Actualize

Hello all, recent grad of Actualize here.
I was looking for a bootcamp to learn software development as I wanted to enter the tech world. After searching around online I found these exact reviews about Actualize. The positive reviews seemed too good to be true lol. A quick look on reddit told me they were not kidding and that this is one of the best bootcamps around. I reached out to the intake staff and immediately was struck by the personal attention of the staff! I had at least a 30 min conversation with the intake advisor who patiently answered all my question and tried to help me make an informed decision. She even offered to connect me to the teaching staff and past alums!

After starting the program, I felt taken care of by the entire Actualize staff. My class instructor, Amanda, is a rockstar teacher and went above and beyond to impart all the things we need to know to get a job in the tech world. She turned our cohort into a close group where we were all growing together. There is so much more to switching careers and learning software development than the hard technical skills. And that is where Actualize really shined! They were quick to support us in all ways besides actual code. Their job-hacking team, with Lisa and Sarah, helped us prepare for the tech world by training us on interviews, resumes, and networking/LinkedIn. The bootcamp also prepared us for whiteboarding and solving complex coding problems.

At other bootcamps you might be thrown into a class with 100s of people and then have TAs do the rest of the work or you will be stuck with an instructor who might be a great developer but a lousy teacher. At Actualize, instructors are developers who develop developers. Also, you will be in a more intimate cohort and really grow and gain together.

Lastly, the journey does not end upon completion of the bootcamp. It continues past that with constant reinforcement and training for both development and job-searching. There is a follow up course that is included that goes deeper into the problem solving and computer science. 

When in doubt choose Actualize.

I chose Actualize after a friend recommended it and after reading about the emphasis that Actualize puts on EDUCATION and putting understanding first. I wanted a personal touch and what I got was just that. My class was small and I got to talk 1 on 1 with career coaches, my instructor, my classmates, and even the dean of students, who personally called me when I was having second thoughts. Something I was really impressed by was the FORMAT of the class. We had several daily routines, lectures followed by exercises, and weekly job hacking sessions which really put me ahead when beginning to apply for jobs. We also had 2 Teaching Assistants, which meant office hours twice a week (super helpful and consistent) and at least one of them in class to help with questions every day. You begin with a month of pre-work which is at your own pace with a class once a week to go over that weeks assignments. It prepares you well for when you begin class full-time. My instructor Amanda cares about her students and even went out of her way one day to spend a full hour talking to me about her experience as a woman coming up in the industry. I was extremely grateful to have her as a role model both as a software engineer and as a woman in tech. I'm on my last day to class now, and I've accumulated: a great portfolio via GitHub, a personal website that I created myself, a fully loaded LinkedIn with over 600 connections, a professional resume, tons of resources, and a completed capstone project. Also the understanding of what those things even mean. I've already applied to 20 jobs and have 2 interviews lined up. 

I think the most important thing to me about Actualize is that you learn a lot but maintain great mental and work-life balance. A lot of code bootcamps have crazy hours per day but Actualize was consistently 11 am - 4 pm every day with an hour or two of homework per day--very manageable. As someone who struggles with mental health challenges, this was crucial to me. Amanda was a fantastic instructor and explained things well but also encouraged me to take breaks when I needed them. We learned primarily Ruby on Rails and VueJS, which I feel is a good foundation for full stack web dev.

I came to actualize looking to transition careers from a chemistry background to something in Web Development (I had no prior coding experience). I decided to go with actualize because I was able to still work full time and take their night class online. In 12 weeks I was able to learn how to build both a front end and back end for web apps. It takes a lot of work and you need to come to class wanting to learn. I had Brian as my instructor and he was amazing. I would recommend his to anyone he was the best.

Having done a prep course for a different bootcamp that left me uninspired and unmotivated, I stumbled upon Actualize. From day one they were super transparent and communicative about their program and any questions I had. Learning that my teacher was not only a developer but also an actual teacher was the selling point for me. Brian was my instructor, not only did he create a friendly and relaxed environment to learn, but he laid the curriculum out in a way that was very easily absorbed. My all around experience at Actualize was great, I looked forward to class everyday and I came away from it learning and grasping way more than I thought I was going to be able to. If you thrive in a structured environment with a laid back atmosphere I would highly recommend Actualize to you.

I was directed to this Bootcamp from a friend who graduated here. He had nothing but good things to say about the instructors and curriculum. This made it easy for me to pick Actualize when I decided to make a career switch. I would highly recommend Actualize Coding Bootcamp! Their staff is very knowledgeable, helpful and want to see you succeed. The course is in depth and teaches you not only how to code from the ground up but also integrates ways to find a job when the course is over. 

