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 August 31, 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
August 31, 2020 - New York CityOctober 26, 2020 - New York CityDecember 21, 2020 - New York CitySeptember 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 August 10, 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
August 10, 2020 - OnlineSeptember 7, 2020 - OnlineOctober 5, 2020 - OnlineNovember 2, 2020 - OnlineNovember 30, 2020 - Online
Reviews
App Academy Reviews
Shared Review
- Jeffrey Bui • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedIn
My experience at App Academy was great! I had so much fun learning how to code and am grateful for this life-changing experience! Like many of the online sources say, it IS really challenging. In the 3 months that you dedicate to App Academy, it is essentially the only thing that you can focus on. However, it is very rewarding in the end and you gain so much knowledge in such a short amount of time. Here are some personal tips and key points that I picked up from my experience at App Academy (Please note that this is from MY experience, and people accomplish/approach things in different ways):
1. App Academy is challenging, but not INSANELY challenging. In my experience, I was able to keep up with App Academy's curriculum while maintaining some social/personal life. Other people say that they dedicate every day, every hour, every minute to App Academy (which is fine), but I felt that there was more free time than initially expected. I would be able to spend my Saturdays and sometimes Sundays doing social/personal stuff, and I honestly felt that this was needed.
2. SLEEP is important. The instructors at App Academy can't stress this enough either. I think the thing that kept my stress level low and made my experience enjoyable was the fact that I forced myself to sleep with my regular schedule (I slept at 10:30pm and woke up at 7:30am everyday). I never felt tired during the working hours and I was still able to keep up with the curriculum.
3. You have to put in the effort to maintain this healthy lifestyle. The only reason why I was able to have fun on the weekends and get 8-9 hours of sleep everyday was the fact that I worked hard during the working hours. It's just as they say - work hard, play hard. If you actually pay attention during the lectures and actually put in your effort during the projects, you'll be able to absorb the information better, especially if you're not tired or stressed. My previous advice isn't to show that App Academy is easy, it's to show that there is a way to maintain good health and a happy lifestyle while going through the rigorous curriculum.
Closing thoughts:
I definitely don't know as much as those who dedicated every minute of their lives studying and working on App Academy, but I can confidently say that I was one of the happiest people there and truly enjoyed everyday of my experience with low stress. My approach was all about balance in my life, and I succeeded and made it to the end! Obviously, people work differently. If you need to lose some sleep to catch up on studying, that's fine. If you need even less days to study and can spend all weekend relaxing, that's fine too. I think the main thing is to not worry about what/how others are doing, and only focus on yourself and what YOU need to be successful and healthy.
- Online Full Stack- 7/29/2020Jesse • Graduate • Course: Online Full Stack Web Development • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedInI came into the curriculum with a basic foundation of coding, however I had no experience in software development and in
a mere 6 months I can say that I am much more confident in my ability to produce an application. App Academy not only teaches
you relevant curriculum but (and this is the most important aspect to me) they set you up with the ability to continue self-learning after graduation
Pros
- The support from the TA's and Instructors are nice to have, especially when you aren't grasping a concept.
- 4 projects, consisting of 2 group project and 2 solo projects gives you a lot of experience working with different ideas, people, and technologies.
- Presence of a career coach makes the job search process feel much more structured.
- The focus on mini-projects while your learning really re-enforces the concepts learned for the day
- Learn Python for the online full-stack cohorts instead of Ruby
Cons
- Since I was in a Cohort with a new curriculum some of the material seemed like it was rushed or just not presented in a clear and concise way.
- Best experience ever- 7/28/2020Monia Techini • Graduate • Course: App Academy Open • Campus: Online • Verified via LinkedIn
It was a great experience with app Academy. Everybody is so helpful and friendly. I enjoyed everyday with a/a, and I learned many things from everybody, it was an amazing experience and I m so proud to be part of it.
I really appreciate that they offer support for the job search as well.
- Occupational Therapist to Software Engineer!- 7/24/2020Daniel Chau • Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInA very challenging programming course, but very informative and worth it! It will be overwhelming and demoralizing at points, however stay strong and be communicative and it is manageable. My biggest tip to help you get through and not feel to drowned in work is to be pro-active and let your teammates and TAs know what is going on with you personally and academically.
- Work is important- 7/24/2020Gilbert Bui • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInApp academy can be time consuming and a lot of work but the end result will provide you the skills you need to find a job in the software development field.
- Incredible learning experience.- 7/24/2020Sheava Danesh • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInI'm switching over careers from a completely non-technical field to software development, and I couldn't have picked a better bootcamp to help me through this transition. Although I just graduated, I can say that in just the past 4 months I have learned a myriad of languages, technologies, and frameworks that I never would've imagined I could. App Academy's curriculum is prepared in a way that regardless of your technical background, you learn so so much in such little time and learn enough to compete with other aspiring software developers with university degrees in computer science. The only thing I wish App Academy did differently is to advertise themselves clearly as web development since thats basically what the curriculum is centered around. I can make a full-stack web application now, but not much more than that. Either way, I am super grateful to be able to have attended App Academy and would highly recommend this bootcamp over others to anyone who asks!
- I'm graduating today, and I'm glad I came.- 7/24/2020Matthew • Tolentin • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInYes, there are articles coming up all the time criticizing App Academy's pricing plans and now freely available curriculum, but you will not find another group of dedicated instructors when you choose to take the plunge. They also help you all the way with admission advisors the very same day you submit the first admission form.
