What Makes App Academy Unique?

Coding bootcamps are now more popular than they were a few years back. In recent years, people have increasingly turned to bootcamps to get their tech training. Technavio found that the growth in the industry is tied to several factors, including the affordability of coding bootcamps and increased adoption of online learning.

Adding to those is the value proposition that many coding bootcamps offer: the opportunity to switch into a high-paying tech career with only a few months of intensive training. Statistics from Technavio’s report further estimate about 16.9 percent growth in industry size between 2021 and 2025. 

Among these coding bootcamps is App Academy. This premier bootcamp trains students with non-tech backgrounds to become software engineers. Then, it prepares them to take up lucrative jobs in top companies by adequately guiding students through a job search and interview preparation. 

Aside from these offerings, App Academy provides several other features that help students transition into a tech career with ease. They include academic support from instructors, assistance for newbies by its vast alumni community to adapt swiftly to the tech world, and the inclusion of philosophy.

A Day in the Life of an App Academy Student

True to the culture of bootcamps, learning at App Academy is intensive and fast-paced. Its curriculum finds the balance between the theoretical and practical aspects of coding. Schedules involve long learning hours through instructor-led classes and hands-on team projects.

You have three learning options when you enroll in App Academy. You can either take the 16-week full-time Software Engineering immersive program or opt for the 24-week full-time Software Engineering immersive program. 

Then, there is also the 52-week part-time Software Online Engineering Immersive program, which suits working students, professionals, and parents.

Daily Schedule for Full-time Software Engineering Students at App Academy

For the 24-week online full-time engineering students, the day begins with theoretical classes at 8am PST. Here, students watch pre-recorded, short instructional videos and demos that discuss the day’s topics and their application in the real world. They are self-paced and allow students to slow down or speed up the lecture.

Students then engage in a live question and answer session with an instructor and break for lunch. They reconvene at noon for a project and pair programming session in which students work with their colleagues to complete the assigned projects and further hone their understanding of the lessons for the day.

At 4pm, the learners come together to review their progress and discover different perspectives and ideas on how to complete the project or overcome certain challenges they face. Finally, students get take-home exercises to prepare for the next day.

The schedule for the 16-week online software engineering immersive course is quite similar to that of the 24-week variant, but with slight differences. The following highlights the typical day at the program:

• 9am PST (for the San Francisco course) and EST (for the New York course): Lecture begins in the classroom. Here, students are exposed to new theoretical and practical concepts in an instructor-led session.
• 12:20pm: Lunch Break
• 1:30pm: For the next four hours, students pair up with their classmates to complete projects that drive home the lessons taught earlier in the day.
• 5:30pm: Before closing for the day, students come together to reflect on what they accomplished throughout the day as well as the challenges that they encountered.

Daily Schedule for Part-time Software Engineering Students at App Academy

Part-time software engineering students have a less demanding schedule. It’s a convenient arrangement that helps them to incorporate bootcamp into their daily routine. 

Students living on the East coast attend classes between 6pm and 9pm from Monday to Thursday, while lectures for West coast students are from 7pm to 10pm. Fridays are lecture-free, and both the East Coast and West Coast cohorts return to class on Saturday at 3.30pm for a combined session to round up the lessons for the week.

5 Features that Make App Academy Unique

1. Industry-Focused Curriculum

Programmers use several languages to develop industry-standard websites and software. As technology trends change, company preferences also shift towards programming languages that suit the development. The job-seekers proficient in these languages, therefore, gain an advantage over others who lack expertise.

Recognizing this, App Academy built its curriculum to focus on in-demand skills and languages. The 16-week course covers the Ruby track, while students in the 24-week bootcamp learn the Python track. Both tracks train students comprehensively in HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and React/Redux, among several other skills.

Beyond the syllabus, there are other aspects of App Academy’s curriculum that help to prepare students for the real-world industry. Another noteworthy mention is the frequent projects and assignments, which help students develop a knack for solving problems—a skill needed as a developer. 

2. Experienced Instructors and Teaching Assistants

App Academy instructors stand on the frontlines with the students day in and day out, delivering the bootcamp’s curriculum and upholding classroom culture. The instructional team also mentors and guides students through their learning journey, inadvertently boosting them with adequate knowledge to hit the “job search stage” running.

For App Academy, investing in instructor career development is a strategy to garner huge returns regarding student outcomes and experience. The bootcamp has many instructors who play different roles, from junior teaching assistants to senior principal-level software engineering instructors. 

Many of them (like Barry Mattern) are also App Academy alumni, which means they have a better understanding of the best practices and hacks for achieving success in an intensive environment. 

In addition, App Academy has senior instruction team members who guide students and other junior instructors to attain a better learning experience. These instructors usually have at least three years of industry software engineering experience and have proven their merit as capable educators. 

This broad range of instructors helps App Academy maintain a strong student-to-teacher ratio. With a unique instruction team makeup, instructors can continuously support students at every milestone of their academic experience at App Academy. 

3. Flexible Payment Options App

Academy features a variety of tuition payment options, making tech education available and affordable to everyone who wishes to switch to a high-paying tech career. The payment methods available to students include an upfront payment and an Income Share Agreement (ISA), depending on the program they’re taking.

(To know more about which payment options are available to you, talk to an App Academy admissions specialist.) 

Upfront Payment

By choosing upfront payment, you agree to pay the full tuition before classes begin. For example, a 24-week software engineering immersive student will pay the entire $20,000 tuition before getting access to join the rest of the cohort. Because you’ll be paying in bulk and at once, this payment method does not attract additional charges. It is the most cost-effective payment method. 

