If you’re looking to start a career in web development and want to break into the industry quickly, an online coding bootcamp is one of your best options. If you’re considering a bootcamp, App Academy is a cost-effective program that has one of the best online bootcamps available. It offers excellent options for both new and experienced coders and fosters a collaborative culture.
School Overview
App Academy is based in San Francisco and has a secondary campus in New York. The focus of the school is full stack web development, and they teach Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Javascript, and HTML/CSS.
Courses
App Academy offers several online courses.
Online Full-time Immersive Software Engineer Track
App Academy offers an excellent online full stack software engineer course. This course focuses on job-ready skills in the web development field. The program of this 24-week course is intense because students have 45 hours per week of scheduled time. But the school advises students to expect a time commitment of close to 90-100 hours per week.
Students are able to participate remotely from wherever they please. Although, it is still highly recommended that you reside in San Francisco or New York to benefit from the career counseling options available in those cities. The curriculum of the online course is similar to that of the in-person course, but the online course lasts 24 weeks (compared to the 16-week in-person course).
The course is broken up into three sections:
| Weeks 1-3 | Programming basics, along with some basic Ruby, Rails, SQL, data structures, and JavaScript |
| Weeks 4-13 | Immersive web development, which includes frameworks and full stack projects |
| Weeks 14-16 | Algorithms and job search |
Bootcamp Prep
App Academy’s bootcamp prep course is designed to prepare you for App Academy’s main bootcamp tracks (or any other highly selective course). According to App Academy, 100% of students attending this prep course have been accepted to one of six major coding bootcamps (including App Academy).
Bootcamp Prep is a four-week, part-time course designed to get students to an advanced level with JavaScript in preparation for a coding bootcamp. They also host mock interviews to prepare students for the application process that many schools (including App Academy) have.
App Academy Open
App Academy also offers a free coding bootcamp with a self-study design. The free option is identical to the paid in-person software engineering course. The only difference is that you do not get teacher explanations, career help, or support from classmates. This is a good way to test out the course and see if the full bootcamp is right for you.
Of note, App Academy also offers a mentorship program that includes the free course and access to mentors who can provide live help with any questions or problems. This costs only $30 per month, however, it still doesn’t include the intense learning environment that many students look for in a coding bootcamp.
Cost
The shining feature of App Academy is its deferred payment plan. The school also offers an income share agreement (ISA) plan. This allows students to start the course at no cost and share a percentage of their income after finding a job that pays $50,000 or more annually. If a student does not find a qualifying job, the tuition is waived. However, not all students qualify for this payment method.
As per App Academy: “To be eligible for the deferred tuition model or the hybrid model, you must meet the following criteria:
- “You are more than 22 years old or have a college degree
- “You have permanent work authorization in the U.S. (e.g., citizenship, green card)”.
As for the work authorization requirement, App Academy adds: “If you have a valid Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with a valid visa you may be eligible for additional payment plans.” They also state that you should “be able to support yourself throughout the program and after, during the job search portion … without working part-time or going back to what you were doing before.”
Of course, upfront payment plans are an option for all students.
Price Breakdown
- Online Full-time Immersive Software Engineer Track
- Upfront: $20,000, with $5,000 due at acceptance and the remainder due one week before class.
- Deferred: no upfront deposit, and an income share agreement for 15% of income for 36 months, or a maximum of $31,000 (whichever comes first) after finding a career that pays an annual income of $50,000.
- Online Bootcamp Prep
- Standard: $995. Includes:
- 2 tutoring hours
- 1 interview prep hour
- Chat support
- Plus: $1795. Includes:
- 6 tutoring hours
- 2 interview prep hour
- Personal assessment feedback
- Priority email response
- Priority application review
- Chat support
- Premium: $3795. Includes:
- 10 tutoring hours
- 4 interview prep hour
- Personal assessment feedback
- Priority email response
- Priority application review
- Chat support
- Standard: $995. Includes:
- App Academy Open
- Without a tutor: free!
- With tutor: $30/month
Application
App Academy bills itself as one of the most selective bootcamps. Their full stack immersive bootcamp acceptance rate is only 5%.
The standard admissions process starts with an application. After this is a 30-minute assessment that will cover personality, logical reasoning, and typing. Then, there is a non-technical interview that allows the school to get to know you and make sure the course is a good fit. Admission to the course and prep work then follow.
Pros and Cons
Pros of enrolling in App Academy include their deferred payment plans and high reputation. The payment plan motivates the school to help you find a quality, high-paying job. The school’s reputation speaks for itself: graduates from App Academy now work for top tech companies like Google, Paypal, Etsy, and Pinterest.
When looking for job placement, along with the companies listed, there are over 1,000 employees who hire App Academy graduates. Their average salary is $101,000 per year after graduation.
On the other hand, the cons of enrolling in App Academy include the intensity of the program and the cost. According to App Academy, for their in-person software engineering track, “The attrition rate historically is approximately 15%.” App Academy certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, and you must have a strong drive to complete the course.
Review
App Academy is prestigious and selective. Beyond the barrier to entry is a challenging 24-week course that will likely take all of your free time. However, at the other end of this course is a high-paying software development career. You will continue to learn as you grow as a software developer, but nothing gets you set up and into the field the same as App Academy.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
