Fullstack Academy Software Engineering Immersive (Part-Time)

I'm currently about half way through my boot camp for web-dev, and I'm very impressed. I come from a blue collar background and you know knowing something is often met with crass jokes and a look down their nose at you attitude from most. That is 100% not the case in this course. My instructor is Byron, and I can't say enough good things about him. He is very engaging, encouraging and patient. Even though the course is challenging due to its very fast pace given its such a short amount of time to go over that material, he does an awesome job of explaining subject matter over until it finally sticks with you. He also has graciously offered to schedule 1 on 1 time if needed. Outside of your instructor, you also have a Learning Experience Manager, A director of Student Experience & success, and a Career Success Coach that all check up on you specifically periodically. So far, I'm wildly impressed with the engagement at Fullstack. You can definitely tell they want you to learn, and succeed. If you're on the fence about jumping into a new field for work, or just picking coding up as a hobby, I HIGHLY recommend Fullstack Academy.

I chose to attend Fullstack Academy after much rigorous research on best web development bootcamps. I opted for a part time program, joining live lectures & classroom sessions a few nights a week. This gave me time to earn income while studying as well do deeper research and study on topics.The program more or less has 3 parts: 1. Foundations: lessons for self study with exams every other week that required a certain score in order to make it to the next part of the program. This made sure that my cohortmates were at a similar level to me. Yet, this was the weakest part for me, I encountered slightly out of date data here. Specifically, much time was dedicated towards concepts like 'this' and Javascript closure that were more relevant a few years ago when React class components were the only option.2. Remote classroom with daily lesson plan, leading into paired lab work. 3 hours per session, 3 times a week. Instructors and assistants were knowledgeable and went to GREAT lengths to help students. Finalized with a solo CRUD app that was graded - students of below a certain score were further assessed/spoken to. Lots of knowledge to consume.3. Team projects. This is where the learning "on-the-job" feeling happens. This was my STRONGEST part of the bootcamp, simply because I grew the most here. Getting team experience is hard for self-study / if you dont do a bootcamp. Coding + weird bugs no one has encountered because your app is completely your own creation + interpersonal conflicts with the team + managing & tracking project goals, features, while balancing deadline. Teams were of 3-4 people, and you self-managed the project together, including handling when people couldn't get stuff done, or were AFK due to IRL reasons. You earn a lot of 'stories' you can tell during interviews. Instructors were mostly hands-off, and could be messaged or called into the virtual table during class time for help on bugs.Job search is nothing guaranteed, but the cohort gets a career coach you can book 1-on-1s with basically whenever you want. With the tech market being what it is, sending in your resume and praying doesn't cut it. Networking & reaching out & following up & not falling into a pit of despair is on YOU to do. Post-grad Job search is what YOU make of it.

Attending Fullstack Academy’s Flex Program during the pandemic was one of the best educational investments I’ve made to switch careers from architecture and design to software engineering. As a result of learning in a remote environment, I improved my video presence and ability to articulate technical concepts in writing, and learned how to work asynchronously with other students. These skills are advantageous to collaboratively effectively for any job that offers a remote work plan. Looking back (as a newly employed software engineer), I am really glad I chose the 6-month long part-time program over the 3-month long full-time program so I could learn the Junior Phase material at my own pace and retain the abundant amount of knowledge taught in the curriculum. It was important to me to take the time to learn, so that come Senior Phase, I could make strong contributions to team projects and effectively collaborate with my teammates. While anyone can learn web development on their own, I can vouch that Senior Phase is absolutely worth the cost of the program - you get to mirror a real work environment by pair programming with other students, communicating technical concepts, and participating in a hackathon to hone your learning process for any new technology. I want to shout out to the amazing instructors/mentors: Bienvenido (Ben) Rodriquez, Eliot Szwajowski, Eric Katz, and Stanley. They did a great job of teaching the material in an engaging style that made the classroom feel safe and collaborative.In addition to the well-planned, relevant curriculum, I was extremely satisfied with Fullstack Academy’s career development support and received guidance from their Career Success Coach, Dezzi Rae Marshall. She taught me how to manifest the right opportunities and people through regular one-on-one sessions by crafting a personalized plan that I could adopt for today’s modern workforce. As a second life career changer, she helped me build the confidence I needed to fearlessly master the pivot and create a shift in mindset - one that projects an abundance of optimism and opportunities. While my time at Fullstack Academy has ended, I look forward to working with Dezzi throughout my career progression in software engineering. 

