pick yourself up and try again! Pick yourself up and try again, try again!"
Now that we've all had our Aaliyah moment, let me announce that I'm applying to developer bootcamps! It's been a while since App Academy rejected me but I've been keeping at the coding thing and it's way past time I get back to it.
First up – Hackbright Academy: an all-women coding school that offers a software developer fellowship program which lasts 10 weeks and focuses on Python. The most attractive part of Hackbright is that they offer a full scholarship sponsored by Facebook. Though that won't cover living expenses, it's nice to know Facebook is interested in supporting female developers.
The application was pretty basic: answer a few personality questions, record a short video describing why you're applying, and solve a simple coding challenge. And guess what? Yo girl got an interview.
And it was a non-technical interview! (Whew.) Actually… I didn't know how to feel about that. It's nice that Hackbright wanted to know whether I'd mesh with their culture, but so far the only coding I did was the baby challenge in the application. Are they not as demanding or as ambitious as the more rigorous bootcamps? 'Cause for $15,000 I'd like my butt to get kicked (at least a little).
My interviewer was a graduate of the most recent cohort. She was still job hunting but seemed optimistic about it. She asked a few questions about what I do (for my job & for my coding efforts), how I work, and why I wanted to attend a bootcamp. Then I got to ask her a few questions:
Women are a minority in tech—no surprise there—so wouldn't it be more beneficial to get used to working alongside men from the get-go? Why is an 'all-woman' bootcamp a benefit to you?
She noticed that her colleagues (pre-Hackbright) that graduated from women colleges were more confident and bold. She thought that by removing the obstacle of being a minority made learning in a new environment that much easier.
Being in the thick of the job hunt, do you feel supported by Hackbright?
Out of her three mentors, she was still in contact with one. The career counselor (that was new for her cohort) reached out about every three weeks for progress checks on her hunt and to offer tips. Friends from the cohort also got together to talk about the hunt and commiserate.
What's the average class size?
Her cohort was the largest to date with ~40 students. The following cohort was paired down to 20-30 students and Hackbright intends to keep it there for the time being.
Are there opportunities to attend hackathons and conferences?
In the second half, yes. But a lot of them are optional and if you have time. Since you'll be focused on your project you might feel you have to skip these opportunities. She highly recommended that you don't since they're great networking opportunities.
How many projects do you have in your portfolio after Hackbright?
You do less than 10 projects that are more like exercises. Outside of those 10, there are two to three that are done in pairs and can be shown in a portfolio. You will always have the one final project you work on in the second half. Anything in addition to that is on your own time (if you have it).
I'm still kind of iffy on this school. I'm not sure if they're preparing their students the way I'd expect for the cost of their tuition. (Gotta remember – $15K PLUS rent & living expenses with NO income for 10 weeks. I've got loans, homie.)
I'll find out if I get moved along to the second interview in <2 weeks. At that point I'll be able to ask more technical questions, like why are a lot of Hackbright alums' GitHub profiles inactive? How does Hackbright help a struggling student? If you're supposed to land a software developer position, why are you teaching Python instead of C, C++, C# or Java…??
UPDATE: I was invited for a second interview (yay!) but informed that Facebook had withdrawn their scholarship for future cohorts (boo!). Since I wasn't impressed with Hackbright thus far, I withdrew my application.
Meet Michelle, Career Services at Hackbright Academy
We sat down with Michelle, who takes the charge on Career Services at Hackbright Academy. She’s a fantastic career matchmaker and is working on getting her scuba masters.
Michelle works hard because she understands that a lot of people recognize that in their careers they are not making the money they desire and have trouble finding…
Please keep your legs and arms inside the vehicle and gather all your personal belongings before you exit.
We have officially launched!
After attending bootcamps ourselves, receiving feedback from over 70 schools, and brainstorming at The White House, we've finally launched our flexible deferral programs for schools!
We have launched our pilot programs with:
Hackbright Academy
Epicodus
Coder Camps New York Code+Design
Insight Data Science
After a month of working closely with these amazing schools, we are going to start deploying flexible deferral programs to the additional 70 schools we have relationships with.
We are super excited to keep everyone updated as we start launching with more schools.
