App Academy

I'm not gonna sugar coated this. People get kicked out for failing 2 assessments. This was the single most difficult, stressful, mentally taxing, emotionally challenging, and wonderful experiences in my life. This is the best decision I've ever made. Expect the workloads of 100 hours a week, especially if you want to get good. I came in with a lof of imposter-syndrome, and at the end of it, I can build full-stack applications from scratch. I've become a lot more confident in my skills and how I communicate to potential employers, as I type this I have a few on sites scheduled next week.

I'd say overall App Academy is one of the best decisions I've ever made and one of the hardest things I've ever done. A few things that have been mentioned to me that ring true:

"Its kinda like having a firehose of information pointed at you, and you just do your best to drink up as much as you can"

There's also feeling that it really is a bootcamp of sorts. If you think about the traditional military bootcamps, there's a sense of discipline instilled in you in the process, and you walk out with friendships and bonds built from going through a difficult experience together. You can't get through this program alone. You'll need the support of the people around you and your classmates to really succeed, and as a result you'll end up with a strong network of very capable developers along with the skills you actually pick up here.

You get as much out of this as you put in. Don't come in expecting to have your hand held. Don't come in expecting everyone you're learning from to be perfect and know everything. Learning on your own and via collaboration is part of the skillset you build here.

The workload  is everything that you've likely already read about. I spent everyday and the majority of my weekends working/studying until I slept. 

The payoff is that you'll gain the skills you need to pursue a career in software development. It sets your work ethic and gives you the momentum to continue to work towards success. I am currently in the job search phase. Whether or not I am successful, I am thankful for what I've been able to learn and am confident in my ability to land a job following the cohort. Well worth it.

The 12 weeks at App Academy were the most amazing 12 weeks of my life. I learned so much in such a short period of time which I would have never been able to do on my own. You get to develop your own full-stack project and a JS project at the end of the course to show to the employers. They also groom you to make you ready for the job market, whether it's technically or behaviorally. While doing pair programming, you learn to deal with so many people each with a different mindset which is very important for both personal and professional life. App Academy has very good instructors who make you understand all the concepts so well and are always ready to help.

I would definitely recommend App Academy to anyone who is good at logical thinking and wants a career in Software.

App Academy was easily the most demanding endeavor I've taken on. From Day 1, you need to be firing on all cylinders, and you need to be dedicated. The assessments are quite difficult, as they are timed, and they're not subjective at all. If you make a silly mistake, you'll pay for it, and if you fail two exams, you're allowed to retake the second one. If you fail the retake, you're asked to leave. They are not messing around with this policy.

Having said all that, the instructors are fantastic, and really know what they're doing. They genuinely WANT you to succeed, and are very patient. App Academy is something that I'm really happy I did, but would never want to put myself through again. I don't have a job yet, but I have no doubt that I've been given the tools I need to succeed.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the experience. Coming out of the program I feel like I have the tools I need to be able to start a career in software development.
Going through App Academy is rigorous, but rewarding.
I believe some of the curriculum can be updated (and I believe aA is in the process of doing this now), but what is currently taught will still teach you the fundamentals of software engineering.
Be prepared!
You will spend most of your life working on App Academy material for the 12 week duration of the course and you will come out of it with a solid foundation in software engineering.
Along the way you'll get to know work with a bunch of great people and make some new friends.

At times you'll feel like you're falling behind, but don't fear, there is a super helpful group of TA's to guide you through the material and make sure you have what you need to keep up. Be sure to ask a bunch of questions if you are unsure about ANYTHING.

App Academy is a great program that is starting to show its age a bit. The curriculum is intense and that intensity means you learn a lot more quickly than you would learn on your own. I personally found it super important for getting me started with no prior technical experience. They even have a free two-week prep program to help you pass the entrance exam. In addition, the TAs are friendly and willing to sit and be patient to figure things out with you. That said, the first 4.5 weeks of the program focuses on a language and a framework that is in decline. Ruby and Rails are decreasing in popularity and so it sometimes felt like a lost opportunity that we spent so much time on them. The subsequent 4.5 weeks were focused on JavaScript and React/Redux, however, and these are much more currently in demand. The tuition guarantee was a huge positive for me as I likely wouldn't have done a bootcamp otherwise. My caution would be that App Academy seems to be in a transitional phase of updating their curriculum and so it might be more in date in the near future. Overall I would say the high standards of the program and the reputation combined with the relative financial ease of entry are the biggest sells.

Disclaimer: Being compensated with a hoodie on graduation for this review.

App Academy has a 12 week intensive bootcamp program to prepare people for fullstack web development. It is a bootcamp (read: fast-paced and intensive), and will take up your life for the entire time you're there until you get a job. The TAs and lecturers are all students from prior cohorts so they have experienced what you will be going through, but they are software engineers at heart as well. The culture is great, and the pair programming experience is a fantastic way to develop your collaboration skills.

