Fullstack Academy

TL/DR: Fullstack was the best educational investment of my life. You will learn a ton. If you are considering it but on the fence, just do it.

From a dollar-to-learning standpoint, I got much more value from Fullstack than I did from my 4 year degree at NYU.

Before Fullstack, I spent the better part of a year coding on my own and evaluating bootcamps. I wanted to learn full stack Javascript. I hemmed and hawed and couldn't decide because I was too afraid of writing a big check to some fly-by-night operation and getting ripped off.

I contacted several alums from Fullstack. They all gave it a resounding endorsement (and they were all employed as software developers). So I settled in on Fullstack because it seemed like the best option to get the skills I wanted. I was not disappoi...

This is an Intense program. You will be firing on all cylinders for its duration, but you will learn so much. Be sure to utilize the instructors an teaching fellows, they really have your best interests at heart. Some workshops will feel a little rough around the edges, they are Constantly iterating and improving them, so occasionally you are the experimental cohort. Just be sure to give feedback as they Do listen and correct for the future. Also, when they tell you that you should expect to wait 1 to 3 months before landing a job, that is probably on the lower end at the moment, it is tough to get your foot in the front door, but as long as you reach out to the career success team, they will help guide you through the process. This is also Definitely a you get out what you put in situa...

I had computer science and programming experience prior to attending Fullstack, but was unable to find a development job on my own. The program at Fullstack is perfect for getting into the industry. The first half of the course immerses you in labs that teach JavaScript, pair programming, development tools (git, chrome dev tools, and gulp, to name a few), and popular web dev frameworks and technologies. The second half involves building larger projects and sites in teams, with a focus on a final capstone project that will be presented to employers. This part of the program is particularly effective for teaching industry practices, as it lets you get used to working on a team of developers and allocating work.

At the end of the program, a hiring day matches you up with companies big a...

This program is staffed by extremely passionate and talented educators. I graduated the program prepared to excel in my new field, comfortable and confident in the knowledge that I had developed. The academic structure, curriculum, pacing, and outcomes were all top-notch, and I truly cannot say enough positive things about this experience and education. The barrier to entry is slightly higher than other boot camps, which allows for the curriculum to go further, faster, than competing boot camps. Javascript is an ideal language, as it is both incredibly pervasive and allows for full stack software engineering within the single language.

I attended the remote immersive program, and did not feel that the experience was compromised in any meaningful way, and in fact may have been an ove...

Fullstack was a game changer. Excellent teaching faculty (exceeded my expectations). The coursework is fun but rigorous. I stayed on as a Fellow after I graduated and then got four job offers from companies I was interested in right before my fellowship ended. Having zero tech experience prior to attending, this is the exact outcome I was looking for.

I love my new job as a front-end engineer and can't wait to go into work everyday.

During my fellowship I got to see the internal workings of the school. These people are really passionate about the curriculum and are constantly updating it.

Don't think that if you show up and do the bare minimum that you're going to be a great candidate for jobs afterwards. It's all about how much work you put in to make yourself stand out, ju...

Last fall, I made the decision to attend Fullstack Academy's 13-week Software Engineering Immersive course. Now almost six months after graduating, I feel confident in saying that it was a worthwhile investment. FSA is a constructive experience for people who are confident that they want to inhabit a technical position and benefit from structured, immersive education.

I wrote this to help people that are on the fence about enrolling in an in-person programming course. I start off by documenting the plan you should take to first validate your decision to enroll in one of these programs. Then if you've confirmed this is the path for you, I discuss the pros and cons of Fullstack Academy and why I feel it is a leader among coding bootcamps.

Preparation FSA

The high cost and time co...

I spent a couple weeks researching bootcamps before making the commitment to Fullstack, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. The factors that ultimately led me to choose Fullstack over other bootcamps were a) their emphasis on teaching computer science principles and methods, and b) their focus on Javascript. I figured that by focusing on one language, they would be able to explore concepts in greater depth and explore more advanced principles of computer science. All of this turned out to be accurate, and I've graduated with a holistic understanding of fullstack web development as well as a broader understanding of software engineering in general.

What really stood out to me, beyond the curriculum, was the quality of the instructors. They all blew me away with their passion a...

I spent about a year browsing software engineering bootcamps while I put together the money to be able to attend. In that year I narrowed my search to three different bootcamps. After interviewing with each I finally made the decision to commit to Fullstack Academy. The seemed to have the strongest curriculum and devoted staff. I can tell you now that I chose correctly. Fullstack Acadmeny has been probably the single most productive 13 week period of my life.

