General Assembly

I joined GA in hopes of changing my career from being an elementary school teacher to being a designer for education technology. I had always been interested in user interfaces but didn't really see any college programs that would give me the value that I needed in such a short amount of time. The UX Design Immersive program at GA peaked my interest because I was told that I would learn about the user experience design process from research to visual design in 10 weeks. After I joined, I learned how fast, fun, and challenging the agile design process is. My instructor Natasha had such valuable insight after working in the industry, using real-life examples to answer every one of our classes questions (we couldn't stump her!) Working with others (both users and designers) at GA helped me understand the types of questions and tests that are important to go through to make sure that my designs were user friendly and intuitive. I also learned how to sketch, make wireframes, and create high-fidelity visual designs. I use all of these skills at my job today - I work at TeachersConnect and am their only UX Designer for their app. We work through one-week design sprints from research to visual design just like I did at GA. The several in-class projects and real-client project really allowed me practice my skills and prepared me for what I do every day at TeachersConnect. I was able to get my job thanks to the amazing career coach Julie that I had worked with during and after my program. Above all, I have come back to GA because of the community that is there for me. Everyone there is always willing to lend a helping hand (or do a quick user test!) My classmates are now my UX colleagues and good friends, and are all happy at their new UX jobs as well. GA was one of the smartest choices I made. I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to work hard and use the resources that GA offers to make a career change.

Firstly to give a true and fair review of the General Assembly bootcamp I have to say I'm not paid by them or have any affiliations to market their business. I can choose not to say anything but I feel that I have to because I believe there are many people considering a career change into the tech industry (like myself) but do not know who to trust to help them get a job at the end of it. My review will be for GA in Melbourne, Australia, as I'm not sure if the outcomes are the same in other locations. To sum it up if people can't be bothered to read further, yes I got offered a job prior to graduating, yes I found other jobs, yes I am still working in the tech industry as a software developer. Also I didn't have prior education in any I.T related fields before joining.

I'm so glad to have signed up and gone through the course, to sum up the course in one paragraph I must say, the course is well structured and starts from the basics. I found that there was enough homework at the end of the day. The supporting staff are there to help from day 1. The teaching staff includes 1 instructor and 1 or 2 technical assistants. The course makes you want to step out of your comfort zone and you will make mistakes but that is a good thing as it is a safe learning environment.

Most importantly the material they teach is highly relevant for the current market. If you do everything as they say and continue to improve your skills you will be in a good position at the end of the course to find work you are interested in.

I can't thank General Assembly enough for the great experience that I had. Prior to GA, I was working a retail job where I wasn't feeling fullfiled with the work I was doing. At the time, I was also self-learning how to code through Codeacademy, free tutorials from Apple's iBooks, and attending meet-up events after work. One morning while riding the subway to work, I came upon an advertisement that would encourage me to take the leap into changing my career. 

General Assembly's Web Development Immersive course is a challenging course where you'll be coding from 9-5 with about 2-3 hours of homework that is due at 10pm. They make it clear to you from day 1 that WDI is no joke. I strongly recommend spending about 1-3 months preparing before you decide to take the course. Instructors won't always hand hold you so if you are not the self-learning type, this may be a very challenging course for you. Although I don't consider myself as someone who is an amazing programmer, I sat next to individuals in class who were. Choosing who you sit next to in class is quite important when you need help debugging or just catching up with what instructors are going through. I also highly recommend finding friends that you can work with after class in completing assignments. After all, software is a team sport. 

In terms of job opportunities, I had known from the beginning that I wanted to go into a more business/tech role. I discovered the route of technical product management and expressed that to my career coach (who was super awesome by the way) and Outcomes manager earlier on. Learning how to code has opened up many doors for me. Currently, I just landed a role in PM so everything worked out in the end! 

There are some people who has complained about GA but the reality is that if you are willing to put in the effort great things will happen! You can't expect to learn everything in the span of 12 weeks so instructors really do a great job at teaching students how to learn on their own as well as in team environments. I remember going to GA everyday (including the weekends) because I was 100% committed to succeeding in this course. I thoroughly enjoyed the time that I had there. Thank you General Assembly!

One word - Brilliant.

This course was delivered in a timely and clear manner. Our instructors are knowledgeable and welcoming to new students especially to those who are not proficient or new to Analytics. 

The learning environment is practical and fosters creativity which is vital to a short course such as this one, allows us the freedom and confidence to experiment and improve when we are not in class. 

Furthermore, the communication between instructors and the GA admin is immediate and informative - this is a huge stress relief for us all as undertaking this course while we have other commitments can be strenuous. 

With that, it would be slightly more beneficial to students if the course could be more tailored to the local demographics - however I understand the course is designed in NYC, however some autonomy to the local instructors could serve to benefit students.

Other than that - I would 10/10 recommend this course.

I just graduated from General Assembly's Web Development Immersive in Atlanta -- WDI12. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at GA and feel confident that, with time, I will find the right company to exercise my newly honed skills. 

The instructors, teaching assistants, frontline staff, and outcomes career coach make for a safe and challenging space in which to learn. From day one of the course, both the operations manager and the instructors make it very plain -- this is going to be exceptionally hard. It's an immersive, your days will be consumed with schoolwork 9-5 and 5-9. In my experience, it was more like 8:30am to 11pm every single day -- nothing but code, new tools, face palming because you were missing a semi-colon in one place and it took you hours to find it, frustrating, and maddeningly rewarding. 

There is one variable that is beyond your control and that is who is sitting in the classroom with you. I cannot emphasize enough how important my peers were to me. I graduated with some of the most humble, compassionate, and brilliant developers. Every single person would happily pause what they were doing to help a fellow classmate whether it were to debug a problem or offer an opinion on styling. I hope every GA cohort is so lucky to have amazing peers and instructors to lean on. 

GA wasn't just about a coding experience, it has also given me an understanding of being adaptable to the ups and downs that we had experienced in the beginning of each unit. I now embody a strong self-belief that regardless of the outside circumstances, I am able to do whatever I set my mind to because I have done so many times before. Another great fulfilling experience was working in a group, it has helped me develop a team mindset and an ability to find the unique speciality in each of my team members. It also gave me a chance to push myself and support my team at the same time, which is a plus!

Most appealing aspect of General Assembly courses is the practical and hands-on nature. We get the opportunity to learn concepts and become aware of relevant tools, then  offers a platform to apply all we learn and share our findings in the form of a final project. Instructors are of high caliber, we are able to learn from true experts. Support staff are very friendly with great customer service. This course demonstrates "Data is the future of oil", when data is handled and managed appropriately, decisions can be more effective.

As a freshly graudated 22 year old math major with little idea of what career I wanted to pursue, I stumbled upon General Assembly's Data Science Immersive Program shortly after graduating and am extremely satisifed with my overall experience. My instructors in the course were extremely knowledgeable and taught me more than I ever could imagine in the course of three months. Although I can't say I'm a master of machine learning (it would be impossible to do so in just three months), I know what I don't know and have honed the ability to LEARN which is perhaps the most important skill in the tech industry nowadays. This course put me on track to succeed as a data scientist in my mid 20s and the confidence to go out into a job interview ready to answer techincal questions and having valuable skills to bring to the table.

One important thing to note about the course is that you really need to drive to constantly learn new things and also have some interest in mathematics/ programming or you will quickly fall behind. That being said if you want to make a career change into working with data and possess those attributes, the GA Data Science Immersive Program is a great start to catapult you into the field.

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.