I signed up for the part-time software engineering bootcamp at Fullstack Academy because I wanted to test out whether a software engineering career would be right for me, and I'm so glad I did. Firstly, taking the course over 5.5 months part-time vs. being in a 10 week immersive program means that material can marinate a bit longer, and I personally found that helpful. It also adds a sense of security because most people in my program had a full-time job, and were doing this bootcamp part-time. One drawback of being part-time is that you don't have as big of a fire under you to get employed as a software engineer after the program is over, because you already have a job. I took a break of a few months after graduating from the program, and ended up recruiting successfully afterwards, but it is can be easy to to lose momentum if you already have a full-time career in your life.Pros: - good instructors. We had 2 instructors during our program. Both were great, but the first definitely used some dated technology, while the second was a currently employed software engineer and basically told us that we were 'behind.' While this was frightening, he luckily ended up catching us up and we as the students felt more prepared as we neared graduation.- pace: as mentioned, the pace of the part-time program was great because you had time to let the material sink through. I heard that the full-time immersive is much of a 'drinking from the firehose' vibe where you are just cramming information- support of TAs: the fellows assigned to our course to help were fantastic. We had 3 fellows and they were available on Slack or to hop on a video call with us to help us with our projects, explain concepts, etc. You will have more interaction with them during Q&A than with your main professor- access to AlgoExpert: Fullstack has a relationship with AlgoExpert, which is a site created by a fellow Fullstack alum and ex-Googler, that is used for algorithm practice. It is a paid subscription but Fullstack gives it to students for free. AlgoExpert was CRUCIAL to prep in the job search. It is one of the few resources that has a detailed video (~50 min) where the actual instructor walks you through the problem and various solutions. On free sites like LeetCode, you are on your own to figure that out and scour YouTube videos for randos' solutions. I used AlgoExpert pretty exclusively in the job search and was well prepared for technical interviews as a result - so thanks Fullstack for that hookup!Cons:- variety of instructors: We had 2 instructors with a hand-off a little after halfway through the program. This lack of continuity wasn't fantastic, and it was clear that the second instructor seemed more experienced and used more relevant technology. While both instructors were great, I think the majority of my class wished we had the second professor for the whole time- career services engagement: Finding a job after the program is completed is very much up to you. Don't expect daily or weekly newsletters from the career team with job listings. I got those maybe once every other month. You get a resume review and some general lectures on networking, and then you're on your own. Follow-up to see how you are doing was nonexistent. If you want help or to set up a time with Career Services, you have to reach out - Career Services is not proactive in helping you get a job.Overall, my cons are really limited. I am super happy with my decision to go with Fullstack, and will be starting my first software engineering job shortly. Most of my classmates, according to LinkedIn, are also employed in software engineering jobs 6 months out of the program. I was debating about accepting Fullstack vs. Codesmith for the bootcamp, and Codesmith seemed like they kind of threw you to the wolves and expected you to figure things out, versus Fullstack was more hand-holdy. I very much appreciate that Fullstack takes a very deliberate, supportive approach to teaching students software engineering and it helps you really digest the material and get support when you inevitable hit hard topics. If you are thinking about entering software engineering as either an interest or as a full-time job, and are looking for a place to learn the skills to do that, definitely consider Fullstack Academy. I'm super happy with my decision to go here and thanks to the program and my performance there, am now able to become a full-time software engineer. Thank you Fullstack!

Six-month, immersive program teaching fundamental skills for offensive and defensive security. The rigor of the content and workload were challenging but manageable. The instructors and career coach offered and provided great support, both individually and as a class. I learned a lot and at the end of the program, felt prepared to apply for an entry-level cybersecurity job that would continue to build upon my course knowledge and skills.

