Hackbright Academy

The Hackbright Academy program I attended was a full time, 12-week full stack web development bootcamp for women and people who are gender diverse. Their mission is to change the ratio within the job field and help create personalized paths to a software engineering career. Hackbright offers an online learning experience, however, still builds a community within the constraints of a screen. During the course we attended class from 10am-6pm Monday through Friday. We would split our time between lectures, pair-programming labs, lightning talks, and project time. The Hackbright instructors made sure no one fell behind by constantly checking in and making sure we were receiving the adequate support we needed. Every Friday, we would have team building time along with advice from the Outreach team on how we could prepare ourselves on being successful after the program in regards to the job search. 
Throughout the program we focused on core programming, data structures/APIs, and web technologies. The tech stack we primarily focused on was a combination of Python, Flask, CSS, HTML, React, AJAX/Jinja, Bootstrap & SQLAlchemy. 

In terms of preparing us for our job search after Hackbright, they did an amazing job. Nearing the end of the program, the academy sets up a Demo Night to show off our Independent Projects to major companies (Amazon, Walmart, Twilio, WePay, Dialoggbox). Personally, the week following graduation I was in communication with three companies and received two job offers the next Friday. 

I joined Hackbright to pivot my career with more of a technical emphasis and it did just that. Very appreciative of my time with the wonderful staff, instructors, and fellow Hackbright alums. 

TL;DR: If being in an all-women environment has value for you, there is no better option than Hackbright. Also, I only had to apply to two jobs to get an SWE role. Actually, I was offered both jobs, but chose the one I liked better. So, that's pretty fantastic ROI. The most important skills I gained from Hackbright were not technical ones (in fact, my job uses an entirely different stack than the bootcamp taught), but more how to think like an SWE and how to learn like an SWE. The lessons, labs, and projects taught me how to approach problems and how to solve them, and the experience gave me confidence that I could really do those things on the job.

Longer version: I researched multiple bootcamps before choosing Hackbright Academy. I was very drawn to the all-female (or female-identifying) cohorts, as that mattered to me in terms of my own level of comfort. That was, by far, the best part of my experience with Hackbright - meeting so many talented and capable women both in the cohort itself and through our teachers, TAs, and mentors. I feel like I would not have done as well in a mixed-gender educational environment.

My bootcamp was fully remote, and I think Hackbright did a nice job of making the virtual lessons as engaging as possible, and the instructors gave us regular breaks as well as trying to keep things interactive and fun. It was a full-time program, which was pretty intense, I have to admit. There was about an hour of homework most nights (after having done a full work day of classes/lessons/labs), and then longer homework and assessments on the weekends. The volume of work relaxed a little during project season, but not a ton, so you really have to make sure you have the time and energy to commit to the full-time program for those months.

My likes (aka what was great):

• Remote learning. They did it very well, and it was cool to meet and work with people from all over the country.
• Women-empowered experiences. Because most of the staff and instructors are also female, there were many built-in role models for us to see. Some of the presentations and discussions did touch on how to navigate a male-dominated industry (though there probably could have been even more of that, in my opinion)
• Building the cohort and relationships. We had mini-groups within the 22-woman cohort, as well as other pairings for labs and such. This allowed you to meet and get to know pretty much everyone. Additionally, each mini group hosted an end-of-week activity twice during the program, which was often a fun trivia game or something like that. I got to know my mini-group mates very well, and still am in touch with a couple of them. I also got to know several of the other women very well and am maintaining friendships and professional relationships with them. Because of the intensity of the program, you do feel like you know each other well, and it is nice to stay in touch!
• Python lessons. These foundational weeks and lessons were, by far, the strongest of the program. The instructors and TAs really knew their stuff on Python, and helped us get a solid foundation before branching off into other languages and other learning. Like I said above, my job doesn't use Python at all, but the learning process we used for Python really helped me build confidence in my ability to learn, and also helped me see that I could translate that learning and that process to other languages.
• Project season. The instructors and project advisors really force you to stay accountable and on track for your project, which I definitely needed. They also help you see what is a reasonable chunk of code to write, debug, and test within the sprints. It was amazing to me that our whole cohort was able to go from blank pages to fully functioning web apps in just a few weeks. So cool! And, you end up with a nice project to use in your portfolio or during job interviews (though, I admit that neither of my interviews cared at all about my project or even looked at it....)

