The Tech Academy Reviews
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Ryan H.
Live Project
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After partaking in the live project i was able to really strengthen my HTML and CSS skills there were a few new things that i learned as well. But the biggest benefit was gaining a huge respect for JavaScript and a strong desire to learn more. Also working on a scrum team was amazing and it help because its a reminder that your not alone. Everyone putting their minds together and creating something so interactive and cool filled me with pride.
Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Ryan, thank you for your review and your success on the Live Project! I have to say, having students do the Live Project makes things much easier when it comes time to get going on the job search. And I was so happy to hear earlier this week that you landed a software job! Congratulations, and here's to a successful career! -
Sam
My First Class At The Tech Academy
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The course on computer basics, has open my eyes. At first, I though it was overwhelming. As my course progresses I learnt more about the front and back end of a computer. This is a career choice, I won't give up. It's not complicated like people claims to be. Knowing what's behind the scene of any software, application or hardware is rewarding on my work challenges a head. I really thanks Jesse, one of the instructors for his wonderful help through this course.Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Sam, I'm so glad that you got so much out of our computer basics course! The Tech Academy designed that course to take the confusion out of the complicated and intimidating technical nomenclature and to make things simple. Thank you so much for the review, and keep up the good progress throughout the rest of the program! -
Rachel
JavaScript Course
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I learned about data types in JavaScript, if statements, while loops, arrays, functions and how jQuery is a library of functions that can be used in adding already programmed features. I also learned that using HTML for content, CSS for styling, and JavaScript for more features and functionality, work well for making the front end of websites.
I had learned a little bit of JavaScript before this course and this course really seemed to cement those concepts and I felt more comfortable with JavaScript after this course. Also, there was an opportunity to work on debugging skills.
Learning JavaScript is not only good for developing a nice front end for a website but with it also being an object oriented language really lays the foundation for learning other object oriented languages.Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 30, 2016
Thanks for the review Rachel! I know how important learning more JavaScript was for you because you're such a creative personality. I can't wait to see more of your awesome projects! -
LG
Great Experience Working On Live Project
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I have gained a lot of experience from my live project. I have modified most of the webpages in the Tech Academy’s website to be more attractive and functional using JavaScript, PHP, Bootstrap and CSS methods in HTML. Solving issues with xamp port setting by myself was an awesome experience. I have got experience with both group project environment and working independently to find solutions. Continuously monitoring our progress in shared work sheet and using version control in GitHub improved our overall productivity. The experience I have gained through the live project will be very beneficial in my future career as a software developer. Even though I am looking forward to a career concentrating in data analysis sector, the experience I acquired from the website development and Live Project overall is directly applicable to any field related to a programming career.
Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Thank you so much for your review! I'm so glad that you were able to get out of the Live Project what we intended that everyone gets: real-world experience. This is definitely a confidence-booster. I'm sure that this experience will assist you in your future career! -
Tom Toy
How the Tech Academy helped me land a new job
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To be competitive as a Senior Sales or Account person you need to distinguish yourself from all the other Sales people. I decided to take the Tech Academy training to do just that. In my 30 years in this business it was always apparent that Software Sales People lacked the background to effectively communicate with Software Engineers. If you just take orders and don't really sell anything your technical acumen does not matter. If you really have to execute a sales process to win business you need to establish credibility and rapport with Software Developers. You can have technical people help you but to find and initiate new business you need to engage on their level. I've managed to do this for years but as this business evolved my knowledge is dated, and it showed.
I have completed all the courses up through Java Script and found them to be helpful in many ways. First of all I always thought I knew the basics of the business quite well. Wrong. I maybe had 50% of the basics info and quickly discovered that I really lacked fundamental knowledge and so many things have changed. I was able to boost my knowledge in this area to 99%. This and all the subsequent courses have increased my confidence and it really paid off.My job category is that of a Senior person and interviews for jobs like this go on for months. I may not have ever applied for a Sales Engineering job without the coursework I have under my belt. I did apply for one with the help of Danny and Michael. Part of the interview process was a presentation in front of the VP. Michael and Danny made a suggestion about standing up and using a laser pointer and it worked so well that after 10 min they had seen enough and put me through the rest of the process. Thanks to the Tech Academy coursework and Michael and Danny's idea I will be starting my new job on Monday the 11th.
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Jason C
Working On A Live Project
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I served both as a team member and a scrum master during my live project experience, and gained a multitude of valuable team development work perspectives to describe to prospective employers during my job search. I learned how to use Bootstrap and MVC for web development – both skills which have impressed the recruiters to whom I have spoken – and gained extra practice reading and writing in C#. This will help me as I complete the remainder of my C# course at the Tech Academy.
To my credit, I was able to solve a number of challenging issues, especially during my second live project. I was happy to be able to contribute by, among other things, fixing the scroll bar issue on the Bewander home page, improving the home page and review creation pages' formats, and cosmetically brushing up the whole site.
Overall, I am glad to be able to use this teamwork experience, both in my coding work and on my resume, going forward.
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Archana M
The live project helped me get hired!
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I joined The Tech Academy in November 2015 aiming to switch my career to software development from a background in Electrical Engineering and many long years of voluntary work. I had sensed that the growing tech community in the city would be a great opportunity to be hired as a Software Developer. I had been checking out several options and ultimately decided to join Tech Academy because of the curriculum that covered web development using Microsoft Technologies. The self-paced learning environment was another selling point. Although I was aware of some aspects of software development, it was during the bootcamp training that I got to learn and understand a lot more. I believe I gained a solid foundation on the basics as a result of my training at The Tech Academy.
The way the course is designed was of great benefit to me as it helped me to get a firm grip on programming basics starting with terms and abbreviations and then moving on to more complex topics such as databases, data structures, Object Oriented Programming concepts and layered architecture. The video tutorials, starting from WordPress and version control to actual full-stack development using .NET, the follow-along exercises and the short drills at the end of each topic also were very helpful.
The job placement course with the short videos on etiquette and soft skills, resume and cover letter preparation and mock-interview drills helped me to be interview-ready.
Working on live projects was very useful for me, as it prepared me to get a foretaste of what to expect in the real world of programming. In addition to practice in solving technical challenges, I experienced how it would be to work in a team, collaborate, communicate status, and complete tasks in a deadline-driven environment. In fact, in my job interview the focus was on the live project and my contribution in it which eventually helped me get hired!
I want to express my gratitude to the team of instructors at Tech Academy who helped me throughout the course and for encouraging me to never give up but keep on persevering. The journey was long and hard but it was worth the whole time. My experience here taught me a lot that has, I believe, helped me not only secure my first programming job, but will also help in building a career in software development.
