App Academy

Coming from a non-traditional background as a musician with no college degree or work experience, App Academy seemed too good to be true. I'd always been interested in tech, but could a bootcamp really take me from nothing to software developer in 6 months? The answer is... Yes! BUT you have to be ready to put in a tremendous amount of passion, dedication, time, and effort. There's no magic secret to App Academy... It's just a lot of hard work. No one can learn to code for you, and no one can get a job for you... That's all on you! But App Academy provides you with all the tools and support you need, and it was a truly life changing experience for me. 
The core curriculum (as it was when I attended) is incredible - I can't praise it enough. You don't just learn web development frameworks, you learn how they work under the hood. The TA's are always willing to help you when you run into issues, no matter how long it takes. And your fellow cohort mates will be fun to work with! A lot of students (including myself) were dubious of pair programming in the beginning... And although it's not perfect, the pros far outweigh the cons. Communicating your code to others is a make-or-break skill in the job search, and pair programming is a great  way to develop that skill. Some days of pairing will be better than others, but that's just life haha. 
If you're worried about the workload, don't be. Well ok... maybe worry a little haha. App Academy will keep you busy all day, every day for the entirety of the program, weekends included. This is especially true if you're striving for a deep understanding of the material (which you should be!). But learning  software development is a fun and rewarding process, and although the workload was immense, I found it enjoyable. There will be times when you feel overwhelmed, but there's a strangely satisfying feeling that comes from being thrashed day after day after day haha. I think the most difficult part is the end of the course when you're building your own projects. I'm a perfectionist, so I put a lot of pressure on myself, and worked very long hours. I had no school or prior experience, so I knew my portfolio would be a critical part in showing off my abilities as a developer. 
Once projects are completed, you will move into the job search, which is a completely different challenge. You have to balance sending out plenty of applications, preparing for interviews and continuing to learn and grow as a developer. You will be responsible for structuring your days and holding yourself accountable, and it's really easy to get lazy and unmotivated (I know I did), especially when your pipeline is empty. Also, don't expect your career coach to get you a job - there's only so much they can do. To give some detailed job search stats, I sent out a total of 333 applications, which resulted in 8 phone screens, 3 coding challenges, 2 on-sites, and 1 job. I was extremely fortunate.
All in all, App Academy was an amazing experience. However, it seems like App Academy is growing and changing, as all companies do. I can't say for certain if the experience of future cohorts will be the same as mine. I know the curriculum has been completely overhauled, and I'm not sure I would call it an improvement, based on what I've seen. It'll be up to you to decide if App Academy is the right choice, but I'm happy to say that it worked out very well for me, as well as many students before me. If you've made the decision to become a software engineer, App Academy is definitely worth consideration! 

The App Academy Bootcamp is a great place to learn web development. In my opinion, the program was well paced and adequately priced. The instructors in my cohort were extremely helpful and went above and beyond to help answer questions outside of the direct curriculum. I think the program prepared me with the necessary skills to enter the job search, though the continued help and opportunities after graduating did not live up to my experience during the bootcamp. To be fair however, I entered the job search directly before the coronavirus outbreak happened so that is a contributing factor to the difference in experience between job search and bootcamp instruction. 

It is definitely a very rewarding experience. I learned so much in this 6-month journey, which I don't think I could have done in a year if on my own. However, the program is not for everyone. I read lots of reviews like 'prepare to spend 80 hrs+ per week' before joining a/A, and I thought it was exaggerated. It was NOT. I think I ended up spending an average 90 hours per week. If I was not sleeping or eating, I was studying. I don't think I have ever done something like this in my life before, not even when preparing for the college entrance exam or GRE. Stay positive, take care of yourself and work really hard, that's how I made it through. If you are serious about changing your career, then give it a try!

My experience at App Academy has been one of the most rewarding times of my life. The program can seem slightly overwhelming at times with the large amount of content. However, you'll be amazed by how much of the content you can retain. The instructors I've encountered at App Academy have been amazing and have really made the experience a 5-star one. Completing App Academy will make you confident in your ability to develop full-stack web applications, and also equip you with the ability to be comfortable pair programming with anyone. Highly recommend this program to anyone looking to make a career change.

