General Assembly

I went to General Assembly when I realized that I was ready for a big career shift and I was going to need some help. I was beginning the process of switching careers from an actor on Broadway to a role in the tech industry as a web developer. I am incredibly grateful to the entire team at GA for their help and support on my journey. First and foremost, GA's teaching staff are not just great educators, but also professionals currently working in the industry. Their knowledge stems from a deeper understanding of how you will actually use these technologies in an day to day working environment. As a result, I never felt like I was being taught something that wouldn't be relevant. They were all passionate about the material and had clearly taken time to prepare before the class. I am forever grateful for the teachers I had during my time at GA. 

The second thing about my experience at GA that I cannot praise enough is their outcomes team. One of the biggest problems I had with my undergraduate experience was that I felt like I was educated on what to do once I had the job I was seeking but there was no help or real hands-on training or support for how to get the job. GENERAL ASSEMBLY DOES THIS SO WELL! Their team worked with us very early on in the course and for months after I had graduated. Having people actively sharing your resume, supporting you, submitting your work, and working on your behalf who know you personally is so valuable. And they aren't just helping you find the job but educating you on how to improve your resume, interview techniques, cover letters and more. This is what puts General Assembly ahead of so many other schools that offer web development courses. 

I enrolled in the WDI of GA because I wanted to learn how to create websites. In the 3 months I was with them, the instructor taught us everything we needed to know and more. GA does a spectacular job of providing support to its students and creating a fun and lively ambience for students to learn. I highly recommend the course to anyone who wants to learn web development.

The course is very well structured and challenging. GA have the best instructors and the best supporting staff, they make the learning experience so much fun. I learned so much in such a short period of time, and I enjoyed every moment of the course.

I've worked in the digital industry for 15 years but was feeling a bit flat. I finally had the headspace (after having 2 kids) to start thinking about my career again and wanted to fill in the gaps and get up to speed.

That was my intention... but what happened exceeded expectations.

I had used the 'tools of the trade' before, and had even freelanced as a UX designer. But this course gave me a better understanding of the WHY, and HOW to turn all the bits of information into actionable insights and using that to inform the design process.

It was challenging and empowering to break old habits and to focus so much energy on making sure you are solving the 'right' problem before allowing yourself to move into solution mode. Seeing classmates go through their own 'aha' moments was really interesting, as was the breadth of final presentations and hearing all the challenges and pivot moments. We had an extremely supportive group of teachers, teaching aids and classmates.

Two months on, and I am loving my job. Applying the 'process' of UX to my current work has been immensely satisfying and achieving much better results. Instead of using the 'tools' in an ad hoc manner, I have the confidence to communicate the entire process as part of risk management and get more engagement from stakeholders. Instead of being reactive when somebody tells me they need a solution that does XYZ, I can use the UX language to find out more about the 'suspected problem' so we can move through the various stages to make sure we are solving the right problem before we even start thinking about the solution.

I could go on and on. Suffice to say I loved the course and completely recommend it.

A well run course, pitched primarily at the entry level for Digital Product Managers.  The presenter did a great job of presenting the key principles in a fresh and lively manner and illustrated many key points with some real world examples.  The class members were energetic, fun and made solid contributions to learning for everyone.  Final, group project added an extra dimension to learning and it was practical and fun.  A great way for me to get a refresh on some key Product Management principles and upskill on more digitally focussed areas. 

I took WDI from March to June of 2015. I previously had a job in community relations, but felt uninspired by my day-to-day (I just hated it). I tried out some free resources on Codecademy and applied to several bootcamps. After checking a few out, I liked the campus and curriculum at General Assembly the best.

About two years later - no regrets. I love programming, and GA gave me what I needed to do this as a career! My teachers were fantastic, passionate, and gifted with coding and educational chops. It was VERY stressful at times, but I loved working together with my classmates to get to "the next level," so to speak.

My only note is that I had a job lined up before graduation, so I don't have experience with the career coaching so much.

Course review

I took the Data Analytics part-time course in London. The program consists of learning the process of data analysis and practical skills to perform data analysis.

 

Nowadays for online business, marketing & data analysis tend to become a one-person job as campaigns can be optimised in real time based on their performances. This program gives you a set of skills that aren't taught at the university if you studied broad subjects like marketing or business.

The theoretical part was very useful for me to understand what is the best approach before to do a specific analysis. How to prepare the business questions and choose a data set.

Then we did many exercises using Excel, SQL, Tableau to learn how to leverage those tools to make the analysis and provide great data insights.

What makes me satisfied is that I could use at work the next day what I had learned at night. 

I also met interesting, passionate and motivated people. In my group there was people from many industries (Finance, online business, offline business ...).

 

Great Product Management course for a med device product manager. Learned enough to understand how I could improve my job today and where I could keep improving.

The Data Science course at GA was excellent!

As anyone who has any prior knowlege of the field would expect, the curriculium is quite broad, and as a result the part-time course does not go in depth in any areas, but rather takes you through the basics in as many areas as it can in 10 weeks. I imagine the full-time course would provide a more conclusive education, but i can't really comment on that.

Even though I would not recommend the part-time course to people looking for a conclusive education, it was invaluable to me and will be to people looking to explore the options available in the Data Science profession. The part-time course does not pretend to give you all the tools you need to succeed in the industry. Instead, GA has clearly realised that would be cramming too much into too little time, and have structured the course to give you a good introduction to each area of Data Science and provide you with enough information to get you started on your own educational journey.

This course will provide you with the basic knowlege of tools, concepts and processes needed to get started with your own exploration and an excellent environment to ask questions and network with like-minded professionals.

I would recommend this course to anyone who is interested in getting started in Data Science, but doesn't know where to start and what's involved.

