General Assembly Online Bootcamp Review

Seeking an education can be difficult, especially when starting a new career path. Many of us don’t have the resources to put our job on hold to pursue an education full-time, or we may not live close to a school we would like to attend. For many people seeking an education online is the answer to both of those problems. 

Luckily, General Assembly—which not only has campuses around the world but extensive online offerings—is a fantastic choice. General Assembly has a variety of award-winning courses for different tech and business fields, along with a massive alumni network and thousands of hiring partners. It’s the perfect school for those looking to make a career transition or just to expand their knowledge in the field. 

“With 9,000+ hires, we’ve placed more grads in high-growth, high-pay tech careers than any other coding bootcamp.” – General Assembly

School Overview

Founded in 2011, General Assembly (GA) is one of the oldest and largest coding bootcamps available. It has over 20 campuses worldwide, and the school has extensive online offerings. GA has 11 part-time online courses, along with one mainline remote full-time bootcamp. The courses cover a range of topics, from development based offerings like web development and data science to business side courses like digital marketing and product management.

General Assembly has a network of over 70,000 global alumni and over 10,000 hiring partners, including Google, Microsoft, and IBM. In fact, many General Assembly students in part-time courses are employees sponsored by their companies. To boot, many financing options have no or low upfront costs, increasing the accessibility of getting an education in a tech field.

Employment

General Assembly has a dedicated career services team, and they provide career coaches that work with students individually. They offer help with everything from building a professional resume and interview prep to creating an impressive portfolio.

Beyond that, General Assembly has partnerships with thousands of companies looking for GA grads to join their ranks, along with exclusive networking events. It’s clear that GA is focused on employment and is designed to help students find a career.

Reviews

General Assembly is incredibly well received by students in both the intensive full-time immersive courses and the lighter part-time courses. Many General Assembly reviews praise the staff in particular for being genuinely concerned with each student’s welfare during and after the course. 

“It’s hard to put into words how much the staff and instructors at General Assembly care about their pedagogy and the welfare of their students. It is VERY challenging, but also very rewarding.” – Jeffrey on Consumer Affairs.

Many reviewers also praised the full-time online course as being engaging and challenging despite being a remote class. 

“This course is my life saver, definitely worth the time and effort. The teachers are very constructive and effective. Even though it is remote, we were fully engaged and students are able to connect well. The course is guided and structured.” – Anonymous on SwitchUp

Courses

General Assembly offers a litany of courses. There are part-time courses, full-time courses, online courses, and in-person courses. Since we are considering the online component, we will focus on the online offerings, however, the majority of GA’s part-time online courses are also available in-person. Course lengths and prices vary, and the prices listed below represent the full tuition for each respective program.

Software Engineering Immersive Remote

13 Weeks – $14,950

This online, full-time course is an online version of the mainline in-person Software Engineering Immersive course. It’s a full-time course that covers full-stack web software development and it includes everything needed to start building web applications from scratch. 

The course teaches basic programming and computer science fundamentals and multiple programming languages and technologies including HTML, CSS, SQL, and JavaScript. It moves on to develop those skills with basic front end development, then covers full-stack web applications and APIs. The course eventually includes framework architecture fundamentals like the MVC model, and it ultimately teaches students to build full-stack web applications with popular frameworks like Ruby on Rails, Python with Django, or Express with Node.js.

Students in this online course are taught with real-world examples, so they leave with practical skills, and the course includes several major projects that students will be able to display on their future portfolios. 

Part-time Online Courses

The majority of General Assembly’s part-time programs are ten-week, part-time programs or accelerated one-week courses. Many of these courses are designed not only for self-motivated individuals but for corporate employee training. 

