Bov Academy

Title says it all. [Sentence redacted with personal information]. You get no assistance and all promises are broken. I regret joining this program and have only negative things to say about it. I am very disappointed and frustrated with my experience and absolutely nothing they say will make it up except a refund which I know I won't get because they have told me they are bankrupt which I know is another big lie. I have reported this fake institution to the FTC already and I hope they are taken down as soon as possible. Total waste of my time and money and endless frustration. Do not be fooled by their marketing because I am warning others out there that this place is a total fraud.

DO NOT RECOMMEND SAVE YOUR MONEY AND TIME!!!!

Bov Academy puts in place a curriculum that sets it apart from other traditional schools, bootcamps, and "learn to code courses". Thus, setting its students apart from the rest of the crowd. From the structure, courses, and projects you work on, everything is there to ensure you become the best programmer you can be. Not only did I learn the technology and gain the knowledge offered by the Bov Academy staff, I gained the confidence and tools needed to become a very proud engineer. Everything is really comprehensive so be ready to work hard, give your all, and Bov Academy will put you on the immensely rewarding path to becoming the developer you want to be and one that others envy.

The problem is that "Richard" absolutely refuses to reveal himself.  Not once has he published a video or done anything live for the students.   "Richard" has many theories, doesn't teach and only writes very, very, very posts urging everyone to work hard.    No one has any idea who he is.  Perhaps "Richard" is not even a real person.    It would really dispel tons of problems if has video conference for his *paying* students.   Before you sign up, ask for a video conference with "Richard" and judge for yourself.

The problem is that "Richard" absolutely refuses to reveal himself.  Not once has he published a video or done anything live for the students.   "Richard" has many theories, doesn't teach and only writes very, very, very posts urging everyone to work hard.    No one has any idea who he is.  Perhaps "Richard" is not even a real person.    It would really dispel tons of problems if has video conference for his *paying* students.   Before you sign up, ask for a video conference with "Richard" and judge for yourself.

The best thing about Bov Academy is the sales copy on their website, because it's convincing people like myself to sign up.

Let me explain...

I've been "in the loop" with Bov Academy since it was Modern Developer which was probably 2+ years ago now.

Since then, the career paths have changed at least 3 times. From well known paths like "Front End Developer" to never heard of paths like "Futuristic Developer" and now "Algorithmologist" (wat?)

Read through the copy on their site and if you know a little about marketing/persuasion/etc. you'll see that it's piled on heavy. I get it. They need to get students. The problem is it's totally unsubstantiated. Bov wants to create world changers. Noble, but never gonna happen at this rate. How can you change the world when you can't settle on the direction of the company?

Now lets talk about Richard Bovell, the founder and CEO. Google him. Find a picture of him. Find a trace of him other than a thin LinkedIn profile.

Even on his javascriptissexy.com website you cannot find out who this guy REALLY is.

https://javascriptissexy.com/about/
https://bovacademy.com/about.html
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-bovell

The strange anonymity doesn't end there. Any emails to Bov are always signed by the department fielding the email - never a person. Probably because it's the same person.

If this is a privacy issue - you're in the wrong business. You want people to fork over thousands of dollars to a dude with a cartoon-looking avatar? Compare this to damn near any other program. The founders aren't hiding behind vague profiles and no pictures.

I wonder if he's even real LOL.

What's sad is now the students turned staff are following suit.

Most of the glowing reviews here are from the same folks plastered all over the Bov website...and again students turned staff. These are the ones working on the company website, they're also the most active folks in the forums.

Bov claims to be "Education 5.0". If education 5.0 is a lousy learning platform - and the same ol' read articles-->complete exercises-->post questions in a forum...pray for us all. I'd call that Education 0.1.

This is literally exactly what damn near every boot camp does.

They describe the course format as "Our students take our courses online using our integrated platform." That means text-based articles with embedded codepen examples. Ho hum.

Look, that's all fine and dandy - but they're the ones claiming to be the future of web development and are falling wayyyyyy short of that promise.

One day they're the most comprehensive program ever...the next it's "oh we're giving you all too much material, we've cut it back to be more manageable". This is because folks weren't able to complete the courses.

