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Ada Developers Academy

Seattle

About Ada Developers Academy

Location: Seattle

Ada Developers Academy is a 27-week program in downtown Seattle offering a tuition-free full-time program to teach full-stack web development to women and people of non-binary gender.

The course consists of 27 weeks of in-class instruction and then up... Read More

Courses

Ada Developers Academy

Cost: Free
Duration: 52 weeks
Locations: Seattle
In-person Only
Course Description:

Ada offers a tuition-free full-time program to teach women full-stack web development. The year-long program covers all the topics you need to start a career in web development with 6 months of intensive classroom training and 6 months of internship at a Seattle-area tech company.

Subjects:
CSS, HTML, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript

Ada Developers Academy Reviews

Average Ratings (All Programs)

Ada Developers Academy logo

4.22/5 (11 reviews)

YG
Graduated: 2023

11/28/2023

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Ada Developers Academy

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"Disorganized and un-meritocratic"

Poor communication throughout program, disorganized staff and processes, no accountability, and opaque internship placements. The only saving grace it had was guaranteed internships, however un-meritocratic they were, but now internships are not even... Read More

Anonymous
Software Engineer | Graduated: 2021

8/25/2022

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Ada Developers Academy

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"Focus is too centered in expansion"

Classroom portion was good, great support from instructors and volunteers. Most staff is helpful and approachable and looking forward for your success. Most of the academic and mentoring support is volunteer based and most resources offered were created... Read More

Anonymous
Software Developer | Graduated: 2018

8/12/2019

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Ada Developers Academy

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"Life Changing"

A year ago I was making $40,000 working in the administrative field and decided that I wanted to make a career change to become a software developer. I chose Ada Developer Academy as I wanted an environment that is supportive for women/gender diverse... Read More

Pros:
Ada is tuition-free and oftentimes offers loans to students that need financial assistance
The class sizes are small (mine was 24 students) and have passionate instructors and a supportive environment
Ada offers an industry mentor, an Ada mentor (usually a past student), and if students need additional help there are TA's and tutors available
Students receive a 5-month internship which in my opinion, was as valuable as the classroom portion
The Ada community is amazing - throughout my time at Ada the alumni were quick to answer any questions I had/to offer advice. Also, Ada is becoming well-known in the Seattle area and has developed connections to many large companies.

Cons
It's a challenging, time-intensive program. During the classroom portion you're often learning and applying concepts at a rapid pace and are expected to reach out for help if needed. After going to school for the day you often have homework to work on once you get home/projects to work on over the weekend.
During the internship period it can be difficult balancing internship while learning computer science concepts/preparing for technical interviews.
Sometimes internships don't go well, there's rarely a way to tell ahead of time which internships will not go well as it's more dependent on what team your on rather than what company you're hired for.

I highly recommend this program. It will be a year of chaos but during the chaos you're pushing yourself towards your dreams and by the time it's over you'll be surprised at how fast time flew by/how far you've come.

Anonymous
Graduated: 2017

8/4/2017

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"More supported and more connected than a 4 year CS degree"

Here are a few ways Ada sets itself apart from other programs:

1. It's a nonprofit with a mission.
Ada fully lives its mission to address the gender and diversity gap in tech. Not only do students and staff undergo trainings related to unconscious bias... Read More

2. It's free (not to mention student get a guaranteed paid internship for 5 months).
As a non-profit, Ada sustains itself through company sponsorship and private donations. It's free for students throughout the in-class portion and then students get paid for the internship portion. This allows Ada to attract the most qualified students, not just students who can afford a bootcamp. Having said that, Ada is highly competitive, sometimes with cohort acceptance rates as low as 8%.

3. Students are taught CS fundamentals.
Students receive education on data structures and algorithms throughout the in-class portion and once a week during the internship portion.

4. Ada is highly respected and trusted in the Seattle tech community.
Arguably Ada's greatest strength is its reputation of producing top notch developers. Sponsoring companies (Amazon, Groupon, Google, Moz, Rover... to name a few) continue to sponsor and companies that hire Ada grads end up becoming sponsors. Almost all Ada students have job offers before graduation.

Anonymous
Software Engineer 1 | Graduated: 2016

7/10/2017

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"Expectations meet reality"

Ada Developers Academy ( ADA ) delivers what it says it does. You will receive a top notch education in programming, computer science fundamentals, and preparation for whiteboard style interviewing. You will not be charged tuition and you will receive... Read More

Anonymous

10/23/2016

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Ada Developers Academy

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"Admissions process"

I agree with "Anonymous" Software Engineer's review (01/2016) about the "opaque admissions process", especially the part about educational level and age. However, I would add employment history in there as well.
They don't give women already in technology... Read More

Anonymous

4/12/2016

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"Life changing."

