General Assembly Reviews
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Michael
WDI - Web Development Immersive
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After much research and consideration I joined the GA WDI course in London in Spring 2014. The course was incredibly intense - but we had a great set of teachers, an in class teaching assistant and past students who came by in the evenings to help out with homework. There was a huge amount to cover and it was intellectually and emotionally challenging - but there was always someone there to offer feedback or hear my and other students thoughts on the course. The work itself was interesting and there were different levels so that you could always push yourself to the limit. The classes were a mixture of lectures, follow along coding sessions and free coding in groups of students. Every day and weekend was finished off with homework which helped cement the days knowledge. The course did a great job of covering the skills necessary to get a job.
I had a great three months and still catch up with other students. Since the course my career has gone very well. GA helped provide connections and meeting with companies hiring as well as tips on how to write a cv, perform in an interview and negotiate salary. These all helped getting the first job. Even better was that there was help and advice on hand at any point. Even after graduating they were around to offer tips and help students change jobs if they needed. I’m on my second job and am continuing to progress.
The course changed my career and life and to pay back I go back regularly to talk to past students and to help out where I can. I can highly recommend GA WDI in terms of the people, the instructors and the overall quality.
While I did the course I wrote a blog and have followed that up with regular posts about my career and where I have got to which might be interesting for future students: http://mikemjharris.tumblr.com/ -
Charles Ponti
Best School For Education, Community, and Opportunity
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Before attending General Assembly, I had applied to, interviewed with, and got accepted to several other bootcamps. They had distinct approaches to what they taught, how they taught it, and how they helped grads once the course was over. In the end, I chose to attend General Assembly because they were by far the most passionate about their mission of not only educating students and helping them find a job afterwards but also building a community that one can become a part of. The tech industry can sometimes be a lonely place, especially if one is coming from another career or is of a certain age. These obstacles are tackled by General Assembly, as they have the most diverse community of any school I researched. Everyone who works for the school is friendly, outgoing, and always available. They also do a fantastic job of making sure that those who attend their classes, workshops, and events will be open-minded and open-armed members of the community. I could not recommend General Assembly more highly and have sent many people I have met their way, whether it be for their short or immersive courses.
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J.S.
Best thing I have done for myself
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I currently work for a very prestigious software consultancy and I wouldn't be where I am now without the WDI course GA offers.
Bootcamp has been the best thing I have done for myself, it was tough, at times I didn't think I was cut out for it, but I enjoyed immensely every bit of it. In hindsight wouldn't change anything other than ensuring that I completed the whole of pre-work prior to the course. I had to have a lot of help from the instructors to make up for some gaps which wouldn't have been there otherwise.
At the end of the course, we showcased our final projects to potential employers at a dedicated event, where students were positively out-numbered. As a result of that, I had quite a few interviews and 3 job offers! I got to choose where to start my web development career. From what I understand the curriculum has evolved with heavier focus on JavaScript, which means that current grads are even better equipped for the jobs in the industry.
I have had a great start to my career and couldn't have done it without GA.
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Joe Formica
Great place to launch a new career
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I am writing this review as a past student at GA, as well as a current instructor. I took a part-time front end development class at GA several years ago. I am a UX designer, and though I could hack together some code, I lacked a foundation of knowledge. The most valuable aspect of my time in this course was one-on-one time with the instructor - even if it was for a few minutes, I learned so many things that would be difficult to figure out from my own self-taught methods. That is the value that GA brings above all else- instructors who are day-to-day practicioners and can relay the most current and relevant information to their students.
As an instructor for the UX Design course, I have tried to apply this as much as possible. The curriculum sets a strong foundation to take skills into the world, but I can really see the magic happen with students when I show examples of my own work, or give them a tip that will instantly add tangible, practical skill to their toolset.
At GA, you get out what you put in. Those looking for a foundational knowledge of the topic will get it, and leave with a strong understanding of concepts, terminology, and processes. Students who want to take it a step further for a career change will have to put in more time, but will have the very best resources at their disposal to make it happen.
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Will McVay
A transformative experience!
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Having deciced to leave my previous job in Commodities Trading, it is fair to say I didn't fully know what to expect from my time as a WDI student. As it turned out it was initially tough, then much harder and finally, after a lot of hard work, incredibly rewarding! Without doubt, the best career decision I have ever made.
The course is called 'Immersive' for a good reason - you are thrown straight in at the deep end, smashing out code from day one and whilst it is initially quite overwealming, you find yourself week on week amazing yourself with how much you learn in such a short space of time. There is a heavy emphasis on 'job skills' over theory and abstract computer science which as a career changer, was exactly what I was hoping for.
The standard of teaching is excellent - smart, confident industry professionals who know what life is like at the coal face of software development. I certainly wasn't 'top of the class' on the course, but there was always willing and friendly support on hand pretty much 24/7 to keep me on track.
One of the best things about GA is the after course experience - you aren't just dumped in the job market and left to your own devices, rather there is dedicated team helping you along the way with interviews, CVs and setting up meetings with eager employers. My final project was impressive enough to get me my first front-end job with Penguin Books at a GA hiring event and since have worked for agencies, a fin-tech startup and today at a FTSE100 retailer, building complex webapps, handling literally millions of hits a day.
Coming up to three years on from graduation, I still stay in touch with a lot of my coursemates, tutors and the wider GA gang - I would, and have, wholeheartly recommend the WDI course to anyone wanting to fasttrack themselves into the world of web development!
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Matt Studdert
Life Changing Experience
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I took the Web Development Immersive course in April 2014 and I can honestly say it completely changed my career and propsects for the better.
I came into the course with minimal coding knowledge (but did complete all of the pre-work assignments leading up to the course) and within 8 days of finishing WDI had found a job as a full-time web developer. Nearly two years on I'm still working as a Frontend Developer and have never been so excited about my future.
The course itself is intense to say the least, but you get out what you put in. If you want a surface level course that will go a an easy pace, this is not the one for you. But if you want to challenge yourself, learn true programming concepts that span multiple languages and are serious about becoming a web developer General Assembly's WDI course is a must.
General Assembly as a company are great too. They work hard to keep the community together and host parties every month for alumni, instructors, employees and prospective students. This means that you're not just thrown out into the big bad world after you finish the course. You've always got a strong community to integrate with.
Overall I can't speak highly enough of General Assembly. They've completely altered my career trajectory in a hugely positive way. I can now build experiences that anyone with an internet connection can use and all I need to do it is my laptop.
