Fullstack Academy

 As a Business Analyst at the University of Chicago, I initially joined the Data Analytics Bootcamp specifically to master SQL. I was impressed to find the curriculum went far beyond that, covering Python, Tableau, and PowerBI in depth. Over the past few months, I’ve already been able to integrate these new skills directly into my current role, and I feel much more confident pivoting into larger-scale data challenges.

A huge part of the success of this program is the instruction; Tina Lowry is incredibly knowledgeable and goes above and beyond, providing additional office hours that were instrumental to my learning. I highly recommend this bootcamp to any data professional—from beginner to intermediate—looking to bridge the gap in their technical toolkit.

The class has also helped me discover a passion for data storytelling which I'm excited to explore very soon!

    I'd recommend the Grace Hopper Program as a good place for women and non-binary people to learn web development. The instructors are well-informed and caring. They even spent time with us outside of class to give us advice and tutoring. About 1/3 of the co-ed cohort dropped out during the boot camp due to the challenges of learning coding but no-one from my Grace Hopper cohort dropped out due to the support offered by the staff and other students. Be aware that the don't pay unless you get a job within a year policy is no longer in play. 
     This bootcamp teaches a full-stack Javascript curriculum with React/Redux on the front-end and Express/Node on the backend. I found that in applying for jobs, many companies actually prefer Python, Java, Go, or C++ on the backend so it's easier to find a front-end job after than a full-stack or back-end position. That said, I've learned from the program how to learn new technologies so I've spent time trying to learn some on my own. 
     I graduated near the end of 2022 right when the tech companies were starting mass layoffs so it took me about 7-8 months to find a job. The career success team was very supportive during that time and offered insights on how to improve my job search process. Overall, I'm very thankful to all the staff that I interacted with. 

Overall the bootcamp was a great experience. Started with css/html culminating in a Javascript based working e-commerce website utilizing industry specific skills such as react and restApi. There were several instructors, 5 at the start. Two were amazing and 1 left after a short while and never replaced. The other two were quite unhelpful overall and it showed when no one would sign up for extra help with them. Overall, always room for improvement but it gave me the knowledge to gain a foothold in the industry and that's all I hoped for.

I want to start off by saying thank you to the entire Fullstack team for all the help that they've given me. Kim Wood is an extremely knowledgeable career coach and she helped me a ton when it came to my interview process. The instructors were extremely friendly and knowledgeable as well. A few things to consider if you're thinking about enrolling at Fullstack... Start studying for your Security+ ASAP and be prepared to study outside of class hours. My two goals when starting this course were to have Sec+ completed and a job lined up for when I graduated. Both of those goals have been accomplished, I actually got my job offer 3 days before graduation! I know most everyone who reads these reviews wants to know whether or not they will get a job and I'm confident to say that if I can do it, anyone can do it. The only downside I can think of with this bootcamp would be that my cohort was over 70 students which made it a bit tough to get 1 on 1 time with the instructors and to have your personal questions answered. However, there are mentors in the cohorts in which they provide outside class office hours that you can attend to ask any questions if you can spare any time outside the course itself. Lastly, start focusing on LinkedIn and building connections. This is how I found out, applied and got my job so I cannot stress enough how important LinkedIn is. Also, NO I did NOT have prior tech/cybersecurity experience before this bootcamp either. I started from scratch!

I have attended the Full Stack Development course: I have had the opportunity not only to learn the basics (and more) of programming languages and technologies, but I have also experienced team work and Agile methodology along the whole journey, carrying on lots of projects. Furthermore, I have had an amazing person as tutor always available to guide me. This school has represented a valuable opportunity to growth both professionally and personally. I totally recommend It.

Nobody wants to hire anyone in my class and I'm not surprised.. This class was incredibly rushed and It seemed like the instructor had zero to negative energy when teaching. Nobody wants to hire a fresh cyber security apprentice with no real experience.. But these people make it seem like this "bootcamp" is the way to get to it. Anytime we had intricate questions we were met with the usual "if you want to learn It you have to spend time outside of class learning it" 👍 
I would of left a decent review if I had paid 1/10 of what I did. But since I paid what I did.... I can attest this is 100% not worth it. Everything you "get" with this class, you're able to get on the internet for free. Starting with VirtualBox. 