It's hard to imagine where I would be right now if I hadn't been lucky enough to be accepted to and subsequently complete Ada. The year in the program could be brutal, particularly the classroom period, although the internship certainly came with its... Read More

Getting to this point wasn't always smooth sailing, and Ada is an imperfect organization. The staff is very small, while the undertaking of what Ada is trying to do is absolutely enormous and always growing. Things fall through the cracks, and sometimes I think they bite off more than they can chew. They've shown themselves to be open to feedback and the curriculum and program is ever evolving based on that. Sometimes it's amazing to recall just how young the organization is—only about 2.5 years old.

At the end of the day, I would do it all over again without even the slightest bit of hesitation. I can't say the year was exactly "fun" (it had its moments), but it was so, so very worth it. Which is why if you get accepted (acceptance rates have been around 8% but I think they're working on trying to ease that at least a little) and can possibly swing it, DO IT. The year will be hard, draining, and stressful (technologically and emotionally), but you will amaze yourself with the things you learn while changing your life's trajectory utterly and completely.

Anonymous

1/13/2016

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"Great program, opaque admissions process."

High marks for curriculum and execution. It's a wonderful program. One thing to keep in mind however, when listening to the Cinderella story that I know they genuinely wish they could provide, it is my experience that the administration is not transparent... Read More

Liz Rush
Graduated: 2013

5/10/2015

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"A challenge that will reward your efforts ten-fold!"

Wow, what a game changer! I went from doing shitty office work to now being actively engaged, challenged, and stimulated at work. Ada was hard, no doubt, but the payoff is insane if you bust your ass. I nearly tripled my income in one year, going from... Read More

One of the challenges is that Ada is still very new, so they are figuring out how to run the program as you are going through it. In a few years, it'll stabilize even more. It's great for those who can work with ambiguity, who are willing to learn whatever it takes & who are self-driven, which (not coincidentally) are the exact qualities that people look for in developers. Since I was part of the first cohort, they still needed to figure out the holes in the curriculum. Now I look at what the new classes are learning and get a little bit of that older-sibling jealously that they have it so much better, haha! It can also be an emotional challenge to work so intimately with the same people for so long, especially because you feel like you don't know anything when you start. For most high achieving women, it feels like a big vulnerability to be so bad at something, but that shared experience also birthed a really strong connection among students and a network that will last much longer than Ada.

My internship was a rough experience because of the toxic environment the men that I worked with created and directed at me, but Ada was there to support me and back me up when I needed help. In the end though, having that real on the job experience is what separates Ada from other bootcamps and I was able to find jobs with people at companies that value women and diversity. I ended up with five job offers, ranging from startups to mega-corporations. Now I work at a woman-owned, woman-led startup with great people and have never been more professionally satisfied! I have gained a lot of confidence and through Ada I have gotten the peer support network, education, & mentorship that I need to kick ass no matter what I do.

Adie (Cohort[0])
Graduated: 2013

1/27/2015

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"Incredible alternative to high priced bootcamps or lengthy second degrees."

A year ago I was in my mid-twenties, in possession of a BA and looking to break into CS. I figured I could do it one of two ways:

a) I could try for a second bachelor's degree either taking online classes or commuting to a campus, engaging in deep learning... Read More

Then I discovered Ada Developers Academy and it turned out to be a perfect fit. The six month curriculum portion of the program gave us a solid base in Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, databases, deployment, agile processes and a number of other web technologies. Near the end of those six months we also covered advanced topics and completed capstone projects. Some of my classmates turned their capstones into freelance work and two presented theirs at the world's largest Ruby conference.

The next six months were spent interning at Seattle area tech companies. We had varying experience with the internships, but we all came out with six months of tangible experience that helped 100% of us land jobs as developers. I believe the average salary is around ~75k with some offers in the 90s and the lowest above 60.

In my opinion though, the most valuable part of the experience was access to the community. Ada is sponsored by some of the biggest names in Seattle tech certainly and has a wonderful core group of volunteers certainly, but spending a year with 15 tenacious, intelligent women who were facing the same challenges as me was an amazing opportunity. I graduated Ada with my dream job and a very strong core network to help me continue to grow.

All in all I'd highly recommend Ada Developers Academy.

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