My beefs (aka constructive feedback): 

• The instructional quality varied throughout the bootcamp, as there were many different instructors who worked with us on the various topics and lessons. Some instructors were simply AMAZING, and some...were not. No one was awful or mean or anything, but some just seemed to be better teachers or perhaps even to care more than others. Some also seemed to have deeper technical knowledge about what they were teaching than others.
• I would say that about 85-90% of the topics and lessons were very solidly planned, organized, and presented. There were a handful, though, that seemed almost like afterthoughts or that just were not the same quality of preparation and/or instruction as the other topics. Mostly, those were the soft skill-focused lessons and some of the lessons on testing (QA) and on Java, as well as group projects that just felt kind of "tossed together" at the last moment.
• The one-on-one stuff - advisor meetings, extra tutoring help, study hall time with the instructor, feedback sessions, career one-on-one, etc - was the most valuable time and information I got. (Ok, that's not a beef, I guess.) However, I think there wasn't enough of it. If that is where the bulk of the value is, then I think it could be a bit more frequent. We only had one feedback meeting in 3 months. Maybe they should be monthly instead. And, the 1-on-1 career stuff was awesome, but voluntary for sign up. It could be required to make sure everyone does it at least once. Advisor meetings were every other week, but I wish they had been weekly.
• Since Hackbright is part of a parent group that includes Dev Mountain (and maybe more bootcamps?), some of the staff are shared between multiple bootcamp programs, and so are some of the activities. For example, I went to one post-bootcamp hiring event that included students from non-Hackbright programs (but part of the parent group), and it was a bit shocking to experience the non-Hackbrighters in the hiring event. To be blunt, most of the hiring groups were male, and the male students (non-Hackbrighters) often dominated the virtual space with the hiring groups. Basically, it was hard for a girl to get a word in edgewise. Since I only did this one event, I don't know if Hackbright hosts more/separate women-only hiring events, but I kind of assume they are all combined to save on staffing time/demand and also to give potential employers the largest possible group of candidates. Nonetheless, it was jarring, and I wasn't fully prepared for the "man's world" hiring space after going through three months of female-empowered learning and career spaces.

Summary: As stated above, I think Hackbright excels in its niche of female-focused SWE learning and community building. I absolutely recommend it for that aspect, along with all the other value that is there in the program.

Coming to Hackbrigt has been an amazing experience overall.

Starting with the curriculum, I feel it has everything that you need to dive into the Software Engineering basics, and then taking it further until you are ready to make a full stack developed web app.

As soon as you finish with the Software Engineering course, Hackbright makes sure you are fully prepared to start looking for a full time job as a Software engineer, they give you tours with different hiring companies and you can have one-o-ones with hiring engineers to know about their hiring process.

Whiteboarding is another thing that I have learned at hackbright, which is truly helpful when you are going to be expected to do in every interview to get a job.

But the MOST IMPORTANT thing for me is the mission that Hackbright gives me, #ChangeTheRatio, and empowering other women that want to become a Software Engineer.

I have great things to say about this bootcamp,

I took the Part Time because I was working a full time job at the same time, and even though you are expected to do work after hours, its totally doable.

One of the things I liked the most about the course is that they not only prepare you into the technical aspect of Software Engineering, they also support you, give you advise and a whole week  dedicated completely to the job search that you are going to endure after finishing with the course.

Hackbright always made me feel empowered and the community as well as the instructors are amazing supporting you in every step of the course.

As a working adult and parent, it was a difficult decision to quit my full-time job and attend Hackbright. I made the switch strategically by first attending their weekend boot camp course and then their prep course to get a feel of how they structure their coursework and teaching style. From the very beginning, I was blown away by their supportive and nurturing environment. They are really passionate about changing the ratio in tech and this mission is reflected in everything they do(i.e. teaching approach, opportunities for women, mentorship, etc). I am forever grateful to have spent the past 5 months (prep program + full-time program) with amazing women who are on a mission to become awesome SOFTWARE ENGINEERS! The passion to learn is contagious at Hackbright and I love it!

I can't imagine a better place to start a new career.. Before applying Hackbright I had a very few coding experience and confidence in my skills.. It was such an intense program with updated curriculum which prepares you to the actual engineering field. The instructors were amazing, they were so eager to teach, help and very patient to us. I always felt their full support and belief in me during the bootcamp. At the beginning of the program I didin't take the career development sessions that serious but after a couple of weeks, I realized that how these people are working hard for us to build up our carreer, network and future with us.. So what is different after Hackbright? I definitely learned how to program.. Now I have a project that I build by myself, I learned a lot of technologies, algorithms.. I am building up a network on this field, I am still connected to my instructors, friends, alumni group and ofcourse career team..  And the most important one is that now I believe in myself during my engineering career.. The instructors, career team, their curriculum, their partner companies are all amazing.. As a graduate, I can definitely say that this was the best decision that I make in my career..

