General Assembly

I took the Front-End Web Development course a few years ago, and my experience at General Assembly was subpar. I know a lot of people who swear by and love it, but this wasn’t the case for me. I did meet some really nice people, and our TA was also very helpful. This class taught me a few things and while I am thankful for that, it was a ton of money, and way too much for what I got out of it. The teacher I had, although very smart and skilled, was not great at teaching beginners.

And I will add that this was definitely not a beginners-level class by any means – but it would be a great class for anyone who has a background in or aptitude for coding, or anything computer sci-related. GA should definitely have some sort of pre-requisite coursework for this class, because there was way too much content jammed into this program for a newbie. HTML and CSS should be in their own class, JavaScript in its own. The pace was also too fast, we were given assignments that were extremely challenging and there was not enough time to master the basics.

I also feel that we should have been given more time to work on our final project in class, instead we spent our time making card games or nerding out in JavaScript that would stump most developers. I had no interest in game design, I wanted to learn about web design, and the class didn’t approach it from a start-to-finish process. It jumped around.

And although my teacher was talented and knew his stuff, his style didn't work for me. Being told by my teacher to “Google it” or “figure it out” if I have questions or am lost is not helpful. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be Googling or figuring out! Understood that after class ends I will be on my own, but when you’re in school, you should be able to feel comfortable asking your teacher questions and getting the help you need, especially when you’re paying a lot of money to be there. That’s the whole point of taking a class, and why I specifically chose to take this class, because I thought there would be that guidance. If I wanted to figure out web development on my own, I’d Google things and save myself the $3,500. I’m not sure I would return for another go-around with GA. Maybe if it were a different course, but that’s a big maybe.

In order to get people to sign up for classes, GA makes a lot of claims about how the program will run and the success rate of those who complete the course. They claim that 6 months after completing the program,  99% of students will have jobs within their field of study. With my cohort, it was more like 20%, and I would say it was about the same for the cohorts that came before and after me. 

What you get with this program is highly dependent for the instructor you get. Many of the instructors I have meet seem to only have 2-3 years of experience in the field they are instructing, which really is not enough. I have heard some GA admissions offers reference a GA bootcamp as an alternative to a 4 year degree - that is absurd. I think that the people who come out of this program and get jobs either get them because GA is directly referring them into role (which they seem to only select a few people from each class to do this with). 

The program also claims that they will help you gain access to working professions with multiple lunch and learns, that only happened once in my class. 

My advice to anyone considering enrolling is to reach out to people within your region who are working in the field and find out what they think of General Assembly. I think that in some areas, GA has a bad reputation and many recruiters will not even look at a resume with GA listed, so get to know what the field is like in your area before enrolling.

Three-hour tele lectures followed by four-hour lab practices.  In many ways it was like Groundhog Day.  We had one day to learn a lesson or a program, and the very next day *poof* a brand-new lesson to learn.  At times it was challenging and you feel like you're falling off the boat, especially if you didn't quite master or understand the previous day's lesson.

However, if you're lucky to have a strong and resourceful support group in the form of a good TA and sharing/caring students, it makes a tremendous difference.  I don't think I would have gotten as far as I did w/o these two assets.

Also I'm past the 110 day mark with no job.  Plenty of interviews, though. I've had interviews with some top tech firms (Google and Facebook).  I doubt I could have gotten my foot in the door w/o doing this bootcamp.  Good career counseling too, but at times you feel you're pushed down the line because a brand-new cohort is coming up.  

If you do decide to take this bootcamp, gird your loins for at least 3-4 months unemployment afterwards, and be prepared to network like crazy after class and after the program ends.

Attending the part time course for UX Design at General Assembly was an amazing experience. My tutors and classmates were great and despite was tough to work and study at the same time, I had the chance to learn a lot from all of them.

Took the Web development immersive at GA and it was an amazing course. We would learn new materials almost everyday and the instroctors did an amazing job of explaning all material in a way that was understandable and exciting. All the instroctuors were avaliable for extra help if needed and were always willing to answer questions. I really enjoyed this course and it has really prepared me for a job. The material covered is what employers are looking for. 

I've been in the Digital marketing industry for around 3 years but I'm entirely self-taught, I have a background in sales & IT which has helped immensely but have never had a complete overview of the strategy around campaigns. I decided to undertake the Digital Marketing course at General Assembly in order to bring everything I've learned together and take my career to the next level.

