Fullstack Academy Reviews
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Samer
Outstanding
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I still cannot believe how well designed and executed this program is. The curriculum is current and continuously being updated to ensure that it meets market needs and delivers the most cutting edge skill set. This is taken very seriously, so you can trust that what you're learning has been well thought out and planned. The structure of the curriculum itself is conducive to learning a lot in a short amount of time, which is largely driven by a perfect balance between lectures and immediately applying what you learned in workshops both individually and in pairs. In addition, the second half of this program is entirely dedicated to working on multi-day and multi-week projects to reinforce everything you learned prior and build on top of that knowledge. This not only results in knowing the stack very well, but more importantly, being able to independently learn new technologies and know how and when to apply them.
The quality of the instruction blew me away, truly. Shoutout to Geoff, Omri and Dakota! Way better than any professor I ever had at university. All teachers have a deep knowledge of the stack they're teaching and know how to break down complex concepts and explain them clearly and concisely. Every lecture is well planned and delivered. Teachers are patient and 110% committed to ensuring every student succeeds. In fact, the entire staff at Fullstack is wholly committed to going above and beyond to meet each student's needs.
The last 2 weeks have a huge focus on ensuring students are ready to start searching for jobs on the right foot upon completing the program. There is an entire career services team dedicated solely to this and whether you want to or not, they will make sure you are ready to job hunt. They will help with Linkedin, resume, portfolio, interview prep, and probably anything else you ask.
As many reviews on here already mention, all of the above is contingent on you working very hard. There is only so much a bootcamp can do. Ultimately, you need to mentally prepare yourself for an intense but highly rewarding experience. Overall, highly recommend!
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Dustin
Very Good Curriculum
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I graduated from FSA in July 2018, and I am very happy with my experience and the outcomes of the program. The curriculum was very well structured, and prepares you for a lifetime of learning (which is very important in this industry). The instructors were very kind and willing to help. They had relevant experience and were always willing to shed light on specific aspects of working as a developer.
I received and accepted a job offer within 1 1/2 months of finishing the program, and I was able to connect with my employer through career services at FSA.
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Jaime
Wild 3 Months =)
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Before attending Fullstack Academy I was working as a chemical process engineer for a manufacturing company. I enjoyed my job, but was definitely looking for a new challenge and wanted to find something that made me actually excited to go to work. I had worked quite a bit in process controls programming and really, really enjoyed it. In my last job I got a bit more exposure to writing VBA and working with contractors on database design and decided computer programming seemed like a great next career!
I began a programming certificate track at Northwestern and LOVED it, but decided it was too slow and didn’t go deep enough. I then began considering going back for a second BS degree or a Masters, when I learned about bootcamps. It seemed like the clear choice for me as a career changer who was really not interested in a few more years of school. I applied to multiple programs in the area and decided that based on offered curriculum and general schedule and reputation, Fullstack was the right choice for me.
I AM SO GLAD I MADE THAT CHOICE. I absolutely LOVED the instructors at Fullstack in Chicago, they had incredibly interesting real world experience and were able to explain things in a straightforward, easy to understand way. I also really liked that they focused on helping you find the answer instead of just giving it to you, they seemed truly invested in your education and success. I also really loved the cohort I was in, because the admissions process is a bit more selective than other programs, you get people who really want to learn and are willing to put in the work in the actual class. Everyone was amazing and smart and helpful and it was a true team atmosphere.
The curriculum moves FAST and the coursework is very challenging, most of the time it felt like a tornado of information but at the end you somehow know what you are doing, it was crazy.
At the end of the program they host a “Launch Day” where they invite a few companies in to watch us present our capstone projects and have mini speed-dating like interviews with the students. I ended up getting 2 job offers out of Launch Day and decided to join KnowledgeHound where I am currently working as a Full Stack Jr Software Engineer…using more python than javascript. I feel like it was easy to pick up the new language and start contributing quickly. My boss had planned on me working on a few smaller side projects for the first 3 months while I got up to speed, but I finished them all within the first 3 weeks and was able to join the main tech team on the major feature projects. I’d say I was well prepared to get in and start adding value. I do wish I had learned a bit more using the command line, but I actually think Fullstack added that to the curriculum the cohort after me.
The career assistance was kind of as expected I think? I think if you are newer to the more professional job search it is incredibly helpful (many of my fellow classmates really, really thought the info was very useful), if you have gone through a few rounds of job searching it is not terribly groundbreaking…again, as expected. Though there definitely is great insight into the tech hiring community, so I think there is added value for anyone.
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Bronwyn H.
Absolutely Amazed
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It's difficult to encapsulate the transformative experience I've had at the Grace Hopper program at Fullstack Academy in a few words, but I'll try! I have never before experienced an educational environmental that condensed such a high amount of marketable skills in such a short time frame. This however, would not be possible without the incredible instructors and helpful fellows who are determined to see EVERY student succeed. This is also evident with the deferred tuition plan that comes with participating in the Grace Hopper program. This means that Fullstack is so invested in your potential that they will not accept payments unless you have received a developer or software engineering role within a year. Within just 5 months I have gone from for loops to full stack applications that non technical users can enjoy. And even with an undergraduate education, I can honestly say this has been the most rewarding educational experiences I have ever had. If you enjoy coding and want to push yourself to the next level, Grace Hopper will not disappoint.
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Kevin
Graduate
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Amazing bootcamp. Having come from a computer science background I thought that it would be easy, that was not the case. The courses were well taught, so much so that the students without any computer science background were on par with myself. The people there were also so helpful and amazing. I highly recommend this bootcamp to anyone who is interested in a bootcamp, it is clearly a cut above the rest.
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Johnny Cheng
Mr
Some of the best 13 weeks ever spent. The instructors are fun, informative, and helpful, and I definitely learned a lot in my time here. I also had a good time and feel it was a time well spent.
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Nirali
Best career move
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After working in human resources for over five years, I realized I wasn’t finding my work fulfilling. I switched roles, switched companies, but I just wasn’t a fan of being on the sidelines as a support function. I’ve been casually coding as a hobby for a while and my family encouraged me to research how to make the switch from HR to software development. I knew I didn’t want to be out of the workforce for too long so the bootcamp route was perfect for me. I did lots of research in figuring out which Chicago-based bootcamp was for me and from what I saw, Fullstack was a step above the rest. Most bootcamps are three months long, but the admissions process and level of difficulty for Fullstack was much more advanced than the other bootcamps I looked into. To me this meant that by the time I graduated, I would be in a much better position to land the right role. I went through Bootcamp Prep and spent most nights and weekends learning how to code to really make sure this was the right move for me.
