I started the program in July 2020, while the pandemic was in full swing, and finished it in October 2020. I felt like App Academy did a good job organizing the switch to a virtual cohort and while I still wish I had that immersive in-person experience, I think I had a good and rewarding experience overall. Pros: - The curriculum is well assembled and the projects do a great job of teaching the intended materials. I enjoyed working on daily projects a lot. - Almost every day, you pair-program with a new partner to work on a project. I liked this because it lets us practice our soft-skills which are very important in the real world. I worked with some amazing partners and we ended up having fun the majority of the time. - The instructors and TAs were helpful and were always available to point you in the right direction but never explicitly give you the answers. Cons: - Ruby was the first language taught to us in the curriculum, but they are switching to Python instead. While Ruby is a great language, I would have preferred to learn Python instead as it seems to be widely used in the industry. Alumni do have access to the Python module. - The last couple of weeks of the curriculum that lead up to the job-search part of the program felt rushed. We were introduced to an entirely new placements team but I found it difficult to reach them much less connect with them. |