to work alone. It was fine up until the halfway mark in which I realized I couldn't be in the world of tech working alone as there will never be enough time to learn and keep up with the lastest trends in technologies.
tl;dr
App Academy taught me:
1. Technical skills to get through the door
2. Soft skills to land the job
3. How to learn and do my own research
4. To strive to become a mentor -
Shashank Racherla Verified via GitHubSuper fast paced, but highy rewarding!!!
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I graduated my bachelors in CS but I felt that what was taught to me is not enough for the industry right now. App Academy taught me what I hadn't learnt in 4 years in 12 weeks. It was really really intense, no kidding. The pacing is ultra high speed. But at the start of the eighth week began doing our full stack project. The end result is what was the most satisfying. I was proud of what I made and my friends and family were amazed on how practical the teaching was, enough to make a full stack app. The course is super rewarding. I am currently on the 10th week and our job search curriculum is about to begin and am super excited to start working soon!
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Jon Verified via LinkedIn
I am a Software Developer now!
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I went into App Academy hoping I would get a job as a software developer. I was skeptical I would actually be able to get a job. It took a ton of work in the job search but I landed a role as a Frontend Developer. In meetings at work it is quite apparent that App Academy's curriculum is solid because I often know more than some of my co-workers, especially about new technolgoies like React/Redux. It makes me feel pretty good.
If you have a liberal arts background like me I definitely recommend preparing for the course. Learn some programming language fundamentals beforehand. The curriculum is really stressful but very worth it.
The job search is the hardest part, you need to put in a lot of your own work but the resources are there. You just have to sometimes reach out to people that work at a/A and continue to show up and study and apply for jobs in the office. I found showing up even after it was no longer required very beneficial. It took me 6+ months after graduating to find a job. That is not everyone's situation as I am a bit of a slacker, but be prepared financially or just hit the ground running once the curriculum is over and find a job faster like a lot of my cohort mates.
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Nick Verified via GitHubThe best decision of my life
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Here's the breakdown:
- You'll be working a lot. When they say 80-120 hours a week, they mean it. But it's really not as bad as you think. You get used to it *very* quickly and learn to love it.
- You learn what you need. Don't worry about the other academies that focus more on JavaScript. Trust me, you'll get more than enough of that, and you'll be using mostly JavaScript in all 3 of your projects.
- There's constant support. Your fellow cohort-mates are going to become your best friends during this, and the TAs and staff are always around to help.
- You have a robust portfolio by the end of this. You clone a website, make your own app in JavaScript, and make a larger-scale project on a team. It's a mix of everything and you do really feel like a software developer by the end of this.
Good luck!
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Will Verified via GitHubDemanding but Rewarding
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App Academy is definitely a great opportunity to learn a great deal of material in a short amount of time. There's a reason it has a great reputation among bootcamps - the instructors are knowledgeable and helpful, the curriculum is definitely relevant to what is necessary for actual tech positions, and they have alumni placed in dozens of companys and start-ups. All of that being said, here are some questions I would ask yourself before applying:
1. Do you handle pressure well? The courseload itself is very intense (9-6 M-F with homework every night and near-weekly assessments) and the tests are very much point-blank "can you pound this out in 30-40 minutes or not". None of this is ever unexpected or unreasonable, but be prepared for a good deal of stress and make sure you have ways to cope with it and stay healthy.
2. How long can you go without having a job? While the course itself only takes 3 months, it is unlikely that you will find a job immediately after graduating. Many students take up to 3 months after AA to find a job, and some take as long as 6. You sign an agreement saying you won't take on any full-time employment during that time, so make sure you are financially stable enough to commit completely to finding an engineering position.
3. Do you actually like coding? If you already know that you're just looking for a quick path to a high-paying job, you'll probably get burnt out very quickly. Obviously you don't have to live and breathe code all the time, but make sure you're doing it at least in part because you find it genuinely interesting.
As long as you've thought through these possible difficulties, App Academy is ultimately a rewarding experience that will leave you impressed with the incredible progress you can make in such little time. It's a lot of work, but in the end it definitely pays off.
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Gabriel Talavera Verified via GitHubTough but rewarding
App academy is a rigorous and rewarding experience. You will feel lost and behind a lot but when things start clicking for you it is so rewarding. I learned so much and having finished my fullstack i am feeling very good. You will get as much as you put into the experience.
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Sean O'Reilly Verified via LinkedIn
Life Changer
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I applied to App Academy in December 2016 and attended the May 2017 cohort. I graduated in August 2017, worked at App Academy for a few months, and accepted a job offer in January 2018. Similar to you, I read lots of reviews beforehand and stressed about many details before deciding on taking the risk, moving to San Francisco, and spending 80-100 hours a week at this place.
