General Assembly

In 6 short weeks, I gained knowledge of the backbones of modern digital marketing, with plenty of tools to dive deeper. With access to the classes and a portfolio under my belt, I feel confident I can start a new career trajectory. The instructors will... Read More remain available for questions which is wonderful!

I did not have any negative feedback to provide about my time with General Assembly! Even during the Covid-19 going on they were very accommodating by providing online classes through zoom! The content moved at a very reasonable pace and covered a wide... Read More range of subjects.

1. aggressive sales team with limited follow up during program
2. big gap between admission assignment & first few weeks of program...prep material is light for program unless you have programming background coming into program
3. course material is relevant... Read More and good quality...second half of program, modules improve & get real interesting
4. guest speakers are alumni or typically junior folks in DS field. served as time to catch up on other things given heavy course load. limited value
5. global instructors are solid, but one of them is very high on himself & rather annoying
6. local instructor was somewhat checked out & provided limited assistance...didn't seem like he ever taught professional or in academic environment...one ends up resorting to YouTube & google...some lessons towards last third of course very helpful but communication skills lacked...gave up using help....TAs more of a gesture than what you are use to finding at a graduate school program (20 mins sessions? really!)
5. careers support is extremely weak. basically non-existent. fails to effectively leverage alumni, career coach is informed but lacks rolodex, career events are like a scene out of The Office.
6. better off going to a program with better alumni network, or tuition rebate/refund guarantee if no job placement
7. networking events around town are useful
8. compensation in city is lower than bigger tech hubs...tradeoff for quality of life
9. program/instructors do weak job of bringing together a framework for understanding the data science ecosphere & opportunities for students to explore & expand skills to prosper in sector over time

I came into this program with very little knowledge of the User Experience Design field. I was extremely happy with the outcome of the course. The instructors were very forth coming in their knowledge and extremely helpful. I'm glad I took a chance to... Read More learn something new and I'm looking forward to applying my new skills in the workforce.

The instructor was a great and fun guy, always willing to help students with questions. He was a professional in the course’s field and was always open to explaining how the concepts he taught applied to work. The course was supposed to be in person twice... Read More a week but had to switch to remote because of COVID 19, even so the instructor performed exceptionally even with changing circumstances

incredibly steep learning curve, great studying environment and amazing instructors! I took this course after getting a BSc in Finance and I was able to follow all the topics with no major difficulty, however I do believe that a minimal knowledge of maths... Read More and stats makes things a lot easier. The course is extremely well structured (which I think is what most online courses lack) and it covers a wide range of topics. The students have very different backgrounds and ages.

When I started, General Assembly was a program with great marketing and the promises of being able to start in on a new career immediately after the program. However, this did not turn out to be the case for most of the class. The managed expectations... Read More they gave us were adjusted throughout the 12-week program from “You’re going to be ready for the field” to “You get what you put in” to “We don’t teach you everything you need to know. We teach you how to learn for any new situation you are in.” Near the end of the program, they actually encouraged us to use templates for our portfolio sites instead of building them ourselves. It felt just a bit like it was a time of transition for the company and that they were doing damage control for complaints previous students had made.

Pros:
1. Great cohort/classmates
2. Some great outcomes people, but this will really depend on your luck of the draw - who happens to be there when you are.
3. You dip your toes into a lot of languages and technologies

Cons:
1. The teaching techniques are only as good as your teachers. Most don’t have previous experience as teachers and might just be good at web dev, so it’s really up to you to be in touch with what works for you as the class goes on. This can be a bit discouraging but knowing in advance can help you adjust and seek out the resources you might be missing. Knowing how to articulate your questions will go a long way (though of course this is easier said than done).
2. This ultimately is a company with profit as their main priority, which manifested as time went on - vaguely speaking, they opted to solve problems by making the noise of students' problems/complaints go away rather than actually addressing the root issues. Someone I met at a programming meetup after the program gave me a great insight: other programs (such as the one he did in Colorado) are non-profits and that motivation is reflected in their approach and methodology. Make sure to look into your program in with these things in mind.
3. Though you learn a lot of programming languages, the depth of knowledge through the "Jack of All Trades" approach is not great and very unlikely to be deep enough to secure a position straight after completing the program. The program originally did Ruby on Rails for 12 weeks, which is a much more solid foundation in a language.

Results at the end of the program: A few of my classmates had jobs lined up with companies they secured through the program’s outcomes team. This was inspiring, but many of those jobs did not have close to the salary advertised in the marketing materials (which of course have many asterisks). In my case, it took much longer to finally land a position. I worked at several temp agency assignments before having some luck and finding a position that was a great fit. Some of my classmates moved to HR or UX positions with startups if they couldn’t land a role in development. I learned later that many of those roles were secured not based on their new portfolios, but instead on previous experience at startups. This was a bit discouraging as it undercut the repeated selling point the program’s marketing had. Timing plays a big role, and so does your network.

Bottom line: the students who become the stars of the class already had some years of experience under their belt, and it showed me that advancing quickly is greatly influenced by previous experience with the skills we were learning to impress people and use the program as a springboard to their first position after the program. My advice is to take the time to develop a solid foundation of development on your own before jumping into one of these programs to see if you develop an interest enough to spur you on. It will make all the difference in the long run.

Great programme! High quality students who are there to apply Data Science to real life business problems. The teaching staff are excellent and attentive. This an ideal programme for eager learners and those who want to explore the newest data science... Read More developments.

Having little to no experience in Digital Marketing, this course really set me up in the right direction to take the leap into this career path. The pace is fast easy to keep up with and the final project is something that I can now pitch to my boss and... Read More future employers to showcase my talents. Overall a great experience from the instructors to my classmates. GA is monumental part of a game changing decision in my career choice and has led me to success!

The pros: every facet is covered both conceptually and with lab work where you apply what you learn. Cons: be prepared to be going in and out of numerous new apps. Also, you need to know you'll be immersed morning, noon and night 6-7 days a week throughout... Read More the program. Other than that, it's all positive!!