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Prime Digital Academy offers an intensive, 20-week full-stack coding bootcamp and an 18-week UX design bootcamp in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Working directly with Twin Cities tech employers, Prime Digital Academy has created programs that equip emerging engineers and designers with the skills they need to make immediate contributions. Prime students learn modern technologies, practical methodologies, and critical behavioral skills through carefully crafted curriculum and real-world projects for pro-bono clients in the community. Prime’s immersive programs empower learners from diverse backgrounds to begin their new careers in months, not years.Prime’s full-stack engineering course prepares students with the skills and hands-on experience to develop complex software to solve businesses problems. Prime’s user experience design curriculum prepares students with professional practice in research, design and prototype software that is usable and meaningful. Prime graduates have been hired by nearly 200 companies in Minnesota, and the tight-knit learning community continues long after graduation, with students participating in mentorship, community education and ongoing alumni career support.
The Good
The Good
The Bad
Proceed at your own risk. A lot of people have had great experiences at Prime, as evidenced by the positive reviews. Just keep in mind that the experience varies for everyone, and because this is a business and not an accredited institution, there is very little you can do if you disagree with their decisions or are unhappy with the quality of instruction.
Prime has a great balance between focusing on coding skills and soft skills.
My experience at Prime was overall positive, but I feel the need to counter-balance some of the other reviews here.
- Curriculum was shaky. Tech stack isn't focused on actually learning strong fundamentals, and there was sometimes the feeling that *actually* learning how to code wasn't the top priority.
- Hiring slower than advertised. Staff had to manage expectations after perhaps overestimating the appeal of bootcamp grads in the Twin Cities market.
- Non ex...
My experience at Prime was overall positive, but I feel the need to counter-balance some of the other reviews here.
- Curriculum was shaky. Tech stack isn't focused on actually learning strong fundamentals, and there was sometimes the feeling that *actually* learning how to code wasn't the top priority.
- Hiring slower than advertised. Staff had to manage expectations after perhaps overestimating the appeal of bootcamp grads in the Twin Cities market.
- Non existent hiring network--at least while I was there. This is probably something that has to develop over time, but 95% of our "mock" and real interviews were with recruiters or companies that weren't actually hiring.
- Wide range of quality of client projects--from doing really cool work for awesome companies/non-profits to developing fake apps for Prime or Prime's parent company.
Executive Summary
Overall, Prime Digital Academy is an excellent choice for those who are serious about making a career change into the software development field or as an alternative to the traditional 2 or 4 year college degree. I say serious, because Prime is a seriously intense program that prepares you for employment as an entry level software developer in a relatively short period of time (18 weeks). Prime focuses on not only intensive ...
Executive Summary
Overall, Prime Digital Academy is an excellent choice for those who are serious about making a career change into the software development field or as an alternative to the traditional 2 or 4 year college degree. I say serious, because Prime is a seriously intense program that prepares you for employment as an entry level software developer in a relatively short period of time (18 weeks). Prime focuses on not only intensive learning of the JavaScript based MEAN stack but also the soft skills that are necessary in today's workplace: speaking to a group or audience, teamwork, writing project scopes, interviewing, diversity awareness, and others. Prime Digital Academy is a new bootcamp program that is getting its feet underneath it with each class that passes through its doors, but the background of the school's instructors and leadership, business network, and affiliation with the Nerdery - Prime Digital Academy has the support internally and externally for students to succeed. My background was a professional with a 4 year college degree that was making a career change. My selection of Prime Digital Academy was made based on their business network and vision for the program. I do not regret my decision one bit. Every question I had about the program was answered honestly and every expectation I had was met.
Program Highlights
Intense structured learning - The program is designed to keep a student out of his or her comfort zone. Why? This is where the greatest development and learning take place. This will be frustrating to every student at one point or another. However, students are monitored so that frustration does not equate to failure. Teaching students that failure is not an "end" in itself but a means to learning and developing is one of the most valuable assets of the program. It unlocks a curious mind, dissolves fear, and creates a safe environment to develop skills. Software Development is about solving problems and dealing with "failure", creating the correct mindset to understand what "failure" is and how to compartmentalize it is not just a great learning strategy - but life strategy.
Support Structure - Prime Digital Academy's staff understand the stresses created by a bootcamp environment and how to help students deal with those stressors. The students are also an incredibly supportive group with each other and develop-mentors also interact with students in small groups to share experience about the industry, developing software, or just life in general.
