Fullstack Academy

TL;DR

The education I received from Grace Hopper Academy was invaluable and provided me with the tools I needed to obtain a job in the field and progress my career. Moreover, I established very strong friendships that benefit me both personally and professionally. If I could do it again I absolutely would, but would strongly recommend managing expectations - not all aspects of this program are great.

Grace Hopper Academy:

Grace Hopper Academy is a specific cohort of the Fullstack Academy school, specifically the all women’s program. The curriculum is the same, there is often intermingling, and teachers rotate through all cohorts.

Comparison to Other Bootcamps:

I take as many opportunities as I can to speak with graduates from other programs - App Academy, General Assembly, Recurse Center, Hack Reactor, Hackbright Academy, etc. The impression I get is that Recurse Center is only a good option if you are very self-motivated, independent, and have a solid foundational knowledge. Otherwise, Hackbright Academy and Fullstack Academy / Grace Hopper seem the best options. Most feedback on others have been a bit negative.

The Curriculum:

Most bootcamps seem to focus on Python, Ruby, Javascript - usually in a mixture. Grace Hopper teaches full stack javascript, currently focusing on their "NERD" stack (Node.js, Express.js, React, and Databases using SQL). Only focusing on Javascript allows the program to do a deep dive into the language that already owns the front-end and is being increasingly adopted for back-end. I would recommend this approach to most others, but would be hard pressed to decide between Javascript and Python. 

The school takes feedback seriously when it comes to the curriculum, and are constantly aiming to keep it up to date with where the industry is going.

The depth in which computer science concepts (data structures, data types, algorithms) were covered was adequate for understanding questions in entry level interviews, and certainly provides a solid foundation from which to easily continue learning.

Teachers vary in competency, but by and large are good.  Just because they are an instructor there does not mean they are knowledgeable on everything or even good at instruction. There seems to be an issue here with a culture of, “We are here to help! But also, no one helped me so figure it out for yourself.” It can be a bit jarring. If you have made it through the process to get into this program, odds are you are not the type of personality that just wants knowledge handed to or problems solved for you. Expect this type of dismissal sometimes when raising questions, and push further when you are told to just look it up online (as if you haven’t already).

Bootcamp Prep (BCP):

Unsure of if this still exists or if the details are current: BCP's tuition rolled $350 towards the overall tuition of the program. This is a great incentive to take it. If you are coming from no background in programming or computer science, this is likely necessary at a minimum. 

The Program Schedule:

• Builders:

At the discretion of the fellow that interviews you, you may need to take Builders, the precursor to Foundations. I would recommend asking to take it either way, because it’s very useful and provides more time to get your computer set up to their specifications. This does not cost extra, but does mean that your work starts two weeks prior to Foundations.

• Foundations:

A part time, remote program which covers javascript fundamentals. If possible, I recommend treating this as full time. The better you do here and the more you understand, the easier the main program will be. If you continue to work during this, it will be manageable but hectic. This lasts 4-5 weeks. You will have time slots to ask fellows questions. I recommend utilizing these times and asking as much as possible. Some concepts may be tricky.

• Junior Phase: 

Junior phase is the first half of the program - 6 weeks. Class sizes are really big compared to when they began this program. Originally being more like 16 people, now class sizes are mid to high 30s. Most days consist of a review Q&A a half hour prior to class beginning at 10:00 AM, lecture, a solo assignment, and pair programming guided projects. The pair programming is an integral part of the curriculum, and it will be something you do every day. Focus less on finishing the project and more on understanding everything with your partner before moving on to a next step. The pairs are randomized, and you can (and should) provide feedback after each pairing. This will become relevant in Senior Phase.

Your cohort will have a handful of fellows, which are students who just graduated and circle back through the program as the next cohorts mentors. Keep this in mind for perspective on their knowledge level. Classes have two or three teachers that cycle through on different topics, so there is less rapport built with specific teachers than before when there was a pair assigned to a cohort. 

