Pursuit

I started as 5.1 FSW Fellow in October 2018. Previous to Pursuit, I had very little experience with coding. I had to learn Javascript from scratch and often it felt a little overwhelming at the beginning. I would say instructors provided good lessons on key concepts and intricacy of JS well to someone who just started learning. It also helped the fact that instructors were also from bootcamp graduates who shared their own experience and strategy for studying with students. It does require students to be pro-active in seeking help and degree of self-learning outside of class instruction. 

Program is not an easy journey for sure. You will have to sacrifice your social life, financial freedom and any other distractions to do well in this program as materials that you will learn will sound very foreign to you at first and takes a lot of effort to understand. I saw some students failing to keep up but they were usually the ones who failed to seek resources for help or failed to keep themselves motivated to code beyond assignments. You won't do well unless you develop genuine passion for coding and creating. 

If someone asks me if I would ever go through Pursuit again to get my education, then my answer is yes. Not only I built skills necessary to start a career in tech, but I also met great people who really provided sense of community and support, including fellows, instructors, and outside mentors.

Disclaimer: I am writing this as a former applicant that made it to the final round of inteviews but was ultimately not accepted for this program, so this review is about the admissions process I experienced. I also find it highly suspect that this school changed their name from "Access Code" to Pursuit shortly after another reputable school started a more credible program that also has "Access" in its name.

After a submitting my application online, I was invited for an in-person interview and logic and math evaluation at C4Q's campus in LIC, Queens. Class is located in a relatively isolated part of the city full of renovated warehouses, one of which C4Q also calls home. The closest train station is about a 10-15 min walk away, which was pretty uncomfortable to do in business casual clothes in 90 degree weather. Nevertheless, after getting lost a few times I eventually made it. I waited with a large group that was split into 2, the first half taking the written logic + math examination while the others were interviewed and given an oral/spoken logic test that were encouraged to "talk through" with our interviewers.

Witnessing the herd of mass interviews and logic tests occurring at several tables dispersed neatly in symmetrical rows along a packed room was probably the most dystopian thing I've seen in awhile. I don't think interviews could get more impersonal than that. Either way, I made it through to the third and "final" round in which we were given a 2-day crash course in Javascript led by TAs who were program alumni.

My TA's body language screamed that he did not want to be there, almost as his being there was part of a compulsory obligation upon completing the program. Half the time he wasn't even in the classroom and was out talking to his friends in the hallway, eating snacks or both. When he was in the classroom, a majority of the time he was on his phone texting or scrolling through facebook or instagram and was more or less mentally checked-out unless it came time for us to do our team projects in which we were split into groups of two. TAs evaluate us on our "teamwork", so therefore they need to pay attention to how we perform in groups. Other than that, he wasn't terribly involved. Other tables' TAs took an active part in the lecture and were much friendlier, helpful and attentive. During one of the teamwork modules, when he stopped by to check in on our progress and I had a question about a bit of code I was confused about he had the audacity to say "Are you asking me a question?" Yikes. Afterwards, during evaluations, I was told that I needed to ask more questions which hardly seemed fair. I did ask the instructor a few questions during lecture, however our TA wasn't there to take this into account since he wasn't even in the classroom. 

C4Q Access Code is specifically geared towards minority, underrepresented and immigrant students within the low-income bracket. Because of this, there is no upfront cost or tuition until you complete the program and are offered a high-paying job at the rate of $60000 or more (the average salary for graduates is $85000).Upon completion and hiring, you're obligated to pay 12% of your salary for THREE YEARS. That is 3x longer and more money than any other coding bootcamp. They boast that the average salary for program alumni after hiring is $85000, of which 12% is $10200. That amount for three years is about $30600 total. 