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Casey G.
WDI Washington D.C.
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Ok, so like you I have read everything this site has posted about coding boot camps. First of all take it with a grain of salt, like a movie review not everyone has the same opinions and thoughts as you do. With that said my review from WDI here in Washington D.C. I separted from the Navy to attend this specific coding boot camp, I was also awarded the Oppurtunity Fund that pays for the course. The 12 week program is seriously no joke in keeping a pace. Everyday you learn something different from the concept of implementing API's to connecting front end languages with back end languages. Each day seems more daunting and does not seem to be enough time in the day to ask questions and get the work done. But that is the thing, you are not expected to complete all assignments, however with that said you are expecting to time box everything. Work on something, get stuck, take a break, come back and own it. Do not dwell on one problem for to long, there will be time to ask quesitons why something was not working. My only, I would not say pet peeve, annoyance was that Javascript was not covered as much as some of us thought it would be. Your prework was the gamit of what you learn. So in order to be a total bad ass and rock out, do as much Code Academy, Free Code Camp an any other free online training. Yes it sucks I know however it will seriously only help you, that you can trust me on. Come into the program hungry to learn to program not thirsty to get that big paycheck. On the finding a job note, yes GA, at least in DC, will do everything they can to help you find an awesome position. However you need to bring your A game and do your part. I had some people in my class complain that the Outcomes team was either not doing enough or was not doing what they needed. Well you come to a coding boot camp to learn programming PLUS what employers are looking for, the Outcomes team can not and will not hold your hand. My experiance with them was different and everything worked out after I stopped and just focused on my skills. I work part time right now, however I work in Cyber Security which is where I wanted to be. The company that brought me on said they wanted to bring me on because of my programming experiance but did not have a position open so they asked if I was interested in part time and I jumped on it. Find a programming stack you enjoy and look for a position alinged with that, do not pick a job with the highest paycheck. You need to learn first trust me. I literally go to work excited, armed with the skills I learned in the Military and at General Assembly. You just have to want this. On another note to any veterans interested in General Assembly or any other coding boot camp in Washington D.C. I have only this, do not expect these companies to hire you because you are a veteran they do not care. They want only veterans with degrees no matter your skill level. Be prepared to hear that a lot, however with that said if you stay out of the government spot light and go private sector you will do fine trust me.
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Joe Jung
Web Development Immersive
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I took the 7th WDI course in NYC at GA and it was a life changing experience. It was extremely difficult, not just mentally and physically but emotionally.
I put in about 18 hr days often including the weekends and gave it everything I had. I got what I put in. My instructors were phenomenal and taught me from basically no programming experience and all the essentials of programming mentality, data structures, how the internet works, HTTP, RESTful API, hitting external API's on the backend, scraping, AJAX, responsive design, HTML/CSS, ruby, rails, javascript, jQuery, etc.
We learned JavaScript in 2 weeks and by the 3rd week I was able to create a JS side scrolling action game using a game engine library they had never taught.
To this day I still share a bond with many of my classmates as we forged through the experience together.
A year after graduating, I had gotten a job as a junior developer (on an entire tech stack I had never once learned) and eventually got promoted to run the entire engineering team of 10. We successfully scaled out our flagship product tripling daily revenue, hitting +100k DAU's and eventually GA called me back to teach as a lead instructor.
It's been a wild ride but I owe so much not just to the program, but the people. My instructors were quite simply amazing.
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Victoria
Invaluable experience. Totally worth it
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I graduated from GA’s Digital Marketing course in 2013 and their Intro to SQL in 2014 and can honestly say that GA’s courses are great.
The content is robust, the teachers are of a high quality and the timings make sense for the full time employed, but what really makes GA stand out is their after care and the community they’ve built. It’s one thing to go and learn a new skill, it’s completely another to try to get a job afterwards. But not with GA. There’s a ton of networking opportunities and meet and greets with hungry startups waiting to snap up fresh talent.
I’ve gone on to hire GA graduates, who’ve then gone on to start startups, who’ve then gone on to hire GA graduates :)
I’m still in touch with many of my classmates and the community at large is always willing to help out – that is priceless.
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Andrea Kennedy
Enlightening, rewarding and career changing
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I took WDI in London in 2013 as the second course they ever ran. I had no prior coding experience other than the pre-course work they assigned me, as I was working as a historian for English Heritage at the time. Going in, I was super nervous, but quickly found that everyone in the course was more or less in the same position. We were all there to learn from scratch, and that's exactly what we did.
Those 3 months were some of the most intense months of my life and some of the best. We worked insanely hard, all day every day, often worked (and partied) late into the night. It was really tough, sometimes confusing, always challenging, but by the end of it we all could call ourselves developers. My course curriculum was very different to what the current course is today, and by all accounts I hear it is vastly improved (we learned very little javascript back then, which would have been a huge asset to me now). But the foundations I learned in Ruby on Rails completely set me up for my career as a developer.I got multiple job offers straight out of the course, and now 3 years later I'm working for an incredible creative agency as a Front End Developer making movie websites. I even got to help build the official Star Wars website last year for The Force Awakens!
General Assembly isn't just a course, it's about taking control of your skillset and your career and going into an industry where you can solve puzzles every day and get paid to do it. With GA you get the opportunity to learn some truly awesome, relevant skills, meet a new family of people, be mentored by passionate and brilliant instructors, and get access to an international community of developers, designers, marketers, product managers and data scientists for the rest of your life. It's a fantastic course, an amazing network, and if you are serious about changing the course of your career, I highly recommend GA as your first step towards success. -
Adrian
GA's Web Design Circuit Course
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General Assembly's Web Design Circuit is amazing! It was my first real deep dive into the world of programming and I was delighted to learn with some of the most inspiring, creative, and entrepreneurial minded people. GA's staff is incredibly thoughtful and patient (thank goodness because I was so new to all the concepts!). Our teachers presented the modules in a logical and fun manner that built upon each week's lesson. Learn should be fun, right?! Every online classrroom experience of the Circuits course unllocked another creative possiblilty that I could tangibly create in my multiple lines of code. I couldn't be happier with my experience or what I created as a result of going through the Circuits course. Thanks, GA!
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Marina
WDI
Great instructors, couldn't have asked for better people to learn from.
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Tim
If you fully commit yourself, you will have an incredible experience
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I signed up for the Web Development Immersive course with no prior development experience.
