AI + Fullstack Engineering

I have had a really incredible experience at Actualize. I started the bootcamp with no background or experience on coding or web development. The amount that I have learned in the past 4 months amazes me. One thing that makes Actualize stand out is how the curriculum breaks down complex coding concepts into lessons that are easy to understand. My instructor, Peter, is a natural and patient teacher and made class a positive and enjoyable experience. I would definitely recommend Actualize to anyone looking to attend a bootcamp.

I recommend this bootcamp to anyone wanting to learn to code.  Instructor is very supportive.  Moves quickly, but the instructor was always willing to help when needed.  

I did the Online Live Bootcamp and it was great, I can now confidentally say that I know how to code and more importantly how to learn how to code. Actualize focuses on teaching you how to learn, because no one ever will be a coding master in all areas, it's just too vast. Online sounds kind of anti-social but it really was Online Live. Actualize uses Zoom and it really works very smooth. My one bad part is the price, it costed me $12,900 total which is pretty hefty for only 3 months + 1 month of non-live pre-work. But Actualize is about the same price as most bootcamps, some are even more expensive, so it's all good.

I reccomend! If you work hard with the Job Hacking you can defineltely land a job but it's not for sure. I didn't look for a job after, I'm in College.

I was attracted to Actualize because of the great reviews that were left by the students. It was facinating to hear about the amazing experiencing and learning opportunities that received by the staff. I have never been challenged as much as Actualize has challenged me in my life. Peter, the instructor taught me how to believe in myself and pushed me beyond my limits. He taught me how to look at problem solving at whole different level. Actualize not only teaches you how to code, but they also teach you how to do well in job interviews. They really take the time to prepare you for the tech interviews. Because of this I was able to get my first offer as a Software Engineer on the date of graduation. I would highly recommend actualize to anyone who is ready to be challenged and is open to learn at a whole different level.

Found this place after extensive searching for Chicago area bootcamps. The curriculum seemed aggressive and a challenge in terms of scope and time, which is my preference. The course was an excellent introduction to full-stack development and you will definitely pick up the skills needed to fully build a web app from scratch, with all of the usual features such as user authentication, database building and querying, front-end and back-end communication, etc. And perhaps more importantly, the foundation this course lays provides an excellent springboard to learn other web development and mobile app development frameworks.

I first heard of Actualize through a random comment on a Chicago subreddit. I reached out to the user and asked about their experience. It sounded right up my alley so I sat in on a class. I was immediately drawn to Peter's teaching style. I also spent a lot of time talking to the TA, Jennifer, about her own experience. She was also wildly helpful in my decision making process.

Fast forward eight months and I just presented my final capstone project. It is an amazing feeling of accomplishment. Would highly recommend. 

The structure of this bootcamp is not your typical class. The curriculum is fast-paced and dense. Always follow the two-week rule to review concepts you learn each day. I had no coding experience coming into this bootcamp. I feel solidly prepared to tackle new coding languages and technologies now that I've been trained to Think Like an Engineer. Take a leap of faith and join this bootcamp if you want explore a growing and challenging, but rewarding industry.

It was easy to stay motivated because we were all in a video conference meaning we all saw each others faces. The instructor was amazing and had one on one sessions with each member of the cohort. He even stayed after class on a daily basis to help people out. 

TL/DR: 10/10 would recommend.

Actualize has been an amazing experience. Over the past few months I have learned so much about coding but more importantly I am coming away from this program with a belief that I can figure out just about anything in terms of coding. 

Actualize focuses on teaching you how to teach yourself how to code so that you feel comfortable about tackling any problem. It's not about memorizing syntax or best practices. 

I specifically took this course because of the remote video-conference structure. Since I was working full-time, I needed to take a course in the evenings. I was deciding between a course at a nearby college and Actualize but ultimatley went with Actualize because I realized there were a lot of extra logistics required with attending at a physical location, such as: parking at the school, dinner, coming back home after class would be even more difficult to find parking by my house....etc. Actualize gave me a near-as-makes-no-difference in-person experience without the hassles of being there in person.

The teacher, TA, and job-hacking instructor were all stellar. Concepts are explained at a challengning, but attainable, pace and everyone is generally available to you outside of class time as needed.

I have never learned so much in four months, and I definitely didn't expect to have as much fun as I did doing it. One of the best surprises from this was that I feel so close with all of my classmates. I was worried that the remote nature of the course might lead to people not being as engaged in class but it couldnt be further from the truth.

Brian is great, Overall class went really well. lot's of support and  easy to apply all the technologies they are teaching to work. All tools are in trend and commonly used in tech market. 

At first I joined by recommendation but I stayed and happily gratuated because of Brian only, I am not able to find the right words to talk about his patience, knowledge, help and being available for us all the time. 

TA's Cory and Josh did the best too, they are great helped us in every stage and been available all the time. 

