App Academy

Overall, this was definitely one of the most rewarding experiences I have had. I learned an incredible amount of information and feel confident in my skills as a software developer. You can tell that a lot of time and effort is put into the curriculum... Read More and that they are always striving to improve upon it. I believe that everyone on the teaching staff really cares about their students' success and are constantly going out of their way to make sure everyone is getting the help they need to succeed. I would recommend this course to anyone who is looking to transition careers into software development.

I enrolled the last 12 weeks intensive bootcamp program at App Academy. Apparently they are changing the cohort to 16 weeks from now on.

Overall, App Academy is not the place where you just sit there and hoping someone would hold your hand to review through... Read More programming related materials. Sure, there is help provided if you request so, but it definitely takes effort and dedication to be successful at App Academy, and more importantly, to be successful at your future job after graduation. Self-motivation is the key to success here.

Even though I came from software developer background, the topics that App Academy taught us are pretty challenging, that I constantly find myself running out of time to study ahead of next day's material. Though, I did feel fulfilled and satisfied by the overwhelming topics that we have to read and understand because it is also probably one of the few way we could improve ourselves rapidly.

My only suggestion to future students are: do not slack off during the weekend. I learned that the hard way...

This program is difficult. You have to set yourself up to succeed. You should have good work ethic, you basically have to clear your calendar for 3 months dedicated to it (including holidays).The tests are a mixed bag. They can be very hard and feel somewhat... Read More contrieved. But in all honesty if you study for them you can not help but learn the material.

I was doubtful at first about pair programming. It seemed to me just a way to offload the workload of teaching a student by having other students teach each other. I wondered how much can I learn off someone who doesn't know any more than me? Or how useful can I be to someone else when I have no idea what is going on? But what actually happens is both of you work through a problem together. There are times when know/understand something better and are forced to explain that. That process of having to explain your though process is invaluable. It cements your undersand and proves that you know what you are talking about.

All in all it was a good experience. For best results take it seriously and study before hand. Its insanely fast paced. I doubt how sucessful you can be if you come in to it blind.

Before deciding to attend a bootcamp, I did the same thing you are doing. I read review after review, trying to gauge the value a program like this one might offer me. My previous experience with coding was a grand total of one Intro to C++ class at a... Read More local community college, and a few of UC Berkeley's online Software Development Certificate classes (none of which I personally recommend, but that's a story for another day). Once I had decided that the bootcamp path was one I would take, I began the arduous task of selecting the RIGHT bootcamp. Ultimately, I decided that an in-person program was the right fit for my learning style. Living in the SF Bay Area, there seemed to be two choices. I asked friends and family, that work in the tech industry, to take a look at the syllabi, read all the reviews, and had a few sleepless nights. I ultimately chose App Academy as the school I wanted to attend, participated in their online bootcamp prep program, and a few months later I was rewarded with acceptance into their program. Then the really difficult part began . . .

This program is intense, it's designed that way and they make no apologies about it. You are forced to constantly learn new material, never truly feeling comfortable before the next topic is laid before you. A week into the course, I was sure that I would not make it. I came home everyday to my wife and told her that I had no idea what was going on, that I was barely hanging on, that many other people surely had a better grasp of the material and I was doomed. I spent hours each day after class and every weekend up at the school, working on homework or studying for assessments. App Academy is quick to point out that almost everyone has these feelings, and it's Imposter Syndrome in full effect. They chose you for a reason, they say. You are supposed to be here. For myself, these feelings of inadequacy continued through the course. Though you do get comfortable with a general feeling of unease and helplessness. I will also say, that despite these feelings, I did feel supported throughout the program. I could ask questions whenever I wanted, help was available from TAs and my fellow students. The bonds formed in this stressful situation, and the assistance that you are able to both receive and give to those around you helps keep you grounded and headed towards the finish line. I've heard a lot of talk about the structure of Assessments, and the policy of being asked to leave if you fail 2 of them. Is the system perfect? No, it is not. Is fear an amazing motivator? Yes, it certainly is. Is watching good, hardworking, smart people walk out the doors early a painful experience? Without a doubt. Is there a better way to do it? I truly don't know. But that is the process that App Academy has chosen, so just know what you are getting into. If you are not able to calm yourself down in extremely stressful testing situations, these tests are going to be hard. But, if you do the work, if you go over the practice tests and make attempts to understand the material to the best of your ability, if you are honest with yourself about the information you do not understand and ask questions, you will be fine. If I made it through, you can too.

As I write this, I am at the end of the program, with just a few days left. The Job Search part of the program is much different than the instructional portion. There is much less structure, the occasional lecture on soft skills, networking, reumés, interviewing questions, and further work on some algorithms and data structures. Some people enjoy this portion, some hate it. Some feel abandoned, some use it to finally focus on what they really find interesting. I don't really have any issues with it. I'm happy to be provided with the school's perspective on how to get a job in a very competitive industry, but the quick switch from an extremely structured environment to one where you drive the process can have one feeling lonely. In the end though, you are the only one responsible for your career and you have to start providing yourself with motivation and guidance at some point in time.

Overall, I can honestly say that I would make the decision to come back to App Academy again. I have learned invaluable skills, and I have a path to a job doing something that I love. There is still a lot of work left to do. I will have to go back and dive deeper into nearly all of the concepts covered in the course. I don't believe that most people come out able to get a job the next day, but I would never have made the progress that I did without the rigor and stress that came along with the program. The bootcamp experience is definitely not for everyone. But if you do chose to take this path, I believe that you will find it very rewarding. As others have stated, and in the interest of full disclosure, I am being offered a sweatshirt as motivation for writing a review. I believe everything that I have written, and it is my honest assessment of the program and my experience in it.