The admissions process checked for basic qualities. Can you think logically? How serious are you about doing this?
We were given small projects to complete at home. Make sure to do these, otherwise you will likely struggle when the course starts.
You can expect to work 12hrs a day, Monday-Saturday. It's tough, but there's a strong support network. Instructors, alumna, and your peers have your back 24-7. Each class defines their own culture and values - my cohort had a fantastic camaraderie.
This course is 3 months long, however you should manage your expectations. This is the beginning of your journey. Yes - you can come out with the competency of a junior developer - but the learning doesn't stop.
It's been 2 years since I completed my WDI course. General Assembly is still providing value to me now with it's global alumni network and followup events. I went on to code for a few startups, and subcontract for the likes of Google and Skype as a Technical PM. I've now founded a company called Fromigo - a marketplace of tours and activities by local people.
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Yasmin
WDI -- Web Development Immersive
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I enrolled in the Web Development Immersive at General Assembly in summer 2014. Given my Industrial Engineering background + work in consulting I was a bit skeptical of the program's promise to truly bring you up to speed in 12 weeks on being able to get a full time job. My headline for review is: WDI is incredibly valuable, there is 0 minutes wasted on useless topics, everything is practical and a necessary block needed in progression towards becoming a junior developer.
Faculty: The highlight for me was the dedicated faculty (2 instructors per class + 1/2 TAs) who would come to class extremely prepared, run each session as a working session (vs. lecturing at you) and be prepared to stay through the evening as you are going through the daily exercises. The faculty really lives and breathes your success and holds that as a KPI. This is something I could never say about many of my undergraduate professors. They were also extremely good at their job and very up-to-date on what is being used and most relevant in the industry today.
Classmates: It is a very fun and engaging environment. The class sizes are much smaller than normal university which means you get to really know the people you are studying with. There's a lot to be learnt from your classmates throughout the 12 weeks but also during project weeks.
Relevance: The WDI team constantly updates the curriculum to make sure students are equipt with the latest talent requirements in the industry. Don't be surprised if the curriculum you will take is a bid different than years before -- it is all changes made to student's benefits with the aim of getting us junior developer jobs.
Outcome: Almost everyone in my class was able to find junior dev jobs 1-3 months post graduation. Others who were interested in becoming a more technical PM, also found WDI useful in giving them credibility needed to deal with engineering teams. I have since had 3 close friends enroll in the program and all happily found great jobs after.
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Anonymous
Very disappointed
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I have been looking for one of the courses that I can study during my visit to US and my firends who live in Boston told me that Generalassambley is a good option. I did not have a chance to apply to full courses because of my current studies and I have tried applying for part time. I have filled first document from their website and they replied me that one of their representetives will get in touch with me.This person send me an email to mark a day and an hour that both of us are available. I did exactly what they asked me for and I got an email that my apointment is confirmed. Hence, when the day arrived no body called my and I have decided to number that exist in the mail. When I called her I told that I have an appointment and gave my name but she told me that she already made an appointment with somebody else , however she can call me back half an hour later. I have waited one hour but she didn't call me. I called the other numbers that exists on their web side and I call same person also but nobody asnwered. Next day she send me an email that she didnt understand my name but she was waiting for me... It was a compelete lie because she got my number. if she wanted to call me she could.
Finally, I tought that it might be a bussy day for them and I made another appoitment with same person another day at 2:30pm but samething happened one moretime. This responsible person called me at 6pm. I dont even remember wether it was the same day or the next day. In these two days I have already apllied for another school and same day called me and I applied for the school.
It is very unfortunate for companies that most of the people are fighting really hard to do something good and everyting goes wrong just beacause of one person.
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Anonymous
Unprofessional - Weak curriculum, instructor, staff
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I walked away from the General Assembly course with a vague but imcomplete understanding of what data science could do. Many important subject were not covered, and those covered were taught poorly.
The instructor was often unfamiliar with the material and couldn't answer many of the students' questions. He would show up to class unprepared to explain his slides.
The General Assembly staff members took weeks and multiple follow-ups to reply to my emails - including about how to give them the money to reserve a place in the class!
Overall, I was disappointed and frustrated.
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Anonymous
Not Great
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For me, General Assembly was an experience about which I have mixed feelings. Doing an immersive course with little experience and sitting next to people with vast amounts of experience with code was a nightmare. The curriculum cannot adapt to such a disparity of knowledge, and for the amount of money you pay this is not good enough.
The instructors were great, encouraging those with little knowledge to keep trying, but it quickly became overwhelming. The atmosphere was mostly convival with drinks and snacks to end the week, but - and this is probably indicative of the tech industry as a whole - GA seemed to be obssessed with youth. From their marketing to success stories, the age of those graduates was always heavily underscored.
My advice? Have HTML/CSS/Javascript down to an intermediate level. The pre course materials won't prepare you enough for how quickly and deeply you dive in once you begin studying. Alternatively, do a part-time course instead and build your knowledge over a longer period, this will allow more time to process and practice the skills you learn. -
Anonymous
Not such thing as a 3-month from zero knowleadge
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I do not recomend anyone to take any immersive bootcamp with no knowleadge. Honestly, this kind of knowleadge requires a lot of repetition and practice. My advise is do as follows:
1) learn Fast Typing. If you don't know how to type fast, a good free website is www.Typingclub.com It is veeeery important to keep your attention on the screen when coding, rateher that shifting your attention to the keyboard.
2)Finish ALL of the folowing free websites certifications:
a)All of the certificates of www.freecodecamp.com.
b)After finished with freecodecamp, then start from scratch and do all of the tutorials at www.codeschool.com . Yes, do the same thing you did on the previous website, AGAIN; take the Javascript course as if it was the first time you have ever seen Javascript; be patient, it may seem repetitive and tedious at first, but it is worth it, it is practice. Remember the baseball players have to practice easy throws for many hours beforfe being able to perform good in a MLB game. Finish all free courses in the following order: HTML/CSS, Javascript, JQuery, comand line, RubyOnRails, learnGIT.
c) My recomendation is to even take all the free courses on www.codecademy.com as well; Yes, all of the from scratch. why? at that point you should be ablke to just fly through all the excescises and lessons and finish thye entire body of lessons in a matter of a week. On every website you will find a new piece of information that was not covered by the others.
* it would be even a good ide if you are spending over $10,000 in a bootcamp to pay for a $20 membership at one of those site to get opremium access to other lessons that will prepare you even better. Trust me, payin extra $20 for a couple of months will make you take a really good advantage when you start you $10k bootcamp.
