App Academy

I tried to learn to program on my own, and got pretty far. I had too many moments where I wished I could just raise my hand and ask a question from a real-life person. That alone made App Academy necessary to me.

Their curriculum is HARD. I've always wanted... Read More to live in San Francisco, and I had arrived a day before class so I didn't have time to explore. 3 months later, I still hadn't explored SF because I had ZERO spare time. Even giving the course 100%, there's still material that I missed simply because I didn't have the energy to learn because of how tired I was. Having said that, they cover EVERYTHING. There is very little that I've heard at my new job that doesn't at least sound familiar from App Academy. They really go above and beyond to give you the opportunity to learn a little of everything.

It took my 4 months to find a job after graduating, which was stressful. Having said that, I'm now making literally three-times what I've ever made in my life. PLUS benefits. I never thought it was possible. I've found my dream-job, and now I live in paradise. I still owe App Academy money, since they don't charge you until you get a job (except for a deposit which is applied to your fees later). Nevertheless, I am a very happy person. The three months I spent at App Academy changed my career prospects so much more than my 4-year degree did (depressing, I know).

The job prep was wonderful. I've heard nightmares about some bootcamps graduating you then throwing you to the sharks. Since App Academy wants you to pay them, they really help you get a job. Lectures, advice from successful students, mixers, job-matching, team projects... It was all very motivating.

If you're willing to take the stress, DO THIS. You will be so happy that you did.

App Academy was a great experience. Just a little under a month after graduating I accepted an offer for a position as a backend engineer paying the advertised average salary for graduates. As far as I can tell my classmates are also having success in... Read More getting interviews and offers.

App Academy makes money when its graduates get good jobs, and the course reflects that. The quality of instruction isn't bad, exactly—I would rate it slightly below average. But if you are looking for one on one support, a vibrant community feel, or a... Read More thoughtful introduction to fundamentals, you will not get it there. What you will get is an extremely focused curriculum, a no-nonsense environment that motivates people who already have some natural ability, and a lot of very good advice about your job search. App Academy is changing so much and so fast that I hesitate to speak too much about its specific practices when I attended. We didn't get much immediate help with job placement. The partners they touted didn't materialize in NYC. But I got a very good job, essentially my dream job, by following their advice almost to the letter and working my ass off. The vast majority (though not all) of the people in my cohort also got good jobs. If you are smart and self motivated and you enjoy coding enough to do it on your own time before you go, App Academy will produce results.

I attended App Academy back in the Spring of 2014 in New York with Jonathan Tamboer as my instructor and about 20 - 25 other student in my cohort. I attended with the hopes of just learning more about software development and become proficient in a web... Read More language, such as Ruby. App Academy delivered all that and more.

Both our instructor and TA were very helpful and attentive. Jonathan was very aware of how everyone was receiving the material and focused his attention where appropriate to ensure everyone was on the same page. I will say that the pace of course is not for everyone. It is intense and you can easily fall too far behind if you are not careful.

I ended up deciding to immediately pursue a job as a software engineer and it didn't take long to find the perfect fit. I felt App Academy prepared me well as a junior developer and also prepared me well for the job search process. I'd recommend this course to anyone looking to learn web development.

I never thought I could learn so much in 3 months. The curriculum and staff is amazing! You learn really good coding style and best practices and will leave the program a strong enough programmer to learn whatever language or framework you want. It is... Read More a very stressful experience, not because of the constant work, but because they kick a fair number of students out of the programs for test scores. Also, I strongly recommend using erganomics as a preventative rather than a treatment, for carpel tunnel.

TL;DR: No exaggeration, App Academy was a life changing experience for me, and if you are willing to work hard it can be life changing for you as well.

I started out with a little experience programming and the idea that I might like to do it professionally... Read More and app academy tough me the skills I needed to do just that. The application process requires you to work hard but is also highly rewarding. The prep materials they provide give you a clear path toward what you will need to learn to get accepted. I became a better programmer just by learning the material required to get accepted.

