1. Describe the concept.
2. Demonstrate the concept.
3. Allow the students to choose issues to tackle.
4. Reviewed them as a whole.

Prior to participating in this bootcamp I had just made a complex decision to career change from elementary teaching to software engineering. I had somehow made a large friend circle of software engineers who offered their support and advice as well as two career changing friends who had just completed the General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive. I had tried to teach myself coding multiple times over my teaching career and decided a bootcamp would be the best kick to really help me move forward.

GA Boston has some of the best folks ready to support and guide people. It was intense, and it pushed me in ways I hadn't been pushed in a while. We learned JavaScript, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, front-end to back-end development, and the Outcomes team (career coaching/job assistance) are incredibly supportive and knowledgable. I appreciated being able to schedule one on one time with the coaches and I felt like all the staff were really accessible and ready to help.

I was in a class of 18 people and felt very close with everyone. Even outside of the cohort I've connected with so many people throughout the alumni network. Overall I am glad for the experience and the network.

Enrolling in the SEI program at GA was the best decision I've ever made. The staff at GA are wonderful, and the instructors are super knowledgeable, and more importantly happy to help you with anything. I think anyone with a poor review of GA wasnt there for the right reasons, it's not high school or university, you dont have to be there, you chose to go. Those that make the most of the resources there are the ones that will be successful. There's a lot of course content and it moves very fast so dig in and get ready to learn.

I have been thinking about changing my career to software engineering for a long time. This year I have decided to join General Assembly and I  honestly I don’t regret it, the teaching system and the projects helped me to learn and further understand multiple technologies to be able to make beautiful sites. The campus is spacious, just ideal for you to learn and there are always people available if you have questions.

 The job-support at the end of the course is unique, helping you to brand yourself and shine from other applicants. Definitely, the best way to start as a developer.

My experience with General Assembly started off very rocky. I'm not your traditional student just looking for another class they can take for the experience. I wanted to learn a new skill for a career change. I think that goal was met; however, I am still looking for employment in the field. I've joined a few Meetup groups and went to one conference, so I'm going to keep trying. 

I also got a moment to speak with other designers and learning the process isn't enough. You need to learn code. I know that as a UX Designer/Researcher, you shouldn't have to learn code, but I've noticed that employers don't really understand what we do so if you don't fit the minimum application requirements you are out of luck. I really was hoping that there would be help getting your portfolio together, but there was nothing. To be quite frank, if you are looking for more case studies to put on your portfolio (btw, if you take the online cohort they will not help you with this) you will have to go with a longer class (i.e. DesignLab, Springboard, etc.). They give you more ways to present your work. We only had the option to work on a responsive site or a mobile application (10 weeks vs 9 months).

If you are committed to working on this class at least 20 hours a week...you'll pass. My TA took a while to get back to us with grades, but he makes himself available for you if you ask. The instructor will also. In my opinion, the instructors made the experience for me great. They will answer any questions you may have about being in the field. The class is very interactive and you are allowed to critique your peers.

Advice for GA would be to make the job assistance available for all students and add coding to your course. For those that come from a completely different industry, this would help tremendously.

General Assemb.ly Software Engineering Immersive Online Boot Camp was an incredibly amazing experience.  It opened my eyes and mind to many parts of web site design, development, and maintenance. I learned many languages, frameworks, libraries, stacks, and computer science fundamentals.  Through the course, we built web sites, made functions, had solo and group projects. The amount of information blasted into my brain was equivalent to drinking from a firehose.  After completion, I have a few sites for my portfolio under my belt and a firm grasp of the basics and more for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python3 as well as a new way of using the computer itself through the command line and sites like GitHub, Netlify, Mongo Db and Heroku.  They have the outcomes program also, which helps mold your online presence and offers resume help and so much more. This program extends after the class is over and is available until you land your new career role. 

Although I was previously new to UX design and the tech field in general, GA staff were very thoughtful and welcoming from the beginning. My admissions producer responded to my initial inquiry immediately and answered all my tough questions. She stayed in touch with me as I completed the pre-work, and I never felt disoriented despite all the new information and procedures I was learning. 