The immersive is broken into two phases - junior phase and senior phase. In junior phase, we learned the fullstack (Postgres, Express, Node, React, Redux) in just six weeks. The program is structured with very few lectures and more hands-on pair-programming, which is great. Everyday we built something new, learned different ways to debug, and overall learned how to think about the challenges of our work. As someone who doesn’t come from a technical background, junior phase was really challenging. I learned quickly to get comfortable with the feeling of being confused and overwhelmed. Thankfully the students in senior phase would reassure me to trust the process and keep at it. The curriculum is set up so students have enough touch points to the important concepts to ensure they stick, there’s checkpoints to make sure we’re keeping up with everything we’ve learned, and the Teaching Fellows do a great job of breaking down difficult concepts and guiding students when we got stuck. Senior phase was my favorite. We started every morning with white board questions that helped prep us for job interviews. During the six weeks of senior phase, I built four projects (an e-commerce site, a news analysis web tool, a texting chat bot, and a mobile app) that used all the information I learned in junior phase and then some. It really helped build my confidence and diversify my portfolio of work. We also got personalized career success help to prepare us for the interview process. I really valued the help I got, but coming from HR, I do think that career success is an area that could use a little more focus (and I know the Chicago campus is already working on it). That said, I had two offers within a month of graduating and really love the work I do now.
Overall, I loved my experience with Fullstack. It’s challenging and difficult, but so rewarding. If you’re seriously thinking about a career in software development, I would highly recommend it.
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Emily Drevets
All Bootcamps Are Flawed, but FullStack Chicago Is Pretty Good
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SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR PEOPLE CONSIDERING BOOTCAMPS:
Be warned about General Assembly, Coding Dojo, or Northwestern bootcamps. These do not have good reputations. You may have a good outcome, but there are better options out there.
Ask yourself some questions:
- Can you get your company to pay for this? Can you get a scholarship to pay for this?
- Do you really need to do an in-person, immersive bootcamp? Can you start taking on engineering projects at your current work? Even having one professional project in your portfolio will go a long way to helping you in the job search.
- Is there a way for you to start learning more now on your own? Do you have to do this right now? You will get more out of FullStack the more you know already.
- Do you actually like software engineering / programming?
- Are you ready to work your ass off in bootcamp and then work twice as hard afterwards to get a job as a junior software developer when most companies are looking for people with more experience and might have negative connotations with bootcamp grads?
- Have you talked to a student from the bootcamp that you want to go to in the during, right after, 3 months after, and 6 months after phase?
Why I chose bootcamp:
- I wanted a rapid change and was ready to be in an in-person environment after working from home for 3 years.
- I wanted to get paid to write code, and I wanted to make that change happen as fast as possible.
Why I chose FullStack:
- Seemed like the best coding bootcamp option in Chicago.
- Grace Hopper track meant I paid $3000 up front and then the rest later.
What I wish I’d known about bootcamps before:
- Job market is not geared towards people with bootcamp-type backgrounds, even though they are very prevalent. There are a ton of jobs for people with more experience, though, so I know that as soon as I get two years under my belt, the recruiters will be banging down my door.
- The more you know going into bootcamp, the more you can get out of it. (I knew this, but still wanted to make a change. I’d been studying on my own for like a year or so before I went, but I wish I’d built some small projects and/or had more experience with computer science fundamentals.
Advice to FullStack Chicago:
- Be more selective. Do not let people in who do not actually love coding or would not try to learn this stuff on their own. Don't let in the get-rich-quickers.
- Be more transparent. Telling students to "trust the process" when they put $15k + on the line and are taking a big risk is not helpful.
- Also, treat students like adults, because that's what we are. We should know why deadlines exist and the reasoning behind the structure of the program and its curriculum.
- Care about your students more OR change your model so that you have fewer students or cohorts and can care more about them.
- Do NOT market yourself as an easy way to career change and start making a bunch of money. Software engineering is NOT EASY. The people who will do the best are smart and driven and will use FullStack as a way to continue launching themselves somewhere that they already want to go.
- Double / triple / quadruple down on your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Did I get what I wanted?
Yes. I think so. I only graduated a month ago and have a PT software engineering apprenticeship that I got through a connection from FullStack, so that's awesome. It'll be interesting to see where things go over the next several months and years.
I kind of wish I'd been more patient and taken time to learn and do more on my own before a bootcamp, maybe taking on engineering projects at work, but I waited too long and then I was too eager to get out of there and make the change.
I also kind of wish I'd bit the bullet and moved to NY for the Grace Hopper NY experience. It would have been awesome to get to work with more ladies (there were only 3 others in my cohort of 19).
Would I do it again? Right now, I'm fairly happy with my experience. It was a good time, and I met some awesome people in my cohort, and I'm getting paid to code. Ask me again in a year what I think about it. The outlook may be rosier.
So, while FullStack is not your software engineering fairy godmother and will not turn you into a programmer overnight, it can help highly motivated students get to where they want to go faster.
Good luck!
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Erika Weil
Well worth the investment
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Before attending Grace Hopper, I was working as a music teacher and freelance musician. I’ve always had an interest in engineering and computers, and as I was debating acceptances to a few graduate programs in music, I decided to also look into computer programming as a possible career path. I’m now enjoying my first few weeks as a professional full stack software engineer, and I couldn’t be more grateful to Grace Hopper/Fullstack Academy for the quality of training I received. The curriculum includes information, training and practice for learning how to develop full stack web applications. Even though my job requires me to code in Go and not in JavaScript, the technical skills I gained at Grace Hopper are applicable to my current work. Also, the soft skills I learned through the guidance of my teachers, pair-programming in workshops, and collaborative work on my projects are invaluable to communicating with my coworkers. One of my favorite parts about attending Grace Hopper was getting to know my cohort-mates. The women I met at Grace Hopper are smart, fierce, and driven, but always managed to built me up instead of tearing me down. This has continued after graduation. I listed a project group member as a reference on my job applications, and continue to communicate with my cohort-mates as we start our jobs. I’ve also found that the support of the Grace Hopper/Fullstack network extends beyond just my cohort. After relocating to Chicago, I reached out to some alumni in the area and everyone I contacted responded positively, willing to help however they could. Attending Grace Hopper was expensive, but the fact is that I am much happier as a software engineer than I ever was as a music teacher, and I am earning about double my previous salary. I truly could not have gotten to where I am now without the support of my teachers, mentors and fellow students at Grace Hopper/Fullstack, and I believe it was an investment that has already paid off.
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Luke Miller
Attended Bootcamp Prep in a Month
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I recently finished Fullstack Prep in July 2018, a part time course designed to help students get their feet wet learning Javascript and also to get a feeling for what attending the full time bootcamp might be like. Prior to the course I'd worked in completely unrelated jobs, had meager self-taught experience with coding languages, and had found the process of learning code daunting. Making progress this way is difficult! I really can't recommend taking Prep highly enough if you are curious about the subject matter or are considering applying to the immersive program.
