A year ago, I was laid off from my previous job not under the best circumstances and now I am working as a Software Engineer at a promising startup making more than twice the amount I did at my previous job. I would say that qualifies as having a pretty good year and a lot of it is due to Fullstack Academy.

After my layoff,  I knew that I wanted to get into tech and learn coding so I tried to teach it to myself using tools like CodeAcademy, CodeSchool, TreeHouse, various tutorials I found here and there. But I knew that I needed a bit of guidance because the biggest thing holding me back was that I didn't know what I didn't know.

To be honest, I got accepted into quite a few bootcamps including DevBootcamp, General Assembly, and App Academy and the only reason I chose Fullstack was that it started the earliest and I figured the earlier I joined the earlier I would get a job. But I am lucky that I did. Fullstack Academy was great in guiding me and helping me learn the basics of Web Development. And it was truly an environment where you got out as much as you put in.

And I would like to think I put in quite a few hours (I spent close to 80 hours a week at Fullstack) and I learned more than I ever did in a span of 12 weeks. And the best part about it was that I was learning by doing. 

I agree with everything that the glowing reviews have said here about David and Nimit. Nimit is probably the most patient human being I've ever seen when dealing with sleepless-crazed people trying to learn to code, while David is one of the most skilled debuggers and knowledgable fullstack developer that I've met. They genuinely care about your success and how to make your experience the best.

But the thing with any of these bootcamps is really the amount of effort you keep exerting after you leave Fullstack. It's been about 5 months since I've left Fullstack and I would say I am probably lightyears better as a developer than I was then. But I really can't say that I would not get to where I am without the jolt star that Fullstack gave me.

I also wrote a much longer review about Fullstack in my blog, if you care to read:superjisan.org/devblog/m…

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During my coding bootcamp search, my main goals were to become extremely proficient in programming, learn from great mentors, and land a great job once I was done. I'll assess my experience based on these three criteria.

Coding

Thanks to Fullstack, I can now have an intelligent conversation about the pros and cons of SQL vs. NoSQL databases, explain what $watch and $digest are in AngularJS, build apps from scratch, and show you how to do three-way data binding with AngularJS and Firebase. I have a Github repo full of code that I can explain, and projects that I was able to show employers during interiews. I definitely felt like I got my money's worth here.

Mentors

David and Nimit, the co-founders, have pretty impressive backgrounds. David was a former early employee at Gilt Groupe & RecycleBank. Both worked at Yahoo! together (and have the stories to prove it). Nimit was the co-founder of Bloomspot (acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase in 2010), and a Wharton grad. I didn't just want to learn from someone who was good at teaching, I also wanted to learn from someone who has been in and understands the startup world. They did -- they made the coding real by peppering in stories about how things were done at Gilt, Bloomspot, etc.

Job Prospects

The market is extremely hot for developers. The 2 weeks after graduating, I ended up having about 6 to 8 interviews, and ended up landing a position at a great startup which I am loving.

If you are serious about becoming a professional developer, I'd highly recommend attending Fullstack. If interested, I wrote a a more extended review on my blog here.

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Prior to attending FullStack, I spent over a year and a half learning web development independently through the usual suspects of free and paid online channels. However, despite all the invested time, I still felt woefully unprepared to move beyond 'hobbyist' mode and into production-grade development. I applied to FullStack with that intention -- to become a professional grade developer and synthesize all the concepts I had learned online and in my undergrad electrical engineering days (many many many moons ago). It's a big investment of time and money, but well worth it -- in saved opportunity cost (of not having to learn concepts in isolation), high quality of instruction (the lead instructors are fantastic!), and network of other students. I came into the school with a decent amount of prior experience compared to some of the other students, and still felt that I couldn't learn enough. You learn things that there is no way you could learn on your own -- the latest technologies, deployment, working with other developers in a simulated production environment. Plus, you have a whole classroom of potential hackathon partners! You basically learn how to learn, and once you have a solid foundation of web development principles, you're on the path after graduation to continue to learn on your own and find a job, which many of my fellow students did quite quickly post-graduation. I highly recommend FullStack (and learning to code in general!) to anyone -- it will pay off in spades in any field you are currently in or decide to enter in the future.