• Review week (“Async Week”): 

Depending on when your cohort begins in the year, this may be a week or a month (for example, December holidays makes this a month). This is a week you work remotely again. There is enough to do that I would recommend treating it as if school is not on break. While this entire program is very demanding of 3-4 months of your life, my perspective is to lean into it because it is so short and you should take advantage of everything. 

This week will have you working on making a boilerplate and understanding OAuth. Boilerplate will be good to understand in your future career, because projects can often jump off a stock boilerplate codebase. OAuth is pretty important to understand, so keep at it this week.

Instructors use this period to determine who will replay Junior Phase (with additional tuition charged). Two from my cohort were replays from the previous cohort and two replayed into the next cohort. Seems like 0-3 is average.

• Senior Phase: 

Junior Phase pair programming reviews and ratings come into play heavily in Senior Phase. There will be four major projects: 

------> Presentation
A video or blog post on a specific topic you researched. 

------> Grace Shopper
A week and a half e-commerce website project with a group of four. This group is based on your ratings from Junior Phase. This project incorporates MVP (Minimal Viable Product) stages and code review with instructors.

------> Stackathon
A solo project lasting a half week and weekend. Hit the ground running and ensure you have a good direction with your instructor before the weekend comes and you won’t have access to assistance. Some instructors may not have experience or knowledge of mobile development, so be careful what project you choose.

------> Capstone
A two and a half week project with a group of four. This is group is based on your ratings of all students in a survey taken after Grace Shopper. By now you may understand more the importance of doing this. You pick the technologies to use, but the more technologies you try to cram into this project, the worse off you will be - both on a technical struggle standpoint, as well as when you need to speak about your projects in interviews in the future. Hiring managers will care much more about how you attempted to solve interesting problems on an unfinished app than a super simple, shiny game built on Unity. 

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The group members for Grace Shopper and Capstone can make or break your time there, so take rating pairings seriously.

I’d recommend keeping a list of ideas and researching interesting concepts for the Presentation, Stackathon, and Capstone starting in Junior Phase (Async Week at the latest). This will allow you to have plenty of input in how these go. Moreover, Senior Phase moves very fast so the sooner you finish the Presentation - which there is no class time allotted for - the better you’ll be. I would recommend doing this in Async Week.

Almost every day is begun with a REACTO (Read back for understanding, Examples/Edgecases, Assess/Approach, Code, Test, Optimize) problem or the occasional lecture. REACTO is this school’s approach to algorithm and coding interview preparation.  You will be paired randomly with someone for a week and switch off each day on being the interviewer and the interviewee. The problems can be quite difficult, and I personally used this time to, again, focus less on finishing the problem and more on working with my partner to understand as much of it as possible. REACTOs done here are, on average, on par in difficulty that interviews provide. 

The work involved with presentation of the Capstone seems somewhat relevant to product management and pitching ideas. However, the format is off to me. You spend too much time making a video and script for a presentation as if the app you make is full, finished, and worth presenting. You will certainly never show this video to any potential employers. I would recommend focusing more on thinking and practicing (with your group) talking points on interesting code or design you used, problems you came across, how you did or would solve them, and so on.

Launch Day: 

This is a hiring day in which companies come to campus for a mini career-fair which includes both Grace Hopper and Fullstack Academy cohorts. Somewhere around 4-10 from my cohort accepted offers within two months from companies they initially met on Launch Day. It’s merely an intro, an initial point of contact. Some companies may not be hiring but come anyway. Some may be hiring in 3-6 months. Some may be hiring for other cities like Boston. Some may be only hiring customer-facing, non-technical roles. These are things to keep in mind.

The roster for this day varies, but there are strong partnerships with some that come often (American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Simon Data as examples). You are assigned to four companies and have little say in who they are. Still, there is a networking session after in which you can approach anyone. I recommend taking advantage of that, and even trying to catch someone before it starts.

