App Academy

App Academy is very demanding, but you'll stop to think about all the things you learned in 6 months and be proud. The curriculum I went through was for Javascript and Python, and using React and Flask frameworks, but they teach you how to get there all the way from the basics of printing out hello world. 

Benefits:
* The latter half of the program teaches the frameworks mentioned above alongside building projects with those frameworks to populate a portfolio on your resume. I was delighted to find that they tackle every aspect of the job search process, since I had effectively no portfolio before a/A.
* Schedule includes weeks to focus entirely on projects and gain skills working on a team, as well as 'half-and-half' weeks to do solo projects and resume crafting, and of course many more weeks spent on new concepts.
* Schedule is very flexible, and instruction team is fair. Assessments may be curved or re-evaluated based on the cohort. 
* Every member of app academy (that I interacted with) takes responsibility if something is wrong or needs clarification, fixing, or more time. I don't remember anyone being unapproachable. 
Criticisms:
* When students get deferred to another cohort, they simply disappear. I understand it may be embarrassing to defer (although it shouldn't be - life happens, you need more time, it didn't click), but just silently removing them might not be the best solution. I felt the cohort steadily shrinking as people left, and became increasingly stressed that it would happen to me, since we were the first cohort of the year and the students ahead of us had different curriculum and couldn't join us. Most other cohorts will not be in this situation, though, as they will have new students join.
* The 24 week pace isn't as consistent as I'd like. The first 4 weeks are essentially just making sure you passed the free online intro to programming course that they offer, or getting you up to speed if you didn't. It very quickly ramps up, and some weeks have very difficult assessments while other weeks see a class average of 100%. I understand some material is very hard to assess, though - such as learning a new framework or database, where it is more trivia than anything else. 

Final jurisdiction:
I had graduated from uni without much of a portfolio, and without the ability to pass coding interviews despite my degree. In my opinion, the curriculum should be a little more polished and probably focus more on algorithms and react (the most important, most recurring subjects). As for me, I don't regret my time spent here at all, and I got a lot out of it. 

- Drew

 Honestly, I was convinced at the beginning that App Academy wasn’t for me. I’m a weirdo-artsy Latina with a ton of family commitments and chronic illness/disabilities that I knew would make the “valorization of working 90 hours a week” bootcamp model a huge challenge for me.  I contemplated dropping out from the very first week, because without a technical background and with a glitching computer I wouldn’t afford to upgrade, I felt like the “hot mess” of the class. Coding definitely doesn’t come naturally to me— every exam was a struggle because of my anxiety issues.  Given all of this, I never expected that I would graduate this program feeling so proud and glad I stuck with it, and feeling so passionate about coding now! My TAs were incredibly supportive and there for me even as I had way more questions than it felt the average student had, and they spent hours of their time outside of formal class time to help me with material, give me pep talks, and just in general didn’t view me as an expendable number in a cutthroat environment the way I worried doing an intensive bootcamp would be like. One of my good friends died in the middle of my doing this bootcamp, and I never could have kept going to graduation if instructors and fellow students hadn’t been there for me on both a human and a programming level so consistently.  I reveal all this info about myself because there are tons of reviews that talk about the curriculum, specifics of the frameworks they use, etc. I wanted my review to speak to someone who might be reading this and see themselves in my description of myself— not sure they can fit in in the coding/techie world, or handle a high intensity bootcamp. I won’t sugarcoat what a challenge a/A was, but I am SO, SO grateful I stuck with it, and definitely recommend App Academy, its instructors, and its community vibe that was so welcoming to this anxious new programmer! App academy’s material is really well structured too, so I feel like I’m in a good position to keep learning and improving my skills along multiple axes with all the material being a student gives you access to forever. Excited to keep learning forever :) 

I will start with the obvious: App Academy is a very rigorous bootcamp and a huge commitment both physically and mentally. But with that comes a valuable education that really carries the name.
The Pros: App Academy has a thoroughly developed curriculum, so you can rest assured knowing that you are receiving an education that would reflect highly in the job market. It's also structured in a way that is easy to follow, starting with basic coding projects like finding prime numbers in an array and ending with building full stack web apps. When I finished the program I truly walked away feeling like a full pledged software engineer. It may seem hard at times (it will definitely seem hard at times) but you have to trust the process.
The Cons: We spent the first half of the cohort learning how to code, which in essence was finding a prime number and doing the fibonacci sequence in a hundred different ways. And then the second half ways Rails/JavaScript/React/Redux/MERN. It would have definitely been nicer if the curriculum was divided up in a better way because the concepts in the latter half are definitely more valuable but much less stressed and taught. Also, going into this I thought App Academy helps you find a job. But in truth, you're, pretty much on your own there too through hundreds and hundreds of applications. They don't have an actual job placement thing as some reviews have suggested.