$30600 total for about $15000 of comparable training at a different school. Think about that. For a program that caters exclusively to the lower-income demographic while expecting enrollees to quit their full-time jobs to commit a 10-month full-time program without any other financial assistance, this seems almost predatory. Other schools often also have no upfront cost with scholarships/financing plans for low-income or underrepresented students and probably an even more established, robust alumni network which leads to better job search support.These programs also have less of a time commitment and if they do require a portion of income after program completion with no upfront tuition, it is generally 10% for one year as opposed to three.

C4Q's mission is noble, and I certainly wish them the most success and thank them for the opportunity to interview for their program. However, that being said, there is certainly some room for improvement with their admissions process which I hope the program will take into consideration-

1.) Better program management is sorely needed with admissions. It's great that C4Q has an open policy for diversity and inclusion and I commend them for taking an active stance on closing the race and gender gap in tech. However, there's only so many people you can accept (and also physically have within the walls of your  campus during interviews!) The fact that they were still interviewing more people for round one while our group had already made it to round two only added insult to injury. This also made things feel crowded and somewhat chaotic as there was plenty of confusion between groups of applicants. It almost seems as though they extended the application deadline and brought so many people in for interviews *just* so they could make the 10% admissions rate. 

2.) TA training and evaluation should be on-par with applicant evaluation. Perhaps at the end of the second and final Javascript test, there should be a prompt for applicants to evaulate their TA's performance and helpfulness in comparison to other tables' TAs. I would have certainly had some comments, even if this section would have been optional. Perhaps TAs should be alumni who actually *want* to be instructors, and a TA position could be something like an apprenticeship before becoming a program lecturer. This could certainly weed out unmotivated TAs like the one my group had and also lead to a more positive overall experience for all parties involved.

3.) Be transparent about overall program costs and take into consideration the loss of income students will face should they choose to enroll. If other potential applicants actually looked at the bigger overall picture and total costs many would think twice. Transparency in post-completion hiring statistics and how funding is used would also be appreciated. 

Overall, it wasn't too terrible of an experience and I recommend anyone considering applying to this program to go for it but with ample research. I hope that with my feedback, the application and interview process will improve for future applicants.

My experience was overall a very pleasant one at Pursuit. From the application process to the interview and all the way through covid and finally through to post-graduation, I've always felt that I've had the support that I needed from staff and instructors. I was working full time while going to Pursuit nights and weekends, and while this was probably one of the most challenging times in my career, I always had help and guidance from the program manager and the class instructor when I wasn't doing as well as I had liked. They provided me with the resources and care I needed to get ahead and make things work for myself. It's really up to you how far you want to take this. I decided to take it all the way. In the end, I was the first to land a job in my class, and right before graduating too, which is nice, but I couldn't have done it without the entirety of the Pursuit staff. I am ever-grateful to them for all of the support and encouragement along the way.

This program was great for me! I learned enough about iOS to land an apprentice position. Along with this, the program helped me prepare for interviews by giving me resume and cover letter assistance, mock interviews, and DSA practice. That being said, they can only bring you so far. If you are expecting them to hand you a job (which they get as close as possible to doing with their company partnerships) then you will have a hard time getting out of your own way. If you are committed to doing your best, remembering that you are surrounded by people that want you to succeed, then you increase your chances of finding a job. If you are of the mindset that you deserve things that you have not put effort into, I suggest you look into another route to success.

There are much better bootcamps. Your time could be spent gaining a paycheck or going to a real school. This training program puts you in a room and tells you to google things to make your code work.

Yes, people have success with this bootcamp but there are many problems from leadership to organization to curriculum all the way down to the smallest details (disorganized off-hour tutoring, forcing the fellows to take out the trash, ect.)

The only saving grace are the students who are in the trenches with you and the instructors. Those instructors and students that are there for all the right reasons are good people. The rest of the program really isn't worth it. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! 