Fullstack Academy teaches you how to write fullstack javascript (client-side & server-side). In addition to this they teach computer science concepts they help mold the way you solve problems. The fact that you learn one language and use it for both the server and client is hugely important. This allows you to spend more time le...

Fullstack Academy is a great experience. Founders David and Nimit are clearly incredibly thoughtful individuals who truly care about the students coming through the program. They are value-driven, and are interested not just in making money and churning out code-monkeys, but in having a positive impact on the field and society. (This comes across through their interest in projects that work for social good, for instance, as well as establishing from day one that the exclusionary environment often endemic to coding culture is *not* part of Fullstack.) Instructors are passionate, extremely intelligent, and come from a variety of backgrounds (some were CS majors, others were self-taught and then worked in industry, others were themselves graduates of the program). The curriculum is engagin...

I could not speak more highly of this program, and I know that many of my classmates felt the same way after we graduated.

I have never felt more involved in or more rewarded by an education program in my life. You are taught extremely useful technologies in a very pragmatic way. Students that fall behind are given ample help. There are multiple teachers, you can ask the staff (all developers) for help, and each class has a group of 10 or so TAs made up of students that just finished learning the same skills and concepts you are inevitably going to struggle with.

Finding a job was very easy after completing the program. They have several staff members that will actively help you. I moved to Pittsburgh and was given a ton of assitance, despite the distance.

Could not reccomend ...

As a sophomore heading into his summer with only novice programming skills, my first and foremost goal was to develop and hone competitive software engineering skills. My experience at Fullstack Academy's Summer of Code program did just that. I graduated from the program not only with comprehensive knowledge and experience with full-stack JavaScript experience but also the confidence and conceptual knowledge to go beyond the scope of the curriculum.

During my time at the bootcamp, I thoroughly enjoyed virtually all the lectures and workshops - instructors were very clear and knowledgeable about the technologies they were teaching as well as engaging and amiable. They also had a passion for seeing their students succeed that eclipses what I see at even an Ivy League institution. Ther...

rst of all, I can definitely say that Fullstack provided me with everything, and more, to land a coding job and be a successful coder. A power-packed curriculum taught by brilliant profs, plus an extensive and innovative course on having great coding interviews, landed me a job very soon after graduation. But many other coding schools can teach you similar things. What sets Fullstack apart is the sheer personal attention and supportive, friendly environment they create. I'm still in touch with so many alumni and the team at the campus and everyone looks out for each other. It's not one of those schools that spits you out, lands you a job, and forgets you, in other words. You're always a part of it. If that's what you're looking for I highly recommend it.

I just graduated Fullstack Academy's immersive cohort in NYC. It was an amazing experience and I learned a ton. They have amazing instructors who really want to make sure you understand the material and the material they teach is what is currently hot in the tech industry. I learned React + Redux with them and only two cohorts before me they were teaching Angular. They did an amazing job with React, and in general all of their workshops are so much fun to do and they really get you to learn and absorb the material.

I don't have a job yet as I just graduated, but Fullstack is extremely legit about helping you get a job. They have people working there who's sole purpose is to assist students with their job search.

I highly recommend Fullstack to anybody who is serious about coding a...

If you're thinking about bootcamps in general, or Fullstack in particular, you're probably wondering something along the lines of "does this actually work for real people"?

Well I am a real person, and Fullstack worked for me. It worked out better than I could have possibly hoped. I wrote my first line of code about six months before I was admitted to Fullstack. Within three weeks of graduating from Fullstack's fellowship program, I was hired as a software engineer at Bloomberg, through Bloomberg's senior hire program (meaning I was competing against developers with one or more years of professional experience).

Fullstack technically teaches full-stack web development using JavaScript, but I was hired into a backend role and now work exclusively in Python. This goes to show that t...

After doing research and comparing the different bootcamps, I chose Fullstack Academy for a number of reasons:

+ JavaScript focus: FSA teaches you the MEAN stack. Mongo Express Angular Node.

+ People: I interviewed with other bootcamps as well, and my interaction with FSA has been more positive than the other ones. Another bootcamp sounded like they didn't care at all and was actually very condescending and stuck up. During code review, I didn't get any meaningful feedback at all at the other bootcamp, but with FSA they explained everything thoroughly and even taught me a few things during the pair programming.