The program its self is nothing short of amazing, in my opinion its the ideal model for education. Expert teachers, helpful TAs, and a well rounded and diverse group of smart and enthusiastic peers who are just as eager to learn as you are. The peer interaction is one of the best parts of the program, you can easily learn as much if not more from your peers as you will from the lectures and reading.

The BEST and most unique part of app academy is the tuition model (no tuition until you find a job, at which you pay a % of your first year salary over time) . This is crucial and something you can not find in any other boot camp that I have ever come across. The fact that they do not get paid until you find a job means that your incentives are aligned with theirs. They have every reason to make the curriculum the best that it can be, and they will support and advise you until you find a job. This also means that you dont have to shell up $10K or more up front like you would with other boot camps and there is no risk if thing don't work out.

I learned a tremendous amount and made a lot of friends during the program, many of which I am still in touch with today. I attended app academy in October of 2013 and I now work for groupon making 2.5x as much as I made before I was a software dev. Fellow graduates of my cohort are have jobs ranging from big name companies like Tumblr to cool start ups and all to my knowledge found jobs after finishing the program.

App Academy is a sure path to a software dev job for those who enjoy programming and are willing to work hard at it.

App Academy was the only program I researched in San Francisco that did not require full payment before obtaining a job. That aligned the school's incentives with the students' incentives and is a big mental relief for a cash-strapped person. I also think... Read More it allows them to be more selective in the admissions process.

I thought the curriculum was good when I attended, though it is stressful to be tested every week. Not passing could mean being asked to leave. However, most of my class finished the course, and seem to be doing well as web developers.

You get out of it what you put into it.

a/A worked for me. I learned a boatload, had fun, built stuff, and got a great job as a full-stack software engineer at a good company, where I'm also having fun, building stuff, and learning a boatload.

That said,... Read More it's NOT a panacea. I watched people struggle to get in, struggle to stay in, struggle to get jobs, and struggle to keep jobs. I also saw other people do very well.

The program is far from perfect. It's growing faster than it can adapt, leading to problems:
1) Instructor quality varies. There are great lecturers (some of whom have already left since my relatively recent graduation), and there are mediocre lecturers. There are also just straight bad lecturers.
1a) If you rely completely on lecture to learn and understand the material, you're doomed anyways. That's not the point of a bootcamp.

2) Project quality varies. Some of them were honestly mind-blowing. Like, whoa...that's how that works, holy shit, I get it-type projects. Some of them are filler (learning how to do authentication 4 times is an example of teaching to a test, which in a short curriculum, is probably not the best use of time).

3) TAs are usually high-performing students. That's good, if you want to learn from people who graduated shortly before you. It's good for the ratio, but they aren't always able to help you.

4) Job search curriculum makes up 3 weeks of the total 12. In some ways, it was really helpful: whiteboarding, working on projects, and dedicated application time were all helpful! Fuzzy "you can do it!" lectures, ghostly "job seeker counselors" that were frequently out and less frequently helpful (though encouraging, which is fine), and a general head-in-the-sand approach to the glut of junior (and specifically bootcamp grad) developers out there were all kinda downers, considering this was a quarter of the total course. Increasing the required application # from 100 to 200 is not a good strategy to combat a rapidly saturating market.

BUT - to bring it back to where I started: it does work. You just have to be aware of the limitations of the program so you can make up for them with your personal efforts. Self-teach extensively before considering a bootcamp. Being top 50% isn't really good enough for bootcamp grads anymore (if you want to get a job quickly). Make sure you're top 5%, both in terms of your pre-bootcamp fundamentals and your approach while in the bootcamp, and you'll be insulated from most of the problems outlined above.

There are more positives than problems, so I'll just list them quickly here (nobody wants to read another "a/A changed my life!!!" paragraph...right?):
- Current curriculum materials
- More good teachers than poor teachers
- Office space and equipment is reliable, comfortable, pleasant
- The tuition system is truly, uniquely good. They really are motivated to make you successful.
- Relatively diverse (reeelllaaatively), smart, interesting cohort-mates
- A relatively higher standing in the bootcamp-grad-reputation game.