The program's design is very good, they've put a great deal of work into the content and the philosophy behind it. I always felt like the resources and tools on offer gave many options for study and were enough to keep you occupied and learning well. Our teachers were stellar! They were always diligent. If you have trouble with a concept they'll walk you through examples step-by-step or mock up a problem on a whiteboard; all very helpful! I also appreciated the staff's honest opinions about if a bootcamp is the right choice for you, they were always forthright about exactly what Fullstack offers.
If you have any burning questions about the school I'd recommend attending one of the informational sessions. They hold them about once a month, in person, at the school.
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Dave
Very challenging, very rewarding!
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I have a background as a professional musician and I made websites throughout my music career. I decided to go all-in and teach myself computer science fundamentals. I fell in love with programming and eventually decided that I wanted to learn web development as fast as possible. I did a lot of research and decided to attend Fullstack Academy. (I also considered the Hack Reactor remote program.) I was hesitant to attend any bootcamp - they're expensive, especially considering you won't be working during and after the program while you search for a job. It wound up exceeding my expectations and I'm so happy that I attended!
I've written a handful of posts about my experiences before, at, and after attending Fullstack Academy here: https://scraggo.github.io/
In a nutshell:
- You learn SO MUCH in a short period of time. I recommend doing a "Hello World" in all the technologies before attending. That way you come in already having gone through a first-touch.
- Time FLIES by! After 3 months, you'll be amazed at the projects you've built.
- My confidence went from a 2 to an 8. You'll be a real full stack developer with the confidence to learn anything new that you need.
- If you worked hard in the program, you'll really be job-ready. It's a monumental task to get an offer for a junior developer, but stick with it. I took an offer just under 3 months after graduating.
Feel free to contact me through my website if you have any questions: https://scraggo.github.io/
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Olivia
Life-changing Experience
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I graduated from Fullstack Academy in May 2018. It took me less than two months to find a position after graduating.
I have a CS degree - but I never learned how to write a piece of software in school. I had to go to Fullstack to learn this. Fullstack also got me to finally build a portfolio and learn how to interview. I never learned any of these things while earning my degree. I am sure that both my degree and bootcamp experience contributed to a successful job search. However, I didn't feel confident in my coding abilities until after I completed Fullstack
I am a believer. -
Ana
A wonderful supportive community
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Definitely the biggest pro about Fullstack Academy is its flexibility. They offer flex programs, immersive programs, and a remote version. Throughout all these programs, they use the same curriculum and the same standards for admission. They even offer a deferred tuition option for women enrolled in the Grace Hopper program.
They also offer a lot of flexibility in terms of how to grow as a developer. For my cohort, they allowed us to explore project ideas on our own because the biggest skill they wanted us to hone was using each other as a team to make the best decisions from start to finish. There was also no restriction on what type of project we could build. And we received A LOT of support from every instructor. Kate and Ashi were there to back our team up with answers to our technical questions no matter what we decided for our project. And even when the first half of the program ended, Karen and Dan, our junior instructors who prepared so well for the project phase were there available to cheer us on and only an elevator away for further advice. My teaching fellows were also the best! Biggest thanks to Christine, Luisa, Liz, and Aria!
A bit of nitpick from me would be that the job support on the technical side wasn't the best right after I came out of Grace Hopper. Because I had no idea how to prepare for technical interviews...and honestly, this was my first official job hunt ever. Luckily, after 6 months of searching, Ceren started this Mentor-Mentee program and I was seriously lucky to have Wenson Tsai as my mentor (a volunteer mentor too, bless those Fullstack alumni's souls who volunteered). Coming from an physics background with only 3-4 semesters of CS-related classes and no formal job experience in tech (or any formal job really), I was not up to date with the jargon in the tech field and Wenson helped me present myself as a confident developer. He pointed out weaknesses to me in System Design and helped me work on my communicating my projects better. One of the useful things he pointed out to me is that I should use declarative language when solving problems during JS technical interviews.
Fullstack also assigned me another career counselor to help me on the behavioral side. That person was Natalie Giuliano. I had no idea what a job hunt was supposed to be like, and I had a lot of phone interviews already before she was assigned as my counselor. So she made sure to help me practice answering those hard behavioral questions and helped me come up with better answers. She also helped me with a lot of job hunt etiquette that I didn't even know.
The biggest thing I like about Fullstack is that they really listen to feedback and offer plenty of support in return. And thanks to all of this support, I've now accomplished my overdue dream of wanting to make an immediate impact as a software engineer :) -
Jane Costa
Program of my dreams!
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I did the Grace Hopper program, which is the same as Fullstack Academy but has deferred tuition. The curriculum is STRONG!!!! Before you get to campus and during your very first week, you will coding and learning very advanced computer science topics. They truly ensure that every student knows their stuff and is prepared for the job search ahead including whiteboard interviews. I never had a doubt throughout the program that I would have any trouble finding a job because of what and how they were teaching.
One of the great things Fullstack did was make sure from the beginning that students are ready and that everyone is on the same page. Just to get into the bootcamp, you need to know javascript and be able to solve somewhat diffucult problems as well as be familiar with recursion. However, they have a lot of great resources to get you accepted. Foundations covered some pretty advanced topics but they provided a mentor for each student and paced the prework over 5 weeks so that everyone could master it and there were some tests along the way to make sure everyone was learning the material. I learned so much before I even got to campus and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to converse about code and solve quite challenges problems on the very first day.
I realize that talking about the material in the light of how advanced it is could scare some people away, but I just want to say that I found the program extremely friendly and not scary at all. They just want to make sure everyone is ready and on the same page, and they provide a lot of resources to get you there. If you ever feel like you are falling behind, they will not kick you out like some bootcamps will. Instead, they will get you the help that you need, and even allow you to repeat the first half of the program (junior phase) if you are struggling. Everything they do is to make sure you succeed.
I also found they focus a good amount on soft skills, which was amazing to see. They make sure students learn to communicate about issues that arise during pair programming before these issues ever arise, they talk about unconscious bias, they have retrospectives to reflect on different parts of the program, make sure students are taking care of themselves emotionally, etc. I found that students are able to give feedback about the program and the feedback is taken seriously and changes are implemented almost immediately as a result of student feedback.
The career success program is very strong as well. They don't just teach you how to code and build projects on this program. A big portion of the second half of the program was focused on getting students hireable. We had regular mandatory meetings with the career success team, practiced interviews (behavioral, technical, and whiteboarding), received feedback on resumes and linkedIn profiles, and so many presentations on job hunting. The career success team really sticks with you throughout the process and after you graduate to make sure you get hired.