I have zero regrets. NONE. 
Here's a little background on me - 40 year old student, with essentially no tech experience prior to taking this class, diverse career experiences completely unrelated to tech. Around February of 2020, I started paying closer attention to my internal voice pulling me toward tech. So, I did the wise thing...I turned to YouTube. My heart began to thump in my chest and an excitement I hadn't felt for a long time began to rise up as my eyes opened to possibilities.  I bought a $18 online course for SQL. Something not too intimidating. I liked it. I attended a virtual conference, connected with folks on LinkedIn, bought another online course that cost a bit more, python.  It was then that I realized as a complete newbie, who barely even knew the lingo associated with tech, was fumbling through GitHub etc. I needed a Bootcamp, I needed peers. And here is where Actualize comes in.

Actualize provided  structure, direction (cause I could sense myself teetering on the edge of a rabbit hole), accountability and very importantly, I wanted to talk to my instructor & classmates in real time, like see their faces. For me I needed feedback immediately as I learned these complex problems. Kevin, the pre-work instructor, provided feedback and eased the transition into the intense live-teaching portion of the program. Peter, my instructor, was funny, smart, super encouraging. Megan & Sarah, the T.A.'s were patient, supportive and helpful.  Lisa & Sarah, the career specialists are with us during the entire job hunting process until we land that job and after! The team at Actualize truly have our backs. I feel it. 

Actualize equipped me with the tools, resources and community I needed.

So, I mentioned my age earlier because I want the person reading this to understand that you can do this!  Don't let doubt and fear creep in.  Don't talk yourself out of it.

Actualize, thanks a bunch!

I have been working in creative fields for roughly fifteen years. After my last position, which exposed me to scripting in 3ds Max and in Cygwin, I felt that I had finally reached a terminal career point. I could have gotten comfortable and settled-in, possibly for life, but I wanted more challenge, so I made the decision to switch careers to coding.

After researching multiple bootcamps, their curriculums and poring over reviews of instructors, I made the decision to go with Actualize. A strong draw for me was not necessarily the technologies covered, but how well the instructors were reviewed and how well the information is presented. 

Ruby/Rails, Javascript, SQL, Bootstrap and Vue.js are definitely solid technologies to know, and are very accessible, but they are not necessarily the current meta for "what's hot." The mission of Actualize, to not necessarily teach students whatever languages and frameworks are the current fad, but rather teach the frameworks for self-learning that will empower students to switch to any other language or framework, allows me to not only appreciate what I have learned in my short time in the class, but also appreciate what I am about to start learning on my own, and at a future employer.

I went in to this bootcamp with virtually no coding experience and by the end I had made a web application from the ground up and presented it to a panel. Very pleased with how much I learned here and the support I received from the instructor and TAs. 

The job hacking portion of the class was a major help to me. I would not have been able to advertise myself this well to employers without it.

I look forward to my new brighter future as well as seeing where my fellow classmates end up. The community of our class was fun and always willing to lend a hand.

I just finished the Day section of Actualize coding bootcamp with Dani as my instructor. Prior to joining Actualize I worked in education, and then in media. 

I decided it was time for a career change, and to really do something beneficial to myself and my future. In High School I had taken some basic coding courses in C++/HTML/CSS, and tried to pursue Computer Science in college. However, I was not great at the math and science that a 4 year CS degree includes, and so I switched majors to education. 

Fast forward many years to 2020, I had been working as (and still do) a video editor. While I enjoy the work, I really wanted a career with some consistency and staying power. I told myself, and some friends, that I was going to join a coding bootcamp. I did my research, I built out an Excel spreadsheet with all the bootcamps I was considering, and I landed on Actualize.

I chose Actualize 1) because of the flexibility in the schedule, a day or a night section, and the day section allowed me to continue working in the mornings and 2) because of their mission statement regarding hiring educators first and coding second. Coming from an education background I understood the importance of having an instructor that could really teach the material in an effective way.

I'm so glad I chose Actualize. I feel like I had a great experience all around, and learned so much information in such a short amount of time (and was able to retain all of it!). The career support once a week built into the curriculum was also helpful in getting me to start thinking about what my life would be like when the bootcamp ended, and I feel very prepared to continue on in my journey into the tech world. I'll never stop learning, and I'll always keep working on new and interesting ideas.

tldr; sign up for Actualize, they are absolutely everything they claim to be. You will graduate with a solid foundation to start your career in development!

I've taken pride at being self-taught at many things. But I struggled to teach myself programming beyond a basic level for quite a while. I spent more time trying to decide which language to learn than on just picking one (spoiler alert: it doesn't matter, just pick one and move on!). I'd skip over the fundamentals just to hack together code on a deadline for small parts of my job without understanding what I was doing at all. But the program at Actualize was completely worthwhile and feel like it has prepared me for a life of learning in Web Development.