1. Lack of Certification or Acknowledgment
    
   • The reviewer states that after completing the program, they received no formal documentation recognizing their skills or accomplishments.
2.  
   • This is particularly concerning given the promises often made by career-training programs, especially those linked to income share agreements or job placement support.
3.  
4. Poor Capstone Project Experience
   • Final project (“end of year demo”) is framed as underwhelming and “flawed,” which points to inadequate support or structure for capstone outcomes.
5. High Turnover & Toxic Management Culture
    
   • Qualified staff were let go for speaking out.
6.  
   • Accusations of management being fake or dishonest while creating an exploitative environment.
7.  
8. False Marketing & Exploitation of Minorities
    
   • The strongest accusation: that Pursuit presents itself as a philanthropic opportunity primarily to underrepresented communities, while allegedly operating with exploitative practices.
9.  
   • Use of words like “slave” and “gullible” underscores feelings of betrayal and manipulation.
10.  
11. Brand Inconsistency & Lack of Direction
     
    • The company has allegedly rebranded multiple times, possibly to evade accountability or refresh its image.
12.  
    • Claimed lack of strategic vision or coherent leadership.
13.  
14. Failure to be Recognized as a Legitimate Institution
    • Platforms and services (Amazon, Spotify, Coursera, etc.) don’t always recognize Pursuit as an educational institution, making it hard to access benefits typically granted to students.

1. They have continually changed the terms of their ISA for students and alumni, according to how much debt they're in to their investors. The contract would hardly hold up in court but they use shady means to pursue students who are not paying, including harassing other students they are friends with.
2. They're not an accredited educational institution and encourage students to use certain language on their resumes to avoid the tax burden of being such. Students are told to list themselves as employees and call themselves "fellows". An actual fellowship involves being paid, whereas at Pursuit you give a portion of your pre-tax income to the school.
3.  When Amazon announced HQ2, Pursuit dropped any pretense of supporting affordable housing at the proposed office site, and went so hard in support of the new headquarters that they joined in signing an open letter, published by the NY Times, begging Bezos to come back.
4. So detached from the BIPOC community they claim to serve that they held graduation ceremonies on the 1 year anniversary of the Pulse shooting, which killed many Latine people. 
5. When they received a 2 million dollar boost from Google last year, they announced they were prioritizing growth and "financial literacy" about their ISA -- not helping students and alumni with better services. Many of their students are very poor or even homeless. 
6. "Helpful" alumni services are only available during work hours (9-5, weekdays). Pursuit treated it as ridiculous to suggest that they offer alumni services before/after common work hours, or on weekends, even though those services are ostensibly for people with tech jobs that are notorious for demanding overtime.
7. Next to no assistance finding a job afterward. They talk up giving students an education from scratch, but they only care about getting jobs for the most likely students, aka white men with tech degrees, and whoever else they feel would make for good inspiration porn.

• not a safe space--they allow sexist people to enter and no training on social awareness or sexual harassment 
• the organization only sees students as money, they do not help previous students
• staff is not diverse
• staff is extremely understaffed so they do not care about you and the 4 years of career advancement after graduating is a disappointment because there is none! 
• when students cheat they lie to other companies about their capabilties
• the staff ignores students who are sexist or racist because they do not care or know how to handle it
• at the end of the job hunting process you are by yourself

all the "good" reviews are asked/begged from staff to students

please go to a better boot camp this is not worth your money. pursuit is not a real bootcamp, there is no license or cerfication at the end. 

This experience was pretty humiliating, after losing relationships, money, sleep, other opportunities on a promise, you are mostly ignored if you are not a top performer from the onset. Staff will use you at will to continue to sell the organization to vulnerable people, all the while being super secretive about next steps in your existing relationship with the organization. 

It's a super hostile environment for no good reason and can get unbearably uncomfortable. I have second thoughts and regrets and I do feel like they pulled a big one over on me and my classmates.

Someone on here or yelp mentioned the google forms. GOSH the google forms the bane of a pursuit students enrollment. Oh how they use google forms to decieve partners and fellows!