My overall Experience with Fullstack was very good. The Instructor I had Stephen Mathews was great at communicating the material in a way we could understand and input his real life experience in the field. The Cyber mentor Dawon Han was excellent at being flexible whenever you needed help. She was an excellent mentor and aid. Finally my Career coach Kim Wood was very Instrumental in my locking in a job 5 months after the bootcamp. She helped tailor my resume, LinkedIn, and gave me Networking Strategies and always held me accountable and pushing me to achieve my goal. Any question I had, she was proactive at getting back to me in a timely manner and to help me succeed. 

Prior to becoming a student at Fullstack Academy I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical, but I gave it a shot and it changed my life.  I came into Fullstack Academy with absolutely ZERO experience in cyber and tech in general. But that did not matter as the Bootcamp can take you from, as some would say, "Zero to Hero". To put your minds at ease for those contemplating attending the Bootcamp; no, I was not very tech savvy nor is there MATH involved. There, better?  The instructors are awesome and VERY knowledgeable.There are also assistant instructors who are available whenever to help and assist you with any assignments and provide the clarity you may need. USE THEM, they were students prior to being assistants. They were in your shoes. Job assistance. What you're here for....When it comes to job assistance there is a Career Coach who is there to help with your resume, work on your elevator pitch, work on how to answer interview questions, and work on how to network with people via LinkedIn/Social Events. (Shout-out to Dezzi, she's awesome!) Fullstack Academy does offer an event where you have a chance to network with people who are already in the field and work for already established/start-up companies. The Bootcamp doesn't necessarily host a Job Fair where you meet recruiters, and you get hired on the spot. (Things may have changed since I graduated a year ago).  Now, DO NOT LET THAT DISCOURAGE YOU. Fullstack Academy has a HUGE alumni network. You can find people who work for well-known companies and start-ups in various industries and connect with them to potentially refer you to a job posting, invite you to events, or direct you to the company/person that can help/hire you. From my experience, the people in the cyber community are extremely helpful and willing to help you. Put yourself out there, network, and smile.  There is nothing to fear. Take the leap. You miss 100% of shots you don’t take. *!!LinkedIn is your best friend!!*

Fullstack Academy's Data Analyst Training Accelerator (DATA) program was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn data analytics and get to know a whole network of data professionals. Class was engaging and supportive; the instructors are paired well in terms of teaching style and my classmates were helpful and collaborative. The topics covered by this program are highly relevant in data analytics, and my presentation and speaking skills constantly improved. In my job search, I sought out additional support while interviewing, which was immensely helpful. 

Areas of growth: the readings in the modules could use proofreading and fact-checking. The associated challenge questions also needed proofreading and the short-answer questions were usually a rewording of the reading material, and did not necessarily encourage critical thinking. Particularly with the SQL challenges, students were asked to write hypothetical SQL code pertaining to a non-existent database, making it difficult for students to check their work. 
In response to student feedback, instructors did provide alternative challenges that were more engaging.

The Fullstack Academy Cybersecurity Analyst Bootcamp was intense and yet, by far, the best learning experience I have ever had.  The leaders and instructors were always available, willing to stay a few minutes after class to ensure a complete understanding of the material provided and how well we comprehended and applied all the principles of the lessons.  Lastly, I truly feel gaining an offer letter recently was highly due to having completed this Bootcamp.  Thank you Fullstack Academy for allowing me to have a professional learning experience that I will never forget. R/ Carey 

I felt challenged and empowered by the full-time data analytics bootcamp program at Fullstack Academy. The instructors are knowledgeable and the lead instructor imparted helpful advice from their extensive professional experiences. The student success manager and career coach were empathetic listeners and overall, kind people. I felt supported by the team in my education and post-graduation job search.
An area of improvement is the curriculum. The modules are easy and at times, redundant. The "challenges" at the end of each module often asked me to regurgitate the modules and did not add value to my learning. The curriculum was thankfully supplemented by challenges provided by the instructors.

Fullstack Academy gave me the tools, experience, and knowledge I needed to unlock a world of potential in the cybersecurity field. 

Joshua Mann and Kara Medema were the most patient instructors I have ever met, they had an answer to everything I could imagine. Dillon Daniels and Evan Haberman were excellent mentors and offered top-notch education support and resources. 

Kim Wood my career coach and wonderful advisor in this journey taught me exactly how to write a resume, cover letter, what skills I needed, how to understand my past experiences, and leverage those soft skills to show I am a team player and contributor to organizational goals. She was there for me at all hours of the day and night when I needed her to look at a cover letter, analyze my resume for the applicant tracking system, or coach me on how to beat the ATS. Most importantly, she taught me how to network, when to network and why to network. Fullstack students and alumni, Kim will be your greatest battle buddy before your graduation and especially post-graduation. Talk to her regularly, connect with her and you will reap the benefits of her experience and knowledge. 

