Actualize

I interviewed for this program a while back and also sat it on a class. I researched this program and others before deciding to attend a coding bootcamp. Ultimately, I decided to go with another program due to the following observations.

Inteview: The interview was fairly quick. Within 30 minutes, I received the paperwork to officially sign up for the class and place a deposit. This was a major red flag for me. If there isn't good vetting of applicants, you will end up with a class that moves slowly and a school with a poor reputation

I decided to proceed and sit it on a class. I came in during the week and sat it on a class that was a few weeks into the program.

The Class: I came in and sat in the back. The class ended up starting 30 minutes late. The instructor was very good at communicating technical concepts to the students. The issue was that the class was just learning about methods several weeks in. I would expect something like that to be covered in the first day or two

My Research: My next and final step was to research the outcomes of the alumni. The majority of them didn't have full-time employment after the program. Most only had The Difference Engine listed in their profile(which I assume is an unpaid internship) with the job title of Web Developer(which is very deceptive if you ask me). You don't need to take my word on this. Go on Linkedin and search for "Actualize" under company and you will see the same thing

Verdict: This is probably a good program if you know nothing about development and want an intro. If you want to find employment in the field, do 3-9 months of intensive self-study and apply to selective program that has a history of good outcomes(and don't take their word for it either. Do the research yourself). If you do it right, you may not even need to attend a coding bootcamp to become employable.

I was most drawn to Actualize because it was a part time course that claimed to teach you how to become a full stack web developer in the same amount of time as a full time immersive course. I didn't have the luxury of quitting my job and devoting my entire time to learning how to code so I went with actualize. I worked 40 hours full time while attending 22 hours of bootcamp as well. It was a good idea at first but as the course went on and the material grew more and more complicated, I become exhausted and burned out. I went into the class with no experience or knowledge about coding. The instructor was friendly and nice and the TA's were great additions because I felt I bonded better with them than the instructor. I felt like the environment wasn't conducive to asking questions or making everyone feel comfortable enough to ask dumb questions. Talking with others in my cohort, we were all kind of blindly flailing around but nobody really knew what to do about it but keep on going. I would recommend it but not to someone working full time. It's exhausting and grueling. Save up your money for a full time immersive or get a part time job. It's not healthy to do both at the same time. 

And like with everything in life, you get out what you put in and if you're working 40 hours on top of part time class, there's not much time to put in anymore effort. 

Anyone Can Learn To Code was a great experience for me. I found a software engineering job almost immediately after graduating.

The structure of the course, at the moment, is a few week period of pre-work with video lectures, office hours, and remote work. The remainder of the course is in person at nights. This was very helpful for me, as it allowed me to continue my day job. At the end of the program, there is a showcase for the personal capstone projects that we started work on in the middle of the course. Following the program, there is a multiple week apprenticeship program.

I came from an unrelated work background, but had taken some Computer Science courses in College. I ended up learning a lot from the course. The teaching staff was excellent and knowledgable and are directly responsible for this fact. They are always willing to help and are all around friendly people. The pacing of the course was just about right as well.

Anyone Can Learn To Code is directly responsible for my job placement. I landed an interview during the showcase with a small start up located in downtown San Francisco. I was hired a couple of weeks after. Two of my classmates were landed software development gigs within a couple of months from the course ending (three students of eleven).

I do have some concerns with how things were managed after the program ended however. The recruiting officer who is supposed to have connections within the industry was laid off during my time there. While they are actively looking to fill his role with a suitable candidate, this does not help my classmates who are still looking for work.

Additionally, the apprenticeship could use more structure. It is a new program for the school, and kinks are still being worked out of the system. The class is separated into groups, where they work alongside one another & a mentor (in our case a professional software dev & TA). Some of us are given additional roles, like project manager for example. I feel that while this provides exposure to other areas in the software development cycle, these are not the skills that we came to learn. It takes away from the time and effort of the actual development work. However, I do have to say that the apprenticeship is overall very helpful. Working in a team environment is very different from the work we did in class, and I have learned a lot from the few weeks I've spent with the apprenticeship.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at Anyone Can Learn To Code. I always looked forward to class, despite it being tough. I learned a lot, and I was able to find a job because of it.