Honestly, it was the most exhausting 10 months of my life. Quality of education varies between nights and weekends vs day time students. Students confronted staff about this over and over and we were basically shrugged off. The ISA is a sham. If you already have student loans from pursuing a college degree or have any other significant loan payments or debt already attached to your name - don't come here! Their agreement is incredibly predatory and immoral. They claim to want to help those from marginalized communites rise themselves up and out of poverty - but not before getting their cut to pay off their debt to their investors. They're relying on applicants to overlook the fact that they want 12% of your annual salary AFTER taxes. So they want a percentage of your income that you don't actually take home. It's a huge hit to your wallet and there is no bootcamp on EARTH that is this much money. It really isn't worth it. Teach yourself, go to meetups for networking, you don't need Pursuit. They're scam artists masquerading as a non-profit.

Beware of the income share agreement, they expect to take 12% of your salary of you graduate and get a job making 60k. For the kind of instruction that they give and resources they provide you can go to a better program and pay less. Lots of free resources that you can use to learn yourself as well out there, which they use instead of creating their own. Very disorganized instruction wise. Too long of a program and nights and weekends students get less instruction yet expected to pay the same. No way to evaluate the program before you commit as well. No job guarantee and if you get a job thru a different referral they will still expect you to pay them. They made it so that they are not held accountable for anything. It’s not a good deal if you expect to put in the work to get a good job after you graduate. Some teachers are recent grads themselves. Unequal opportunities as well for students. Does feel like they want to foster a love of tech in students they highlight the amazing jobs u can get and everyone seems obsessed by that. Don’t seem to care about the students and about inclusivity, not good vibes at all. 

There are better options. Don't even consider it if you're looking to do the night and weekends program. It's a difference of 25 vs. 40 hours per week, and you're expected to keep up with curriculum that's intended for the 40 hour week. The night and weekend cohorts get 400+ less hours of instruction (about 35% less instruction) and they are still expected to pay the same amount back. This utterly doesn't make any sense, considering that the resources and attention that the daytime students get is clearly superior.

Previous reviews mention this. Without scratching the surface, the concept of Pay It Forward seems like a great idea. But when you read the fine print, it's just deferred tuition and they avoid talking about it as such. Ethically, to target people from marginalized groups who seek a financial stable life in such a way is not following to the mission statement. If things go accordingly for fellows (a $60,000+ job shortly after graduation), this ends up being an incredibly expensive program, when other programs offer more affordable options. They need to put a tuition cap, and restructure the system, because their present agreement has a maximum $36,000 a year tuition (if the student makes at least $300,000...no one is going to make that). It seems like they are milking students for what they got just to fulfill requirements of a hefty loan.

The cons vastly outweigh the pros. The nights and weekends students didn't get access to the same opportunities as daytime students. A lot of the staff and program guidelines were just outright abusive. The truly good-hearted staff members left before the cycle ended and even before they finished one year of employment there. That's how toxic this place is. The students who get jobs fast are the ones who already had programming knowledge before coming here and some were recruited internally by volunteers. 

They didn't provided resources that were promised. Office hours were scheduled, but were often cancelled. Apparently, one student needing help is not enough to justify them calling in a volunteer from the tech community. Staff were afraid students would flake. That's not right. You can't deny help to students seeking it. On top of that, they kept encouraging people to sign up because it's a good networking opportunity.

There's little help post grad that's actually useful. You're more likely to find a job posting with a simple Google alert than by relying on this school's partnerships.

They told a white lie about the pay-it-forward tuition. For my class, it was explained as being inspired by a past student's donation of his first chec because he was so grateful for the program. In reality, the deferred tuition is really helping the school pay back investors and other loans. WTF. Some students actually take jobs with a low salary on purpose just so they don't have to pay back the school.

The most shocking incident of abuse happened at graduation. Students who did not finish all requirements were allowed to continue until they completed the program. These students were also invited to graduation and allowed to walk the stage. They were forced to accept blank certificates. The students had no idea this would happen. Some people had families in attendance. Imagine having to explain this to your loved ones. The cermony's program already listed these students with a note saying they were on track to graduate. This humiliation was not necessary. This was all to fill seats.