I read these reviews and my basic impression was that it would be really, really hard. Like a year of college crammed into 3 months. While this is kind of true, I underestimated how much the family and community aspect of App Academy would help. There are weeks where you have to essentially code from morning until night with not much time for anything else. After you learn everything you need to build apps, you learn how to get a job. That entails applying to dozens of postings every week, and it could take months. Throughout this entire process, I felt like a freak, but had 70 friends right alongside doing it with me. They helped me when I was stuck, and more importantly, brought me up when I was down. I don't know if I could've ever pushed myself that hard to get a job on my own, but with my cohort, the process was streamlined and almost (dare I say it) fun.
App Academy teaches a really diverse range of topics so the constant work you're doing is never boring. It's hardly even repetitive, and in fact, you will likely not fully understand most topics until you get to practice them again after the curriculum is over. In the end, App Academy didn't just teach me how to use React and Ruby on Rails. They taught me how to program, how to binge-learn any framework or language, how to speak to others in the field, and how to value myself, find a job, and negotiate as a Software Engineer. It was an absolute life changer in the best way. After going through it, I'm convinced anyone can do it, not just those technically inclined, and have been pushing the idea on all of my old friends who are stuck in a post-college rut with debts to pay.
Summed up, if you're the type of person that looks at anything and wonders "How does that work?", then coding is for you. If the idea of coding makes you think "Where do I even start?", then App Academy is for you.
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Johnny Goobtuber Verified via LinkedIn
Stressful but valuable
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ok here's the TL;DR. App academy is one of the hardest things you're likely to do in your life, but if you get in, you can do it. I'm writing this review because I want a hoodie, but I want the hoodie because it says App Academy on it, and I'm proud of that so, you know, that's something.
Specifically, understand that there isn't really time to play catch up. If you stay home sick with a fever, you still have to do the work. If you fall behind, you have to leave whatever you drop and keep moving, there's no time to look back. For me personally? There wasn't even time to do everything I had to do. My journey through app academy is a trail of unfinished assignments and near dismissals. But yo, I STILL loved my time there.If you want to get into coding and don't know where to stop, app academy will give you the start and take you much much further. I believe my review is now detailed enough to not violate any coursereport rules but still brief enough that I can get back to sending out resumes, secure in the knowledge that come monday, I will have my sweet sweet hoodie.
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Winston Galas Verified via LinkedIn
Best Decision in my Career
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Choosing App Academy was one of the best decisions of my career. After being a post graduate with a degree in film, I was not sure with what to do to progress my career in the direction I want to go - job security and financial stability. That is when I decided to join App Academy. This program is one of, if not the best, coding bootcamps. With that being said, the course is rigorous and extremely fast paced. But, if you are dedicated and have the drive to pursue becoming a software developer, then you will definitely be able to do it. This is coming from a person with zero software developing experience prior to this program. I did not finish because I was the smartest, I was able to stay in the program because I had enough work ethic and will. You can do it!
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Chao Verified via GitHubWould Recommend. But not for everyone.
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Within 2 months I went from zero programming experience to being able to create an entire website from scratch. I think it's incredible what App Academy has taught me in such a short time span.
Of course, given such a short window, it's impossible for them to teach you everything there is to know. The real value of the program is they teach you how to think and to learn programatically.
App Academy promises only one thing, to be able to make anyone into an entry level software developer. It will not be the end of your learning experience but it provides a hell of a start.
I love the program, but it is not for everyone. These last 8 weeks have been the hardest of my life. You can't afford to fall behind because there is a very real possibility of failing out.
If you've read all of that and you still think App Academy is for you, then I could not recommend it more. It has been an excellent experience and I'm genuinely excited to change the course of y life. -
Shalin Verified via GitHubDemanding and Rewarding
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App Academy is everything they say it is. It is demanding, rigorous, rewarding, all-consuming, high-stress, hysterical, difficult, very fast, and transformative. I’m in the last couple weeks of the program, and it’s just now sinking in how wild a ride this has been.
Like most things worth doing, it takes all day. I worked on code from 9a until midnight most nights during the program. This level of commitment is really non-optional for most people-- maybe really fast folks can turn in around 10:00. There is no coasting. You will be confronted with high-pressure, timed assessments at 9am on Mondays. You will pair almost every day for months, which means you will be communicating constantly about things you don’t understand yet. You will switch languages every two weeks, and App Academy will often introduce new material before old has had a chance to sink in. A majority of the class has literally had dreams about code. I had one just last night about launching an ICO to finish a non-existent interactive blue screen of death app. They know how to get you fully committed here, and they do it very well.