The pre-work was an excellent guide to what the course would entail, and I came in with strong conceptial knowledge. Nonetheless, I was challenged above and beyond my expectations (in a good way), and I feel confident that I understand both the 'hard' and 'soft' skills needed to be a successful designer. 

My instructors were extremely personable and made themselves available whether I had a smaller question or larger concern. They even allowed me the space to vent on two occasions. During project work, they gave us the freedom to explore our individual interests (as they related to the project) -- along with the freedom to fail (and learn from it). I can only imagine how difficult it is to navigate 19 beginners through 4 rounds of client work, but they did it. 

The Outcomes staff were direct, nuanced, and efficient with thieir comments on my resume, portfolio, cover letter, and other career-related materials. I learned almost as much from their tutelage as I did from my content instructors (and I'm still learning). As someone who has spent a long time unemployed/applying cold, my confidence has increased enormously as a result of Outcomes support. I now have a comprehensive strategy and organizational system for my search. 

Overall, if you choose to take an immersive course at GA, know that you will learn a ton and be handled with care. At the same time, be sure to clear your schedule for the 10-12 weeks of the program (and beyond if you're immediately seeking a job thereafter). Do not take the commitment lightly. What you put in is largely what you get out. If you put in everything, you will get everything you expected -- and more. 

I found the GA UX Research & Design PT Course very enjoyable. I learned a lot and I feel that the curriculum gave me a solid understanding of the UX Research & Design process from end to end. Marcella was a great teacher and made all of the concepts understandable and applicable to where we all were in our professional careers. She was always available for extra help and advice which I really appreciated. It was a lot of work and in my opinion required more of a time commitment than the course syllabus suggested. Because it is a PT class it moved very quickly which caused me to get behind a few times throughout the course. I also found the curriculum to be a bit disjointed and unorganized.  This is primarily because the online pre and home work did not seem to match up with the 2 day a week in class schedule. There were a few times I had to go back and review because sections were out of order. Overall, it is a good course that would definitely be 5 stars with some fine tuning. 

• It’s a jam-packed 12 weeks, but if there was a way to embed more data engineering, software engineering by removing some of the less relevant algorithms, I think that would be better time spent.
• Career support is great, but let’s raise the bar for those who have already worked in the industry. The general advice is table stakes (geared towards interns and university students), so it would be more valuable to have real data scientists, and data engineers provide advice on how they recruit, and perform whiteboard interviews. The network of alumni is growing, but the corporate partnerships engagement is weak as far as student employment is concerned. The career coach is working hard on early conversations with Telus Digital and MaRS, but at this point, there’s no real pipeline to feed students into those programs. Bet on yourself to find jobs rather than rely on employers knocking on your door on demo day. Set your expectations appropriately.  

This was a weekend, two-day bootcamp with a practical introduction to machine learning in Python. The class was very helpful in giving hands-on experience for someone with some data background who is looking to get up to speed on a new set of data techniques.

I took the part time Front-End Web Development course from February 2018 to April 2018 as my plan was to move into the Software Engineering Immersive, which I am currently taking. 

I really enjoyed the front-end development class as I got to learn a lot of HTML, CSS and an intro to Javascript and JQuery. We were able to put together a lot of smaller projects and site mockups. Also, even though I have never had experience in any coding, javascript and jquery were a little difficult for me to grasp but in my SEI class, I picked up on everything MUCH quicker because of my previous exposure.

I've just completed the 10-week part-time course in Data Analytics and found the experience to be highly valuable.

As virtually a total beginner in Excel, SQL and Tableau prior to the course, I found the material and the pace of learning to be quite challenging and demanding. However, provided you are able to allocate the required time outside the classroom teaching and commit yourself to learning the content, the pace of study leads to the acquisition of a wide range of skills in a relatively short period of time.

