Bov Academy

I am writing this review in part, to inform potential students that if they are currently unemployed, partially employed, or unhappily employed, and they are relying on getting employed in the field as a direct result of this program to relieve their current employment situation, that they should be prepared financially, and with their personal and family emotional support needs, for a long journey.

I am currently a student in the first cohort, and looking to make a career change. We are now in the 16th month of Career Path 3:Modern Frontend Developer, which was originally stated to take 6-8.5 months. I entered the program wanting something more thorough and less dense/accelerated than the at-the-time typical 3 month accelerated program, so I was ok with the stated 6-8.5 month time frame and expected there might be some reasonable extended time frame since it was the first cohort ever. At this time, the best and fastest students, even those dedicated to full-time study, still have not graduated/finished the program, nor obtained employment as a direct result of having attended the program. There are more than a few people in this path and cohort that are already developers and employed as such, are otherwise likely happily/gainfully employed, or perhaps have a significant someone that can support them through the program, so for those folks, the overtime of the program probably does not matter so much and is possibly even viewed as bonus continuing education for them. But for those that are unemployed, partially employed, or unhappily employed, and had high hopes of being employed in some capacity in the field by now, the greatly extended program time frame has caused financial and personal/family stress.

The curriculum intention is broad and deep. This is a very good thing and a reason that might make you consider enrolling in this program. The implementation of that so far, needs work, however. The course material has often been bloated and not to-the-point enough, less complete in important points than perhaps it should be, and its sequencing sometimes does not make the best sense. There doesn't seem to be frequent enough and steady enough time spent building substantial projects to develop a sense of accomplishment, proficiency, and confidence, at a point where we are well into the program. This is acknowledged internally and I believe steps are being taken to address these things. There are now also efforts to trim down course material to reduce the overall program time. As long as these remedies are actually fully/successfully implemented, the curriculum will hopefully settle into something traversable within stated time frames, and result in proficiency and confidence-building works worthy of showing within that time.

There needs to be more attention paid to the status of a student's progress and skill level at various stages in the program. A working project does not necessarily mean the details of semantics, structure, and best practices have been appropriately met. There has been a feedback process in place that has not worked very well at all in that regard. There are discussions now about how this ongoing student evaluation is to be achieved.

One true test of value for any program is the ability to provide the path, material, projects, feedback, and support, to take a person, with their diligent efforts, who is not currently a programmer/developer to a level of proficiency and confidence to become employed in the field, outside of the program itself. This has not happened for anyone yet in this program to my knowledge. I do think that this program has the potential to produce thoroughly skilled programmers and developers, assuming that it gets further attention to hone down and improve the digestibility of the material, and address how to evaluate a student's real state of development throughout the program. However, you, and your family and loved ones should be prepared to live with your current personal and employment situation and finances, for the long, yet somewhat unknown, duration.

I had been trying to become a proficient developer for 2 years before I found Bov Academy. I signed up for many online courses (both free and paid) and those helped me to get my feet wet, however, I couldn't get past that beginner - intermediate stage of web development learning. I was also consumed by the vast number of things that needed to be learned, and I was confused by the new frameworks that kept on popping up. 

I joined Bov Academy as a part of the first cohort and never looked back. They provide a lengthy and well thought out curriculum to educate students on the concepts considered most important in the Web Development industry. They also provide a number of projects that force you to get your hands dirty and learn by actually doing something instead of just reading or watching a video. They also offer topics that aren't taught in regular Web Development courses like Math (for logical thinking) and Writing Well (for sharing your work). 

That said, Bov Academy is no walk in the park. It is a school for persons who really are determined to work hard and go beyond the call of duty.  Many times, you'll find yourself stuck on a problem, however, this is no different from any other web development school. To help you out Bov Academy provides a wonderful forum for students with issues and questions who need help. The collective knowledge of all the students and the instructors are in that forum and it allows students to solidify concepts by explaining it to others and helps to solve any problems facing students within a few hours. 

No matter what the advertisement for developer learning says, it takes hard work, determination, and consistency. Bov Academy recognizes these facts and embraces them. They provide a great curriculum, an awesome way to get answers to any questions you have along the way and constant encouragement to improve your determination to achieve your goals. 

Title says it all. [Sentence redacted with personal information]. You get no assistance and all promises are broken. I regret joining this program and have only negative things to say about it. I am very disappointed and frustrated with my experience and absolutely nothing they say will make it up except a refund which I know I won't get because they have told me they are bankrupt which I know is another big lie. I have reported this fake institution to the FTC already and I hope they are taken down as soon as possible. Total waste of my time and money and endless frustration. Do not be fooled by their marketing because I am warning others out there that this place is a total fraud.

DO NOT RECOMMEND SAVE YOUR MONEY AND TIME!!!!

The problem is that "Richard" absolutely refuses to reveal himself.  Not once has he published a video or done anything live for the students.   "Richard" has many theories, doesn't teach and only writes very, very, very posts urging everyone to work hard.    No one has any idea who he is.  Perhaps "Richard" is not even a real person.    It would really dispel tons of problems if has video conference for his *paying* students.   Before you sign up, ask for a video conference with "Richard" and judge for yourself.