Income Share Agreement

Income Share Agreement (ISA) is a salary-tied loan that allows students to learn without paying a dime until they get a qualifying job after the program. Unlike traditional federal loans, an ISA does not have any credit score requirement., That makes an easier alternative for financing your education. 

App Academy offers the ISA payment option for part-time courses. Repayment will be deducted in monthly installments from the learner’s pre-taxed salary once earning at least $50,000 per year.

Deferred Plan

App Academy’s deferred plan permits you to learn now and pay when you get a qualifying job. That means you’ll only have to make a $3,000 deposit at the start of the program. You will then pay an additional $25,000 in fixed installments over nine to 13 months when you get hired. 

This option is available to US citizens and Green Card holders taking App Academy’s 16-week program. California residents enrolled in the 24-week program also have access to this option, although with a different repayment plan. For them, they’re required to pay $31,000 over 18 to 36 months after they get a qualifying job. See here for more details. 

Hybrid Payment

The Hybrid Payment plan is available to only the 16-week In-person Software Engineering Immersive students. The program allows you to break your tuition into two parts. First, you will have to pay a larger portion of your tuition upfront ($9,000) at the start of the program. Once you complete the program and get a job, you pay the remaining $14,000 tuition. 

4. Diversity and Inclusion Philosophy

App Academy’s diversity, equity, and inclusion principle is the bootcamp’s way of increasing access to and participation in tech. It opens the tech world to underrepresented groups, including women or binary identifying people, trans folks, people of color, refugees, LGBTQ+, and veterans.

It ensures that every student is treated fairly and respectfully, regardless of their sexual orientation, culture, race, religion, education, and professional background. The school abides by the American Disability Act, extending its inclusive culture to physically challenged students. In addition, App Academy provides modest accommodation during the application and learning periods. 

To ensure students enjoy an inclusive and diverse culture, App Academy admits applicants willing to contribute to a positive and respectful learning environment that benefits students. That includes those whose backgrounds differ greatly from their own.

App Academy also offers other features that help make tech education accessible to students, such as the deposit assistance program and Access scholarship. 

Deposit Assistance Program

The Deposit Assistance Program is a unique strategy App Academy uses to help in-person students access software engineering training. Qualifying students get a $2,000 discount on the deposit, which means awardees will only pay $1,000 instead of the original $3,000 deposit fee.

App Academy’s Deposit Assistance program’s eligibility requirements assert that:

• Applicants must be from a community underrepresented in tech.
• Applicants must have been accepted into App Academy’s Full-Time In-person Software Engineering class or the Part-Time Online Software Engineering Bootcamp. Other programs aside from these do not qualify.  
• Applicants must select the ISA or Deferred Tuition plans.
• An application does not guarantee you will receive deposit assistance.

Generally, the number of students that App Academy awards the deposit assistance benefits varies with the program. The school typically grants assistance to around five students in each cohort for the full-time in-person course, although it could be less or more. On the other hand, it provides deposit assistance to more students in the part-time online course, where around half of them benefit from the program.

Access Scholarship

The Access Scholarship is an initiative born from a partnership with Facebook tailored to drive affordable tech education. The association has raised $500,000 to cater for tuition scholarships of several deserving students. Each beneficiary can receive tuition support of $5,000. 

The program caters to members of underrepresented communities and students in need of financial assistance. It’s available to both national and international students, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. To qualify for the Access Scholarship, applicants must be:

1. Female
2. Underrepresented minority in technology (Black, Latino/Hispanic, or Native American/Alaskan Native)
3. Accepted into App Academy’s 16-week Software Engineering Immersive Program

Resource Groups

App Academy has several resource groups where students can meet with like-minded colleagues, including those with similar racial backgrounds or sexual orientations. With such groups, learners build smaller communities and support systems to share perspectives, have a sense of belonging, and bond with other colleagues.

The groups present in App Academy include:

• Women Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (WTGNC) group
• Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Queer + groups (LGBTQ+)
• Students with disabilities (PwD)
• Black, Indigenous, and Latinx (BIL)
• Asian

In 2020, App Academy featured about 20 percent of female or binary-identifying students, while 13 percent were Black, Indigenous, or Latinx.

5. Job Outcomes

According to App Academy’s website, about 4,500 people have graduated from the coding bootcamp and been employed by over 2,000 companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and several others.

The school pairs each student to a career coach who mentors and guides the learner from the job search and interview preparation until the student secures a lucrative tech job. That is not to say that people are restricted to their assigned coach only. 

Mark Rodriquez, App Academy’s career coach and team placement manager, notes that: “When any student job seeker needs support, our workshops provide opportunities for them to pop in and say, ‘Hey, I just have a quick question’ or ‘I’ve got this technical coding challenge, and I just need someone to look it over before I submit it’.”

Rodriguez adds, “When a job seeker has an interview, we get on a call and work through the coding challenges and the behavioral aspects of that interview. Then, we talk about it one-on-one.”

Altogether, App Academy provides a collaborative experience, keeping the doors open for students to express their needs. The bootcamp, in turn, works to address these issues either through its career workshops, classroom sessions, or in its one-on-one check-ins.

Be Part of App Academy’s Upcoming Cohort

App Academy provides an opportunity for people from different backgrounds and with varying financial abilities to attain the job they desire. Its curriculum, pricing options, and inclusion policy alongside several other features make the school unique.

To top things off, App Academy lets you “test the waters” before deciding whether to commit to the bootcamp. So don’t wait; go on and sign up for the free online coding platform App Academy Open, and have a taste of life in App Academy.