I was part of a small class (just group of 10, eventually 9, students) and I think that was very advantageous to the students in our cohort, as each student got more attention and help from our instructor and fellow (teaching assistant). We also got to know everyone in the class - got more familiar with them and realized how to pair with them better/work with them better as a teammate.I like how the curriculum started out with some foundations, especially Javascript, then progressed to DOM manipulation, then to React, then to Node and Express. And then eventually they added some PostgreSQL, then Babel/Webpack, then Redux. I just think that the lesson builds up from the previous technology/framework really well, and helps the students (especially those new to programming) feel less overwhelmed about all the new stuff they're learning. Eventually, all the things you learn are applied to group projects that simulate working in a real-world team.I would say that our instructor, Prof. Erik, really tried his best to give us a learning structure that would make it easier for us to understand and also appreciate the language and framework we're learning. I loved how he would show first how to do something in a very vanilla way, show you the most basic way you can solve or approach a specific problem. Then in the next or a later lesson, he'll show how to work with a framework that makes life easier and addresses the tediousness of the earlier approach you were taught.Aside from our instructor, we also have a teaching assistant (also called a fellow) assigned to our class. Haoyu was an ally as we tried to gain the most out of the course. When we have questions, he tried his best to make us understand how something works. He also made sure we are challenging ourselves by giving us stretches and algorithm practices. If we're done with an exercise and there's still time, he'd also suggest what harder use cases we can try to handle.Aside from the instructors, our class was well taken cared of by the staff assigned to us - Crystal (our program lead), Chris, and Meg (our career coach). Crystal made sure that we are well fed when we stay late or go to campus on weekends. If we have logistic concerns, we raise them to Chris and he takes care of them for us. Meg helped us with career and job hunting preps - how to pitch yourself, how to make your resume/LinkedIn better, how to answer interview questions, how to negotiate salary, you name it!Overall, I really enjoyed the time I spent as a student in Fullstack Academy's Part-Time Flex program. I would say that I spent my money wisely. I was able to level up my skills. I gained mentors, friends, allies. I became part of a community that makes me feel more confident as a Software Engineer!

Fullstack Academy was truly one of my best educational experiences! Not only was I able to learn the latest technologies / methodologies, but I was able to do so in a very collaborative environment, where everyone would go out of their way to help you. This program allowed us to learn a large amount of information in a short amount of time while also still having time to build several solid projects to build out our portfolios. I just want to thank my excellent instructors (Eric K., Eliot S., and Gabriel R.) and my career services advisor (Meg D.) – all of whom are very knowledgeable and genuinely care about our learning / job search. They truly contributed to an awesome experience. I highly recommend Fullstack Academy for anyone looking to attend a coding bootcamp!

I've been a software engineer for 2 years prior to attending the bootcamp, and I still learned a lot of real life work experience and best practices in the bootcamp. I would do it all over again when time permits. 

My experience at Fullstack was amazing. Completing the course made me a more skilled & confident engineer. The instructors were great, knowledgeable and ready to help whenever you needed. The material we covered and the approach we took prepared me for my technical interviews. The help provided by the career success team was amazing. I will recommend Fullstack to anyone who is looking to improve or gain engineering skills. The people in my cohort were amazing and we all grew and learned together.

Fullstack Academy's part-time Flex immersive was one of the most wonderful, worthwhile, and challenging experiences of my life. While there were some things that could be improved about the course, I can wholeheartedly say that everyone there is dedicated, intelligent, and fantastic. If you're thinking of applying to Fullstack, don't hesitate--you won't regret it!

Application

Applying to Fullstack was fairly straightforward. After filling out an online form and taking an online assessment, I was then contacted for a one-on-one interview with a teaching fellow. The interview consisted of two parts--behavioral and technical. Don't sweat the technical interview. They're not looking for experts, but rather that you have a good grasp of the fundamentals and can handle instruction/feedback if you get stuck.

Do not go in with 0 experience first, though. You need to, at minimum, understand the basics of JavaScript: variables, functions, arrays, loops, objects, conditionals, some recursion, etc. If you're on Code Wars, you should be able to solve level 6 problems with some regularity.

The Class

The Flex immersive runs twice a week in-person and one weekend a month. A block of time is set aside for remote work/homework on Wednesdays, though there is no lecture during this time. The class runs across two phases: a junior phase, which consists mostly of lectures and workshops, and a senior phase, which is when you'll build applications from scratch.

