General Assembly

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.

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

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. 

**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

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!

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. 

 

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.

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. 

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.

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!

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!!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.