Why The Tech Academy May Be The Right Bootcamp For You

The Tech Academy Origin Story

The Tech Academy is the brainchild of Erik Gross, a seasoned industry professional with over 20 years of experience, and a longtime friend with an extensive background in teaching and curriculum development, Jack Stanley.

Mr. Gross’ time in the Navy as a nuclear operator and teacher led him to explore and master a variety of technologies, which naturally cultivated a strong passion for education. After his service, he continued to sharpen his tech skills throughout the 1990s and 2000s, before launching his own software development company called Prosper I.T. Consulting in 2012. 

When he realized he required help with some of the more basic tasks in the company, he decided to personally train junior-level software developers for internal development projects. A year later, he began to seriously consider the idea of formalizing the training when his own son expressed interest in attending a coding bootcamp.

That was how Prosper I.T. Academy was born in 2013. However, reality quickly sunk in—there’s so much more to running a school than training students. Mr. Gross decided to approach Mr. Stanley with an opportunity to collaborate, well aware that his friend had the capabilities and experience to help elevate the school to a higher level.

Although Mr. Stanley was already running his own successful company, he decided to say “yes” upon seeing that the school’s philosophy matched his own. He then utilized his experience in legal, human resources, marketing, sales, personnel, management, quality control, public relations, teaching, and curriculum development to help shape the school into what it is today.

The formidable duo then recruited the assistance of renowned experts like Dr. Brent Wilson, professor and Chairman of George Fox University’s Computer Science department, to help formulate high-quality programs that meet the industry’s standard. 

The school has come a long way since its inception. What originally started as a small academy with only four students has now transformed into a full-fledged bootcamp with two campuses in Oregon and Utah. The school was also renamed The Tech Academy, following the results of a survey conducted by the founders themselves.

To date, The Tech Academy has helped hundreds of graduates find a new career in tech. It has garnered rave reviews from graduates and won multiple notable awards. In its latest CIRR report, the school revealed that 69% of its graduates have found full-time careers within 180 days of graduation, making a median pay of $48,000. 

How The Tech Academy Compares

To help you decide if The Tech Academy is what you’re looking for, we’ll be uncovering what makes the school unique and its offerings overall.

Accessible and Flexible Technical Education

The Tech Academy understands that not everyone, especially career-changers, can dedicate fixed hours for learning. As such, the school has made the curriculum structure simple and more flexible to accommodate learners from all backgrounds.

Students get to choose their own study schedule which allows them to move through their chosen course at a pace that they’re comfortable with. All content—text articles, pictures, diagrams, video lectures, assignments, and challenges—is pre-recorded and accessible via its Learning Management System (LMS).

“It’s important to us that the course is standardized in this way so that we can make sure all students receive the same high-quality content and instruction,” the school said.

A Diverse and Supportive Community

The school also focuses on making the overall tech industry a more diverse and equal place, as evident in the makeup of its own team. This trickles down to the student body which includes those conventionally considered minorities in the industry such as women, veterans, people of color, and more. 

It is also crucial for the school to foster a supportive environment to ensure everyone is up to speed and is able to go through the courses as smoothly as possible. With this in mind, The Tech Academy has allocated extensive office hours for instructors—roughly 70 hours of available instruction time, seven days a week—and they can easily be reached via phone, Zoom, e-mail, or the internal messaging system.

Comprehensive Curriculum

Being an experienced curriculum developer, Mr. Stanley played a key role in developing the school’s offerings. He has also employed the assistance of other industry professionals to help curate the most updated and comprehensive learning materials. 

To ensure that students get the most out of their ‘The Tech Academy experience’, the school has made it compulsory for all to cover the foundations in tech. 

Regardless of the program, students are required to go through 32 hours of Computer and Tech Basics before diving into the fundamentals of Software Development for another 40 hours. They will then get familiarized with Version Control and HTML & CSS courses to ensure that they are ready to delve deeper into their specialized courses. 

