App Academy

These past few months have been quite a journey.  This bootcamp will push and challenge you in ways you didn't think were possible.  I went from knowing little to nothing about programming to creating a full fledge application in under two months.

App Academy is very selective of their enrollees right from the start during the admission process.  Although the experience differs for each student, it typically involves submitting a coding challenge on a few common problems once you're ready.  If you make through that part, you have to endure a technical interview where you cover a few more problems live over Skype followed by a non-technical interview to assess what makes you a candidate for their program.

If accepted to the program, you go through an at-your-pace online alpha curriculum that covers the basics of programming before you start the bootcamp.  The bootcamp covers three months of education: 8 weeks of the coding curriculum followed by 4 weeks of projects/job search curriculum.  During the 8 weeks of coding curriculum, you will learning everything you need to know about the fullstack process from backend to frontend.  Also, during these 8 weeks, you will be tested on your knowledge of the material every 1 to 1.5 weeks through an assessment.  Failing two assessments will dismiss you from the program.  Even the brightest of students fail an assessment.    The assessments are there to help maintain the quality of students coming out of App Academy as well as provide structure for students.

The structure is something you cannot get out of learning the material on your own.  It forces students to learn the material as well as learn how to learn new material as technology changes in the job market.  Every day, you go through a lecture in the morning starting at 8 AM followed by programming (usually paired) till 6 pm.  Every night you will have readings and homework.  During the day, App Academy has a strike system that ensures you are focused on learning, being present and doing your homework.  This is also another area that can get students dismissed if they accrue enough strikes.  Despite all these challenges, the time you have at App Academy will be among the best in your life.  You will make great friends who will be your network entering the job market.  The staff is also very dedicated to ensuring you succeed in the job market as an eventual software developer.  They're always on hand to help answer any questions you have about the material or the program.  Nearly everyone on staff has also gone through the curriculum and know of its challenges.  They have also seen the program work for many students.  

Make no mistake, this program will push you.  This program is not for everyone.  Everybody comes to App Academy for a reason.  Make sure your reason for attending is strong.  If you are really interested in pursuing a career in programming and willing to go through pains and joys of learning to be a software developer, apply today for the program.  It will change your life.

The crown jewel of app academy is its curriculum and structure. They provide you with the tools to learn everything and help when you're stuck, but are hands off enough that you can really pick things up yourself. Yes the course is arduous and stressful, but I believe that's by design. People tend to retain information more when they're stressed out, and the proof of that is show by how much everyone is able to absorb by the end of the 12 weeks. The job search curriculum is a great transition for students to move from a lot of structure, to less structure, to then no structure once the 12 weeks are officially. As a fresh graduate, I would definitely recommend app academy to aspiring developers.

Before App Academy (a/A) I was in a field that made a fair amount of money but stressed me out and gave me little sleep.  I was a hobbyist programmer that taught myself C++ and Objective-C but I knew that web development was something that I needed to know to succeed as a programmer. So I decided to start reading up on short web development programming schools. I applied and was accepted to each 'boot camp' I applied to--including a/A and Hack Reactor. I picked a/A because I was focused more on how well I perceived their job search support to be. At the time, I felt that I really wouldn't learn too much programming principals but instead learn some frameworks and syntax with whatever boot camp I applied to. Well I was wrong. I learned things like recursion and time complexity at a/A. I don't know how long it would have taken me to even know these things existed if I was learning solely on my own. They are very encouraging throughout the entire process, but especially during the job search. That's not to say they hold your hand throughout the process--you're expected to be a self-starter and ask questions if you're behind. They are more than willing to help, but you've got to ask questions. One thing that I had mixed feelings about was the attrition rate (or amount of people that either got kicked or left the program.) When I signed up the a/A website said attrition was around 5%, now it says it's around 10%. But for my cohort and the cohort before mine it was about 20%. For me, this is a risk that I would not have taken if I knew it was this high. It's 3 months without work and no security that you will be allowed to continue through the program unless you pass all 6 assessments. From my cohort most people that failed out failed either to not putting in the work or being overly stressed about it and either not getting any sleep or overthinking the solutions. Much of passing the tests are memorization. The positive to this is that they are very selective (3% admittance rate like the other top boot camps) but in contrast to the other boot camps this one will continue filtering out students that they feel aren't going to work out in programming where as others will just push them through it. This makes the a/A brand an extremely strong mark on your resume. Overall, I suggest attending this boot camp if you have confidence in your ability to program going into it, but perhaps take a few timed tests or join their Jump Start or boot camp prep program to see if you will cut it if you're unsure.

App Academy has been one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life. You are thrown in and kept on your toes everyday. There is no time to sleep. There is no time to do anything else other than App Academy. This can be daunting at first, but it is for a reason. If you slack, it shows and it will cost you. They want you to be the best you can be. Because of that, they push your limits, resulting in gaining a tremendous amount of skills in such a short time. You will be amazed at what you can do in just twelve weeks.

App Academy also strives for diversity. They are increasingly promoting ways to provide more accessible opportunities for groups underrepresented in tech and it shows.

I would highly recommend App Academy if you are down to fully immerse yourself for the next three months. Just remember to breathe.

TLDR; Is it super hard? Yes. Is it worth it in the end? Yes.