Eric Katz, the lead Flex instructor, is funny, insightful, and an all-around great guy. He's a brilliant engineer and teacher, and you'll be glad to have him as your mentor.

The curriculum itself is challenging and trying--as it should be. Initially, I had panicked and thought I'd fail, but I realized quickly that I'd be okay so long as I put in the time and effort. Every concept you learn in the curriculum is then reinforced in senior phase, which is when you go from a newbie to a software engineer by building real apps--from a shopping website to your own hackathon project to a fully realized final project.

The curriculum was supplmented by weekend projects Eric assigned, which helped us learn to build projects from scratch far earlier than senior phase.

Career Success

The career success team is great. They provide lectures on interviewing, networking, salary negotiation, and so on. But the lectures are the least of what they do.

First, they organize Launch Day--an event where companies looking for graduates come to the campus and interview students in a "speed dating" style event. Though I wound up not going with any of the Launch Day companies, I did gain several good leads there. It's also a great event and a good introduction to tech interviews.

More importantly, they provide you with actual support during your job search. Jackie Ore, in particular, provided tremendous support during salary negotiations--something that had always terrified me in the past.

Cons

The only cons I'd say are that--at times--the Flex program did not feel like it was part of Fullstack Academy. For example, the curriculum frequently mentions deadlines for the full-time students, a source of confusion for us at times. It also felt sometimes as if the full-time staff had forgotten us. I'm sure this wasn't the case, but occasional checkins through all 6 months of the program would have helped. 

Aside from these minor issues, I wholeheartedly recommend Fullstack Academy. If you put in the work, you'll definitely succeed. Two months after graduating, I accepted a job offer to work as a software developer. :-)

Let's preface this by saying Fullstack Academy is NOT a fast track to a job. The entry bar to a junior software engineering is getting high, and it truly takes hard work to get your foot in the door. 

What this program really is, is a way to bring out your potential as a software engineer. Throughout the months of training, it makes you *fall in love* with programming. With my cohort, I was putting in hours that I didn't know I had. It was addictive. I was a pretty unmotivated individual and I joined FSA because I thought it offered the structure and the peer support(pressure?) I needed to get my act together, and boy did it deliver.

The instructor was knowledable, but he wasn't there to really hold your hand. In that sense it was more of a college lecture format. The instructor had a lot of ground to cover and little time, so it was understandable that a lot of concepts will be hand-waved. It will be up to you to fill in some of the gaps. The TAs were recent graduates who were there to get you through certain sections in the workshops, but I felt they too, were simply constrained by time to go over a topic on a deep level. WHICH MEANS! If you fall behind in your fundamentals, you will fall further and further behind. Even though you will probably still graduate, you are missing the solid fundamentals that you will be required to know to get a job. It will really be up to the individual to make him or herself responsible for really understanding the materials. Fullstack gives you the environment, you give yourself everything else.

Jobs. About a fourth of my cohort received real "software engineering" jobs. But a lot more, I'd say half, did manage a career change into a technical field, which I thought was extremely good. (Note, coming from a 4 year engineering degree, those numbers were pretty much on par.) Like many said, I wouldn't expect much from the "hiring day" here. 

The types of people who found success in this program were apparent in the earlier weeks. You know who they were, the students who were the most passionate and *optimistic* After graduating from the program, they would continue to work on their project, polishing up their skills. I couldn't stop studying after graduating from the program, because like many others, I was addicted to learning.

Could I have done it without FSA? No. Their structure, learning path, the peers, and the environment was what got me hooked and the rest was history. In that sense, this program was worth every penny and it would be disingenuous to say that I could have tapped into my potential myself. 

Because of the way FSA has truly changed my life, I will always consider it the best decision I've made. But in reviews I also need to recognize that some of my classmates complained that the lectures weren't very thorough and there weren't enough resources to catch them up to speed once they fell behind. They expected a more caring, handholding format but instead were thrown into the fire. For such a hefty price tag, it was a fair expectation from them. So, just know what to expect :)

My journey with coding started when I was kid. I loved programming video games back in the 90s and early 2000s (DirectX anyone?) In college, I did half of a C.S. degree, then decided to go to Berklee College of Music to pursue a degree in audio engineering and sound design. 