Value:

Fullstack Academy: $17,910

Grace Hopper: $19,610

These are not low numbers, to be sure. Contrary to their marketing, the Grace Hopper absolutely does have upfront cost in the form of a $3,000 deposit due before beginning. The final total after graduation is somewhere around $16,600. Note that BCP tuition may be deducted here. Monthly payments after accepting an offer will be along the lines of $1,800 for nine months.

With the three (or four) months of full time commitment, $3,000 deposit, two to four months (on average) of job searching after, this is a huge investment and is out of reach for a lot of people. Sure, the tuition repayment for Grace Hopper makes it slightly easier for women to take this route, but not by much. If you cannot afford a full 10 months off without income, this probably won’t be an option for you.

The CIRR report they show is usually dated by a year or two. Cohort graduates near mine, ending in the second half of 2018, saw in the $70k - $100k range - typically ~$85k. With that result, it seems quite clear as being worth it. I do not see or hear any stories of people going through this and exiting the industry after (even after 2-5 years). I know myself, and self study would not have been nearly as adequate to set me up for success.

You’ll make an excellent network of peers and friends and have so many resources to take advantage of once you begin.

Career Counselors:

This is a good example of how parts of this program can be helpful for those with little to no experience in a certain area. If you have gone through career changes, job interviews, networking, etc. there is quite a bit here that can feel very dumbed down or a downright hinderance. Keeping the perspective in mind that they are providing a really solid framework and tools available if needed will help you not be disappointed in the lack of depth. Sometimes, there doesn’t actually need to be depth, and sometimes there is only so much they can do to help you. Which leads to the problem of expectations. Do not allow this or other bootcamp’s marketing to shape your expectations into thinking that after this program you’ll be handed a job or it will be super easy.

That said, I will reiterate that they do provide a lot of resources and framework.

There is a career counselor dedicated to you when you graduate, but they have dozens of other graduates to help as well. Still, they were relatively available.  I felt they were inconveniently unavailable the day I received an offer. Interpersonally, I felt quite disappointed with the career success staff. The habits and guidelines they propose for the job search are a great start, but should only be used if you are not actively in the interview process with one or more companies that need more attention.

Job Search: 

This will be brutal. Expect to not get an offer for at least three months. You can get lucky, you can know or meet the right person. But do not expect that you’ll stand out to any company in any way. Too many people underestimate how rough this will be, how much rejection you will face, and how long it will take to get even one offer.

Hit the ground running and have a strategy for this time period. You need quality, but you also need quantity. Those from my cohort that applied to only a couple places a month are really struggling. The career counselors have a guideline they propose for this, and I’d recommend that as a starting point. 

Another point is know what you want. You can certainly get an offer for a tech support role or a client-facing role that doesn’t actually touch any code except when they let you for half a day on Fridays. But know what you’re willing to do and what you want to do. Keep in mind that the first job is the hardest to find by far, and once you have one the next will be easier. Stepping stones.

Alumni Network:

You will certainly make strong connections in your immediate cohort. I would recommend interacting with your Seniors and Juniors to triple that exposure. There is a dedicated alumni slack workspace. 

I feel confident that the network I have established from this program will help me moving forward. Moreover, it appears that most graduates from bootcamp programs are very receptive to one another. Traditional computer science graduates are hit or miss.

This will end up being on you to be a part of the change in the industry which has its fair share of gatekeeping.

Grace Hopper Moving Forward:

Like many trade schools, this has some potential problems with lowering admission requirements and diluting the reputation in pursuit of profit. As of right now, I did not find this to be the definite case. Moreover, the impression I receive from other bootcamps is that Fullstack Academy is the best when it comes to this.

I had an incredible experience at Fullstack academy. I came into the program with hardly any coding experience and left feeling like a certified pro. The instructors were made the course such a wonderful academy. Unlike my college educators, the Fullstack instructors were engaging, thoughtful, and made learning quite fun. I would recommend the class to anyone that has an interest in becoming a software engineer. 