3) Then, and ONLY THEN, enroll in a 3-month on-site intensive immersive bootcamp.
4) Most likely, the school will require for you to work on a pre-course project to get you up to speed by the time the actual bootcamp starts. you should be able to finish the pre-course assigments in half the time of the other students. Normally that is a 40-hours period you must dedicate to finish the pre-requisite before starting class. If there is a waiting list and you can;t start right away, keep practicing on sites such as www.codewars.com. Also learn how to work with the developers tools such as the inspector from google and mozila; codeschool.com has a really good tutorial on their website for that.
Now let me warn you: what you learn in all the self teaching tutorials form those websites, is JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG. By no means are you prepared to apply for any jobs. It requires A LOT of practice. While in school, make sure to prepare really good portfolio quality projects, that's why it is important you come already knowing the basics of coding on each topic by finishing those tutorials. It is hard, it is not easy, but if you come prepared to the bootcamp by finishing all the free online tutorial from those websites, it will be a very pleasurable and rewarding experience, otherwise it will be very VERY frustrating.
So, plan yourself for 3 months preparing for the 3-4 months long bootcamp to really be able to learn what you need to learn to start a carreer as a developer.
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Alex
Front-end Web Development (FEWD)
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I took a part-time General Assembly class, just 2 nights per week (for 12 weeks), and learned to confidently construct pixel perfect front-end websites. Having time between the courses left me with the freedom to thoroughly explore each lesson's contents while practicing my own implementations.
The teachers (and teacher's assistants) were top notch! Soon after completing the course, I became 100% confident in CSS & HTML challenges, and I'm a bit less intimidated by the challenge of Javascript. In fact, I plan to take another General Assembly course dedicated to JS this coming summer.
All in all, the courses may seem a bit pricey, but they are well worth every penny.
Thanks GA!
Alex
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Anonymous
Not great
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I took the Digital Marketing Circuit online and the course fell way below expectations. As background, I came into the course with very little marketing experience or knowledge (I'm looking to pivot away from my existing, non-marketing profession), however, I am very familiar with the online learning landscape and have taken a variety of online courses through my undergraduate and graduate careers, as well as through MOOCs like Coursera and Lynda. Here's a list of my pros and cons:
Pros:
- Digital marketing, as a topic, is definitely a useful thing to have in one's tool kit
- Content was digestable
- Can be done online, from anywhere
Cons:
- Minimal downloadable course content. For $750 I expect more than a slim "review" sheet that reads more like a list of definitions with some pretty images, and the assignment worksheets.
- The course is trying to target too many audiences at once and, in doing so, is a very poor fit for most potential students. As a newbie, I found some of the assignments to assume I knew or had access to certain information that was outside the scope of the class (for example, market data). Yet, if I were a seasoned marketing professional, much of the content would have been useless for me. For example, spending an entire unit on KPIs and metrics, including explaining the virtues of using a bar graph versus a pie chart to capture certain data, seems really remedial for most people with any marketing background. In other words, it is at once too unrealistic and too basic given the wide swath of audience they say the course is appropriate for.
- The PDF files for assignments are clunky. Moreover, they come across as schoolgirl worksheets. While useful for establishing ways to think about an issue and plan strategies, they DO NOT equate to a portfolio that can be presented to potential employers or hosted in an online portfolio as a substitue for work product. Also, for ~$15/month you can have access to Lynda courses and download any worksheet like materials (and you can cancel your membership any time). Since this is the primary thing you can download from the course, they simply do not cut muster.
- General Assembly makes a big deal about the 1:1 mentoring sessions. Here's the thing: it's the only interaction you'll get, and the content is entirely dependent on you. Therefore, each week you have one, thirty minute opportunity to ask questions related to marketing in general, get feedback on your work, and ask questions about the upcoming material. This strikes me as really odd, particularly for a $750 class. Feedback should be asynchronous. Follow up questions for feedback can be asked during mentoring sessions, but it is a waste of time to utilize scant instructional sessions in this way. I would also point out that the live versions of the GA courses have TAs present at the sessions in addition to office hours.
- For a digital marketing course, it surprised me that new digital platforms weren't mentioned, such as Vine and Snapchat.
- All of the assignments required a business and audience for you to work from (you use the same business throughout). You can ask the course produce to give you a model business if you don't have one you want to, or can, use. That's what I did. Funny thing is, the business wasn't well aligned to the assignments. Further, I was given no options or alternative selections.
- There are only 4 educational units. The 5th is purely the "final project" which amounts to putting all your other assignments together in a brand new worksheet. Of course, you are encouraged to improve upon your work, or start over from scratch (!), but, essentially, the 5th unit is a bit misleading. Again, this "final project" cannot support portfolio use.
- There's no in-course engagement. Participants are busy, so I don't blame them/us. But, neither the mentors nor the course produce facilitate conversation, comment on posts, etc.
- Unit content and unit quizzes don't always align.
- As an interesting side note, the number of enrollees who continued posting completed assignments decreased markedly from week to week. In fact, there was nearly a 50% decrease each week. This is significant for two reasons: first, the entire course started with 34 people, of which only 30 posted the first assignment. Second, you can't view course content for future units until you have posted the current unit assignment. For example, if I'm working through unit 2, I can't see the course content for 3, 4, or 5 until I post my unit 2 assignment. Until then, everything is locked.
- There was something very grating about receiving email surveys requesting a brief review/evaluation of each unit after submitting an assignment when no similar feedback was provided for students (apart from students asking specific questions in mentoring sessions hosted via Zoom). I don't know, it seems like if I'm paying you, I should be guaranteed a few feedback touchpoints. If I'm paying you, and you're asking me for feedback on an assignment I've already completed, that strikes me as out of balance. This sounds awful, I know, but they would have been better off incentivizing me in some way if they were truly interested in my opinion (hey, I did learn something after all).
Overall, I felt like this was a beta version of a course packaged as a high-gloss, cutting edge but tested program that would provide participants not only with immediately portable skills and knowledge but also true portfolio material. In many ways, it feels like a cheap money maker. I was told by a mentor that the course was put online recently. Having a bit of background in online education I know that you cannot simply translate existing material for live courses into online settings and expect the same functionality. Truly, though, my impression upon completing the course was that this was a low-cost way for General Assembly to expand their base of customers. Very little thought seems to been given to what online students would walk away with. The actual value proposition is low. You basically work independently, receive minimal feedback (which is entirely dependent upon the questions you ask), walk away with no reference materials apart from the notes you take, and have a pretty useless "portfolio" project that looks like worksheets from high school (sure, it may help you think through things but it is not going to impress anyone). In essence, you can acquire nearly as much, if not exactly as much, from Lynda. For $750, the return on investment is low. I really wanted to like this program. Sadly, I cannot recommend that anyone else enroll.