Yes, a lot of the concepts can be learned by yourself with hours pouring over Wikipedia, Stack Overflow, and elsewhere, but the greatest value to the intensive and immersive 16-week journey is not only the opportunity to have a glance at tech industry culture through the curriculum path and curated lectures, but the challenge at your fingertips everyday in pairing with another cohort mate to solve nontrivial projects and problem sets to actively mold into and further change the culture yourself.
App Academy is truly the one-stop-shop from beginning Ruby lessons to the job coaching that guides you the whole way after the 16-week course until you get your offer letters. Yes, you very well could go the route of learning JavaScript by yourself or maybe C by yourself, but everyone in App Academy upholds their standard everyday and provide living breathing proof that their techniques work, through their connections with tech companies all across the country and the regular alumni panels that return to talk to share their success with current students and encourage them on their way.
If you've stuck with me and read this far, start the application process and have a go at the webcam coding challenge. If you blow them away with no raise in heart rate then yes maybe this bootcamp is not for you. However, if you fall in love with Alvin's lessons and through intense study and dedication pass this first hurdle (an accomplishment you are reminded of even up to the final week of class), you will not be disappointed with the adventure set before you.
Thank you again to every single instructor and coach that guided my cohort and never quit on any one of us.
- Fantastic experience despite the stress- 7/24/2020Christopher Oney • Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInI cannot express enough how much I enjoyed this program. The instructors and staff are all supportive, intelligent people that are able to cram a large amount of information into a relatively small amount of time while still making the lessons enjoyable and understandable. Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 outbreak, my cohort was forced to take the classes online, but even this wasn't unmanageable thanks to the efforts of App Academy. One thing to mention is that if the job fairs App Academy normally works with are extremely important to you, I would wait until quarantine measures are no longer in place.
That being said, the teachers and staff can only do so much. If you intend to apply to App Academy, be prepared to put your life on hold for several months. The coursework is rigorous and often overwhelming. If you fall behind too much you may not have the time to catch up with everyone else again, even with the help and resources provided. Do not ever grow complacent about the work. Overall if you think you can handle the bootcamp experience and are passionate about learning, I highly recommend App Academy.
- For the hoodie- 7/24/2020Andrew • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via GitHubApp Academy's curriculum is well designed and really reinforces fundamentals so every new lesson is built on what you have learned. By no means is it easy and you will definitely have to put in the work, but you are offered lots of help and resources from the TA's, fellow cohort-mates, and through additional readings. A majority of most days is filled with pair programming, which I really came to enjoy and realize its usefulness. However, there are only a handful of days where you get to tackle projects on your own, which I did not like, but that is merely my preference. After the curriculum, I feel that App Academy provided me the tools and fundamentals needed to further my programming skills and create full-stack web applications. Being a bootcamp that is only a few months long, I feel they do a great job in transitioning anyone, who is willing to put in the work, into a software engineer.
- Good program. Know what you're getting into.- 7/21/2020Julie • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via GitHubOverall this program is it rigorous and does teaches you to code. If that is your goal and you have a solid internal support network, I'd recommend. The program lacks representation of womxn, POC, and other minority groups. Also in my cohort, these marginalized groups left the program at a higher rate. Please note - this does wear on your mental health as it is a very high pressure environment. There are 6 assessments, failing 2 will get you kicked out. There is a strike system for attendance and daily reports. Too many strikes and you're kicked out. Day to day you'll mostly be pair programming and working on projects with a partner. There is homework every night which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4-5 hours. After a long day of work, you have more work.
You can pay all tuition upfront, all when you have a job, or a split. If you do not pay all upfront (most people do not) there is another strike system to prove you're looking for jobs appropriately. Similar to above, too many strikes and you'll owe them the unpaid amount. Honestly, this is good. It aligns incentives, holds you accountable, and gives you support.
- Extremely valuable experience for beginners- 7/21/2020Ryan • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInApp Academy is going to be tough, as it is a very fast paced full time program. On top of the fast pace, there will be about 6 assessments spread out during the first 12 weeks of the program. Failing two will get you kicked out. If you're worried by any of these things, don't be. Despite the pacing of the curriculum, and the graded assessments, App Academy and their instructors make sure to teach you everything you need to ensure your success. I would highly recommend App Academy to anyone who is dedicated to the grind.
- Thirsty? Drink from the firehose!- 7/20/2020Ara Baghdassarian • Fullstack Developer • Graduate • Course: In-Person Full Stack Web Development • Campus: San Francisco • Verified via LinkedInThey repeatedly mentioned that the curriculum is like drinking from a firehose-- they were not wrong, it was grueling and they cram what feels like years worth of material in mere weeks. Do not take it lightly and be prepared to devote everything you have for the long haul. The field of software development is an entire universe you could travel through your whole life and still not have touched everything. a/A's curriculum does a great job of navigating you through that universe and giving you a core understanding which can/must be built on. Bottom line: four months ago I didn't know what web development was, today I can actually build a website from scratch using in demand technologies.
Also curriculum aside be aware that they are very demanding when it comes to feedback on your end. Expect to fill out reports for how things went/are going every. single. damn. day. This sucked and was probably my least favorite part of the course. Also for what it is worth the company compass is pointed progressive/politically correct with a silent but strong undertow of legal conservatism.
- Awesome Experience- 7/10/2020Alan Li • Student • Course: Online Full Stack Web Development • Campus: Online • Verified via GitHubI had an awesome time at App Academy learning everything from square one. I honestly struggled with the concepts of programming. I went through a number of online platforms to learn JavaScript such as Code Academy, Udemy, Udacity and no one taught JavaScript as well as App Academy did. They really drill you with the fundamentals. Though it can be stressful at times, I really value what App Academy tries to do instill in their students. There were some rough spots with the curriculum, but the instructors did their best to fill in the gaps, especially about Redux.