The learning platform is buggy. Heck, just logging in takes 57 clicks on the "login" button for it to work.

There are parts of the platform that simply do not work. Not very confidence inspiring from the folks who are supposed to teach you/me who to code/program.

The course changes result in downstream issues such as the repos you're to work with no longer exist, or have been moved.

Bov seems to constantly shoot for the stars, but barely get off the launching pad. For example, they'll announce their next 5-10 blog posts and when they'll be published...this rarely happens on time if at all.

There was supposed to be some other hyped up projects that never became anything: Know, Encyclopedia, and Knewro

These were touted as being heaven sent solutions to developer resources (think stack overflow,) and I think something about developer health.

Encyclopedia kind happened, except no one uses it or contributes (its been years since anything was added).

Today, Bov claims to offer these career paths:
Frontend Engineer
Backend Engineer
Fullstack Engineer
AI Fullstack Engineer
Algorithms Engineer
Autonomous Engineer
Algorithmologist

These changes also apply to tuition which has ranged from a set price, to offering pay-later options, to now offering a monthly payment plan.

In reality though, the only courses they really offer are Frontend and Backend... AND - some don't even have a start date! Are you seeing the pattern?

They've offered "Get a High-Paying Job (Guaranteed) and $2,000 Graduation Bonus"...what happened to that?

Oh, look what I just found: https://aihumanity.com/coming-soon.html

LOL coming in August 2018. August ends in 10 days. Don't hold your breath signing up for...what?..dunno...your guess is as good as mine.

Way back when Bov (then Modern Developer) started there was supposed to be a book/course on "grit" - the stuff you need to push through any difficulty. It never materialized.

Bov Academy needs to decide who/what they are and stick with it. They need to keep their word on what they say they are going to do.

Yes, I am/was an enrolled paying student. It didn't take long after signing up to realize this was nothing new/special/ground-breaking as the sales copy would have you believe.

Yes, I regret the decision and the significant amount I paid to enroll. It was not worth it.

I would not recommend this program. There are too many other options which cost less/offer more and do not leave you with all these unanswered questions.

In closing (and to be fair)... the course material isn't awful. Some is pretty good. It just doesn't live up to the hype and can be found for less money on more stable/reputable platforms.

Okay, okay, I get it.  You're looking at these reviews and you're confused.  There's great reviews, good reviews but with a lot of caveats, bad reviews, etc.  I'm trying to look at this from the approach of someone considering the program, and it all seems pretty overwhelming.

I'm here to help.  I'm going to focus less on if Bov Academy is a good program or a bad program.  In fact, I'll get this out of the way: if that's what you're looking for, it's really good.  End review.  

I'm going to instead try to give you a small window into what it's like to be a Bov Academy student.

I've done the traditional education route.  4 year Bachelor's degree from a Major State University.  Double Major.  Graduated with Honors.  Despite my overall success, I felt my experience with such an institute was a mostly fruitless societal exercise.  I needed that piece of paper to participate in the adult world.  The material leading up to it, with some exception, was as pointless as it was out of my control.  I had little agency in my education and was obtaining no marketable skills.

The traditional educational system is outdated and provides, at best, minimal value.  Bov Academy is at the front lines of what I think, and hope, will be a renaissance in the very approach to education.

As is often the case with with any disruptive force, some unintended damage has occurred along the way.  This has made the journey an occasional struggle for early students, but has made the goals no less rewarding.

## Timing of the Program

Bov Academy (originally Modern Developer) was advertised as an online alternative to coding Bootcamps. The program advertised students could make $50 - 70 thousand a year with just six to eight months of instruction.  This has not been the case for the first cohort.

This has, as you can see in other reviews, been the cause of some much deserved strife amongst students. 

There's some important background to why and how this happened.

For one, the founder honestly underestimated how long it would take some students to get through courses.  Two, some courses were more comprehensive then they needed to be based on the value they brought to the students.  The founder has recognized this and scaled these courses back.

Here's the big piece of the puzzle though- which really cinched my dedication to the program.  Founder Richard Bovell really wants you to succeed.  Not just in the program, but in the work you do after the program.