When I had my initial interview to get information about this bootcamp, I was reassured several times (since my English is not perfect) that the instructor spoke very clear and easy-to-understand English, as she was not a native speaker. However, on the first day of the course, I found myself unable to understand a single word from the instructor (who was in fact a native English speaker) for the first two weeks.

I want to emphasize that the instructor was very understanding and supportive towards me, and she was genuinely great and helpful throughout the course. However, I don’t understand why I was misled about her level of English. If I had known, I would have considered a different bootcamp. Since I am paying a significant amount of money, I expect to fully understand what is being taught.

Regarding the post-graduate support and career services, I just finished a call that was scheduled with them. I was the only one present on the call because they did not show up. This speaks for itself.

There are definitely positive aspects of this course — I learned many things and new concepts. However, I will need to review and deepen my understanding of them on my own.

Overall, my experience has been more negative than positive, as during every lesson I had to stay extremely focused just to understand my instructor’s strong accent, while at the same time trying to learn new topics.

Coming from the education industry, I’d say the teaching and support staff from General Assembly went above and beyond to ensure that no one feels alone on this journey. I’m very grateful for the extra mile that the instructors went to ensure that complex concepts are simplified as much as possible and for the feedback provided after the completion of each project. I also greatly appreciate the constant check-in by the support staff and career coaches, even after the bootcamp has ended. They have definitely contributed tremendously in the career switching journey, and I would strongly recommend General Assembly to anyone I know. 

The GA UX bootcamp is one of the best things I have chosen to do; the instructors are experts in the field and give you insights and examples of work that really allow you to get a foot in the door. I enjoyed every single moment and didn't want it to end. The only thing I would have liked is a bit more time looking at UI in the curriculum; that bit didn't feel as in depth. 

I recently completed the Data Science Immersive program at General Assembly, and it was an eye-opening experience. The program is intensive and fast-paced, designed to push you out of your comfort zone. From day one, the curriculum was intensive, fast-paced lessons coupled with hands-on projects that allowed me to apply concepts in real-world scenarios. The instructors were knowledgeable and they are the industry experts where students could learn and get insights on how to apply the concept into real-world challenges.

Overall, this program was challenging yet rewarding, providing me with the tools and confidence needed to transition my career. I highly recommend it to anyone that would want to make a significant career shift into the tech industry.

I learned full stack web development, including frontend HTML and CSS and backend databases like Mongo and Django. This was a challenging 8 hour day course, but I learned a lot. The only thing I would change is I wish they sponsored networking events with job recruiters.

I attended the Denver campus for the 12-week UX course in 2017. I loved everything about the program; instructors, projects, classmates. I previously had only participated in traditional school, so a boot camp felt hands-on and useful immediately. I will say that the job coaching was super helpful in every respect except the actual job piece. They coach you on your resume, using previous experience as applicable to this new career, networking, etc. All of the great things that will be lifelong help. However, the actual job was elusive for about 4 months. And it wasn't the career coach who helped me in the end, but the instructors putting me in touch with their former colleagues in the industry and the mentor from the real product I worked on for a project. 
I also think the program is top-notch and the instructors were a great blend of the research side and the UI side. I have seen a lot of stuff on LinkedIn about boot camps all being the same formula or whatever, but I truly don't think I could have made a successful career change without GA; the education, resources, and connections. 
And while it was very expensive I got a personal loan that I paid off in a year with my new higher salary. 

The experience has been great. It gave me enough workflow to familiarise myself with enough projects to prepare myself for employment. The lessons are relevant and great. However, it can sometimes be very stressful if you are new to design sprints. Project timelines are fast and you have to be emotionally and mentally resilient. If you are someone who is ready to face the storm and explore the vast unchartered ocean ahead, this might just be for you. 

When I embarked on my data science journey, I had a clear vision of my goals and was fully aware of the challenges that lay ahead. True to my expectations, the path was as demanding as I had anticipated, and even more so at times.

Our instructor manager, Jonathan Oen-Lee, MBA, ACLP was inspiring and did a great job helping us to understand what made an effective data science presentation.

Our instructors, Waseem Sheriff Sharifah Nurulhuda Alhabsyi M. Farhan Rais Justin Chan Simon Lau were instrumental in helping us navigate the intricacies of this course.

Our career counsellor, Peck Hoon Low was very committed to helping us increase our chances of landing a job.

Our student success personnel made us all feel at home at GA.

I am immensely grateful for the camaraderie that I shared with my classmates. It was truly a refreshing experience to be in the company of like-minded individuals who had a positive learning attitude and were very encouraging.

General Assembly's Data Science Bootcamp exceeded all my expectations. The curriculum was comprehensive and well-structured, covering everything from foundational concepts to advanced machine learning techniques. The instructors were knowledgeable and supportive, always willing to go the extra mile to ensure every student understood the material.What impressed me most was the hands-on approach of the bootcamp. Throughout the course, we worked on real-world projects that allowed us to apply our learning in practical scenarios. This not only strengthened our technical skills but also prepared us for the challenges we would face in the field.The learning environment at General Assembly was vibrant and collaborative. I had the opportunity to learn from classmates with diverse backgrounds and experiences, which enriched my learning journey. The career support services were also exceptional, providing guidance on job search strategies, networking, and interview preparation.Overall, General Assembly's Data Science Bootcamp was a transformative experience for me. I entered the program with a passion for data science and left with the skills and confidence to pursue a successful career in the field. I highly recommend General Assembly to anyone looking to take their data skills to the next level.

My time at GA was great and the job support after helped me land my first job. Its important to note though that it really is a get what you give experience. Don't expect to come in and coast by, its hard and requires a lot of work but if you put the time into the process, you will get a lot out of it. I am not longer a software developer, having transitioned into Product management, but am still using a lot of the coding knowledge i learned at GA. The instructors are very supportive, they really do care about the students.