App Academy

With any boot camp I am sure there is going to be ups and downs or things you like and don't like, so with all that aside was App Academy wroth the time and money? For different reasons than I thought when I joined yes it was. Everyone will have a different experience base on how you view things and what your expecting. So here is what I know for sure without App Academy there is no way I would be in the same place today without them. You don't know what you don't know tell your face to face with it. App Academy forces you to move on to new stuff even if you think your not ready and you when you move on you find out that were actually ready. This is the biggest reason why I would say if your thinking about a boot camp go for it!

Pros:
+ The course is designed well and is an incredibly effective way to learn a lot about coding and web development in a short amount of time. I entered App Academy with no coding experience or technical background and graduated with a ton of practical skills. 
+ Amazing Teaching Assistants. All the technical staff at AA know their stuff and want you to succeed. 

Pro/Con: 
+ Whether this is a pro or con depends on what motivates you, but the possibility of dismissal for failing two assessments adds a significant amount of stress. For me, this stress made the program more effective. I would keep studying for tests long after I was 'ready' for them, which lead to a greater mastery of the material. 

I attended the App Academy SF June 2020 in-person cohort (which ended up being entirely online because 2020). It was a great experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to leap into the deep end of software engineering. It was an incredibly intensive course, and you constantly feel overwhelmed and like you’re not learning just as much material as you are, but make it to the end and you will feel actually qualified enough to call yourself a software engineer. 

Pros: 
- Extremely hands on
- Learn to use many different frameworks, Ruby, JavaScript, the MERN stack, and more
- friendly staff and TAs
- lots of practice working with partners, which is hugely helpful for making sure you can articulate your coding thought process 
- a lot of help during the career search

Cons:
- feel like you’re just not getting it...often 
- the curriculum is sometimes laid out poorly and hard to parse. 
- 16 weeks is a huge time commitment (but what do you expect when trying to switch careers entirely?)

This course demands A LOT of your time and devotion. I came in to this program with no coding experience at all and know I still have more to learn even after but I have come leaps and bounds in my coding skill. If you're not ready to commit 12 - 14hrs 7 days a week to coding then this program isn't for you. The TA's are amazing (from my cohort at least), they were knowledgable and past grads so they knew what it was like to be in our shoes. The curriculum readings need to revised and updated in a few parts, thankfully TA's are there to clarify. Before the cohort starts they have you learn the basics of Ruby since the beginning of the program is focused on Ruby. I highly suggest also taking time to learn some JavaScript as well. Because you get a lot of time with Ruby and then when JS time happens you'll feel like you just got thrown into the deep end. At the time of writing this review I am just finishing week 15 out of 16, getting ready to get into the career quest part (technically already started), which is also intense. Pretty much from start of the program until you get a job you will be working you butt off. So make sure you know how to take care of yourself, exercise, get some good rest and try to maintain one hobby that is a stress reliever. Your fellow cohorts will be some of your greatest resources and best friends, you will bond over struggling together and it's a great time to make networks (you never know what companies you or any of them will get into). 

So if you are more than interested in coding, are able to not work for 4months straight or more, dedicated enough to spend 12-14hr days to learning then this is the program for you. It's not the best because it's easy, keep that in mind. As stressful as this experience has been, I am extremely happy that I did it and that I made it to the end. I have family in the tech industry and showing them what I can do after these 4 months they are very impressed and reassure me that I can land a role as a jr dev. Hoping and continuing to study hard so that that is the case.

App Academy is definitely no joke. It is 16 weeks of constant work with no letting up. 60 hours a week of work is the bare minimum, and honestly I don't even know if that is enough. I am pretty sure that I worked well beyond that most weeks. The assessments are very tough but often fair.

The pace is insane but definitely doable. You just need to keep on top of everything. I often found myself worried that I did not fully understand a certain topic covered in class only to find out that I knew more than I realized when the time came to utilize those concepts. You will be surprised when you realize the topic that gave you trouble a few weeks ago is now second nature.

Overall it was a very positive and life changing experience that I would highly recommend!

I came to App Academy with some previous knowledge in programming and computer science. I just finished the 24-week online program, it wasn't easy but I enjoyed the structure of the course and I got to know amazing people that were collaborative and supportive. I completed my training as a software engineer and now I'm receiving training to find my first job. I learned web development using different technologies and computer languages like React, Express, Node.js, sequelize ORM, Javascript, Python, Flask, among others, aligning with high demand from tech companies increasing the chances of landing a great job. App Academy provided everything I was looking for and I am a proud alumni!

Coming here from another country, learning English and Programming languages at once is definitely a tough journey for me.  It took me  a  very long time to figure out which program/bootcamp is suitable for me. I was trying to learn how to code with a bunch of schools however App Academy gave me the best self learning experience. I love the curriculum, high quality videos,  the way teachers convey the lecture and support students and how selective App Academy is. Especailly, I WAS TAUGHT TECHNICAL SKILLS (PROGRAMMING) IN PLAIN ENGLISH. Amazing tutors/teams and great curriculumn from App Academy helped me to make my dream come true.  Within 6 intensed months learning with App Academy, I turned into a new leaf: from a person who knows nothing became a software engineer. I had been learning and sharpening a lots of both technical  skills (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PyThon, Node.js, SQL...) and non-techinal skills such as how to write an attractive resume, cover letter, negotiate when I get a job offer, and so forth.
I highly recommend you going with App Academy.