Richard doesn't want you to eye a Junior Developer job, like the Bootcamps semi-prepare you for- he wants you to eye that Senior Developer job.

Richard decided that the program, as was currently designed, did not prepare students for the REALLY high paying jobs.  So he announced advanced and expert programs.  The price and the time for graduation raised with this change.

I know what you're thinking, "WHAT?  NO WAY!"

Here's the thing, Richard immediately announced that all current students- who had paid considerably less- would be taking the advanced courses- and some of the expert courses, FREE OF CHARGE.

Now, try to imagine for a moment a traditional school doing this.

"Hey, we realize the value of these Bachelor degrees are going down, so we're going to let every student here get their Masters and start their Doctorate for free."

Would it be disruptive to students to find out they were suddenly further away from graduation?  Absolutely.

Ultimately, though, such an institution would be doing right by its students.  This is a scenario that I would normally say "that would never happen."

Except it did happen- at Bov Academy.  Richard did right by us.

I'm going to be the first to tell you- if you're goal is to be some sort of web developer in five months, this is not the program for you.  If you're goal is to be a great developer- read on.

To Richards credit, he is constantly updating the material and finding ways to allow students to get to graduation at a faster rate, but only in ways that will NOT affect the quality of education.  As things are now, if you can dedicate full time to the program, I do believe you could complete it in 9 - 10 months.

##Educational Structure

Traditional Colleges give you a destination and tell you to not crash before you reach it.  How you get there or if the trip was valuable is of no importance.  Bootcamps fly you where you want to go on a jet and tell you to try to remember the details from the birds-eye view.

Bov Academy gives you a map, a guide, and says "Find your way and we'll be here when you arrive."

In my experience, most courses were excellent, a handful of courses were good, and only one course- which has since been updated- was problematic.

Courses are posted in sequence at an educational portal and you can complete them at your pace.  The exercises and projects do a great job of solidifying the course material.  A "QA" message board is available to ask questions if you're stuck, and there's almost always someone available to help.  Yes, even at 2AM.

Mentor programs and 1:1 training sessions are also available on sign up.

##Communication Skills

Bov Academy will provide you with a fantastic web development education, but you may be surprised to hear that the program also places a lot of emphasis on communication skills and writing.  I had a lot of these skills coming in- I was a writer and an administrative assistant before I came to Bov Academy- but I still found the course material helpful and able to provide improvements in this regard.

I have seen a huge jump in skill level from the other students.  Yes, there were students, besides myself, who came to the program with this particular skill set, but I have a seen exceptional improvements in the communication of those who did not.

As a member of the community, I had originally found myself taking a role where I would go through threads on QA and attempt to present forum topics in a way that was a bit easier to digest and more comprehensive.

This is not something I do anymore.  It's not needed.  Within three months, the students who came in without previous communication experience had caught up.

##An Evolving Education

Technology is in constant flux, and appropriately, so is the course material on Bov Academy.  Richard is very open to suggestions.  Recently, many students noted they wanted to learn GULP, a build system quickly gaining in popularity.  Richard's response "you asked for it, you'll get it."  GULP has been added to the technologies covered.

The structure also encourages a lot of agency not provided at most traditional colleges.  This is actually my favorite part of the program.  For example, an early assignment had us create a specific project on GitHub.  Before I received this assignment I already had an idea for a personal project I intended to post on GitHub.  I wrote the Bov Academy staff and asked if I could work on my own project instead.  The staff responded with a list of skills they wanted to see demonstrated but then added, "If your project shows you've obtained those skills, create whatever you want."

I'm a creative type, so I frequently want to design my own thing instead of what the assignment asked me to.  It's become not uncommon for me to write Richard and say "can I do this other thing that requires the same skills instead?"  

I can't remember a time Richard said no.

##Availability of the Program Founder

You may be thinking, "This Richard guy sure is mentioned a lot."

Richard is the founder of Bov Academy and he makes himself extremely, impressively accessible to students.  He responds to every single question/e-mail/QA post a student requests his input on.  Literally every single one.

My first week in the program I wrote to Richard about a small course issue.  I expected to get pre-written spoon fed instructions from an intern or assistant.  Nope.  Richard wrote back within 6 hours: a two page, comprehensive response.  I was blown away.

