It’s 2019, and we’re fortunate enough to be living in a world in which some truly innovative options exist for re-educating ourselves should we be in the position of not liking our current roles. There are now coding bootcamps for web development, full-stack engineering, data science, digital marketing, and UI/UX design, on-site and online, in cities and countries that span the globe. This piece will compare App Academy and General Assembly. Either is a great option if you want to transition into a technology career.
App Academy vs. General Assembly: Curriculum and Course Offerings
App Academy might be the most straightforward bootcamp I’ve come across. They teach web development over the course of about 16 weeks (this includes some time for job searching), in San Francisco, New York, or online. Their curriculum focuses on Ruby (and, later, Ruby on Rails), object-oriented programming and test-driven development, SQL, Javascript, React, AJAX, and basically every other part of full-stack development.
On a typical day classes will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but be prepared to work a fair bit outside the normal hours. Activities will include individual assignments and pair-programming assignments, as well as larger projects later in the program which will let you showcase your skills to potential programs.
General Assembly has more offerings, including web development, data science, and UX design, which you can complete full-time on campuses in numerous cities, full-time remote, or part-time remote. Full-time programs take 12 weeks for webdev, 12 for data science, and 10 for UX design.
I don’t see a ‘typical day’ breakdown for General Assembly, but I highly doubt it’s much different from the one described above for App Academy. Almost every immersive program I’ve examined works the exact same way hour-to-hour.
App Academy vs. General Assembly: Program Cost and Tuition Model
App Academy has a few tuition options. You can pay $17,000 upfront, or wait to pay a fraction of your income once you find a job making at least $50,000/year, or hybridize these two options. You can also get financing through the loan provider Climb.
General Assembly costs a pretty standard $15,950. They also have various payment plans, an Income Sharing Agreement, financing through loan providers Climb and Meritize, some scholarships, and unlike some bootcamps, they accept the GI Bill.
App Academy vs. General Assembly: Outcomes and Reviews
According to what data are available, 98% of App Academy graduates ‘eventually’ find work (we don’t know what time frame ‘eventually’ is) and they earn an average salary of $92,000 in New York City and $105,000 in San Francisco.
General Assembly doesn’t have data more recent than the end of 2017 that I could find. According to the available figures, 92% of their graduates get jobs within six months, but I don’t see information on what their average salary was.
Either of these well-regarded programs should give you what you need to rocket into a brand new career!
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.