Many reviews fixate on the assessment structure. The people who failed the high-pressure, closed-book, timed assessments generally had severe test anxiety or attempted to party a lot or tend too much to other responsibilities during the cohort. It was much more rare for them to not be smart enough, the admissions process is selective enough to filter out those who lack the raw talent to succeed. It is up to you to do enough self-care, including healthy food, sleep, and exercise, to keep from psyching yourself out of the program, and it’s largely a matter of personal style about whether engaging with deliberately induced stress motivates you to try harder vs makes you unproductive.
The curriculum is always changing as tech evolves, and the staff works very hard to try and keep everything as current as possible. Most students leave more knowledgeable in Javascript and related frameworks than the Ruby you start in, and they’re teaching the latest versions of React, ES6 syntax, etc. Having a path rough hewn ahead of the class through the endless dark jungles of code knowledge has been extremely helpful in helping me stay focussed and to avoid wasting time-- they really do know how to point you directly towards engagement with concepts that will get you producing good work, learning more fundamental concepts, and collaborating well with others. I really do believe that learning this material would have taken me at least another year, probably with several unproductive detours on the way.
While being demanding and highly structured, App Academy also asks for a lot of independence and initiative. Much of the curriculum is written in a relatively terse style that demands the reader both be able to read closely through dense instructions and to be comfortable doing more and more independent research as the curriculum goes on, just like a real dev. The teachers are available to get you unstuck, but you’re encouraged to learn more about solving your own problems every day, and when coding in pairs, you will do tons of mutual troubleshooting, basically proving to each other that you can both teach and learn-- it is very normal to just engage with whoever’s closest to you about whatever bug you’re in the middle of, and people uniformly treat that as an opportunity to practice teaching and cement knowledge than as an interruption. The job search requires you to have a lot of discipline and follow-through, with strict requirements for volume of applications and development of portfolio materials without a ton of hand-holding. Ultimately, it becomes very clear that you are ultimately responsible for your own education, relationships with others, and destiny, which is both empowering and scary.
It’s overwhelming and lovely. There is just so much to know. By the end of it, you will have several days like mine today, where I white-boarded for interview prep for two hours and wrote this and also built a full Redux cycle for a new feature in a full-stack app I’m finishing up which involved creating a postgreSQL table through a Rails generator, with AJAX calls to the API sent by React actions routed to the DB through Thunk middleware feeding the Rails MVC which ultimately produce JSON parsed through jBuilder in to a Redux store which is rendered by React Components with Vulpix routing and styled with Sass written in a modified BEM pattern with Javascript click handlers and animations facilitated by a library called Anime-- all so I could render a nice gradient fade-in effect for state changes in a 20x20 pixel bookmark button rendered for logged in users on a site I built from scratch in nine days. Only one of those languages and frameworks mentioned above is actually a Pokemon-- the rest of them are actual pieces of tech taught in the course that I wrote today in an independent project, and I can’t believe I’ve come this far from being barely able to write basic Ruby programs three short months ago.
App Academy isn’t for everybody. But if it’s for you, it is one of the best things you can do for yourself. :)
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Rhema Verified via LinkedIn
Best Decision I've Made So Far
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Overall Experience
I personally thought App Academy was incredibly fun precisely because of how challenging it was and it really was challenging. You are surrounded with incredibly bright people, with very interesting backgrounds, and you will push each other to get better everyday.
Curriculum
The curriculum is easily the strongest part of App Academy. It is truly incredible how much knowledge you will walk away with if you are able to pace yourself and be consistent in doing all of the readings and preparing for the lectures everyday. They offer a lot, but they also require a lot out of you and it is difficult to keep up unless you are able to motivate yourself everyday.
Luckily they provide intrinsic motivation due to pair programming and assessments. Knowing that you have to work with a different person everyday helps you make sure to try to get a good understanding of the subject matter so that you don't slow your partner down. Most importantly knowing that you could be kicked out by failing too many assessments will also motivate you to keep up. This was a main motivator for me attending, because I knew it would always keep me on my toes.
At the end of the main curriculum you will be able to build a fullstack web application that is dynamic, complex, and impressive. That ten day project will be one of the most tiring experiences of your life, but you will be quite proud when you are done. Be sure to celebrate with your cohort mates when it's over.
Diversity
I added this category because I think it's important to note that App Academy is below average when it comes to racial/gender diversity. My cohort was about 5% women and 10-15% non white/asian. This did not affect my experience at all, as someone from an under-represented group, but I cannot speak for everyone and thought it should be noted for others considering App Academy.
