App Academy

A little about me, my previous career I was a Registered Nurse, but wish I had always gone into software and eventually landed on coding bootcamps as my attempt to become a software developer. I found it incredibly difficult to decide on which bootcamp... Read More to attend given the rising number of bootcamps out there and the high risk of many being non-legitimate. Eventually I found a few that seemed to be solid bootcamps and ultimately chose to go with App Academy based out of San Francisco/New York. If you are in the same position as I was, then you probably have researched many reviews as well and come to find that it really goes 50-50 on whether to do a coding bootcamp or not to do one. So many people say its worthless and a waste of money and how you can learn it all on your own or to pursue a computer science degree instead. Me personally? learning on my own was not going to work. Having the structure and discipline a bootcamp provides was exceedingly beneficial, especially in how they slowly advance you in learning topics. When learning on your own you get very lost in where to start and what frameworks to pick up, you end up in a constant limbo of learning small things here and there but never really gaining true knowledge of how things work. I recently completed the 6-month online software engineer track with App Academy in April of 2022. Before I started this program I spent about a month with on and off learning through websites such as Free Code Camp, Codecademy, and youtube videos. Essentially, I came in with next to know knowledge of coding. Most bootcamps are designed for people with very little coding knowledge, and build them up to speed as fast as possible. As most reviews say, attending a coding bootcamp can be very difficult and will take up most of your time. I can attest to this, It will definitely take up almost all of your time for the time you are enrolled, but I promise you it is not as hard as they say it is, it is very doable. For the 6-month online program, it was mon-fri 8am-5pm and had tests on every monday in which you need to pass to advance to the next week. You can only fail the tests or the projects (there were 4 projects total) combined of 3 times. But don't let that scare you, so many people have done this and have been successful, and App Academy does a really good job of preparing you with practice tests and office hours. They have various payment methods, which usually comes out to be around 20-22k depending on how you choose to pay. They are on the higher end of the spectrum of bootcamp affordability, but in my personal opinion, well worth it. With that said I had a great experience with App Academy and highly recommend them if you are searching for a well established bootcamp. One of the best features is that they have a career team that continues to do work shops and hiring events after you complete the program help you in your job search. I am not sure if other bootcamps do this, but this is a must, they help to keep you focused after you finish to keep learning and applying so that you will obtain that job. Don't be afraid if you do decide to choose App Academy and see that there are 100 people in your online cohort, within the first 3 weeks that number can drop in half with people deciding they don't like coding and people failing because they are not truly dedicated to learning. It is also true that most of the teachers/aides are previous students, do not be alarmed by this either, every single bootcamp does this. But do know that they have real experienced software engineers above them that also provide lectures and guide the curriculum to ensure that the correct things are being taught and that we are progressively learning. At the end of completing any bootcamp, don't expect to land a job within a few months, while it certainly does happen, it is definitely not the norm. You have to continuously work on projects/learn new concepts/study DSA/obtain certificates/ and most importantly do not stop applying to jobs. Completing the bootcamp is one part, the job search is a whole different monster, but I promise this bootcamp offers enormous help once you finish to land that job. Sorry if some of my thoughts are random through this, I am trying to put down every thing I found to be important and what I wish I had knew before I started lol. All in all if you decide on App Academy it is absolutely legit, you will learn enormous amounts, and it will be incredibly fun if you love coding. As stated above I finished in April of 2022, I just now landed a remote software engineer job this month of November 2022, it took me 6 months to land my first job and around 1000-1200 job applications. Sounds like a lot right? Many people including Computer Science graduates have this same issue in the job search. It takes a while to land that first job because everyone wants experienced engineers. Its a crappy situation, but once your in, your in. Right now the average to land that job is 6 months, sometimes sooner, and sometimes later. But it is very cool to say that I made it, from Registered Nurse to Software Engineer. I'm sure you want to hear the salary as well, it was always annoying to see people who got jobs but never listed their salary, it would be incredibly helpful if they did. For me, I am starting out at around 70k. If your in a big tech city such as San Francisco you will easily be over 100k but remember cost of living there is insane. For an entry level position I am pretty happy with that salary, within a couple years it could easily jump to 150+, but ultimately I just want to learn and grow more with a great work-life balance, so money is secondary to me. Final words, in case you were wondering if these reviews are fake or App Academy paid me to do this, they did not. That was another fear I had when searching, was that so many bootcamps had such great reviews lol. But this is absolutely my honest review, bootcamps are not for everyone, but if you truly do want to make the switch, be prepared with enough money to last you for a year, 6 months to do the program and 6 months to find a job. I hope this aides you in your search, and absolutely keep App Academy as one of your top choices if it is not already.