Even at the time I expected Richard to be a figure that would gradually fade away.  Not at all. At this point, I probably spend more time talking to Richard then my parents.  I'm always yakking away at him asking- through some virtual means- for his advice regarding some aspect of the program.

Richard responds, supportively, every single time.

Honestly, I have no idea how the guy does it.

#Part Time Students

Do you have a full-time job?  Kids?  Do you run a traveling circus six months out of the year?

This is the program for you.  Seriously.  I would not even consider something else.

I am not a full-time student.  I have about five lives I manage, and they don't always mesh very well.

I've still been able to get through the program at a steady rate.  I am only slightly behind my full-time peers.

The ability to work remotely and not have to travel to a specific location- or be available at a specific time- to attend school is absolutely what has made this all possible.  There is no way I'd be able to accomplish any of this at an on-site college.

Now, straight up, if this is your situation- you won't finish in six to nine months.  But you **will* complete the program, and come out an exceptional software engineer.

If you find yourself in a situation that could temporarily halt your studies, just email Richard and let him know.  I can personally attest he is very supportive and understanding.  He really does want you to succeed.

A bit about me

I was an above average employee in an IT firm with more than 5 years of experience in my field before I joined Bov Academy. One very fine day, as I was researching upon a few articles for my work at my job, when I stumbled upon this very good article on http://javascriptissexy.com. 

There was this side note about Bov Academy (called Modern Developer at that time). Though I couldn't check it out at that time due to my deadline to complete work, I went online as soon as I came back home and tried to learn everything about this program. I had to because I had to literally pitch this program to my family before I invest in it and in my career.

I really thank my stars that I finally made the decision to join this program. I have never looked back since then and I have gained so much from this program, that I would otherwise not have even thought about if I would continued in my career as is.

About Bov Academy
Although many have said and still say that the program is taking longer than advertised, I don't mind that and would advise anyone reading this to not get perturbed by this fact that it is taking longer for us to graduate.

It was ought to be this long. I thought about it even before joining the program. This was the very first cohort, the cohort which would have laid foundation for future cohorts. Everyone who joined the first cohort was told that since we are in the first cohort it will be a responsibility besides being a privilege. We had to give the program time to mature and also our effort and suggestions to help make it mature for future cohorts. And believe me the program has come ahead by leaps and bounds.

No program is perfect since the very first day and this program was no exception. But if we compare it with any other program, I am sure you will find that this has matured most rapidly, thanks to invaluable suggestions from many students and even more for Richard (CEO of Bov Academy) to accept all those were viable and acceptable. Had he not been that receptive, the program might not have taken flight in the first place.

The program now is of much shorter duration thanks to all the suggested and accepted changes in the program. (I describe those a little later, below.)

The Course Program
Although I was a software engineer by profession, Computer Science and Software Development wasn't my major but my minor in college (I probably took only 2-3 courses in my entire 4 year program). Still I was an enthusiastic student (I will consider myself a student always. There's always something to learn). I was a good performer in my job and I got many laurels and applauds and promotions, all because I was eager to learn.

The course program here are Bov Academy has taught me many things. I proudly say that what I have learnt so far in the program in last one year, I wouldn't have learned in more than two years had I continued the way I was in my job before the program.

The program is not to be compared to any 2-3 month, even 6 month long bootcamps. In bootcamps you have to prep prior to joining and learn so many things even before you join. But here at Bov Academy, we have a vast breadth of students with even more vast breadth of backgrounds. We have students who did not know the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript but now are excelling in the program. We have students who have different professional experiences and students who are yet to see what out there in the professional job market. And yet, they all are learning so much in the program.

The program teaches from the very basics of core languages HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to very advanced levels including but not limited to HTML5 Advanced features, Advanced Document Object Model, CSS Flexbox, Object Oriented JavaScript, React, etc. The program also teaches us the "Art of Frontend Development", the "Art of Programming", the "Art of Problem Solving" and the "Art of Architecting Web Applications". Apart from the core languages, the program also teaches about Git (the Version Control System), many of the Web World Concepts like Style Guide Driven Development, Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA), Computer Networks, Internet Domains, the works. A complete and holistic program. The most comprehensive curriculum of its kind. I don't think there is any other program that is this much comprehensive and extensive. 