+ Hiring Rate: 97% hiring rate. Not counting those hired by FSA as fellows or otherwise.

+ Support: I made sure there was no risk of getting kicked out of the bootcam...

My Background: Undergraduate degree in Economics, MBA in Finance. Left my job as a Management Consultant within the Financial Services industry to attend Fullstack Academy. I had very little prior coding experience.

Founders: David and Nimit are great guys. Both extremely knowledgable about coding and the industry in general. No matter how well the program seemed to be running, they were always looking for feedback and ways to improve the program. Fullstack Academy will just continue to get better over time with them in charge.

Curriculum: Overall very well structured and always improving. First half of the course typically consisted of instructor led lessons, followed by paired programming exercises. Throughout all exercises instructors were available to provide guidanc...

I had such a great experience at Fullstack that I just had to leave a comment.

Before Fullstack
Like many students that went through Fullstack, I came from an entirely different career path (Civil Engineering) non-related to programming. After mustering the courage to make a career change, I did my research on how I could best transition to a new career in programming and came across programming bootcamps.

I was very skeptical at first because these bootcamps offered short programs (ranging between 3-6 months) for a substantial amount of money (~$12000 - $15000). Furthermore, there were also a lot of bootcamps available, so it was tough deciding which one was right for me. I dug deeper and reached out to graduates from many bootcamps such as Fullstack Academy, Flatiron School an...

In a nutshell, Fullstack Academy equips students to join an established startup or F500 company as a software engineer with a solid portfolio. For overly-ambitious and hardworking students, you will have all the essential knowledge and mentor support to bootstrap your own idea. I used the bootcamp as a foundation to break into the Data Scientist profession without spending the time or money to get a quantitative MS or PhD.

Pros:
- Experienced teachers and TAs
- Modern Fullstack JS Curriculum
- Top-notch administrative staff and career support

Cons:
- FiDi location leads to mediocre lunch options (Note: not really a con)

I graduated from the summer 2014 class at Fullstack and I am now working there as a Teaching Fellow. Based on my time here I can confidently say that if you want to quickly learn the skills needed to become a professional software developer, Fullstack Academy is the best resource you will find.

The program is a unique combination of guided workshops, group and individual projects (in which you build your own apps). This provides just the right combination of fundamentals and practical skills training.

Having also gone through traditional academic channels (undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees from Columbia University), I found this approach much more efficient than that of a typical degree program. Fullstack's approach and exceptional staff were essential to rapidly lear...

I first realized that I had a passion for coding when working with Excel macros as a Business Analyst. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, I had no idea that I could actually pursue a career change into the development field. I figured that most professional developers had been coding since childhood and that companies wouldn't hire someone with little to no experience. This all changed when I came across the hot new trend in the development world: immersive software bootcamps.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn about these programs that help non-developers become developers. While I was intrigued by the bootcamps, I felt that the price tags were quite steep, and figured that I would be able to teach myself. I then spent my days working full-time and nights studying as much as I could, b...

As opposed to the majority of students who attended Fullstack Academy; I arrived with a CS degree and a couple of years work experience under my belt. Even so, Fullstack was a great decision for me. The greatest assets were definitely the people and the environment.

First of all, the lead instructors David and Nimit are the smartest engineers I have ever met. They were not only capable of solving any issue that I encountered but were also entirely able to communicate the issue and solution to me in ways that I could understand. While this means that I was able to complete projects with extremely experienced mentors, it also meant that students with more experience were able to gain just as much if not more from Fullstack than the students entering with less knowledge.

Second...

In one sentence:
The best career move I have ever made.

In many more sentences:
************ Back Story. You can skip this if you just want to get right to the meat ***********************
Before attending Fullstack Academy, I had VERY little knowledge of web development, coding, or javascript. I had recently finished up a degree in Psychology and planned to move further down that career path. But, it just wasn’t the right thing for me, so I started feeling around for other fields that interested me more.

I began taking some online courses to learn HTML and CSS and enjoyed them. It was fun to be able to create something from scratch purely on my own. Then, I started to get into javascript as a way to make my pages a bit more interactive, but quickly realized that trying ...

I graduated from the summer 2014 class at Fullstack and I am now working there as a Teaching Fellow. Based on my time here I can confidently say that if you want to quickly learn the skills needed to become a professional software developer, Fullstack Academy is the best resource you will find.

The program is a unique combination of guided workshops, group and individual projects (in which you build your own apps). This provides just the right combination of fundamentals and practical skills training.