Overall, this program was amazing for me. I went to a different bootcamp before this program to turn around my career and I constantly felt anxious and unready to find a job. Fullstack Academy eased my worries and I never once doubted that I could find a job in the end. At first I was concerned because Fullstack teaches pure JavaScript instead of mixing in some of the other competing languages, but I truly believe that it served me well. I was able to learn really complex topics in depth and branch out past just web development. I also believe that now I can learn anything. In a nutshell, I learned amazing things, I built amazing projects including a mobile app and VR app with AI, I made amazing friendships with the women there, I constantly felt uplifted, and I had a job offer 10 days at the end of the program.
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Sandy
Fullstack student
I absolutely love the amount of passion and support the staff put in to the immersivve program. Not only are they there to help you get through the program, they are there to help you succeed in the engineering world. I am very appreciative of the things I learned from my instructors and all the support I received from all the staff.
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Raul
Rocket Fuel For Your Tech Skills
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You'll be amazed by what you'll be able to code by the end of the program. The lecture materials and workshops are very thoughtfully ordered to help you blaze through the most efficient learning path. Whatever you learned in the morning is just enough to lay a foundation for the afternoon. You concentrate mostly on skills you would actually use on the job, but there's also just enough theory to help you learn technologies not covered in the program. The pace is fairly challenging, but the instructors and fellows are super friendly and always there to help you.
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Matt Smith
It won't be easy, but it's worth it.
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I graduated in December 2017 as a part of the TTP Web Development Fellowship cohort. This was a slightly longer program in terms of on-site commitment, and about half of us did Bootcamp Prep together as well, but the Immersive Section was the same curriculum as the standard cohorts. I was lucky to go through this with an extremely smart and motivated group that was also 100% supportive of each other at every turn.
The only programming experience I had coming in was working through some online courses and basic Comp Sci books, mostly Unity related and Harvard's CS50. This course will demand all of your time, your mental space, and your former social life. It's often exhausting. The first positive thing I have to say is that our instructors were super engaging, and even when things were difficult, even confusing, or I was really tired, the teaching style kept me fully present. They described the pace of the Junior phase as "like drinking from a fire hose" and I'd have to agree. They'll tell you to trust the process, and you should. There were times I had to move on from something new feeling like I really hadn't fully conquered the previous topic but things had a way of sinking in over time. I think that's a credit to their pedagogical design. Things build on top of each other very well. I'd echo the review of one of my cohort-mates and agree that the instructors are great teachers but also just great all around communicators.
The first half of the Immersive is workshop based, the second is project based. This semed to work really well and I found the balance good.
The curriculum is kept very up to date with what's actually happening in the job market: React, Redux, ES6, etc. I think it's good that they teach relational DBs (Postgres with Sequelize for us), I found MongoDB pretty easy to pick up conceptually after the fact but I'm not sure it would have worked the same in reverse.
There's a solid emphasis on computer science fundamentals for a bootcamp: in early workshops, additional lectures, and the fact that you practice whiteboarding algorithm problems every morning for the entire Senior phase. There are a lot of kind of "extracurriculars" that I really enjoyed, bonus lectures on functional programming, special guest presentations, some Agile training, teambuilding exercises, and occasionally just something extra one of the instructors were interested in (two memorable ones for me were a lecture on the lambda calculus and another on the Koa framework).
There were times where I found it somewhat difficult to get one on one time with instructors around checkpoint times but on the whole they are super available, intelligent, communicative, and willing to get into the reeds on any number of topics inside and outside the curriculum. Every cohort also has Fellows, which are kind of like TAs, recent graduates competitively selected to stay on in support of the instructors for the next cohort. Ours were excellent.
I'm not sure what to say about Career Services. It felt rushed and single-minded at times, and I didn't always like the tone it was delivered in. Sometimes the balance or timing of those tasks didn't feel well thought out in terms of what was going on in the main curriculum. But I think it's probably smart, you can't get too nuanced in something that's so highly variable, I think in the end they commit to this one-way-that-they-know-can-work-and-has. I have worked in other capacities at tech companies and have a lot of professional experience before making this decision to pursue software development, and when I try to imagine myself in the position of not having that experience I think their advice is extremely valuable for someone new to the job market in general or tech in particular.
The hiring day at the end was a success for me, I met my current employer there and I'm super super happy with my job. I had other offers and onsite invitations come out of it as well. So like I said, even though I didn't always love it, the Career Services team delivered for me (and a number of others in my cohort who also got hired out of Hiring Day).
My instructors were excellent, the other instructors I was exposed to through other events were excellent, there is a ton of genune support for students throughout the whole process (they have a kind of experience counselor there for any and all things you might be going through), and I got a job. So I'll just wrap up by saying this program works, it's exhausting but ultimately enjoyable if you love code. And it can get you a great job.
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Brian McCann
highly recommend
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I only have good things to say about Fullstack. I can’t guarantee that everyone will have the same experience. The program worked well for me partly because of my learning style and also due to the type of job I got after graduating. The program favors self teachers which is probably the case for any coding bootcamp. That doesn’t mean they don’t do anything for you or provide structure because they certainly do. I found they did a good job of providing what you need as beginner but still encourage you to explore and learn on your own. A coding bootcamp would not be helpful if they explained and guided you through every little thing. The end goal is to get you a job as a software developer and as a developer you will be struggling through much harder problems with only online resources to help you.
Another reason I say that the program was beneficial to me personally is because the technologies I use at my first programming job are highly related to the Fullstack curriculum. It’s likely that I was hired at this job because of the skills I was able to list rather then the overlap being a coincidence, however I have heard of graduates getting positions where they learn an entirely different stack or are required to code in a language other than Javascript. I can say that whatever you learn at Fullstack (curriculum is always in flux) will be highly relevant for many jobs. While you will still have a lot to learn after graduation it’s likely you will be ahead of the curve in some aspects as you have been trained in cutting edge concepts that those working in the field don’t have the time, desire, or even awareness of it’s existence necessary to learn.
Another great thing about the program is the atmosphere and attitude exemplified by the administration and instructors. They have high expectations and push you very hard but are very understanding when you encounter difficulties (almost everyone does) and encourage you to open up. It is not a cut throat atmosphere (as I’ve heard some bootcamps are) where they try to get you to snap reality tv show style, so they can whittle down the field to only the most competitive and sleep deprived students. Instead they encourage you to take breaks, take care of yourself emotionally and physically, and most importantly (i.m.o) foster a sense of community with your peers and invite you to express yourself to a member of their staff if you’re not doing well. They even have someone dedicated to helping you deal with (non-technical) emotional/psychological difficulties. I can objectively say I was not the quickest to understand things in my cohort nor was I ever the first or even the fifth person to finish a test. The program is structured so that people who may not have the strongest raw programming ability, can do just as well as anyone else. Through pair programming and other systems students who are ahead can help students who are behind. The program also emphasizes the full range of skills necessary to becoming a software developer of which writing code is not the only one.