All in all, App Academy does deserve recognition for being a top tier bootcamp, but your success is really in your own hands.

Overall, I had a great and rewarding experience at App Academy. They do not exaggerate the amount of work required to complete the course (often between 70 and 90 hrs a week), and the new material just does not stop coming. That said, a/A and particularly the instructors clearly want all the students to succeed, and the readings, homework, projects and lectures are all geared to make sure you hit the necessary benchmarks during the course. The general structure of regular assessments with severe consequences (can lead to being kicked out of the course) adds a significant amount of stress for students. While I understand the reasoning for this from App Academy's perspective, and believe that it is an overall positive, it can lead to a sense at points that instructors are "teaching to the test". 
While the pace of the bootcamp is very rapid, the structure of the course materials and projects means that you'll end up working over the same concepts multiple times after their initial introduction, the end result of which is that App Academy will teach you a huge amount of skills in a relatively short period of time. 
My cohort at App Academy was originally intended to be in person, but ended up being entirely remote due to COVID-19. I don't believe this had a large impact on the skills I've learned in the course, and the instructional team did a great job of adapting to a life on Zoom for the duration of the course. That said, you definitely lose a lot of the social aspects of an intensive bootcamp with the remote setup. 
Finally, I'm just entering the job search currently, so can't speak much to the support App Academy will provide during this period.  The job search material covered has been helpful and informative, but this final portion of the curriculum has felt more disorganized and has not inspired the confidence in this transition to job hunting that I had hoped for given the way the majority of the bootcamp was run. 
Overall, if you are looking to jump start a career as a software engineer, I would absolutely recommend App Academy -- just make sure that your expectations for workload and result are set correctly.

Be prepared to spend up to 90+ hours because App Academy is a very rigorous course because if you don't, you will struggle a lot.

You expected to read/learn material ahead of the next day, so that you are able to do the projects. They also have assessments that you are expected to study, which if you fail twice, you will be asked to leave the course. However, they do provide a lot of material to prepare, so as long as you study the material, you should be able to pass all the assessment. 

Once all of the assessments all done, you get to make your own websites using what you have learn over the course. The course does a good job teaching you how to apply these skills on your own project, so the course does pay off once you reach to this part of the course.

Although App Academy is a pretty great course, I feel like some parts of course should be expanded upon as I felt like they were just barely a footnote.

Overall, as you long as you are willing to commit your time to start a career on software engineering, I would recommend you join App Academy.

     App Academy is an incredibly rigorous, full-time software engineering bootcamp which will challenge you to get projects done you never would have dreamed of before. Each day begins with a structured lesson and then everyone diverges into pair programming. The program really emphasizes pair programming, where every 15 minutes you and your randomly assigned partner switch between a driver and a navigator role. I found this technique to not always be conducive to my learning when I was working with someone of a different ability. This was often a strength, though, as it forces you to explain difficult concepts to someone who might not have understood the material as well as you.
The amount that you learn in the 16 weeks is pretty staggering. When you enter the program you are expected to solve some pretty basic algorithms, but upon leaving, you are completely ready to develop your own full-stack web application. The program was initially slated to begin in person and we were one of the first cohorts to go through completely online. The course took place over Zoom, and I think that the staff did a very good job of replicating what it would be like to be in person. The Zoom room was open 24/7, giving a space to meet with your peers after hours.
Overall I had a really good experience with the program, but there are definitely a few things that are covered briefly or barely touched upon that I will need to independently learn after my time here. I'm about to begin my job search, and although I’m scared to apply my new skills in the real world, I believe that App Academy gave me a good foundation for what it will take. 

