Austin Coding Academy

I have completed both the intro and intermediate course at Austin Coding Academy (Austin Campus) and it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

In 20 weeks I have gone from knowing some VERY limited HTML( I knew what a few tags were) to being able to design an interactive, good looking, web page with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. 

I understand the fundamentals of computer programming and have developed a passion for learning multiple languages and getting deeper and deeper into the subject matter. 

I have already had two interviews for developer positions even though I have yet to complete the entire curriculum. While I was not accepted for these positions, I never would have had the opportunity to interview were it not for

1. The skills aquired during my time at ACA and
2. The AMAZING job network and support provided by ACA. 

They truly care about what their students learn and are always there to listen and provide support. 

My classmates are amazing.

I've never been surrounded by such serious and determined students. 
Their hunger and determination servers as great motivation to study and study often. 

The course work and cirriculum are demanding, but never overwhelming and someone is always available to point you in the right direction.

The administration at ACA are so incredbly helpful and are always open to feedback. 

I highly recommend Austin Coding Academy to anyone and everyone interested in coding and beyond. 

I can't wait to start the Advanced course. 

 

I researched many schools in the Austin area before choosing the Austin Coding Academy.  The reason I chose them was because they offered the best quality at an exceptional price.  I come from a Finance background and I have never worked in IT before. The intro course is very informative and detailed.  As soon as you begin classes the school brings in guest speakers and IT recruiters.  I love the field trips we take as well.  Halfway thru my Intro course the career services team placed me in a new job within the IT industry.  It occurred very fast and I am very grateful for all their instruction and help.  My goal is to have a better work-life balance and the Austin Coding Academy has already helped me get my foot in the door. I am very excited to see what opportunities will be presented to me once I complete the entire Full Stack Developer program. Choosing to attend the Austin Coding Academy has proven to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

I came in to Austin Coding Academy's course with a feeling that the things I had been learning on my own were missing some large fundamentals and I was right. Austin Coding Academy helped me understand every step of the process for making a website not just the coding language. Luke and Chris, the founders, go above and beyond for the students and alumni by offering more than just qualified teachers. Students are given every chance to succeed with office hours, study groups and one-on-one tutoring if needed. The teachers who have years of experience in the industry, will challenge you with problems that will make you a better coder, improve your google-fu and stretch your knowledge base. The school is dedicated to not only with providing you in-depth knowledge, but also by helping you out on your future career path. Many students continue to be involved with the school after graduating going to alumni events, mentoring, and going to office hours. I am proud to stay that I got my first job in the web development industry as a Web Applications Developer because of Austin Coding Academy.

I love Austin Coding Academy and can not say enough good things about them!  ACA not only teaches you Full-Stack Web Development, but also provides you with crucial skills to aide you in finding a job upon (or even before) graduation.

During my time there, ACA offered field trips to hot tech companies in Austin actively hiring, networking events, job fairs, and resume and interview workshops.  Not only did I learn skills like whiteboarding and how to interview for a tech job, but I gained confidence in my own abilities that I would not have had otherwise.  One of the owners actually personally helped me craft my resume in the middle of SXSW.  Because of all this, I was able to land a job as System Engineer before I had even completed the final course.

Everyone involved with this school is passionate about learning and is completely invested in helping all the students succeed.  I was able to build a fantastic network of people not only from the teachers, but from other students as well.  Hands down, there is not another coding bootcamp out there where you get this much bang for your buck.

I love Austin Coding Academy.  I just finished the front end intro course and had an overwhelmingly positive experience.  The teacher, Erik, is a hilarious guy who is also great at his job.  He presents the subject matter in a way that's easy to understand.  Jake, the TA, is a super nice guy who is always willing to help.  Erik’s classes were very organized and well thought out.  In class, we learned about one subject a day.  We’d do a few exercises with Erik together and then were left on our own for homework.  Mondays had smaller homework assignments and Wednesdays had bigger homework assignments.  Office hours are there if you need help.  Teachers and TAs always responded to emails.  Class moved at a pace that was just right for me.  I felt challenged by the work but never like it was beyond my capabilities.  I felt confident walking into it and out of it.  I also never felt overloaded by the homework or study requirements.   I felt I had time to focus on my responsibilities outside of class.  I dedicated, at least, ten hours a week to study without problems.