Words cannot describe the experience at Fullstack Academy; all experience is positive.

I had a great learning experience at Fullstack Academy in Offensive and Defensive knowledge. The instructors are very knowledgeable Security Analysts with prior work experience in Cybersecurity. Some are in Offensive and some are in Defensive. We were taught everything from AWS, Linux, Splunk, Burpsuite, Wireshark, Nessus, and so on. The list goes on. They prepare students for the CompTIA Security+ as well as the CompTIA CySA+. 

I want to thank Kim Wood, the Cybersecurity Career Success Manager as well as Lesia Harhaj-Kudryk, the Director of Career Success for their full support during this job hunting journey. They were both equally highly had motivated me to not give up and be confident to look for a job. Their mock interviews, behavioral interviews, and career coaching had helped me tremendously. 

Thank you so much. 

I went to Fullstack Academy in order to keep myself accountable, and have some credibility with my resume instead of being self taught.

The plus
I'll keep it short, the teachers are fantastic, the curriculum is always changing to meet current technologies, and there's a robust alumni network (most of my job interviews were through referrals), and the sense of knowing that you're all in it for more or less the same reason builds a sense of comradery

The minus
Cost is one of the more expensive ones I know of, the class sizes are unusually large, and I feel that the TAs/mentors/helpers are overwhelmed consistently. Furthermore, while they teach you the right tech, the fact that this field requires data structures and algorithms to pass actual interviews, but only teaches those during the last month or so while you're knee deep in projects is kind of a bad format.

The tl;dr
The bootcamp is good, but it also has downsides. Not everywhere is perfect, The people there legitimately want you to succeed, bootcamps capitalize on a market, and they all want a slice of the pie.

But hey, I got a job, that's worth something eh?

My overall experience was pretty great.  My experience is bit different as I took the course as a Canadian resident. I had been doing a bit of freelance work with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and wanted to refine my abilities. The course was split up into 3 sections: Foundations, Junior Phase, Senior Phase. Foundations went by pretty quickly, there were no classes and it was pretty much self teaching yourself with their materials. You are able to request assistance with one of their fellows if you get stuck. Junior Phase was probably my favorite part of the course; We had daily lectures and pair programming session where you are able to work with other classmates and create a small application. Senior Phase was a lot less of the lecture structure and there we did daily mock technical interviews to prepare for the search. After that we would go to our assigned groups to complete bigger projects. I wish that the school had spent more time talking about the foundations of programming, like data structures and algos, but it is something you can pick up pretty quickly after the course.

The instructors were really good and they REALLY cared about your education and they really wanted to be there and teach the students. I never felt that I didn't really have anyone to reach out to.

Job assistance was really great. I was set up with a career coach that I could contact with any questions regarding employment and negotiations. After you graduate there is a career day where you can make connections with employers looking for bootcamp grads. I don't know if I'm allowed to say who was there, but there were a lot of good companies that offered competitive salaries and benefits. I was paired up with a career coach who seemed really invested in my progress during the job hunt, we met bi-weekly and setup goals. They were also there if I needed to vent about certain issues during the job search process. My career coach also sent my almost weekly e-mails with very good job opportunities and possible paid internships.

It took me about 2 months to find a job, outside of the US, with a lot of support from my career coach. Joining this school also sets you up with their alum network who work in numerous companies. It's a good place to learn and make lifelong connections. I would definitely recommend taking this bootcamp.

This is a bootcamp geared towards the determined beginner - anyone who is serious about applying themselves and making a career in data analytics should consider this bootcamp. The pace is slow enough for beginners, but fast enough for those who already have some experience in other languages. I was able to use my experience with FSA as a talking point in my interviewing process, and scored a data analytics job before the cohort had finished. Well worth the time.

My experience with Fullstack Academy was overall very positive. I had tried to teach myself web development using online tutorials, and books. This helped somewhat, but I didn't really understand anything about collaboration and working through problems with peers until I went through this boot camp. Also, the pace at which I learned the frameworks and libraries was dramatically speed up. This was due to the teachers stripping away the fluff and teaching what was necessary to build an entire application from front to back. 