*Your one-stop for the all the facts as of 2020*
The pros of App Academy are:
- Only students that can withstand the initial rigor will be accepted (a/A claims about 4-5% acceptance rate).
- There are many many success stories after graduation (a/A claims about 90-95% job placement rate).
- They actually provide real career coaching and job seeking guidance and it's part of the curriculum as opposed to being something optional.
- Their ISA or Income Share Agreement is a 100% winner, which means you don't pay upfront until after you get a Software Engineering job making at least over $50,000 and even then you pay them back in reasonable payment installments over the next 3 years.
- They have an online full-time program available so it's remote and flexible besides their in-person programs in SF and NY.
- Their culture and environment is inclusive and diverse and they allow for daily feedback, reports, and criticisms.
- You get to learn JavaScript, React, Node.js, Express, SQL, Python and Flask for the online curriculum.
- You get to make some good connections with some good instructors and some good career coaches.
- Their daily and entire structure, discipline and testing is both intense, demanding which is beneficial to keep you focused and on-track and yet surprisingly flexible for the online program. You have freedom to breathe and structure yourself as well.
- It is arguably the # 1 coding bootcamp -- according to stats by a/A) -- and for the reasons I mentioned above.
The cons of App Academy are:
- If you opt for the ISA then you do have to pay them back $31,000 total at the most, which is definitely overpriced (but with a SWE or Software Engineer's salary it is easy to pay off I guess).
- As of 2020 for the online program, the curriculum needs serious revising and oversight. In the readings, there are numerous typos, grammatical errors, misleading statements that confuse the amateur, and also inaccurate coding instructions in projects that derail students and waste a lot of precious time. There are usually better outside sources that teach the same topic better. It is not exactly the same curriculum as their successful in-person curriculum model at SF and NY. Throughout the 6 months of the online full-time course, they were slow to revise, update, change, correct video, reading, exercises material and resources.
- Not all of their instructors and career coaches are competent for the job (at least for the online program I attended). Some lack in expertise of subject-matter. Those that are proficient in subject matter are either deficient in teaching skills or completely do not know how to teach effectively (this is coming from a former teacher at all levels and a world-class curriculum developer). Their hiring team is questionable since they are behind hiring their TAs, instructors and coaches for the reasons just stated.
- They do not offer an official piece of paper (if that matters to anyone) such as a diploma, certificate as-of-to-date. I'm also not sure about academic credits, you should ask them. They might incorporate this in the future.
- You will not at all be ready when you graduate (if you are coming from a non-CS and non-tech background). You have to put in the smart and hard work and discipline yourself after graduation for a few more months to reach a level of adequacy as a Web Developer/Coder (let alone a Software Engineer). Going through the program will not do that for you (again if you are coming from a non-CS and non-tech background). I feel like this definitely could be remedied with better curriculum development (emphasis on depth of knowledge rather than breadth like replacing the time and effort to learn some extraneous techs with more emphasis on constructing more projects and polishing them up and learning one tech stack really well since the rest can be self-taught) and to get a better hiring team to get real teachers in there, but alas! My valuable counsel has been ignored as far as I'm concerned.
- You will have to pay them back even if you don't land a coding/web development/software engineering job with the conditions above.
- The language in their legal contract before you are accepted is extremely skewed in their favor and oppressive, so if enough students voice their concerns and demand slight changes this will be better in terms of fairness.

The curriculum at App Academy is well designed, offering repeated exposure to the same concept in different ways. So if you don't understand it the first time, you'll get it the second. It also challenges the student to think deeply about the subject material, imparting a deep level of understanding of not just coding but computer science concepts.

With that being said, I think their online materials/readings needs definite improvement, as some of the material is outdated and written poorly. Their job search curriculum seems to be very good (I will update this review upon finding a job). Just be sure to read ALL the fine print closely because there are some nuances to their pricing model and certain rules must be followed.

Also, they only offered a $100 "gift" when they switched the entire in-person cohort to remote instruction due to coronavirus. They should have offered more, as some people paid upfront for an in-person experience.

 App academy is really good program for those looking to quickly become software engineers. Self learning can be a good path as well, but AA will get you to the point of being a competent software engineer much faster. You learn a lot not just about programming, but also all of the things that go into becoming a software engineer. In this respect, it gives students invaluable information that you would not typically get from a Computer Science degree. All of the instructors are really nice and supportive, and all of the students are really smart. They are careful to create a good culture and atmosphere.