InstructorsThe instructors are usually App Academy grads. There is a question button during pair programming, which calls over a TA to assist you when you and your partner are stuck. They are all very cool, helpful, and the lectures are incredibly informative. The lectures will usually go over the reading and assignments for the night before and introduce some new material for the day ahead, so make sure you come prepared.
Job Assistance
The Job Search Curriculum in the last three weeks can feel a bit anticlimactic. You've just spent 9 weeks going 100mph and then all of the sudden things slow down quite a bit. It can be a good thing because everyone is a bit burnt out from the fullstack project, but I wish there was a way to keep a similar pace going. Here you will work on your portfolio, build a nice online presence, learn how to approach networking, applying, negotiating etc.
Don't come in thinking App Academy is going to provide you with all kinds of contacts and connections. I don't think they have any more ability to get you a job than any other bootcamp. However, they have a great reputation with companies in NYC and SF and a huge alumni network in those respective cities. I attended App Academy in NYC and I can tell you there are companies that only hire App Academy grads because the curriculum is more in depth and the projects are more impressive.
Outcome
Personally, I applied to 305 jobs, had 6 phone screens, 3 on-sites, 2 offers, and landed an awesome job at a startup in NYC 3 months after graduating and I couldn't be happier.
The job search is an absolute grind, but don't get discouraged. Just stick with it, apply everywhere, and don't say no to yourself! You never know who will get a job, even if everyone applies to the same one. There is a lot of luck involved and each person is unique even though you all graduated from the same course.
Be financially responsible, make sure you have enough of a safety net so that you can focus, and it'll all come together in the end. -
Isaac Verified via LinkedIn
Hard, but Worth It.
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App Academy was definitely the hardest 3 months of my life. At times it was a bit brutal, with 10% of our cohort getting kicked out before the end of the program. The program is certainly not for everyone, but if you are a fast learner AND can dedicate pretty much your entire life to the program, you can get a job as a Software Engineer after this program. You certainly are expected to work as much as you everyday. Everyone is incredibly smart and motivated; I went to a top school in the United States, but found my peers here to be heads and tails above my university peers.
That being said, they do deliberately pace the course so that you can keep up -- pushing you to the brink and then giving you a few days for the material to sink in. I was also able to take a small handful of days off, but some are unable to do so.
I had absolutely NO computer science background before attending, and ended up getting a job within the first month following the program, so this program DEFINITELY fulfills its promises.
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L Chan Verified via GitHubRewarding experience!
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I recently completed the 12-week software engineering track at App Academy’s San Francisco campus. Before attending App Academy I had some experience in coding but I have never studied computer science or attended any coding course. What I think is great about App Academy:
1. The course is very well structured. Course materials increase in complexity and difficulty as the course progresses and by the end of the course, a student should have a very good understanding of both the frontend and backend mechanics of a web application, all in a matter of 12 weeks.
2. Each day I work with a different member of the same cohort to resolve some coding challenges. I enjoy working as a team and I also have the opportunity to learn how to work with and adapt to people with vastly different working styles.
3. There are weekly assessments which I think is a good way to test what I have learned in the preceding week.
4. The campus is located in downtown San Francisco which is very convenient.
Other things that you should know about App Academy: The course is intensive and the learning curve is steep for most students (unless you have a very solid background in coding, but even for some members of my cohort who had fairly solid prior experience in coding they still found it challenging). Completion devotion to the program is expected from every student
On the whole I am very satisfied with my experience at App Academy although I would hope the program to be a bit longer (say a few weeks more) and to add a reading week in the middle of the course so that students can review or study an area in particular.
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Victor Verified via LinkedIn
Solid use of my time for 3 months
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You will learn a lot at this program. Every day is intense and you will succeed if you don't waste time and spent your day learning the material. This program teaches you to be self-sufficient with minimal hand-holding which is essential in this field.
If you are a hard worker and want to break into the software development industry this is the bootcamp for you, especially with the deferred tuition model.Looking forward to the job hunt and I feel pretty well prepared.
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Mendel Verified via GitHubEnjoyable
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Honestly the one feeling I walked away from my months long studies at App Academy was enjoyment. I surprisingly enjoyed every day of the App Academy curriculum. I was worried that I would not be able to sit through a full day spending 1-2 hrs in lecture and then simply coding away at a desk and yet the curriculum and the way it was laid out + pair programming made every day a joy. I benefitted immensly and thank G-d I begin a new job next month after being on the job search after the course for a little over a month.
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Glenn Verified via GitHub"Is it worth it?"
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Everything you've read about App Academy is probably true. The hours are long, the course is intense, and for some people it's probably the most difficult thing they've every had to do. But more importantly, most people who have gone through it will agree that it was the best decision they've ever made and I can definitely agree.