After 5+ years in the Music Tech industry, I realized I really missed coding, and I was not super happy with my career trajactory. Instead of going back to college to get another degree, I decided to look for other options, and found Fullstack. I was still working FT, so I ended up doing the FLEX class, which worked into my schedule really well. 

I can't say enough good things about my experience. Eric Katz, the lead instructor, did an incredible job, and consistently went above and beyond to make sure we learned the material, and learned it well. 

The rest of the crew @ FS are also amazing, and very helpful. 

After Fullstack, I quickly found a job (at one of my fellow student's startup actually) as a fullstack web developer, and I am loving. Attending Fullstack has changed my life! 

I attended Fullstack's Flex Immersive (part-time) course from January to July 2015, as part of its first cohort. It's been over a year since I've graduated (and successfully transitioned to be a fulltime software engineer!) and judging from not only my own experience but other alums/students as well, I can confidently say that Fullstack continues to be a place of excellence that strives to help its students succeed, whatever their goals may be. 

First I want to mention it's really commendable that Fullstack has various options of attending, whether it's the Flex program or the remote immersive. I was really grateful Flex existed when I was looking to make a career switch (mainly for money/flexbility reasons). Running all of these cohorts in unison must be a logistical nightmare, but Fullstack pulls it off with high satisfaction. 

Curriculum: Fullstack consistently iterates and improves on its product/curriculum (as all good developers do). When I attended we learned & used the MEAN stack, now it's the NERD stack. I'd advise prospective students to not be /too/ hung up on the specific technologies though - what Fullstack really teaches is the ability to pick up any technology or language and the proper methods and tools to do so effectively. Getting better at debugging and reading documentation are some of the key things I learned at Fullstack that have far longer lasting impact than specific syntax. As for Flex vs. fulltime, the curriculum was completely equal across the board, though you will most likely need to spend more time outside of class reviewing the material and/or finishing up workshops.

People: Both instructors and staff at Fullstack are all incredibly friendly and open to help on whatever issues you may have. The hiring team is supportive and loves meeting and advising alums, even months or years after graduation/landing a job. Connections and relationships made at Fullstack are long-lasting and really strong, as proven by the latest alumni event which was bubbling with people and lots of hugging and chatter. No matter what your background, you will definitely meet your people here -- some of the most intelligent, curious, inquisitive and friendly people I know I've met at Fullstack. 

Thank you to Fullstack for providing an amazing opportunity to productively learn development and build awesome projects -- and helping make a dreamed about career switch possible. 

Today, I'm a mentor for startups in the Gaza Strip and have my own startup focused on making local governments more effective. For my startup, I'm launching clusters of networked docker containers, utilizing machine learning, and develop on the tools of industry leaders. This past year I was in San Francisco with a Y-Combinator startup. None of this would be even remotely possible without Fullstack.

It was not easy though. For me, my first check to Fullstack bounced after my previous employers did not pay me, I had a 1+ hour one-way communte from central New Jersey, and I was working a full-time job to make up the money to friends and family I borrowed from. The problematic start placed me in a position of catch up for the entire 6 month part-time program. But Fullstack and the friends I made in the cohort did not give up on me, and more importantly, they did not lower the bar for me.

It's going to be tough and you're going to be pushed no matter your circumstance, but know that the experience will start a new chapter for you. I highly recommend you check out the part-time program.

The course curriculum is great. Within the time provided I learned quite a bit about MEAN stack development. Being in the flex class I had the feeling they were having issues scaling up. 

After every cohort they will hire a handful of TAs to help out - unfortunately the majority will only be around to support the full-time class. As a flex-immersive student you will be missing out on extra activities, CS Saturdays, a few CTO lectures, and communications. 

Flex came across as a bit disorganized at times. Sometimes forgetting to schedule a TA to help, little to no handholding, and not being allowed to use campus facilities outside of our normally scheduled class-time. This last piece was particularly stressful during capstone phase. Speaking to students in the FT cohort, no such decree against coming to campus outside of normal hours was given. 

Another major difference between FT and Flex. TAs will act as a project manager and code reviewer for each capstone team. For someone just starting out- this is extremely valuable.