Community Support - Prime has staff that aid in preparation for entering the marketplace. Reviewing resumes and mock interviews. Prime also highly encourages networking via Meet Up groups and other events to meet and grow their professional network.
Personal and Client Projects - As part of the course, students will create a personal project using the full MEAN stack and branching out into new libraries that support their personal project. Students will also do a pro-bono group project for a real business to understand the full lifecycle of a web application from design, scope creation, coding, and presentation/delivery.
Program Opportunities
One of the interesting aspects of being a business professional and changing careers, was getting to watch as a student of the program - how Prime Academy was growing and dealing with its own growing pains as a new school. Our class was the first "production" class to go through the program. There were curriculum updates in our program from the "beta" class that went before us and there were curriculum updates in the classes that were starting as our class was preparing to graduate - so the reality is that some or all of these opportunities have already been addressed or expectations set with incoming students. If you have questions - Ask the staff - their only goal is for current, past, and prospective student to be successful in their new chosen field.
6 Week Preload Period - The first 6 weeks of the program use online classes to get students up to speed on HTML/CSS and some other basic skills. As an 18 week course - personally I would set the expectation of "Go ahead and keep your job during this 6 weeks" or make it more intense to get more value for the tuition being paid. The first 6 weeks are "luke warm" to me. Personally, I worked 3 of those 6 weeks, but depending on your job stress/demands, if the load is only 10-20 hours per week - keeping your primary job to save money will be helpful. However - I would recommend at least one full week off work before the intense last 12 weeks of the program. This time allows you to get your "house in order". Once the intense portion of the bootcamp begins, you will have very little time for anything else.
The course is 18 weeks long - your period of unemployment will vary. Personally I consider Prime Digital Academy a half year (26 week) commitment from the time you start pre-work to the reasonable expectation(but no guarantee) that you'll find a job. Please note - this is not a failing of Prime. Prime Digital Academy does not guarantee graduates will find a job anymore than a Bachelor's Degree will guarantee you a job or a job in your field of study. A prospective student needs to expect that becoming employed may take a couple to a few months after graduation. This can be for any number of reasons (company HR department processes, location, macro-economic issues, etc.) Prime works very hard with the development community to attract employers and find opportunities for graduates. But you need to set the personal expectation that you are making a 6 month commitment - not 18 weeks to employment. As a side note, I would recommend that you put at least as much effort into your networking with employers, recruiters, and others as you do your code. The opportunity for building your professional network was a major reason for my choice of Prime Digital Academy and one of the things I am most proud of growing during my time there. I also fully intend on keeping that network growing and vibrant moving forward as well.
Final Thoughts
If you are dedicated on moving into the software development field, Prime Digital Academy can get you to the next level. The instruction, support, and network are second to none. The financial and time commitment of Prime Digital Academy to my new career was well worth it and I'd do it again.
I graduated from Prime in January 2016. My experience at Prime was absolutely exceptional. Cohorts are 20-22 people with 2 instructors and a floating TA for the whole school. As I was somewhat early on in the program (fiifth cohort) they were still working the kinks out of the curriculum, but I thought it was fantastic. Like all other programs, like life really, you get out of it what you put into it, but I felt like the atmosphere was set up so well that it was nearly impossible not to th...
I graduated from Prime in January 2016. My experience at Prime was absolutely exceptional. Cohorts are 20-22 people with 2 instructors and a floating TA for the whole school. As I was somewhat early on in the program (fiifth cohort) they were still working the kinks out of the curriculum, but I thought it was fantastic. Like all other programs, like life really, you get out of it what you put into it, but I felt like the atmosphere was set up so well that it was nearly impossible not to throw a lot of energy into the program.
I found the instructors totally capable and enthusiastic, though sometimes unwilling to answer questions which strayed too far outside of the curriculum. Most of them are young and come from a variety of backgrounds (UX, Angular, Game Design, et c.) with (from what I could tell) 8-15 years of experience each. From what I could tell most of the staff there did not have traditional CS backgrounds, for what it is worth. At least a few had outside projects that they were getting off the ground at the same time as teaching.
The curriculum is 18 weeks total: 6 weeks of guided (and required) pre-work, they essentially give you a log-in to Code School and give you weekly assignments. The pre-work period is pretty laid-back and meant for students to complete while still working or preparing for the in-class portion.