Fast-paced but rewarding if you can ride the wave to the end! The entire course is structured in a way to gear you for success when the time comes to land your first interview. Hard work but at the end of the course, I started a new career in a very rewarding... Read More industry!

Pros: Got a job within 2-3 months of graduation Learned quickly Fullstack Engineer master of none but very flexible Cons: 70 hour work weeks Alot of self studying after class Little to no time for self interest when you are in the bootcamp you will grind!... Read More

During the pandemic, I was looking for different boot camps to get into IT as an app developer. I stumbled upon an App Academy boot camp, got tested, and signed up for a 16-week course. Great instructors who explained the material in simple and accessible... Read More language. The best job coaches were very supportive, gave us 1:1 sessions to analyze and improve soft skills, and shared their experiences and tips on interviewing. A lot of different workshops that help you stay on track Networking is the biggest plus. Support for job search coaches. Milestones projects The only comment or even advice for improvement is to update the curriculum. For example, we studied React Hooks very superficially, for the most part, we used class components

App Academy ramps you up quickly to cover the core skills needed on the job. You'll be in an environment that encourages and supports your growth as an engineer so motivation is easy to come by. Your cohort will have a mix of people from all different... Read More backgrounds so your starting point in terms of coding is not important at all. The most important part of the course is the job search itself. What's great about App Academy is that there are coaches there to hold you accountable and help keep you on track. There will be lots of workshops to help you improve your white boarding skills, interviewing skills, and more. Overall, I'm really glad that I went to App Academy. Be warned the job search can be very tough and even if you have the coding chops/interviewing skills you still might have a hard time. A little bit of luck and playing the numbers game goes a long way.

App Academy helped changed my life. Lost my job in Education due to the pandemic and I wanted a new career. App Academy was an intense 16 week course which helped prepare me for my first role. As a jr developer you have a lot to learn and sometimes in... Read More short period. The intense and quick learning format of AA helped me with that as my job required me to learn C#, something AA doesn’t teach. My first role was an internship that paid a salary of $80k, double what I made in education. After 6 months I was hired on as full time from an intern and my salary was $125k and I was fully remote. So AA was intense but definitely life changing for me.

I can not say enough about how grateful I am to app academy for giving me the tools, knowledge, and networking power I needed to switch from working in special education to software engineering. From the day to day course and lectures provided by experts... Read More in the field who answered question after question (yes the same question lol) with patience, to fostering great coding skills and collaborative coding by proving daily pair boarding opportunities with other classmates, all the way to supporting me with a great career coach who didn’t rest until I was places, a/A is number one at getting you placed in your new career. Cannot stress enough the importance of pairboarding during the course, and then having access to such a vast network of software engineers when you graduate the course. Lastly, a/A’s culture is conducive to learning, growth, feeling safe, and having fun. No question is stupid, and all who are on the quest for knowledge and have respect for others are accepted, and the staff and course text try and stay hip and current!

I joined App Academy's remote program without knowing much about web development. The main stacks I learned were Ruby on Rails/React/PostgreSQL and MERN. Our daily sessions were almost all similar, with lectures in the morning and pair programming on... Read More labs in the evening. Instructors were there to help us with questions and issues. Expect A LOT of information each day. I finished the program with 3 projects for my portfolio. For the job hunt, I received help with my resume, technical interviewing, and behavioral interviewing. It was pretty much up to me to be proactive and use the resources available, which were endless (pair programming sessions, mock interviews, tech practice, and others). The job hunt assistance was available to me until I found a job. I got 2 job offers after 6 months of graduation.

If you want to change your life and learn to code, look no further. I went from not knowing how to write any code to being a Software Engineer in less than eight months, and I could not do it without the help of all the fantastic individuals at App Academy.... Read More So do yourself and your family a favor, apply, and change your life.

Enrolled in 2021 May Cohort and had a four months of a phenomenal software engineering experience with building knowledge, hands-on experience and network. Along with that, I've finished the bootcamp with three software projects which boosted my job search.... Read More Thank you aA!