Fullstack Academy

Fullstack Academy is a fantastic program that took me from knowing little to nothing about coding to having a skillset good enough to get me a job as a software engineer. Their program is a great educational balance of practicality and theory. I cannot... Read More recommend it higher. It truly turned my life from having no direction to on the road to a great career in tech! The instructors are great, the program is great, and the career advisor is a fantastic help. Couldn't have made this happen without the preparation and support fullstack provides for both its students and fellows.

I always thought coding seemed cool, so I thought I'd pay the super resonable fee take Bootcamp Prep on-campus and just see what happens... 8 months later I am nearing the end of my fellowship, having accepted a life-changing job offer, and I can now... Read More officially define myself a software engineer. This is not the way I ever imagined my life would go, considering I graduated college with a creative writing degree, but I've truly never been happier or ever felt this proud of myself.

The curriculum, the staff, and the other students are all incredibly dedicated and hardworking. I feel as though I have gained lifelong friends and mentors.

If you're considering a coding bootcamp, no matter if you're considering Fullstack or a lesser camp, take Fullstack's Bootcamp Prep to experience the deeply supportive culture and supreme curriculum. Who knows, maybe 8 months later you'll be crushing it as a software developer at a major international company just like me!

I had a great experience during my time at Fullstack Academy Chicago, and the people there really foster an awesome environment for learning. The instructors are very knowledgeable, friendly, and accessible. The fellows are always there to help someone... Read More through a bug or a difficult concept. The students are committed to learning and helping each other out. The career success lead Holly did a great job helping me transition to my first software developer role, even months after I graduated. Fullstack really built an incredible community with good people, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone trying to break into the software development field.

I’m gonna try a Q&A interview style here.

Q. What were you doing before?

A. I majored in business for my undergrad degree. Worked in finance for several years, then joined a startup company doing marketing.

Q. How did you become interested in coding?

A.... Read More Throughout my career, and many of you will or already may have experienced is that companies are continuously trying to automate workflows. Who plays the crucial role? Developers! To even work as a project manager role, you can no longer be in the dark of all the technical side. I believed that it was a must-have-skillset.

Q. Why did you decide to go to Fullstack?

A. The coding bootcamp industry has been around for almost a decade already. Big companies are recognizing this and acquiring the bootcamps. It is no longer a matter of being a scam or not. We are in a very lucky era. We now can get a good job in a good cultured company without the degree. No matter what your age is or what academic or career background you come from, you still have another chance to make the transition. We ALL still have an opportunity to get back up and try something else! And thanks to coding bootcamps, it’s even easier.

That being said, like all schools and companies, there are top-tiered bootcamps right now. Since all the rankings and data are available online, I’m just going to share a personal opinion, or more like a word on the street from bootcamp grads. Before I say it, let me emphasize that this might be biased and is not a fact. It’s just what I’ve gathered from several people around me before deciding. The top bootcamps with the strongest alumni network were the following at the time: Fullstack Academy and HackReactor. So I only considered these two schools. The final decision was made corresponding to my personal circumstances (tuition, living cost, and location). I chose Fullstack’s Chicago campus.

Q. What did you think about the curriculum / structure of Fullstack?

A. Junior Phase (6 weeks): I was really impressed with Fullstack’s learning platform. The topics you learn will be popular ones that you actually see on many real life job descriptions. You will experience solo labs and pair programming workshops everyday. Frankly, most of you will prefer solo labs, but thanks to the forced pair programming style Fullstack provides, you WILL get better. And you need to! Pair programming is a skillset that really does help coding and I’ve been asked a bunch of times on actual interviews what I thought about pair programming. FYI - junior phase is very very intense and fast-paced but don’t give up! You will get all the support and help needed.

Senior Phase (6 weeks): One thing I love about Fullstack’s senior phase is that you will have three projects out of this program that could be added on your portfolio and resume which is CRUCIAL during job hunt. An excellent part of Fullstack’s curriculum is that it gets you to be trained and disciplined on learning new libraries and frameworks on your own. You will have this experience and be amazed how much you have grown at the end. It’s just an amazing feeling.

Q. How are the instructors?

A. AMAZING! They really do care about you. They know you’ve come to the program very determined. So they take it very seriously, like a mission. They are very clear on explaining topics and very good on debugging your code as well. It’s like magic when you go up to them and ask for help. If you do get in to the program, learn and absorb from them as much as possible!

Q. How was career success support and the job hunt?

A. They have an amazing career success coach always at your service. She will well prepare you on your resume and cover letter. She is an action taker which is why the network with companies are growing rapidly in Chicago too. At the end of the program, you will have ‘launch day’ which is like a ‘career fair’ but you will be guaranteed to have a one-on-one conversation with the companies. This won’t guarantee you a job, but many did get jobs from this event. At worst, it gives you actual experience to practice interviewing.

Q. What do you think about our alumni community?

A. As mentioned earlier, the alumni network is one of the main reasons choosing Fullstack. See for yourself. Look up bootcamps on LinkedIn and see where the alums are currently working. Also, whenever I reached out to them personally and I’m not going to lie, not all of them but most of them do reply and are so willing to help you! I’m honestly very proud to be a Fullstack alum.

Q. How were your classmates?

A. As I mentioned, word on the street goes that Fullstack is considered a top-tier bootcamp. And I wasn’t the only one hearing about it. That’s why so many students apply and put Fullstack as their top choice. This leads to competition and the ones that do get accepted are the more prepared. As a result, your colleagues will not only be smart and intelligent but disciplined and persistent individuals. Most of all, I don’t know if this was intentional but somehow most students in Fullstack are generous and warm-hearted human beings. I made so many great friends here. This kind of environment is what keeps you motivated.