The in-class portion (currently located in Bloomington, MN just south of Minneapolis) is twelve weeks. There is a heavy emphasis on soft skills: public speaking, working in teams, simulating working in large groups and with clients that change their minds. It seems that the curriculum is changing with every cohort but my cohort spend two weeks rehashing HTML/CSS and vanilla Javascript. The third week we went through the full stack, building out a basic app from front to back with Angular, Node.js/Express and Mongo. They have also started teachiing Post-GreSQL. The next three weeks are solidifying the basics of full stack programming. There is generally a decent sized assignment (6-12hrs) over the weekend which incorporates whatever was learned over the week. One or two nights a week there are small assignments, but there were very few nights where I felt rushed for time. One of my few complaints with the program was that there was very little feedback on assignments or progress, though all the intructors and staff seem very open to suggestion and resonsive to any big concerns.
After the in-class learning portion there was a two week personal project. This time was fairly hands off for the instructors, though they are always around to help. They 'Okay' a scope of work then send you on your way. I found this to be a great way to learn, but this might not work for everyone.
The last 3-4 weeks are spent on a group project doing pro-bono work building a full stack app for a non-profit client. This is a real project with a real deadline and expectations and while it is demanding there is a lot of support provided. They put a lot of work picking high quality clients and you can see that these folks tend to be very responsive and helpful (we calculated the value and the project would cost something like $70,000+ if done by an agency).
The last week is spent wrapping up any loose ends of projects, doing interviews with hiring partners and working though common interview questions.
Prime is closely linked to the Nerdery and there is some cross talk between students and Nerdery folks. The nerdery has only hired a handful of grads though and this is more a friendly connection than a direct pipeline.
I like to think that I could have learned all the tech stuff on my own, but it would have taken a year rather than four months. The emphasis at Prime on people is massive, though. They make sure the cohorts are diverse (in gender, race as well as backgrounds) and it is a great way to network and make friends.
I found a range of reactions to Prime in the Twin Cities tech community, many postive and exciting reactions and some who had not heard of Prime. I have yet to hear any substantive negative feedback or poor opinions yet, though they may be out there.
Placement rates as reported to us are very good, but also vary by cohort. They make this clear, though not till the end of the program. It seems like 75% of grads get jobs by three or four months post gradutation, and 95% have jobs by six months out though these numbers will probably get even better as Prime's name gets more recognition. It has been about a week since i have graduated and I have three in-person interviews and have been recieving contacts from recruiters at the rate of about one every other day. Reported salaries out of Prime are 42k-68k/yr and while they don't say anything specific they recommend asking for 50-60k, more if you have relevant experience. They do make it pretty clear (again, at the end of the program) that it is much easier to get a position within the Twin Cities than outside. So don't expect to come to Prime then go off and get a 120k job in the Bay.
Overall the experiance was great. There were some pretty tough parts, and I definitely have a few criticisms of the program and staff, but overall I'm super greatful I got to go through it.
Some People Like bullet points...
PROS:
CONS:
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PROS:
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Some People Like words...
I came from a completely non-techical background, but have a passion for tech, people, and learning. This program was tailor made for me, I think. You must love to code. If you've never coded before, make sure you check out other free resources like codecademy to get your feet wet. If you are honest with what you want, and that desire is to get into software development, then you should really, really consider Prime.
Prime focuses on interpersonal skills HIGHLY. It doesn't matter in the end if you can code all languages and churn out crazy complicated applications. There are people that do that already. You have to be able to work with people, communicate, and convey complex ideas in non-complex ways. If you are honest with yourself, and you love people, then you should really, really consider Prime.
Prime is a very flexible, non-accredited school. What that means: No, you can't write this off on your taxes. Yes, they change curriculum constantly to reflect the class, the market, and the situation. Some projects are more challenging that others, but all are useful, especially if you are of the mindset that learning is the goal.
Prime doesn't end when you graduate. The people and relationships you've built will still be there. So will access to the building and the staff. The community manager helps you navigate the job search, offers, and the psycologist will help with worries and anxieties. I graduated on January 15th, and while certainly not the majority of people in my cohort do yet, I already have a job offer. The staff asserts that about 50% of a cohort will have a job after 6 weeks.
Some people like code.
if (code && attitude && people) {
attendPrime();
}
Ooh, that was nerdy.