Having also gone through traditional academic channels (undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees from Columbia University), I found this approach much more efficient than that of a typical degree program. Fullstack's approach and exceptional staff were essential to rapidly lear...

A year ago, I was laid off from my previous job not under the best circumstances and now I am working as a Software Engineer at a promising startup making more than twice the amount I did at my previous job. I would say that qualifies as having a pretty good year and a lot of it is due to Fullstack Academy.

After my layoff, I knew that I wanted to get into tech and learn coding so I tried to teach it to myself using tools like CodeAcademy, CodeSchool, TreeHouse, various tutorials I found here and there. But I knew that I needed a bit of guidance because the biggest thing holding me back was that I didn't know what I didn't know.

To be honest, I got accepted into quite a few bootcamps including DevBootcamp, General Assembly, and App Academy and the only reason I chose Fullstack wa...

I recently graduated from Fullstack as part of the Spring 2014 class.

During my coding bootcamp search, my main goals were to become extremely proficient in programming, learn from great mentors, and land a great job once I was done. I'll assess my experience based on these three criteria.

Coding
Thanks to Fullstack, I can now have an intelligent conversation about the pros and cons of SQL vs. NoSQL databases, explain what $watch and $digest are in AngularJS, build apps from scratch, and show you how to do three-way data binding with AngularJS and Firebase. I have a Github repo full of code that I can explain, projects that I can show employers during interviews, and a 100% success rate on interview questions related to JavaScript (so far, I'm sure my luck will run out soon...). ...

Prior to attending FullStack, I spent over a year and a half learning web development independently through the usual suspects of free and paid online channels. However, despite all the invested time, I still felt woefully unprepared to move beyond 'hobbyist' mode and into production-grade development. I applied to FullStack with that intention -- to become a professional grade developer and synthesize all the concepts I had learned online and in my undergrad electrical engineering days (many many many moons ago).

It's a big investment of time and money, but well worth it -- in saved opportunity cost (of not having to learn concepts in isolation), high quality of instruction (the lead instructors are fantastic!), and network of other students. I came into the school with a decent am...

I attended Fullstack in the beginning of 2014, and after my experience, I truly believe that Fullstack Academy is the fastest and most effective way to learn to code today. Your learning is accelerated by great teaching/teachers, but also by a great program design and structure, which includes plenty of struggling, helping and getting helped by 20 other students with same goal: to learn how to be a competent developer fast. I know that acquiring the same knowledge would have taken at least 5X longer without Fullstack, if not more.

And besides the technical stuff, I had a blast for almost the entire three months, including making connections with really smart people that will definitely serve me well throughout much of my lifetime.

I chose Fullstack because it was evident that David and Nimit were very knowledgable and passionate about their teaching and their students. Additionally they are great guys and have highly reputable backgrounds in the software industry and entrepreneurship. Every day at Fullstack was challenging and fun, the staff was great and always helpful, and all of the students got along in our class really well. If you ever there late late studying or working on your project, there are usually a handful of other students and even instructors staying late doing the same.

The first six weeks are spent learning the fundamentals of programming through interactive and challenging learning modules. During the final six weeks we built a personal and a group project which was a lot of fun. The e...

I found the world of code bootcamps enticing and suspect with their promise of "12 weeks from amateur to pro." Given that they all pretty much make this claim alongside the assurance you'll be learning the latest in web development, some research was in order.

My three criteria in finding the best fit were:

1. The curriculum truly had to be of the moment. This meant learning the MEAN stack.
2. The pace and scope had to be geared towards someone that's more than a beginner.
3. The people running the place had to be great teachers, not just great developers.

After reading numerous reviews, reaching out to alumni, and speaking with school reps, Fullstack became the clear choice. The knowledge, connections, and opportunities I've gained from the experience well exceeded my expect...

I’m confident that everyone who attended Fullstack Academy has mostly good things to say about it. In fact, most of them would probably claim that it was the “best decision of their life.” It may seem like hyperbole, but personally, it was one of the best decisions of my life.

You’ll find more details on the program layout from the other reviews so I’ll continue with my overall review and thoughts.

In terms of cost and time invested, Fullstack Academy was one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my life. I learned and did more in those 13 weeks than in any other 13 week period.
- The class size is kept small (around 20 students) so enough attention is given to everyone.
- David and Nimit are amazing instructors, mentors, and engineers. They’re extremely passionate ...