App Academy

I loved my time at App Academy. I really value getting hands on experience and that's exactly what I got for 6 months straight. Besides just coding you learn how to work with others, how to ask questions, and how to learn things really fast. You will get to build your own projects and you will learn how to learn new technologies. By the end of the curriculum, you will have enough skills to build whatever you like. It was certainly challenging (really challenging!) but if you know this is what you want to do then it quickly becomes a lot of fun as well. 

As someone who has worked various jobs in the service industry, retail, dog daycares and vet clinics, who has just began his new career as a software engineer, I can say that App Academy is responsible for guiding me through a rapid upshift in my life experience. The curriculum is very fast-paced, but not impossible! The instructors and my classmates were all so positive and we all helped each other to get through it, and to learn and grow. The projects we worked on provided a chance to immediately put into use the new knowledge and skills we picked up each week, in a cumulative manor, which was something I was unable to find on my own trying to teach myself online. The job hunt portion was the most difficult time for me mentally and emotionally, but the support I received from the staff during this point had an immeasurable impact. I'm incredibly grateful for this program.
Pros:The skill of picking up new information and putting it into use, quickly, is a very valuable skill to have. This program will absolutely help you hone that skill. Also, everyone there is so positive!
Cons:During group projects, not always getting to contribute an equal amount / other group members flying ahead left me feeling a little lost and unsure when it came time for solo projects. Best advice? Speak up to your group-mates! Everyone is there to help. Also, the job search portion was probably the most difficult thing I've had to do in my life. Pace yourself, and don't give up hope, IT WILL HAPPEN.

Recently graduated from App Academy and accepted a 6 figures offer within three months of graduation during end of 2022. The learning style really helped and forced me to learn new tech skill in a fast paced environment, daily pair programming allowed me to make a lot new friends and be more confident when working on a new challenge. I think the way it teaches u to code is very similar to working on an actual job. You get to plan, discuss, work and debug with your teammate/partner. I honestly really enjoyed working on the projects. My teammates were awesomeeeeee!!! I really had a great time the past several months. After my graduation, I spent three months looking for job, my career coach is a tech coach, he provided a lot of advice on dsa(leetcode) during weekly meeting, also we got to do mock interview every week with a pair, and etc. other behavior coach also helped me revise my resume and cover letter, and provided a lot tips on how to outreach to companies.

App Academy was the best investment in myself and my career I've made to date, outshining my four years spent at a top ranked college. The 24-week online program allowed more time to solidify fundamentals I now use on a regular basis, and had a pace that helped the material sink in. Pair programming and collaborating with peers on projects was particular helpful in putting lecture learnings into practice. The career planning prep support was instrumental in helping me secure my first job offer placement ~5 weeks after graduating. I've already recommended a/A to friends and have seen them complete the program as well with similar placement timelines. Definitely one of the strongest bootcamps available. Worth it!

Coming from a tech but non-software engineering background, I personally found the course to be rather intensive. I cannot speak for others who have a non-tech background. But challenges are not without rewards, I learned a lot of different technologies in a very short span of time. Just graduating from a bootcamp won't guarantee an engineering job, BUT App Academy did improve my chances of getting hired during my interview phase. Although not every company is open to bootcamp graduates, thankfully my current company was.
Learning Javascript and React was the main reason for helping me land an engineering job. I'm glad to see that the current curriculum teaches Python as Ruby on Rails is not as widely used (although I've seen many positions ask for Ruby on Rails so don't sleep on this language!)
In summary, App Academy provided me with the foundation and habits to unlock my engineering potential. Each student will graduate with their own variation of preferences, experience, and skills. Some will grow into dedicated backend or frontend engineers, others might work as fullstack engineers or even transition to other specialized engineering fields. My favorite part of bootcamp was learning alongside a supportive cohort & network who I still communicate and share ideas with even years after graduation!

I did App Academy during the pandemic, so I'm not sure how the in-person experience is, but the time I spent learning with App Academy was both impactful and useful. The instructors were very helpful and answered a lot of questions. You are given a lot of resources and a lot of practical work that you can add as projects on your resume. Unlike some bootcamps, you are given mentorship after graduation to help you find a career. Definitely a recommend if you choose not to do the traditional 4 years CS degree.

Deciding to attend App Academy was one of the best choices I've made. I went through the 24 week online course, it covered a lot and was intense at times but was easily worth it and has been so rewarding. I've been working in the industry now for over a year and I would not be here without App Academy. They do a great job of ramping you up and teaching you enough to hit the ground running. Their training was thorough and was just what I needed! I have felt on par with my colleagues with equal experience who have CS degrees. Just like anything, you will get what you put into the program, it was a big commitment so you need to make sure you're not on the fence about it.