The education and hands on experience of developing a project as a team at FS went beyond my expectations. I participated in their hiring day on graduation and got a follow up interview with two of the companies the next week. A week after my follow up interviews I was invited for a final on-site with one company and was offered a job at the other. Two weeks after graduating I already had a job that exceeded my expectations both in terms of salary and the type of work I wanted to do. In my case the timeline was a little quicker than usual but my level of satisfaction was not uncommon based on conversations I’ve had with peers and other grads. Much of this is due to their great curriculum and emphasis on mastering tough technical concepts. The rate of success is also do to the fact that they have a dedicated career success team that teaches you how to market yourself, job search, and interview both during and after the program. The school is also very well connected to many tech companies with a broad alumni network. There are probably around 10 FS grads at my company alone which only has a workforce of around 60.
Main takeaways are as follows. Expect to work very hard including nights and often all weekend. If you put in the time and effort you will be rewarded exponentially. They only hire the most talented, knowledgeable, emotionally intelligent, and capable teachers. Expect to be well taken care of. Expect some tough times but if you want to be there, and want to learn, expect most of your time to be fun, positive, and exciting.
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Anonymous
Graduate
Fullstack Academy graduate -
Anonymous
Best coding bootcamp in town
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Preparing for Fullstack:
I attended Fullstack Academy after working for several years as an editor, and realizing I loved both the logic and creativity involved in coding (the little I was exposed to). I learned some HTML and CSS on the job, but JavaScript was new to me. I studied JavaScript for 5 months using online resources before applying to the Web Development Fellowship at Fullstack. At that point, I wouldn't say the admissions exam and interview were easy, but they were at a fair level and I was admitted into the program. Good communication seemed to be a key factor to admission as well.
Attending Fullstack:
I echo all the reviews here that mention Fullstack's great instructors and approach to teaching code. The curriculum builds on itself such that by the time you finish the program, you've gained a lot of depth in your JavaScript knowledge, and can apply that approach to learning anything new. You'll have several full-scale projects under your belt, too.
You don't need to have prior coding experience to do well at Fullstack, but being strong at problem-solving, logical thinking, or math would definitely help everything come easier to you. The instructors also do a great job of explaining the material in a digestible way.
Job Search:
Fullstack has great connections as far as companies in the industry. One of the companies that attended our hiring day hired 5 people in our cohort, me being one of them, and I wouldn't say this is the norm but I accepted a position as a software engineer a week after graduation. (I had factored in 3-4 months of job-searching in my plans, because for many companies the overall interview process takes 4-6 weeks).
The career services team at Fullstack are highly skilled at what they do and were incredibly helpful; however I got the impression they were juggling a lot and when dealing with our class as a whole they were not as effective/friendly as they were one-on-one. It's also important to note that Fullstack is there to help you during your job search, but obviously they won't do the work for you, so be ready for long hours of studying, networking, and coding even after graduation for the best results. I'd also advise to keep building apps, because job interviews are easier when you can back up your answers with real examples.
On the job:
I've now been working full time as a software engineer in NYC for 3 months, and though I haven't been working with the exact same stack that Fullstack taught us (don't expect to), picking up the new technology went very smoothly, and I've been able to tackle everything thrown my way so far. On top of that, my managers have been very impressed with how fast us Fullstack grads caught on (to their stack, code base, and projects) and how soon we've been making valuable contributions to the code base. I can definitely say Fullstack prepares you well.
Final thoughts:
If you're debating between Fullstack and other programs in the city, I think what sets Fullstack apart from the rest is their culture and curriculum. I have friends who attended other coding bootcamps in NY, and the culture at Fullstack tops them all in terms of professionalism and a supportive, friendly atmosphere. We had a lot of fun in our cohort, but also were all driven and hard-working. Many bootcamps can seem really fun because of how much they party, but if you're serious about changing careers, I believe it's best to focus and put yourself in an environment that reflects being on the job. I've also found that my friends from other programs have had a harder time getting job-ready, because their programs taught them a wide breadth of technology, frameworks, and libraries, but nothing in too much depth.
Fullstack won't disappoint, especially if you're motivated and ready to work hard!
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Max B
Summer of Code at Fullstack
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I participated in the summer of code program at Fullstack going into my sophmore year of college. I had a great time, and learned the practical knowledge and skills that I'll need when I'm looking for employment after I graduate. If anyone is looking for a way to turn their theory-based CS education into something practical, this is the program for you. While it is a bit pricey, if you can make it work, I would 100% recommend it.
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Alex Ginsberg
Fullstack Academy
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Fullstack Academy has the potential to give you an amazing education and potentially an equally great career, if you are willing to work hard and use all the tools they give you. The curriculum is structured to first expose you to their tech stack and to then let you use that stack to create projects for your portfolio. Fullstack gives you everything you need to succeed, but it's up to you to use what you're given. There is very little micromanaging in the course, meaning if you are struggling, it is up to you to seek out help and to improve yourself. While this does open up the opportunity for failure, anybody who is willing to work hard and has a passion for making cool stuff can definately succeed here.
In terms of getting a job, all graduates are definately prepared to work in a professional software engineering environment, however, Fullstack doesn't gurantee a job right off the bat. Fullstack does offer support on the job search, through Hiring Day, post-graduation career counseling, resume review, etc.. Just like with the curriculum, you will get what you put in, meaning if you work hard on it, you have everything you need to succeed. I think some additional managing from career services could have been good here, since it is easy to slack off when you're not showing up to campus everyday. However, they will offer plenty of help and guidance to anybody that reaches out. There is also a large alumni network which you will be able to leverage in your search.
I definately recommend Fullstack Academy for anybody looking to become a software engineer. The curriculum is relevant, the instructors are knowledgable and easy to work with, and the career services team is dedicated to making sure you land a job. If you are willing to work hard, you will see some amazing results.
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Abel McElroy
Student
The culture was amazing. The staff fostered a productive and healthy learning environment. Turkey one of the best experiences of my life.
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Oscar A. Ramirez
Thank you Fullstack
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The Fullstack Academy Software Engineer Immersive program has a great curriculum and the schedule is layed out effectively. The first six weeks of the program is lectures and workshops. The workshops solidify the material in the lectures. As you work in pairs, some doubts you may have can be cleared with your peer programming buddy. If not, you always have a Fellow to aks questions. Fellows are alumni who stay for the next cohort to help instructors. This guarantees coverage for questions and general help for students. The curriculum for lectures is updated often between cohorts and reflects the software and languages being used in the real world.
The latter six weeks of the program you spend all your time in project work. I think this is a valuable time for many of my fellow cohorts who may have never worked as a group in a software project. It reveals to them how communication is important to collaborate when working on a single GitHub repo (think merge conflicts!).
