App Academy

If you are truly motivated, look no further than App Academy. I graduated in April 2023, started an internship the week following graduation, and just landed my first fulltime role about 4 months later. Before this I was working in clinical psychology... Read More research and didn't have prior coding experience. After this bootcamp I came away knowing how to build applications in multiple modern web stacks, and more importantly, I had the confidence to go out and learn new frameworks and build patterns, as well as solve problems with code that I could never have imagined being able to do. It will be hard. But there is plenty of support for the curriculum if you are willing to put in the hours. The career services after graduating is top-notch. Live-coding coaches, behavioral coaches, and general technical coaching is all available to you in an unlimited amount, just ask!!! The job search is very hard and brutal right now, so this is not for the faint of heart. After 6-months of grinding at the bootcamp, the job search begins and that will be a whole new challenge. App academy prepared me well to build a great portfolio and to ultimately find a job afterward.

Was looking for a career change and this program was recommended by a friend who had gone through it. After reviewing some other bootcamps, I ultimately decided this was going to be the best for me. (I did this all online because it was COVID times).... Read More The teaching is great with plenty of coaching available from the staff and your other cohort mates. The curriculum is very well thought out, and its apparent that they are always trying to improve on its structure. The weekly tests are high stakes, but all the tools for success are right there for you. Its not just the coding portion they help you with either. After graduating they have tons of weekly workshops for resumes, websites, practice interviews, practice tests... and they push you hard to apply for a lot of jobs and always practice and improve so you can get through interviews and stand out to employers. AppAcademy's goal is very clearly and unapologetically: to prepare you for a job in tech. If you can't handle 50-70 hour weeks, learning at breakneck speed, or if you can't pass a job interview, then this might not be for you. But if you are ready, willing, and able to work as hard as you ever have for 6 months straight, the rewards and opportunities for you are endless. I was literally working in a warehouse sweeping floors and running deliveries before I started the program. I was exceptionally motivated to pass, and after 6 months of school and about 500 job applications I now have a real career as a software developer at a fortune 500 company. This program is not cheap, but it is sooooo worth it. I can't recommend AppAcademy enough. It is quite literally life-changing. (Plus you get a sweet shirt when you graduate)

App Academy taught me the skills necessary to succeed in the software industry. I heavily leveraged their partnership program to get connected with the right company and I landed a fantastic job after 3~4 months. This is absolutely true. However, it’s... Read More naive to think that their 24 week course will give you ultimate super powers. What they offer is teaching you how to research and learn as an independent thinker. You will become very intelligent, leading to incredible strength on and off computers. FYI, I had to learn TypeScript, Electron, Capacitor, Nx monorepos, Recoil, Jotai, creating my own Node.js based plugins, etc. since starting my new job, but I would have failed miserably if I tried to study on my own. Some people can achieve this as a self taught programmer, but if you like to learn best practices and bounce ideas off of the smartest people you’ve met, App Academy is for you.

I chose App Academy because it was one of the few bootcamps that still offered an in-person experience. I attended App Academy’s 16-week in person software engineering program in San Francisco. Being able to have your instructors there with you and pair... Read More program with your peers in-person was invaluable. If being in-person is something you can commit to, I highly recommend it!  The coursework is extremely rigorous (about 8 hrs of lectures/programming during the day and a few more hours of readings/homework at night) and the job search after is even more rigorous. But they do provide you with all the tools you need to succeed with experienced instructors, opportunities to build projects to showcase your skills, and career workshops and partnership jobs after. The in-person curriculum may be lacking Python, but App Academy prepares you to learn and implement new languages and frameworks on your own.  I was previously a marketing manager with little coding experience. The job market was slow at the time I graduated App Academy and it took me 6 months to receive 2 software engineering offers. The program is tough, but definitely rewarding if you are dedicated to shifting your career into engineering. 