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Bill S
I have accepted a job offer as a web developer for one of Portland's largest employers
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I had been working in the semiconductor industry for most of a decade when I learned about The Tech Academy. I had known about code schools for a couple of years and was intrigued by the idea, but I didn't know that they had begun opening inPortland. I had become dissatisfied with my career and I have always enjoyed working with computers, so after researching some of the local schools I chose to quit my job and enroll in The Tech Academy. I chose The Tech Academy because of its focus on the .NET framework and the flexibility of its schedule.
The Tech Academy's curriculum is very well thought out because it does not assume a student has a background in computer science or programming. Although a lot of the Computer Basics Course was a review for me, it was a useful review that I needed. Each course in the program builds on what a student has already learned. Along with all the computer languages and database work, students also learn the basics of project management as well as the skills they need to write a quality resume and stand out during a job interview.
All of the instructors I met were friendly and wanted me to succeed. If I asked a question they did not know the answer to, they admitted it instead of telling me something that was wrong. They also encourage students to attend Meetups so we can meet people that are working in the industry and learn about all of the different kinds of work in which we can get involved.
I have accepted a job offer as a web developer for one of Portland's largest employers and it was only possible with the skills I learned at The Tech Academy. For the first time in a while, I feel positive about my future. Thank you.
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Dennis Kravets
Completing this program has landed me a job with a well-known company
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The Tech Academy has been one of the best choices that I could have made for furthering my education. Going through multiple jobs in multiple fields really put a perspective on what I wanted to do for a career and I know It was with coding and software developing. With The Tech Academy I was able to accomplish this in a faster, more cost effective way without the extra classes that didn't relate to my studies! I was able to go through the courses at my own fast pace and really get a true understanding for the fundamentals. Each course that you go through gives incorporates the past ones so you don't forget and you see real life applications of using it. Completing this program has landed me a job with a well known company making an awesome salary! It even gave me the knowledge to start my own business on the side to help other business owners with their websites! Many thanks to The Tech Academy for doing what they do with highly qualified instructors that help you along every step of the way.
Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Wow! I would say this is the quintessential success coming from one of the graduates of the Tech Academy. Thank you so much for sharing your win, and very well done on your part on making things go right to be in the career you want. -
Chris Carter
It was fun!
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Twelve weeks ago, I began my studies at The Tech Academyand next week I begin an intellectually challenging job, developing software for one of the biggest names in I.T.!
Software development is a great field to be a part of: it is creative, intellectually rich, full of dynamic people, and in high demand. Plus it's fun! Changing careers has been an exciting process, and I can now say that my training at The Tech Academy has clearly given me the foundation I need to be successful.
The three greatest merits of The Tech Academy are the Job Placement resources, the Live Project experience, and the selfpaced structure. When I refer to Job Placement resources, I don't mean that The Tech Academy sets you up with prospective employers—which will be a disappointment to some prospective students. But the Academy brings in speakers each week, which introduced me to the recruiter who worked so amazingly to place me. I also got great advice in the Job Placement course, which gave me a terrific looking resume and got me in the right forums. Most importantly, the weekly technical Round Tables prepared me specifically for my interview, which was quite technical.
The Live Project gave me the crucial experience I could point to, using the very technologies that are most in-demand. That, of course, is by its design, because the projects are real contracts from the I .T. marketplace. And unlike an internship, where one could potentially be placed in a niche doing entry-level tasks, I worked on the full functional breadth of a large website.
The selfpaced structure of The Tech Academy is its great two-edged sword. It allowed me to start immediately, and to devote myself fully to progressing. In the timeframe that I would be waiting to start the next course at another bootcamp, I was able to complete the Tech Academy curriculum and move on to putting my skills to work.
The self-pacing also allowed me to take sidetrips for a few minutesor a few daysto more fully understand various concepts that I was introduced to in the courses. I would not have passed my technical interview if I had not done this. Although we covered the concept early on, I revisited database normalization repeatedly throughout my training before I really understood it. I spent an extra hour studying garbage collection in .NET, and I spent two days understanding delegates, event handling and the associated Observer Pattern. I was quizzed on all of these topics, so that was certainly time well spent!
To make the curriculum at The Tech Academy work, though, students have to be selfmotivated to a great degree. You will get out what you put in. One of the beautiful things about a self-paced program is that it accommodates competing priorities in peoples' lives—but it is also possible to lose momentum. So you have to maintain the energy. You also have the responsibility for really learning the material. The Tech Academy curriculum is like a freeway—it will get you across the country, but if you just race across the freeway as fast as you can, you haven't seen the country.
You have to pull over at the historical markers and read the plaques. It certainly worked for me, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at The Tech Academy for all their hard work and their assistance! It was a lot of work, and a lot of fun.
Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Chris, thank you so much for your review! I have to say, you were the picture-perfect student and example here at the Tech Academy! Very well done on your studiousness, and on all of the hard work and effort you put into making this go right. And thank you for sharing your successful tips at one of our Technical Interview practice sessions. Keep up the good work, and we'd love to have you back here again for a Friday Tech Talk! -
Adam
Just finished C# Course
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Everything up to this point at The Tech Academy has prepared me for this language. The progression of the previous courses gave me a better understanding of the C# and .Net programming. It's a functional style program easy to wrap your head around and incredibly useful. With gaining the knowledge of C# basics in the beginning; identifiers, keywords, literals, how to declare variables, and constants. To the program structure of main methods, namespaces, statements and operators the language gave me the confidence to code. After the completion of this course and with a greater understanding of languages, I can now say that I have the knowledge that most languages have the same platform but different syntax and having that understanding for me is amazing. To think, a few months ago I had never written any code. I've since completed the full boot camp and now am working in tech. -Adam -
J
I now am a nerd
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Prior to The Tech Academy, I could operate a computer alright. Type documents, send emails, use Facebook, etc. I never considered myself a nerd and when I heard programmers talking I wanted to fall asleep.
But I was attracted to learning coding because I thought I could do well at it and it pays well. I tried some self-training and crashed and burned. The data was way over my head and I didn't know what to study.
My friend told me about boot camps and I researched a few. I chose The Tech Academy for two reasons: 1. Their staff was friendly, helpful and nice and 2. Their curriculum looked more thorough than other schools.
Four months later, I can now code in seven languages and I have my highest ever paying job.
The program was laid out in a great sequence so nothing was too over my head but at the same time it was challenging. The Instructors and job placement staff were amazing and I couldn't have finished without them.
I'm now working in tech and totally couldn't have done it without these guys. Anyways, that's my story - hope it helps
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Shipra
Excellent Program
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I was introduced to programming 4 years ago when I was studying Business Analysis. Although coding was only a small part of the curriculum, I ended up enjoying it the most. Since then I learned some programming on my own, during my free time until last year when I decided that I wanted to take it up full time and become a software developer. As a result, I enrolled at The Tech Academy.
