Claim Academy is a St. Louis-based coding school that offers online and on-campus programs. Its courses include full-stack development, cybersecurity, and front-end development. Anyone in the United States can attend this coding bootcamp online, or at the school’s physical campus in St. Louis. This Claim Academy review will fill you in on all the details of the bootcamps offered by this institution.
Claim Academy Quick Facts | |
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Cost | Full-Time: $12,998 – $14,998, On-Campus: $12,998 – $13,998, Evening: $13,998 – $15,998 |
Start Dates | February 22, March 1, March 22 |
Locations | St. Louis, Online |
Courses | Full-Stack Java Development, Cybersecurity, C#/.NET Software Development, and JavaScript Front-End Development |
Available Programs | Online, Full-Time, Evening |
Claim Academy is a coding bootcamp with a mission to change lives. Its team of mentors and instructors will prepare you with all the skills you’ll need to enter the tech industry. They are designed to make anyone an expert in coding, regardless of previous experience. Even if you have no programming knowledge at all, you can enroll in a beginner’s course. The only prerequisite is that you have a high school diploma or GED.
Claim Academy is an excellent option for those in the St. Louis area who want to start a tech career in software engineering or cybersecurity and prefer attending classes in person.
The downside of this coding bootcamp is that it offers limited career options upon graduation. Thus, if you are planning to attend one of Claim Academy’s online programs, you should first compare it to others in the country to see if there is a course that more closely matches your specific career goals.
Claim Academy has a job placement rate of 93 percent. Its graduates have found positions at companies like Mastercard, Express Script, Wells Fargo, and Meridian. Its graduates have reported a starting median salary of $67,000 in St. Louis. To help you find a job after you have completed a course, Claim Academy offers mentor sessions, networking events, career coaching, and other assistance.
Claim Academy also has an employer network to help graduates find job opportunities. There is also a demo day at the end of each bootcamp to give students a chance to present a project to possible employers. This allows some students to find a job even before they graduate.
No, Claim Academy doesn’t offer a job guarantee. This means that although they offer career coaching and job placement help, you will not get a refund if you don’t find a job after graduating.
At Claim Academy, on-campus courses cost anywhere from $12,998 to $14,998. The online programs cost between $12,998 and $13,998. The evening option, which is part-time, costs from $13,998 to $15,998. Its cheapest course is front-end development, and the most expensive is cybersecurity.
Claim Academy has a few options for students that can’t afford to pay for their course upfront. They offer scholarships, loans, and discounts for veterans.
Claim Academy is committed to changing people’s lives by giving them tech skills that will make them more employable. To do this, the school offers scholarships for groups that are underrepresented in technology. For example, the coding bootcamp gives an automatic $500 scholarship to every woman who enrolls.
It also offers a $1,000 scholarship to anyone who has completed their high school diploma or GED within the past year, and scholarships for students from black, Latino, or other minority groups.
Claim Academy has a partnership with Climb Credit, which is a new student lending platform. Students can apply for Climb Credit in only five minutes, and the loan won’t impact their credit history. Climb Credit offers low, interest-only payments for students while they are attending the coding bootcamp, and for a few months after.
Claim Academy has several programs to support veterans who want to start a career in technology. Claim Academy works with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Vet Tech program to allow veterans to attend its full-stack Java and C#/.NET 12-week immersion coding bootcamps for free.
The second option for veteran funding is the GI Bill. If you are a veteran or an immediate family member of a veteran, you can receive benefits to attend a coding bootcamp, including a housing allowance. It is this focus on the education of military and ex-military that makes Claim Academy one of the best coding bootcamps for veterans.
Claim Academy is located in St. Louis, Missouri, at 1520 Washington Avenue. It is the only location and offers all of the courses taught at the school. The online version of the school offers all the same courses except for the cybersecurity bootcamp.
Claim Academy is ranked as one of the best coding bootcamps in the country. It offers courses in software engineering and cybersecurity, but doesn’t have many career options for graduates.
Students who want to study software development can choose to focus on Java, C#, and .NET development. If a student is interested in becoming a JavaScript developer, they can attend the JavaScript front-end development bootcamp. Below, we’ll take an in-depth look at what each course has to offer.
Claim Academy aims to prepare its students for a future in tech no matter their current experience level. As part of this commitment, the institute even offers some free introductory courses online, available to anyone. These courses are also part of the mandatory prep work for students who are about to enter a bootcamp. They are a good way to get a feel for the course content at Claim Academy before you begin your program.
The Java full-stack software development course lasts 12 weeks if you attend full-time, and 20 weeks if you choose the part-time option. In it, you will learn all the hard and soft skills you’ll need to enter the industry. For example, Claim Academy includes training through pair programming, mentor-led classes, and Agile methodologies in its curriculum.
Claim Academy’s C#/.NET development courses will teach you everything you need to land an entry-level programming position after graduation. The instructors are experienced computer science professionals who are focused on preparing students for the real world with a project-based approach to learning.
This course is perfect for students interested in front-end web development. In either 12 or 20 weeks, you will learn how to build websites using RESTful web services, object-oriented and functional programming, and React.
Claim Academy’s cybersecurity course lasts 14 weeks and can only be attended full time. In it, you will learn Python, perimeter security, security applications, and cloud security. By the end of the course, you will be prepared to sit for the CompTIA Security+ certification, the cost of which is included in the course fee.
Claim Academy offers a variety of schedules, so students can choose the time frame that works best for them.
The full-time programs at Claim Academy take a lot of dedication. Students must spend around 70 hours per week studying. This includes nine hours every day in on-campus classes, pair programming sessions, and mentorship meetings. They are also expected to dedicate their free time to work on projects and practice their skills.
Part-time courses take place online or in the evenings, and students need to dedicate around 15 hours per week for the classes alone. This schedule is meant to accommodate students who need to work while attending class.
The online programs at Claim Academy are self-paced. Students can learn on their own time but still must meet deadlines throughout the course. Online classes can be attended either part time or full time.
Anyone can apply to Claim Academy’s courses. If you have no programming experience, you can try out some of the school’s free courses and workshops before applying.
Claim Academy has not publicly shared its acceptance rate.
The application process at Claim Academy is simple. It includes an online application, some interviews, and mandatory programming work.
Claim Academy runs two interviews, a personal one and a more technical one. During the first phase, you will have to answer questions about yourself. During the technical interview, you’ll have to solve coding challenges. You can expect to answer common bootcamp interview questions, with an emphasis on the following areas.
Claim Academy is right for you if you are interested in learning programming from a school that has been ranked among the nation’s best coding bootcamps for the past three years. If you want to become a software engineer or a cybersecurity specialist, then this is an excellent choice. Although the school doesn’t offer a job guarantee, it has a 93 percent job placement after graduation.
Attending one of these bootcamps can turn you into a tech professional in three to five months. This means you could have a brand new career and a decent salary by the end of the year. Consider your tech career goals, and assess whether Claim Academy fits into them.
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