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Anonymous
Good, realistic review
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For the sake of full disclosure, prior to attending General Assembly, I was an entry-level IT technician and I'd been coding as an occasional hobby since I was 11 or 12. I took an XHTML and CSS course in 2008 and a semester of Java in 2010. In late 2014, I got serious about having a career in web development and made a habit of studying and writing code for 3-5 hours a day. I started with free tutorials in HTML, CSS, and jQuery, then I focused on pure JavaScript. I also attended meetups and took on small coding tasks at my day job.
I applied to General Assembly in June 2015. The process included an interview and some prework: completing the Dash tutorial and making an 'About Me' page. The interview itself involved a logic problem, a typing test, and some basic questions like those one would encounter in a job interview. I did find employment shortly afterwards; I've been with my current employer since the Monday after graduation.
They assigned some prework in July; the estimated completion time was about 40 hours. I think that estimate was a bit generous. It took me a couple of days to complete it. YMMV, of course, but I believe that if you have a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and a little JS then it won't take long to complete the prework.
The first part of the course was HTML5, CSS3, Sass, and various front-end tools (Bower, Grunt, Gulp, etc). We were given three days to complete our first project. My first project failed miserably because I tried to do way too much, but I will say that I learned a lot from the experience. We were given more time for the other projects.
The second part of the course was PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails with .erb files serving as the front end, and quite a bit of Bootstrap. Most people in the course ended up with a preferred language. I came in loving JavaScript and I came out even more interested in it. Ruby, on the other hand, was almost counterintuitive to me. So I can't do that part of the course any justice.
The third part was more advanced JavaScript and 3/4 of the MEAN stack. We used Node.js, Express, and MongoDB for the back end. The front end was .ejs, not Angular. The corresponding project was a group project. I enjoyed this part of the course. I started applying for jobs and interviewing after the second project.
The fourth part incorporated Angular, along with more JS. For the fourth project, we were given a little more time and had the option to work individually or in a group. I prefer working solo, so I basically holed up at home for the last week of the course and worked on my project.
As an aside, it is possible to do well in this course and not have a Mac. They strongly recommend purchasing one, but I couldn't afford even the cheapest Mac that met their minimum specs. So I used my trusty Linux laptop with very few problems. The problems I did encounter were solved with some Googling. The good part of that was that I never had to worry about someone mistaking my charger for theirs or vice versa.
The good:
- A lot of meetup groups and companies hold events there, which is a good opportunity for networking.
- The course producers and instructors are helpful and genuinely want their students to succeed.
- I had a job offer less than 24 hours after the end of the course.
- Weekly outcomes (job search) workshops.
- Free Red Bull, food, and beer.
- Great classmates
- Accessible via public transit (but no MARTA student passes)
- Credit towards their workshops
- Alumni discount for future courses and workshops
- A tour of Atlanta Tech Village
The neutral:
- The guy in charge of Outcomes moved on to a different job a few weeks into my cohort, so the course producers had to take over for him and the weekly Outcomes one-on-ones weren't so weekly. His replacement was hired towards the end of the course, and she was extremely kind, helpful, and encouraging, which is why this is under the neutral category.
- General Assembly hasn't been in the Atlanta area for that long, so they don't necessarily have the hiring network that their more established campuses may have. But this is changing. I got my job through my cohort's TA, who in turn got his job through the recommendation of another GA graduate.
- I would have preferred to learn one stack in depth rather than covering two.
The bad:
- Carpal tunnel from the unergonomic tables. I went through a lot of Advil because I was going to finish the course one way or another.
It definitely would have been possible to learn the same material online and for less money than what I paid GA. This is not a knock on the instructors or the school itself; it's simply acknowledging the fact that there's a plethora of free documentation and instructional materials for virtually every major development tool, framework, and language out there. I didn't choose to attend a bootcamp solely for the technical instruction. I was interested in learning how to build a network, how to interview well, and the other non-technical aspects of breaking into the industry.
Overall, my experience with General Assembly was very good. I feel that the 9 months of studying I did before attending allowed me to get a lot more out of the course than I would have otherwise. In order to get the most out of it, I would strongly advise doing as much self-study as possible prior to dropping thousands of dollars on a bootcamp. -
Anonymous
GA Student/Jr. Developer
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I am a student at GA's WDI program in Santa Monica. I am currently on week 4 of 12.
Thus far, I can say GA Santa Monica has surpassed my expecations. My background: I'm a digital marketer/content guy. I wanted to learn a hard skill with a lot market upside. So I started researching coing programs, GA, has a lot of reviews on yelp and this website. After some research I went with GA (Santa Monica).
Going in I had fear I would not be able to learn code, that the $13,500 tuition (and time would be a complete waste. After knowing zero code, after out first project sprint to launch a 2 player game using Javascipt/jQuery/HTML/CSS, I can say the program is working! Without GA, there;s no way I could make progress I've made. And I am really proud of my cohort, because we all have worked long nights to make it even this far. Just know you will: need to work your ass off, up 12 hour days; but this prgram will turn you into a developer. Defintely do the pre-work, and get up to speed on Javscript (GA does MEAN stack).
Outcomes Department: I'm still a sudent, but I think very favorably on the department that preps us towards job placement. They don't hand you jobs, but througought the program they guide you on your resume, linkedin, elevator speech; the best practices to get a job out of this program,
You can see my project 1 here: fleacircus.tv/moviepop
my Github: https://github.com/dskaiser82/proj1
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Anonymous
Pushy
Admin guy only replies when its relevent to money and ignores other email relating questions about dates etc.
They really take anyone who pays that's all. They just want your money & very pushy with contract & money transfer. Very unpleasant.
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Anonymous
Basic Intro to programming
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**You want to read this!
I'm in a new bootcamp, an ACTUAL bootcamp because I actually feel the pressure and in a good way. The people are encouraging and MOST importantly the technology is new and in demand.