If you are going to attend a bootcamp that is not one of our pilot schools, contact us at [email protected] for more information on how we can help!
Here are some benefits benefits of the LendLayer Deferred Payment Program (DPP):
Fast Money
The DPP allows schools to offer a deferment program without worrying about their cash flows. Schools receive their tuition on the first day of class.
Simple Terms
LendLayer agrees to accept 100% of domestic students whose payment plan conforms to our DPP standards. No credit check for the students, no hassle for you. We can provide customized programs for specific schools or simply service their existing deferment program.
Easy Execution
LendLayer services the entire program. We provide the tuition contract for students; we run the payments platform; we handle customer support.
Thanks for being with us so far, and contact us at [email protected] with questions or to request further information!
I found Hackbright Academy interesting because they're only targeted for women. Unfortunately, they seem exceptionally impacted by applications. I can't find the link right now, but I read somewhere they they get about 300-400 applications for every 20ish students that they accept. They don't offer too many programs per year, so I hope that isn't the case for the other programs. I did meet their early application deadline for their next program, but i'm not sure if that means anything. There are dates listed for early application and early decision, but it doesn't really say if you have a priority for turning in an early application or the benefit of it. They also claim that they will get back to you shortly, but I haven't received any emails from them... not even an auto response. I believe this is because it looks like their application goes straight into a google doc. I hope that they just haven't responded because they haven't looked through the applications. I don't know if it's good or bad, but according to my statistics on my youtube channel (where I uploaded the video for Hackbright) someone in California watched it for almost 75% of the video... hopefully that was whomever is in control of admissions at Hackbright. It's been almost 3 weeks since I applied. I hope I didn't mess up a letter when I typed in my email address!
Here's the link for the program: http://www.hackbrightacademy.com/
The stereotype of “The All Girls School” has a new meaning. Hackbright Academy has taken a stand against the gender war gap in technology. The academy located in California is offering a ten week crash course. This novice to programmer in course defeats the odds. The course is designed to educate future female programmers to the world of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and more. Woman across the country are leaving their jobs and moving to Silicon Valley with hopes to expand their knowledge and their wallets.
It’s a known fact that the computer science field has been dominated by men. So, this fact about the academy would floor women everywhere. The Hackbright Academy was founded by men, David J. Phillips and Christian Fernandez. These two men believe in the code, not the gender. Their vision has invoked the inner geek in a growing number of women. The academy gives a chance for these women to conquer the dream of having a career in the technology realm.
As part of the 10 week crash course, an interesting component is addressed, the interview for the new job. This crucial obstacle in this line of work becomes a challenge of should I or should I not. You may have new found skills; however, can women overthrow the label that this is a man’s dominion? I think a woman’s touch is exactly what the market needs. The sisterhood of coding is on the rise, the Diva’s of Code shouting hoorah!
4 Hacks To Learning To Be A Hacker, “A Python Ate Me!” & More
By Michelle Sun (Student, Hackbright Academy)
It’s the beginning of Hackbright Academy, working on Python.
There has been ups and downs, some days (and nights) of pure nightmares, literally (quoting one of my classmates, “I dreamed that a python ate me last night”!), and some days of awesome state of“flow”, when hours seem to fly by and lots get done.
I begin to realize I am approaching this 10-week course less as a syntax crash course, more of a training of the mind. Many hackers eventually build in other languages, but mastering one allows great agility in picking up new ones. The mental fortitude in a great programmer is highly a transferrable skill, one which I admire and aspire to achieve.
So far, I have observed a few mind, or life, hacks to learning to program.
A Beginner's Survival Guide For Your First Hackathon
By Michelle Sun (Student, Hackbright Academy)
Last weekend, I attended my first ever hackathon and with minimal expectation, had a blast out of it and learned loads. My team did not win, nor did most of us slept at the event, but we got a lot out of it.
The hackathon, DevelopHer, was organized by LinkedIn, claimed to be the first women-only hackathon. The schedule was well thought out with a few sessions that made the hackathon really fun.
Aside from yoga and cupcakes, I believe there were a few things I am glad to have (or would have) done that made my experience worthwhile.