What I loved most about ACA is that they're doing education in a different way.  I came to ACA after some difficult years in college as a disabilities student.  I made a very serious decision to drop out and find some other way to start a career.  I tried learning to code on my own for a while, but it wasn’t easy without teachers and some structure in place.  I walked into ACA half-thinking I would have the exact same downward spiral as I did when I was in college.  Instead, I walked out with the best learning experience of my life.  At ACA, your work is assessed rather than graded.  If you don't understand something, it's not the end of the world.  Their priority is helping you learn.  I really think that made all the difference.  It made learning a truly positive experience rather than one based on negative motivation.  Most people with my issues have low rates of high school and college graduation.  Most go into adulthood never finding full-time employment and financial independence.  It has meant the world to me walk away from just one class at ACA knowing I can start to put that fear behind me and knowing that dropping out of college wasn’t the biggest mistake of my life.  Now I have a real skill and I can make a real career that pays while doing something I love.  My friends and family have never been happier for me.

I took one star off just for the little things they’re dealing with as a new company.  They could be a little more organized and communicative.  Office hours are sort of required and I'd appreciate more flexibility there.  It would also be nice to see more women working at ACA.  As I point out these things, I cannot go without saying that the founders and teachers clearly are always trying to work out any kinks in the system and that matters so much.  They’re invested in student opinion (anonymous surveys, discussion), doing what’s best for the students, and changing stuff when they see it needs changing.  

I would highly recommend ACA.  It’s absolutely worth the money.  It cost me a lot less than college and I walked out with a lot more.  I also had a lot of fun.  I’m looking forward to taking the intermediate class.

The advanced class (working with Mongo, Express, React and Node ) instructor did a phenomenal job of guiding us along the way while teaching you to be independent and job-ready.  In addition, the career services team is an exceptional asset to the program, as they give you personal feedback on your resume/cover letters/etc. to be job search ready. Thanks to their help and the modern curriculum, I accepted a job offer less than a month after graduation! This program is tough, but anyone willing to work hard will be successful.

I have a lot of great things to say about ACA, but want to leave an honest review for other individuals like myself who are looking to take courses in coding. 

First off the entire factulty and staff is awesome. If you're looking for 1:1 attention this is the place for you. They make sure every issue, question, and conern is addressed. 

I've taken all three classes. The intro class was fantastic. Learned a ton, the instructor and the TA were great too. They really did everything they could to make sure we were learning the material. 

The intermediate and advanced class, I can't say the same thing. This is where things went south for me in this program.

The hardest part that I found about going through ACA is that they put way too much emphasis on you actually understanding what is going on in the prework. They expect you to go into class understanding everything. For myself, without a technical/coding background the prework to me was very confusing in itself. By the time you start your first class they expect you to be an expert on prework and jump right into the material. For people with a coding background, I'm sure that's great because you're probably looking to take this class to expand what you already know and don't want to sit around waiting for a beginner like myself to get up to speed. But for someone like myself who knew nothing, I didn't understand anything a lot of the concepts and was already behind on the first day of class. I was playing catch up the entire time. I ended up having to pay for tutors and online material to teach me the basic fundamentals that ACA assumed you understood from the prework. My understanding was that my tuition money was going to actually go towards an instructor teaching me fundamentals, but it wasn't. 

For me, this method of teaching wasn't what I needed. I needed to start from nothing and build up from there with an actual instructor, not from a free codeschool class. I honestly learned more for Udemy and my tutor than I did from ACA. 

For those of you who already have a good background with coding, then I would highly suggest this course. Everyone I was in class with that already had a good background in it loved the classes and were really succesful in learning everything. 

Hope this review helps!