The courses at The Tech Academy are structured in a way that allows students to build their technical skills from the ground up by starting with computer science fundamentals. I never felt like there were concepts or terminology that I was required to learn about prior to the program, because they were all introduced throughout the courses and explained in a way that was easy for a beginner like myself to understand. The course material covers software development in detail, but also maps out the bigger picture. As you progress through the curriculum, you cultivate your own knowledge base of software tools, OOP concepts, database technologies and programming languages while also developing a portfolio of work to apply that knowledge.
There were plenty of assignments and projects to work on for each of the courses, plus a live project towards the end of the program, and the instructors at The Tech Academy were available every step of the way. Although I was a remote student, they always responded quickly to any questions I had and the constructive feedback they provided was an immense help. In regards to my career, enrolling at The Tech Academy was the best decision I have made because it gave me the technical skills needed to start a career in software development, but also helped me build my confidence and ultimately land a job as a Junior .NET Developer.
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Dylan
Great Experience!
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I am a recent graduate of The Tech Academy and my experience there was fantastic. I signed up for their software boot camp in December and by April I was hired with no prior experience in I.T. The knowledge I gained from doing the course work at the boot camp was invaluable. It didn’t just teach me about programming, but it taught me how to think like a software developer. One of the best experiences of the boot camp was the live project. This entailed working with a team using Agile/Scrum methodologies to complete a two week long sprint. It was very rewarding being able to put what I learned to use in a real world project.
I studied remotely from Maryland and then came out to Portland to work on the live project and search for a job. I was able to find employment promptly with the help of The Tech Academy’s job placement crew. Overall, my experience at The Tech Academy was great and I would recommend it to anyone trying to break into the field of software development. -
Francis Ortiz
My life is complete
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I am very grateful to the Tech Academy. My life is complete. I was trying to find what I wanted to
do with my life. I always enjoyed learning new things. I get that with programming. There's
always something new. It's just mindblowing. My brain feels alive solving problems and applying
my knowledge. It's just continuous growth in the world of programming. There was a time in my
life when everything seemed familiar from Biology to TV shows. There was no more novelty.
With programming, that sense of newness and curiosity came back. I used to just watch movies
and surf the internet when using a laptop. Now, the possibilities are endless. You can do robotics,
statistics, art, etc.
Before the Tech Academy, I was looking for answers like how does a computer really work. The
answer I got from Google was lacking for me. The Computer Basics Course opened up a whole
new world for me. I think you can't find everything on the internet. Some of it is through people's
experience. Erik Gross clearly has experienced how to teach what programmers should know.
Going through the course will certainly prepare anyone for a career in programming. I would hire
anyone who graduates from the Tech Academy. I know they have put in the time and the repetition
to be able to do the job.
I am really glad I took the leap. I could still be stuck in the past and not be part of the future.
Programming is the future. Maybe we're heading towards a world like Star Wars where most of the
jobs are “Luke Skywalker” jobs, you can either fix machines or program them. To any prospect
who's reading this, be part of the future, enroll at The Tech Academy. Thank you.
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JR
Kick-starting my Career
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I really began getting into programming about a year and half ago by watching
YouTube videos and reading a few beginners books, but within just a few months, I
hit a wall. I had no sense of direction in my studies and was trying to jump so many
steps without learning core programming concepts. I soon realized I needed formal
training if I was going to get where I wanted to go. After doing some research I
found The Tech Academy and its study program was exactly what I needed!
From day 1, The Tech Academy was very helpful with any questions I had and
because the boot camp is self-paced, it allowed me to work as fast as I wanted and to
set my own schedule to fit my needs. Right from the get go, the courses helped clear
up a lot of core concepts that I had been struggling with on my own and
progressively gave me the tools I needed to become a junior developer. After
finishing all of the course work, I can proudly say I have the knowledge I need to
begin my career as software developer and it’s all thanks to The Tech Academy. I
would personally like to thank all of the staff for all of their help and getting me to
this point of my career.
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Rick R
Phenomenal Experience
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I moved to Portland four years ago with the intention of moving into the Tech Industry. I have always been interested in Computer Networking and Mobile Technology so I took a job with Sprint Wireless which I did enjoy. After working in the Mobile industry for a couple of years I wanted to move more into the engineering side of things so I started looking into schooling and Networking Certification. That’s when I came across the Tech Academy Website and submitted for more information. Software development had always intrigued me but I thought it was only for computer science majors.
I had a few email communications with the Academy and set an appointment to meet Erik and tour the facility. On the day I came in I was still thinking networking would be my career of choice. When I met Erik his passion for software came across right away and I was impressed. I then toured the facility and got a really good feeling for The Tech Academy’s vision and goals for their students. Having an understanding of where jobs of the future are going and not wanting to spend two more years in college the Tech Academy became a top consideration.
With the decision made to come to the Academy after another good meeting with Erik and passing the prerequisites I began my basic training for software development. Not having previous coding experience made the experience a little daunting at the beginning but with a great course curriculum and great instructors I was able to get myself rolling through the program. I enjoyed coming to the downtown campus daily and found the Instructors and entire staff very helpful and accommodating.
After a few months on the program I was given the opportunity to become an instructor with the Academy which I accepted happily. I know the best way to learn something is to teach it and I really enjoy being around other students so It was great to become part of the Tech Academy team. This is also a great way to give back for the opportunities I am thankful for. Learning to be a software developer is not easy and does take a lot of work but if you stay focused and work hard you will be successful. The Tech Academy genuinely cares and wants to have successful graduates and is a great place to learn coding. I want to thank everyone at the Academy for the passion and guidance that has got me through the program. You are all awesome!
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Anonymous
I reiterate the mind games
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I had the exact same experience as the other person that spoke of the mind games. However I left a review several months back that appears to have been deleted. So I will repost. You are given a Scientology personality test (first red flag) and also an IQ test. They then call you back and tell you you have a personality flaw but did great on the IQ test, so they are willing to make an exception so long as you sign their waiver. The basics of the waiver are that you cannot ask for a refund of any amount, which actually violates Oregon law, and that you cannot in any way speak negatively about the company or the program on any social media. Just as the other person said, this basically means the school has zero responsibility to the student, and should things not go well, for whatever reason, tough luck. And if you speak negatively about us in any way, expect a lawsuit. I obviously cannot speak to the actual program because I wasn't in any way willing to play their game or sign such a ridiculous contract. No one in their right mind would sign such a document. Caveat emptor. Let's see how long it takes for this review to be deleted.Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
I'm sorry that we did not accept you into our school. There are plenty of other boot camps out there that you may be able to attend.
