What a Coding Short-Course Can Do for Your Career

Want to learn coding but unsure if you’re ready for an immersive coding bootcamp? Elevate your tech skills at a pace that’s right for you with General Assembly’s flexible, part-time short coding courses in Front End Development, JavaScript, and Python! Whether you’re looking to advance your career, or simply want to improve how you collaborate with the technologists on your team, there’s a short course to support your goals. We spoke with Nicole Schaffer, a Senior Admissions Specialist at General Assembly, to break down what you can expect in the course, how to balance it with a full-time work schedule, and payment options.

Why should a student take a short coding course at General Assembly?

For those with no prior coding knowledge, a short coding course is a great way to gain those relevant skills. This kind of course also serves as a foundation for attending a coding bootcamp in the future. 

For those already working on technical teams, taking a short coding course can enhance your technical skills so you can better communicate within your organization.

How does a short coding course elevate your career?

For people considering a career change into tech, individual coding courses, such as General Assembly’s Front End Web Development, JavaScript Development, and Python Programming courses, help students elevate their technical skills with live, hands on training and allow for a collaborative space to  build a capstone project with the supervision of an instructor who is a practitioner in the field. 

Who are General Assembly’s short coding courses for? 

These short courses are for individuals already working on technology related roles and want to add a new technical skill to their portfolio. It’s a way to gain better knowledge of one language at a time. 

The cool thing about General Assembly’s short courses is that students walk away with a Certificate of Completion that they can add to their LinkedIn profile and resume. Additionally, students create a final capstone project that is housed in a digital portfolio. 

Do you need to know how to code to get into any of General Assembly’s short coding courses?

This is open to all individuals who are interested in the craft and interested in learning something new and technical. You don't need any prior background to enroll — these courses are meant for beginners! The courses start from the basics, such as general forms and functions in a particular language, teaching at a high level what these languages are meant to do and what they're used for. The purpose of these short-courses are to assist students in acquiring a solid baseline of technical skills along with building a portfolio piece to showcase their new capabilities. This portfolio is something they will continue to build upon as they progress in their technical careers.  

These short coding courses have a hands-on approach, so as students go through every unit of each program, they start to incorporate what they’re learning as they go into that final capstone project. It's very much about building something tangible by the end of the course to confidently show off their new skill set!

What types of students have completed these short coding courses? How did they use their new skill set in their career? 

We have people from all walks of life and industries that take these classes! Quite a few students have come from completely different backgrounds. Some students weren’t previously interested in code or never really thought a coding course was for them, but then read an article that inspired them to level up their skills..

How long are the short coding courses at GA? What is the typical time commitment?

The short courses at General Assembly are 10 weeks long and depending on the subject, can range from 40-60 instructional hours. They are highly flexible and meet 2 times per week in the evenings after normal business hours. There’s a weekly time commitment of 10-14 hours, which includes homework and projects outside of class.  

What is the difference between General Assembly’s short coding courses and the intensive coding bootcamps?

The short courses are designed to help people advance in their current career. Our bootcamps are truly meant for those who want to make a career change as quickly as possible. The bootcamps include 420 hours of technical training, a full portfolio of up to five total projects, plus Career Support.

How are General Assembly’s short courses different from a short course on an online learning platform like Udemy?

General Assembly is different from other learning platforms because we focus more on the tangible technical skills that companies and hiring managers are looking for. I recommend my incoming students who have no prior background in coding try our short courses to get a better grasp on coding concepts and decide if this is the right path for them. 

General Assembly’s short coding courses also differ from other programs because they include live mentorship from our instructional teams. We’ve noticed many learning platforms have transitioned to a fully asynchronous model, whereas General Assembly offers synchronous learning platforms with real-time live instruction. Students are guided by an instructor who's a professional in the field and can teach them best practices and offer expert support. 

What is the teaching style like in the short coding courses at General Assembly? 

Short courses are fully in real-time, live instruction. A typical 2-hour session will look something like this:

• We start with a live lecture, where the instructors will share their screen with the students and walk them through the lecture plan for the day. This forum is where students will have the opportunity to ask questions in real time and acquire support whenever needed. 
• During class, students will meet in virtual breakout rooms with their peers to work on in-class activities together. 

The short courses are highly collaborative and very interactive. We want students to understand these concepts and feel comfortable. At the same time, as they're learning the craft, we want them to always implement what they're learning, which will directly relate to the final capstone project. 

Do students have access to additional support through teaching assistants or office hours?

We use Slack as our general direct messaging portal, which we think is the best communication tool to stay in constant contact with the instructors as well as the peers in class. Students can reach out in that forum for any general question that the entire class might be inquiring about as well. If they want 1:1 support about a specific project-related question, we offer weekly office hours where students can sign up for 15-30 minute time slots to speak directly with an instructor. Students can also direct message their instructors on Slack and set up a separate Zoom call whenever need be.

What kinds of projects have students completed in the short courses?

The Front End Development course's capstone project is focused on building a website, so the final project is a fully deployed website that students have created from scratch. This project can look like a design portfolio, data visualization, or game using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Students are asked to combine their technical and design skills to create a responsive site that's compatible with modern browsers and devices. 

JavaScript and Python short courses will all have individualized projects directly related to how those languages are used in the industry. 

Do your short-course students have access to the General Assembly community?

Yes! Anyone who is a General Assembly graduate, whether it's a short course or bootcamp, will become a part of our global alumni networking system and our LinkedIn alumni page. They will be able to view any alumni who have ever crossed paths with us. It’s exciting for students to be able to network and see where other graduates have ended up.

Does General Assembly offer financing, payment plans, or scholarships to make the short coding course tuition affordable?

Since each course is different, we have varying payment options. For short courses, we have one particular loan option. If students do not want to pay out of pocket in a standard payment plan of half, third, or quarterly installments for no additional cost, we can look towards our lender, Climb, which offers an 18-month payment plan at $236 per month over 18 months for 0% interest!

Can students have their employers cover their short coding course tuition?

Yes! It’s common for students to come to us saying they’ve communicated with their employer and they’ve agreed that taking this course will help their position at the company. 

What is your advice to incoming students on how to make the most of the short coding courses at General Assembly?

 Our courses are flexible and designed to fit YOU in mind. My advice would be to network and collaborate with your classmates as often as you can, because you never know how your paths will cross in the future! Don’t be afraid to ask questions, take advantage of the fact that you have instructors and classmates there to assist. Trust in the process and know that we are here to assist with creating a game plan to achieve your end goals. Your future starts now! 

Find out more and read General Assembly reviews on Course Report. This article was produced by the Course Report team in partnership with General Assembly.