| | Mallory | The Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy in NYC helped me make a successful career transition into software development. Before starting at Grace Hopper in the fall of 2019, I was working in a different industry in a non-tech role and had been coding in my free time for about 6 months on and off. To prepare for admission to Grace Hopper, I taught myself some Javascript basics, and then attended the Fullstack Academy online Bootcamp Prep course. By the time I graduated from Grace Hopper, I had built several full-stack web apps, including a capstone project that I could showcase during job interviews. Through the curriculum and additional self-study of algorithms and data structures, I learned core skills that made me a competitive applicant for software engineer roles.
One of the most valuable parts of my experience was joining a highly welcoming, collaborative, and empathetic community of women and non-binary software developers. My classmates not only challenged each other in the classroom, but also cheered each other on through the extremely fast-paced curriculum and into the job search process. I'm grateful to be part of such a strong community to navigate a new career in tech with.
Pros:
- Deferred tuition
- Challenging and rewarding curriculum
- Inclusive, supportive community
- Opportunity to attend the school's 'Launch Day' near graduation, which can provide networking and interview leads
- Career counselor available throughout the job search process
Cons:
- Large class size (almost 40 students) sometimes seemed to overstretch instructors, teaching assistants, and career counselors |