My experience at Hackbright really exceeded my expectations for what a bootcamp could offer. I thought the curriculum was really strong and focused on the right areas to help me land a job as a software engineer. Although Python was the main language we learned, the program didn't spend the 10 educational weeks on making us experts in Python at the expense of learning other languages and frameworks. Instead, we learned enough Python to be comfortable, productive, and most importantly, be able to continue learning and teaching ourselves after the program. This allowed us to spend time on other critical topics like Computer Science fundamentals (memory, data structures, algorithms, runtime, etc.), JavaScript / jQuery / AJAX, and new technologies like React.

Besides the curriculum, the other area I think Hackbright excels in is the teaching staff. They know the material extremely well and care so much about the success of their students. This, combined with the caliber of students that Hackbright admits, who are all kind, supportive individuals, makes for a very supportive learning environment.

Overall, Hackbright offers a comprehensive curriculum for web development and core computer science fundamentals. As a bootcamp, the emphasis of learning is on practical tools, which can be immediately applied in a work setting. Specifically, we learned Python (its built-in data structures, object-oriented programming), Flask, Jinja, jquery and more. The instructors are incredibly capable and humble - sometimes we encounter coding problems that may take longer to debug, but the instructors manage to show us how to become good problem-solvers and continuously learn.

In terms of structure, the first five weeks involved 2 lectures each day followed by 2 labs with a partner. Pair programming helped refined students' abilities in communicating about code and software, reinforcing the lecture concepts. The next five weeks were dedicated to projects, which was a great application of the skills we had learned.

There were subject areas that I wished we had investigated more, such as algorithms and data structures. Or at least, it would have been nice to have more structure to the coding challenge section. However, the bootcamp is limited time and must also teach students to independently study these concepts as they leave.

Overall, I chose Hackbright for its emphasis on balance and community — the bootcamp 100% lived up to the expectations I had in these two areas.

Balance: In terms of my personal work habits, I knew I needed ~some~ structure, which Hackbright provided during the day for 8 hours. Basically, I needed someone to point me in the right direction day-to-day and teach me about practical tools. In the evening, I felt free to google away about whatever sparked my curiosity, like concurrency or playing a CLI game. This approach doesn’t work for everyone, but it did for me.

Community: For background, Hackbright is a bootcamp for women and has a clear focus of changing the ratio in tech. Beyond anything else, Hackbright impressed me with its ability to cultivate and sustain a supportive community. Now that I’ve completed the program, I know it’s true from firsthand experience: post-bootcamp, I’ve seen or chatted with a fellow Hackbrighter almost every day since. In fact, I’m going to a Hackbrighter’s birthday in a week! The sense of community doesn’t stop there — I feel incredibly lucky to have friends, colleagues, fellow SWEs that will share resources, teach me a new concept and empathize with me.

I attended Hackbright's prep course and then joined the full time program half way through. My coding experience was limited before hand, and I honestly didn't really know what I was getting myself into.

It was the best decision of my life. 

I spent three months surrounded by some of the most inspiring, badass group of women I had ever met as we collectively embarked on the terrifying journey of transitioning into a very difficult career. The support system from these women was a huge key to my success in landing a job at Reddit less than two months after completing the program. One of my Hackbright classmates (who just landed a job at Eventbrite) came from a co-ed bootcamp where she said the culture of sexual harassment and general sexism was rampant. When reported to the staff, the staff said they don’t get involved with interpersonal issues. At Hackbright, that wasn’t an issue. We could worry about learning the really difficult content and building the confidence to go out into the job search and kick ass without feeling objectified and talked down to by our peers.

Aside from the environment, though, there was a strategic reason that I attended an all women’s boot camp: There is a huge push for companies to hire more women, and by attending a bootcamp that specifically trains women, I figured that they’d have relationships with lots of companies worth working for. This turned out to be true.

Ultimately, you will get out of a bootcamp what you put into it, but if you are willing to do the work, Hackbright can get you where you need to be. 

Hackbright has an extremely welcoming, inclusive environment. If you're looking for amazing support from your classmates, definitely go here. I found the other women to be intelligent and kind, which makes their network really strong. The curriculum is great for getting a complete overview of the entire web development world. I would say the biggest area that needs improvment is the mentorship program. Some of the mentors were amazing and some were not very good. It's a little hit or miss right now, but they are constantly making improvments. I also really liked the individual project method of learning. It was really hands on and was the best part of the program.