I took the 24 week online course and I didn't expect to learn as much as I did in this time. When you look back it is crazy to see the amount of work you did but it is all worth it. There were many long days (and nights) of coding and preparing for the... Read More next day but that was essential for understanding all of the information that you had to learn. The course itself was great. You are provided with homework to prepare, lectures in the beginning of the day and pair programming in the afternoon (sometimes timing of that varies). They provide study time to prepare for the upcoming assessment and provide a study guide. They want to see you suceed so ask as many questions as you can. You will learn a lot and won't be able to retain all of the information so going back over the content once you finish the course will really solidify your understanding. Instructors are App Academy graduates so they know what you've been through. They break down the concepts really well but be prepared to feel like you are in over your head. That's going to happen but don't let that stop you, everyone feels that way. If you have prior coding experience a lot of the info is pretty easy to understand but you learning new concepts is still a lot. The job search was a lot of applying and rejections (especially in this market). Expect it and don't get discouraged. a/A provides you with so much support and has a team of behavioral coaches and a team of technical coaches to help with each aspect. USE THEM. That is where you will get the most out of your time. They provide workshops and mock interviews to make you think in a new way and prepare you for the interview process. They really work with you but you have to communicate with them. They have partnerships with companies but that doesn't mean you get the job. You have to go through the interview process like anyone else. Partnerships go in and out because they all aren't hiring all year around. Most have certain times during the year they hire.

I highly recommend App Academy if you are thinking of making a career change to software engineering! The instructors are second-to-none and do a great job of providing a learning experience that helps you learn to the best of your ability. The format... Read More and schedule of the bootcamp is great, allowing you to get daily experience pair programming projects with others as well as showcasing your own abilities through projects towards the end of the bootcamp. The space is nice and clean and is a great area to collaborate with your cohort mates and form a community. It is a rigorous bootcamp, so expect to spend at least 60 hours a week during the bootcamp and make sure you don't fall behind because they do not slow down. I believe there could be some changes to the curriculum, as they do not teach Python or Java, which are very popular languages in the job market right now. Ultimately, the job search is going to be the biggest challenge, especially in today's market, so be prepared for it to take at least 6 months. Nonetheless, the a/A community, including alumni and career team, are extremely helpful in helping you prepare to find opportunities.

a/A is a great bootcamp for anyone looking to break into field. Their curriculum is constantly changing to stay up-to-date with the market. The entire instruction team is fantastic, and the career coaches are incredibly supportive. I spent 1 month after... Read More graduation working on my portfolio, and about 2 months applying to jobs. I applied to ~250 jobs, interviewed with 5 different companies, and had two offers within 3 months of graduating. They give you all the resources to succeed, but it's up to you to put in the time and effort. Be prepared to give up your free time and weekends to learning how to code and treat the job search like a full-time job.

App Academy was my top choice for enrolling in a coding bootcamp because of it's low acceptance rate and rigorous curriculum program. Anyone can code but this program really pushes you through and through. The 24 week program is very fast paced and you... Read More will spend much time outside of normal hours studying but the depth of knowledge that you gain is worth it. Compared to many other bootcamps that I know of, App Academy prepares you well enough to provide you with strong foundational skills that other bootcamps don't give to you. This program does a great job emulating real on the job coding practices like pair programming, group projects, daily standups, and more that you can speak to in job interviews. The program is tough and the instructors and TA's are also tough on you but it really does make you a strong programmer. This program is not for those who want to coast through and hope to land a six-figure job right away, you definitely have to put in the work but by the end it'll all be worth it.

a/A is a great option for anyone looking to break into the field. The curriculum is modern and up-to-date and constantly evolving. I enjoyed my time there and am already placed in a new role as a software engineer. As with anything that offers a high... Read More reward, you'll get out of it what you put in. I appreciate that App Academy is more rewarding for those who are self-motivated and do the work.

I loved my time at App Academy. I really value getting hands on experience and that's exactly what I got for 6 months straight. Besides just coding you learn how to work with others, how to ask questions, and how to learn things really fast. You will... Read More get to build your own projects and you will learn how to learn new technologies. By the end of the curriculum, you will have enough skills to build whatever you like. It was certainly challenging (at some points really challenging!) but if you know this is what you want to do then it quickly becomes a lot of fun as well. Pros: Really great instructors and staff that care about you and your understanding of the curriculum. Cons: Less support in the job search phase and the job search phase might be harder than the curriculum.