App Academy

If you want to be ready for the job market, be skilled with ruby and javascript, meet the best and the brightest to coming into the market and have the mindset to be able to work as long and hard as it takes, this is the place for you. Use it as a learning... Read More experience on your path of becoming a software developer.

It will not come easy but it's all about time and perseverence and eventually you will become a software developer and see the rewards of your effort.

I can't imagine having better TAs for the curriculum. Some of the brightest people have come through these halls. I encourage everyone to take a chance and make that step towards a better career.

The learning culture at App Academy is pretty much as far as it gets from university. They value a very collaborative culture through pair programming every day, and value understanding the material over just completing it. There were only a couple days... Read More where we managed to get through all of the days projects, but it's expected.

The curriculum as a whole is fantastic and reinforces your understanding through a variety of methods: readings, videos, homework, lectures, group discussions, and most importantly actually putting into practice your new skills throughout each day.

After completing the main coding curriculum as well as a few major projects, I've become confident in my ability to code and build full-stack and frontend apps in Rails, React/Redux, JavaScript, etc. It's also inspired me to want to pick up new stacks and tools. I've definitely learned more over these past 3 months than any other 3 month (or even 1 year) period of time.

I can't speak to those without technical backgrounds. But even though I had some previous programming experience, it didn't really matter since everything was new to me after the second week. You will definitely be spending at least 80-90 hours a week, but it won't feel like it if you love to code and learn about new technologies.

AppAcademy's program is rigorous and intense, anyone thinking of attending the program should be ready for the fast paced nature of this course. The experience at App Academy was definitely worth it though. There is a strong sense of community that is... Read More fostered by the caring TA's who go above and beyond to make sure students are ready for whatever faces them throughout the curriculum. Students form a sense of camaraderie throughout the coursework which is rewarding in itself. All of that aside, the program allows for someone with practically no knowledge of coding to being ready to create full stack websites on their own. The availability of resources is great, so an individual will always be able to get closer to a solution provided they are willing to try. Going through the program, I felt as if all the staff wanted the students to be ready for whatever faces them in any job opportunity and that they are ready for what comes next. The only downside I experienced is that the curriculum itself does not cater to platforms other than MAC OSX. Being one of the few with a windows laptop, I had to set up Ubuntu on my laptop before the program started by myself. Other people who did not have MAC systems eventually caved into buying a macbook during the program to make life easier.

Attending App Academy has been one of the best decisions I've made in my career. You could argue that you could teach yourself or maybe even try to go back to traditional school, but I believe nothing is as cost or time-efficient as attending the best... Read More bootcamp in the industry. There is plenty of free knowledge and alternatives out there to learn the skills of a software engineer, but for most people starting out it is incredibly difficult to know what to focus on. App Academy will offer you a well thought out roadmap that has been proven to work for thousands of students. You're guaranteed to learn the most in-demand technologies and skills in the industry thanks to its rapid-iteration teaching approach, which provides frequent experimentation and rapid re-investment of findings back into the class. One of my favorite thing about the program is that is practical in nature, so be prepared to experience a non-traditional yet more efficient approach to education in which you'll learn by doing and collaborating with others. By the end of the program, you'll have an amazing portfolio of projects that will impress any hiring manager. And even after you are done as a student, you'll still benefit from the amazing career support App Academy provides and you'll have access to the incredible network of App Academy alumni. Be aware that attending this immersive program will be challenging, but I promise it'll be a fun and rewarding experience.

To start, I want to say that App Academy is as challenging as everyone makes it out to be. Be prepared to spend 10-12 hours a day studying, 7 days a week for the first 9 weeks. Although there were many stressful days and sleepless nights, the amount of... Read More knowledge you accrue throughout the curriculum period is crazy. One of the aspects that I really liked at app academy was just being able to surround yourself around incredibly talented individuals, who are all working towards the same goal as you. It really fosters an environment that allows you to push yourself further.

A typical day at App Academy during the curriculum period consists of checking in at 9am, lecture, pair programming, and flex time, which is pretty much a circle time where you discuss with your designated group about what you learned that day. Some of the TAs were previous students and were very approachable, though at times during pair programming, none are on the floor/available. There are lecture videos and homework you are tasked to watch and complete every night, which usually take a few hours to complete. Assessments are given almost every week during the curriculum period and they require tons of studying. Be prepared to simply eat, sleep, code, repeat. I will definitely miss struggling with the friends I have made here - it's like graduating college all over again.

If you are serious about a career change to software development, then I would recommend you go to App Academy. Before the course, I did not know too much about coding coming from a background in science and doing some self learning. In the short amount... Read More of time, I probably learned more than a year's worth of self studying.

