App Academy

I personally believe my experience at app academy was very unique, as I was the youngest of my cohort and I was 1 of 4 African American students, so on top of the stress of the curriculum and assessments I had a series of other problems. But, the first... Read More sign of distress the staff picked up and wouldn't let that effect my performance through out the course. This open line of communication between the director and my circle TA allowed me to be prosperous through out the course and grow not only as a developer but as a person.

-Darian P.

I feel like I could write a novel on my time at App Academy, but I'll try to be brief. Without question, a/A was the most intellectually stimulating, intense, and overwhelming experience I've ever been a part of. If you're only reading this review because... Read More you heard elsewhere that the curriculum requires about 90+ hours of work per week and you're just trying to ascertain whether it's even possible to work that much, you can stop reading here. It is absolutely in that ballpark. Of course, it's different for everyone and some topics will come easier to some folks. I didn't find that I was spending 90 hours every single week, but the time really begins to add up quickly between the 45-minute commute there, morning lecture time from 9 AM - 12:15 PM, afternoon pair programming from 1:30 PM to 6 PM, another 45-minute commute home, and then any required readings, videos, and homework for the following day's material which could often take up to 3 or 4 hours. All of that happens 5 days a week, with no holidays or time off. It also wasn't completely unheard of for members of my cohort to be in about an hour early or to work through lunch in order to solidify some of the concepts.

I can say that I WAS able to carve out a little time on the weekends to maintain my sanity, but for at least the first half of the curriculum (when assessments are on Mondays) every minute you spend on the weekend not studying is just going to fill you with a combination of guilt and dread on top of the stress already placed on you by the rigor of the course. As other reviews have mentioned, the assessments are not easy but they are always very fair. It is definitely not subjective in any way and assessments are graded solely based on how many test specs you can get to pass before time runs out. The quantity of material you need to know for any individual test is large and studying will sometimes feel insurmountable. However, it is absolutely possible for every person in the cohort to get a perfect score since the tests are not designed to trick you or test you on something you weren't explicitly told to study for.

Anyone who isn't scared off by the absolutely massive scale of the curriculum and the short timeframe you're afforded to cram it all into your brain in a useable way will be rewarded with an incredible toolkit and the confidence to apply for any software developer job. I'm in the middle of my job search currently and I'm applying to tons of stuff, including and especially jobs that work on a different stack than App Academy teaches, strictly because I am now confident that there is nothing I can't teach myself using the skills I gained at a/A.

Lastly, I can't say enough good things about the Teaching Assistants at a/A. They are super knowledgeable, great at debugging (as they likely see similar issues from cohort to cohort), and are genuinely invested in your success. I asked for help often and was never made to feel inferior or bad about it in any way. I expect that the curriculum may change as long as new languages, frameworks, and technologies are always popping up in the tech world. However, a/A will remain one of the elite coding bootcamps as long as they continue to train their staff the way they obviously have been.

At no point will you feel like what you have to do is humanly possible, like learning javascript in a week, react in a weekend, redux in a day. but at the same time you will never feel like you are alone and have no help. It is easily both the hardest... Read More and most rewarding thing Ive ever had to do in my life. IF you can actually get in then you have to just suck it up and put in that 100+ hours week because If you can get in then you can finish the program it all depends on your dedication.

A little about me, I came from the civil engineering field with no experience with coding except one or two courses in college. I went to App Academy looking to learn a new skill and shift my career towards software engineering. Below is my experience... Read More of the course.

Pros:
- Large amount of materials, everyday is a new topic. They make you learn continuously with time practice and put concepts into use.
- Staffs are supportive and helpful. Staffs are always there to answer a technical question or to talk about other issues like handling stress. Most staffs have gone through the course and have great ways/tips to help jiggle all the different tasks.
- Lots of pair programming. Gives the opportunity to work with different people and to practice talking about programming and explaining things in easy to understand ways.

Cons:
- Tons of work. In addition to lecture/pair programming during the day, there are hours of work on most nights like readings, homework and reviewing the day's solutions. There is really no time to do anything besides learning.
- Stressful, physically and mentally. It can be difficult to get enough sleep trying to keep up with the program. Also, it's rare to completely finish a day's problems during the day, so there's always the pressure of falling behind.

Even with all the work and stress I had to deal with, I think attending App Academy was the right choice. It has taught me a lot and I feel like I have a better chance to change my career afterwards.

A little bit about me: I attended App Academy, coming from about seven years in a non-software engineering career. My only experience in programming were some online courses in basic JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Pros:
- You will learn a lot, very quickly.... Read More The structure of the projects and lectures keeps you learning and practicing non-stop
- The staff are knowledgeable, helpful, and will support you with both the coursework and your mental wellbeing
- Conveniently located by a bunch of trains, so commuting is pretty easy
- Extensive resources both during and after the program

Cons:
- The pacing is stressful, no way around it. Between the volume of information and the possibility of failing out due to failing assessments, you will be stressed
- You will need to do a lot of work outside of class, so self-motivation is critical.

I've had some coding experience before App Academy, but I still found myself studying 80+ hours a week. During my time here, I learned how to use the latest cutting edge technologies, I learned about the tech industry itself, I've met amazing people,... Read More and I learned a lot about myself.

From start to finish, everything that App Academy teaches you is a needed skill in the tech industry. For example something that might be overlooked is pair programming. As a pair you learn how to code but more importantly you learn how to explain your code. This is such a valuable skill because within a team environment or in an interview, we have to talk about our app/code to people who may or may not have coding experience.

The curriculum is designed in such a way where everyday is packed with new information. If you join a bootcamp, I recommend building good study habits from the start (even if it seems easy at first). I found that the people who tend to slack off are the ones that struggle or fail out because the pace tends to ramp up as the weeks go by. If you try hard, you will succeed.

I already knew App Academy would be tough before I applied, but I never would've thought it was the most difficult experience I had ever imagine. As someone with no prior coding experience, I would say the first few weeks were really hard on me and it... Read More doesn't get easier. Eventually, it's something that everyone gets accustomed to. Before I knew it, it was 3 months already and I can finally tell people that I'm a software developer.

To sum things up, App Academy is harder than anything you imagined, but it will also be the most rewarding experience in your life.

App Academy has a great course. You learn a lot faster going through this program than if you were to learn by yourself. The TAs are very friendly, and helpful. Even if you feel like you are lost, the TAs will help you through the material. A great plus... Read More to this experience are the classmates you meet.

App Academy was easily the most demanding endeavor I've taken on. From Day 1, you need to be firing on all cylinders, and you need to be dedicated. The assessments are quite difficult, as they are timed, and they're not subjective at all. If you make... Read More a silly mistake, you'll pay for it, and if you fail two exams, you're allowed to retake the second one. If you fail the retake, you're asked to leave. They are not messing around with this policy.

Having said all that, the instructors are fantastic, and really know what they're doing. They genuinely WANT you to succeed, and are very patient. App Academy is something that I'm really happy I did, but would never want to put myself through again. I don't have a job yet, but I have no doubt that I've been given the tools I need to succeed.

App Academy is a challenging 12 week course providing an immersive curriculum that prepares the graduate with the skills needed to seek a job in the industry. This course was difficult, I found myself putting in +80 hour weeks and dreaming in code. I... Read More came in with very little programing experience but now feel confident to find a job in the industry. If your time is valuable and you want to learn as much as possible in a short amount of time App Academy is the program for you.