I found a lot of discouragement for new approaches, and the reasons were justified with "oh its just bad practice and not used in the industry" what lies. The current and certainly much more reputed bootcamp teaches the exact opposite.
There's nothing special in getting into GA, trust me there isn't, no offense to my classmates but some of them didn't know what "var" in JavaScript meant, and they managed to get in.
Towards the latter half, I constantly showed up an hour/maybe more late because i spent the equivalent time learning things that actually will make a difference to my job search (node,angular,react) - lets say i bought 18 courses on Udemy during my time at GA.
I'm angered by how the course,teaching and environment is fostered compared to my present bootcamp. Turns out i'm not the only one who came to this bootcamp after GA because they didn't feel confident enough!
You will get a job after GA, because the market is just that desperate. Most of the "projects" are you just following some tutorial and show casing it at the end hahaha! All the best getting support if you're trying to do something different!
If u complete codecademy/codeschool you've pretty much done about the first 6 weeks of the course, it gets tricky once back end begins, but then again if i reflect it was "made" hard, it really wasn't that difficult what we did. Yes, relational DB's are difficult for anyone who looks at it the first time but, not impossible.I spent most of my time playing catchup , typing code blindly because the instructor was typing fast. So i decided to just listen after some time, and guess what - you're told what to do, not why.
You learn about "data structures" well touch on in, in the last week, they make it seem like some super hard difficult thing. It's not, it's linked lists,hash maps are tougher. Data structures are fun, not difficult and they're SO important in becoming a great developer.
You strive for greatness? don't do GA, its a waste of time, get serious and join some of the other top end bootcamps.
End of it, 80% of my cohort got jobs, that doesn't mean GA was good hahaha no way, it was WEAK in it's curriculum, the market is desperate as I said. While people at GA thrive to make todo lists, which we did haha, other bootcamps warm up with todo lists.
If u have experience with backend/LAMP stack and you're finding GA hard, i would suggest you re-evaluate your career choices (i'm never discouraging,not once in my life have i spoken negative about someone, but my distaste for this place grows each day i progress with my current bootcamp)
Want to hear a funny thing, we had our meet and greet, i met up with a recruiter, he called me and this is what he had to say "other than you and 1-2 others, I doubt anyone will get a job because they just don't have the skills". Let it be said that 80% got jobs, so the recruiters prediction didn't work, but you get what I mean, MARKET wants, you learn bare minimum.
TL;DR GA -> 0 to 40 , you may get a job based on your market, but you won't learn anything useful -
Thompson!
A solid foundation
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The WDI class moves quickly, so I recommend going in with at least a cursory knowledge of the bash command line, git, and GitHub. They'll be covered in the first week of class, but you'll be less likely to panic if you've at least seen them before. Just do some Googling.
I also recommend Codecademy.com, which gave me a worthwhile introduction to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ruby, all of which were used extensively throughout the class. Take your time and type through the lessons.
My instructors were a quartet of rock stars. Super responsive, never contrived, with cupcakes and sprinkles for all ;)
I suppose it helped that all our classmates were totally awesome. If you come to GA convinced that the world is ending, suspicious of the very technologies you're trying to learn, you're gonna have a bad time. But if you come to GA with an open mind and an open heart, you will find a community of real, live humans who routinely take a half-hour chunk out of their day, not even their lunch hour, to just sit around in groups and chat. I think that's righteous.
Having recently completed WDI, I'm considering branching out into related fields as I begin the job search. I enjoy web design, and it'll come in handy no matter where my path goes, but my first love is learning. Possibly the greatest emphasis was placed at GA on knowing how to learn—everyone is different—and in the Cloud, we are never truly alone ;)
The world is changing, and we have work to do.
Peace!
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Anonymous
mediocre experience
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For those who have a year or two of software development experience but are having a difficult time making that career leap, GA might be a great resource for you. For others with little to no tech experience, GA is probably not the answer. The problem with the curriculum is they move to fast for someone who is trying to start out in this field. One doesn't have the time or resources to figure something out before they quickly move you onto the next thing.
The community is good and if you're in the bootcamp program, there is a good amount of attention you get form engineers and teachers who are willing to help you. Albeit that is not to say you will struggle and feel like things are being thrown at you too fast without being able to understand the micro details, which is essential to the coding process.
The classes that are offered outside of the bootcamp, like the part-time front end class will be a headache if you are trying to actually make a career change. You don't get the resources or help you need to make that leap. The TA's have little to no teaching experience and are just starting out in the field as developers.
The problem with GA is they will take on anyone who has the willingness to learn, but do a poor job of delineating those who already have a good amount of experience, and those who have none whatsoever. They will simply take on anyone because they want their business to prosper. This presents a huge problem, as I see plenty of grads from the bootcamp who are unemployed and struggling because they don't have the tools necessary to become software developers.
My best recommendation would be to avoid the part-time classes, and if you have a couple years experience and know your stuff but are having trouble making the career leap, GA would probably be a good bet for you. If you have no coding experience, try Treehouse or get mentorship, and a couple years down the line try out the bootcamp.
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Anonymous
Decent course content, but disorganized and lacking structured process for getting feedback
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This course includes 10 online modules to complete with a project (excel file) to submit at the end, along with 10 weekly live lectures (that are recorded and can be watched at a later date). The lectures may or may not be directly related to what you are learning in the online module that week. You are also supposed to book a 30-minute 1:1 session with a mentor each week to discuss any questions or roadblocks you are facing in completing your modules. The course costs $1,250.
The first two to three weeks covered nothing but Excel basics and creating various types of charts. For me this was much too easy, but I understand that this was probably to make sure everyone, even total beginners, were on the same page as more experienced folks. Then we moved onto learning SQL, which was helpful (technically you can get the same info from a CodeAcademy couse for free, but the way it was presented in GA was much more palatable for those with no coding experience). Finally, we focused on design and presentation, which was helpful but also probably covered in any univeristy-level public speaking course.
You don't really learn any statistical methods other than obtaining the basic mode, median, mean, and you don't learn how to tell what values would be considered significant. You do brush the surface of learning how to analyze data (using pivot tables in Excel), how to chart data (using Excel charts), how to gather data (using SQL), and how to present data (using PowerPoint and presentation skills). And also some color/design theory that helps you make your charts look good.
