Fullstack Academy

I first joined Fullstack Academy's bootcamp prep course which is only $99 and I also received a complete refund for completing the course. My bootcamp prep instructor Sarah was super passionate and she explained all Javascript in clear logic which was super helpful. After completing the prep course, I became close friend with Sarah and a couple of other students at Fullstack Academy. I got a sense of their supportive culture and decided to enroll in their full-time immersive course. 
After being admitted, I took 2 month to study as much as I can on my own before I started the full-time course. I started the course in July 2019 and the three months period was really intense but not unbearable. For the six weeks junior phase, you get to learn new concepts on a daily basis. You will have lectures in the morning and workshops(pair programming) in the afternoon. I normally had some time to relax and exercise after dinner every day but I did continue to study over the weekend. Each week, you would also have to take a checkpoint test to check your understanding of that week's study. 
After the junior phase, you will take a week off to relax and refresh yourself, which I found really helpful. Then you enter another six weeks of senior phase. You will build two group projects and one solo projects, which I found was really fun. You also got to build closer relationship with your group members. Each cohort would also have social chairs that organizes activities for us to get to know each other better such as happy hours on Friday. Each week, you would also have ample opportunities and channels to express your concerns about the course, instructors, or your peer. 
Upon graduation, I was also offered a 3-month paid teaching fellow position. While helping mentor the next cohort, I also got to sit in all the lectures again which definitely helped solidify my grasp of all the concepts. I also took the time to learn more about algorithm and data structure on my own. After that, I attended the launch day organized by Fullstack academy. 
After leaving the school, I continued to apply for jobs, practicing algorithms and building projects. All my interviewed were obtained through Fullstack's network and I finally got a pretty good offer from a big company this May. 
I want to thank Ben for being a passionate instructor and supportive friend. I want to thank my career coach Natalie for always being there for me and practicing all the behavioral questions with me. I want to thank many others at Fullstack Academy that made my transition from a person with zero tech background to a full-stack software engineer  POSSIBLE!

The coding instructors for the program were fantastic. However, the support offered by the career success team was very disappointing. My cohort was scheduled to have 2 career fairs, both of which were cancelled with little notice and with a broken promise of rescheduling. It was my career counselor's last year with Fullstack and it was apparent by how 'checked out' they were. Students could request individual assistance (which was difficult to ascertain) but there was no structured curriculum about job hunting. Learning how to job hunt and interview for coding positions was the main appeal to me and it was disappointing to be snubbed.

When I decided to switch careers to software engineering, I didn't look much beyond Fullstack Academy as a starting place. Their reputation and proven numbers were stellar and it didn't hurt their onsite immersive in Chicago was easily accessible to me. Chicago has other options, though, but Fullstack won out on quantitative results. Of course, none of that stopped me from being nervous about the program. With limited background in coding, I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it. Their tried and tested system, patient instructors, and dedication to their students quickly helped me understand why they have the reputation as one of, if not the, premier coding bootcamps in the country. Don't get me wrong. It was difficult and stressful at times, but, that's why they call them bootcamps, and in the end I came out prepared to enter the job market and succeeded in landing a job in the industry in three months. To anyone considering making this leap, I can't recommend Fullstack Academy enough. And make sure you take advantage of their bootcamp prep course before applying.

Fullstack Academy played a very special role in my life at a time (around 40 years old) when I was finally daring to face down deeply ingrained fears and negative thought patterns about my ability to learn challenging new concepts and skills, and bet on myself in pursuing new and compelling pathways in life.

I attended the immersive program, which is so well structured and paced, relevant/current, and meticulously and lovingly crafted; the instructors are masterful and clearly passionate and invested in the success of the students (love to Finn, Collin, and Priti); and the student community is so intelligent, growth-oriented, warm, and supportive (coming from someone who usually has trouble fitting in), that there's no question this was a critical turning point in my life. Fullstack's career counseling- and especially, their Chicago lead, Holly- is the best I've engaged with anywhere in my life, and I've just accepted a software development role at a company I'm truly excited to work for.

