General Assembly

*** What background in coding did you have prior to the course? *** I came into my course having already coded a decent amount in my life. It was all hobby-based, but I felt pretty comfortable with HTML and CSS, as well as the basics of JavaScript. At... Read More the behest of some friends who were already software engineers, I also followed the advice I mentioned above, and tried to take advantage of AS MUCH free learning as I absolutely could. So for probably 2-3 months before I even enrolled in my Bootcamp, I took advantage of some sales on Udemy and bought some Stephen Grider React courses and learned as much as I could about the MERN Stack (MERN meaning MongoDB (your document database), Express.js (your Node.js web framework), React.js (your client-side JavaScript framework), and Node.js (essentially your JavaScript server). If I had time, I would have loved to have learned even more beforehand. Two main reasons for all of this: 1.) you get to test the waters and see if you even enjoy being neck-deep in a text-editor writing code! It’s not for everyone and that’s okay! 2.) and just-as-importantly… Most modern coding languages are just off-shoots of other languages. Many, many, many front-end languages are built on top of JavaScript/HTML/CSS. So, having a really solid fundamental understanding of these languages will do nothing but make learning the more difficult languages/concepts/frameworks THAT much easier. I personally don’t feel that it is possible to over-prepare for something like a bootcamp for these specific reasons. ***Has the instruction been thorough or are you googling a lot?*** Slightly loaded-question. I have LOVED my instructors. Incredibly knowledgable, empathetic, caring people who have bent-over-backwards to make sure that as many of the students in my cohort are equipped to succeed in a professional SE role post-bootcamp. The class moved kinda slowly at first, but picked up speed VERY quickly. The communicated goal was to teach us the 20% we would need to know in order to accomplish 80% of the work we would be doing. All of that to say that they, inherently, can only teach us so much in ~13 weeks. Thus, a huge focus quickly became teaching us how 1.) ask the RIGHT questions and 2.) how to scour Google or StackOverflow or wherever for answers. So… Both? The two core instructors for our cohort are very thorough, but a skill of being an effective software engineer is ultimately just problem solving, so you’ll definitely have plenty of situations where Googling a particular error or what-have-you is a must. Again, just part and parcel of being a developer. ***What material haven't you get that you wish you had (not sure if you have a sense of that yet)?*** Not sure I have a great answer for this one, but there are definitely things that I had to put time toward myself because we just patently did not cover them in class. Immediate things that come to mind are the core computer science pillars of data structures, algorithms, design patterns, and code-testing. We touch on each of the above in class, but I was not prepared for any of these appearing in technical interviews based on class. GA could definitely do a better job here, but 1.) there admittedly just isn’t enough time in 13 weeks of class and 2.) they did point me at resources, I just had to tackle them in my own time. ***Why'd you choose this program over other programs?*** Languages. I spoke to a lot of friends who were Software Engineers already, before I ever even really truly considered enrolling. They pretty much all told me the same thing: focus on what languages they’re teaching and how they support you on the job-front. GA is pretty solid on both fronts I’d say. Their tech stack is ultimately what pulled me in (we started with HTML/CSS/JavaScript to learn front-end development; then moved to full-stack and learned MongoDB, Express, Node.js, and others; then focused on drilling-down into front-end frameworks such as React; then finally learned API-driven development and kinda tying it all together, learning Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SQL, and how to make those work nicely with our frontends). Their Get You Hired Team (GA calls this “Outcomes”, which I’d say has been a little lackluster… but most of my issues with it could be tied to the fact that the entire team for my cohort is based out of DC. So they’re all crazy knowledgable, but I don’t know. There’s only so much they can do from a distance and during a global pandemic). For reference, I also seriously considered HackReactor, Flatiron School, and Turing School. ***What have been the best and the worst things about the experience?*** The best has been discovering a new love and passion, honestly. I absolutely adore what I do at this point, but BOY was it tough. Like, anyone considering a bootcamp just needs to be really, really honest with themselves and set realistic expectations. You are trying to learn an entirely new career field in 13 weeks – IT IS NOT EASY. There is an OBSCENE amount of information — and often incredibly dense, convoluted information at that. Once again, it IS NOT EASY. I drive that point only because we 100% lost multiple people from our cohort because it was just a lot more than they were expecting. A totally normal day for me was to be in class from 8am to 4pm (with breaks here and there + a longer break for lunch), take a power nap immediately after, and then grind on homework for 4 or more hours. That time is important too, because your homework is really your only chance to practice, and if you’re not practicing every day to some degree, you’re just making it harder on yourself. Then there was probably longer homework for the weekend, or a project, or whatever. Just wanting to be totally clear: I ate, slept, and breathed code because that’s kinda what it takes to make it through a bootcamp like this (again, just my opinion). ***What kind of time are you putting in outside of class?*** Not to be a broken record, but this will require a huge amount of time. I spent 500+ hours just IN-CLASS over my 3-ish months. With homework, there was generally the expectation that you would put at LEAST 4 hours toward it. If you got it done, awesome; if not, you should probably get sleep rather than throwing more than 4 hours at homework. We also had 5-ish “projects” over the course of the class. I couldn’t even begin to estimate the time I sunk into those, but we generally had 1 week of self-led work-time to finish each of those. So, ideally, you really want to have a deep interest in coding and the technologies at play with whatever you’re building. Otherwise, it just becomes difficult to stay motivated. Again, just my .02. ***Are things working out with the fully remote covid plan? Are teachers accessible and approachable?*** • Best as can be expected, I think? I would have preferred to be in-person, but remote learning hasn’t been nearly as drastically different as I kind of expected. You meet in your Zoom classroom everyday, anyone/everyone is only a Slack message away, my instructors were both always really good about hosting regular office hours + responding to random requests for help or insight. I also was still able to make a bunch of friends which I would 1000% recommend. The people in your cohort are quite literally the only one’s who will understand the depth of what you’re going through. It’s an experience that really brings people together, in my opinion. There are people I will most definitely keep in contact with after the Bootcamp. Hopefully the above wasn’t too much or too overwhelming. I am 1000% a proponent of a bootcamp like GA offers, I just think everyone should know that it is, unavoidably, a massive undertaking. But you will get out what you put in.

