App Academy

I was hesitating in the beginning if I should join or not because of the COVID situation. I wanted to join an in-person course and I knew it was not going to happen for a while. I was not sure if the school was fully prepared to change the course to fully... Read More online. Well, they made an amazing job with that! This was my first online school experience and I have to admit that everything was well managed. The only frustrating thing is that we paid the same amount even though we did not use any equipment from the school and the online courses are usually less expensive.

When they say you gonna be studying 80-100 hours a week they are right! After a day full of lectures and pair programming you will need to work on your homework, which takes between 1 and 4 hours to complete. Don’t except anybody to do the hard work instead of you.

The instructors are amazing and are always ready to help! Many times they answered our questions late night or during the weekend as well which is really cool.

The strike system is extremely annoying! You need to press buttons on an online surface indicating that you are working. If you get enough strikes, you are out! Many times I missed the 5-10 minutes “button pressing window” because I was working on a project and I forgot. For me this is complete nonsense.

Overall it was a great experience! I did not have any previous coding experience when I applied to the course. Now, I am about to graduate and I am satisfied with the progress I have made thanks to aA! I don’t think it is extremely hard to get accepted and to graduate but it is almost impossible to get all the knowledge they are trying to provide. You are going to get a lot of material in a short amount of time and it is going to feel like drinking from the fire hose. It only depends on you how much you get from it!

Overall this program is it rigorous and does teaches you to code. If that is your goal and you have a solid internal support network, I'd recommend. The program lacks representation of womxn, POC, and other minority groups. Also in my cohort, these marginalized... Read More groups left the program at a higher rate. Please note - this does wear on your mental health as it is a very high pressure environment. There are 6 assessments, failing 2 will get you kicked out. There is a strike system for attendance and daily reports. Too many strikes and you're kicked out. Day to day you'll mostly be pair programming and working on projects with a partner. There is homework every night which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4-5 hours. After a long day of work, you have more work.

You can pay all tuition upfront, all when you have a job, or a split. If you do not pay all upfront (most people do not) there is another strike system to prove you're looking for jobs appropriately. Similar to above, too many strikes and you'll owe them the unpaid amount. Honestly, this is good. It aligns incentives, holds you accountable, and gives you support.

Once cover hit I was very unsure about a lot of things, I was unsure if this program would even continue but I can truly say I'm very happy it did. My time at App Academy couldn't have come at a better time. I have one week left in the bootcamp and can... Read More proudly say that I'm a software developer. This bootcamp is difficult, you will struggle, you willl be stressed, you will be exhausted physically and mentally... but you will be a much better developer because of it.

App Academy is going to be tough, as it is a very fast paced full time program. On top of the fast pace, there will be about 6 assessments spread out during the first 12 weeks of the program. Failing two will get you kicked out. If you're worried by any... Read More of these things, don't be. Despite the pacing of the curriculum, and the graded assessments, App Academy and their instructors make sure to teach you everything you need to ensure your success. I would highly recommend App Academy to anyone who is dedicated to the grind.

They repeatedly mentioned that the curriculum is like drinking from a firehouse-- they were not wrong, it was grueling and they cram what feels like years worth of material in mere weeks. Do not take it lightly and be prepared to devote everything you... Read More have for the long haul. The field of software development is an entire universe you could travel through your whole life and still not have touched everything. a/A's curriculum does a great job of navigating you through that universe and giving you a core understanding which can/must be built on. Bottom line: four months ago I didn't know what web development was, today I can actually build a website from scratch using in demand technologies.

Also curriculum aside be aware that they are very demanding when it comes to feedback on your end. Expect to fill out reports for how things went/are going every. single. damn. day. This sucked and was probably my least favorite part of the course. Also for what it is worth the company compass is pointed progressive/politically correct with a silent but strong undertow of legal conservatism.

App Academy is an incredibly rigorous, full-time software engineering bootcamp which will challenge you to get projects done you never would have dreamed of before. Each day begins with a structured lesson and then everyone diverges into pair programming.... Read More The program really emphasizes pair programming, where every 15 minutes you and your randomly assigned partner switch between a driver and a navigator role. I found this technique to not always be conducive to my learning when I was working with someone of a different ability. This was often a strength, though, as it forces you to explain difficult concepts to someone who might not have understood the material as well as you.
The amount that you learn in the 16 weeks is pretty staggering. When you enter the program you are expected to solve some pretty basic algorithms, but upon leaving, you are completely ready to develop your own full-stack web application. The program was initially slated to begin in person and we were one of the first cohorts to go through completely online. The course took place over Zoom, and I think that the staff did a very good job of replicating what it would be like to be in person. The Zoom room was open 24/7, giving a space to meet with your peers after hours.
Overall I had a really good experience with the program, but there are definitely a few things that are covered briefly or barely touched upon that I will need to independently learn after my time here. I'm about to begin my job search, and although I’m scared to apply my new skills in the real world, I believe that App Academy gave me a good foundation for what it will take.