I could ramble for a long time, but here are some subtle things of note:
- They have an actual 'No Assholes' sign, no assholes were encountered in my time there
- They have an entire lecture dedicated to unconscious bias, and I watched them make good on it with poise and grace when a contentious situation arose
- They demonstrate and fluently integrate a deep understanding of the learning process, including concepts like psychological safety and a hierarchy of activities that solidify knowledge acquisition (if you've always felt teaching is the best way to learn- you're in good company)
- I normally get icky vibes from CEOs (and I've met many), but when one of the co-founders, David Yang, came to do a Q&A with my cohort toward the end of our time there, he was so transparent, and took the time to truly consider and reply authentically, evenly, and without pretense to every question (even some challenging ones about company management), that the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place- this is a program founded and built by a group of people who have a deep, abiding love of technology and of learning, and faith in the potential of both of these things to change individual lives and the world.

I can't believe where my life is now. After about one year of programming and a short three month bootcamp sprint I am a fullstack software engineer for a medical imaging company that I am inspired to work for. I could not have been here was it not for the skills and support that was brought to me from fullstack academy. They not only taught me the fundimentals of coding, but also gave me confidence in my ability to learn. Despite the academy's currculum in fullstack javascript I acheived a position at a company who uses completely different technologies, solely because I am now an expert learning of software. I can't thank fullstack academy enough for accelerting me into work I love and making me confident in my proffesional abilities.

My time at Fullstack Academy was extremely fruitful. I was taught relevant and powerful technologies that the industry is using, and given all the resources I could ever need to succeed. I began my journey afraid of what the future held for me and unsure of my abilities as a coder, to then becoming a confidant software engineer who's eager to learn more and more. The fast paced curriculum is a bit intimidating at first, but it becomes almost addictive by the end of the program (especially during Project/Senior phase). 

The personal growth you see at Fullstack is incredible. At graduation, though I know I have a lot more to learn, I was proud at the amount of material I was able to learn in such a short period of time. The community is another incredible characteristic of Fullstack. Everyone is eager to learn just as much as you, and are extremely supportive of one another. The instructors are another gem. They are very down to earth and patient with you. Definitely, Fullstack Academy was the best choice for me.

 

Fullstack Academy made me excited to wake up every single morning. All the instructors are extremely approachable and always available to help. As intense as it was, honestly I was having so much fun. It's an incredible experience that I'll always treasure. There will be games and activites on certain days to balance out the work. The instructors are extremely knowledgable and it was great learning from all of them. After all, it is all dependent on your own willingness and responsibility to learn and how much work you are willing to put into reaching your goals.Their career success team is amazing that will give you great insight, strategies and knowledge to maximize your potential to landing a job. The career coaches will be available to you even after you graduate and guide you every step of the way. It was a hard journey, but if you want it bad enough, you will pull through.

I attended the Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy of Code and I have to say, it was one of the best moves in my entry to Software Engineering career.  I went in knowing only a little about Front-End development, Beginner Python, and a little bit about JavaScript and came out an official full stack software engineer.

 I knew that I wanted to take my coding skills to the next level, so after researching and hearing from other people I had reached out to who had also completed Fullstack, I chose to give it a try.  Coming in, I was a bit intimidated, afraid for what would happen...would I be able to keep up?  What if I failed?  I had heard that the intensity of the course was very high and that a lot of new information would be thrown at me.  I chose to go forth, courageously and make the investment.  I am thoroughly glad that I did not let fear of the unknown stop me.  

The program was highly structured and regimented.  The system was so detailed it became easy to pinpoint areas where there was a block in my understanding; coming from the military, I really appreciated such an organized platform.  This level of structure along with the immense support from the staff and fellows made it possible to tackle really hard subjects in such a short period of time.  It was far from easy, but attending Fullstack helped me to realize my own ability in learning new technologies in a matter of 2 weeks and really possessing the aptitude to create projects that I never believed I could have created a year ago.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of what makes Fullstack a top choice!