We also got into and are building many real-world projects all different from one another. This ought to go into our resumes and make us ready for the upcoming job search. We will also get proper guidance when that happens. Because of the comprehensive and rigorous education, graduating from this program is a prestigious feat in itself.

The Changes Underway in the Program

• New instructors and Newly Devised Project Review Structure: Five new instructors (some of whom happen to be our most empathetic, meticulous, and studious students) and a new project-review process has been put into place. Two instructors now review every major project (more thorough review than any similar program provides) to help students develop refined professional UIs and write professional-grade code.

• Very close-knit community of students and instructors: A Question-Answer platform like StackOverflow was in place since the start of the program. It is now being used effectively to ensure every student gets comprehensive and timely help. There are also plans to revamp QA and add more features to it in the near future.

• The courses are updated to be as good as any that can be found online and even expert videos and instructions are being embedded alongside the written courses. There are videos from top experts, including Frontend Masters.

• Much quicker graduation with the ability to skip courses:  The students in new cohorts will also have the ability to skip some courses if they already know the concepts. Though I personally won't recommend that as there is always something new to learn even if one knows the concepts.

• Build real-world projects and real-world apps, including paid real-world projects: There will be many opportunities to build real world projects that will help getting the correct kind of professional experience and experience in working in real competitive environments and teams.

• And many more..

Other Features

There are many other features of the program which all can't be described in a single review. I and in fact any first cohort student and even more the CEO of the program can be contacted directly to get more information about the program. You can check out answer by Richard (CEO of Bov Academy) on Quora. 

Last Words

I am excited and all the way grateful that I am part of such a program which taught me so many things. I am currently part of the first cohort in Frontend Engineer course and soon after I graduate from this, I'll be joining the Backend Engineer course to become a Fullstack Developer.

I have received about three emails so far, with an average of 8 questions about Bov Academy (BA), which I replied to. I thought I should write my review here as well to help anyone else who may need some information about BA.

Me, before joining BA

I was working as a Teaching Assistant at a University, facilitating courses on Website Design and Databases. I was covering the absolute introductory basics in these courses. I wanted to teach the advanced topics while making money on the side as a freelance web developer. I sought out for a program so comprehensive right from a beginner to an advanced level. I landed on some online three months program that cost $500 to complete. Just as I was about to pay for it, I was introduced to one of their instructors, who came from the same city as myself. This instructor advised that I use the cheaply available resources on the web rather than pay a huge sum of money (yes, $500 is a huge sum in my local currency) to get what you can get at $10 (Udemy) or even freely. My search for a comprehensive education ended when I landed onto the javascriptissexy.com blog by the CEO of BA himself.

A new student at a new programming school

BA, like a newborn baby, was new at the time. No history, no current students, no graduates (none as of yet) to get any helpful information. Totally nothing except the information on their website at the time (learn.moderndeveloper.com). It is so difficult to believe mere information without any some form of backup but I am glad I took the bold decision. Convinced by their curriculum, I didn't care much about anything else. I told myself if only I could get 60% of the knowledge this school is promising.

Surely, the start was not good. We experienced many delays like opening day, content release etc. As time passed by, everything started smoothening out and studying was normal. BA's early days, IMHO are no longer important as no baby walks out of its mother's womb, so I will got straight to my review.

The Curriculum

This is the best part of BA, the reason I enrolled in the program. I have never seen such a comprehensive curriculum. Having worked in the academia, I know that schools do a lot of benchmarking for the curriculums of their programs, and I have been involved in it myself. The people at BA surely did their due diligence to come up with such a curriculum for a complete developer. The curriculum is summarized into courses on their website but each of the courses (speaking of those I have completed so far) is comprehensive enough to enable a student to understand and master concepts deeply. Of course, there are cases where outside reading from the official documentation is recommended or at times required in some course chapters.

The other great thing about the curriculum is, new course chapters or even entire courses are added to reflect the fast-changing world of modern development. For example, at the time I joined, we did not have anything on Webpack, ES6 among others. Video material is also being introduced for the visual learner (I am not one). Moreover, some of these will be from Frontend Masters to reemphasize some topics.