The course material provided isn't perfect, which sometimes requires a degree of independent problem-solving and perserverence, but that in itself can be quite useful when it comes to utilising the skills being learnt week-to-week.

I found our teacher and teaching assistant to be extremely helpful and dedicated to helping the class and individuals follow the material and reach their potential.

Overall, I would highly recommend General Assembly and the Data Analytics course, provided you have adequate time in your week to dedicate the hours required. I was in-between jobs when I did the course and would have found it difficult to get as much out of the experience as I did had I also been working full-time. 

I flew from Peru to SFO and it was worth it. I liked that the course is an intense week because I could not stay in San Francisco for a long time, the networking is super good, the facilitator with very enriching experience and the material as well, I would have liked more work between peers and a little More time to get to know the GA community.

Doing the Web Development Immersive (WDI) program at Santa Monica was probably one of the best career decisions I've made. First of all, what struck me about GA was their international presence, being located around the world. Also, the fact that GA offers courses in a variety of fields, whether it's Web Development, UI/UX, Digital Marketing, also attracted me to them as I was able to take workshops in those subject areas as well. It was also a great learning experience getting to meet people and learn from the other students doing the other immersive programs such as in Data Science and UX.

My background prior to doing the web development immersive program was that I already had a degree in computer science and an entry level job as a web developer. But I still decided to do GA to learn new technology stacks and have a more solid foundation (particularly in Node.js, React and Mongo since I was only familiar with Ruby on Rails at the time). Even with this prior background, I was still able to learn a lot and push myself out of my comfort zone. The beauty of the program is you get out of it what you put into it no matter what your background is.

My instructors and peers were probably some of my favorite aspects of my experience there. The instructors and TAs were very helpful during class and after hours and taught very well with their use of analogies. The people in my cohort also provided a very encouraging and fun learning atmosphere and we all still keep in contact to this day, where some of us actually work together at our jobs.

Our outcomes producer also did a really good job helping us get our resumes and cover letters ready and provided good advice on how to market ourselves with the Do's and Don'ts. However, at the end of the day, we're responsible for our success in the job application process depending on how hard we push ourselves in putting ourselves out there and preparing for job interviews.

Overall, what I really liked about GA is the network that you get yourself into. I was able to travel to different General Assembly locations around the world, attending different events and seeing how the GA community and vibe is similar everywhere. Being a GA alumni also puts you as a part of the large network that significantly opens more doors and career opportunities worldwide.

     First, off I love GA. GA changed my life completely. I took part in the full-time web development immersive program and by far it is one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Never would I have thought I would be where I'm currently at in life.  

    My instructors at the DTLA campus are amazing and very dedicated to teaching and preparing their students for a job in tech. Of course, at the end of the day, it is all up to the students to put in the work and apply those skills. The curriculum is very well designed to take you to the level needed to be hirable after completing the course.
 
   As for the job search, it all comes down to you. It's a little hard at the beginning but once you have your foot in the door your in. Most tech interviews are the same so the repetition of interviewing helps in your favor. software engineers are in such high demand there are open positions everywhere in tech. The skills you learn at GA get you one of those positions but like I said its all up to you.

Once I had made the decision to change careers and become a UX Designer, I turned to General Assembly on the recommendation of a friend from London, who had worked with GA trained UX designers in the past. It was one of the best decisions I could have made. Changing careers can be a very stressful thing, and if it weren’t for GA I might have chickened out. Not only did the UXDi course equip me with the tools, language and skills required in the field of User Experience Design, but the “Outcomes” portion of the program completely prepared me for re-entering the workforce in my newfound circumstances. They provided an incredible support system and helped me navigate my career change in the best way possible. I was employed within 30 days of graduating, and made back my investment within months.

If you have an aptitude for human centered design and the willingness to be proactive and put in the work required, then GA can provide the tools to help you succeed.

Incredible instructor, engaged classmates, relevant material covered in course, and focus on building transferable skills

Instructor (currently, VP of Product for a health tech firm in SF) was great at facilitating a collaboration among students, and gave constructive feedback to each product team at the end of every day. He created a safe learning environment, and I plan to keep in touch with him for future Product Management job openings.

