App Academy

Going to echo some others' comments here around getting what you put in. Personally, this has been one of the most rewarding educational experiences I've undergone (that's counting K-12 and a rigorous undergraduate experience) for a couple of reasons: 

1. If you are willing to put 80-100hrs of work into doing anything a week, you are going to learn very quickly and become good at whatever you're doing. What's difficult is setting up the correct incentive structure for yourself, having mentorship to guide you through your learning process and correct you when you're wrong, and and most importantly, having similarly incredibly motivated others to undergo the process with. App Academy provides that part for you. Your motivation is the other part of the equation. 

2. I met some incredible people through this experience from all places in life and had to pair program with all of them. I'm talking mothers with newborns, former flight attendant, master carpenter, professional poker players, never went to college, just graduated from college, biotech field alums, startup founders, people for whom english was a second language). Huge learning experience for me, and something you're just not going to get from self-study. 

3. I loved building something end-to-end, learning how to figure out how to learn what you don't know in order to get something work, learning how to talk about your thought process cogently etc. These are all skills they drill into you here. 

You get out what you put in. This is the most work I've ever put into something in my life -- 80-90 hours per week -- but if you're willing to put in the effort to study and work hard, you'll get a solid foundation out of it. The projects you build are the best part -- building multiple full-stack applications from scratch (one solo, one as a team), and a front-end only JavaScript project that start you out with a nice portfolio to showcase your skills when you don't have job experience.

Learning is slow paced in the beginning, but speeds up as the program progresses. You really start to learn when you're thrown into the project building portion. At this point it could take up to 5 hours to get a Teacher to show up to help you out, so you have to figure stuff out yourself. Some of the Teachers are amazing, others are lackluster, so you never know what you're gonna get when you ask a question. Overall I've learned a lot in App Academy, I just wish I could say it was mostly their doing.

I'm currently in my fifth of sixth months at App Academy and I can honestly say that I've never learned so much so quickly. At this point in the curriculum I have a lot of confidence in my skills and I am actually looking forward to the job search. I will say it has been a rough ride. This has been my life for the last 5 months and I've spent somewhere between 60-90 hours a week on average studying/reading to stay afloat but it has all been worth it as I can now build websites using different technologies all by myself. I'd recommend a/A to anyone who is serious about becoming a software developer, just know that while you're in this program it's going to take up MOST of your time.

TLDR: Loved it, and definitely worth it!

Longer version:

You really do get a job over 100K, typically within the first month or so if you're on top of your cohort. So if you're confident in your logical ability, definitely worth it. The flip side is, if programming seems hard for you, no matter how good the bootcamp, the job search is going to kick you in the butt. That said, 90% of graduates get hired in the first year, so if you get in, the odds are in your favor! 

Aa is pretty selective in who they admit, and it ensures that people are capable of succeeding in this very competitive field. Computer engineering is a lot of work, but damn it is more interesting than almost any other job out there, and pays well too. Anyways, I say, take the dive!

While having a structured learning environment, and a well-curated curriculum is essential for success in absorbing so much material in such a short time. I felt the most important yet unadvertised aspect of App Academy is the camaraderie and mutual support engendered by its people. 

I learned so much from my classmates who were all diligent and brilliant . They inspired me to try harder and keep up. The TAs are knowledgable and supportive. My advice to any prospective student is to have faith in the program and also have blind faith in yourself.

App Academy was a challenging experience, but equally as rewarding. I was very nervous going into the bootcamp, and even even considered dropping out in the very beginning. With the help of my TA's, however, I was able to over come my anxiety and persevere. There will be times that you feel overwhelmed, but do your best to absorb what you can and by the end of the program you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish. Also, never sacrifice sleep for work. The curriculum goes at a steady pace, but will not wait for you to recover if you start to lag. Finally, make sure to talk with the TA's if you need assistance, they are all great people and more than willing to help with questions or other problems.