Great program for beginners in particular, however need to have passion in the UX field. GA also has high prestige in the design world. Learnt so much and developed many skills would highly recommend. The part-time is perfect if you are working alongside... Read More but found i would have liked course to fo deeper - so take the full-time course if you can! Challenging but worth it!

I have mixed feelings about General Assembly. Below is a list of the pros and cons of when I attended pre-plague. Pros: 1. This is one of the few places left where you can get actual, in-person instruction. If you're one who can't stick to learning on... Read More your own online, face-to-face instruction is the way to go. 2. I also like that they offer a wide variety of topics from web development and digital marketing to project management, sales pitching, and communication skills. 3. The instructors I've had so far have been knowledgeable and nice. 4. They have many free talks in the evenings, sometimes even with free nibbles. I attended one on the art of sales pitching. I think it was called something like "How to Sell Anything to Anyone." The speaker was excellent, and he gave really good tips. Cons: 1. Cost. If you want to take their multi-day courses, expect to pay $$$. That's what you gotta expect for in-person classes from a private school. I'd love to take more classes, but I can't be spending thousands and thousands of dollars. Yes, they have a payment plan, but you still gotta pay them back. 2. If you're looking to start a new career, don't expect to be "career ready" after you've spent all that money. The classes don't go into much depth. They're more of an overview, just enough to get you started. 3. They never answer the phone. The only way to get a response is via email. If you're on your way to an evening or weekend class and need to reach someone, you won't get a response if it's outside normal business hours. I once signed up for a Saturday class and was about to head out the door, when I just happened to notice an email on my phone. It was from GA, saying the class had been canceled. Uh, they should have TEXTED instead! I normally don't open my email if I'm headed out the door, but just by pure luck, I did this time. I would have been annoyed if I had to battle traffic and pay for parking, only to learn the class was canceled. To top it off, the email didn't even say "sorry" - just something euphemistically annoying like "thanks for your flexibility!" Spare me.