Prime Academy is a robust, life-changing educational program run by an extraordinary staff. I could make no higher recommendation for anyone looking to get into software development. Everything from class structure to the facility seems to be engineered to promote growth and learning. You will be surrounded by people who are not only invested in their education but are passionate learners as well.
As a student at Prime, you will be given many opportunities to improve your skills....
Prime Academy is a robust, life-changing educational program run by an extraordinary staff. I could make no higher recommendation for anyone looking to get into software development. Everything from class structure to the facility seems to be engineered to promote growth and learning. You will be surrounded by people who are not only invested in their education but are passionate learners as well.
As a student at Prime, you will be given many opportunities to improve your skills. Everyone, no matter their age or experience, will be challenged. Code isn't the only growth point at Prime. Software development is a social job, more so with each passing year. Your cohort will tackle difficult problems that will teach you how to clearly and effectively communicate with your partners. In addition, each week your cohort will attend a Toastmasters meeting to work on public speaking skills.
You don't need to worry about the job hunt post-graduation. After receiving your diploma (and more importantly, your Prime sweater) you will be provided with a fantastic support network comprised of past graduates and Prime staff. Combine that with the business communication practice provided at Prime and finding a job will be a piece of cake.
I have spoken with many of the graduates that Prime put out and not one of them regrets their choice to attend. The statistics speak for themselves, Prime is a great program that I'm sure will continue to grow and improve. If you still aren't totally convined, go attend an open house. Everyone there will be more than happy to answer any questions or concerns that you might have.
The good/great: If you are a looking to jump start your development career and want an alternative to online learning or a 2 year program, this program is a great way to do that. You will meet amazing people and develop career connections that last a lifetime. Also, you will be able to practice project work, for real client projects, in a team setting, which is invaluable. You will be provided with mentors, from the community and they are also wonderful and add to th...
The good/great: If you are a looking to jump start your development career and want an alternative to online learning or a 2 year program, this program is a great way to do that. You will meet amazing people and develop career connections that last a lifetime. Also, you will be able to practice project work, for real client projects, in a team setting, which is invaluable. You will be provided with mentors, from the community and they are also wonderful and add to the experience.
The bad: The program is really rough around the edges in some aspects, specifically curriculum-wise. Instructors have a lot of experience but haven't quite figured out the best way to align that to student learning, which comes at the expense of the students. Additionally, the first 6 weeks is all based on code academy courses, and students would be better served by having Prime come up with their own 6 week pre-load, especially for the price students pay to attend.
I have to start off by saying I had a great time and met a lot of really smart driven folks at Prime. Some members of the staff are indeed inspiring and in my experience everyone was respectful and kind.
I agree with many of the positive reviews above but I need to make sure some of the negitives are pointed out as well.
The tech stack we were taught was out of date and we were taught short cuts which led to bad practices being followed. Learning a modern framework or...
I have to start off by saying I had a great time and met a lot of really smart driven folks at Prime. Some members of the staff are indeed inspiring and in my experience everyone was respectful and kind.
I agree with many of the positive reviews above but I need to make sure some of the negitives are pointed out as well.
The tech stack we were taught was out of date and we were taught short cuts which led to bad practices being followed. Learning a modern framework or library like React, Angular2+, or Vue would have helped career prospects a lot more. Early in our cohort we were told we would learn Test Driven Development but that was dropped without explaination. We were taught AngularJS a lazy way that was 2 years out of date and would not minify (solution: http://frontendcollisionblog.com/javascript/angularjs/2015/03/31/something-no-one-tells-you-about-minifying-angularjs-controllers-until-its-too-late.html).
Our instructors were great but we had one leave 4ish weeks into the 2nd Tier without explaination. She had gotten a new job which the class I believe was supportive of but still it was unprofessional to just leave and also have no acknowledgement at all from the administration. I think we missed out on about a week of learning while this was going on.
My cohort had some issues with some members. One member in particular made allegations of sexism against many members, faked her solo project, made her group project-mates miserable, and still graduated making it the whole 20 weeks. We also had 3 other cohortmates that went back a cohort.
I'm torn on Job Assistance. I definitely learned a lot of skills that were beneficial but career days were lackluster, and the 'saturation attack' application strategy in my experience has not worked. Connections and knowing people are the most important things you can do. The salary expectations that were preached for entry level positions were a bit high. I had no programming experience prior to Prime and knowing what I know now my strategy out the gate should have been 'get any job that will take me' and not 'I have skills I should be picky and expect money.' Knowing that would have saved me a few weeks of my hunt.