Job support is okay. If you don't find a job at the first hiring day, don't expect much help after. You'll not be able to come to future hiring days. Occasionally you'll get a check in to see how the job search is going, with much of the framework for what you need to do  provided. Speaking to GH alumni, the job support experience sounds very different. Perhaps this is because rather then being paid up front, they get a cut of the first year salary.

In summary, the course work was great, and the teachers helpful. However, if you want the full experience - go with fulltime and avoid flex. If you are already very confident of your ability- flex is viable. Perhaps you are already a developer? If so, flex seems to be a great stepping stone into a new tech stack. 

I did Fullstack's flex program (nights and weekends) and would not recommend it.

I would recommend Fullstack Academy.

The instructors are great. They're all knowlegable and nice folks.
You're learning node. Node.js is, in my opinion, a better language to learn than ruby on rails, which a lot of other bootcamps teach. Node does a better job of handling single-page-applications, which is where tech is headed. Also, if you know node, you know both frontend and backend.
The cirriculum is good. It's not great, but I doubt any of the other options are better, unless you spend the time to go and get a degree. There is only so much you can learn in three months (or 6 months part time).

That being said, avoid the flex program. I did the flex program, and I felt like the red-headed stepchild of FSA.

First of all, you don't get as much. There is less classroom time than the fulltime program. They tell you that you're supposed to review on your own of the off days, but if you're doing flex you probably have a job (and a life) and don't have a lot of extra time.
There are significantly fewer resources available to you, simply because everybody has gone home. By the time you get there, the instructors/staff have already put in 9+ hours and are ready to leave. So you don't have the ability to get that extra insight/different viewpoint.
There are a lot of great things that FSA offers, like guest lectures and hackathons, but they all happen during the day. If you can make it, great, but if you have a job you're outta luck
They just don't cover as much. This goes back to the classroom hours. I heard from a graduate who went on to be a teaching fellow that the fulltime class went deeper into the material because they had the time to really jump in.
And they charge you the same amount. If I had paid less for the flex, I wouldn't be upset because I would have gotten what I paid for. But no, it's that same hefty price tag for a fraction of the experience.

TLDR: Fullstack good; flex program bad.

I was a student in Fullstack Academy’s first Flex Immersive course (Jan 2015 - July 2015) which spans over 24 weeks, 3 days a week, 6:30pm to 9:30pm on Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday and 10am to 6:30pm on Saturdays. It is basically designed to cover the exact same material as their full time course, but in a part time schedule that allows you to keep your day job in the process.

This was very appealing to me for many reasons:

Taking 13+ weeks off of work to pursue a whole new career just isn't feasible for many people. Due to financial reasons, school or family dependencies, leaving your job just might not be an option.


Many people might not be 100% ready to fully commit to web development as a career. Taking the Flex Immersive course can be a way get the bootcamp immersive experience in a more risk averse format.


Having class only 3 days a week allows for more personal study time on your days off. Having more time to better absorb the material before moving on to the next topic can be more your style of learning as the momentum of the full time course can be too fast for many people.

Thier Flex Immersive program was ultimately the deciding factor for me when choosing which bootcamp I wanted to attend. There was no other bootcamp in NY that offered their full time immersive curriculum in a part time format (and I believe that is still the case). The class sizes in the Flex program are much smaller than in the full time cohort (13 compared to 25) meaning a better student to instructor ratio. And in general, the Fullstack Academy bootcamp is no doubt one of the better accredited bootcamps in NYC.

Now of course I should say that bootcamps are not for everyone. Immersive bootcamps are very fast paced and even though the Flex course is twice as long at half the speed, it can be just as intensive as taking the full-time program because you’re forced to spend all of your evenings and weekends outside of work learning to code. Some people might just prefer to learn all of this solo; I definitely thought about doing that. But for me, the pros of attending this bootcamp ended up being very much worth it. Following a curriculum of the current web development frameworks and technologies was much easier and faster than trying to figure out what’s worth and not worth learning. Having instructors direct you across common pitfalls in the fraction of the time it would have taken for you to figure it out yourself was valuable in itself. There is just no possible way I could have learned all of this material by myself at the speed that I did.

Definitely do your research when deciding which bootcamp you want to attend, or whether you want to attend a bootcamp at all. But overall, I would highly recommend Fullstack’s Flex program as a feasible way to get the learning experience of their full time course but in a part time format.