The worst thing about this course is that there isn't a strucured way of getting concrete feedback on your projects. First, you have to ask for feedback. I guess this is more similar to a real-world situation, but it shouldn't be the case when I'm paying for a course! Even when I asked for feedback by scheduling Zoom meetings with my mentor, I was not getting any valuable feedback on my projects or the recommedation that I ended up making based on the data. I don't think my mentor even looked at my projects, he would just say things like "there are no right or wrong answers." At a certain point I stopped scheduling these meetings because they were worthless. They should at least have your mentor grade your project or require that the mentor review your project and come up with some recommendatios to give you.
The second-to-worst thing about this course was how it was a bit disorganized. Maybe it's the technical writer in me, but I got to a point where I was so annoyed at the typos and/or minsinformation sent in mass emails, and the often conflicting information given in the instructions for submitting projects that GA really lost credibility for me, and I don't know if I'd recommend it. Maybe after having a few circuits they'll have worked out the kinks.
In terms of what they are doing well - the content was good for a beginner, lectures are interesting, and everyone I've interacted with has been very nice and willing to help me understand the material. You can tell that they're trying to make this a good course. But you have to be a very specific type of learner (and a total beginner in data analytics) for this to work for you, and you have to be willing to beg for feedback, because otherwise you aren't going to get any, and you're probably not going to get much out of the course.
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Anonymous
i'm a graduate and if I could start over, I would not have attended GA
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General Assembly was my introduction to a coding boot camp and into web development. I attended and completed their full stack web dev program. The costs were high and I commuted to DC everyday because I was commited. I stayed late after class to work on projects with groups or sometimes alone, got and pestered instructors for help, but at the end of the course, yes I know so much more but I felt it was not enough.
I would say only 25% of the students were capable of what the course had advertised and the rest of the 75% that were left, most of them were just as commited and dedicated but just didn't get certain subjects nor gain the proficiency to do it well. If you were in the 25% great but if you were not, then you were SOL, there is no free repeat and the help you needed were hard to find during the course.
I would attend somewhere else as the amount of time you just commited is not something you will get back.
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Timon
WDI Seattle launched my career
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Programming has always been a passion of mine and discovering General Assembly has allowed me to gain the skills to turn my passion into a career. Coming from a more technical background through my own self learning, GA gave me practical application skills. I'm still amazed that I created three fully fledged web applications each in only one week. Now, I make apps in my spare time with ease as I continue to develop my skills. Through GA's assistance I accepted an offer from Expedia only 2 1/2 months after graduation.
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Paige
DGM at GA Seattle Kicks Butt!
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I recently completed the part time Digital Marketing course at General Assembly in Seattle. I am SO HAPPY I decided to do this - and that is saying something considering that it took place every Saturday for 10 weeks during Seattle's sunniest summer ever!
Everything I knew (before taking this class) I learned on the job. (I am currently working as a marketer for a tech company in Fremont.) I joined GA’s Digital Marketing course to become better at what I do, learn from industry experts, and gain a network of marketers who I can continue to grow with and learn from. The course absolutely lived up to those expectations - and even my co-workers have noticed the positive impact this class has had on what I bring to the team!
I loved learning from an instructor who is actively working in the industry. She was super knowledgable and clearly cares about her students. It's great to know that she is someone I can continue to bounce marketing ideas and challenges off of in the future. During our final presentations (which is great professional experience, by the way!), I also made friends with one of the judges (another industry expert!) who I think will continue to be a great mentor moving forward.
And, of course, I can't leave a review without mentioning how happily surprised I was to learn what a wonderful community exists at GA. The staff (Annie in particular) and my fellow students were all so warm and welcoming.
I'll end this by saying that my company is currently hiring and, based on the content of this course and quality of instruction, I'd feel very comfortable hiring a GA grad!
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Matthew
General Assembly is AMAZING!
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I took Digital Marketing at General Assembly from March 2015 to June 2015. I loved every moment of it. The curriculum is highly relevant and includes up to the minute material that will really put you in such a great position to be successful as a digital marketer. The instructor and teaching assistants were also highly knowledgeable, very hands on and always willing to help.
GA isn't your typical university. There's a certain vibe about it that you will grow to love. It's cutting edge, if you will. Coming out of the course, I now work with content marketing, SEO, social media, email marketing -- MANY of the concepts on a daily basis and it's been a huge asset to my business. Most importantly, it's helped me lay out a full digital marketing plan.
Thanks GA!!
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Sam Busa
Happy FEWD Alum
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I took the Front End Web a Development course with GA and had such a positive experience. I am a full-time freelancer so the part-time two classes per week schedule worked perfectly for me. My teachers were the head web developers at Nordstrom and pretty much the coolest guys ever. I learned everything I had hoped to out of the class, and some that I didn't even know I would. Now I have an incredible, responsive website portfolio for future clients hosted on GitHub and I did it all in class! 10 out of 10 would take another class with the Seattle GA if I wasn't moving in a month!
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Sanda
GA sets you up for success -- WDI Seattle (1st Cohort)
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My background before I started my journey into web development was in documentary production, journalism and education. I had no clue about where to begin coding digital experiences. Sure, I have some experience with CMS (Content Management System) and some HTML and CSS, but not to the extent I needed in order to build my own web app. Which is where my journey began: I wanted to build a journalism education game app and pitched it at my previous company’s internal hackathon. It was chosen as one of the winning apps, and I got to work with a team of developers producers, and engineers. From that point on, I was hooked on working in the world of apps!
Before attending General Assembly’s Web Development Immersive (WDI) course I looked into other institutions and I’m very happy that I chose GA. Not only do I feel like I belong to a strong community of intelligent, hard-working, and supportive employees, students and alumni, I feel like a successful student! I knew about General Assembly while I lived and worked in NYC, and because of my fiancée, who TA’d for the first General Assembly UXDI (User Experience Design Immersive) course in San Francisco. So even though I kind of knew about the great community, I experienced it firsthand when I started the WDI program in Seattle.
It was an intense and sometimes scary ride, but it was worth every moment. I made great friends, colleagues, and had sympathetic course producers and instructors. My instructors have both professional and educational experience. They were very good about gauging class participation and pacing of lessons. I knew that the material being taught is based on what’s being used the in the professional world and the latest technology, so I knew I’d be getting a great return on my investment.
After my course, I was offered the Developer-in-Residence (DIR) fellowship and gladly accepted it. I’m very proud to be able to give back to the next cohort and pay it forward using my newfound knowledge and skills.
