App Academy

Going through App Academy's program has truly been a remarkable experience. No matter what your background is and if you're serious about starting a new career in Software Development, be prepared to be challenged 7 days a week during the main portion of the curriculum. At the end, it was all worth it! 

The instructional staff are very professional and are diligent about student success. They will teach you everything you need to know in short amount of time. Because of the amount of information you'll learn, it will actually FEEL like you've been in the program much longer than 3 months.

App Academy is just as difficult as they claim. You really will need to spend upward of 85 hours a week on your studies if you want to be successful, but if you have the time and the discipline then don't be scared away. I've had very, very little free-time over the past months, but in exchange I've gained an extremely valuable skill in less time than I could have imagined before beginning the program.

The instructors are top-notch. Everything in general is conducted extremely professionally, from the location and the building/amenities (I attended the NY branch), to the assessments and the projects. Before joining the program I was under the impression that I could have learned all of the same skills on my own, using free resources online. Looking back now, this miiiiight be possible, but it honestly would have taken me more than 10 times as long to do alone. Having the instructors on call, and the other students as pair-programmers was indispensable for me. Again, the program is totally worth it for those who are serious about becoming full-stack developers. I just recently accepted an offer as a frontend developer thanks to App Academy. But remember, there is no hand-holding. If you think you can give it anything less than 90% of your time and attention, you will likely fail out.

App academy requires you to study for a minimum of 90 hours per week excluding commute. That said, you learn a ton of stuff in 3 months. Coming from a non-technical background, it was astounding how much I could pick up in such a short time. The TAs are very helpful and go above and beyond to help you. The assessments can be stressful, as there is a threat of getting kicked out. But it motivated me to take the assessments seriously and study hard. 
We also do 3 projects (1 full stack, 1 pure javascript project and 1 game), that helps seal gaps in our learning. I have just started the job search curriculum, and will update my review once I find a job.

Throughout my entire life, I have gone through accelerated courses whether it be the military or my undergrad. App Academy was no joke and it definitely gave me the whooping I deserved to make me humble to the vast amount of knowledge I was about to face and understand that I'll be a lifelong student in the world of tech. The reason why I decided on App Academy were their tuition model and reputation for being one of the best.

Needless to stay, they delivered. The curriculum consistently got more difficult and ranged from technical to soft skills. Both of which I receive valuable training in but I believe the soft skills are where I improved the most. I have always been the type of person to work alone. It was fine up until the halfway mark in which I realized I couldn't be in the world of tech working alone as there will never be enough time to learn and keep up with the lastest trends in technologies.

tl;dr
App Academy taught me:
    1. Technical skills to get through the door
    2. Soft skills to land the job
    3. How to learn and do my own research
    4. To strive to become a mentor

I graduated my bachelors in CS but I felt that what was taught to me is not enough for the industry right now. App Academy taught me what I hadn't learnt in 4 years in 12 weeks. It was really really intense, no kidding. The pacing is ultra high speed. But at the start of the eighth week began doing our full stack project. The end result is what was the most satisfying. I was proud of what I made and my friends and family were amazed on how practical the teaching was, enough to make a full stack app. The course is super rewarding. I am currently on the 10th week and our job search curriculum is about to begin and am super excited to start working soon!

I went into App Academy hoping I would get a job as a software developer. I was skeptical I would actually be able to get a job. It took a ton of work in the job search but I landed a role as a Frontend Developer. In meetings at work it is quite apparent that App Academy's curriculum is solid because I often know more than some of my co-workers, especially about new technolgoies like React/Redux. It makes me feel pretty good.

If you have a liberal arts background like me I definitely recommend preparing for the course. Learn some programming language fundamentals beforehand. The curriculum is really stressful but very worth it.

The job search is the hardest part, you need to put in a lot of your own work but the resources are there. You just have to sometimes reach out to people that work at a/A and continue to show up and study and apply for jobs in the office. I found showing up even after it was no longer required very beneficial. It took me 6+ months after graduating to find a job. That is not everyone's situation as I am a bit of a slacker, but be prepared financially or just hit the ground running once the curriculum is over and find a job faster like a lot of my cohort mates.

Here's the breakdown:

- You'll be working a lot. When they say 80-120 hours a week, they mean it. But it's really not as bad as you think. You get used to it *very* quickly and learn to love it.

- You learn what you need. Don't worry about the other academies that focus more on JavaScript. Trust me, you'll get more than enough of that, and you'll be using mostly JavaScript in all 3 of your projects.

- There's constant support. Your fellow cohort-mates are going to become your best friends during this, and the TAs and staff are always around to help.

