app-academy
About
About
App Academy offers immersive web development courses both online and in-person on campuses in San Francisco and New York City. App Academy’s curriculum is largely based on a hands-on approach. Students spend about 90% of their time pair programming and 10% in lectures, encouraging the sharing of knowledge while also making coding more social. App Academy places emphasis on career training to help students land jobs soon after graduation. App Academy's job-search curriculum focuses on algorithms, interview skills, and other technical interview-focused skillsets.
The in-person web development course is 16 weeks-long, and the full stack curriculum covers Ruby on Rails, Javascript, HTML/CSS, SQL, algorithms, data structures, and React/Redux. Students interested in this intense program should expect to put in 90-100 hours per week. The first 9 weeks of the course are focused on learning web development skills in multiple languages, and the final 3 weeks are a robust job-search curriculum. The online course runs for 24 weeks, and focuses on JavaScript and Python. Students of the online course learn fundamentals, such as JavaScript, Git, and object-oriented programming, and later build on these by learning languages, such as Express, React, HTML & CSS, and more. Like the in-person course, students of the online course create a portfolio that includes individual and group projects.
Interested applicants should expect to submit an application, complete two coding challenges, complete an interview and receive an admission decision a few days after the interview. Prospective applicants can also enroll in App Academy’s Bootcamp Prep programs to increase their chances of admission from 2% to more than 40%.
App Academy offers a deferred payment plan where students are only required to pay tuition if they secure a job upon graduation. App Academy offers two other pricing models for students as well — a completely upfront model and a hybrid model that is a combination of the deferred and upfront models.
Recent App Academy Reviews: Rating 4.68
Recent App Academy News
- App Academy Grad Jerrik Won $500 in Our Sweepstakes!
- February 2019 Coding Bootcamp Podcast
- April 2018 Coding Bootcamp News Podcast
Courses
Courses
App Academy Open
ApplyMySQL, MongoDB, HTML, JavaScript, Design, Rails, Express.js, React.js, Node.js, Front End, Ruby, SQL
OnlinePart TimeStart Date None scheduled Cost $0 Class size N/A Location Online With App Academy Open you’ll get free access to App Academy’s entire in-person full-stack curriculum, which has placed thousands of people in software development jobs. App Academy is ranked as the #1 coding bootcamp in the US and, since 2016, has placed more software developers at Google than UC Berkeley. On the Free plan you’ll get over 1,500 hours of material (readings, videos, projects), an interactive coding environment and community features like chat to keep you connected with thousands of prospective developers across the globe.Financing
Deposit N/A Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Beginner Placement Test No Interview No
Bootcamp Prep
ApplyStart Date None scheduled Cost $2,999 Class size N/A Location San Francisco, New York City Bootcamp Prep is a 4 week, part-time course, guaranteed to get you accepted at the most selective coding schools or your money back. The program will teach you up to an advanced level of JavaScript, and instructors provide you with 1-on-1 mock interviews, as well assist with your individual bootcamp applications.Financing
Deposit N/A Refund / Guarantee Your full Bootcamp Prep tuition will be subtracted from your initial deposit if accepted into App Academy's full time program under the deferred payment plan. Getting in
Minimum Skill Level N/A Placement Test No Interview No
Bootcamp Prep Online
ApplyStart Date Rolling Start Date Cost $1,795 Class size N/A Location Online Bootcamp Prep is a part-time, online course, guaranteed to get you accepted at the most selective coding schools or your money back. The program will teach you up to an advanced level of JavaScript, and instructors provide you with 1-on-1 mock interviews, as well as assist with your individual bootcamp applications.Financing
Deposit None Tuition Plans Standard: $995 Plus: $1795 Premium: $3795 Refund / Guarantee Money back guarantee if you aren't accepted into a top coding bootcamp Getting in
Minimum Skill Level No experience required Prep Work None required Placement Test No Interview No
In-Person Full Stack Web Development
ApplyMySQL, MongoDB, HTML, Git, JavaScript, jQuery, Design, Rails, User Experience Design, CSS, DevOps, React.js, Data Structures, Algorithms, Node.js, Front End, Ruby, SQL
In PersonFull Time40 Hours/week16 WeeksStart Date July 6, 2020 Cost $17,000 Class size 60 Location San Francisco, New York City Over sixteen weeks, you'll learn all the skills needed to begin a career as a web developer. Through hands-on projects, we train you to build web applications with Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and React/Redux. Prior programming experience isn't required. However, you will need lots of tenacity and a passion for building cool stuff.Financing
Deposit Only applicable for the Deferred tuition option, a deposit of $3k will be required. Financing Lending partnership with Climb Credit available for the Upfront tuition option.Tuition Plans $17,000 Upfront Plan $23,000 Hybrid Plan ($9k upfront, $13k deferred) $28,000 Deferred Plan (Fully deferred with a $3k deposit) Refund / Guarantee Guaranteed placement under the Deferred tuition option. Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Basic computer literacy Prep Work Provided at each step by App Academy. Placement Test Yes Interview Yes More Start Dates
