I wanted to create this post after a great deal of time and reflection. Mainly though, I desired to observe the task search panned out for everyone. It's now been close to 4 months since I finished the immersive software engineering program at Fullstack Academy , and I possess some concerning thoughts. I want to make clear first that I attended the part-time program, and I was at the initial campus in New York City. There's a Chicago campus, and the bootcamp can be achieved remotely as well.
I've written here about my decision to enter Fullstack Academy and talked through my way of thinking of choosing this bootcamp over others. That post came at the end of 2017 right before I began the program. I recently discussed here on whether coding bootcamps are worth doing, but I didn't really talk specifically about Fullstack Academy.
What are you learning at Fullstack Academy?
The initial a month they say is kind of like the fundamentals of coding, but we've been doing strictly JavaScript right now. And then we're going to the touch on a little HTML, CSS, and then we're likely to enter learning React.Js which I am aware nothing about, to be honest. I've heard scary reasons for having it, to be honest. It really is hard to learn.
But I'm hoping, with the work that we're doing so far, it'll be okay. We've been learning, basically, we started very easy, all the various data value types. What's a sequence, what's lots, every one of these different things. And then we started speaing frankly about loops and control flow, that is really cool.
I suppose I didn't realize, control flow if you're able to visualize it, is basically the way your program runs in a linear fashion from top to bottom. There exists a reason they call it loops. It's because the control flow will just loop back around. Or if you're inside a four loop or something, and you've got to ensure you escape or whatever. And then even the little things such as understanding what return does, versus such as a console log.
Because I do believe that's what you see like really in the beginning and it's so great, you understand, like console log is indeed powerful and a great teaching tool and then, but wanting to distinguish that between exactly what a return does? I didn't even really get that until like, a week ago, where return would actually just replace the expression where you call the function.
Just going back once again to like my teaching days in grad school, where being on another side of the student's perspective; as a teacher, you actually want those students to ask you the questions and you're not really thinking, well I suppose I'm talking subjectively, but you actually want to attempt to answer their questions in a meaningful way.
Nevertheless when you're a student, you're so nervous about raising your hand and asking your question, or at least in my own case, that was certainly one of my hang ups for sure. But considering learning in the act of it with that plus/minus equals philosophy, I do believe it's really helped me, at least when it comes to about then I start considering contributing to my cohort in general.
Fullstack Academy prides itself on having a stringent application process and only taking students with a certain level of knowledge. However, I honestly think it's pretty damn easy to have in. I wrote about that here. I realize that a bootcamp is a business, and taking tuition is how they make money. However, I do believe Fullstack Academy's reputation will quickly suffer if this keeps going on. I don't want the school to be just another General Assembly churning out as numerous grads as possible. General Assembly did just get bought out for $412.5 million earlier in the entire year, so I suppose it will sound right from a business standpoint.
As a bootcamp grad, I want just as much help as you possibly can to acquire a job. That's after every one of the goal of most these students sacrificing months of their time and thousands of dollars. I also don't want to see unqualified folks get into Fullstack Academy and expect the planet if they come out. I feel that admissions must certanly be tightened up, and I feel that career services could execute a better job at preparing the students. From the resumes I've seen of Fullstack Academy grads, there's lots of work to be done. Fullstack Academy also has what they call Hiring Day, which is really a day at the end of this program for students to generally meet employers. I feel that students could be provided with more time and energy to prepare for it. I've even heard that students will sometimes face an employer who is looking for developers with experience. Those employers probably shouldn't even be at Hiring Day, since virtually all bootcamp grads don't have prior professional experience.
I'm most likely not likely to leave analysis Fullstack Academy on some site, because I can't boil my feelings down for some arbitrary rating. On a single hand, I need certainly to thank Fullstack Academy a lot. I have my start in tech as a computer software developer due to the school. Fullstack Academy could possibly get a student to the level of a professional developer by the finish of the program. I think that, and that's also all Fullstack Academy is obligated to do. You're more or less on your own when it comes to actually landing a job. That's how it is by using most bootcamps, so I really shouldn't single out Fullstack Academy. As someone who went there, I simply hope Fullstack Academy does improve. I'm sure the folks responsible have the best interests of the students in addition to the company at heart, but I do believe there needs to be always a long-term look at how the industry has been afflicted with bootcamps and the way to handle that. I don't want there to be thousands of bootcamp grads out there left jobless, which I do believe will happen. I also think this growth of bootcamps has to avoid at some point. It's unsustainable. For the time being, I simply feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to have where I am now. Almost everyday though https://scamrisk.com/fullstack-academy/, I think about my fellow bootcamp grads who haven't been as lucky.
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