This may be a personal preference, but in case you care about this sort of thing; Going through this camp also introduced me to a lot of like minded people working toward the same goal. This may not at seem like a huge advantage at first, but I found that there was a real benefit that came with the camaraderie of learning something as difficult as development. 

 By the end of program I felt very confidant in my skills as a developer. I'm also taking advantage of the student success team that helps with finding job openings, interview training and resume workshops. 

  Fullstack Academy has changed my life. I resisted going to a bootcamp for years, as I had a CS degree that I'd never used, and never thought I'd want to use. But times change, and when I got dumped out of a good startup job when the company went under due to the pandemic, I started looking for something more rewarding. I wanted to use my degree, but I needed a refresher. I looked at a few bootcamps and decided FSA seemed the most rigorous while still being short.

 The program is well designed, with lots of javascript and programming basics up front, then a focus on learning the web tech stack, and then back to CS principles towards the end while you work on your capstone project. The core curriculum is solid, though it could stand to be updated with some new technologies and updated versions (especially React and Typescript). There is a lot of pair programming, which I have mixed feelings about. The breadth of prior knowledge and experience in bootcamp participants mean sometimes you'll work with someone on your level, but more often you'll be working with someone drastically ahead or behind you in understanding. These can still be rewarding experiences, as you'll either have someone to learn from or have the opportunity to explain something to someone, which is a great way to deepen your understanding.

  The instructors are mostly awesome, people who genuinely want to be there and teach, rather than just a stopover between software development gigs. Teaching is hard, though, and there are a few who may be great developers but are still working on their teaching chops.  The good ones are amazing though, and all are putting in their best effort.

  The most rewarding part of my FSA experience was being offered a position as a "Fellow" (teaching assistant) after the program. The fellowship was a great opportunity to deepen my understanding of the material, share it with others, and work on my personal portfolio and applying to jobs while collecting a (very modest) paycheck. Working with students struggling with the program, trying hard to change their lives for the better, was very powerful. Lots of highs, and lots of lows.

  Having the fellowship on my resume, plus my CS degree, made it relatively easy to differentiate myself from other bootcamp grads and find a job making more than I'd even hoped for a first job. (Two weeks into starting the job, I still can't believe I got the offer). But the core program at Fullstack is challenging and relatively rigorous, the instructors are passionate and have real teaching skills, and the students are motivated and professional. The job assistance program, which I assumed would be an afterthought, was actually really helpful. The career services counsellors are experienced and insightful, and they really want to help you get a job. It was a pleasure working with them.

  Fullstack has changed my life for the better in ways that I never would have considered when I made the decision to apply.

16 week full-time immersive bootcamp teaching the PERN stack (Postgres, Express, React, Node), computer science principles, and systems design. The first 4 weeks (Foundations) are self-guided online modules teaching the basics of JavaScript and object oriented programming. The next 6 weeks (Junior Phase) are held in a classroom format, with lectures, pair programming, and take-home assignments. The final 6 weeks (Senior Phase) focus on team projects and interview/job search preparation. Students are encouraged to learn/utilize different technologies in their projects than those that were taught during Junior Phase. Students will come out of the program with 2 large team projects and one individual project. 

I started my coding bootcamp with Fullstack Academy in April, 2021.
I graduated from it late July of the same year, however, due to my personal situation I went back to my old job right away.
Even though I was working full-time and job hunting it only took 4 months for me to land a job! And I am a mother of a pre-schooler as well! My journey was very challenging with limited time I had fo myself, however, I was able to survive and achieve my goal, my dream because of Fullstack Academy. Fullstack Academy has a great curriculum, great instructors and great career coaches. By the time I graduated I was almost job ready, I reviewed everything I had learned from the bootcamp first 2 weeks after graduating. Then I was really job ready! After that I spent lots of time studying algorithms and searching and applying for jobs and even learned new tech stacks!
In addition, throughout my entire job searching journey my career coach was very supportive, we met often to chat and check-in and I always received a great guidance every time we met. 
My experience at Fullstack Academy was truly a blessing, attending Fullstack Academy was one of the greatest life changing decision I have made in my life!

Although the curriculum itself was great for job hunting with a very up-to-date tech stack, the Fullstack Academy administrators were bad at communication with the Grace Hopper cohort, we had a new instructor who was not great at the job, and although my cohort gave regular feedback, nothing was done about the issues we faced. As the women and non-binary school, we were continuously made to feel second tier to the all-gender group. Although not the worst choice of bootcamp by far, as I did manage to get a job fairly quickly after graduation, there are probably better bootcamps out there. 