For the first 8 weeks, you are going to be going to a/A and getting a lecture in the morning and then coding until 5:30PM with some exceptions. After that, you will have homework, which includes assignments, readings, videos, which generally take about 1-3 hours in the earlier weeks and going up to 5 hours as you progress through the course.

You spend your first 2-3 weeks, going over Ruby to practice/learn coding fundamentals. The next 3 weeks are spent learning SQL and Ruby on Rails, where you can create your first website! After creating your website, you learn JavaScript for about a week and then React/Redux to learn how to improve your website. I honestly wish more time was spent on the JavaScript portion of the curriculum, but at this point everything is moving along even faster. You spend weeks 8-9 creating a clone of a website like Instagram, SoundCloud, Facebook ect. This is probably the first time where you are actually building a project from scratch to finish and its great once you accomplished it! However up until you finish, it will most likely be a struggle and a big learning experience.

After that is done, you get to move to the job search portion, where you build another solo project and a group project of your choice, which was also pretty fun/struggle! During this time you also learn and work on skills not related to coding such as resumes, cover letters, salary negotiations. After that you have around two weeks to work on learning algorithms, which are key to getting a job. You pretty much self learn/have limited help during this time and you basically set your own schedule more or less.

Overall App Academy is great for getting introducing you to being a software developer. You should be fine if you put in the work. The assessments you take are similar to the practice ones they give you. Depending on how fast you learn/study, you might have some time off on Fridays and maybe a couple hours on the weekend to relax and do whatever you want. Good luck with the grind!

Before I attended App Academy, I read all these reviews and thought everyone was being dramatic about the intensity. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering and thought that was pretty difficult. My degree did not aid in any kind of way... Read More with getting through this program.

My daily schedule consisted of starting class at 9 AM and go to sleep at 1 AM/2 AM. There are homework and readings every night. Rinse and repeat. Don't be scared though. Anyone can get through this program if you work hard. Don't give up. Ask yourself at the end of each day if you did everything absolutely possible to understand it. We all learn at different rates, do what you need to. Oh yeah, try to get some sleep...haha

Of course, if you're a genius then you're a genius.

Going through App Academy's program has truly been a remarkable experience. No matter what your background is and if you're serious about starting a new career in Software Development, be prepared to be challenged 7 days a week during the main portion... Read More of the curriculum. At the end, it was all worth it!

The instructional staff are very professional and are diligent about student success. They will teach you everything you need to know in short amount of time. Because of the amount of information you'll learn, it will actually FEEL like you've been in the program much longer than 3 months.

App Academy is just as difficult as they claim. You really will need to spend upward of 85 hours a week on your studies if you want to be successful, but if you have the time and the discipline then don't be scared away. I've had very, very little free-time... Read More over the past months, but in exchange I've gained an extremely valuable skill in less time than I could have imagined before beginning the program.

The instructors are top-notch. Everything in general is conducted extremely professionally, from the location and the building/amenities (I attended the NY branch), to the assessments and the projects. Before joining the program I was under the impression that I could have learned all of the same skills on my own, using free resources online. Looking back now, this miiiiight be possible, but it honestly would have taken me more than 10 times as long to do alone. Having the instructors on call, and the other students as pair-programmers was indispensable for me. Again, the program is totally worth it for those who are serious about becoming full-stack developers. I just recently accepted an offer as a frontend developer thanks to App Academy. But remember, there is no hand-holding. If you think you can give it anything less than 90% of your time and attention, you will likely fail out.

So I am writing this review while still in Job search curriculum at App Academy and I just wanted to give some advice to people that want to apply. First, LEARN TO CODE before you apply. I spent two years learning Java and CS topics like data structures... Read More and algorithms in Foothill college. That helped me to understand concepts of programming while preparing for coding challenge and later in the program. This doesn't mean you have to spend two years, but few months of intense learning will help a lot, and I would also strongly recommend to take Ruby course on Codecademy or similar website. Second thing, if you get accepted to JumpStart, don't just do homework problems and think this is enough. This is huge mistake. You should do a t least three times more than homework. Many people that relied only on homework failed to pass JumpStart assessments. Third thing, WORK HARD. The curriculum in A/a is designed the way that you WILL NOT have free weekend. Every weekend you will have stuff to work on. It's very easy to fall behind. Overall the school is great and gives you practical knowledge to be a junior dev. Course also covers general CS concepts like data structures and teaches you algorithms towards the end of the course. Every day you are required to leave you feedback about instructors, and they read those reviews and take steps to improve program.