However, I would like to clarify one thing. You mentioned that we have students sign a waiver that they will never write a negative review. I want to clarify this: we have students take entry testing. One of the purposes of this testing is to locate negative personality types that are hyper-critical and will cause problems on the program. A couple years ago, one of our Registration Directors (Morgan) was using a "loophole" for students that failed entry testing. He created a waiver that protected the school from potentially problematic students and it included in it that these students that failed our entry testing would not attack the school publicly (since it was already clear from their entry testing and our experiences with them that they were highly critical). Very few people ever signed the waiver and our Co-Founder canceled its use over a year ago (I estimate only 10 out of the 300+ people we've signed up ever signed it). None of the reviews on this site are from one of the very few students that signed this waiver. -
Montrell Story
I got hired!
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Attending The Tech Academy was one of the best decisions of my life. I learn a lot about what this industry wants in a candidate. The Tech Academy guided me on the path to understanding these industry-valued-wants. The technologies I studied included but not limited to: CSS, HTML, JavaScript, C#, SQL, Python, People-Skills and Culture. I feel a special attachment to each person that I meet at The Tech Academy and I am happy to be a new addition to this family! The instructors were with me every step of the way during this journey and I am grateful. The Tech Talks, and Meet-ups were very informative, and it gave us perspective. Thanks. Lastly, I am sure that many of us will meet again in the job market and we will talk about the special times we had while learning to code at The Tech Academy!Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Montrell, I would have to say you are a real success! Not only did you excel on the program, you were always a pleasure to have around in the course room! It's not very often you meet someone as personable and sincere as you. I hope things are going well in your new position, and we'd love to see you back here again! -
Sylvia M
My experience
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Wow, where do I start?
I joined the Tech Academy in June 2015, while still working full-time at my job at a start-up company. That start-up was shortly acquired and I was left with two choices: work with the new ownership or commit full-time with my studies. I chose to commit to the bootcamp and I’m glad I did.
Along the way, I learned a lot of the fundamentals of software development that I will carry with me going forward. I can now say that learning a new language or technology is something I am confident in doing within a short period of time. I’m now ready to start my new career as a full-time web developer for a Fortune 1000 company in a small, fast paced team next Monday.
I don’t think this would be possible had I not joined the Tech Academy and was taught the array of front-end/back-end languages, database structures, and the ability to work on a live project team. These are highly valuable technical skills that I feel have prepared me to be competitive in the marketplace.
There is only one coding boot camp in my city and so, I was very grateful to find a solution to study self-paced online while I was also working full-time when I joined.
Thank you Tech Academy, you were the perfect fit! Otherwise, I don’t think my career transition would have happened the way it did without me inconveniently relocating somewhere temporarily just to make the leap into web development. Although my leap took months, every day I did something to progress forward in my skills, projects, and study. It is true that what you put into your studies is what you get out of it. I also had accountability each week from my job placement coach which was very helpful in keeping me on track. He would always make sure I was preparing myself. Whether that meant mock interviewing me the day of my interviews or applying to jobs, I think the overall accountability and consistency is what brought me confidence that it was just a matter of time for the right opportunity to present itself. And that is exactly what happened!
Thank you Tech Academy staff for the support and education! I look forward to a successful career in web development and I am happy to start seeing the fruits of my labor! This is just the beginning. -
HLG
The Curriculum is Amazing!
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I absolutely love the Computer Basics Course. I thought it was very well laid out and easily explained. I already had experience in the field but I actually got a lot out of it. Also, the Javascript Course was awesome! I enjoyed that a lot. Overall, I find that the content of the courses are nice and I like it. The learning experience has proven itself to be amazing! I know once I am finished with the school, I'll be able to professionally code.
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D.M.
Thorough Curriculum
Although I haven't yet completed the program, so far I have really understood what I am studying. Sometimes I can forget what I was reading when I intake too much data at once, but there are coding challenges that have let me practice and thus retain what I have learned.
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Andrew
Exceeded Expectations
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To start things off, I would like to say that the experience here has been phenomenal. The entire staff, the flexible scheduling, course work layout, lessons, and teaching style has been nothing short of great.
I came to this school with zero prior knowledge on sofware development. I came from a dental background. Starting off with computer basics, it was a good course for me to get my feet wet within the computer world. They have laid out the courses in a great way that makes sense and logical for the students to learn.
Moving through the courses in succession is a great sensation. I never would have thought I'd learn this much about software development. Definitely not possible on my own without The Tech Academy. Learning both front-end and back-end development is a great way to make yourself a well-rounded developer.
Funny thing is, I landed a job at a fantastic location before even finishing the entire program. Now I am making a salary for the first time in my life and taking over my household as the main income provider (I'm only 24 years old). I couldn't have been more thankful for enrolling here. It is life changing and great relationships were built.
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Perspective Student Evaluation
BEWARE of mind games they don't play nice
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I made my appointment to interview the staff and experience their learning environment and take their phony "entrance exam" which consists of a IQ & personality test.
They claimed their test results revealed that I would need to sign a wavier because the personality test revealed a red-flag which they said means that I do not "play nice with instructors".....???? I asked why an exception is being made for me and they responded that because I passed their IQ exam with a reasonably high score, that they would, "love to have me as a student". I asked to retake the personality evaluation due to botched initial answersheet during first attempt. When I completed the retake evaluation, they sent me a copy of their wavier. **It had nothing to do with "playing nice" -which was explained to me earlier, that if I should encounter any conflict during my program, that I would follow a structured channel/chain of command to resolve any conflicts that may arise between students, faculty and insturctors" In reality, the waiver was simply a form requesting several disturbing things:
1. I would agree to relinquish all of my legal rights to ask for refunds on tuition or any legal/litigious recourse to protect my investment in the school.
2. That I would not speak negatively of the shool on any social media. (there were more bullet items, but those are the two red-flags for me.)
Why would anybody invest in or take on intellectual debt in a rigged deal where the school has absolutely no responsibiltiy or accountability to your success or even your satisfaction? evidently people do sign and relinquish their legal rights under the guise of some false behavior exam with a supposed "red flag"...... don't be taken advantage of here -I won't do it. Any shool that genuinely cares about your success is not going to ask you to put yourself in such a vulnerable position.
Moving on and you should too! This after narrowly surviving Portland Code School who also tried to rip me off to the tune of $1,000. in tuition as the result of a secretive backdoor business transaction and abrupt school closure with strong resistance to do the right thing and provide refunds. In my case fortunately, PayPal automatically recovered my tuition money for me and Oregon Department of Justice is still investigating the loss of opportunity.
Play nicely with your students and you won't have to worry about lawsuits and headgames.
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Montrell
joinUP!
I'm not done with the training yet, but I must admit that I have learned more (in such a short time) than any class that I have ever taken. This atmosphere is electric and there are so many people to meet and draw from. If you are looking to join a community of developers, this is the right place to start. On that note, let me get back to my studies! ; ) joinUP!...
