Actualize

I chose Actualize after reviewing many different bootcamps. Actualize enticed me most because they have had a remote program for years and the programs weren't 9-5pm, like most bootcamps. As someone who had little programming experience I knew I didn't... Read More want to spend all day in class and all evening reviewing the material I learned. I attended Actualize's day time cohort which was Monday-Friday 9am-2pm pst. The pace of learning was quick. In class it switches from lecture to an exercise where you apply what you just learned. After class you have homework that you again apply what you learned that day. Homework ranged from 1-2 hours. Monday and Thursday Actualize has after hours where you can ask the TA questions about coursework. Dani, my lead instructor, emphasized a growth mindset during the program. Adult learning can be challenging but remembering you CAN do it by thinking in a growth mindset is everything. Dani is such an incredible instructor and I am thankful for her during this process. She shows up everyday with an uplifting energy that helps you stay engaged and motivated. The experience was more stressful than I thought it would be for me. There is so much to learn in the duration of the course I felt overwhelmed at times. So for those of you thinking of attending a bootcamp consider how you will handle stress and continue moving forward in your learning. For me this meant exercising more often, mindful meditation, and talking with my partner about my stress. With that being said I felt supported by Dani, the TA's, and the career advisor's. Everyone was there to help me succeed and there to talk to if I needed. I would 100% say Actualize cares about you as a human, not just another student that passes through their program. The amount of resources you are provided with is incredible. You have access to all lectures, cheat sheets, and instructors indefinitely. Actualize does a fabulous job at setting you up for the job search. Job Hacking as they call it. I feel super prepared with my materials as I'm currently applying to jobs. Upon finishing the program I feel confident in my skills as a developer. I have learned so much over the past months and it feels amazing to have these skills. I am making a career transition into tech from being a professional dancer. For those coming from an art background I encourage you to attend Actualize. It truly is an amazing program.

Actualize was by far the most in depth learning experience that I have ever had. I went into Actualize with zero coding experience and I am graduating knowing how to create a website (frontend and backend). I feel very comfortable entering the job market... Read More and am just thrilled to start my career in tech. My instructor, Dani Zaghian was brilliant. She has an incredible understanding of everything she teaches and was very open to going over things again if someone didn't understand it at first. The TA's, Winston, James, and Katrina were also instrumental in helping me grasp the concepts and syntax being taught in the class. My cohort of 12 were all friendly people and I loved seeing their final Capstone projects after getting to know them throughout the whole process. I typically don't write reviews, but Actualize really was the best learning experience I have ever had and I wanted to encourage others to look more into it.

As someone who had no previous coding experience, and who really considered myself a tech luddite in general, the decision to switch careers and jump in to a coding bootcamp was a daunting one. Deliberating over which bootcamp to choose, and actually... Read More making that first payment was a terrifying moment. Now that I am on the other side of this coding bootcamp, I am so happy and relieved to say that the my Actualize experience and training was phenomenal. Not only will you develop and create a full-stack application, you will also gain the skills and confidence necessary to teach yourself and grow your portfolio on your own in the future. While the curriculum that needs to be fit in to a 3 month period makes the course very fast paced, the incredible support from the instructor and TAs made it so that I never felt completely swamped, or as if I wasn't continuing to gain new knowledge. I was also very happy with the job hacking and interview prep aspect of this bootcamp, and feel prepared to enter the development world.

This is a great coding bootcamp with great instructors and a great curriculum. After finishing my CS degree needed motivation to work on independent projects and this bootcamp helped me get started. Chose this bootcamp since they have you do exercises... Read More live and give you plenty to do. Love the project I made in the end and plan to work more on it G-d willing.