I attended App Academy in 2021 with no prior programming experience and was placed in a job 2 months after graduation where I was making 3x what I had ever made before. I went with the 24 week online course. The instruction varied from ok to spectacular, but there was a lot of wonderful support from the teachers, TAs, and classmates, both technical and emotional. Post graduation, they provide job search support, which was such a huge help. They give you all the tools to be successful, all you have to do is commit to being a good student and you'll come out on top. This was seriously the best professional decision I could have made and I'm so happy that I went for it.

I was part of one of the very first online cohorts 2 years ago. The class was difficult, which was expected. I passed all 6 exams and the course itself.

Most days were an hour or two lecture, then you typically are put in a zoom with one other student, who you then work with for 6 hours. This can be hit or miss, one of the classes for example, I had a fellow student present for the first 5 mins, and asked me to cover for them every time a teacher checked in. This no longer felt like adults learning a career, this felt like high school kids ditching class.

Overall, I was able to learn the material, but with more credit to the hours I did on my own after the class, rather than working with another student who also didn't know what they were doing for 6 hours a day. I was somewhat aware of this stuff already going in.

What I did not expect, was how little they help you get a job after the class. They advertise the heck out of it, but they did nothing.

-I had multiple staff quit throughout my time there, so I was constantly needing to reintroduce myself and explain things to new staff, at times basically restarting my job search.

-They advertise connections they have with other companies for employment, but they were all near their campuses in CA and NY. Like I said, I was in the online class, and they had 0 recommendations for Florida. Their advice would be to 'find networking events', this was during lockdown.

-The job search program as a whole, just came off as a way for them to drop you from the program and bill you the full tuition. You need to do 25-40 applications a week depending on your 'job coach' and 40 hours of job search. If you don't, you get a strike for each of those offenses. 10 strikes and you are dropped and are liable for the tuition. This did not happen to me, but it was what you were subtly threatened with, every week. It took two weeks for it to feel like I was doing job applications for app academy, rather than myself. I was stressed trying to hit a certain number or apps, rather than find a job.

-Their job coaches at the time, we're not job coaches. They were more like a/A police, doing their best to get their company money. This job search did not help me at all, and in fact, hurt me. I had to keep applying at these companies in Florida, who barley knew what a coding bootcamp was. I was broke, taking loans, and couldn't go back to my previous job field, because that would break contract and I'd again be liable for 30k.

I was very excited getting accepted into App Academy, at a time I needed some help in my life. The whole experience ended setting me back 3 years. I am worse off, from attending App Academy.

***************UPDATE 11/28/22****************
It has been 8 months since I posted this review. This post is quite long, but I assume if you are still reading, you may be a former student in a similar situation, or simply curious about the program.

This month (November 2022) I began receiving emails from App Academy, requesting help as a program graduate, to help test their current students. Not a job offer, just asking me to help. I replied asking to be removed from that email list. App Academy's response just a few days later was a demand for my financial documents. This email came on a Thursday, requesting my financial documents by Monday, or else I would owe the full $30k immediately from 2019.

The request to be removed from emails and demand for my financial documents may be coincidence, but prior to this exchange, I had not heard from them in a year.

Feeling as I had no other option, I sent them my documents. Turns out I qualify for my $500 to be refunded. App Academy agrees and creates an invoice stating I would be refunded that week. I am here now 8 days later, with no responses to phone calls.

App Academy ramps you up quickly to cover the core skills needed on the job. You'll be in an environment that encourages and supports your growth as an engineer so motivation is easy to come by.  Your cohort will have a mix of people from all different backgrounds so your starting point in terms of coding is not important at all. The most important part of the course is the job search itself. What's great about App Academy is that there are coaches there to hold you accountable and help keep you on track. There will be lots of workshops to help you improve your white boarding skills, interviewing skills, and more. Overall, I'm really glad that I went to App Academy. Be warned the job search can be very tough and even if you have the coding chops/interviewing skills you still might have a hard time. A little bit of luck and playing the numbers game goes a long way.

App Academy helped changed my life. Lost my job in Education due to the pandemic and I wanted a new career. App Academy was an intense 16 week course which helped prepare me for my first role. As a jr developer you have a lot to learn and sometimes in short period. The intense and quick learning format of AA helped me with that as my job required me to learn C#, something AA doesn’t teach. My first role was an internship that paid a salary of $80k, double what I made in education. After 6 months I was hired on as full time from an intern and my salary was $125k and I was fully remote. So AA was intense but definitely life changing for me.