They use a very different approach to "teach" you the basics (quotes because it's not taught - by the time you get into the pre-work course they will assume you know everything). 

Instead of simply asking "Make a function that repeats a string num times" they present the problem as a Jasmine testing spec. Imagine trying to decipher this test and trying to determine what they're asking, THEN coming up with a solution. 

Yeah, it makes no sense. What a steep learning curve! It really felt like they were trying to weed us out. And the fact they don't provide internship placements? Nah. I left and just got a placement at a top-10 company through a different all-women boot camp that was free. 

I am about to graduate from a cybersecurity course started in May 2021, Fullstack academy SDU. My overall rating for this course is satisfactory.

The course wasn’t easy and fast pace, to the point I got overwhelmed at the beginning, especially with no experience and background in computers. But Fullstack provides as many tools and help along the way to make this journey possible for me. Six months from that day, now I am looking back and happy for the amount of experience and knowledge I gained in such a short time.

I have so many people to thank for, my wonderful teacher who was kind and knowledgeable. My Student Aide ( Tanisha ) who were nonstop helping and carrying and pushing and making times even out of office hours due to my very complicated work schedule. Our teacher and director are taking time and patient with me while I was facing many struggles and expressing not having proper English can cause more challenges. for me too. They gave me the necessary attention, time so I will be able to find my way in this course.

Do I go back and make a choice to pick this course again? Absolutely. I learned a lot and I am hoping this will help me to find my next new career field with confidence. 

I started with Fullstack's bootcamp in a month program in February, with no prior experience, and got into their immersive software engineering program in March, finishing in late July and signed my offer as a Fullstack Developer recently in October 2021. 

It was honestly quite difficult and in order to get the most out of the program, you do need to put in many nights and weekends but I'd say, with certainty, the more work you put in, the more you get out. There is some hand holding, but if you really want to work in software engineering as a career, a large part of that is learning how to google and how to solve problems. For those who are worried about struggling, the program leads and instructors are very flexible and will work with you and potentially allow you to do a redo. 

The best part is the wonderful people at Fullstack--the instructors (shout outs to Orlando, Noelle, and Gary) all have real world experience and are also amazing teachers, the program lead I had (Serena) was super sweet and encouraging, and the career success team (shout out to Jolie!!!) was super helpful in answering all the questions and filling in the gaps. I found my job through a career success email blast!

I think the structure of the program works well and you leave the program with 2-3 projects on your portfolio that employers DO care and ask about. Like another reviewer here, my only complaint would be that there could potentially be an earlier focus on doing REACTOs (learning data structures and algorithms, which are super essential to a lot of companies' interviewing processes). Overall, I had a great experience and would recommend Fullstack.

Prior to attending the Cyber Bootcamp I had no formal education in anything related to Computers.  I attended the Fullstack Cyber Bootcamp from August through the end of April.  I did it part-time, three classes per week.  The entire class participated remotely.  We broke up into groups in each class and near the end of the course, broke up into groups to complete a capstone project.  During the last half of the course I began studying for the Sec+ exam, and passed it on the day before the course ended.  Then I studied for the CySA+ during the four weeks after I graduated, and took that exam and passed it.  Then I began looking for jobs through June and July, and in the first week of August, I received an email that a company was interested in interviewing me, and three weeks and two interviews later, I had a job!  I've been working three weeks now and I enjoy it very much!

Overall, I think that Fullstack Academy is a very good coding bootcamp, and I am glad that I attended. Fullstack is considered one of the best bootcamps, and I am glad that they have a fairly strict application process, so they only let in people who have at least a decent amount of coding knowledge.

I did a large amount of self-studying before attending Fullstack, probably more so than most other students. I am glad that I did, because then I was able to get the most out of the Fullstack instruction and experience. I thought the instructors and instruction was overall quite good, although there were a few times where I thought it could be a bit better/the instructors could explain things a bit more clearly. Again though, it's tough, because bootcamps have to cram so much material in in such a short period of time.

This goes back to my point about preparation and self-studying before attending the bootcamp - I think it's really helpful if you have a good base of knowledge, and have at least looked a bit at the topics and technologies that will be on the syllabus, so you are not completely lost when they introduce some of the topics. In some ways, I think this is a flaw of coding bootcamps in general - it's impossible to teach someone everything they need to know to get a job in tech in 4 months or so. One will have to do a lot of studying before attending, work hard while attending, and probably work a bit after graduation to sure up knowledge/skills in some areas. And ultimately, my other point is that coding bootcamps can be great, but in the end, you can (almost) teach yourself all of this stuff. There are so many resources available online at this point that are either free or very cheap. Is this expensive bootcamp worth it? - it could be, but I would say try to self-study a lot before attending, so you get the most possible out of it.

