App Academy

Over the course of four months, I learned so much material with the support of my fellow cohort mates and instructors. The instructors were incredibly nice, and knowledgable as they had gone through the course themselves and understood the stress of the bootcamp. It actually wasn't as stressful as I expected it to be, but you definitely have to put in the work or else you'll fall behind. The best part of the bootcamp are the people you meet. My cohort was full of incredibly intelligent individuals who all had the same goal as I did. The curriculum is mostly good at AppAcademy. You'll learn Ruby and then move to Javascript and React, which were the harder parts of the curriculum. Some parts of the curriculum felt dated, and could definitely be renovated to modern standards. Unfortunately, we were not taught React hooks, which I highly hope they add to the in-person curriculum due to the increasing importance of hook-based development. Overall, I enjoyed my time at AppAcademy, but definitely be prepared to put in the work.

Pros: 
- Get to learn in demand skills.
- Great support from cohort-mates and most instructors
- Fast-paced learning environment that forces you to focus on the material on a daily basis. 
- Structured learning schedule
- Promotes pair programming on a daily basis
 Cons: 
- Very fast paced, not fit for people who are not able to devote 100% of their attention to the curriculum and learning new material daily
- Some instructors take a while to answer questions, or they kind of brush off your questions. 

After attended the 16-week program, I am now able to create apps and websites using MERN, Ruby on Rails, and JavaScripts, and most importantly, understand coding memes. This is coming from someone who never enrolled in a single computer/coding course before. I stayed up until 1am most days to codes, and although I am sleep deprived ever since I started this program, I really enjoy learning new tools and being able to create similar apps/sites that I myself use often. It can be easy to feel discouraged at first because many of my classmates have previous experiences with coding, but as long as you stay humble and willing to learn/ take constructive criticism, almost everyone is willing to help you out, especially the TA.  The only thing I wish the program can improve on is updating some of the curriculum, since technology advances at such a rapid rate, even if the lesson is only a couple of years old, it can be really noticeable with deprecated and 'unsafe' codes. Although part of the program isn't just to teach you the technology, but also how to think and how to keep up to date with the new techs, so with some research you can probably stay up to date with the codes anyway.

Prior to App Academy, I got a Computer Science Minor from college but I believed it didn't properly prepare me to excel in the industry. Because of this, I joined App Academy in order to learn more about current frameworks and to learn how to create good-looking websites and projects. For the first week or so you start off doing solo work learning fundamentals of ruby while after that is all about lectures in the morning and pair programming in the afternoon. If you decide to join App Academy, I would highly recommend making some friends within the first week of class because they would be a resource where you can bounce coding ideas and methods with each other.

Before this Bootcamp, I was working in the food industry for 10 years and tried to change my career. The course is intense for sure but you get how much effort and time you put into the BootCamp. Whenever you will run into problems you don't understand, the main teacher and TAs definitely help you and walk through why and how it works altogether. If you think about taking the BootCamp when you think you are ready to take it, please don't. You'll never be ready for it. Just Do it! You'll learn as you make mistakes and ask questions. I hope this helps!!

I enrolled in the 24 week bootcamp with 0 coding knowledge and experience. It is a very rigorous program, and when they say you need to spend an average of 60-80 per weeks, it is not an exaggeration! It is easier if you've had previous experience or a degree in CS, as many of my fellow students did, but I had to spend literally all my waking hours in front of the computer to keep up.That said, if you put in the work, you should be able to keep up. The TAs and most instructors are previously graduated students, they've been through the program themselves and know what it feels like, so they are very helpful and nice. Less than 20% of the class of graduates made it through without any deferrals, and of the original amount of students, there was only about 25% left when graduating, so if you do not have the time and energy to fully dedicate yourself to the program, it may not be the best choice for you... However, I have learned so much, and the additional job search guidance after graduation is extremely valuable to me as well!

Pros:
-You get all these resources and guided feedback to learn the material
-Instructors do know their stuff
-Material is always evolving to reflect the current trends in Software Engineering to always make you a relevant candidate during job search
-You can actually see a tangible difference in your knowledge before coming in, during the course, and after
-You'll be making friends / connections, whether one or two, or even the whole cohort, and you'll find yourself and your friends supporting each other throughout your journey
-The Income Share Agreement!
-Will always have access to the material and job search help
-They're now offering a part-time online course!

Cons:
-A few (and I mean a few) hiccups here and there regarding the quality of material of specific modules
-NOT a guaranteed job during job search (I'm pretty sure this is explicitly mentioned)

The good: The curriculum is updated regularly. Most of the staff is extremely friendly and tries to be helpful. You can develop great friendships and network very easily with fellow students. There are plenty of fun projects to work on and some extra curriculum you'll have access to when you want it.

The bad: They don't necessarily handle those updates to the curriculum well, which creates a really inconsistent experience for students across different cohorts. This would be manageable on its own - the world of SWE is constantly changing and that's a good expectation to have coming in. However, a/A's communication - both internally and to the students - is definitely not what it could be. Rapid changes leave the staff uncertain, which means communication to students is poor and transparency is often highly lacking.

The laughable: The Progress Tracker is a super silly solution to a mundane regulatory issue. Take screenshots of your check-ins in case you need to 'prove' you pressed the button because it's not always a reliable tool.

The questionable: Many of the people who will teach you have recently graduated from the program themselves. This is typical of boot camps, but I had cohort-mates whose confidence in the program was shaken by the fact that we were being taught by people who just finished class rather than by experts. When they assist, TAs are often looking back at their own solutions and aren't as able to answer questions thoughtfully vs. regurgitating what they were taught, which may or may not apply to your question. There are many standouts, though - find them, befriend them, and learn everything they have to offer.

The takeaway: The most important thing you can learn at App Academy is how to survive the constant barrage of information. When I went through, there were assessments most weeks of the online program. To survive those and remain in the class, you had to be able to chug from the firehouse constantly and then turn that knowledge around into practical application immediately. Because of this, what you're really doing is learning how to learn - and that's arguably more important than coming out a perfectly brilliant engineer. If you make it through, you'll be able to do the same on the job - learn quickly and efficiently and turn that knowledge around into practical application immediately. That's the real value you get from this program.