July 6, 2020 - New York CityAugust 31, 2020 - New York CityOctober 26, 2020 - New York CityDecember 21, 2020 - New York CityJuly 27, 2020 - San FranciscoSeptember 21, 2020 - San FranciscoNovember 16, 2020 - San Francisco
Online Full Stack Web Development
ApplyMySQL, HTML, Git, JavaScript, jQuery, Design, Rails, User Experience Design, CSS, DevOps, React.js, Data Structures, Algorithms, Node.js, Front End, Ruby, SQL
OnlineFull Time40 Hours/week24 WeeksStart Date July 13, 2020 Cost $20,000 Class size 25 Location Online Over 24 weeks, you'll learn all the skills needed to begin a career as a web developer. Through hands-on projects, we train you to build web applications with JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, React/Redux, SQL, and HTML/CSS. Prior programming experience isn't required. However, you will need lots of tenacity and a passion for building cool stuff.Financing
Deposit $0 Financing Available through Climb CreditTuition Plans - ISA: $0 Upfront. 15% for 3 years with a maximum of $31,000, only after you're hired making over $50,000 - Upfront: $20,000 Refund / Guarantee Guaranteed job under ISA tuition option. Getting in
Minimum Skill Level Basic computer literacy Prep Work Provided at each step by App Academy. Placement Test Yes Interview Yes More Start Dates
July 13, 2020 - OnlineAugust 10, 2020 - OnlineSeptember 7, 2020 - OnlineOctober 5, 2020 - OnlineNovember 2, 2020 - OnlineNovember 30, 2020 - Online
Reviews
App Academy Reviews
- A typical day on a/A online- 4/4/2020Javier Ortiz • Graduate • Course: Online Full Stack Web Development • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInA typical day (online) looks like this.
8am Morning Q & A on homework lectures and project
8:30am - 11:15am video lectures broken down on 15-20 min chunks followed by 10 min of q & a
11:15am - 12:30pm lunch
12-30 - 4:30pm Pair programming, you are paired with another student and together you tackle the project for the day applying everything from the lectures/hw into a project. Everyday a different project. You have access to the TA's during this time as well.
4:30pm - 5:30pm (but 6pm really) End of day lecture / q & a
At least 2 hours of homework (video lectures, small projects)
The weekends I usually spent 4hrs on Saturdays catching up with hw/projects and about 2-3hrs on Sundays getting ready for the next week.
You have an exam every 2.5 weeks. The week before the exam you typically spend 1-2hrs every day preparing for it and definitely about 10-12hrs during the weekend.
- Dedicated and knowledgeable instructors. I was self-learning before a/A and having an instructor is huge, something that could have taken me days to figure out was solved with the instructor's help on a matter of minutes.
- The online experience is great, you collaborate the whole time with other students by doing pair programming and everyday you are working on a different project.
- You finish the program with 3 full stack projects and a javascript game.
- After the program you get assigned to a career coach that keeps you accountable to the number of companies you've reached out to and helps you prepare for upcoming interviews.
- You don't have to pay them until you get a job.
- Best decision I ever made.- 4/3/2020Michelle Vong • Graduate • Course: Online Full Stack Web Development • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInBefore App Academy I was already moving towards another bootcamp since I was in their prep course. Unfortunately, the experience decimated me to the point where I questioned if a career move was right for me. As a last ditch effort, I did App Academy’s prep due to the guarantee. I was honestly blown away. There was an honest attempt to break down the concepts and present it in a way that anyone, even with no coding experience, could understand. From there I was sold, never looked backed and made it into the immersive program.Daily life as a student:- Days are M-F from 8AM - 5PM PST.- There are 6 assessments, failing 2 will get you kicked out so there is a lot of pressure involved- While in immersive, you’ll mostly be pair programming working on projects- There is homework every night which needs to be completed for the following day. Some of the homework can be 4-5 hours long, so after a long day of work, you have more work- After immersive, you’ll spend most of your time working on projects while learning some new concept and materials in betweenI will say for my individual experience:- My instructors were amazing. They were really chill, knowledgeable, and their support is one of the things I will always speak highly of.- All of my cohort mates are awesome. Everyone has different backgrounds, but you start to lean on each other for support, and build connections you didn’t expect.- I learned a lot, it doesn’t always feel that way. But the knowledge you gain from the begin to end is substantial, and that is a big plus.I can’t speak for job search since I’m only beginning, but what I can say is I like my career coach. His plan and expectations make sense and I’m hopeful it’ll land a job soon.Overall, if I went back in time, I’d still do it all over again. I had such an amazing experience and would recommend App Academy based off of that. It’s hard of course, but worth it.