- You have a robust portfolio by the end of this. You clone a website, make your own app in JavaScript, and make a larger-scale project on a team. It's a mix of everything and you do really feel like a software developer by the end of this.

Good luck!

App Academy is definitely a great opportunity to learn a great deal of material in a short amount of time. There's a reason it has a great reputation among bootcamps - the instructors are knowledgeable and helpful, the curriculum is definitely relevant to what is necessary for actual tech positions, and they have alumni placed in dozens of companys and start-ups. All of that being said, here are some questions I would ask yourself before applying:

1. Do you handle pressure well? The courseload itself is very intense (9-6 M-F with homework every night and near-weekly assessments) and the tests are very much point-blank "can you pound this out in 30-40 minutes or not". None of this is ever unexpected or unreasonable, but be prepared for a good deal of stress and make sure you have ways to cope with it and stay healthy.

2. How long can you go without having a job? While the course itself only takes 3 months, it is unlikely that you will find a job immediately after graduating. Many students take up to 3 months after AA to find a job, and some take as long as 6. You sign an agreement saying you won't take on any full-time employment during that time, so make sure you are financially stable enough to commit completely to finding an engineering position.

3. Do you actually like coding? If you already know that you're just looking for a quick path to a high-paying job, you'll probably get burnt out very quickly. Obviously you don't have to live and breathe code all the time, but make sure you're doing it at least in part because you find it genuinely interesting.

As long as you've thought through these possible difficulties, App Academy is ultimately a rewarding experience that will leave you impressed with the incredible progress you can make in such little time. It's a lot of work, but in the end it definitely pays off.

I applied to App Academy in December 2016 and attended the May 2017 cohort. I graduated in August 2017, worked at App Academy for a few months, and accepted a job offer in January 2018. Similar to you, I read lots of reviews beforehand and stressed about many details before deciding on taking the risk, moving to San Francisco, and spending 80-100 hours a week at this place.

I read these reviews and my basic impression was that it would be really, really hard. Like a year of college crammed into 3 months. While this is kind of true, I underestimated how much the family and community aspect of App Academy would help. There are weeks where you have to essentially code from morning until night with not much time for anything else. After you learn everything you need to build apps, you learn how to get a job. That entails applying to dozens of postings every week, and it could take months. Throughout this entire process, I felt like a freak, but had 70 friends right alongside doing it with me. They helped me when I was stuck, and more importantly, brought me up when I was down. I don't know if I could've ever pushed myself that hard to get a job on my own, but with my cohort, the process was streamlined and almost (dare I say it) fun.

App Academy teaches a really diverse range of topics so the constant work you're doing is never boring. It's hardly even repetitive, and in fact, you will likely not fully understand most topics until you get to practice them again after the curriculum is over. In the end, App Academy didn't just teach me how to use React and Ruby on Rails. They taught me how to program, how to binge-learn any framework or language, how to speak to others in the field, and how to value myself, find a job, and negotiate as a Software Engineer. It was an absolute life changer in the best way. After going through it, I'm convinced anyone can do it, not just those technically inclined, and have been pushing the idea on all of my old friends who are stuck in a post-college rut with debts to pay.

Summed up, if you're the type of person that looks at anything and wonders "How does that work?", then coding is for you. If the idea of coding makes you think "Where do I even start?", then App Academy is for you.

ok here's the TL;DR. App academy is one of the hardest things you're likely to do in your life, but if you get in, you can do it. I'm writing this review because I want a hoodie, but I want the hoodie because it says App Academy on it, and I'm proud of that so, you know, that's something.

Specifically, understand that there isn't really time to play catch up. If you stay home sick with a fever, you still have to do the work. If you fall behind, you have to leave whatever you drop and keep moving, there's no time to look back. For me personally? There wasn't even time to do everything I had to do. My journey through app academy is a trail of unfinished assignments and near dismissals. But yo, I STILL loved my time there. 

If you want to get into coding and don't know where to stop, app academy will give you the start and take you much much further. I believe my review is now detailed enough to not violate any coursereport rules but still brief enough that I can get back to sending out resumes, secure in the knowledge that come monday, I will have my sweet sweet hoodie. 

Choosing App Academy was one of the best decisions of my career. After being a post graduate with a degree in film, I was not sure with what to do to progress my career in the direction I want to go - job security and financial stability. That is when I decided to join App Academy. This program is one of, if not the best, coding bootcamps. With that being said, the course is rigorous and extremely fast paced. But, if you are dedicated and have  the drive to pursue becoming a software developer, then you will definitely be able to do it. This is coming from a person with zero software developing experience prior to this program. I did not finish because I was the smartest, I was able to stay in the program because I had enough work ethic and will. You can do it!