I am incredibly grateful to Actualize, and my life has definitely been changed for the better. I went from various small side projects with no real direction to feeling like I understand my life path, with newfound confidence that I can work on larger... Read More projects and succeed as a developer. I have a strong sense of backend development, and arguably more importantly was taught how to effectively learn new skills, even outside the confines of a classroom. Structured job support through the Job Hacking part of the bootcamp was great, and really helped me find my footing entering into a new field. The one area I feel Actualize fell a little short was the frontend and design elements. There was enough focus that I can still call myself Full-Stack, but I definitely feel shakier with frontend work, and wish at least a few days had been allocated to focus a little more on design principles. However, I still 110% recommend this course, and can't begin to state how grateful I am to Actualize for providing me the skills I need to begin my career in a field I love (with post-bootcamp support for technical interviewing and working on projects with other alums to boost skills)

I picked Actualize as my coding bootcamp because they have a huge number of good reviews and because they're based out of Chicago. I couldn't be happier with my decision. We focused on the core concepts from the 4-week pre-work stage through the 12-week... Read More live class. Knowing nothing about coding bootcamps before attending this one, I was a little worried the technology that we would be learning wouldn't necessarily be applicable to every job that I apply for. What I quickly learned, however, is that Actualize teaches you how to learn effectively. They teach you how to go about learning new things in a smart and thorough way. I was in a small class of 12 students, 3 TAs and a lead instructor. Dani has been the best instructor I've had in anything ever. Period. She's energetic, well learned and extremely empathetic as well. I feel confident in applying for any entry level developer job and even some mid level ones too. More than that I feel like I'll actually be useful and able to do my job when I get one. This has 100% been the best money I've ever spent on myself. If you're looking for a coding bootcamp that will prepare you for a legit career in tech, don't sleep on Actualize. You won't regret it.

When I was comparing different coding bootcamps, I saw a lot of schools that focused on cramming a ton of languages into your resume. But knowing how quickly languages fall in and out of popularity, I cared more about learning the fundamentals of programming.... Read More That is definitely what you get at Actualize. We learned enough languages to build a full-stack application, but the focus was always on the concepts and knowing how something works no matter which language is used to build it. The classroom experience was great, and learning software development is definitely something that works well in an online environment. We had a small class of 12 students, with 3 TA's and a lead instructor. Dani is both a skilled developer and teacher, and all the lectures were clear and engaging. It was a joy to go to class and see my classmates every day, as everyone was friendly and came from different walks of life. I definitely feel like I've learned and accomplished what I set out to, and I know I have a good support system as I enter into the job hunting phase.

Actualize is an incredibly well thought out web development bootcamp, and I feel honored to have been able to attend the course. Having spent about 20 years of my life in education, and having been an educator myself from a family of educators, I can... Read More confidently say this school is one of the best experiences that I've had in my life. The instructors and founder truly care about the students and believe in the course that they are teaching. The course is well organized, the curriculum is well curated for learning from ground zero, and the homework is great for deliberate practice. When I selected actualize, I was ready to be a fly on the wall and learn by exposure, but instructor took the extra mile and helped me specifically with my deficiencies, especially in the area of explaining and talking code. This program is a gem, and if you're looking for an education first experience, I would highly recommend you take a deeper look.

I just graduated from my cohort today and I can honestly say enrolling with Actualize has been the best learning experience I've ever had. My previous "traditional college experience" does not compare at all to everything you'll get out of this bootcamp.... Read More I've absorbed so much knowledge, not just in tech but also valuable life lessons that I will take with me. I was extremely intimidated upon the first day of class, but my lead instructor (THANK YOU DANI), T.A.'s, and classmates created such a safe environment for all of us to feel comfortable and to accept that it is OKAY to not know everything or anything at all. I came into this with zero experience and now just a few months later I've built a functioning website on my own! Now we're entering the technical interviewing program which will help hone our interviewing skills and get us even more prepared to land a job in the field. Overall ACTUALIZE ROCKS! If you're thinking about applying, DO IT you will not regret it.

I can't say enough good things about my experience at Actualize! I come from a fine arts background, and I was a bit nervous about shifting careers. I chose Actualize because it was geared towards beginners, and I believe that holds true to my experience.... Read More I felt very comfortable from beginning to end with the pacing, support, and general energy of the course. My instructor was Dani Zaghian, and she was always enthusiastic, helpful, and very clearly passionate about her job and the advancement of the students. She was great at pushing each of us based on where we were at skill-wise, and she took particular notice of where we had strengths to play up. I would highly recommend Actualize to anyone interested in learning more about web development, whether you have experience or not. Thank you for an amazing couple of months! I feel confident in where I am headed because of the program.