Casey Lee Software Engineer • Graduate • 24-Week Online Software Engineering Program (Full Time) • Online
Nov 30, 2022
A little about me, my previous career I was a Registered Nurse, but wish I had always gone into software and eventually landed on coding bootcamps as my attempt to become a software developer. I found it incredibly difficult to decide on which bootcamp to attend given the rising number of bootcamps out there and the high risk of many being non-legitimate. Eventually I found a few that seemed to be solid bootcamps and ultimately chose to go with App Academy based out of San Francisco/New ...
A little about me, my previous career I was a Registered Nurse, but wish I had always gone into software and eventually landed on coding bootcamps as my attempt to become a software developer. I found it incredibly difficult to decide on which bootcamp to attend given the rising number of bootcamps out there and the high risk of many being non-legitimate. Eventually I found a few that seemed to be solid bootcamps and ultimately chose to go with App Academy based out of San Francisco/New York. If you are in the same position as I was, then you probably have researched many reviews as well and come to find that it really goes 50-50 on whether to do a coding bootcamp or not to do one. So many people say its worthless and a waste of money and how you can learn it all on your own or to pursue a computer science degree instead. Me personally? learning on my own was not going to work. Having the structure and discipline a bootcamp provides was exceedingly beneficial, especially in how they slowly advance you in learning topics. When learning on your own you get very lost in where to start and what frameworks to pick up, you end up in a constant limbo of learning small things here and there but never really gaining true knowledge of how things work.
I recently completed the 6-month online software engineer track with App Academy in April of 2022. Before I started this program I spent about a month with on and off learning through websites such as Free Code Camp, Codecademy, and youtube videos. Essentially, I came in with next to know knowledge of coding. Most bootcamps are designed for people with very little coding knowledge, and build them up to speed as fast as possible. As most reviews say, attending a coding bootcamp can be very difficult and will take up most of your time. I can attest to this, It will definitely take up almost all of your time for the time you are enrolled, but I promise you it is not as hard as they say it is, it is very doable. For the 6-month online program, it was mon-fri 8am-5pm and had tests on every monday in which you need to pass to advance to the next week. You can only fail the tests or the projects (there were 4 projects total) combined of 3 times. But don't let that scare you, so many people have done this and have been successful, and App Academy does a really good job of preparing you with practice tests and office hours. They have various payment methods, which usually comes out to be around 20-22k depending on how you choose to pay. They are on the higher end of the spectrum of bootcamp affordability, but in my personal opinion, well worth it.
With that said I had a great experience with App Academy and highly recommend them if you are searching for a well established bootcamp. One of the best features is that they have a career team that continues to do work shops and hiring events after you complete the program help you in your job search. I am not sure if other bootcamps do this, but this is a must, they help to keep you focused after you finish to keep learning and applying so that you will obtain that job. Don't be afraid if you do decide to choose App Academy and see that there are 100 people in your online cohort, within the first 3 weeks that number can drop in half with people deciding they don't like coding and people failing because they are not truly dedicated to learning. It is also true that most of the teachers/aides are previous students, do not be alarmed by this either, every single bootcamp does this. But do know that they have real experienced software engineers above them that also provide lectures and guide the curriculum to ensure that the correct things are being taught and that we are progressively learning. At the end of completing any bootcamp, don't expect to land a job within a few months, while it certainly does happen, it is definitely not the norm. You have to continuously work on projects/learn new concepts/study DSA/obtain certificates/ and most importantly do not stop applying to jobs. Completing the bootcamp is one part, the job search is a whole different monster, but I promise this bootcamp offers enormous help once you finish to land that job.
Sorry if some of my thoughts are random through this, I am trying to put down every thing I found to be important and what I wish I had knew before I started lol. All in all if you decide on App Academy it is absolutely legit, you will learn enormous amounts, and it will be incredibly fun if you love coding. As stated above I finished in April of 2022, I just now landed a remote software engineer job this month of November 2022, it took me 6 months to land my first job and around 1000-1200 job applications. Sounds like a lot right? Many people including Computer Science graduates have this same issue in the job search. It takes a while to land that first job because everyone wants experienced engineers. Its a crappy situation, but once your in, your in. Right now the average to land that job is 6 months, sometimes sooner, and sometimes later. But it is very cool to say that I made it, from Registered Nurse to Software Engineer. I'm sure you want to hear the salary as well, it was always annoying to see people who got jobs but never listed their salary, it would be incredibly helpful if they did. For me, I am starting out at around 70k. If your in a big tech city such as San Francisco you will easily be over 100k but remember cost of living there is insane. For an entry level position I am pretty happy with that salary, within a couple years it could easily jump to 150+, but ultimately I just want to learn and grow more with a great work-life balance, so money is secondary to me.
Final words, in case you were wondering if these reviews are fake or App Academy paid me to do this, they did not. That was another fear I had when searching, was that so many bootcamps had such great reviews lol. But this is absolutely my honest review, bootcamps are not for everyone, but if you truly do want to make the switch, be prepared with enough money to last you for a year, 6 months to do the program and 6 months to find a job. I hope this aides you in your search, and absolutely keep App Academy as one of your top choices if it is not already.