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I attended Fullstack in the beginning of 2014, and after my experience, I truly believe that Fullstack Academy is the fastest and most effective way to learn to code today. Your learning is accelerated by great teaching/teachers, but also by a great program design and structure, which includes plenty of struggling, helping and getting helped by 20 other students with same goal: to learn how to be a competent developer fast. I know that acquiring the same knowledge would have taken at least 5X longer without Fullstack, if not more. 

And besides the technical stuff, I had a blast for almost the entire three months, including making connections with really smart people that will definitely serve me well throughout much of my lifetime.

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I chose Fullstack because it was evident that David and Nimit were very knowledgable and passionate about their teaching and their students.  Additionally they are great guys and have highly reputable backgrounds in the software industry and entrepreneurship.  Every day at Fullstack was challenging and fun, the staff was great and always helpful, and all of the students got along in our class really well.  If you ever there late late studying or working on your project, there are usually a handful of other students and even instructors staying late doing the same.

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I found the world of code bootcamps enticing and suspect with their promise of "12 weeks from amateur to pro." Given that they all pretty much make this claim alongside the assurance you'll be learning the latest in web development, some research was in order.

My three criteria in finding the best fit were:

1. The curriculum truly had to be of the moment. This meant learning the MEAN stack.
2. The pace and scope had to be geared towards someone that's more than a beginner.
3. The people running the place had to be great teachers, not just great developers.

After reading numerous reviews, reaching out to alumni, and speaking with school reps, Fullstack became the clear choice. The knowledge, connections, and opportunities I've gained from the experience well exceeded my expectations, but it's a get-what-you-give situation. If you put in the time/effort to master the material, David, Nimit, and the rest of the team are more than supportive.

In short, Fullstack was one of the best professional decisions I've ever made. I think anyone considering a code bootcamp ought to give them a serious look.

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I’m confident that everyone who attended Fullstack Academy has mostly good things to say about it. In fact, most of them would probably claim that it was the “best decision of their life.” It may seem like hyperbole, but personally, it was one of the best decisions of my life.

In terms of cost and time invested, Fullstack Academy was one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my life. I learned and did more in those 13 weeks than in any other 13 week period.

- The class size is kept small (around 20 students) so enough attention is given to everyone.

- David and Nimit are amazing instructors, mentors, and engineers. They’re extremely passionate about teaching and helping you succeed too.

- The TAs are all super smart, knowledgable, and helpful.

- The curriculum is well-thought-out and designed. It has a focus on the JavaScript (MEAN) stack so there’s less language context-switching (as opposed to other bootcamps that use say Rails). This way you can become extremely proficient with one language yet also focus on fundamentals and concepts. It was awesome to see how far everyone in the class had progressed by the end of the program.

- Projects are super fun and you’re pretty much free to do whatever you want, with any language, libraries, frameworks, technologies, etc. I made a Wafels & Dinges locator, a chat-roulette battle Tetris game, and a prototype mobile app for a company (which my team and I got paid for). I also participated in and won my first hackathon with two other classmates.

You’ll learn how to learn but you should be a perpetual learner -- the journey has only just begun by the time you graduate. If you put in the effort, David, Nimit and the rest of the staff will do everything they can to help you succeed. You’ll make new friends and professional connections. You’ll gain confidence in your abilities as a software engineer.

Oh yeah, like me and most of my classmates, you’ll probably land some cool job opportunities too.

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I really enjoyed my time at Fullstack Academy. It gave me the skillset and confidence to land a dream job at a growing startup! Here are my pro’s and con’s of my time at Fullstack.