App Academy has probably been one of the toughest things I've done in my life, and that says a lot considering my life. One of my cohort mates likened it to being accepted to Top Gun, you already have to be good, and now you get to find out just how good. Not only do you learn to code, you learn to code under intense pressure, and depending on the person, probably not much sleep either. It literally wears you down.

But, then you start to look back and realize just how much you know. All those tedious projects, all those tricky little lines of code pay off, and suddenly you have substantial projects that function. You learn not just the language, but the logic of creating data structures and some of the nuances to create more elegant code. It truly gives you the building blocks you need to be a competent software engineer in the shortest time possible.

On top of that, App Academy is, as far as I know, one of the most inclusive and diverse boot camps out there. They take an active and intentional role in fostering awareness of discrimination and bias, and try to ensure that it finds no place in their environment. There were readings and discussions that really opened my mind to the challenges I may face as a woman in tech, and some that helped me realize some of the things I had been through. I feel so much more prepared to try and find my place in tech because of that. 

I was part of the November 2017 cohort and I have finished the intensive part of the course. It has been absolutely worth it! You learn a lot about programming and web development. This really struck me when my cousin, who recently graduated from Syracuse with a degree in Computer Science showed me his final project while I showed him mine (both web apps). It was clear I App Academy, in just 3 months has put me on a level that would take a traditional school 4 years to do. 

The App Academy course is not easy! From the application process to the prep work and the course you will need to put in A LOT of time studying to be able to proceed. That said, it is not for everybody. You need to have the time commitement and the support from your friends and family as you will have absolutely no time for social commitements or anything else.

I highly recommend AppAcademy to anyone wanting to make a career change or wanting to gain more skills or considering getting a masters!

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. But again, 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.

Attending App Academy has been an amazing and rewarding experience. I've learned so much more than I thought possible these past three months. It's a huge commitment, so be prepared to spend basically every waking moment thinking about code. You'll be dreaming about it too.

The course does a great job of making programming accessible to everyone, no matter your background. The staff are extremely supportive and accessible, so there's always help when you need it. You also end up having a wonderful support system from your peers, since you end up spending most of your time with them and you all share the same struggles.

I would definitely recommend App Academy to anyone who's willing to devote all of their time to code. If you fall behind at all it's really difficult to catch up, so make sure you're ready to dedicate all of your next three months to the program.

There are definitely pros and cons to App Academy. The curriculum covers a ton of stuff, including many computer science topics that many other bootcamps do NOT go over, which definitely helps when looking for a first job and beyond. That being said, the course is not for everyone. It's an extremely rigorous and stressful course, which requires complete dedication to the work and topics being taught. A loss of focus could lead to being dismissed from the course. Overall though, the course has been very rewarding and in the end if you put in the work, it will pay off.

By the end of the course, you'll be coding websites that make you feel like a superhero, especially for those who struggle to understand what OOP is all about. Make no mistake - it is a commitment, it is intense, it will consume your life for twelve weeks, and it is a ton of pressure. AA admits that their course is designed to keep you on the edge of comfortability. But for this student, at least, it works, and I feel ready to jump into the world of web development.

The weakest part of the course is the written curriculum - it is new, and it suffers towards the end of the course. It can be dense and unforgiving to parse, especially for those with no background in computer science or for those struggling with the course generally. Thankfully, the excellent TAs and instructors will do their best to assist you.

tl;dr: It's 100% difficult and worth it.  I came from an Arts background with 0 tech experience and now I know how to build fully functioning web applications and have the foundation for a career in software development.

Believe what you've read: App Academy is a very intense and rigorous curriculum that does not ever slow down, but on the other side you discover that you've learned more than you knew there was to learn, and you have the skills you need to start a career in software development.

Before App Academy, I was a musical theater performer and PR professional.  I had ABSOLUTELY NO TECHNICAL OR MATHEMATICAL BACKGROUND and I felt like a fish-out-of-water.  But, it didn't matter.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I committed to the course and the curriculum and App Academy taught me a tremendous amount in a short time: much more than I could have ever taught myself.  Even better: App Academy taught me how to continue learning about software development and new technologies for my future as a developer.

It cannot be said enough that the curriculum is super intense.  It does not slow down, and you are often moving on to a completely different subject before you feel like you understand what you just learned.  The Assessments are also real and can be very stressful: people do/will get dismissed from failing assessments.  That being said, everything you learn builds on itself and if you can manage your stress, trust in the curriculum (seriously: trust it), and focus 100% of your time and energy for just 12 weeks you will have nothing to worry about.

Soft skills and pair programming are key.  You will almost never work alone during the course. That might sound uncomfortable or daunting at first, but it can be really valuable to help you absorb all the new information and also to teach you to talk and think out loud about code and programming.

Be prepared to keep learning once you've finished too.  App Academy will teach you what you need to start a career, but you will probably need to continue studying on your own afterward to make sure you understand everything you need to to find a job and have that career. There's a huge world out there of programming languages, algorithms, and CS concepts, but luckily App Academy teaches you how to learn on your own as well.

App Academy was a challenging experience, but worth every second.They took a musical theater kid with no tech background and turned him into a software developer. It's intimidating, but don't shy away from it. If you honestly want to make the shift to a career in programming App Academy can help you get there.