Class sizes used to be <20, now they are 30-40. This matters a lot. Older reviews are not going to reflect what your experience will be like as this organization changes. Ask recent grads and current attendees directly on other websites like linked in, etc.

Work hard, have high expectations of yourself — and yourself only. Your classmates will be your biggest asset, so build good strong working relationships with them.

The 14 weeks onsite at FullStack were intense, challenging and very thorough  The instructors are deeply knowledgable (and very patient).    The curiculllum was clearly set out at the beginning of each phase.  Pair programming and test driven development kept things interesting daily. Workshops and test were challenging and really helped motivate me.   There are several bigger projects as you progress through the course and they really helped increase my understanding and enthusiam for software development.  

Fullstack was truly an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Coming in with almost no computer science background, I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up. The instructional team went above and beyond to ensure that I understood the material and provided every resource I could possibly need to succeed. If you are considering attending a bootcamp, Fullstack should be at the top of your list.

Fullstack's curriculum is pretty great and very up to date. Fullstack gives you a solid foundation for modern web development careers. Every project was jam packed with essential programming concepts, which was overwhelming at first, but it was useful to return to these projects during the studying phase of my job search. I also felt that my instructors were genuinely interested in web development and also in teaching. Fullstack is very high quaility bootcamp and you cant go wrong if you choose it. 

pros:
1. full-stack JavaScript-focused curriculum with strong emphasis on React.js was a perfect fit for jobs in the NYC market;
2. amazing, committed instructors;
3. project-based and collaborative (pair-programming throughout) was a plus in interviews;
4. Career Services helped me negotiate a higher salary

cons:
1. not enough emphasis on becoming proficient at writing tests (e.g. Jest, Mocha, etc.), and
2. Career Services was great at the negotiation phase, but they seem to be too busy to give too much individualized focus before that point

general advice:
1. Computer Science fundamentals is extremely important, but only so much of it can be taught in a 4 month program - make sure you study algorithms and web fundamentals on your own after graduation;
2. I probably was under-qualified for admission into this extremely rigorous program, which meant that I was constantly trying to catch up. I didn't really hit my stride until a month or two after graduation as I continued practicing on my own. Do your best to take advantage of free resources prior to the bootcamp (such as FreeCodeCamp)

I attended Fullstack as a Summer of Code student. I was weary of attending at first since I am already a computer science student, and thought it may be "overkill." But it was worth it in the end because I learned so many valuable skillsets that I would have not encountered otherwise. The interview prep support was also tremendous, and I really enjoyed learning and working with others who are equally motivated. Shoutout to Kate who was a wonderful mentor and teacher throughout my Senior phase! If you are weary about price/experience, just now that this is such a worthwhile experience and I feel way more confident in my programming abilities now. If I had any criticism, it would be that specific internship support wasn't available, but I got enough out of the job support that it didn't make a huge difference for me. 

If you are serious about changing careers into the tech industry, definitely consider Fullstack Academy. It was chanllenging, but you get out what you put in. The job search comes after the bootcamp can be even tougher. Be ready. 

Aside from getting a great experience from the bootcamp, I also gain an amazing Fullstack network which I treasure a lot.

Foundations was incredibly challenging. Junior phase was very challenging. Senior phase was challenging. Everything got easier over time because your confidence improved and your understanding of the context of what you were learning improved, and your skills for learning improved. At the beginning we all kept telling each other and ourselves, "trust the process." It got easier to trust over time. We got a lot closer than I thought we'd be able to over a remote platform, but it really felt like we were all hanging out every day. I made friends that I still talk to all the time. The instructors are not equal, but they're all very competent and helpful. Everyone in the tech world that I talked to after the program was thoroughly impressed by my knowledge and experience from Fullstack. I felt great during interviews and ended up with 2 offers. It's not all perfect, you've got to advocate for yourself and take initiative to get out of the program what you need from it. At the end of the day I really had fun in the program and I'm literally making more than double what I was in my last profession (with a master's degree) with no prior tech education or experience. What more is there?