Hackbright is an inclusive and genuinely supportive environment. Career services is invested in your success and happiness both while in the program and as an alum (so grateful to have the career services team and resources available to me during the job search process). The course is challenging, but the skills, enthusiasm, commitment and support of the education team does an incredible job of bolstering confidence and helping you develop your technical skill-set and passions (the course has allowed me to believe in my abilities in ways I never would have considered possible). In just 12 weeks you will have the technical prowess to build a fully functioning web application completely on your own and from scratch, and develop some of the most meaningful and supportive friendships.

The program is intense and challenging, but a lot of fun. The space is safe and supportive and encourages and allows you to be vulnerable, opinionated and humble during a whirlwind period filled with an immense amount of learning and growth.

My 12 weeks at hackbright were some of the most infuriating, exhilarating and rewarding weeks of my life. I would 100% do it over again, and absolutely recommend it to any woman that is seriously considering a career as a software engineer!

I'm happy I chose Hackbright and impressed with the program. It's a very supportive learning environment that has a great alumnae network. They keep a tight schedule that definitely felt stressful at times, but it prepared me for my current position.

Hackbright's biggest downfall is that it is a bootcamp. Sounds strange, but it was hard to find a job after graduation in the Bay Area. There is a stigma attached to bootcamp grads and many companies won't even consider you knowing that "you're from a bootcamp." I rated Hackbright 4-stars (vs. 5) because I wish they provided a bigger/better network of Hackbright partner companies willing to hire recent grads. Hackbright's job placement team is great!

My advice to people considering bootcamps: find the best bootcamp that works for you and then budget extra time, finances, etc. to the post-boot camp job search.

I graduated from Hackbright in November of 2017 and I started work as a full-time software engineer at a startup in the city the same month! I had a long and successful career in tech in a non-technical role prior to taking the leap to Hackbright and I have no regrets. It was scary to quit my job and go for it, and I was wary of attending a for-profit institution at first, but for me it paid off. The educational experience was fine-tuned, worked for my learning style, and is very job relevant. Hackbright tailors the curriculum based on student feedback and industry feedback, to make sure they are teaching material that will be most useful in the workplace. Each lecture has a survey, and for the first five weeks you have an opportunity right after lecture to practice what you learned in lab. For anyone currently working and unsure about making the leap, don't be afraid to go for it! In case it helps you, this is the TED talk that finally helped me to make my decision and go for it. If you don't yet have any experience in tech, Hackbright also does a really good job of setting up field trips to tech companies, creating opportunities to connect with industry, and preparing you for the job search through weekly group check-ins and 1:1 meetings with a career coach. Even for someone with tech experience like me, I learned a lot more about start-ups through Hackbright. One aspect of Hackbright that was challenging for me was the schedule. After week five, there is only one lecture a day and you're just working on your project the rest of the time. Initially I treated it like a job, making sure to show up and be present each day while also optimizing for my own productivity - leaving a bit early if I was at a stopping spot or if I wanted to take a break and study later in the evening. Hackbright doesn't look well on this and really expects you to be there everyday until 6pm. I know for many in my cohort, especially those with children at home, long commutes, or other work or family obligations, this was a hurdle on the path to success. My hope is that Hackbright can work towards slightly more inclusive (and similar to the workplace) scheduling in the future! Overall, Hackbright changed my life and enabled me to career change with a top-notch curriculum and incredibly supportive culture. If anyone has doubts about which bootcamp to choose, if you're looking for excellent, structured curriculum that prepares you for work, with the additional opportunity to build a big project independently, with career help and tech exposure thrown in, all as part of a really supportive and friendly culture - then Hackbright is for you!

I attended Hackbright Academy this summer, graduating in the fall. I really loved the experience!

I came into Hackbright with programming experience from being self-taught and building complex Flash applications for my job. I had written vanilla JavaScript for about two years prior to starting. I was lucky to come in with that experience, as it made the whole bootcamp process a lot easier. I had some applied experience to draw on and it made it easier to digest the material. I had never done anything with the backend and had never done any web app development prior to starting the course. If you don't have any programming experience, I would suggest taking their prep course to get your feet wet or you will likely feel really underwater once the coursework gets going. Even if you have experience, keep practicing up until you start - you won't regret it!

There is no way I could have learned everything I did in 12 weeks on my own! It was great to fully immerse myself in programming instead of continuting to try and learn it on the side. The staff is incredibly knowledgable, helpful, and supportive. They will answer a question three different ways if it means you understand. No question is too simple and they foster an environment where everyone can be heard. It kind of feels like going to a really nerdy summer camp. I can't stress enough what a unique opportunity an all-female program offers. There are few great aspects of the program I can't envision working in a co-ed space. The best way to sum up the environment is, there is no winning at Hackbright. No one is crowned the best Hackbrighter. Everyone is learning their own way with their own goals and supporting one another on their path.