Pros:

• David and Nimit are both amazing teachers. Their teaching styles and backgrounds complement each other and provide diverse perspectives on the course material. They’ve known each other for years and have experience teaching together.
• The TA’s are all very smart and willing to help whenever you need them.
• The curriculum is well designed and logically progresses from foundations to theories to individual technologies to complete projects (which tie all prior topics together).
• Every single student in my cohort reached something called “escape velocity”, or the ability to quickly teach yourself new technologies as needed.

Cons:

• In my cohort we had one guest lecturer for a few days who was very knowledgeable but not a good teacher.
• Fullstack Academy is a newer school so their brand is limited, however those who have heard of it are usually very impressed.

Advice to Management:

• Be careful to maintain the integrity of the program as you grow: this’ll be hard but you can do it!
• Make sure that guest lecturers are knowledgeable and good teacher.

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Going through Fullstack was one of the most empowering and liberating experiences of my life—academic, professional, or otherwise. I’d never heard of a learning environment like this before, and I’d certainly never had the pleasure of being a part of one. My classmates, as diverse a group as any, were smart, capable, motivated, and most importantly generous—you’ll find no shortage of new friends eager to help you squash bugs when you (inevitably) run into them. By the time I left Fullstack, I felt like I’d fast-tracked my way into an elite professional network of ridiculously skilled developers. You will learn many of the latest and most in-demand web development technologies during the course of your 13 weeks with David, Nimit, and the rest of Fullstack’s warm and highly capable staff.
 
I graduated Fullstack confident in my abilities as a software developer. Within four weeks, I accepted a competitive front-end position at a startup here in New York, and I couldn’t be happier.  
 
Deciding whether a bootcamp is right for you is obviously an important choice—for one thing, they’re not cheap. But my final bit of wisdom is that you should pick your bootcamp (should you decide to attend one) based not on the technologies you’ll be learning, but instead on the quality of the instructors and your fellow students. There’s nowhere I would have rather enrolled than Fullstack.

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I was in the Fullstack Spring 2014 class and it was the best decision I've ever made in my life. Web development has always been something that has interested me, so I decided to quit my job to go to a bootcamp. I applied to quite a few bootcamps but during my interview when I spoke with Nimit for the first time (one of the co-founders/lead instructors) I knew that Fullstack Academy was the one for me. When class started, I met David (the other co-founder/lead instructor) and immediately knew I made the right decision. You can't find better instructors when it comes to learning development because these two know their shit. Not only are they great teachers with reputable Software Engineer resumes, but they are great guys that you end up becoming good friends with. I highly recommend Fullstack Academy to anyone considering a bootcamp.

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If you’re thinking about a boot camp, go to Fullstack. That’s the gist of this. Boot camps won’t totally prepare you, but they do a pretty good job, and you should get ahead of this as much as possible because there might be a job bubble coming if there already isn’t one. 

Students: They clearly care about who they let in to the cohort. Most students are kind, sociable, and chill. Some are especially decent. A couple are bummers, but the ratio is outstanding. Everyone stops what they’re doing to help each other out. I have made great friends from Fullstack. I was someone who was going in thinking “this will be cool but these aren’t going to be my people”. They will be your people. If you're thinking of changing careers or adding a skillset, the student body alone is a reason to choose Fullstack.

Company + Personnel: Fullstack is scrappy, mostly transparent, and they take you seriously. The instructors are good, super smart, and very kind. They're completely sincere and straight forward with you. Only the people whose job it is to be obtuse will be obtuse, and even then they do their best to no be, and for the most part, understand that’s sort of their function within the structure of the company. People here work hard to show that they care. The fellows (the student teachers) range from being brilliant and kind to being NOT the best engineers ever but still very kind. They are all wonderful and committed to being helpful. This is a reflection of the student body again, and the commitment to a stellar culture. The recent Bridgewater purchase of Fullstack makes me nervous, but I doubt they'll interfere too much with how the company is run for now. Just look out for that, I guess.