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Kent Gray
Tech Academy
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As a student here at The Tech Academy, I couldn't be more pleased. The academy covers every aspect of teaching with a very high standard. The instructors here go out of their way to make sure I am understanding the content. I never feel like they look down upon my work nor my questions.
The content in the coursework is wonderful and is designed to help students progress as fast or as slow as they need to. In addition to the course program, Tech Academy's job placement strategy is bar none. They provide two full time staff that daily assist with any job placement needs, questions, concerns, follow-ups.
They also have a sister company that has live projects from jobs that need to be done within the greater Portland community. Every student is assigned to at least one live project where they have hands on working experience that no only builds their resume but helps prepare them for any future work.
In summation, I feel that when I leave this program I will be fully prepared to take on work situations that are thrown my way. I wish that my undergraduate and master's degrees were taught in this format. I will have learned and developed more skils in 15 weeks than an entire year of coursework at major universities.
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P
I am happy that I gained the knowledge as well as received a job.
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I was looking for .NET boot-camp in Portland and when came to know about Tech Academy, the first thing that impressed me was 100% job placement. I have a computer background, so I only wanted to take the .NET course, but the software developer boot camp was like a package, so I started from the computer basics course. As I moved on to the successive courses, I realized just how important it was to start at the basics and progress forward through each course.
The main thing that was helpful for me was the self paced learning curriculum and that I would be able take the course online. The curriculum was very comprehensive and the drills were challenging particularly the python drills which was helpful in developing my logic. Instructors were helpful and I got immediate response/help from them. The live project and job placement courses are definitely highlights in the boot-camp. In the live project, I had an opportunity to work in a real world website and was able to contribute to the website. The job placement course helped me prepare for the interview. The Tech Academy taught me the skills that are necessary for my career.
I am happy that I gained the knowledge as well as received a job.I'll take this opportunity to thank Adam, Tony and Danny and all the other staff in Tech Academy for their support and motivation! I am now employed in technology!
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Neil Blitstein
Thank you Tech Academy for teaching this old dog a tremendous amount of new tricks
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Whoever said "You can't teach an old dog new tricks", never went to the Tech Academy. At the ripe age of 53, I have taken thousands of hours of programming, development and design classes. The Tech Academy has managed to design a curriculum that far surpasses any of those hours.
As a Veteran, I'm always on the lookout for organizations that proclaim great and wonderful things for Vets, but deliver less than stellar products and seem more interested in getting the GI Bill money than educating us. The Tech Academy is not one of those schools. I would, and I have recommended them to other Vets I know.
At first I was very skeptical about all "Boot Camp" style courses mainly because of the rigorous pace and wealth of knowledge you're expected to absorb in such a short period of time. After researching the Tech Academy, along with many other schools, I was first and foremost impressed with the choice I was given to either follow a self paced program, a more structured in classroom setting or a combination of both. The combination was perfect.
This "Old dog" was taught more in the 5-6 months of real education than I was in years of instruction, and there is a difference in the two. I was very concerned that the beginning classes were too "Basic" for me. I have my A+, Network+, Security+, several Microsoft certifications and started my programming career in Visual Basic 3.0. My first computer ran DOS and windows 3.0 had just been released. I received my computer science degree in 1985 before it was called that and when the horse and buggy was the preferred way to get around. To say the least, my education was dated and needed a serious facelift.
Starting with the very first course, the most basic level, I was reminded of many terms and definitions I had forgot. I was also taught many I had never heard of before. This is a great foundation that makes the rest of the course fall into a cohesive order.
With each course, I learned something new. With most, I learned everything new. The order in which each subject is taught and presented makes perfect sense and builds on the previous subject. With each new language, I was taught the mechanics, strengths and purpose of the language. Something lacking in most other schools. Other schools never seem to teach you the "why" part, only the "how" part. The Tech Academy teaches both. This way you can make an educated decision as to what language to use for the job, why you're using that language and whether or not you are going to inject several other languages to comprise a single project. Most projects will use multiple languages, but knowing why and which ones to use is the important part.
Progressing through each course I was constantly tutored and mentored by a very knowledgeable and competent instructor staff. This includes the "Student" instructors. I was always impressed by their honesty and ability to say, "I don't know that. Let me do some research and get back to you", instead of trying to fumble their way through pretending to know but only confusing me more. Then they would actually get back to me. In most cases in minutes but always the same day. No time was ever wasted unless it was wasted by me.
Most notable of all the staff is Adam Smith. He is in my opinion, the best instructor at the Academy. He never once gave me an answer, instead, he always pointed me in the direction to where I could find the answer but more importantly, he would follow up to make sure I understood the answer, as did all the instructors no matter which one was helping me. He never made me feel I was imposing on him with questions I probably should have already known the answer to. But most impressive is his ability to help me understand the problem I was having, not the problem I thought I was having. Most other teachers I have encountered are not as gifted in this area of education.
When it comes to having a competitive edge, education is always that edge. Any institution can teach anyone, but not very many can educate. The Tech Academy, starting with the first class to the final class, makes sure you understand what you are learning before having you start the next subject. There is an old saying, "Teach to standard, not to time." The Tech Academy teaches to above standard and ensures you have all the time you need to fully understand.
For me, I chose the Tech Academy to refresh my skills and hopefully learn something new to make me more competitive in the market place. I received much more. I received an education and a hard, wide firm foundation which made it possible for me to start my own small software consulting firm before I finished the school.
My first client called me to ask a simple question, but one that is becoming the most important question for all firms, "Do you know how to upgrade our old software to something more dynamic, can handle hundreds of users at the same time and capable of utilizing the different languages that have to run on both Windows and Linux operating systems?"
Because of the education I received from the Tech Academy, I was able to give an answer that impressed them. I said, "Depending on what language your old program is written in and if you have the source code, would depend on whether or not it would be less expensive for you to rewrite the software or just buy an off the shelf tool that will do what you want and then build customized tools to fill in the gaps." I was hired as their consultant before the conversation ended and subsequently was asked to help write the tools to fill in the gaps. None of this would have ever been made possible without the education I received from the Tech Academy.
Thank you Tech Academy for teaching this old dog a tremendous amount of new tricks. -
John Strong
Gave me skills and experience to land my current job
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First off, I would like to recommend every person looking at coding schools take a good look at the Tech Academy. I have been very happy with all my experiences there. I was a process engineer looking to make a career change and move into the software industry and the Tech Academy gave me the skills I needed to do a mid-career pivot at my own pace. But no matter the stage of your career or level of experience, I saw students from all skill levels and backgrounds succeed in the program. Throughout my time with the Tech Academy they have been supportive, helpful and very keen on helping me succeed even when I wasn’t as motivated as I should have been. The instructors and staff never wavered in their support or professionalism. The Tech Academy gave me skills and experience to land job interviews and even when I didn’t get the job, employers were always impressed with the what I learned in a short period of time and with the live projects. I can’t stress enough how helpful having the live project experience is when you are actually interviewing.