Best of luck in your search, and in making a life altering decision. Happy coding. . . .

App Academy is not an easy program. That being said, you will be able to learn an incredible amount in a limited amount of time. The program will definitely push you to your limits, so you have to be ready to put in the work. While challenging, App Academy... Read More has also been an incredibly fulfilling program. Although you will feel behind at times and like you have no clue what is going on, that is ultimately part of the process. Assuming that you put in the work that is required, there is no reason you can't be successful in completing the program.

Overall, I had a great time during the 12-week in-person curriculum. While I did come in with an undergraduate CS degree, I feel that the material supplemented what I learned in college quite well (although a bit slow the first few weeks). But given my... Read More background, I did not find the pacing of the course to be all that intensive until the projects hit. There is definitely plenty to learn. They go in-depth enough on topics necessary to be considered a web developer but there are a lot of topics only briefly touched on to explore further on your own.

Pros:
- TAs are extremely friendly and willing to help
- Plenty of interesting projects to work on throughout the course
- Pretty much everybody was fun and easy to work with

Cons:
- Trying to get help during projects can lead to a lot of waiting for TAs
- Homework could be more meaningful rather than a bunch of small segmented assignments
- Be prepared to keep working hard over the weekends, especially for the full-scale projects toward the end of the course

PROS:
Exceptional classmates --> First and foremost, I have to recognize how lucky I was to have such an amazing cohort. The degree of talent in the room, the relentless work ethic, the shared positivity, and the fun! I'm very thankful for the lasting... Read More connections I've forged throughout the curriculum.

Rewarding projects --> I dare say you'll work harder than you've ever worked in your life when approaching your solo / group full-stack projects in the back-half of the curriculum. If you take the projects seriously and approach them as learning experiences, you will 100% grow as a person and as a software developer.

Knowledgeable teaching assistants --> I was fortunate to have an extremely knowledgeable and passionate TA as my circle leader; he consistently did a terrific job of reinforcing the learnings from the curriculum and ensuring that we felt prepared heading into our assessments. The rest of the TAs, some more experienced than others, did a fine job of designing/delivering our daily lectures as well as helping us all out on the floor each afternoon while we tackled our pair-programming assignments.

CONS:
Absence of Feedback --> As a new student, you'll be required to provide daily feedback on a variety of topics: quality of the curriculum, how well your pair-programming experiences go, your satisfaction level related to the support of your TAs, etc... and yet (to my knowledge) none of us ever received a single piece of feedback in return. I was very vocal about my desire for someone with experience to review my code or even my progress at any point in the curriculum... sadly, this did not come to fruition. If I'm honest, App Academy did not faithfully deliver on the expectations it set regarding the amount of support we would receive throughout the program. There were times when I was either seriously concerned about my own performance or extremely frustrated with aspects of the curriculum, but no one representing the program ever extended an opportunity to have a conversation about this.

Excessive emphasis on passing assessments --> Expect to take tests constantly (at least 1x / week for the first six weeks, not including practice exams). As of this moment, if you fail more than 2 exams, you risk getting dismissed from the program. The pressure was extremely high for almost all of us leading up to the assessments; we were concerned for ourselves and the possibility of losing the friends that we became close with. While I don't have a problem with designing a system to ensure that students are keeping up with the course material, I do seriously question each test's ability to accurately (or even roughly) gauge a student's understanding of the material. In hindsight, it felt like a lot of success was derived from a combination of memorizing code and test-taking strategies that were aimed to prioritize passing unit tests (i.e. scoring points) over genuine understanding of the course material... this last point being especially frustrating because it lies in direct contrast to App Academy's emphasis on prioritizing understanding over finishing assignments / projects.

Poorly designed online educational materials --> Over time, I found myself increasingly frustrated by the quality of App Academy's online educational materials. As a full-time in-person student, you will rely on this online program to supplement the daily lectures and help you complete the daily homework assignments. As a visual / tactile learner, I have no problem admitting that I regularly found myself completely discouraged by App Academy's approach to online learning: giant blocks of dense (often highly technical) text, static (non-interactive) code-snippets, poorly edited videos with outdated material, UI that lacks search functionality, etc... and you'll frequently find topics that App Academy decides to send you elsewhere on the Internet to learn about.

HTML / CSS education needs (a lot of ) love --> I would not recommend App Academy's HTML / CSS education above any of the most well-known and freely available resources on the internet. The curriculum peppers in bite-size doses of these topics with several half-hour projects & only 1 lecture entirely devoted to CSS. Almost all of us reached intermediate levels of competency in these topics exclusively through self-learning while working on our full-stack projects.

Insufficient guidance --> This criticism is specific to the back-half of the curriculum, when you'll transition to working on projects and preparing for your inevitable job search. Some examples come to mind: the shortage of TAs to support our cohort and the lack of organization / awareness / preparation regarding project-related lectures & availability of related online resources. I would also recommend regular check-ins between coaches and students in either a small group setting or 1 on 1 (if time permits); the program can often feel like such a whirlwind and the burden is so often laid on the backs of the students to figure things out themselves... I can't speak for everyone, but I would feel SO much better at least having the perception that there's someone here that is willing to actively guide me instead of just passively being available in the shadows.

Final Thoughts:
Though this opinion is subject to change once I leave the program and make my way through the job search... despite all my criticisms (no bootcamp is perfect), I have ZERO regrets about enrolling in this program. It challenged me to grow in ways I have never experienced in an academic or professional setting. It gifted me some amazing new friendships and connections that I'm extremely grateful to walk away with. It's worth noting that bootcamps are absolutely not made for everyone... the firehosing of information, the lack of sleep, the pressure, the impostor syndrome... this can often feel like an extremely stressful environment (on your body and your mind)... but if you're up for the challenge, this could very well change your life.