App Academy

App Academy is definitely worth it if you're interested in web development. Although it is quite difficult, it is very rewarding if you put in the time to study. I came in with little to no experience in coding. But after going through the curriculum and studying for at least 80 hours a week, I have learned the tools and gained the skills to build a webpage. The instructors are great at teaching the material, and they are always more than willing to help. Overall, I am very glad I decided to attend App Academy.

The experience of App Academy is one of a kind. When you are at a/A, you will be amongst people who are extremely motivated which keeps you motivated. The course starts at an incredibly fast pace and does not slow down. For me personally, I had to dedicate all hours and days of the week to keep pace with the curriculum. However, it was definitely worth it to go through a/A. I came to a/A without knowing much about coding. Now I feel like I have a solid foundation for Ruby and Javascript. I also have several projects for my resume and portfolio. The teachers at a/A are also extremely nice and helpful. I always felt like the teachers were engaged with me whether it was in a lecture or one on one. There always super nice and always willing to help.  Overall, this program was definitely worth it. If you want to learn about coding, a/A is the place to go.

 

App Academy is life-changing. This was by far the toughest workload I’ve ever had to endure. I constantly wondered day by day if I would survive and understand everything thrown at me. But week after week I was reminded just how much I’ve actually retained and how much I was growing into the software engineer I aimed to be. I went to a different bootcamp a year beforehand and learned a great amount of skills, but going through App Academy showed my glaring weaknesses and helped me build a proper foundation with great guidance from TA's and Instructors. I encourage anyone to apply who is passionate about coding and willing to put in the work. It is nowhere close to easy, but everyone is totally capable.

It's no understatement to say that you will literally be eating, sleeping, and coding throughout the entire journey. If you plan on attending, make sure to be mentally prepared to do nothing but study and do code with your time. The extremely fast-paced nature of the course leaves no room for laziness. You have to be at your very best every single day, and, although it will be hard, it'll ultimately make you a better programmer and person. Although the program is very rigorious, it's doable for those with the right mindset. Make sure you study hard, stay curious, and sleep well. Programming requires a lot of logical thinking and sacrificing sleep to study is going to lead to more problems than solve them. There will be many moments, where you're going to feel like you're drowning in the work, but you'll be fine because you've got amazing instructors and peers to help you along the way.

After working in the restaurant business for five years, I was skeptical about trying to make the switch into the tech industry.  However, let me tell you how my App Academy experience went! After being accepted, I was given a plethora of great material to get up to speed. REALLY STUDY THIS MATERIAL. Taking the time to go through all of it and thoroughly comprehending all of the concepts immensely helps once the cohort begins. The last few weeks leading up to the course start date they have "open house" study sessions with 1-2 App Academy instructors/TAs to help answer any questions. I suggest taking note of the things that give you trouble and having questions prepared in advance to ask the staff in person. There's also a Slack channel where everyone can help each other out. After my first official day, I was surprised by how enthusiastic the everyone was! The culture at A/a really is amazing. All of the instructors and TAs are very patient and super nice. The days are very long but since you pair up with someone new everyday time flies. Stay on top of the homework, get enough sleep, ask a lot of questions and you'll have an exceptional experience. PS: The job search curriculum afterward is where App Academy shines. Just when you thought the program couldn't get any better!

There is no exaggeration about how difficult the program is. This isn't specifically in regards to the material, but the entire program itself. Considering that <5% of applicants get accepted and still there are students that get kicked out, it isn't about how difficult the material is. Students get kicked out because they are not prepared for a bootcamp. The full-time program is rigorous, strict, and fast-paced. There is no time to catch up if you fall behind because everyday there is brand new material to become familiar with before the next day. Preparing for a bootcamp comes down to how much time and energy you are willing to completely dedicate to the program. Those that slept enough, ate well, studied hard, minimized distractions, worked on the prep material thoroughly, and remained consistently focused had a better chance at succeeding. The program is designed to teach students many skills in as short a time as possible. It is structured to expose students to new material through various methods and then solidify that knowledge with practical exercises. On top of that, the instructors are more than happy to help every student with any issue. It is clear how passionate they are about programming as well as teaching. The environment is welcoming and encouraging. I have never been taught by a more dedicated group of instructors and I have never learned alongside such hardworking and persistent classmates. Every student is there to strive for success and every instructor is there to help them do it. In the end, I was almost surprised to realize how much I actually accomplished in such a short time.

App Academy was one of the more challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. I came to App Academy looking for a change in careers. Previously i have worked in the service and construction industries, with no background in tech. With the help and guidence of App Academy, I have gone from knowing nothing about coding to feeling confident that I have the skills to thrive in this industry.

I really enjoyed how they structor their curriculum, with it being mostly pair programming with different partners every day. It gives you a chance to not only learn from the instructors but also your peers, while sharpening your teamwork skills. The TA's are great and enthusiastic to be there to help you along your journy.

The cirriculum is very fast pace and at times feels a little overwhelming. But if you ever feel like you are falling behind the TA's have office hours after class is dismissed for the day and even on weekends. So if you are willing to put in extra time they are there and willing to make sure that you fully understand the material.

I have attended 2 other full stack web development schools and App Academy is by far the best.  Their curriculum is very well structured for the beginner and the advanced students. It really doesn't matter what level you come from, App Academy is challenging but you definitely come out better for it in the end.

 

Other courses I learned how to build applications.  That is OK if I wanted to freelance or work for some small start up company.  But I have bigger dreams. I want to work for a big 4 (or 5) company and one day start my own company involving tech.  In order to do that I needed to have a deeper understanding than putting code together. Ask anyone that works for a big tech company or what makes the difference between a good programmer and a great one.  They will all tell you they understand how things work more.

 

One of the criticisms I hear is that App Academy has a good portion of their curriculum using Ruby.  I understand it is not as popular of a language as JavaScript and Python but the part I like is how they use the language to teach concepts of computer science that are extremely useful going into a big company or building your own.  Think of it this way, they trade you getting deep knowledge of software engineering for the trade off of learning a popular language. Having worked with 3 other languages and familiar with about 10, Ruby is a really really easy language to learn and why struggle with a language when you can struggle and grow with concepts and understanding of software engineering as a whole.

 

Take my advice, if you're looking for a web development bootcamp, take App Academy.  It is the best

They are not wrong when they say your days will be long. I recently finished the guided curriculum and it is as intense as it gets! One major concern is that the directions are not written very clearly in my opinion. There will be some out of order,  some where you have to follow sentence by sentence, or some where you have to read the entire directions. That kind of inconsistency frequently got me aggravated as I wanted to learn over be challenged in some instances. There will also be almost no time for yourself so be prepared and know what you're getting into.

That being said, not once did I ever feel unsupported by either my peers or TAs. The community is probably the most powerful tool you have at your disposal. You will never feel alone whether or not you are the most intelligent person in the room. I am enjoying my time here because at some point (and trust me I was a non believer) everything just... clicked.

If  you want to go here I suggest ramping up your work ethic and getting ready to have no life for a few months.