The final legs of the courses will see students doing a Project Management syllabus, before participating in a two-week Live Project with other students, and then finishing off with a Job Placement service which will help build their confidence in job-finding.  

Job Placement Services

Not only is the school committed to equipping students with the relevant skills, but it also designates a special course to help students find employment in a technical position. In the Job Placement course, students will learn about the skills and techniques required to land their first tech job or to re-enter the industry.

Some of the things that the course covers include: how to do a phone and in-person interview, approaches to white-board presentations, resume and cover letter writing, ways to look for tech jobs, and more. The last stretch of the program will also cover weekly technical roundtables and coding challenges to further refine students’ newly-acquired skills. 

“We structure it just like any of our other courses with articles, videos, and assignments that revolve around job placement. Assignments in the course include answering a long list of interview questions, doing mock interviews, cleaning up your online presence, crafting great resumes and cover letters,” the school explained.

“During the course, students are placed with a job placement instructor that serves as a career coach. They will look over resumes and cover letters, hold mock interviews, give pep talks, forward job openings and job boards. Students have access to job placement services for up to six months after finishing the bootcamp, so even if the time paid for the boot camp is over, students have access to all the job placement content.”

An alum Kenzie Mitzner said she had a positive experience at The Tech Academy, adding that she found the Job Placement course to be particularly helpful.

“My job placement coordinator, Samantha, was amazing! She’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a personal assistant. Whether you need someone to look over a resume or cover letter or to give you a pep talk, they are there for it. 

“They keep you on track without being overbearing. They are also very receptive to feedback about the program or your experience both during and after. Overall it was a very positive experience and I feel like I used my quarantine to really get my life on a better track,” she posted. 

What Can You Learn at The Tech Academy?

The school offers a variety of career tracks that tech aspirants can venture into. All the courses are available in both full-time and part-time schedules which deliver the same content at different paces. Let’s break them down to have a clearer picture of what awaits at The Tech Academy:

Full-Stack Software Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $22,000 (22 weeks)

Part-Time: $26,640 (40 weeks)

According to the school, this is the #1 course when it comes to robustness and comprehensiveness. Out of all The Tech Academy’s programs, graduates of Full-Stack Software Developer Bootcamp reportedly earned the highest salary and scored the highest job placement rate. 

Students can expect to learn seven of the most in-demand programming languages including C#, Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL, and more. It offers close to 1,000 hours of study content and activities including a two-week Live Projects that provide real-world coding experience. This will allow students to expand their resume even before they step foot into tech.

C# and .NET Framework Bootcamp

Full-Time: $15,500 (15 weeks)

Part-Time: $19,974 (28 weeks)

This program is perfect for those looking to explore Microsoft technologies and languages. In fact, it is The Tech Academy’s longest-running program. Not only will it cover front-end and back-end web and software development, but it also includes a Live Project with emphasis on C# and the .NET framework. 

Students will get acquainted with five of the most popular programming languages such as C#,  JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and SQL. These skills can help prepare graduates for entry-level positions in full-stack or other areas of web and software development. 

Python Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $15,500 (15 weeks) 

Part-Time: $19,974 (28 weeks)

It is no secret that Python is one of the most popular programming languages today, being utilized by major companies like Google and YouTube. Aside from Python, students will learn four other programming languages—JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL—in this bootcamp, making themselves well-rounded developers ready to tackle most entry-level positions in tech.

The course covers 600 hours of learning which will see students tinkering with technologies such as Python 3, Linux fundamentals, PyCharm, tKinter, SQLite, NumPy, Apache HTTP Server, and Django, among others.