Q. Anything else you wanna say?

A. It seems like I’ve said a lot of good things. Am I biased? Absolutely. But that’s what Fullstack has done to me. I love it and so darn proud to be a part of it. Of course there’s always pros and cons, but I’m also adding my word on the street, Fullstack is definitely worth it!

And just one more thing. Fullstack is great, but you yourself need to work hard! It's not going to be easy at all.. But do NOT give up.

I was looking to make a career change and knew going to get another 4-year degree was not in the picture for me (too costly, both money and time wise). I chose the Grace Hopper program because many of my recruiter friends were familiar with the bootcamp... Read More and the companies their graduates go were in line with what I was looking for, big name companies.

The program itself was phenomenal. The first half involved a ton of lectures and workshops and the second half was all project-based. What really stood out to me were the teachers and the fellows. The teachers were absolutely the best part of the program! So patient, so caring - I felt incredibly lucky to be one of their students.

If you're considering attending a bootcamp - Grace Hopper and Fullstack is the way to go!

Before Fullstack Academy, I worked as a marketing for a firm then I turned into doing website for that company. I felt that I have some talent in doing the front end but it not really meaningful in term of money. I used to think that I can learn coding... Read More from online or self taught but that is not an efficient way for today tech industry. I am glad that I decided to join Fullstack and it was the center piece of my career changing events. Now I start a job, which several years ago I have no idea how to get this pay rate. Also the career that have potential growth just the matter of effort you can put into learning for the future. As many students mention in their reviews Fullstack Academy have all the good ingredients from curriculum, instructors, staffs, classmates and career counselor. But I am not here trying to sell the course for any prospective. I write this because It displays my appreciation and thankfulness to the Fullstack family. In short my switchup journey would never been this graceful and I humbly accept that this thoughtful program can help propelling my effort not only in the past but so on.

I graduated the first week of April 2019 from the Chicago program and had two job offers within three weeks because of the phenomenal network FSA has and the super-solid career success resources available after graduation. The program is definitely immersive... Read More and demanding, but it if you are committed to the process you will feel like a rockstar when you graduate. I came into the program with a technical background, but there were SO MANY stellar students from all walks of life. The students are mostly in their 20s and early 30s, so it's a vibrant atmosphere but also very professional. Everyone in my cohort was dedicated and it made the entire experience richer for it. You definitely get what you pay for here, I would hands-down do it all over again.

For what it's worth, Chicago has an amazing and fast-growing tech scene, and we were in high demand coming out of the program. I never felt worried I wouldn't find a job, but you still do have to hustle and get out there. DO IT!

Wow, Fullstack Academy was an amazing experience. I enjoyed every aspect of the program. I learned a lot, but most importantly they help me achieve my goal of getting a job in the software development field!

Collin, Ben, and Finn were the instructors I... Read More learned closely from and I was very encouraged by their mastery of programming and their passionate willingness to share their knowledge with me. They were always asking us as students to please come to them if we had any questions. Their door was always open because their desks were right next to ours! They were with us the entire way.

Holly with the Career Succes department was amazing too. She brought passion to the school every day too and she goes over 100% to get the students careers launched. I could talk with her, ask her career questions, or ask to review my resumes/cover letters/follow-up emails at any time throughout the program and at any time after I graduated while I was searching for a job.

I also made long lasting friendships with my fellow students and continue to see them and talk with them to this day. The bonds we made spending hours and hours together on projects are very strong. Fullstack is filled with amazing, passionate people in all aspects. I wish I could do it all over again!

I've only ever attended this one bootcamp, so I can't fully compare this to other bootcamps, but I will say that compared to learning online or using free resources, I have absolutely no regrets.

I attended FullStack's Grace Hopper Program, which is identical... Read More to its regular co-ed immersive in its curriculum. As a woman and someone without a trust fund, I felt I could really benefit from the environment and the deferred tuition. I liked the program and environment so much that I decided to stick around after graduating as a Teaching Fellow.

The best thing I liked about FullStack is that they are truly invested in your success. Unlike App Academy or Hack Reactor, there are no weekly "elimination" tests where you might get kicked out for not having a passing grade. There is only one exam halfway through of that nature, BUT they have multiple mini-exams along the way to identify/flag students who are falling behind, on top of assigning you a mentor who you can regularly consult if you need extra help. If you are struggling, they do literally everything they can to help you: there are office hours you can book with instructors or mentors, you can attend weekend classes, and if you end up not passing that midterm, you may get the chance to replay. It's definitely not a sink-or-swim situation.

Another great thing is FullStack's reputation in the industry. You can tell by the companies that attend FullStack's career fairs and the companies that hire its grads that the industry is recognizing the caliber of students coming out of its programs.

The only critique I have is that there were several instructors (~ 5) on rotation during our Junior phase, and not all of them were great--which, due to the fast pace of the program, often came at the detriment of our ability to learn core concepts. However, I provided this feedback to them (they are very receptive to feedback and constantly requesting it through emails and throughout their learning platform), and it seems that this has been corrected.

Overall, I highly recommend this program. They are pretty selective, though, so make sure you're prepared for the online assessment and interview!

Fullstack Academy is the bootcamp for you if you're looking to learn the right technologies as well as get career support to find a job quickly. The teachers, career counselor and the staff are very student-centric and are always available to provide... Read More support.

The curriculum is very enhanced, so be prepared to work a lot and dedicate as much time as you can if you want to make the most of the process. Pair programming is a big part of the course and is a great way to absorb the material faster. The curriculum also includes career workshops that prepare students for the market. Fullstack also provides a wide range of services to prepare for technical interviews and has a big network of school alumni, which makes it easy to connect with engineers in leading companies.

I loved having Corey, Matt, Dakota and David as my teachers, Jackie as my career counselor and Emily as the program lead. They are all wonderful professionals and I've learned a lot from them.