My other slight criticism of Fullstack Academy is that I felt that the size of the class was pretty large. I think my cohort started off being around 37-40 people. Throughout the course, a few people did end up dropping out (and then a few people were held back into the next cohort, since they didn't do that well in the "junior phase", so they didn't get to go to "senior phase"). However, even though the cohort was large, the instructors and teaching fellows nevertheless did a good job of providing individual instruction where needed.

In the end, I have a very positive review of Fullstack Academy. Could instruction have been a bit better in a few areas? - probably, but overall it was quite good. Was the cohort size a little big? - yes, somewhat, but not outrageously big and I still felt I was able to get enough help. Can you just teach yourself most of this stuff? yes, for the most part, but Fullstack helped me to get better in a few areas, and the senior phase stuff (working on a team, career services) I thought were very valuable to me. Ultimately, I am a success story, because after graduating (and then after about 3 more months of doing a bit more self-studying and applying to jobs) I got a high-paying software engineer job at a major company.

I attended FSA remotely in Spring of 2021 in the 2104 Cohort. Overall all the staff were amazing. My instructor Orlando, did a fantastic job explaining the concepts, and the teaching fellows did a great job answering any questions and making sure you are grasping the material. Serena, the program lead, did everything in her power to make sure you were as comfortable as possible. And Nicole, one of the career success advisors, were super helpful during the job hunt, always willing to answer questions or help me with interviews. My only real complaint about the program, was the very little time spent on data structures and algorithms, I found those concepts particularly difficult. Thanks to FSA I just signed for my very first Software Developer position!

Six-month, immersive program teaching fundamental skills for offensive and defensive security. The rigor of the content and workload were challenging but manageable. The instructors and career coach offered and provided great support, both individually and as a class. I learned a lot and at the end of the program, felt prepared to apply for an entry-level cybersecurity job that would continue to build upon my course knowledge and skills.

My experience at the Grace Hopper Program changed my life in a myriad of ways. Their curriculum is extremely thorough and as they say, "they will not let you fail." I think though, that besides teaching me their specific stack, GHP really taught me how to think like a programmer. Since graduating I've been able to teach myself so many new languages and technologies because of this experience. I chose the program because I'm a nonbinary student and wanted to go somewhere where my identity would be respected, and I absolutely felt that throughout my experience. My cohortmates, fellows, and instructors were so supportive and still are even now after I've graduated. The pair programming enabled me to learn to speak technically and work with others in this new environment, and the workshops are still useful for me to go through even now that I'm an employed software engineer. I cannot recommend the Grace Hopper Program enough for any woman or nonbinary person looking to get into the technical field.

I've decided to switch my career and was coding on my own for quite some time until I realized I've only learnt some HTML in 3 months and the speed and motivation for my learning is not leading me anywhere. My friend recommended looking into coding bootcamps and I started researching. Fullstack Academy had great reviews and job landing rates so I looked no further and applied. They provided great recommendations on how to prepare for their application process, I knew zero JavaScript at that time and yet I made it! It's been a year and I just landed my first software engineering job, no way I would've done it on my own! If you need a little more guidance like me, very determined to make that switch and ready to put your life a little bit on hold for the time of the course look no further and just do it! 

Not only did I get the knowledge but also great connections, tips on how to enter the industry and how to be successful in your coding. It is going to be tough 4 months, like a highly intellectual full-time job but with take-home assignments, and the weekends are going to be busy as well with homework and projects. But if you truly enjoy coding you will be so excited to do it along like-minded peers willing to help and share their knowledge. Your classmates and instructors will become your industry connections forever along with all other graduated students. Even people I haven't met were willing to help when I reached out to them via LinkedIn knowing we both came from the same school. 

Don't be fooled that you will get a job super easily after you graduated, you'd still have to put a lot of effort into it, continue learning and applying A LOT, but everyone who stays on it eventually lands the job. During my interview process I've learnt that Fullstack Academy is highly rated among employers and that's your entrance ticket for landing an interview. After that it is your skills, your mindset, your knowledge and how well you prepare. It may take you anywhere from one week to a year to get that job, but you will and that's the point. The industry is very competitive and you'd have to compete with people who have Computer Science degrees and maybe even some experience. So I just want to be honest with you that it will take a lot of work and determination and believing in yourself. I think that the most important thing you'll get from Fullstack Academy is confidence that YOU CAN DO THIS and super important tips on applying and shining during your interview. 