Education: I know JavaScript. That's just true. I understand most things about it at a fundamental level. I have a stack I can code in. I felt fully supported the whole time, with tons of opportunity for extra help and practice even after school was out. The exams were tough but fair. I have made more than one app since graduating, like, got it up and running by myself. They were dinky toy apps, and most were used for interview projects, but I can do that now. It's wild. It will be brutal, it will be fast paced, but seriously trust the process. You'll see a lot of people say that, and they're right. The process won't help you get a job, but it will allow you to learn a lot very quickly.

All that said, there’s a lot more to learn, and relearn, and relearn. You will still be a junior when you leave. You graduate an engineer in that you can engineer things, but you’re going to be very confused looking at a large codebase, you’re going to forget a lot of what you learned, and you’re going to feel stupid but you’re not! They teach you well, so you’ll be able to brush up on what you forgot. It's 3 months though. Take it easy on yourself. You are pretty much job ready, and that's amazing.

Most importantly — despite their best efforts, unless you have a BS in Computer Science or general experience with CS, you will lack those CS fundamentals and algorithm skills. If you can help it, spend a couple hours a week practicing algorithms before the second half of the program where you will practice more frequently. It’ll be a lot less rough when you get out of the program that way.

Diversity + Culture: The environment is great. Fullstack is pretty progressive regarding identity politics so that's really nice. I mean, not everyone who is there totally gets it, but everyone is very friendly and I knew at least one trans person who had a solid experience at Grace Hopper, and I know there were other NB folks who did well there. There is still a lack of diversity mostly in gender and sexuality in the Fullstack cohorts. Mostly dudes, mostly white, with a few SEA and EA guys (my cohort had one queer person and no black people). Almost no women because they usually go to GH, which can make it a bit of a boys club, but the environment does a great job preventing that from happening (GH helps too, you interact with your sister cohort quite a bit). GH had a lot more overall diversity.

But yeah, just reemphasizing that the culture is overall really great. Very surprised how cool everyone was. They clearly care a lot.

Other thoughts:

The whole boot camp thing is nuts. You go in there, and you're learning a hundred new things a day, and they're trying to give you theory but also trying to make sure you can actually get something up and running so you have projects on your resume by the time you graduate, and they spend a good amount of time practicing whiteboarding problems but it isn't enough, and you're meeting new people, and you're working 60+ hours a week, and you're not seeing any of your friends and family (or if you are, not that often) and it's just bananas. Fullstack is pretty great, and there will be people who are better at identifying specific negatives about the program. I had a good time, I did well for myself, any flaws I saw seemed to be no fault of theirs as much as it was the fault of boot camps as a whole. I think if you have a different background or you're a different kind of person, maybe Fullstack isn't right for you. I don't know. Read other reviews, they helped me a lot when I was deciding.

You're almost definitely not going to come out of this interview ready. Some of you will, because some of you are wired for this. God bless. Most of you will not, and you'll probably take a very high paying hybrid role (sales + engineering usually) and do quite well for yourself. There just aren't as many junior roles out there right now. The industry is starting to grow wise to the fact that they can avoid hiring new engineers by just paying seniors more money to create systems that do junior work for them. Yes it is unfair, but that's how this works right now. There are a ton of great folks in software though looking to mentor people. Find them -- they will help you. Unless you have a lot of natural talent (and even if you do), it's going to be a long road. A handful of folks from my cohort got jobs after a normal amount of time (3 - 4 months), but a majority are still looking (4 - 5 months in right now).

None of this boot camp stuff is sustainable, but it is available right now, and it is totally feasible that you leave Fullstack with a high paying job in the tech space. Also, if you come from a relatively privileged background, and you're young, and you don't have a lot of direction, just do it. Nothing out there is going to fulfill you right now, but you'll be able to get some direction in your life towards a discipline that pays well with tons of flexibility, you'll get out in front of the incoming automation wave,  and you can maybe even have some time and energy and capital after all of this to eventually do something you like for a living that isn't actively contributing to the siphoning of wealth from the bottom to the top. I don't know.