- Great Curriculum and Teaching Staff- 4/2/2020Andy Tran • Software Engineer • Student • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInI learned so much the past four months at App Academy. The structure of the program is just so good, it is adapted so you could learn so much material in such a short amount of time. However, of course there are downfalls cramming material that would be usually taught over a week at a university course in a single day. I would like to say that they do not lie when they say you will be putting in a strenuous amount of hours coding and learning. The people you meet here at App Academy are the best resources you'll garner!!! It is definitely an atmosphere, where you're frequently working hard because your with peers who are doing the same to reach the same goal. The TAs work hard to make sure you're on track, and they actually do care about your success in the course and in the future.
- Alec Keeler • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInI started with App Academy's boot camp prep, and it was WELL worth the money as someone who had no coding experience. The boot camp itself was tough and stressful, but the instructional staff are amazing and supportive. I always felt like I had the help I needed to succeed, and I feel confident about entering the industry, despite an unrelated background. Highly recommend it!
- Tough but worth it- 4/1/2020If you're looking for a structured program that pushes you harder than you could ever push yourself, this is it.
Pros:
- Daily projects to practice the concepts you learn
- TAs to help you along the way
- Three major projects for your portfolio towards the end of the course
- Your cohort-mates are just as motivated as you so it's a really good environment to be in
Cons:
- They move through the material really fast and it always feels like you never completely learn everything (which is expected I guess, given the amount of info taught in such a short amount of time
- There are weekly assessments - two fails result in a dismissal, which adds a lot of stress in addition to the course load
- They mean it when they say 'expect to work 80-90+ hours a week'.
- Review- 4/1/2020Tarik Gul • Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInOverall, i really loved my time at a/A. The TA's are amazing, and really are there to see you succeed. But keep in mind they are app academy graduates (they are all very intelligent) so if you're going to ask a question outside of the scope of the curriculum don't always expect an answer, but i promise you if they don't know they will do there best to get back to you with an answer. This is not bad though because as a software engineer you'll always have to figure stuff out on your own and thats totally ok. My only real criticism of App Academy is not allowing you to use laptops in lecture. Honestly it bothered me more than it should but it definitely took me and my attention away from lectures, as i suck at taking notes. Just imagine trying to follow along to dry code while watching someone give you a lecture Redux. The days i got away with having my laptop in lecture, i was completely focused took incredible notes in notion, and learned a bunch. The days i didn't which was most, i didn't pay attention, i slacked off, and made up for it during pair programming and at night, which was super annoying. If you cant tell already it really bothered me.
When it comes to the curriculum, there are parts I definitely disagree with but overall they jam pack you with more than you'll ever be able to grasp all at once. Which is excellent. From high level algorithms to LRU Cache, and hashing functions, to understanding the foundations of a MVC framework. They definitely need to teach hooks in React though, and get away from only teaching class Components. It's out of date, compile rate is way slower and the industry is staying away from class Components, unless its dealing with error handling. They need to teach less ruby and more React. Ruby is a really beautiful but also a really easy language. The amount of time they focus on it is probably better spent elsewhere.
Job Support so far is alright, everything seems to out of order though. Not sure where to go or what to do most times. The lectures are way too long and could be shortened by 2/3, or a simple email.
Im being very critical right now, but thats because these were the things i wish i knew before i went into App Academy. Do i regret joining? Hell No!!
Did i meet some amazing people that ill be friends with forever? Yes!!!! Did i learn a lot? YES!! Can they improve? Yes! are they the best bootcamp youll get. Also YES!
- a/A is tough, but you've got this!- 4/1/2020Spencer Iascone • Student • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via GitHubThey call it a bootcamp for a reason: App Academy is tough, but you've got this.