That being said, it is a bootcamp, and not for everyone. I've personally spent about 10-12 hours daily on campus, the majority of the time studying/working on projects. The curriculum is fast paced and rigorous, and you will live assessment by assessment. The Ruby curriculum is much better than the JavaScript curriculum, despite JavaScript being the more popular language by far. The time allocated for the three major projects seemed too restricting, despite the repeated emphasis of the importance of team projects. On top of that, the JavaScript curriculum is taught as ES6, but most of the resources given are for ES4 and ES5. 

TL;DR - It's a bootcamp, be prepared for many hours of work

There are many positive things about App Academy. However, it should be noted that the program is absolutely as rigorous as it is advertised to be. That said, you will certainly get out of it what you put in, and the opportunity to learn a great deal in a very short amount of time is certainly, at least to an extent, dependent upon how much effort and time you are able to put in. For me, App Academy was undoubtedly a life changing experience, and I would do it all over again if I had to. But the reality is that it is not for everyone, and the demanding curriculum and constant threat of being expelled are important considerations for anyone thinking about taking the dive with a/A.

I can confidently say that the first few weeks of the curriculum are very well organized. While the pace is aggressive, the structure is easy to follow, and the TAs are an invaluable resource. A majority of the day is spent pair programming with other members of your cohort, and asking questions is probably the primary way that you will learn the material. You quickly move from Ruby, to SQL, and on to Rails, before you run into something of a slowdown with the Javascript curriculum. Once you enter the land of JS, the instruction on projects becomes muddled, at times lacking, and is often just flat outdated. I understand that a shift away from Rails to more relevant frameworks and libraries will be a process. But it is unfortunate.

I will close by stressing that if you decide to take the leap and attend a/A, be ready to put everything else on the back burner. You will be tested and pushed to your limits often, but if you are able to meet the demands, then it can be a truly rewarding experience.

Pros:
Great TAs that are super helpful and are enthusiastic about their work
You get to work with other engineers and learn from them
Curriculum (for the most part) is very solid and definitely applicable in the industry

Cons:
If you're not willing to work hard, it won't work out for you
Still uses Ruby on Rails which is quickly falling out of favor in the industry
You have to set aside everything to be successful. I spent 13 hours (9 am- 10pm) every weekday and 6-8 hours every weekend with occasional breaks over 12 weeks. You only get as much as you are willing to give.

Yes, it's a demanding experience - that's a given. But, the App Academy experience is really what you make out of it. There is an abundance of content, and knowledgeable instructors. But, if you don't genuinely engage in the material daily, or deliberately ask the instructors for help, then you will not learn as much as others who proactively ask questions and challenge themselves. The instructors will never hold your hand, or give you an easy way out. Rather, they will train you to learn how to learn, so that you may become an independent programmer and thinker. 

If you have a basket that holds 5 apples, App Academy will throw 10 apples at you every week. Accordingly, you will have to drop 5 apples every week, and choose which 5 you will digest. This can feel overwhelming at first, but that's just how the curriculum is designed. The assessments keep you on track, but they are definitely not the perfect system - and the instructors also agree with this. If you fail 2 exams, you will be kicked out. Accordingly, if you fail one exam, you will constantly be in a stressed and anxious state throughout the program, and I can't imagine that being too great for your health. But as for the moment, assessments get the job done.

Overall, I've learned a ton through the program, and became a disciplined individual and developer. My expectations were not met, but I am definitely a better developer today than I was before the start of the program. 

Also, the building has no windows. When you feel burned-out, do take a walk outside and get some fresh air. 

The only prerequisit to App Academy is loving to code. If you enjoy the process then you will be able to get through this incredibly intense but exciting program. If you aren't all in though, don't try it. This is one of the most time intensive and taxing things I have ever done, think finals week, but every week for three months. The testing structure at the start of the course can be pretty stressful, but most people do get through it and if you fail out they give you your money back, so its not the end of the world. I would not trade this experience for anything though. In such a short period of time I have made friends that will last a lifetime, a skill that will hopefully get me a job, and most importantly the ability to learn and teach myself going forward. 

One of the best decisions I've ever made. In going to app academy, I've surrounded myself with ambitious intelligent people who constantly push me to do better.

The program is rigorous, but the difficulty definitely breeds camaraderie with your cohort-mates. A few areas of improvement: Ruby on Rails is trending downwards, would loved to have learned Node.js or Go as a backend framework. Also be prepared to go farther with Algorithms & Data Structures than the curriculum as of writing.

App academy has positioned me well to succeed. I don't regret it one bit.

You will learn more about software development in 12 Weeks than in my opinion you could learn in college. App Academy has given me the tools to be able to hit the ground running. It is an inclusive environment where everyone is encouraging and the teaching assistants give you the tools to succeed. It is a tough bootcamp because you are constantly learning something new and you are pushed to the limit every day. However, it is one of the most rewarding experiences that I have ever had in my life. Being around so many brilliant individuals push you to be better. You will be challenged like never before but it will pay off 10x's over, and you will be incredibly thankful for the experience. In all, it was the best thing I have ever done. Thank you, App Academy.