Job Prospects After Completion: Depends on YOU! It's up to you to keep your network fresh and informed regarding your career plans. GA will share some career resources with you, but they are not as helpful with finding a job as they could be.

I took the Digital Mkt accelerated 1 week course and in general terms I can say it was a great experience. It's definitely a lot of information to digest in 1 week and I think that the final presentation complicates even more the equation because by day 3 everybody is more focused on doing that, than on processing all the different topics. However, I think most of the relevant topics are covered, the teacher shows a lot of knowledge about digital marketing and the course is well structured. Additionally, the school is really nice and well located, plus is a great place to get to know cool people. Overall it's a great option but I would try to do the part-time instead.

I already work as a designer and just needed to learn a bit more about UX. Just wanted to let others know that I enrolled in their part time 10 week course and found it quite useful. Of course this is not a comprehensive career switching course and only provides a good starting point (you will need to do much more in the future on your own or through other programs), but it provides good basic knowledge about the field and skills needed.

I do not regret enrolling and think that the course helped me get a boost in my design career. Not life-changing, but the course is pretty good.

I'm 6 business days removed from the course and I have an onsite interview with Amazon on 10 days after I graduated for a Designer Role. I am going through a recruiting agency but it was the resume rebuild that the outcomes program helped me with and my portfolio that was also designed in class that helped set me up. I received some prep info from the recruiting agency; after hearing what the company is looking for, I am confident that I have learned the skills needed from taking UXDI course. The next step is the interview process and making sure that I articulate my process clearly, something that is also taught as part of the immersive course. GA stresses so much how important networking is, and through networking is how I was able to get this onsite interview, I didn't wait till after I was done with the course before networking. I started early and told friends, family and anyone else who asked "what are you up to these days" about how I was going to a design school and where I wanted to be after. So when this role became available, a friend of mine contacted me and told me they have a opening for the role. Granted I didn't get hired or had the onsite yet, what happened here alone is a testament to how important networking is and that is why GA stresses it so much. 

*Disclosure* I'm a very optimistic person, trying to find the lessons in every thing negative that happens so take that into consideration when reading my reviews. 

About the school itself, I had a great experience attending the course. I made new friends with talented people that I still keep in contact with. I was fortunate enough to be able to take time away from working so I can fully immerse myself into the course. I understand that there are bills that need to be paid but it is also a huge load of stress of your shoulders if you don't have to worry about working at the same time since the immersive course is a 9-5 kind of thing, I usually stayed a bit later and some days till 8pm when they kick me out working on projects and other things. 

The instructor we had was very knowledgable and experienced, he was able to answer every question we had in a manner that he didn't just hand us the answer, but asked thought provoking questions that would lead us to the answer. Theres an instructor assistant who was also very knowledgeable and welcome as well that we were able to bounce ideas off of. Their feedback was also constructive and provided valuable insight. They're not here to hold your hand but they will support you when and where they can. 

Some other benefits is that you could attend any workshop that was hosted at GA for free, and there was also a hackathon at the end of the program. It was a great experience working under pressure with people you've never met before. 

I feel like I benefitted from this course a lot and that it set me up to make the transition into the design field. The amount of work you put is what you'll get out of it to be honest, if you decide to put in as little as possible then of course you're going to benefit as little as possible. As RW3 would say, "the separation is in the preparation!" If you plan on taking this course, my advice is do everything as early as possible! If my resume wasn't ready to go right after I graduated then I wouldn't have been able to send it to the recruiter for my interview thats coming up. I also decided to code my own website using boot strap so that was a learning curve and took some time to polish as well (I'm still not done polishing it) but I started 2 weeks before class ended. 

The only con I have is that its tough to schedule a time with the Outcomes Person. Theres only 1 person for Seattle and she's awesome but getting that individual help takes some time. When I realized that this was going to become an issue, I started scheduling multiple 1on1s with her way ahead of time. 

Good Luck!