One other valuable part of the program is during the latter six weeks as well. Every morning we work on an algorithm challenge. This time helps solidify fundamental computer science concepts and prepares you for what you will face in real interview.
The instructors are very knowledgeable and helpful, the Fellows provide another level of coverage so students never feel lost or without help resources.
Finally towards the end of the program the Career Resources team kicks in to help you prepare for interviews and job search. The team is very helpful and really walk you through the entire process in detail. For those cohorts looking for work for the first time in their lives this is very valuable information. Even for someone with experience like me, it provides a review of what the job search practices are today.
Overall I got a lot out of the program and was able to get the type of job I wanted. I highly recommend the program.
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Monica
Perfect if you can't find a job but have experience coding
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Exceeded my expectations. :)
Positives: Great teachers, very fun, good space. Teaches coding principles for those who are self-taught (!!!!). Super friendly. You can learn a ton if you put in the time. Covers a lot, quickly. Definitely would not have gotten my job without these guys. I would strongly recommend to someone who's only done research beforehand and is trying to move into software.
Negatives: Curriculum focuses on usage of a lot of frameworks, which is fun but definitely didn't really stick in my head after the course. Not enough focus on coding problems/algorithms. Post-graduation has some super awesome people helping out but you are no longer the focus of their life (obviously, but a lot more structure would be useful). Definitely not enough time to learn for someone who has not coded before, so self study for a few months first. Work on full-stack projects first, work in UNIX, make a website, whatever.
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Franklyn
FSA is better than Yale CS
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I'm a Yale CS major who took FSA in Fall of 2016. FSA was hands down one of the most rewarding and fun educational experiences I've gone through. I did a pretty thorough comparison of bootcamps before choosing FSA, and am very happy with my decision. A couple of key points
1. Excellent instructors with legit backgrounds: my main instructor was an ex-Microsoft software engineer. The founders Nimit & David are also legit engineers.
2. Full-on teaching support staff. Former students acted as TFs; very knowledgeable, and helped immensely.
3. Legit, well designed curriculum. We went over both fundamentals (algos) and cutting edge frameworks (React, Node, etc). The activities were fun and very practical.
FSA was very demanding. Fellow classmates were really smart and driven. Everyone came in knowing a bit of code, so we were able to move very quickly.
I'd say if you're looking to level up your practical skills (i.e., know how to build web apps and not just AVL trees), FSA is hands down the best and most effective ways to get that out there. If you're a CS major considering doing this, I'd highly recommend it as a complement to a traditional CS education (a couple of my classmates are now seriously considering it).
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Christine Leverett
Best Decision I've Ever Made
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I finished the Grace Hopper Program at FSA in April and then completed the fellowship in July. The experience as a whole was probably the best decision I've ever made for my professional career. I went into the program with very basic Javascript knowledge, having built maybe one or two very simple websites and with no professional experience at all. At the end, I had multiple interviews with a variety of companies that I felt very well-prepared for despite being a nervous wreck. I would not have been as successful as I was in the job search without Ceren and Claudia either. I called Ceren with every question I had and sent them almost every version of every thing I wrote, which they gladly edited or approved. They did mock interviews with me and gave me great feedback that in the end culminated into me receiving mulitple offers. When it came to finally accepting, Ceren helped me negotiate my salary to $10,000 more than what was offered. I'm still in disbelief that after 6 months I'm working in a role that I thorougly enjoy at a company I'm so excited about and making an incredible salary.
That being said, the program is defninitely not for everyone. You're going to get out of it what you put into it and it can seem a little chaotic or disorganized at times because they are understaffed. But there is no shortage of people who want to help you; the instructors, Chris and the career success team are with you every step of the way.
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Ruth N.
A Great Program with a Startup Environment
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** Please note - I have incredibly high standards. Overall Grace Hopper (GH) / Fullstack Academy (FSA) did an amazing job. In general, they need to improve their organization skills. The school is awesome at teaching coding. They just need to polish the machine so things run like clockwork.
Getting admitted
To be admitted into GH you must:
- Be female identifying
- Complete an online application
- Pass an online coding assessment
- Code live via a Skype interview
The best part about this process: GH has teaching fellows (former students) conduct the Skype interview and make the admissions decisions. Therefore, it’s not a decision made from a moneymaking perspective. It’s a decision made by former students who want the program to be great for all who attend.
Before applying to the program, I did light coding at my previous job with VBA (Excel). I did not know JavaScript, so I took the FSA JavaScript JumpStart course and practiced problems on CodeWars and HackerRank. I was admitted the first time I applied.
The Program
The program consists of 4 phases. There is a 1-week break between junior and senior phase.
Foundations - Online distance learning course (4 weeks)
- Good to know - There are checkpoints (tests) you must pass before you are admitted to the immersive program. You are assigned a mentor (GH / FSA alumni) to assist you during this time.
- My experience - I worked during the first 2 weeks, which was quite difficult. The last 2 weeks, when I wasn’t working, I had a lot of free time. I felt like the material presented during this part of the program was appropriate. You should revisit this material during your job search.
- Improvement - Let students know ahead of time (during the acceptance phase) about the checkpoints. A lot of people quit jobs to join this program.
Junior Phase - In person, intense learning through lectures and workshops (6 weeks)
- Good to know - This phase will feel like information overload but you do not need to memorize everything (that would be like memorizing the US Tax code). It is meant to expose you to various topics so if you need them in the future, you can search for the answers.
- My experience - I was very overwhelmed during the first week of the program. Once I realized I didn’t have to memorize everything, this phase ran a lot smoother for me. Since I’m an independent person, pair programming every day was difficult for me but it helped me see different points of view. The instructors and teaching fellows were friendly, willing to help, and not afraid to tell us how things really worked (no fake positivity).
- Improvement - Students may be extremely stressed during the first part of the program. State up-front (before the first workshop) that the workshops are not meant to be finished.
Senior Phase - In person, intense learning through project building, career services training, and CTO lectures.
- Good to know - There are 4 projects during this phase (Tech Talk, Group eCommerce Site, Personal Project, Final Group Project). I recommend finishing your tech talk during the 1-week break (before senior phase starts).
- My experience - Because of all the pair programming in junior phase, it was easier for me to work on group projects during this phase. I had a great time working on my personal project because it gave me a break from pair programming. I felt like my team built an awesome final project. There were a few arguments, but we worked through them and made a great app. Instructors and teaching fellows were available during this phase but I didn’t utilize them very often. Also, it was really difficult to work on projects and the career services requests.
- Improvement - Don’t change schedules at the last minute. This happened quite often during our senior phase.
Flight - On your own job-hunt with support from career services.
- Good to know - The level of career services support is up to you.