For me, leaving my career and starting this bootcamp was a huge risk. It would mean spending most of my savings to continue to live in NYC will not working, not working for the first time in 12 years which grated on my psyche and not being sure I would get a job quickly... if at all in this field. 

Grace Hopper was well worth it. You can tell from the get-go that it's a mutual investment because of the tuition policy but it's more than that. I do have some criticism regarding my cohort in particular and the lack of consistency of instruction - but we still did learn a substantial amount. 

In terms of instruction - the curriculum is clearly tried and tested and is being iterated on consistently which is key. It does require a lot of self-direction and motivation but.. it's a bootcamp so that's to be expected. I was disappointed by the fact that we didn't have consistent instructors (only had one for quite a few weeks) and that I don't feel the instruction was always very strong. You can be an amazing engineer without knowing how to communicate that to other people. Instructors need to be able to communicate that to other people and stay organized. 

One thing I can't say was awesome enough was the career success team. Again - you need to stay on top of your own stuff - but they will support you really well (at least my counselor did). She was responsive and no-nonsense and made it very clear that the goal was to get you a job that you could thrive in for a while to come. My resume and linkedin and negotiation skills have never been better. At hiring day, I met so many companies that followed through with interviews and got and accepted my first offer within a month. And if that hadn't been the right offer for me, they would've helped me come to terms with rejecting the offer and making a plan for how to get a better one. 

Moral of the story: if you're thinking about it seriously, do it. It'll be worth it. 

I would definitely recommend attending Grace Hopper! Overall, I had a great experience and was able to find a job as a software engineer fairly quickly after graduating.

In doing boot camp research, I found that Grace Hopper/Fullstack's curriculum was the most robust and industry applicable of NYC boot camps. Also, the fact that it's the only all-women boot camp on the east coast (I'm pretty sure) was a huge selling point for me.

The curriculum was very thorough and delivered very very fast-paced. Not everyone makes it from the first half of the program to the second (project based) half. Even more stressful than the huge influx of information were the presentation-based projects. I definitely appreciated them, because it made it easier to talk about different technologies confidently. I hope they continue having that as an integral part of their curriculum.

I thought the instructors were a great mix of people in the industry and people who graduated from GH or Fullstack themselves. They seemed genuinely invested in your success, which is not something you hear about a lot of boot camps.

The culture at Grace Hopper was amazing. I loved how they emphasized collaboration over competition. For the most part, they seem to choose students who are easy to work with. I came out of the program with a lot of new friends.

Their career service team is really aggressive, in a good way. They are really great at what they do, which made it less stressful to find a job after graduating.

Overall, I had a great experience at Grace Hopper, and would recommend it to any woman looking to change their career.

My experience at Fullstack Academy was truly remarkable. I had an amazing time at Fullstack and it redefined my career goals as my job search was more successful than I ever could have hoped. The technical foundation you are provided with truly is enough to obtain a job at a top company. The quality of other students was very high and it was truly special to learn alongside so many interesting people who had succeeded in many different areas and industries. I could not reccommend Fullstack more highly. The only caveat I would note is that the expereince is what you make of it and it is not magic. You must be willing to put in the work to fully reap the benefits of this amazing program

Fullstack was not just a great bootcamp experience, but one of the best educational experiences of my life. The team of instructors does a great job creating a sense of community. The curriculum is incredibly thorough, and by the senior phase of the program I could not believe the kinds of projects we were producing. I think the only downside was that the instructors are incredibly capable and experienced programmers, but they don't have much teaching experience. Overall, FSA is a great program that really produces job-ready graduates.

Going to Fullstack was one of the best decisions I ever made. 

