In a healthy tech industry where a great idea can turn into a multi-billion dollar company, technical skills are a necessary asset. An innovative business concept is fruitless without someone who can build a working prototype and as a result, developers and engineers are among the most sought after in today’s job market.
In New York, a number of coding schools are helping fuel the city’s booming tech scene and providing professionals with the skills needed to become digitally literate. Here’s a roundup of some of the best coding schools if you’re thinking of jumping on the programming bandwagon.
1. General Assembly
The goal of General Assembly’s bootcamp program is to prepare students for entry-level junior-developer positions. Many of GA’s students have no previous programming experience, but they will learn essential skills to launch technical projects through the program’s curriculum. At General Assembly, students learn Ruby on Rails, database design, AJAX and jQuery among other skills. The program’s global reach—it conducts its Web Development course in eight countries—also promises an expansive network of alumni. Students also have the option of taking virtual and part-time courses.
2. Flatiron School
The Flatiron School has both a web development bootcamp program and an iOS development program. The web development bootcamp is 12 weeks long, and teaches students how to become production-ready web developers over the course of the program. Throughout the course, students learn web development fundamentals, which prepare them to build applications. The iOS development bootcamp gives students a hands-on experience building basic apps, as well as a final capstone project.
3. Dev Bootcamp
Dev Bootcamp is an immersive 19-week program designed to make students job-ready by the time they graduate. Dev Bootcamp’s curriculum begins with a nine week remote part-time prep course in basic front-end web development, Ruby on Rails and relational database concepts. Then, students participate in nine weeks of full-time courses on site. The first phase of the in-person program reiterates what was taught during the preparatory course. The second and third phases then focus on advanced aspects of web apps design. Dev Bootcamp’s approach values learning by doing and the program culminates in a final group project. During the last week of bootcamp, the program hosts a “career week” where students are provided with extensive resources for their impending job search.
4. App Academy
App Academy is a 12-week long web development and job placement program. Students are not required to pay a tuition up front but are instead obligated to give 18% of their first-year salary to the school. As a result, App Academy graduates see a 98% employment rate after the conclusion of the program. The program offers both front-end and back-end development, as well as client-side work.
5. Fullstack Academy
Fullstack Academy offers students the opportunity to transition from amateur to professional software developers over the course of 13 weeks. The program teaches a JavaScript curriculum, and requires students to build multiple apps. FullStack’s curriculum is divided into three major courses. The first focuses on fundamentals of programming, the second concentrates on full-stack web development and the third helps students find jobs. FullStack starts new classes every seven weeks. The school also offers a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) program for individuals who hope to become leaders in their industry, and focuses on the skills needed to start a company.