I recommend Acualize to everyone who wanna be a good developer, however the Job support is not as other bootcamps, I am sure they are working on it and it will improve till next Cohort. 

Actualize was an incredible experience. I was interested in switching careers and recalled Actualize from several years ago. The instruction is clear without too much hand holding. From week 1, we were writing code and learning more than we even realized at the time. The program definitely packs a lot into a short time period but I would highly recommend it to someone either looking to complement their current skill set or switch careers. Grads stick around and both the TAs and instructors are very approachable if you ever have any questions. Great experience and would highly recommend.

I chose Actualize because when I talked to the staff and admissions, I got the feeling that they were interested in teaching me, not just enrolling me. I appreciated that the focus of the 12 weeks was not just on teaching us valuable skills, but also on teaching us how to continue developing our skills once the bootcamp was over.

Peter was a great instructor! I really enjoyed his teaching style. I also appreciated how broken out each day was into digestable chunks of information and then practice.

I had an amazing experience with Actualize. the lead instructor, Brian, was incredibly knowledgable, quick to help, and was excellent at leading the way to the solution without giving it away. Our TA's Cory and Josh, also recent Actualize grads were outstanding and a tremondous resources for all of us. Lisa, was able to provide us with awesome career advice as to how to obtain a job after graduation and provided us with tons of resources to help us be successful. Lastly, our pre-work instruction, Kevin, did an excellent job laying the ground work for us before we hit the ground running for the next four months. 

All in all it was a great experience and I feel as though I am prepared to take the next step and even made a few friends. I started receiving interviews with a month left in class and have no doubt my next adventure is around the corner. 

The learning and classroom experience in the online cohort of Actualize was far more personal and welcoming than one would think when considering joining an online class. The instructors have a real passion for their work but it's their passion for wanting to teach others that really makes the miles between each student shrink. They are very understanding and want to help you with every problem that you have as stupid as it may seem to you, because they understand that you're learning and that you have tons of information being thrown at you. The growth mindset that Brian and Lisa taught us made moving forward and learning new concepts easier every day and that makes me very confident transitioning into my future as a web developer.

Actualize was a great experience and Brian was a phenomenal instructor. I loved it so much that I wish it went longer. 

I chose Actualize because it was the only bootcamp that offered an "online live" class. I was able to do the class at home or wherever I was and it was a real class with people and a teacher who actually knows how to teach. The experience overall was great. The teacher and the TAs were so helpful in breaking down concepts and Actualize has a month of prework to teach you the basics of development before you jump in and start learning frameworks. I'd recommend Actualize to anyone who wants to start a web development career.

The above bootcamp is an excellent coding bootcamp where you get the chance to learn and execute with the basic fundamentals of coding (software) and web (software) development. Its very intellectually based; be ready to work hard and schedule days around coding Rails and JS.

After just two short weeks of online class, I was completely floored with the amount of information I learned in such a short time. The instructor has great teaching skills and is very patient with the cohort, answering all of our questions and more often than not pointing us in the right direction to figure out our own problems ourselves, creating an actual learning moment for us. I loved the course and am very grateful to have been a part of this experience. 5/5

My journey with Actualize begins in the Summer of 2018. I was living in New Orleans and had just left my job as a teacher in a local public school. I knew I was going to make a career change into tech and I was strongly leaning towards a bootcamp setting. I researched dozens of options and finally settled on Actualize. I think it's important to be weary of too many promises of 'job placement rates' and when I talked to Actualize's representative on the phone, she spent time with me going over the support offered to students post-bootcamp rather than trying to reel me in with stats that seem too good to be true. 

I moved to Chicago and began the prework section in December of 2018. Actualize prefaces their courses with five weeks of at-your-own-pace prework to help students become familiar with programming fundamentals. While I was enrolled in this phase, there were some curriculum updates in-process and while parts of the lessons seemed disjointed, there were ample opportunities to meet with someone via video conference to go over questions and content. Kevin was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. He also took time to gather feed back on the prework experience to continue improving the material for future cohorts. 

I elected to take the class portion of my bootcamp remotely from home, so that I could continue to work fulltime to support myself. Remote classes are offered either on a daytime or nighttime schedule. Dani, our instructor was highly qualified and very invested in our learning. We also had two TAs available to help us with exercises. The class covers a variety of full stack languages and is designed to ensure student understanding of how web applications work. 

From the very beginning of the prework portion of the class, a huge emphasis is placed on career counceling called 'Job Hacking'. Actualize employs a Career Advisor named Lisa who works closely with students even beyond the completion of their cohort to find, apply, and negotiate jobs. 

At the completion of my cohort, I apply to become a TA for the next class of students, while continuing my own job search for a full time position. Through their career services programs, I found short term work with Girls Who Code, (a nonprofit that offers coding classes to young women across America) and from that found work with a local branch of a global tech company. The support I received from Acualize was unparalleled and I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity to study and work with them. I can't recommend their program highly enough.