There's a lot of things that come into play when you're transitioning to a new career, especially in the tech field. 

A purely educational course isn't enough. Anyone can take an online video course in their pj's at home and learn the same material I learned at Fullstack. 

What you get is a community of people who you'll potentially know and make life-time friends with, who are all going through the same experience as you. Also you'll get staff who are invested in you, supportive, and who know what it's like to be in the tech industry. Staff that wants to know what you're up to months later, that helps you with a job interview a year after you graduate, and staff that basically just wants to see you suceed. 

Not becuase there's something in it for them, but becuase they honestly want to see people at their true potential.

I had virutally no previous experience in coding before I attended Fullstack (other than what I needed to know to pass the application) and I won't lie, getting a job wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. But I've learned so much at Fullstack, and continue to learn becuase of the skills they taught me. And becuase of that, a year after graduating, I'm in a position I never thought I'd be, earning more thant I ever thought I could. It's ignited this passion in me and I'm positive that flame was started by the spirit of the Fullstack staff. 

If you're in the New York area and are looking to attend a bootcamp to become a web developer, this is where you want to go. 

First of all, I can definitely say that Fullstack provided me with everything, and more, to land a coding job and be a successful coder. A power-packed curriculum taught by brilliant profs, plus an extensive and innovative course on having great coding interviews, landed me a job very soon after graduation. But many other coding schools can teach you similar things. What sets Fullstack apart is the sheer personal attention and supportive, friendly environment they create. I'm still in touch with so many alumni and the team at the campus and everyone looks out for each other. It's not one of those schools that spits you out, lands you a job, and forgets you, in other words. You're always a part of it. If that's what you're looking for I highly recommend it.

I don't have much to add here to all the great reviews.  I had a great time in the program and really enjoyed every aspect of it.  

My favorite parts:

- The other people in my cohort were all super-sharp.  You could tell in admissions that Fullstack isn't messing around when they let in people for the program.

- The curriculum is really fun and up-to-date. They were shifting to React and Redux and I really liked how they presented it.  I've done lots of online tutorials and found that Fullstack's curriculum really is well-presented.

- The instructors are some really cool people.  I felt they were supportive and always had good insight into how to do something better.

Some things I wished I would have known before the program:

- The job search is tough - they keep telling you that but when you do it, it's a lot of "nos" all the time.  You have to really get used to that - I wish I had kept up more with my cohortmates and kept working together afterwards.

- They have a cool set of classes on Saturdays around CS topics.  I liked them but you feel a bit burned out going to class 6 days a week.  They should consider making those more optional.

- Sometimes you get to choose who you get to work with like on the final project.  That can be rough if you don't get along with your team and our cohort had some teams that seemed to have drama.

All in all - Fullstack helped me do what I set out to do - I'm sitting in a new programming job now and it's amazing - I really can't believe how far I've come in the last six months.  If you're willing to put in the work then this is a fun and fast path to a new coding career.

I had very high hopes for Fullstack. I took their techincal test and got through to the interview. After that, things rapidly declined and I became very frustrated with their team.

After the second interview I took their bootcamp prep course, which was poorly organized. The lessons were straightforward enough but MANY of the example questions did not match the lectures in terms of content and those that did, were on a completly different level than the lecture examples. The TAs that assisted each session had no clue what was going on. The instructors themselves were recent graduates- and while their efforts were commendable, they couldn't quite make up for the awful course. Not to mention the course is $3k. Hack Reactor offers a prep course for $800, and they are on par in terms of rigor! I would not recommend FS!!

After finishing their bootcamp prep I did the reassesment and their admissions team ignored it. The message they give to applications is that they are disorganized and don't care. It is exteremely frustrating to 'work' with them. They are VERY SLOW to respond if they do at all. Additionally, their cohorts have burgeoned to about 40 students each, and they have not been able to handle that expansion well. Previous reviewers/graduates have not experienced the new FS, which is falling very short of their reputation.