In my current position at Shiftwise, I use my sql, c# and xml skills to help customers and account managers get the data they need from our software and databases. The c# helps me read and understand our codebase. The sql helps me build the actual queries needed which can get pretty complicated, some of our previous queries are several hundred lines long. My knowledge of xml helps me format our output so it is easy to read and parse by our end users.
The knowledge and skills I learned at the Tech Academy gave me a great foundation to build off of as I start my new career as a software developer.
Thank you Adam, Danny, Alem, Brett, Cole, Clifford, Kendra, Emily, Jack, Erik and everyone else at the Tech Academy!
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Jerry
I feel truly lucky that I have discovered this company
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The context:
I picked The Tech Academy from the list of boot camp choices in Portland, because of the sheer number of subjects that they cover. When I met with them for a tour, I had many questions about their approach to teaching, and how they would overcome barriers that may have held me back in the past.
I have been working with electronics and PC hardware/software since the early 90's. Refurbishing computers for my High School; Community College electronics courses; phone support for Windows 95, and other techie roles. Up until April 2015 I was at McAfee/Intel Security for over 17 years, working as a black box (mostly manual) QA Engineer.
The problem:
Having been reorganized out of a job, I surveyed the employment landscape and found most new QA roles to be automation centric or defined more as a hybrid development role (e.g. Agile Tester). Breaking into this paradigm without some coding and scripting experience is worse odds then a Shetland pony in a Gygax dungeon (yes, nerdy D&D reference, but truth none the less).
The challenge:
Let's take an old-school black box QA, and skill'em up into a QA Automation, or a Junior Developer role, shall we? This wouldn't be the first time that I tried my hand at development. I have taken compressed courses in Visual Basic, and C over the years, but nothing ever stuck because those class environments assumed a prior computer sciencey background that I did not possess.
I needed something structured, from the ground up approach, which avoided using all the abstruse terminology that can be a barrier into the field.
The solution:
With all my new found spare cycles, I attempted to do some learning on my own. A video course here, or a library run there... I was getting nowhere fast, but it did lead me to the concept of coding boot camps, so I started to dig into that more.
The courses are designed from the beginning with no foreknowledge of computer science, or computers in general. They take the complex words/concepts, and break them down into a level of understanding that you don't even get in the "for dummies" books. Sure, some of the beginning bits were review for me, but even basics helped me build confidence in my understanding, and my resolve to see this through, and I may just have learned a few things better than I had understood them before.
The Result:
Not everything was easy, boy howdy. There were days that I had wondered what I had gotten myself into. With the effort that I put in on the coursework, the mentoring of the instructors, and the encouragement of The Tech Academy staff, I was able to find that next job. Maybe not exactly in the direction that I was expecting, but that has been the way that my career has worked. Open mind's lead to open doors, is the fortune cookie of my life.
All in all, I feel truly lucky that I have discovered this company, and fortunate to have spent the last 6 months with this quality team of people. -
RW
Was hired as a developer at Salesforce
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I have no doubt that the Portland Tech Academy is the reason I am starting a new job with Salesforce on Monday. When I started, technology was a large, overwhelming field of information. I felt bombarded with opinions and potential directions to move: Should I learn Java right away? What about Ruby? I’ve heard Python is easy…
An argument I often hear against technology bootcamps is that the information is (mostly) available for free or for a fraction of the cost of a bootcamp. I used to think that I could become a developer on my own, but I realized after a year of studying independently that I was nowhere closer to where I wanted to be than when I started. The Tech Academy provided a linear path forward, complete with projects, objectives, and checkpoints for me to step back and appreciate the progress I had made. In addition to giving me a clear direction, the Tech Academy provided me an opportunity to join a community, and to be held accountable for my studying time every week. I made more progress working with the Tech Academy’s specific curriculum in half a year than I could have in three years of independent study. The Tech Academy is also unique in that they were flexible and willing to work with my schedule, allowing me to make progress toward a new career while also keeping my day job. For me, this was invaluable, and the Tech Academy was the obvious bootcamp of choice in the Portland market.
Finally, while the program the Tech Academy offers is officially termed a ‘software developer bootcamp’, there are also many other careers that you can pursue after completing this program. I will be working as a customer success agent for developers, helping to debug code and recommend programming best practices. There are many companies out there looking for energetic coders to fill jobs outside of the software developer role, from QA to customer service to product management. For myself, I’m thankful that the Tech Academy has helped me land this new opportunity with such a large company, and I hope to continue growing as a software developer for my own side projects. -
Jason Clements
I was just hired at Disney! Yes, THAT Disney.
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Here is my long essay about my experience with The Tech Academy:
Tech Academy has changed my life and I want to let people know where I was before I started and what I accomplished with it in such a short time.
To start, I have never been in tech, I had absolutely no experience with programming. The only thing that I had ever done that even had a flavor of it was some advanced Excel work. I had been in sales my entire life. I was great at it but like most sales people I found that I was working really long hours, at times had to travel and be away from my family, and had deal with the weeks where I just didn't sell much and had to experience the painful side of a primarily commissioned based income.
About two years ago when my wife and I found out that we were going to have a second child (already had a 3 year old at that point) I knew I would have to change something career wise so that I could be with my family more and honestly get out of working just for sake of working.
I didn’t know what to do at first so I started driving for Uber and Lyft which provided a lot of work flexibility and I could make decent money with it in San Francisco. After a year of doing it I had the opportunity of talking to thousands of people about their lives and careers and there was one thing that completely stood out to me: it was the programmers that were the happiest people I met and had the most financial security and even above that were able to do the things they wanted to do in their life.
I got really interested in a programming career so I started to ask people what the best way was to get started. Driving in SF actually gave me the opportunity to talk to programmers, recruiters, HR managers, and even several executives and a couple CEOs of major tech companies about how to get started. Literally, every single one of them told me the same thing: the number one place they want to get their programmers from is from a software bootcamp school.
I did A LOT of research into different bootcamps. They all seemed great but there were a few things that really made Tech Academy stand out to me:
1.The curriculum seemed well balanced covering both front and back end development. Most of the bootcamps that I researched would only teach either front end or back end (not both) and usually taught only one language.
2.After talking with Tech Academy themselves I saw that the team there worked to provide a certain amount of flexibility to there students so that people who had families and still had to work had options to still get through the school.
3.And probably the most important thing to me was that they were the ONLY tech school that actually provided courses that could take someone from having no experience or education in programming to a well trained programmer in a short amount of time. NONE of the other bootcamps (even if they said they did) could bring on and teach students from scratch. They all required a certain amount of experience and knowledge in the field first.