A separate topic is people -- people at Fullstack Academy are just AMAZING, they have a no-ass strict policy for all staff and students. So when pair-programming you can be sure there is a kind, respectful person on the other side who is willing to help, it makes the whole process so much easier. They create a safe space for you to speak up and ask questions, that was super important to me. There are also some extra-curriculum activities, games etc. to let you all get to know each other and just have fun! 

Overall, highly recommend!

This one was one of the best experiences I've had in my adult life. Sounds dramatic, but working with full stack helped me to reawaken the potential from inside of myself that I have not felt since college. Enrolling in FSA was the first step of my career change into software engineering. The admissions process was tougher than I expected. New students must have a firm grasp of javascript basics, and must pass a coding assessment and interview process to be placed in a cohort. The pace is described as "drinking from a firehose", which sounds intimidating, but is really a blessing in disguise. The staff is very supportive, and students are assigned to Fellows for more individualized help and feedback. I started to fall behind at certain points of the program, but the instructors recognized the pattern, and provided additional resources and weekend lectures to help me catch up. The fast pace really helps to instill confidence in students when it comes to learning new technology. In 12 weeks, I would say I learned at least 15 new technologies. This has built my confidence to the point where I feel that I can handle learning any new tech in just a few days. 

The post-graduate career success team has been wonderful to work with. There is constant support, and weekly meets to share resources, thoughts, concerns, and successes during the job search. 

It is a pricy program, but the personal growth, and networking opportunities are well worth it in my opinion. I even stayed on to serve as a Teaching Fellow myself. The experience has been very rewarding. 

Before attending Fullstack Academy, I was a fashion designer working full time during the pandemic and decided to quit my job to become a software engineer. It was such a crazy decision to make, but it's well worth it because I got an offer from a company that I really like after about 3-4 months of job searching. I think 3-4 months was reasonable and as expected. 

I attended the Grace Hopper Program at FA from Sep 2020 to Dec 2020. The full-time remote immersive program was super intense, I was very emotional because there were too many tools to learn in such a short amount of time. I struggled a lot during Junior Phase but I didn't give up, and all of our instructors, Jess, Finn, Ben were very helpful. We also had great fellows like Maddie, Ashlee, and Tori, so I suggest booking as many office hours as you can with the instructors and fellows if you are struggling. 

After Senior Phase and graduation, we had a "Launch Day" with potential employers. It operated as a job fair, we could attend their section to learn more about the company then reach out to the recruiter afterward. After the Launch Day, I emailed the recruiters and got an interview with Bloomberg and another digital media company, so I liked how FA organized the event. Just don't expect to have an interview with the recruiters and received a job offer right away on Launch Day, it's not going to work like that anymore, you have to put in the work to do your part instead of wait for FA/someone to give you a job. For the job searching part, if you are still unemployed 2 months after graduation, you can apply to be a mentee and have a mentor (FA alumni working full time as a software engineer) to guide you. I would like to thank my career coach, Jolie for assigning a great mentor for me. I would also like to thank Trent for hosting job search Q&A events every other week so we have a place to share our interviewing experience. 

Overall I am satisfied with the FA's immersive program and career assistance, the only thing I would suggest for improvement is to make the class size smaller and hire more career coaches. I highly recommend FA to those who are willing to work hard and have a positive attitude.

Fullstack Academy (FSA) transformed me from a beginner of almost zero coding experience to a full-time employed full-stack developer within 10 months. To clarify, the 10 months cover pre-bootcamp preparation, self-paced foundation phase, immersive junior and senior phases (the main body of FAS), and 3 months of job hunting after graduation. My program focused on web development; the curriculum covered a up-to-date set of full-stack languages and technologies, including Javascript, React, Node.js, Postgresql, and Express. On top of that, the program also strongly encouraged students to explore languages and technologies outside the curriculum through solo and team projects. In my case, my team and I also learned AWS, React Native, Xcode, among many other tools. Although there are always more new technologies to learn, the stack on FSA's curriculum turned out very useful and practical in the current market. In my case, the core technologies and tools I will use for my job are those I learned from FSA.