Just graduated today after 1000+ hours and so relieved to have made it through! It's easily the hardest thing I (and everyone else in my cohort) have ever done. More prepared to build real applications, code and answer higher level data structures / algorithm questions than my friends with CS degrees said they were when they started job searching. In fact a bunch of people in my cohort already had legit CS degrees. Only side-note is that I noticed a BIG difference in the general vibe of the program based on what instructors you get to work with. I switched from the SF cohort to Online when I found out I was having a baby (which they were very supportive of) and it was like a completely different bootcamp just because I got some over-the-top friendly instructors. Not a serious issue though because a/A's written and video resources are fantastic, and all the instructors are super capable engineers that can help you track down and conceptually understand any bug you hit in your code. Other side note, I strongly recommend dabbling through one or two Udemy courses before starting a/A though if you literally have no coding experience (I did the first half of Colt Steele's Web Dev Bootcamp, loved it). Not because you necessarily have to, but it'll make a/A more fun and less stressful. That said, my BFF from the program had zero coding experience and was working at Home Depot before doing a/A. He breezed through so yeah, no previous coding experience necessary is not a lie. And I absolutely love my career coach so far, honestly the job search curriculum and post-graduation support alone would make the financial commitment worth it in my opinion.

TLDR – After watching me go through app academy my wife wants to try to get in to the program to facilitate her own career switch (for whatever that's worth). I was an art teacher 6 months ago, if I can do this anyone can! But I never would have learned this much this fast without a/A.

 I really value the experience I got out of App Academy; it is indeed rigorous and intensive and it goes very fast. That being said, you don't as much time to dig into certain subjects as much as you want to but you come out learning very very much (of course you have to study). Also, I really valued the fullstack projects I got to create/help create at App Academy. I've taken some previous programming courses at college, which I really appreciated and some were super great. However, I never created a full stack project, like cloning a website, writing all the backend and frontend; even though I am still finishing the fullstack, this was one of the most awesome experiences. You spend a lot of time pair programming.  Tips: You don't have to come in knowing anything; I had taken some programming classes before and I'm glad I did. There are students at many different levels starting. A couple of CS majors in my class and for them, they got through the material easier/got through more of the projects.  I really appreciate the environment to help each other and support each other, noncompetitive. I think the TAs are friendly, encouraging and really care and want the best for you. They are GREAT (at least in my experience)  They put you in a circle, which is a smaller group of people that meet half hour daily. Shout out to ALISSA, my circle leader, who really believed in me, was super positive, always encouraging, and really cared, checked in to see if I wanted to review anything. I'm super thankful for her belief and faith in me, oh man, I definitely needed it! Thank you Alissa!!! =D  The assessments, do what the TAs say and make sure you do the practice ones over and over again. At App Academy, you allowed one free fail and then after, if you fail again, you are allowed one retake and if you don't pass the retake, you are kicked out. But if you reallly do the practice tests over and over, like they ask you to, you'll be fine. The assessments were really stressful at times, really stressful  I met a LOT of really awesome people! =D Be prepared to work hard, really really hard, it is super busy all the time and super stressful at times. I like having structure; that helps me. And App Academy really helps you in the job search process....partially because you HAVE to apply to a certain amount of jobs per week 

I really enjoyed my time here! I came to App Academy with a background in biology and knew nothing about coding. I've come a long way these past few months and I think that App Academy's done a good job preparing me for entry into the workforce as a software engineer. 
I have a very good opinion of App Academy because I can see the results of all my work and studying. I'm able to make amazing web applications and I have a good understanding of the coding languages and tools taught by App Academy.

It is a lot of work, though. I woke up at 7 and commuted 40 minutes to App Academy, where I coded from 9AM to 6PM. Then I commuted 40 minutes home and either reviewed the day's material or studied for the next day's material from 8PM to 11PM. As daunting as that sounds, it is completely do-able. It's hard, but it's not impossible. Just be prepared for it and keep your end goal in mind.

 Furthermore, I've been talking to friends and hear about the friends of friends who have gone through coding interviews. Many of those interview topics have already been covered by App Academy.

If I have to nitpick about things, it is that I don't think that we reviewed enough material as we progressed through the course. We learned ALOT. Which means we also forget a lot. We're told that we should review after class, but most days, there's so much material to look at for the next day that I don't have time to review.

I still really enjoyed my time here at App Academy, though, and I'll be missing it.