If any of this sounds appealing to you go to Fullstack. If I sound like someone who thinks like you go to Fullstack. It’s probably the best boot camp around.

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I had an incredible experience at Fullstack academy. I came into the program with hardly any coding experience and left feeling like a certified pro. The instructors were made the course such a wonderful academy. Unlike my college educators, the Fullstack instructors were engaging, thoughtful, and made learning quite fun. I would recommend the class to anyone that has an interest in becoming a software engineer. 

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The 14 weeks onsite at FullStack were intense, challenging and very thorough  The instructors are deeply knowledgable (and very patient).    The curiculllum was clearly set out at the beginning of each phase.  Pair programming and test driven development kept things interesting daily. Workshops and test were challenging and really helped motivate me.   There are several bigger projects as you progress through the course and they really helped increase my understanding and enthusiam for software development.  

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Fullstack was truly an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Coming in with almost no computer science background, I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up. The instructional team went above and beyond to ensure that I understood the material and provided every resource I could possibly need to succeed. If you are considering attending a bootcamp, Fullstack should be at the top of your list.

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Fullstack's curriculum is pretty great and very up to date. Fullstack gives you a solid foundation for modern web development careers. Every project was jam packed with essential programming concepts, which was overwhelming at first, but it was useful to return to these projects during the studying phase of my job search. I also felt that my instructors were genuinely interested in web development and also in teaching. Fullstack is very high quaility bootcamp and you cant go wrong if you choose it. 

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pros:
1. full-stack JavaScript-focused curriculum with strong emphasis on React.js was a perfect fit for jobs in the NYC market;
2. amazing, committed instructors;
3. project-based and collaborative (pair-programming throughout) was a plus in interviews;
4. Career Services helped me negotiate a higher salary

cons:
1. not enough emphasis on becoming proficient at writing tests (e.g. Jest, Mocha, etc.), and
2. Career Services was great at the negotiation phase, but they seem to be too busy to give too much individualized focus before that point

general advice:
1. Computer Science fundamentals is extremely important, but only so much of it can be taught in a 4 month program - make sure you study algorithms and web fundamentals on your own after graduation;
2. I probably was under-qualified for admission into this extremely rigorous program, which meant that I was constantly trying to catch up. I didn't really hit my stride until a month or two after graduation as I continued practicing on my own. Do your best to take advantage of free resources prior to the bootcamp (such as FreeCodeCamp)

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I attended Fullstack as a Summer of Code student. I was weary of attending at first since I am already a computer science student, and thought it may be "overkill." But it was worth it in the end because I learned so many valuable skillsets that I would have not encountered otherwise. The interview prep support was also tremendous, and I really enjoyed learning and working with others who are equally motivated. Shoutout to Kate who was a wonderful mentor and teacher throughout my Senior phase! If you are weary about price/experience, just now that this is such a worthwhile experience and I feel way more confident in my programming abilities now. If I had any criticism, it would be that specific internship support wasn't available, but I got enough out of the job support that it didn't make a huge difference for me. 

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If you are serious about changing careers into the tech industry, definitely consider Fullstack Academy. It was chanllenging, but you get out what you put in. The job search comes after the bootcamp can be even tougher. Be ready. 

Aside from getting a great experience from the bootcamp, I also gain an amazing Fullstack network which I treasure a lot.

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Foundations was incredibly challenging. Junior phase was very challenging. Senior phase was challenging. Everything got easier over time because your confidence improved and your understanding of the context of what you were learning improved, and your skills for learning improved. At the beginning we all kept telling each other and ourselves, "trust the process." It got easier to trust over time. We got a lot closer than I thought we'd be able to over a remote platform, but it really felt like we were all hanging out every day. I made friends that I still talk to all the time. The instructors are not equal, but they're all very competent and helpful. Everyone in the tech world that I talked to after the program was thoroughly impressed by my knowledge and experience from Fullstack. I felt great during interviews and ended up with 2 offers. It's not all perfect, you've got to advocate for yourself and take initiative to get out of the program what you need from it. At the end of the day I really had fun in the program and I'm literally making more than double what I was in my last profession (with a master's degree) with no prior tech education or experience. What more is there?

