This is a personal story.
I graduated from the July 13' cohort. I was attracted to AA (App Academy)because I liked their pay later model. If they were willing to bet on me than I felt comfortable betting on them. I was able to find a job within two months of graduation and I'm still working there now (I'm loving it!). The bet paid off.
AA was the most intense experience I've ever had. I came in with limited RoR/JS knowledge and I learned a ton over the course of the program. I personally liked the fact that several students had more experience than I did. Although at times discouraging, it ultimately motivated me to push hard; I was determined to not fall behind. It blew my mind that by the end of the ninth week I could build a web-app front-to-back. For real.
Not everyone makes it though. I've personally been told there have been scenarios where students were refunded their deposit in unfortunate scenarios. Ned and the staff give more attention to the people who seem to need it. It's pretty clear they want everyone to succeed, it seems genuine too, regardless of their financial incentives.
It amazes me how after the program I am able to have high-bandwidth conversations with experienced engineers. Although we learned Rails, I'm currently writing a web-app for work in Flask (Python micro-framework). Picking it up was chill because I understood fundamental web and MVC concepts. More importantly, I learned "how to learn." The skills you gain from AA go beyond Rails/JS, you gain a skill-set to become a real programmer.
AA was an experience I will never forget. I worked my ass off, met a lot of motivated people, and got my dream job working as a professional programmer. Best luck to anyone considering the program or going through it right now -- just remember to get enough sleep! | 