At the time I found Tech Academy I had some commitments that would occupy most of my time for several months that really could not get out of. But I knew it was the right decision so I did sign up immediately knowing I wouldn’t be able to start until later.
I finally got started about two months ago and I will tell you that these last two months have been a major rocket ride in my life. Right from the start with the Computer Basics Course I was learning more than I thought I could ever know about tech, computers, and programming. I want to make this very clear:
THE COMPUTER BASICS COURSE ALONE MAKES ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU PAY FOR TECH ACADEMY MORE THAN WORTH IT. NO ONE ELSE HAS ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE TO THE EDUCATION IN THIS COURSE AND IT WILL GIVE YOU THE FOUNDATION THAT YOU NEED TO ENSURE MAXIMUM SUCCESS IN THE TECH INDUSTRY. I AM CONVINCED THAT ANY FAILURE OR HARDSHIP SOMEONE HAS IN DOING TECH IS SOLELY BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE THE EDUCATION THAT IS IN THIS COURSE.
I was spending every spare moment I had doing Tech Academy. I was doing most of it online and also worked out my schedule so that I could go in person to Tech Academy for 2 weeks to do it even more intensively in that time. The instructors were all amazing and totally willing and able to help me with anything.
It really stuck out to me how focused and caring all of the Tech Academy staff were on ensuring that I had success. Most educational systems I have been in since I was a child were set up to just through a bunch of information about random subjects at me and then when that class or semester was over I was on my own. Not here, the staff all have as their primary goal to have every single one of their students succeed in the industry and that is the product that they are all personally going after.
A good analogy is that the Tech Academy instructors help you in a way as if they were bridge building teachers that would one day have to cross the bridges that their students built in order to make it home. If you had to cross a bridge that one of your students built then you know that you are going to damn well ensure your students are VERY successful bridge builders.
After just 4 weeks into the curriculum I began telling everybody that was going to a tech school and any tech person I met or would run into I would tell them what I was learning. At the time, I wasn’t even sure what exactly I wanted to do or where I wanted to work at but I was hungry for connections in the industry and figured the more connections I had and the more people that knew about me would come in handy.
In the process of doing this I ran into a guy that worked for Disney Studios. As soon as I found out that he worked there my interest peaked. I have always loved the film industry and even started my high school’s first film club. And I am big comic book geek and Disney recently bought Marvel. I thought that that would be a perfect place to work. I also thought that it was pie in the sky that I could work there after coding for just a few weeks. But I said to hell with those considerations it doesn't hurt to give it a shot.
I got the guy to give me his boss’s contact information and through some polite persistence I got the boss to agree to give a phone interview. Then the Tech Academy instructors on a daily basis started to prep me for the interview and what to do in the hiring process. This was awesomely extensive and gave me the confidence I needed to do the interview. After a 30 minute phone interview I was invited to Disney Studios to do an in person interview. Tech Academy prepped me for that one too. I was able to handle all the questions including the technical ones and felt good about the interview.
I am now very excited to say that after just doing about 2 months at Tech Academy I was just hired by Walt Disney Studios as a front end developer for $145,600 a year! This is a literal dream job for me and will have enough income to support my family and work on accomplishing other goals I have.
I know this success story is already long, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to do Tech Academy and this education and support. If you want to change your life and if you want to become a major part of what is one of the top industries in the world then commit yourself to getting through your courses and then really apply the education and skills you are getting (like anything, you are only going to get back what you get into action on) And if you are not yet a student of Tech Academy then become one now, it’s that simple.
Thank you to everyone at Tech Academy for your amazing approach at teaching me and your stellar support and care in ensuring my success!
Danny Condon of The Tech Academy
Lead Job Placement Director
Sep 29, 2016
Wow Jason! To date, you are a legend here at the Tech Academy. You really made things go right on the program, and on the job search, and you knocked it out of the park. Of course, we've gotten plenty of people hired at other big companies like Intel, Nike, HP, and others. But Disney?? That was something else! It was a pleasure having you hear, and hopefully we'll see you back here in Portland again! -
Martinez
I'm prepared for real life coding situations
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At the Tech Academy I learned a lot of things. I started the Academy knowing a little about programming but not much. In the beginning of the program we learned about the computer and how it works. Even though I have been working with computers for years I felt like this was a good refresher. It sort of preps your brain for the vast amount of information it’s about to absorb in a short amount of time.
I first ran into trouble with PHP and that is when I first learned how to search for answers and work out problems I ran into. I was seriously stuck on this section and with the help from the Instructors and research I found a solution for the problem I was having. I worked remotely and although at first thought it would be more difficult, I am happy I did.
One of the biggest things I learned and took away from the Tech Academy was learning how to learn a lot of information quickly and being able to apply the information. The job I received was for a program that I never heard of until I applied for the job. I did some tutorials and read a little and felt comfortable going into the interview. I was offered the position but since I was new to the program I still had a lot to learn. I was told by my interviewer that there was a steep learning curve and I would be expected to learn and apply the information quickly. I was not hesitant on ensuring him that I knew without any doubt I could learn the program very quickly.
I kinda laughed because in the back of my mind I felt like I had been preparing myself for a situation like this. The Tech Academy is not easy by any means, it’s tough, tiring and sometimes makes you want to throw your laptop against a wall. With that said however, when you find a solution to the unsolvable problem you are faced with it makes everything you are putting yourself through worth it. After finishing the Tech Academy I have come to realize it has prepared me for real world situations. A lot of times you are given a problem and expected to find a working solution in a timely manner. While going through the program it feels like I retrained my brain to do just that and that helped prepare me for the real world of programming.
Martinez
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S.C.
Started my own company
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The Tech Academy offered me a deep grounding and confirmation of my knowledge in the basics of computers and computer software. From here, after having built my own website, I launched headlong into a series self paced software language modules. Some of these were certainly harder than others, and I learned more from seeing the differences and similarities of languages than I would have from a deeper dive into any one alone.
This broad based approach has given me the ability to pick up new things quickly and on the fly. I became comfortable not only in finding my own answers, but also in knowing when to ask for help, very practical things a new developer needs to know. In a world filled with innumerable languages, prolific numbers of frameworks, and highly differentiated implementations, The Tech Academy taught me the skills necessary to succeed and thrive in this exciting field.
Thank you!
Stephen -
Greg
This is the best decision I have ever made.
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I worked in IT for most of my adult life but left the industry several years ago. I decided to get back into IT, but in the intervening years, I had made myself un-hirable in that industry. I began to look at school options to facilitate this career change though most were lengthy and impractical for my needs.It was around this time I began to hear about programming “boot camps” springing up all around the country. The need for software developers is greater than it has ever been. These shorter duration educational options are perfect for getting a solid understanding of the industry in a reasonable amount of time.
