Grace Hopper Program

The Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy exceeded my expectations in every way. The instructors are phenomenal - I had Mac and Sarah who were both excellent teachers and very approachable. My fellow, Jackie, was so supportive and available and she... Read More taught us a lot. Yasmin and Trent are both fantastic career counselors with tons of great advice and guidance for getting into the field. The program taught me so much and I got to build some great projects. I loved my cohort and am still in touch with them. I got a full-time job in the field within 3 months of graduating.

TLDR: Go for the tech instruction and experience. Be prepared to have a headache with career and financial services. LOVED the instructors. Had a really fantastic educational experience, and for the most part my cohorts were also great. Was able to work... Read More on a lot of projects both individually and in groups, and learning was very hands on. However, career services and all other aspects of Fullstack Academy leave a lot to be desired. Working with the career team was endlessly frustrating, with myself and others being given contradictory instruction, with little to no clear communication channels. The financial team doesn't get involved until you finish....but they're also incredibly frustrating to work with, and refuse to provide answers, ensure refunds are going to correct accounts (and then refuse to take responsibility for such), and also very rude.

I trusted Fullstack Academy/Grace Hopper Program to help me become a full-fledged engineer. And they delivered.

I had the most engaging, competent teachers who not only made learning fun, but also made the learning stick. They and everyone in the program... Read More made me become a confident and competent engineer.

I went to the Grace Hopper last August and have learned a lot from the JS Immersive program (Web design, Web development and Database transaction handling, etc). Excellent courses, nice teammates and great teachers there help me a lot.

I really enjoyed... Read More my time at the Grace Hopper!

The Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy in NYC helped me make a successful career transition into software development. Before starting at Grace Hopper in the fall of 2019, I was working in a different industry in a non-tech role and had been coding... Read More in my free time for about 6 months on and off. To prepare for admission to Grace Hopper, I taught myself some Javascript basics, and then attended the Fullstack Academy online Bootcamp Prep course. By the time I graduated from Grace Hopper, I had built several full-stack web apps, including a capstone project that I could showcase during job interviews. Through the curriculum and additional self-study of algorithms and data structures, I learned core skills that made me a competitive applicant for software engineer roles.

One of the most valuable parts of my experience was joining a highly welcoming, collaborative, and empathetic community of women and non-binary software developers. My classmates not only challenged each other in the classroom, but also cheered each other on through the extremely fast-paced curriculum and into the job search process. I'm grateful to be part of such a strong community to navigate a new career in tech with.

Pros:
- Deferred tuition
- Challenging and rewarding curriculum
- Inclusive, supportive community
- Opportunity to attend the school's 'Launch Day' near graduation, which can provide networking and interview leads
- Career counselor available throughout the job search process

Cons:
- Large class size (almost 40 students) sometimes seemed to overstretch instructors, teaching assistants, and career counselors

I heard about the Grace Hopper Program through a friend of a friend. I had taken 2 computer science courses right before graduating college and realized I loved CS more than my major. The Grace Hopper program seemed like the perfect way for me to learn... Read More about Software Engineering so I could pursue my passion. I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical before I started the program. Even on the first day, when I showed up I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision, but now that I've completed the program I can say with absolute certainty that I made the right decision. I know looking at the curriculum, and seeing the capstone projects that people have made can be really overwhelming. To go from knowing zero javascript/anything about web development to creating these amazing applications in the span of ~3 months. It seems too good to be true. You have to work really hard and put in the effort, but everyone there is rooting you on. The instructors, fellows, and your fellow students in your cohort are all their cheering you on. It is really the best learning environment you could ask for. Everyone there is super supportive and really truly wishes you the best. It feels really crazy knowing how much I learned and how far I've come as a software engineer in such a short span of time. If you are serious about making the switch into tech, GH is the way to go!

Pros:
* You are in a class full of intellectuals via pre-selection (coding interviews/assessments to get in).
* An all women (and non-binary identifying) cohort means incredibly empathetic people as the people you pair-program with.

Cons:
* Instruction levels... Read More varies according to who teaches (we had an instructor who read off of slides-- not that great , and then one who was amazing).
* Some of the labs/code within them are outdated.
* Mismanagement of "replay" students.
* Reliance of fellows (people who only graduated one cohort before you) can be very hit or miss when asking nuanced questions.
* Often relying on your own network to get your first job.
* You have to supplement your education with alternate sources throughout this program to make up for knowledge gaps, so is it really worth the price tag?
* The class size is way too big so it's hard to get things clarified in fifteen minute intervals.

I came to Grace Hopper after feeling very stagnant and unhappy at my previous job and eager to learn a new skill set. I am so happy with fullstack and my overall experience and the connections I made. This program was hard work all the way through, but... Read More you are given the resources and support to succeed.

Prior to the Grace Hopper Program, I was in a position where my job has become stagnant and going to work was a drag. I had interests in coding but never thought it would be possible to become an engineer. I thought to myself, people go to school for... Read More 4 years to learn this stuff. However, after attending the Boot Camp Prep course at Fullstack Academy, it occurred to me that the road to becoming an engineer wasn't as impossible as I had thought. (I attended the month-long Boot Camp Prep class because I had no prior knowledge with programming and to attend Fullstack's actual boot camp you will need some knowledge of code.)

The actual Bootcamp was 17 weeks long and it flew by. I had many amazing instructors during my time at Grace Hopper. (Shout outs to, Geoff, Jess, Brian, Ben, and David.) Every single person I interacted with was supportive and brilliant. There were times during the program where it was very stressful and I had doubts about my ability to code. The material we were learning was extremely difficult and hard to grasp. But because of Fullstack's no asshole policy and supportive environment, we were able to pull through and developed quite the camaraderie. Not only were we taught how to code, but we were also taught how to continue to learn and grow our technical knowledge base.

Now that I have graduated from the program and on my way to my first engineering job, all I can say is, why didn't I make this jump sooner?

The Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy changed my life. One month after I finished bootcamp, I found my dream job as a Full Stack Software Engineer. Corey and Geoff were the best instructors I could've asked for -- they made the rigorous curriculum... Read More fun and interesting, and were always happy to answer questions. Natalie in Career Services was incredibly helpful during the stressful time of finding a job post-bootcamp, and I am grateful these folks were there to hold my hand.

I was surprised at how quickly I was able to contribute once on the job, thanks to Grace Hopper/Fullstack! I added to the massive codebase of my company within the first two days of working there, and I am confident that I will be able to solve whatever problem is thrown at me. It is a testament to the strength of the curriculum that we are at the three-month mark since we graduated and most of my cohort has received at least one offer.

Not only did I become a competent software engineer after this program, I also have a strong network of fellow female engineers. I am so glad I chose Grace Hopper!