One of the greatest things about App Academy is the fact that they have the same goals as you: to land you a job. This is especially true when students (most usually do) take the deferred tuition model, which means not paying full tuition until accepting a full-time job offer. You can really tell that everything they do is to try to set you up for success. The work space is available 24/7 and there's always a TA available to help, whether it be in person or on Slack.
It is important to note that while everything is laid out for your success in the course, how far you'll go is 100% dependent on the work that you put in. Due to there being no grades (aside from weekly assessments), it is sometimes easy for students to overlook some homework assignments and projects. If you're someone who likes to barely scrape by and do the bare minimum, then you're going to be in for a bad time. I had a few pairs I worked with that did not complete any readings and seemed very behind and those people ended up being the ones asked to leave after failing two assignments. On the contrast, those who study JUST for the assessments and put other parts of the curriculum on the backburner may pass all of them, will sometimes end up hurting themselves during final projects and end up having to relearn a lot of concepts that were not covered in the assessments. You really do get what you put into the program and knowing/balancing what concepts to focus on becomes a really important thing to learn over the course of the 12 weeks.
Overall, App Academy was definitely worth it for me. If you're looking for a change in your life and you think that web development may be for you, I would urge you to apply. If you get through the application process and get accepted, the only thing that you will need to get all the way through the course is having the right mindset.
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Max Verified via GitHubChallenging, Unique, and Wholly Worthwhile
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My background and context: I come from a very non-technical, liberal arts background and my first time ever coding was about 5 months before my cohort started, while I was preparing for the JumpStart course (if you get invited to take part in JumpStart, I HIGHLY recommend doing it - you get a great taste of what the real program is like, including overall instruction-style, assessments, pair-programming, basic material, etc. and it reportedly greatly improves your chances of getting accepted into the program).
Review: Overall, I would say that App Academy lives up to its ranking and is a great experience for turning someone like me, with absolute minimal tech / coding background, and in just 3 months turning this person into someone who can create a web app from scratch and can comfortably apply to jobs in that field. That being said, everything everyone says about the workload and intensity is completely accurate and you need to take it seriously. I gave up the vast majority of my life's activiities outside of a/A out of necessity - you really need to put in every weeknight and most of your every weekend into catching up if you're behind, getting ahead if you're not, or studying for the next week's assessment. Being someone who wasn't as naturally gifted or previously trained in the field, I had to work much, much harder and put in way more effort than those people so that I could still contribute and be productive in my daily pairings, projects, assessments, etc.
Pairing - I found the pair-programming experience to be one of the most educational and enjoyable aspects of the program. Every day you are assigned a new partner to work with for the entirety of that day. You work through (and rarely complete) all of the day's projects together and over that time end up learning a lot, both about the person and about the day's material. Whether you find yourself to be the faster/more knowledgeable of the pair, or the slower/less knowledgeable, you end up learning at least a few things by day's end. Sometimes your partner will know a few cool keyboarding shortcuts in Atom that you hadn't seen before, or they will know some tidbit about Javascript formatting that you end up following yourself every time after, or they will have some alternative strategy to solving a problem that you find much easier to follow than the normal methods. I didn't have a single bad pairing experience in all 7 weeks of my pairings, half the time you end up eating lunch with your partner and talk, and most of the time by the end of the day you end up befriending one more person in your cohort. While everyone is learning the material at different speeds, you find that there are no "dumb" people in your cohort, every one is highly intelligent in different ways; they are the 2% that made it in with you and each is inherently capable of getting through it.
Assessments - The assessments were definitely one of the more difficult aspects for me. The assessment policy is: out of 6 assessments in the first 8 weeks of the program, if you fail 2 of them (failure usually being defined around 85%), you are asked to leave the program, that day. This is where I find my only cons with the program. Having to leave the program that day, in front of all of your classmates, is downright brutal and borderline humiliating. If anything it motivates you that much more in your studying to avoid such an experience but I still think it is overly harsh - a simple email that night instead would be a less degrading situation, in my opinion. I also don't like that because of this intense "Survivor"-style policy, I was often put into the very difficult situation of having to choose between fully completing the readings/videos, and hw assignments for the weekend, or studying sufficiently for that week's assessment to avoid expulsion. While I tried to balance this as best as I could and ultimately did make it through, I hated having to make that decision each week and having to compromise my getting-ahead for that week.
To get you through all of it, there is an amazing team of warm, highly-gifted instructors and TA's who come to your aid either in person or online at the push of a button and explain concepts and bugs to you until both of you are confident that you fully understand, all of your highly-motivated, chill-mannered classmates, and of course, Google :).