The problem is that "Richard" absolutely refuses to reveal himself.  Not once has he published a video or done anything live for the students.   "Richard" has many theories, doesn't teach and only writes very, very, very posts urging everyone to work hard.    No one has any idea who he is.  Perhaps "Richard" is not even a real person.    It would really dispel tons of problems if has video conference for his *paying* students.   Before you sign up, ask for a video conference with "Richard" and judge for yourself.

The best thing about Bov Academy is the sales copy on their website, because it's convincing people like myself to sign up.

Let me explain...

I've been "in the loop" with Bov Academy since it was Modern Developer which was probably 2+ years ago now.

Since then, the career paths have changed at least 3 times. From well known paths like "Front End Developer" to never heard of paths like "Futuristic Developer" and now "Algorithmologist" (wat?)

Read through the copy on their site and if you know a little about marketing/persuasion/etc. you'll see that it's piled on heavy. I get it. They need to get students. The problem is it's totally unsubstantiated. Bov wants to create world changers. Noble, but never gonna happen at this rate. How can you change the world when you can't settle on the direction of the company?

Now lets talk about Richard Bovell, the founder and CEO. Google him. Find a picture of him. Find a trace of him other than a thin LinkedIn profile.

Even on his javascriptissexy.com website you cannot find out who this guy REALLY is.

https://javascriptissexy.com/about/
https://bovacademy.com/about.html
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-bovell

The strange anonymity doesn't end there. Any emails to Bov are always signed by the department fielding the email - never a person. Probably because it's the same person.

If this is a privacy issue - you're in the wrong business. You want people to fork over thousands of dollars to a dude with a cartoon-looking avatar? Compare this to damn near any other program. The founders aren't hiding behind vague profiles and no pictures.

I wonder if he's even real LOL.

What's sad is now the students turned staff are following suit.

Most of the glowing reviews here are from the same folks plastered all over the Bov website...and again students turned staff. These are the ones working on the company website, they're also the most active folks in the forums.

Bov claims to be "Education 5.0". If education 5.0 is a lousy learning platform - and the same ol' read articles-->complete exercises-->post questions in a forum...pray for us all. I'd call that Education 0.1.

This is literally exactly what damn near every boot camp does.

They describe the course format as "Our students take our courses online using our integrated platform." That means text-based articles with embedded codepen examples. Ho hum.

Look, that's all fine and dandy - but they're the ones claiming to be the future of web development and are falling wayyyyyy short of that promise.

One day they're the most comprehensive program ever...the next it's "oh we're giving you all too much material, we've cut it back to be more manageable". This is because folks weren't able to complete the courses.

The learning platform is buggy. Heck, just logging in takes 57 clicks on the "login" button for it to work.

There are parts of the platform that simply do not work. Not very confidence inspiring from the folks who are supposed to teach you/me who to code/program.

The course changes result in downstream issues such as the repos you're to work with no longer exist, or have been moved.

Bov seems to constantly shoot for the stars, but barely get off the launching pad. For example, they'll announce their next 5-10 blog posts and when they'll be published...this rarely happens on time if at all.

There was supposed to be some other hyped up projects that never became anything: Know, Encyclopedia, and Knewro

These were touted as being heaven sent solutions to developer resources (think stack overflow,) and I think something about developer health.

Encyclopedia kind happened, except no one uses it or contributes (its been years since anything was added).

Today, Bov claims to offer these career paths:
Frontend Engineer
Backend Engineer
Fullstack Engineer
AI Fullstack Engineer
Algorithms Engineer
Autonomous Engineer
Algorithmologist

These changes also apply to tuition which has ranged from a set price, to offering pay-later options, to now offering a monthly payment plan.

In reality though, the only courses they really offer are Frontend and Backend... AND - some don't even have a start date! Are you seeing the pattern?

They've offered "Get a High-Paying Job (Guaranteed) and $2,000 Graduation Bonus"...what happened to that?

Oh, look what I just found: https://aihumanity.com/coming-soon.html

LOL coming in August 2018. August ends in 10 days. Don't hold your breath signing up for...what?..dunno...your guess is as good as mine.

Way back when Bov (then Modern Developer) started there was supposed to be a book/course on "grit" - the stuff you need to push through any difficulty. It never materialized.

Bov Academy needs to decide who/what they are and stick with it. They need to keep their word on what they say they are going to do.

Yes, I am/was an enrolled paying student. It didn't take long after signing up to realize this was nothing new/special/ground-breaking as the sales copy would have you believe.

Yes, I regret the decision and the significant amount I paid to enroll. It was not worth it.

I would not recommend this program. There are too many other options which cost less/offer more and do not leave you with all these unanswered questions.

In closing (and to be fair)... the course material isn't awful. Some is pretty good. It just doesn't live up to the hype and can be found for less money on more stable/reputable platforms.