Data Science Bootcamp

Full-Time: $17,000 (16 weeks) 

Part-Time: $21,307 (30 weeks)

If you’re interested to learn the fundamentals of data science—which includes the scientific methods, systems, and processes to extract knowledge and insights from data—this program is for you. Students will be introduced to concepts such as data visualization, statistical analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and more. The course will also cover computer science basics, programming fundamentals, and coding in several popular languages like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

UX/UI Designer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $15,500 (15 weeks)

Part-Time: $19,974 (28 weeks)

The fields of UX/UI design involve creating aesthetically-pleasing and easy-to-use programs and websites and that is exactly what the school targets to achieve with this course. Aside from the fundamentals in front-end and back-end development, students enrolled in this bootcamp will learn how to create sleek user interfaces that provide a user-friendly experience. They will also be exposed to UX/UI concepts including design principles, wireframing, and prototyping. 

Cybersecurity Bootcamp

Full-Time: $20,000 (20 weeks) 

Part-Time: $24,640 (38 weeks)

This program aims at addressing cybersecurity from every angle including networks, hardware, websites, software, apps, and the cloud. Students will cover topics like computer and server hardware, basics of computer networks, network security and VPNs, database protection, secure software and apps development, and user data protection.

Front-End Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $9,000 (8 weeks) 

Part-Time: $11,974 (14 weeks)

If you’re short on available study time, this 300-hour course would be great for you. It is also the most affordable bootcamp at The Tech Academy. Students will be exposed to the three main building blocks for web development—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript— and ways to utilize them to create dynamic websites. Graduates of this program will have adequate skills to take on entry-level web development and front-end development roles.

Game Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $22,000 (22 weeks) 

Part-Time: $26,640 (40 weeks)

Gamers, rejoice! This may be your chance to become the next Hideo Kojima. This course will introduce you to game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity which are some of the basic software programs behind many of the most successful video games today. These are the same game engines used to create games like Fortnite, Pokemon Go, Final Fantasy VII remake, and Angry Birds 2. Unreal Engine and Unity use C++ and C# respectively, so the course will be teaching students how to code using these two languages, among others.

Mobile App Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $19,000 (18 weeks)

Part-Time: $22,640 (34 weeks)

Up to August last year, smartphone owners have reportedly spent 1.6 trillion hours on mobile alone, which is a testament to how big mobile apps are in this age. The two most popular mobile platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, have 98% of the global mobile device market share. So if you want to get into mobile app development, learning the languages they use might be a good idea. This bootcamp will teach students how to do that and more using programming languages like Swift, Objective-C, and Java.  

Java and Android Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $15,000 (15 weeks)

Part-Time: $19,974 (28 weeks)

Java is one of the most versatile programming languages in the world. It is the main language used to create Android apps and beyond that, it can be used to develop complex software. Aside from Java, this bootcamp will explore four of the most in-demand programming languages like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and SQL.

JavaScript Developer Bootcamp

Full-Time: $18,000 (17 weeks)

Part-Time: $22,000 (32 weeks)

JavaScript and its frameworks are some of the most widely-used tools today. In this bootcamp, students will also learn the fundamentals of jQuery, AJAX, JSON, Node.js, React, Vue.js, TypeScript, Angular, MongoDB, Ember.js, and the MEAN stack. Graduates can expect to walk away with the necessary skillset for an entry-level developer job. 

Where Can You Go After The Tech Academy?

After graduating from The Tech Academy, graduates have gone on to explore various career tracks at different levels. 

Based on its 2019 CIRR report for the Oregon campus, some of the frequent job titles for graduates are software developers, software integration specialists, junior software engineers, and junior quality assurance engineers. 

Meanwhile, the 2019 CIRR report for remote programs revealed that some graduates have accepted more niche roles such as IT associates and cryptocurrency research engineers. These figures illustrate that there is always a space in tech for those with the right skills and The Tech Academy can help you polish those skills, even if you’re starting from zero.

Learn Coding With The Tech Academy Today

The Tech Academy was established to help bridge the gap in tech talent and for the past eight years, it has strived to offer some of the most comprehensive curriculums in the market to help tech aspirants become well-rounded professionals. 

If you’re interested in taking that first step, consider signing up for one of The Tech Academy’s 11 programs. You can contact the admissions team at info@learncodinganywhere.com or call (503) 206-6915 to learn more.