After my DIR fellowship, I’ve been asked to come back as a TA for the 3rd cohort and am thrilled to have recently accepted a full-time Associate Technical Product Manager position at Expedia. Because of General Assembly, not only have I been able to transition into tech, but I have also learned skills I can combine with my previous experiences as a producer to advance my career. Thank you GA! -
Alyssa
Amazing Experience!
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I was in the first Web Development Immersive (WDI) in Seattle. I am now a Front-End Web Developer at a consulting/creative agency. Before doing this I was in healthcare and I decided to make a career change. I did research on other coding bootcamps around Seattle. I decided to go with GA for a number of reasons. First, the course curriculm was amazing. I learned 3 different stacks in 3 months. Second, the career/networking help they provide during and after the course. I was able to find a job within a month of finishing the course. Third, the community that GA has in Seattle and around the world. And finally the people that work at GA Seattle. The entire staff at GA Seattle is there to support every student part time or full time. I can now say that I love my job and I am making more money than I ever have thanks to GA. I can say without a doubt that GA changed my life.
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Daniel
WDI Seattle
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I recently completed GA's Web Development Immersive and am so incredibly glad I discovered the program. For me, it was a positive, uplifting environment where I made incredible friends and connections. The instructors and staff are truly dedicated to helping change peoples' lives and give them valuable, marketable skills.
I had researched other coding schools, however, none seemed as personable and prestigious as GA. Also, no other school's curriculum or course format seemed to fit my needs quite as well.
That being said, it was no cakewalk; I had very little trace of a life outside of GA for the duration of the three-month course. 10-12 hours each day (in order to successfully retain most of the concepts) is no exaggeration.
I'm currently in a full-time three-month contract position, and because of the effort I put forth in the immersive, I have very few concerns about attaining my next role. A big theme at GA is "growth mindset" and this is an especially helpful thought pattern for when you're feeling less-than-capable.
However, before you decide to take the plunge, ask yourself: do I love learning constantly, do I have emotional fortitude (e.g. being comfortable with struggling through concepts daily), am I doing this for the pure joy of building/creating/designing, and am I willing to dedicate three months of my life to coding and sleeping? If yes, then I highly recommend! Good luck! -
Anonymous
GA provides a top notch learning experience
I taught design for a couple of years at Microsoft after 15 years as a product deigner there, and I've been very impressed with the quality of the General Assembly User Experience Design Immersive curriculum in Seattle. Also, the results speak for themselves: most of the previous UXDI grads have found work in the field.
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Carlye Cunniff
User Experience Design Immersive - Seattle
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I loved my experience at GA. My instructors were invested, knowledgeable and genuinely cared about sending us into the working world prepared. The instructors are constantly iterating on the curriculum, based on student feedback, and market-specific research. The immersive courses are intense - expect to put in between 70-100 hours a week, depending on the project you're working on.
You absolutely get out what you put in - if you aren't super focused on the course, the immersive is likely not the best fit for you. The UXDI immersive also emphazises group work - that is something to keep in mind when considering UXDI, be prepared to work on a team, with compassion and respect. Because the UXDI program encourages project-based work, you leave the program with a work-ready portfolio. GA is an incredibly welcoming community, and one that they encourage you to stay part of beyond your time in class.
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Cody
WDI program changed my life
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I went to GA Seattle WDI (Web Development Immersive) course. It changed my life. Within 1 1/2 months of graduation, I was offered a great job at a company that's considered one of the top 5 to work for in the pacific NW. Starting next week I'll be a Software Engineer making more than twice what I made in my previous career, and I enjoy the work much more. I can't heap enough praise onto the General Assembly Web Development program. Like I said, it's changed my life in ways I didn't think possible.
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Anonymous
Can be so good and not so good
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The WDI experience varies from class to class largely depending on the teachers. There is no standard curriculum across WDI classes, they are put together by the teachers of that class. So people from one WDI class learn things a person from another WDI might not not. There is also no standard pre-work, this too is put together by the teachers for their class. Seeing how this varies from classes in one location, I can only imagine the difference compared to several locations.
Credit the folks at GA for being very quick to make adjustments based on the student feedback. It’s great to know they do listen to the feedback, and are constantly making adjustments, but it doesn’t change what you’ve missed out on.
GA is fitting so much into 3 months, there is so much taught at a very quick pace, some things are squeezed in so while “covered” it’s not really a learning experience.
The overall WDI learning experience also depends on if you’re starting with prior experience with at least one or two languages. The pre-work was not adequate preparation for the class if you were starting with no experience. Before starting WDI, it would be best to spend a couple of months at least becoming familiar with JS and Ruby, you will be setting yourself up for a much better learning experience. If you need extra assistance/time with a teacher you’re out of luck, this was not something available to students.
They have some terrific teachers and several not so terrific teachers. People can be highly qualified skill-wise but this doesn’t necessarily make them a good teacher. Additionally, they have many teachers who are only recently out of their WDI program. Like most learning situations, the teacher has a big impact on the learning experience. When you need to learn in 3 months, and don't get a do-over, it's a big drawback to have a not-so-good teacher for the 3 months.
WDI is a grueling program that can be truly amazing and rewarding if you’re lucky to have quality teachers. It’s a very comfortable environment, which is important since you’re there from morning to evening. Their emphasis on “community” is great. If you’re not starting with a good amount of prior experience you will need to be fully committed for the 3 months. The majority of students who took the program with no prior experience finish and still need to learn while those who took the program with some prior experience are ready and able to land jobs.
There is a weekly session with a career person but once the program ends, aside from some shared leads, you feel like you’re on your own in the job search. Which can be intimidating when you’re trying to land that first job as a developer and you see the job posts which make you feel like you're not qualified for the job.
I have no regrets about taking WDI but I also wish I would’ve known what I now do. GA can be a great experience but depending upon your learning style and needs it might not be best for everyone. There’s no way I would have the knowledge I gained in the 3 months if I was learning on my own but learning more about other bootcamps, I can think of at least one that would’ve better suited my learning style and needs.
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Courtney
FEWD Course
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I took to the nighttime FEWD course at GA's SF campus. I thought the first 2 curriculum sections (HTML and CSS) were good. The teachers explained the concepts well and had us apply new concepts to projects. However, the last section covering JS was very difficult and the curriculum was not in depth, leaving the majority of the students lost in the last 3rd of the course. GA should have realized that JS was a much more difficult concept to grasp and created more material for students to read, create better practice projects and so forth.
Over all it was a good intro class for frontend web development. Most people weren't looking to switch careers, just up-level their current skill set.