I started a/A with a background in the arts. My experience in coding was pretty much limited to a few Arduino loops and some sine wave generation I had learned once, in a class in college, 10 years ago. 16 weeks later, just as they said I would, I have the skills to build fully functional and stylish web applications, with knowledge of roughly a dozen or so languages and APIs. It was great! That said, as I've mentioned, it was tough; mentally, physically and emotionally, just all around exhausting.
If you are considering a/A, definitely think it over, don't just jump into it. If you have family who will be around/helping during your time in the program, talk it through with them as well because it can be hard for them too. You might not get to see them as much as you'd think because the days run long. And you will most likely have a few bad days and it's good to let them know that's a possibility. Keep your communication open.
Despite the toughness and frustrations that come with a program like this it is worth it. And a/A has a fabulous staff who really does have your back. They encourage and prop you up when you are down from day one to the end. 15 weeks in I had a major breakthrough and I sent a message to one of my main counselors saying "It's the first time in 15 weeks that I've felt like I've got this". Their response was "regardless of how you felt in the past 14 weeks, you've always got it!" I can't thank them enough, the technical help they provided was great, the compassion was priceless.
If you are interested in coding and you need a place to start App Academy is a great place for it.
- Challenging- 4/1/2020Neil Desai • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedIn
What you get is what you put into it. I definitely learned a lot at App Academy, and going in with a month of programming knowledge, over the 16 weeks of this course I've learned much more than I ever imagined. However, the experience is extremely draining - mentally, physically, and emotionally. Be prepared to spend 10-12 hour days studying/working/commuting because that is what a coding bootcamp is.
Pros: I learned a lot from the curriculum and the daily pair programming. TAs were very friendly, understanding, and willing to help. My classmates were warm, hard-working, and bright and I am happy to call many of them friends. You will come out of the program with 3 projects, a good understanding of the job market at an entry level but most importantly you will learn HOW to learn to code and find resources and work through problems on your own because there is so much to learn, especially starting from scratch.
Cons: Lectures seemed very shallow and time-consuming and not the most helpful beyond a surface level overview. TA to student ratio was not the best and so at times it took a while for a question to be answered. Job search curriculum is generic and arbitrary deadlines are annoying to deal with when working on several other projects at the same time. Struggling through projects is difficult as you are not taught everything you need to know but also rewarding when you are able to learn and solve problems on the fly.
- A great experience- 4/1/2020Joseph Johnston • Student • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInI had a wonderful experience at App Academy. TA's were very knowledgable and supportive. I highly recommend. The curriculum was quite rigorous and has definitely been the most challenging yet rewarding experience of my life. Anyone looking to join a bootcamp should apply here.
- Learning Environment- 3/31/2020James Berke • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInApp Academy was a great experience for me. The teaching staff were very knowledgable and were quick to answer questions. The program really does take 60 - 80 hours a week to get the full experience, it is very hard work but well worth it in the end. The support they provide to help you as you learn new languages and frameworks to building new projects to showcase abilities and eventually guide you through the job search has been very solid. Overall a positive experience, but if you can't handle stressful deadlines and costly tests I would opt for a more relaxed and fleshed out program.
- Learning Experience- 3/31/2020Naveen • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInMake no doubt of it, going through App Academy does actually require the rigor and work they warn you about. I had no idea I was capable of handling the amount of work and material taught, and as we got deeper into the program, I absolutely felt the stress that came with it. However, if you go through with the program, keep your head up and do the work you should, App Academy teaches you a lot, and tries their best to keep you job ready.
PROS:
Tons of information, some explained very indepth, some not so much.
Help from TAs.
Interesting projects, helped apply the technologies we'd learnt.
CONS:
Not allowed to use laptops to take notes... for a coding bootcamp...
Not nearly enough TAs to student ratio, especially when that help is a big part of their program
Personally feel like the Javascript portion should've been longer, and Ruby could have been shortened - even an extra week or two for JS would've worked great
- Invaluable connections- 3/31/2020Vincent Tsui • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInIt is an intense bootcamp, and you do learn a lot in 16 weeks, especially if you come into the bootcamp without prior programming experience. There are minimal breaks and you are expected to work over the weekend, and many do get burnt out towards the end, so the schedule could use a little restructuring. If you are an extremely self-motivated person, you may be able to learn the course material online by yourself, but the main benefit of the course is the wonderful team of TAs fostering a positive team environment, the constant collaboration with pair programming, and the invaluable friendships and connections you build along the way.