I started doing research on the boot camp options in my area. I contacted tech recruiters to determine which skills are the most useful for this part of the country. It was all of this research that led me to The Tech Academy.
At The Tech Academy the focus is on a much broader range of exposure than other similar schools. I had the opportunity to refresh my knowledge in some areas through the Computer Basics course. I got a more in depth knowledge of SQL through the SQL course. And I got so much hands on experience in all aspects of development that I was certain that I had made the right choice.
I have just accepted my first job as a software developer. This is the most excited I have been about working in quite some time. As I get more adept in this field I will have many more opportunities in my future. I look forward to all of the potential this field holds for us who dared to accept the challenge.
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DC
This course has brought back my passion and desire to be a programmer
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I just finished the Overview of Software Development Course. I gained a new perspective that I do not need to know everything about programming to get started in the business. I always subscribed to the myth that since I dabbled with Visual Basics, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and only built small programs for myself and frequently get held up trying to figure new things that I set out for my program to do, that I was not a “real” programmer and should not even think to become a programmer or consider myself as a programmer until I could easily code my programs without any hesitations in my coding.
What I now know is that this entire fallacy has wasted a considerable amount of my life as I could have already been putting myself out in the market for potential employers to hire me and I should have been already in the business.
This course has brought back my passion and desire to be a programmer and I am so emotionally relieved right now and excited to stop wasting any more of my life and put myself out there in the business.
The information that I have learned from this course is that I am not the only programmer out there that gets stumped in coding and has to resort to researching or studying other’s code for ideas to my own solution. I have learned that it is not only an acceptable to not know “everything” but it is expected for me not to know everything and that by becoming adept at researching to discover new solutions and approaches to resolve dilemmas in my coding, that I am already doing what is expected of me in the workplace.
Thank you so much for taking the great weight off of my shoulders and removing the blindfold from eyes. -
Prasana Palanisamy
Just completed The Tech Academy's Job Placement Course...
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The Job Placement course gave me the knowledge that the body language plays a key role in making good impression and learned about the ways to show good manners during the interviews. This course was very helpful in preparing my resume and cover letter. The Job Placement Director was very helpful in making my resume and he guided me to prepare my interviews. The mock interview drills are useful to prepare for the interview. The Job Placement course definitely helped me to prepare myself to face interviews without fear. -
Cole Dixon
The team that Erik and Jack have assembled to instruct and mentor students is a cut above.
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I have always had a voracious appetite for knowledge across a vast myriad of different subjects and genres. Coding was never something that even pinged on my radar as a possible career avenue. It was not until I heard of the unique environment and learning structure at the Tech Academy that I felt inclined to look into the technology field. As I researched all of the diverse code schools that the Portland area had to offer, word kept coming around about how intentionally different the Tech Academy was in its approach to teaching the fundamentals of software development.
Upon my acceptance to Tech Academy and initial introduction to the course material, I knew I had made the correct choice. Each course is beautifully developed on an incrementing scale of difficulty to fully immerse the student in possible real-world scenarios and deeply instill the vocabulary and syntax of each coding language and OOP. With a range of interests from front-end to back-end and database implementation, everything needed to be successful in the industry is covered. Having access to Erik Gross and his wide breadth of knowledge and experience is, in itself, one of the most invaluable assets the Tech Academy offers.
Working through drills and projects that are specifically designed to test your skills and creativity one gains an incredibly in-depth knowledge of each language they are working in. I had the privilege of not only being a student but also being an employee of the Tech Academy.
The team that Erik and Jack have assembled to instruct and mentor students is a cut above. They truly are the heart of the program and have an eagerness and thirst for knowledge that is demonstrated through their teachings. One of the best skills that I received from the Tech Academy came from my time as an instructor. By working closely with students and spending time debugging their code, as opposed to my own, I saw how every individual thinks and approaches problem solving differently and that no piece of code is written the same. This has opened my mind to new ways of thinking and indirect angles to find solutions to coding challenges.
If it were not for the skills gleaned from study and participation in all of the events and lectures Tech Academy offers, I would not have earned the job I have been offered. Participating in Tech Talks, weekly Career Round Table sessions, and meet-ups is essential to understanding the layout of the tech industry and pushing through all of the doors marked pull.
For each student that has taken this program there is a specific language that stands out to them and becomes their favourite above others. For me that was SQL and database design.
The innumerable amount of resources that are granted to each student allowed me to pursue my interests in databases and RDBMS alongside my course studies. Being given the opportunity to work on projects with a team working under the Agile methodologies is one of the key factors in me obtaining the job that I have now.
I would like to extend a most gracious ‘thank you’ to the staff, Adam, Tony, Kendra, Brett, and Michelle, and all of the student body, [both remote and local], for making my time at the Tech Academy full of meaningful interactions, immersive conversations, inventive challenges, and a lot of memories and knowledge that I will carry with me into my new career in Colorado. -
Marie T
Computer Basics was a perfect course to start off my software developer journey.
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It feels like having this basic knowledge of computers and the related lexicon helps build legitimacy to a programmer. Learning the inter-workings of a computer was demystifying. It helped me have a better understanding of programming since there are layers of programs in place to enable us to communicate with the computers who only speak binary. As a matter of fact, my absolutely favorite part of Computer Basics was learning to count, add, and subtract in binary.
I plan to build on the foundation that was established in this course by keeping what I learned in mind when creating programs and to continue learning more in depth on the subjects we covered. In my careers, I have always enjoyed taking a whole-systems approach when planning projects or approaching problem solving. Having gained this information about the computer basics, I feel better equipped to take this into account when encountering situations or learning new material in my new career in the tech world. -
Carlin
I just completed the Tech Academy's Python Course
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As the final step of this Practical exercise, write an essay describing your project and anything you learned during it and turn this in to your Instructor.
I found that i have near godlike powers now! But seriously, i learned that almost anything you can think of can be programmed relatively easily in python. If i would have known that in ~20-30 lines of code i could make something useful, dynamic, and interactive(even if only on a very basic level) then i would have started learning coding long ago, especially python. It took only a couple of imports(beautifulsoup, urllib, and webbrowser) to add functionality.
What are some of the uses you will put Python to as a software developer? Seems like i would use it for more internal stuff to improve workflow for a company or myself, or to make native apps. Although, i have seen some really cool web dev frameworks for python that i can't wait to get into.
What did you gain from taking this course? A ton of knowledge about python and an intro to making native applications. The practice in this course was among the first to really get me thinking about solving problems from a programmers frame of reference. I can tell that, although i am still a beginner and the road ahead looks very long indeed, i am light-years ahead of where i was before i started the python course.