• Software Engineering Immersive Remote Flex – 26 Weeks – $14,950
  This course is the part-time version of the full-time online software engineering course. The course is nearly identical to its full-time counterpart, except it’s stretched out from a 13-week course to a 26-week part-time course. 
• Python Programming – $3,950
  Students are taught the Python programming language with a focus on web development or data science applications.
• User Experience Design – $3,950
  Students get a basic understanding of UX design and its implementation in a real-world business environment. 
• Data Analytics – $3,950
  Students are taught the Python programming language with a focus on web and data analytics. The course teaches Excel, SQL, and Tableau.
• Digital Marketing – $3,950
  This course teaches modern-day marketing strategies. Students are taught to effectively use social media, search strategies, conversion optimization, and Google Analytics.
• Data Science – $3,950
  This course is made particularly for students with math or programming backgrounds. It teaches data science fundamentals along with Python programming for data science, exploratory data analysis, data modeling, and machine learning.
• Product Management – $3,950
  Here students get hands-on experience working in product management. They will learn about topics like stakeholder management, Agile best practices, and how to work with data.
• Visual Design – 8 Weeks – $2,800
  In this shorter 8-week course students are taught design fundamentals like color theory, UX, type, and responsive design. They also learn how to use Adobe Photoshop for a web design application. 
• Front-End Web Development – $3,950
  Here, students learn HTML and CSS basics and their application in web development, along with JavaScript basics, functions, and jQuery. 
• JavaScript Development – $3,950
  Students learn to code in JavaScript, one of the most popular languages on the web. They are taught data types, collections and loops, how to use APIs, and more.
• React Development – $3,950
  Here, students learn to build web applications in React. The course covers programming, APIs, data flow, and, of course, the React framework.

Cost

General Assembly has a wide array of payment options for every course, including scholarships and no-cost upfront programs. Among these options is the See Her Excel Scholarship for women, which can provide $1,500 off of a GA full-time course. Social Impact programs at GA help provide education for people in underrepresented communities and adults with low income. GA also accepts the GI Bill for full-time courses and bootcamps.

General Assembly also offers a deferred payment option called the Catalyst Program. With this Income Share Plan (or ISA), students pay tuition with a percentage of their monthly salary after they’ve been hired for a job with an annual salary of $40,000 or more. In addition, the initial deposit for this program can even be waived for certain qualifying students.

Breakdown of Financing Options

While GA offers many financing options, not all are available to both full-time and part-time students.

• Full-time Courses
  • Upfront – Students save $450 if they pay on the spot for full-time courses.
  • Catalyst Program – This requires a deposit of $250. The remaining balance for the course is paid off with a 10% income share agreement if the student is making more than $3,333 per month.
  • Loans – GA provides student loans that allow students to pay in monthly installments after a grace period along. This requires a deposit of $250.
  • Employer pay – Your company can opt to pay for your course.
  • Installment plan – This allows students to pay off their course in three payments rather than one. This requires a $250 deposit at the start of the course.
  • GI Bill – This allows students to pay for their course using the GI Bill. 
  • Social Impact – Social Impact programs are programs and scholarships set up to support underrepresented communities in the tech field and adults with low income.
• Part-time Courses
  • Upfront – Students save $250 if they pay on the spot for part-time courses.
  • 0% Monthly – After an initial deposit of $250, students can pay their remaining tuition in payments of $206 for 18 months.
  • Loans – GA provides student loans that allow students to pay in monthly installments after a grace period. Students pay an initial deposit of $250.
  • Employer pay – Your company can opt to pay for your course.
  • Installment plan – This allows students to pay off their course in three payments rather than one. Students pay a $250 deposit at the start of the course.
  • Social Impact – Social Impact programs are programs and scholarships set up to support underrepresented communities in the tech field and adults with low income.

Application

Applications for General Assembly full-time bootcamps are simple. Potential students start by submitting an application online. This is followed by an interview with an admissions representative to determine whether the student will be a good fit for the course. After that, an assessment is conducted by the admission staff to make sure potential students are ready for the intensity of the program. 

Pros and cons

Pros. General Assembly is mostly pros. With so many campuses and online offerings, excellent financing options, a wide array of courses, and a dedicated job-placement team, it’s hard to go wrong with General Assembly. To add a cherry on top, GA has connections with over 10,000 hiring partners and tens of thousands of successful alumni. 

Cons. As for cons, there aren’t many. GA has shorter courses than many other bootcamp programs, however they are also typically less expensive and teach more focused skills over other bootcamp services.

Review

General Assembly is an excellent option for breaking into the tech industry. With their many course offerings, you will be able to gain skills in the tech field of your choice. General Assembly’s 20 locations worldwide, online courses, and low-deposit or no-cost upfront options mean that the courses from General Assembly are not only well designed but widely accessible.