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For me, leaving my career and starting this bootcamp was a huge risk. It would mean spending most of my savings to continue to live in NYC will not working, not working for the first time in 12 years which grated on my psyche and not being sure I would get a job quickly... if at all in this field. 

Grace Hopper was well worth it. You can tell from the get-go that it's a mutual investment because of the tuition policy but it's more than that. I do have some criticism regarding my cohort in particular and the lack of consistency of instruction - but we still did learn a substantial amount. 

In terms of instruction - the curriculum is clearly tried and tested and is being iterated on consistently which is key. It does require a lot of self-direction and motivation but.. it's a bootcamp so that's to be expected. I was disappointed by the fact that we didn't have consistent instructors (only had one for quite a few weeks) and that I don't feel the instruction was always very strong. You can be an amazing engineer without knowing how to communicate that to other people. Instructors need to be able to communicate that to other people and stay organized. 

One thing I can't say was awesome enough was the career success team. Again - you need to stay on top of your own stuff - but they will support you really well (at least my counselor did). She was responsive and no-nonsense and made it very clear that the goal was to get you a job that you could thrive in for a while to come. My resume and linkedin and negotiation skills have never been better. At hiring day, I met so many companies that followed through with interviews and got and accepted my first offer within a month. And if that hadn't been the right offer for me, they would've helped me come to terms with rejecting the offer and making a plan for how to get a better one. 

Moral of the story: if you're thinking about it seriously, do it. It'll be worth it. 

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My experience at Fullstack Academy was truly remarkable. I had an amazing time at Fullstack and it redefined my career goals as my job search was more successful than I ever could have hoped. The technical foundation you are provided with truly is enough to obtain a job at a top company. The quality of other students was very high and it was truly special to learn alongside so many interesting people who had succeeded in many different areas and industries. I could not reccommend Fullstack more highly. The only caveat I would note is that the expereince is what you make of it and it is not magic. You must be willing to put in the work to fully reap the benefits of this amazing program

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Fullstack was not just a great bootcamp experience, but one of the best educational experiences of my life. The team of instructors does a great job creating a sense of community. The curriculum is incredibly thorough, and by the senior phase of the program I could not believe the kinds of projects we were producing. I think the only downside was that the instructors are incredibly capable and experienced programmers, but they don't have much teaching experience. Overall, FSA is a great program that really produces job-ready graduates.

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Really nice progression of material - liked the instructors a lot and they offered a lot of help with material that I had been struggling with.  In the application process now and feeling a lot more confident for all the interviews that are upcoming!

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Going to Fullstack was one of the best decisions I ever made. 

There's a lot of things that come into play when you're transitioning to a new career, especially in the tech field. 

A purely educational course isn't enough. Anyone can take an online video course in their pj's at home and learn the same material I learned at Fullstack. 

What you get is a community of people who you'll potentially know and make life-time friends with, who are all going through the same experience as you. Also you'll get staff who are invested in you, supportive, and who know what it's like to be in the tech industry. Staff that wants to know what you're up to months later, that helps you with a job interview a year after you graduate, and staff that basically just wants to see you suceed. 

Not becuase there's something in it for them, but becuase they honestly want to see people at their true potential.

I had virutally no previous experience in coding before I attended Fullstack (other than what I needed to know to pass the application) and I won't lie, getting a job wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. But I've learned so much at Fullstack, and continue to learn becuase of the skills they taught me. And becuase of that, a year after graduating, I'm in a position I never thought I'd be, earning more thant I ever thought I could. It's ignited this passion in me and I'm positive that flame was started by the spirit of the Fullstack staff. 

If you're in the New York area and are looking to attend a bootcamp to become a web developer, this is where you want to go. 

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The instructors are amazing! You spend a lot of working on projects and have fun doing it with awesome people.

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