- My experience - I networked with people on LinkedIn, Slack, and at meetups. I filled out tons of applications on many different websites (LinkedIn, Gary’s Guide, and company sites). My result was very favorable. I accepted an offer 1.5 months after graduation. My offer stemmed from completing an online application.
- Improvement - Let students know ahead of time (during the acceptance phase) to plan 3 to 6 months for the job search. A lot of people have to save living expenses to attend this program.
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Daniel Park
Software Engineer
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Like many of my classmates, I attended Fullstack Academy (FSA) for a career change. I had only started coding on and off a month before I formally applied to the program. FSA offered a robust program that directed my passion and enthusiasm for coding into practical ends. Beyond the ever-developing curriculum, the instructors have been top notch (at least the ones who taught our cohort). They spoke with clarity and depth regarding complex topics. Most of all, they were able to package years of classroom knowledge in just 3 short months. Looking back, I can honestly say that the program changed the trajectory of my career for the rest of my life. I am happily employed at an amazing company, an opportunity that would not have been possible in this short of a transition without FSA.
Some look to coding bootcamps as the 100% package to make their way into the tech industry. I'd say that FSA does not lack in comparison to other bootcamps in that regard for sure -- however, much of the burden of succeeding in the program and the job search thereafter is on the student. My personal successes have been in applying what I've learned, exploring the breadth and depth of technical articles out there, and recognizing that there is always so much to learn. FSA helped facilitate that kind of learning through their amazing instructors and staff and their curriculum. But don't expect things to be handed to you... the job market for entry level software engineers is tough, you have to prove yourself constantly to make it.
I would say, don't goto FSA to be motivated to code, you must be motivated prior to attending FSA. To make the most of your Fullstack experience, be ready to grind it out!
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Mike P
One of the Best Decisions of My Life
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I cannot speak highly enough of Fullstack Academy. I completed their full time NYC immersive program in April, and was invited to stay on as a teaching fellow for the following cohort. The curriculum is up-to-date, challenging, and interesting. The instructors are so intelligent and amazing at teaching all concepts. The projects we worked on taught me everything I needed to know to start my new job as a Javascript developer, which I never would have gotten without the assistance of Fullstack's unbelievable career success team. Claudia and Ceren are so helpful and knowledgable about tech recruiting. Overall, I would say that if you're looking to do a bootcamp, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't apply to Fullstack!
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Zo
FullStack was a good decision for me
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I chose FullStack Academy over Hack Reactor. It was truly one of the best decisions of my life. I had been in tech prior to FullStack but mostly on the business side. So it helped that I knew what I was getting into.
The instructors were a mix of FullStack graduates and industry veterans. That was a great combination because recent graduates had an idea of what I didn't know considering they were in my shoes not too long ago. But at the same time, if I I wanted to understand how something works in the real world, I can easily ask the experienced developers/instructors.
FullStack pays a close attention to what the employers are looking for and adjusts its curriculum accordingly. The curriculum is structured well especially for the foundations and introductory courses. We were the third cohort to learn React/Redux and things were still a little unorganized. I think since then they have improved upon it considerably.
FullStack has a special curriculum for Job assistance. The staff does a great job of helping the students with resumes, interview preps (they bring in outside recruiters to help with behavioural interviews) and job hunting. During the last week of the program, FullStack hosts a career day where employers from all over the NYC come to interview the candidates. A good percentage of students from my batch got a job from the hiring day.
I truly had one of the best experiences at FullStack. I really enjoyed my cohort and made life long friends. Nothing comes easy so be ready to work hard and enjoy the fruits of your labour.
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Evan Scribner-MacLean
Fullstack Academy Review
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Fullstack Academy is a great school, which I sincerely recommend to anyone who has made the decision to attend a bootcamp.
Instructors: Every instructor I interacted with was brilliant, dedicated and friendly. I was seriously blown away by the quality of the staff-these people make the program what it is.
Culture: Fullstack has a fantastic culture that is friendly and inclusive. I made quite a few good friends here, and alumni frequently get together to catch up
Curriculum: The curriculum teaches modern, in-demand Javascript skills and industry best practices. The staff are constantly updating and interating on the curriculum. Most importantly, it's designed not just to teach you one specific stack, but give you the tools that you need to quickly pick up new technologies-and it works. I have been able to perform effectively at my job using languages that I never used at Fullstack, because of the skills I gained there.
Job Assistance: Attending Fullstack gave me:
- Immpresive projects to put on my resume
- The skills to pass difficult technical interviews
- A large network of software engineers in NYC
- Training on effective job hunting techniques
What they don't do is get interviews for you (beyond Hiring Day, from which about 15% of our class got jobs). The job hunt after graduation is the student's responsibility, and will require several months of dedicated effort networking and applying for jobs. I felt very capable in all my technical interviews, but getting that initial foot in the door is still challenging. I do appreciate the lifetime of career support and advice from the extremely capable and helpful career success team. 4 months after graduation, I'd estimate that 75% of my cohort are currently working as software engineers, with many of the other 25% getting interviews.
Overall, I am extremely satisfied with my experience at Fullstack. I'm currently in my first job after graduating, and I felt more than prepared for the interview and the job itself. If anyone reading this has any questions about my experience, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn (my username is evanscribnermaclean) - I'd be happy to chat
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Joseph Angelino
Incredible Experience
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There are not enough good things I can say about Fullstack Academy. I have a B.S. in Computer Science and I can honestly say I learned more and was more prepared for the industry and interviews from 13 weeks at Fullstack rather than from my 4 year degree. The process is really strenuous and difficult, but also a lot of fun and it is such an encouraging environment. There was not a day that I did not look forward to going and getting to work. The entire staff, including the instructors and the career success team are there for you at all times, and even still there for support after you leave.
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Joel D
Fullstack = 'Amazing'
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My journey with coding started when I was kid. I loved programming video games back in the 90s and early 2000s (DirectX anyone?) In college, I did half of a C.S. degree, then decided to go to Berklee College of Music to pursue a degree in audio engineering and sound design.
After 5+ years in the Music Tech industry, I realized I really missed coding, and I was not super happy with my career trajactory. Instead of going back to college to get another degree, I decided to look for other options, and found Fullstack. I was still working FT, so I ended up doing the FLEX class, which worked into my schedule really well.
I can't say enough good things about my experience. Eric Katz, the lead instructor, did an incredible job, and consistently went above and beyond to make sure we learned the material, and learned it well.
The rest of the crew @ FS are also amazing, and very helpful.
After Fullstack, I quickly found a job (at one of my fellow student's startup actually) as a fullstack web developer, and I am loving. Attending Fullstack has changed my life!