Fullstack Academy(FSA) has been such a career maker for me. Before I worked at a management level position within UPS, a fortune 50 company. Well I liked the people around me, I felt like I needed to make a change as I could do a lot more. Software Development was always in my mind post college but I shyed away from it because I didn't want to go through 4 years of undergrad. 
 

Coding bootcamps had always been in my mind as a possible solution but there's so many out there and from one of my personal friend's experience, it hasn't paid off. But FSA is covered by the government and verified as a legitimate education organization. My experience at FSA has been life changing as my mental capabilitties were pushed to the limit at such a short amount of time. The career growth FSA provides gives you an edge against other bootcamp grads and provides you with strong fundamentals to learn more programming languages as well writing clean code. 

 

Everyone at FSA was extremely helpful and crucial in me landing my first job in Software Developement. For those that are contemplating coding bootcamps, let alone FSA. I highly recommend FSA. They are a strong organization that produces strong future developers.

2 months post graduation.. I am now a software engineer.

I could give you my story about a job I disliked and how I got into coding, but we all have those. When it came to choosing the right coding bootcamp, I spoke with numerous engineers both in the Bay Area and in Chicago; people from companies such as Charles Schwab and Google. They were familiar with several different bootcamps, but the majority of them strongly recommended Fullstack Academy. They often worked with Fullstack graduates, or knew their company specifically looked to hire those with a Fullstack Academy background.

I took Fullstack's bootcamp prep course (highly recommend if you don't have a CS background), and then I applied for Fullstack's complete program. Here's a quick timeline:

December 2018: Started taking free coding courses online, learning JavaScript

January - February 2019: Took Fullstack's Bootcamp Prep Course

March - July 2019: Completed Fullstack's Full-Time Bootcamp

September 2019: Accepted position as Software Engineer

The bootcamp itself was TOUGH. Most days I wondered if I had made the right choice, and I was especially nervous about the looming job search. Fortunately, Fullstack takes its "No Assholes" policy seriously, and my cohort was full of kind, passionate individuals who were also there to learn and support one another. The instructors were extremely helpful, and any time I needed some extra help they were eager to make time and answer any questions as quickly as possible. 

All in all, Fullstack knows what they're doing, and their stack is current and what most companies are looking for.. which is the most vital thing to keep in mind when doing your bootcamp search.

Turns out, tons of companies are genuinely looking for engineers/programmers/devs. If you practice your coding, and stay familiar with the concepts Fullstack went over, your interviews will go well. Within a month of graduating, 80% of my cohort was hired, and 2 of them became fellows. 

Looking back now, I am so happy I took the plunge and chose Fullstack Academy. 

 

 

Fullstack is an incredible institution. I started my journey with Fullstack through their boot camp prep course (which I highly recommend), and upon completing the course was able to pass the admissions process to be enrolled into their fulltime immersive.

Upon admission, I chose to take the Sept'18-Dec'18 cohort and even passed on a half scholarship to another coding boot camp (Flatiron School). I had talked to a few people and it just seemed that FSA's education was substantially better than a handful of the other boot camps. 

Based on my research I had high expectations for Fullstack, and to be honest they exceeded just about all of them. 

Given how much you learn in a relatively short amount of time, the instructors for these programs are probably the most important part of your experience, and I can honestly say that my instructors (John, Geoff, and Dakota) were the best instructors I've had in any educational setting ever.

There are no dumb questions at FSA, and the institution does everything they can to make sure is staying on track and up to speed with the rest of the cohort (office hours, extra study sessions, etc). I can't tell you how many questions I asked my instructors, but they always were able to bring it down to my level, and always able to help me walk away feeling more confident.

The experience is intimidating at first, and it does require a lot of work, but the experience was hands down the most rewarding of my entire educational career.

FSA is a springboard for a new career, it still requires you to be dedicated to learning, and to have a strong work ethic, but if you are truly committed to learning this curriculum and to opening the doors to a new career, then I can recommend this boot camp enough.