App Academy

I was very skeptical about attending App Academy, let alone any coding boot camp for that matter. I read into it quite a bit on places like Reddit but decided to finally take the plunge. aA's policy is not for the faint of heart and they will not, for a second, take it easy on you. It is indeed a rigorous course. What makes them unique is their deferred tuition model, which may surprise a lot of people. The fact that they allow students to not pay a dollar until they land a job in software development is very impressive, and shows they are truly invested in your job search. Some tips: Make sure you make all of the life preparations needed to truly immerse yourself in the program: Let all your loved ones, significant others, friends/family know you will be committing close to 100 hours a week (trust me, it is that much) on this. Solidify housing as close to the campus as possible, preferably for the full year, but at minimum those 3 months needed. The commute from other cities is a true time-suck. Remember, you can only fail 1 of the 6 assessments. The 2nd time you fail, you will be required to pass the retake. If you fail that, you are dismissed; If you pass, you must pass the rest of the assessments to stay. I will not lie, this place is not at all perfect. Course material, daily instructions/prompts need to be updated by the curriculum staff and can be vague, so it is up to you to get help from TAs as much as possible. Don't be afraid of being annoying.

App Academy is one of the top coding bootcamp in SF bay area.

More than 95% of the graduates find jobs with average salary of $100k.

Above statements were good enough for me to join this bootcamp. To enroll, I had to take a technical interview and a non-technical interview. A technical interview was difficult as I did not have any background in coding. So I took the Jumpstart course that they provide for free for some of the students who applied. 

When you get accepted, there is a foundation course, which is 4 week long, and it says it is a basic course, but it was not so basic for me. Starting from day 1 of 5th week (technically, this is the first week in person) we had pair-programming which helped me a lot on understanding different perspective and approaches of the peers.

 

 

I was not so sure about App Academy's curriculum and their system until I began my cohort.  I heard from at least 3 different sources that it will require 80 to 100 hours a week dedication to succeed.  It is absolutely true.  The curriculum is designed so that students will never feel comfortable or relaxed.  There will always be something to work on.  Students are mostly forced to move on to the next material regardless of finishing the current project.  That being said, students have to use their own time to go back to the materials that they are unclear about.  This can be overwhelming and exhausting.  There is no hand-holding guide through the materials.  I kid you not, it will be tough, it will be hard.  Be ready to learn, be ready to dedicate yourself, but it will be rewarding after all.

If I had to, I would join App Academy again. I got to learn a ton of skills needed to begin a career as a software engineer. The intense 12-week program included hands-on projects and interesting programming concepts.  W used a variety of technologies and programming languages such as ruby on rails, javascript, react/redux, and the MERN stack to name a few. It's possible to go through the program without previous programming knowledge, but be prepared to put in a ton of ours and give up weekends during the program.

I came to a/A with a lot of apprehension and fear of failing and being failed by this bootcamp, but I have to say - it was one of the best (and spontaneous) decisions I've ever made for myself. Most things they advertise are true: you will be worked to the bone and you will have a great time. I have never worked harder in my life than in the past 12 weeks that I have been here, but more importantly I felt fulfilled while working. And even though I may have learned all this material on my own, the support network (from cohortmates, to alumns and job search coaches) is something that makes this bootcamp worth it on its own. However, I do wish that they would provide more attention to us after being switched from regular curriculum to projects/job search curriculum.  We all did feel a bit abandoned when the new cohort came in.

App academy does not kid around when they say they're an intensive program. You put in a lot of work as a student and even more after you've finished. Be prepared to give up weekends for a few months. That being said, it is an amazing experience and I learned so much. App academy places a lot of importance on pair programming and learning concepts rather than finishing homework. It amazed me that I was able to finish projects that full-time software developers couldn't even finish. I'm not a risk taker, so it took me a year to make sure that I really wanted to do this and switch fields. I highly recommend this to people who are looking for a change.

App academy has been an interesting, challenging, and enlightening experience.  I don't believe there's another program right now that is more difficult and more capable of transfering large amounts of knowledge in skills in such a short period of time as App Academy has done.  The curriculum, including rails may seems slightly dated, but it serves as an excellent launching pouint for the uninitiated to begin to understand MVC's.  The program helped give me the tools I need to truly begin a career as a software engineer and I would recommend it to anyone who was looking to do the same.

I enjoyed the program very much. It was well paced and definitely very intensive. They teach more than just the basics and structure the curriculum very well to get you to the point of being an independent learner. I think it's daunting at first to pick up web development without much coding background, but I think the program does a good job at teaching you what to focus on.

 

The most intensive part of the curriculum is keeping up with the schedule. The material by itself is structured to teach a student from the ground up. The challenging portion is for the student to maintain studying priorities, time management, and health. If a student can do these things well, then the student will be able to pick up everything needed to pass the program.

 

The job search support is very good. I feel like App Academy is set up for a student's success, giving the student constant support and material to work on post-graduation from the program. If the job seeker puts in the work and keeps routines established by a/A to find employment, it'll only be a matter of when.

I've had some coding experience before App Academy, but I still found myself studying 80+ hours a week.  During my time here, I learned how to use the latest cutting edge technologies, I learned about the tech industry itself, I've met amazing people, and I learned a lot about myself.

From start to finish, everything that App Academy teaches you is a needed skill in the tech industry.  For example something that might be overlooked is pair programming.  As a pair you learn how to code but more importantly you learn how to explain your code.  This is such a valuable skill because within a team environment or in an interview, we have to talk about our app/code to people who may or may not have coding experience.

The curriculum is designed in such a way where everyday is packed with new information.  If you join a bootcamp, I recommend building good study habits from the start (even if it seems easy at first).  I found that the people who tend to slack off are the ones that struggle or fail out because the pace tends to ramp up as the weeks go by.  If you try hard, you will succeed.