Overall I think the course was highly valuable and would suggest it to anyone who Is interested in digital marketing strategy. It assumes no prior knowledge which is good and bad, I found myself bored at some points as it delt with my day to day tasks. The content that I had no prior exposure to was excellent and engaging. The instructors were knowledgable and always happy to lend a hand. It requires quite a bit of time investment but its worth it in the end

I can't say enough about the great experience I had at GA in Boston. The instructors are amazing and I learned an incredible amount in the 3 months that I was there. This was by far the best experience I've had in a classroom setting and would recommend it to anyone that I looking to start a career in tech! 

At first I was hesitant to join the remote (online) crash course for User Experience Design. At the start of the class, the instructor even mentioned that we wouldn't get to dive as deep into the material compared to the 3 month Design course. This frustrated me as I was spending a lot of time and money to take the 1 week course. 

But as  the week progressed, my worries began to disappear. I learned so much in a span of 5 days, and all of the students were able to develop a full case study presentation of the projects that they were working on over the course of that week. The Zoom video conferencing helped keep the students accountable for staying engaged an actively participating through the course of the week. Zoom also allowed us to go into break out rooms were students could work on project discussions in small groups. 

In some ways, I found this online 1 week class to be even more engaging that a regular sized classroom, because our class size was so small. I am very satisfied w/ this program and how the instructor facilitated learning over just one week! 

Aditi Joshi was beyond impressive! I was pleasently suprised that General Assembly offered this class and it is so worth it. Whether you are a project, product, or program manager the knowledge you gain from taking this class is invaluable.

Good course that covered most of the flow of a normal UX process from creation to prototype. It would have been nice to also look at UX from a BAU or day-to-day perspective rather than always from a brand new project

Its a course that covers every topic in data science, the course goes for 12 weeks, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, there are 2 lectures and 2 labs to cover in a day, + 4 projects to do and a capstone project. Very intensive, but people there make it enjoyable to come to class, and with a happy hour, it makes it even better.
 

Very interactive for online learning. Feel 10x more knowledgable after 6 weeks. Loved how it was project-based learning

The course was awesome. A lot of resources and materials were provided. The instructors were willing to help find job placement which is a huge plus. I am not familiar with basic coding so I wish there were a couple of classes that focused on that like html and css. That would be a huge plus. I woiuld definitely recommend that people take the course at General Assembly. 

This program lets students learn everything from how to approach a problem, come up with a hypothesis and a potential solution, and how to test it to see it is feasible. (Highly focused in digital platform) Very informative results. I have taken part time night courses and it was very good but time consuming and tiring. Don't do it if you are not ready for the commitment of work load other wise you'd be influencing the whole class badly. I wish there was more time to work on projects and at the same time I am glad it was just that time as we all had day job. 

The good

When you decide to pursue a UXDI course, you need to manage your expectation that courses like this are a silver bullet for getting UX know-how. These 10 weeks are a start to the UX journey and as that start, the General Assembly UXDI course is great. The format is a 9-5 full time course for 10 weeks. You complete 5 projects, with a final project doing work with real client. It's a safe space to fail and learn. But you need to have the initiative and thirst for knowledge to go beyond the course syllabus.

After graduation, you get a meet & greet session with potential employers and there you get a glimpse of the type of market demand. I didn't have a strong background in design but i do have a background in client servicing so it came to no surprise that agencies largely approached my booth.

Stuff to improve

I didn't think the job outcomes sessions were particularly helpful for myself and mature students in the class who have hired people or gone through the hiring process in some shape or form. That is the one thing i would improve on. 

12 week immersive program, made projects using Ruby on Rails and JavaScript

When I signed up for this class, I thought I'd learn a few useful tidbits about how to analyze data, but I learned SO MUCH MORE. Plus, now I feel equipped to continue learning Tableau, SQL, and Excel on my own. I'm especially interested in learning SQL outside of class; I've read multiple articles on how it's one of the most pervasive programming languages today. 
Some tips for future students: 1-Do the homework and put in extra time outside the class to really understand the material. 2-Get to know your instructors. I cannot stress enough how helpful my teaching assistant (Daniel) was. He was always eager to help before class and via email. The instructors here really want you to excel and understand the course material.

I attended the UX Design Immersive program in March of 2015. Overall it was an incredibly efficient, informative, and effective introduction to User Experience. Critical thinkers with some background or knowledge in web related fields excelled in this class. Steeper learning curve for those who were less familiar or struggled with putting themselves in other people's shoes. Lots of resume and portfolio help, with relationships with area companies hiring for UX was also a plus. Launched a successful UX career for me, have been employed for over 2 years and have gotten many inquiries from recruiters and companies looking to interview me.