Despite this I need to say again I really enjoyed my time at Prime. The future of Prime seems a little murky though. There has been a lot of turnover in the staff and competition with the University of Minnesota will prove difficult. I would say only go if you ready to grind hard through the program and keep grinding during the job hunt. The hunt might last a while.
A good friend of mine, with a similar degree and job status, enrolled in Prime's program. He disappeared for a several weeks, and emerged a happier, fulfilled, and importantly, employed as front-end developer.
Dissatisfied with my life as a pre-press operator with a degree in multimedia design that went nowhere, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my friend. I hated my current job so much, despite enjoying the people I worked with. Eager for change, I compl...
A good friend of mine, with a similar degree and job status, enrolled in Prime's program. He disappeared for a several weeks, and emerged a happier, fulfilled, and importantly, employed as front-end developer.
Dissatisfied with my life as a pre-press operator with a degree in multimedia design that went nowhere, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my friend. I hated my current job so much, despite enjoying the people I worked with. Eager for change, I completed the application and resume challenge pretty easily considering HTML and CSS were part of my multimedia background. Functional programming however, a skill almost every designer should have, was definitely lacking. To my surprise I heard back quickly and was interviewed and later accepted into the program.
The first few weeks were online code courses, which I would be lying if I said I didn't struggle through. I spent nearly 12 hours a week fumbling thru the labyrinths of loops and the variable vallies, juggling my hated job and my new passion. What eased my stress was the weekly video meetings with my group (cohort) and instructors. You could ask them anything. I even went into the building early and sat down with one of the instructors who took the time to slowly step me thru a problem my dumb brain couldn't quite get. It was at that moment I knew the faculty actually cared about my success, and pushed me to achieve it.
Classroom began, 6 weeks of intense lecture. I quit my job to do this. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, with weekend assignments. I was not the top of the class by any means. I wasn't the middle of the class at any means. But I didn't give up. In 6 weeks I had a deeper understanding of HTML, CSS, Javascript, AngularJS, Express, Mongo, SQL, Node.js and SQL. The next 6 weeks I spent developing a solo project and working with a team in a group project to reinforce and explore the ideas I learned during lecture. There were road bumps for sure. But I developed one of the most important skills a Primer can get: I LEARNED HOW TO LEARN CODE. Suddenly that while loop didn't seem so scary. New library? Let me google the docs, look at some examples, write up a smaller scaled verison of what I'm trying to do on codepen or jsfiddle, then try it on my own.
And that's really the best thing I got out of Prime, not to discount my new friendships, the support from the staff, or the sweet job I landed 2 weeks after graduating. Prime taught me how to put that imposter I thought I was away, and understand functional programming at a deeper level. A level they gave me the tools to explore on my own.
It was the best, hardest, most frustrating yet most rewarding thing I've ever done for myself. In 18 weeks I was more marketable to employers than after 7 years of college (art school, I am no doctor, remember how I said 'not even middle of the class?'). The job market for young devs if competetive for sure, but it's definitely not lacking in careers. Suddenly I had many other options other than "pre-press operator."
If you're hear to ask "Should I go to Prime?" I'd answer back with a question:
"Do you want to change your life?"
How much does Prime Digital Academy cost?
Prime Digital Academy costs around $17,000. On the lower end, some Prime Digital Academy courses like Full Stack Engineering - Full Time cost $15,500.
What courses does Prime Digital Academy teach?
Prime Digital Academy offers courses like Full Stack Engineering - Full Time, Full Stack Engineering - Part-Time, User Experience Design.
Where does Prime Digital Academy have campuses?
Prime Digital Academy has in-person campuses in Minneapolis. Prime Digital Academy also has a remote classroom so students can learn online.
Is Prime Digital Academy worth it?
Prime Digital Academy hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 121 Prime Digital Academy alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Prime Digital Academy on Course Report - you should start there!
Is Prime Digital Academy legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 121 Prime Digital Academy alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Prime Digital Academy and rate their overall experience a 4.88 out of 5.
Does Prime Digital Academy offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Prime Digital Academy offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Prime Digital Academy reviews?
You can read 121 reviews of Prime Digital Academy on Course Report! Prime Digital Academy alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Prime Digital Academy and rate their overall experience a 4.88 out of 5.
Is Prime Digital Academy accredited?
Prime Digital Academy is licensed as a private career school with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education pursuant to Minnesota Statutes.
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