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Mark Pytel
Fullstack Academy Review
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I attended Fullstack Academy's Immersive Javascript program in the Summer of 2015. At that time I was pursuing a career change into web development. I had been attending graduate classes for Computer Science but was a little unhappy with the pace. I had just been hearing about boot camps, and liked the idea of an immersive program that was comprehensive and demanding. This led me to Fullstack and really one of the best decisions I've made. The bootcamp itself prepares you very well. You learn Fullstack development by performing workshops and developing projects. It very much mimics actual project development. On top of the actual course material is thorough job prep as well. There were whiteboard problems and interview/resume prep. All leading up to hiring day where you get to demo your projects and meet with employers. They really cover all the bases. I'm very pleased with the results. -
Nisreen A.
Incredible experience, amazing teachers
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I can honestly say that I would be much more lost in my life right now if I hadn’t found Grace Hopper. In my last year of undergrad I was confused about what I wanted to do professionally. After doing a lot of googling and journaling, I decided that I wanted to become a software engineer, and after yet more googling, I became aware of bootcamps. I came across Grace Hopper and it quickly became the only programming school I was interested in. As someone with a social science background I understood and appreciated the motivations behind the creation of a learning environment for female developers. It spoke a lot to the founders' values and the culture of the school in general. And as someone with limited financial resources, I recognized that their deferred tuition model provided an amazing opportunity that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate in.
From day 1 to the end, Grace Hopper was a wonderful and incredibly enriching experience. I was surrounded by smart, talented women from all backgrounds, all willing to work together to learn an exciting new skill set. The curriculum was challenging but well-thought out, and our teaching fellows and instructors were always there to answer any questions we had or to remedy any gaps in our knowledge. What's more, the bootcamp really strives to keep its content relevant. Now when I tell people about my tech stack, I often get comments like ‘wow that’s a great one’ or ‘you’re in a really great place then!’ Or even, from other software engineers with more experience than me, ‘you know Redux already?!’
I strongly feel that the Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy has accelerated my professional and personal life by several years and put me a giant step forward in my career. In a short amount of time I was able to learn a challenging and high-demand skill set that I was really interested in. The culture, environment, and the people were all so supportive and amazing. It stands as the number one transformative experience I’ve had in my life, and I think that it’ll be very difficult to supplant it.
I couldn’t have asked for better teachers, a better learning environment, or better outcomes. Even after going through it once already, I would do Grace Hopper all over again right now if I could :)
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Hal Carleton
Great Experience
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I spent about a year browsing software engineering bootcamps while I put together the money to be able to attend. In that year I narrowed my search to three different bootcamps. After interviewing with each I finally made the decision to commit to Fullstack Academy. The seemed to have the strongest curriculum and devoted staff. I can tell you now that I chose correctly. Fullstack Acadmeny has been probably the single most productive 13 week period of my life.
Fullstack Academy teaches you how to write fullstack javascript (client-side & server-side). In addition to this they teach computer science concepts they help mold the way you solve problems. The fact that you learn one language and use it for both the server and client is hugely important. This allows you to spend more time learning valuable concepts and patterns that you can apply to any language you learn rather than spending a lot of time learning new syntaxes.
The second half of the course is spent taking what you have learned and apply it to group and solo projects. This lets you really nail down the git workflow as well as learn how to work effectively in a collaborative environment.
In addition to all the technical instruction you receive you will also spend time learning about the job market; how to write a resume, how to do well in white board interviews, how to do well in other types of technical interviews, how traverse the interview process.
During senior phase every morning starts with an hour of whiteboard problems. Not only does this help prepare you for whiteboard interviews, but it's also very fun, and seriously strengthens your technical problem solving abilities.
I would recommend Fullstack Academy to anyone who is eager to get in to software engineering, and willing to work hard to get there.
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Tiffany Wang
Thanks Fullstack Academy!
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I attended the September 2015 cohort of Fullstack Academy and absolutely would recommend the experience to dedicated individuals intent on learning to program. For a few months before applying, I used online resources like Coursera, Codecademy, and Coderbyte to ramp up my self-learning. I also worked on a few smaller projects for practice before applying.
Fullstack academy is full of great instructors and great teaching fellows (students who successfully completed the course and are hired as mentors and engineers) and as a result, my questions were always answered with patient guidance and thoughtfulness. I was hired as a Teaching Fellow upon graduating, and after finishing my fellowship, I received multiple offers from amazing companies and was ready to jump into my position as a full stack software engineer.
I chose FSA because I knew I wanted a rigorous program that would expedite my journey to becoming a software engineer. I'm so grateful for Fullstack- it's not for the faint of heart, but it will definitely prepare you for a career in software engineering. Thanks Fullstack!
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Ashley Riccardi
Life Changing
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I can easily say that attending Grace Hopper was one of the best professional decisions I’ve ever made.
I chose GH specifically because it was focused on creating a welcoming environment for women to become fullstack developers and I am very glad that I did. My fellow classmates were kind and collaborative, the instructors were supportive and demanding, and the curriculum was rigorous. GH gave me the knowledge I needed to be confident in my own problem solving capabilities and my ability to learn deeply and quickly. When I think back on my time at Grace Hopper, I think the thing that really sets it apart is the culture. In addition to being collaborative and welcoming, I never felt like I was just another student - the instructors and the staff were there to give each individual the time and care to make sure that we were in the best possible position to to take full advantage of all the program has to offer. This was also evident during the job search after I graduated; someone was always available to answer a question or help me figure out what to say to an employer. I am amazed and what a turn around my life in general has taken since attending the program - I met wonderful people who I still keep in touch with, I have a great foundation of knowledge for my career, I built some awesome web applications that I am proud of, and I now have an amazing job which I would not have been qualified for otherwise. Needless to say, I would not be in the position I am now without Grace Hopper and I am eternally thankful. I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is looking to take an advantage of a life changing opportunity. -
Austin Shoecraft
Just go
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Alright, do you want to be a developer? It's a serious question, are you interested in putting in lots of time, effort and money learning about computers, programming methodalgies, and staying up to date amongst the rush of new developers coming into the market. If the answer is yes then just go to fullstack (money and circumstances permitting).
It's a great program with terrific instructors and a top notch curriculum. It was by far the best educational setting I have ever been in, surrounded by a great group of people who are so passionate about learning.
If you are on here then you are most likely comparing against other bootcamps, and let me tell you as someone who does some hiring at my company now, Fullstack students stand out. Many of the others simply do not put out as impressive students (cough cough ones with ruby backends cough). I would also look very cautiously at ones that offer 'guarenteed' jobs. Nothing is guarenteed, and programs that do that have to either being extremely selective with people they know they can place into jobs, or be offering sub par jobs or internships with no extensions. Fullstack was great for people looking for a career shift, most of my fellow students had been in a career for several years (avg age 27-32) and were looking for a shift into programming.
So hopefully all these rave reviews convince you to go, as I'm glad I did and so is everyone I know.