I was a little disappointed on day one when I learned that it was a connected-classroom setting which means four different classes of 20 or so students are connected through Zoom for one instructor. That detail was probably mentioned during the initial... Read More description of the course, but it definitely wasn't clear since it came as a complete shock. I never felt like I received the personal assistance I need to learn, so it wasn't the best fit for me. I learned a lot, but never felt comfortable with the material due to this format.

As someone with no prior coding experience, I definitely learned a lot while attending General Assembly's software engineering program. Would I consider myself job ready the day I graduated? No. They do provide job support during and post course which... Read More is helpful for updating resumés and job searching but unfortunately they don't seem to have many connections with companies hiring in the field. I also found the program to be expensive; considering it was remote and we were responsible for providing our own supplies.

I had a great experience at General Assembly taking the product management course. I'm an aspiring product manager, so I found this course very helpful. Most topics in the class were discussed at a high level and some went in detail. The homework assignments... Read More were challenging and thoughtful. I found the instructor Blair Presley to be very engaging and very knowledgeable. The TA Alodia was amazing and eager to help me with any issues I had on homework assignments.

This was a great program to get started and it really help me help me pivot my career for anybody who’s wanting to make a change in their current career path and to move into digital marketing I believe this is a great start I was able to four times my... Read More salary and have a better worklife balance

GA was a life-changing experience for me. I took the UX Design immersive and because of the instructors I had (JC & Samantha Lane) and wonderful cohort, I can say it was worth the sacrifice and money. I learned a lot under the direction of the two instructors,... Read More they kept the curriculum organized, efficient, provided endless resources, and did a great job with making the information interactive. You spend the morning in lecture, and rest of the day getting hands-on experience with projects. They also did a great job building a sense of community, every single student in my class was supportive, kind, and skilled. Especially remotely, it's important to be able to connect with your instructors and classmates. GA has done a wonderful job creating an online learning environment through slack and zoom alone. You will pick up the latest trends, tools, and skills to succeed-- but the program will be what you make it. You have to work hard, be dedicated, put in late nights (especially during the last month), and be prepared to experience burnout. It will be worth it in the end if you're serious about learning UX or making a career change. Be prepared to quit your job, and spend 3 months learning and maybe an additional 3-6 months job searching. It's competitive out there, but this program will provide you with a strong portfolio if you're willing to put in the work. After graduating, you are paired with an outcomes coach who is there to help coach you on interviews, resumes, and help connect you with jobs although much of the job hunting is left to the student. GA doesn't hand out jobs but they help set you up and provide a community for support.

I took this course remotely. I was very impressed by both the content and the pacing of this course. I was thankfully able to take the course due to a local scholarship, and I found it to be very practical while balancing a work schedule. The content... Read More was more in-depth than I expected, and provided a solid foundation that makes it easier to continue learning once the course is completed. While the pacing is fast during classes, having only 2 classes a week allows for individual practice later on; I don't think I would have gotten as much out of the course if it had not included the amount of content that it did. Instructors are friendly, flexible, and there are numerous options for office hours. The office hours are where I was really able to solidify my learning. For this course I would recommend that you have a second monitor, it was difficult to complete the later stages of the course without one, but it was not impossible. Since the course is available across the USA it's important to consider time zones as well (the class was help 9-11PM, Monday and Wednesday for me.) Again this was challenging but I believe it was worth it. For anyone looking for a structured way to upskill while working full time, this class is a very good option. The background provided in this course will give you the ability to learn more on your own, which I have done. If the program was longer, I would have liked to learn window functions as part of the SQL unit. While I now have some projects in my portfolio, I still do not feel like I know enough to apply for jobs--five years ago it would have been different, but the job market is difficult right now due to COVID. I have heard the immersive courses at GA also have support for resume building, interview practice etc, but I'm not able to afford that at this time.

If you already have a background in design this bootcamp might be repetitive. I already knew more than 60% of the information. I wish we had more practice and less slides, also less time with Figma tutorials. This is something you can learn on your own.... Read More To be honest I though this was for people with at least a slightest background in design so the feedback received wasn't very helpful from my classmates. In contrast, the experience of meeting and working with wonderful people makes this a beautiful experience.