I like the way the course is structured. The first half you will be focusing on labs building up your foundational skills. The second half is called "Project Season" and you will be building an app from scratch. It is an incredibly exciting experience to see something complex come together. You learn so much in those four weeks! You get to pick and choose what web services you want to use, what libraries of tools to implement, and you get to see your idea come to life. In the end, I was able to build something even better than I could have imagined when I started. Start thinking of ideas now!

All of that said, there is still a lot to learn once the program is complete. The program doesn't have time to expand on some of the core computer science topics that you will need to know for interviews, so prepare to spend some more time studying once the course is over. That is true of any bootcamp - but just something that you should know up front! Hackbright will teach you how to learn a language, so ideally you can find a role even if you don't know the languages the company uses.

I am really happy with my decision to attend Hackbright. I was able to lock down a job about a month after graduation. That said, the job market has changed and there are a lot of bootcampers out there right now and only so many junior roles. I was lucky to have some programming job experience, which helped in my search. So be prepared financially for your job search to take 3-6 months. I would also recommend going to meetups (PyLadies has a lot of HB alum) and tech events to start networking as early as possible, don't wait until you have graduated. It is the best way to get your foot in the door after a bootcamp! I ended up getting my job thanks to a referral from a woman in my cohort! There is a great alumni network and most people are happy to help another Hackbright woman! 

The main stack you learn is Python | Flask | JavaScript (they just switched to ES6) | PostgreSQL 

I began at Hackbright as a prep course student.  The course did an excellent job teaching the fundamentals of programming in Python.  We learned about data structures, conditionals, for and while loops, and APIs, among other things.  At the end of the course, we were asked to create a small project that ran on the command line in Python.  I was impressed by how far all the women had come -- Hackbright had done an excellent job teaching us and the women had done an excellent job learning and applying the material and going the extra mile!  By the end of the prep course, Hackbright encouraged us to apply to its full-time fellowship program.  I was at first hesitant, nervous about the coding challenge and interviews.  But, as I saw the confident and excited women around me who were part of the full-time fellowship (sometimes we would bump into them right before our prep class), I knew I wanted to be where they were at -- with the knowledge and skills to call themselves software engineers.  The project had made more confident in my abilities as a prep-course-level engineer, and Hackbright made it easier for those in the prep course to apply (we did not have to re-do the application form bit).  The coding challenge and the interviews were still challenging, but it was worth the pain to get the news that I had gotten in!  The twelve weeks in the fellowship were definintely taxing, but worth it as well.  We learned the foundational concepts and knowledge needed to build a web application, and learned fundamental computer science concepts as well.  I am now in the job search process and am proud of the project I had completed in the fellowship, showing my skills, and am thankful I have so much material I can still review to make me more ready for interviews.  Had I not pushed myself to transition from the prep program to the application process for the fellowship, I wouldn't be where I am, a junior software engineer!  If you are wondering whether you should take that leap, do it!  You can apply to Hackbright a few times, if the first time does not go well.  And you will not regret looking to the horizon toward your dreams, motivated to run the race it takes to reach that horizon.

During the Hackbright Fellowship, the amount of learning that occurs on a daily basis is enormous. Their formula of teach, practice, review, assess provides a great scaffold for engaging multiple ways with the material and retaining information. 

As a mother the time requirement initially felt undoable however, with support from my family and some adjustments in schedule, I was able to be successful with the required stduying and maintaining a balance of family/work. It was expressed to me several times that HB is aware of the challenges of being a student/mother and working toward making sure the fellowship is a viable option. It is not easy, but can be done!

The instructors have a variety of teaching and support styles. Not everyone felt that they were matched well with their advisors. I valued the different styles and knew when to ask a question to whom based on what I wanted back from them. Many of the instructors have backgrounds in education and their pedagogical knowledge was apparent in their instruction. 

I am currently in the job hunt phase. The Career Services team is very supportive and the opportunities to engage with industry people to learn about interviewing is invaluable. 

I graduated at Hackbright Academy last May 2017. Hackbright provided a very supportive learning environment enabling me to not fear failure as there were many times where my programs didn't work.  I learned how to troubleshoot and ask for help sooner rather than later!  This was the first time I was ever in an immersive environment and it was indeed very intense as I felt like I was drinking from a firehose every day.  What I loved about Hackbright is that they go out of their way to provide an environment where I can learn from my classmates, teachers, and experienced engineers who are working in the industry.  And the support continues even as I graduated.  Hackbright gave me a strong foundation in software engineering that I can build on for the rest of my life.  Thank you!