Besides the tech stack, I was able to build three projects, which will constitute an important part of my resumes in the job market. Moreover,  FSA operated the program using the method of Agile software development, which is widely used in the tech industry. My classmates and I practiced pair-programming throughout the immersive phases and the pairing changed every single time to make sure most students got to work together. We also built projects starting from writing a user story, to diagraming workflow and using Github Kanban, to attending daily stand-ups and weekly code reviews, and to a final presentation. All these practices prepared me well for the real working environment.

The instructors at FSA are AWESOME! My cohort (2009 => 20 means 2020 and 09 means September, I know, it took me a while to figure this out) started during the pandemic. As a previous teacher myself, I totally understand the difficulties to teach online. However, FSA instructors did a wonderful job. They structured their lectures in a clear way. They were knowledgable, attentive and patient. They constantly checked in on everyone and were very willing to pause and answer any questions. Additionally, they all have different personalities, and made the lectures engaging, interesting, and funny in their own ways. (Jessica Bracht, Natalie Lane, Bienvenido Rodriguez, Travis Stratton, and Finn Terdal, thank you so much for being patient and caring!)

I also benefited from the fellow system at FSA. Every 6-7 students at FSA were assigned with a teaching fellow who usually graduated a cohort ahead. Our fellow organized group lunch every week to get together, to discuss everyone's process and struggles, to share strategies and resources, and also simply to chat and to get to know each other. My fellow Bobby Ton was super encouraging and supportive throughout the entire process. He was there to support me when my laptop broke down in the middle of the bootcamp, and he also wrote a wonderful recommendation letter for me after my graduation. (Thank you, Bobby! You are the best!)

FAS career assistance started during our senior phase and fully kicked in after our graduation. Career advisors gave talks on every crucial steps in job hunting. They also provided one-on-one meetings to help me prepare resume, linkedIn profile, and also a pitch speech (Thank you for helping me and supporting me, Dezzi Rae Marshall). Although I found it hard to do all this while working on my senior projects, it is good to just start. After graduation, they selected and regularly send out job opportunities, job fairs, and various events related to job hunting. I found this very helpful and the two job offers I got were both from the events my career advisor recommended. Moreover, it was very convenient to book a one-on-one meeting with my career advisor to discuss literally anything about job hunting. I discussed with my career advisor to speed up my application, report my progress and figure out what's working and what's not, prepare interviews, and negotiate salary. In addition, the career advisors also reached out to FSA alumni to organized panels, pair newly graduated students with experiences alumni to provide mentorship, and they also offer meditation sessions! (Thank you so much for always being there for me throughout the job hunting process, Trent Rhodes!)

I highly recommend FSA. As I said in my title, FSA is an awesome program that is worth your time and money. If I have to say anything for improvement, I wish the class size were smaller and there were more guidances on the Async week. Perhaps these would not have been issues if it were not for the pandemic. Oh oh, one last request, please consider adding digital accessibility into the curriculum!

I graduated from Fullstack's Web Development Fellowship in July 2020 (shout out to WDF-2004!!!). I'm currently set to begin an internship this summer at a company that aligns well with my values and interests and will stretch my knowledge and experience of languages and tools I was exposed to at Fullstack.

I had the privilege to begin the bootcamp prep in person with those who would be my cohort mates in January 2020 under the instruction of Sarah Zhao (who is so amazing at what she does). Post-lockdown, the program went remote but smoothly with Orlando Caraballo and Julissa Napoletano as our instructors. They provided a nice balance in the course of or class week, were very encouraging, and kept our learning fun. Retrospectives and check-ins with Oscar Robles were absolutely necessary for us as we were all experiencing the strain of being in lockdown and also the stress and trauma of social injustices happening around us. The curriculum was intense but taught us the full NERDS (Node.js, Express, React & Redux, and Databases using SQL) stack. We got to complete some fun workshops, pair program with our peers, and build some amazing projects during the senior (last) phase of the program. Those projects helped me when interviewing because I was excited to talk about what I've been able to build because of Fullstack.

Career Success services and our Flight (post-grad) program were great and definitely instrumental in my job search success. Special thank you to Jolie Dudley, Trent Rhodes, and my remote coach Laura McClernon for being such an instrumental part in my job search and interview readiness prep. You feedback and support were invaluable.

Overall, my experience at Fullstack was AMAZING and I would highly recommend them to anyone interested in Web Development. The Web Development Fellowship (WDF), which is in partnership with the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline, is quite competitive but allows you a tuition-free education with the same curriculum as a normal Fullstack student.