My time at App Academy was overall very pleasant. My instructors were amazing. They were really chill, knowledgeable, and their support is one of the things I will always speak highly of. I was hoping to do that Bootcamp in person, but the experience... Read More of doing it fully remote was also amazing. Overall, if I went back in time, I'd still do it all over again. I had such an amazing experience and would recommend App Academy based off of that. It's hard of course but worth it.

I fell for this bs. My fault. But they lay a very attractive trap. Would like to watch pre-recorded videos and then have some non-pro just repeat it the next day at you? Would like to learn on your own, be given the false idea that you have TA's available... Read More at the for an average of a minute-per-day, and then pay us $28,000.00 for it? Be very WARY of the 'do not pay until hired'; they will harass you day in, day out, if you are not 'making good progress' towards getting that impossible rookie job, and then give you claims for money you have not earned under the guise of 'well, you didn't make enough effort!'...
Be smart. Save your hard-earned money and learn on your own. If you are truly motivated you can find great free help online!

Stay away from these thieves!

Pros:
- App Academy really can turn any person that gives the effort, into a software engineer
- Broad amount of topics including: TDD, scalability, algorithms, OOP, coding style, REST, security, single-page apps, and web development best practices
- Incredible... Read More instructor support throughout the course. Each cohort has an instructional team that can answer questions every day 1 on 1
- Lifetime access to curriculum
- Huge network of App Academy Alumni post graduation
- Definitive structure to organize your path to becoming a software engineer
Cons:
- App Academy teaches a lot of material within the 6 months, so it takes all of your time (I spent ~ 80 hrs a week) and it was definitely stressful at times
- My cohort was the first cohort to complete the new Javascript/Python curriculum. At times it was disorganized, but I do know our feedback has helped them correct some of these issues

Overall I would definitely recommend App Academy. If you're willing to put in the work it is going to be one of the best decisions of your life.

*Your one-stop for the all the facts as of 2020*
The pros of App Academy are:
- Only students that can withstand the initial rigor will be accepted (a/A claims about 4-5% acceptance rate).
- There are many many success stories after graduation (a/A claims... Read More about 90-95% job placement rate).
- They actually provide real career coaching and job seeking guidance and it's part of the curriculum as opposed to being something optional.
- Their ISA or Income Share Agreement is a 100% winner, which means you don't pay upfront until after you get a Software Engineering job making at least over $50,000 and even then you pay them back in reasonable payment installments over the next 3 years.
- They have an online full-time program available so it's remote and flexible besides their in-person programs in SF and NY.
- Their culture and environment is inclusive and diverse and they allow for daily feedback, reports, and criticisms.
- You get to learn JavaScript, React, Node.js, Express, SQL, Python and Flask for the online curriculum.
- You get to make some good connections with some good instructors and some good career coaches.
- Their daily and entire structure, discipline and testing is both intense, demanding which is beneficial to keep you focused and on-track and yet surprisingly flexible for the online program. You have freedom to breathe and structure yourself as well.
- It is arguably the # 1 coding bootcamp -- according to stats by a/A) -- and for the reasons I mentioned above.
The cons of App Academy are:
- If you opt for the ISA then you do have to pay them back $31,000 total at the most, which is definitely overpriced (but with a SWE or Software Engineer's salary it is easy to pay off I guess).
- As of 2020 for the online program, the curriculum needs serious revising and oversight. In the readings, there are numerous typos, grammatical errors, misleading statements that confuse the amateur, and also inaccurate coding instructions in projects that derail students and waste a lot of precious time. There are usually better outside sources that teach the same topic better. It is not exactly the same curriculum as their successful in-person curriculum model at SF and NY. Throughout the 6 months of the online full-time course, they were slow to revise, update, change, correct video, reading, exercises material and resources.
- Not all of their instructors and career coaches are competent for the job (at least for the online program I attended). Some lack in expertise of subject-matter. Those that are proficient in subject matter are either deficient in teaching skills or completely do not know how to teach effectively (this is coming from a former teacher at all levels and a world-class curriculum developer). Their hiring team is questionable since they are behind hiring their TAs, instructors and coaches for the reasons just stated.
- They do not offer an official piece of paper (if that matters to anyone) such as a diploma, certificate as-of-to-date. I'm also not sure about academic credits, you should ask them. They might incorporate this in the future.
- You will not at all be ready when you graduate (if you are coming from a non-CS and non-tech background). You have to put in the smart and hard work and discipline yourself after graduation for a few more months to reach a level of adequacy as a Web Developer/Coder (let alone a Software Engineer). Going through the program will not do that for you (again if you are coming from a non-CS and non-tech background). I feel like this definitely could be remedied with better curriculum development (emphasis on depth of knowledge rather than breadth like replacing the time and effort to learn some extraneous techs with more emphasis on constructing more projects and polishing them up and learning one tech stack really well since the rest can be self-taught) and to get a better hiring team to get real teachers in there, but alas! My valuable counsel has been ignored as far as I'm concerned.
- You will have to pay them back even if you don't land a coding/web development/software engineering job with the conditions above.
- The language in their legal contract before you are accepted is extremely skewed in their favor and oppressive, so if enough students voice their concerns and demand slight changes this will be better in terms of fairness.