When going through the courses, you are required to complete one chapter at a time, giving you a systematic yet flexible (you can skip a chapter) approach to your personal development. Chapter after chapter, project after project, your confidence builds up. Half way into the program, I feel confident already developing any UI.

The Instructors

This is where BA struggled a bit. Students usually need a helping hand, if possible, as and when they need it. Although instructors (not the authors of the content) were available, their response time was not as good as one would have liked. But why am I rating Instructors gauge with 5 stars? It is because BA has made some important changes that I feel are really great. Having taught for 5yrs at a University, I have learned that some students learn even better from fellow students than straight from their professors. Student instructors have been introduced to help in reviewing other student projects and code. These are not just any students, they are among the best students in the program who have proved time and again on BA's Question and Answer forum how good they are in helping out other students with thorough answers to questions or review of their projects. Of course, there are professional developer instructors with whom students can have contact if they prefer that professional touch.

Job Assistance

Currently, no student has graduated yet. The students at the front of the program should start graduating from June 2017. I expect to graduate in September 2017. Although it seems difficult to judge BA on Job Assistance, this is what I have gathered so far:

• BA has many internal projects that its own students are not enough to work on them. These serve as good internship opportunities once you have graduated. It is said that these will be paid internship positions.
• BA solicits for paid projects from external companies that students can work on in teams or individually.
• Besides the above, the numerous real world project assignments, hackathons, non-paid real world side projects all contribute to your portfolio. These would make up for 1 - 2 years of experience required on many jobs. By the way, most public projects (BA website itself, Blog, Students Website etc were developed and being maintained by students)

So how is all that Job Assistance? I have not talked about the interview preparations and other job seeker assistance lined up, not mentioning the team said to be waiting to place graduates into highly rewarding positions. I can't really say much about those because I have not experienced them, although I know it is something waiting to happen.

The experience itself at BA is comparable to a work environment. For example, the projects you work on are real-world. The work you do in teams gives you the experience of working with remote teams in different time zones, giving you the opportunity to improve how you communicate and work with others remotely. The tools used are what are used in the workplace. You get to use all of Slack, Trello, Github among other specific ones the team may choose to use. All these contribute to Job Assistance. You can, therefore, look at the job assistance at the end of the program as simply cementing the job training you have been going through right from the start.

Overall Experience

Overall, it has been a great experience so far and it gets even better as I progress through the program. I guess because the foundation knowledge has been well laid. I have learned a lot already, more than what I could have learned if I tried to do it on my own. The numerous exercises in each chapter solidify knowledge and great for filling any gaps, the project assignments at the end of each chapter give me an opportunity to apply my knowledge creatively in solving a problem. The hackathons are the intense periods while in the program. It's when you get out of your comfort work schedule into one that matches your team.

BA's Question and Answer forum is full of really helpful students. You could ask a question as seemingly simple as What really is a variable, and you will get a detailed answer without responses like, "But that is covered in Chapter X". You could post just about anything, even if it is to get some emotional support or encouragment. :)

My Simple Advice

You need to be seriously committed and determined in putting the effort required to reap the benefits of a comprehensive education at BA. You do not need to quit your job to concentrate on the studies, just be committed to the effort you put in. For example, although the website says you should put in 4 - 5hrs each day, you can do just fine with 1 - 2hrs each day depending on your work schedule, the level of your experience or your learning abilities. There will be days when this program will kick your butt, but your determination and commitment will see you through, I have seen some students fall behind and struggle to play catch up and start to look out for any easy way out just to complete the program.

______________

Get in already, come out an exceptional developer. I am already getting there.

When I came into the program I didn't know much about JavaScript or HTML/CSS for that matter but I wanted to pursue a more rewarding career. I ran into the program as I was studying some JavaScript and saw that it was a much cheaper option compared to most Bootcamps for the amount of material that is covered. The courses have been mostly great with a few hiccups but feedback has been taken into account and has been made better.  The bottom line is this, Bov Academy will teach you the things you need to know but what you get out of it is what you put into it. Don't expect to just spend money on a program and become a developer you have to put in the work to become better.