Actualize started with the fundamentals without ever feeling simplistic. The pre-work was engaging and well structured. The live instruction was phenomenal and was a great balance of technical instruction, career coaching, habit forming and developing strong problem solving skills. It moved at a great pace and jumped between instruction and exercises but constantly pushed (forced?) me to keep learning, something that is hard to maintain on your own. The curriculum was well rounded and the group work was a great way to practice collaborative project-based coding. The capstone project was where everything we were taught came together and I was astounded at how much I had actually learned and was able to pull off. It also taught me how to focus under pressure, search out resources, pick my priorities and work up against a hard development deadline.

I was hesitant to pay for a coding bootcamp and thought "I can just teach myself with some online courses". But the reality is there's no way I could have learned this much material and covered such a broad array of coding and computer science concepts in any coherent way on my own. Not to mention you have little to no support when going the self-teaching route. But at Actualize during exercises I received help on things that could have taken me hours or days to figure out on my own - leaving time to reinforce the skills I was building while still exploring more advanced concepts. The deadlines and group projects were very effective at cementing my knowledge and forcing me to learn and think on the fly.

Overall a phenomenal experience and I would highly recommend you sign up right now or visit one of their classes to see what its like for yourself. But save some time, quit debating and just sign up for Actualize. There will be plenty of time for self teaching after you graduate but at least you'll be able to start off on a solid foundation with a network of resources to take with you, and that's a huge advantage.

Realized halfway through that the founder's partner was the admissions coordinator who helped me sign up, My instructor was actually also the dean, and I was lucky enough to present my code to the founder for my final. Instructors were available for advice well past class class time, with the aforementioned dean pulling very late nights to be ready for finals week. TA's and pre-work instructors were incredibly helpful and friendly. I took the whole class online and hope to meet up with classmates and Instructors soon.

When i was a prospective student looking coding bootcamps, reading the reviews was a big help in the decision-making process. I just completed the Actualize program recently, so here are some thoughts and opinions based on my own experience:

Pros:
-i feel that the teachers, TAs, and career advisors have been really supportive. it's easy to get in touch with someone if you have questions. the cohorts are smaller and the career support team works with you to understand your personalized goals. My class was 14 students from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. The lectures are held live and recorded in case you need to reference back to something later.
-our instructor did a really good job of creating an engaging and fun classroom environment. it made it easy to get to know the other people in the class. there's a lot of group collaboration and pair programming. of course the bootcamp was a grind at times, but going to class was always something i looked forward to.
-the online daytime class is 5 hours/day M-F with a few breaks. this is less classroom time than some other bootcamps. This ended up being a plus for me, since it helped me avoid the sense of burnout that can come with being in a classroom environment all day. I liked having the live class time, taking a break, then reinforcing concepts and diving into the homework at night.
-Ruby on Rails and Vue were good languages to learn and be introduced to first.

Cons:
-expensive. there are for sure cheaper ways you could go about learning web development fundamentals. For me personally though, the structure and the support of a group learning environment was really valuable and really helped me build on my skills.
-fast-paced: it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes to understand all the concepts coming at you rapid fire. i'd recommend you try to dive into some basic programming concepts if you can before you start the program.
-just know that you're not going to learn everything you need to know in the 12 weeks. you're going to have to keep learning and building on the foundation of knowledge that you gain in the class.


TLDR: recent student. would recommend. 5 ruby gems / 5.

Short version:  Balanced, well-paced curriculum with a HUGE focus on supporting students on their learning path AND beyond. 

If you're looking to learn programming languages remotely and aren't sure if you'd be missing out on some part of the in class experience, Actualize has figured it out. They had zoom classes pre-pandemic and it really shows,  it doesn't feel like a rushed transfer from in-person learning like some classes might. The classes are small (mine had 14 students for 1 instructor and 2 TAs), the exercises make use of the online component of the class (you are learning a computing language after all), and you will leave feeling a real comradery with a new community.

I have friends who went through other classes at the same time as I did and while they had problems feeling like they were lost in the sea of new material, Actualize never made me feel overwhelmed.  You do learn A LOT, but its not just thrown at you.  Our instructors and career supervisors were overwhelming supportive and provide plenty of tools to help students along their path. The class is 5 hours (with an hour of breaks throughout) and THERE IS homework but not so much as to eat up all your time. I can only speak for myself but most assignments took about 20-30 minutes to complete. Its well paced, with plenty of time to grasp the new subjects-- to the point I'm shocked at how much I actually learned.

The main reason I joined a bootcamp was that I kept getting stuck, bored, or frustrated with learning independently and I wanted to speak to an actual human person about it. Instead, I got to talk to qualified instructors AND a dozen new friends going through the same experience.  My class was about half women, including the teacher (something I was worried going in as a lady-in-tech) but obviously that will depend on the year. But the social aspect was everything it could be in a class, and that was a delight.

I wholeheartedly recommend Actualize!