Actualize

I chose Actualize because they promised an educational approach to learning how to code.  They delivered on that and so much more.  To the excellent teaching staff who always made sure you were keeping up and never hesitated to answer any questions.  The awesome career counselors, who were able to make the seemingly scary adventure of job hunting less scary and more of an adventure to get you to the place you want to be. I loved my time at Actualize and if you are on the fence, I say , just do it.

I choose Actualize Bootcamp because of the teaching first approach to curriculum. The instructors all had teaching backgrounds outside of just know how to code. This helped me get a better sense of the fundamentals of software development. My Actualize experience was amazing. I participated in the night class cohort. I was provided with all materials that I needed for the course. They force you to learn the fundamentals of arrays, loops, conditionals, and functions before you start the course was a great way to build skills later for ruby and javascript. They do a great job making you mentally prepared for the grind because it is a 12-week Grind!! You get to work on many cool projects and form a shopping cart to a team API project(fun stuff). I would say some suggestions for the future, maybe a week with React and Django after learning Rails and Vue Js.  Also, maybe a class two dedicated to front-end design principles. Overall, if you are looking for a great place to expand your coding knowledge. This is the place to be. 

I was looking to switch careers and became very interested in coding. Having a good friend graduate from Actualize made me want to see what it was all about. Seeing all the great reviews and actually knowing someone who had gone through the course and land a great job make it an easy decision to join.

What makes Actualize great is the teachers. Not only do they know what they are doing, they know how to teach it and make you understand the content.  They are very helpful and want you to succeed. I was never afraid to ask for help if I needed it. Starting from knowing very little to creating apps in 4 months showed me that once you know the fundamentals, you are capable of learning anything you want. 

Another thing that I love is the Job Hacking. Actualize works with you throughout the course to create a fantastic personal website and resume to start your job search. Once you are done with the course, they will continue to support you on your job hunt. 

All in all, I am completely happy with my decision to join Actualize. From pre-work to capstones, I enjoyed it every step of the way. It is sad that it is over but it made me excited to see what happens going forward!

I never thought I would pursue a job in coding, but seeing that Actualize doesn't mind if you haven't coded much before applying was really encouraging. They are totally right that anyone can learn to code! I used to work with children and very little tech but now I am already planning post-graduation projects. The instructor Dani was amazing, and even though it is a lot of information in a short period of time there was review, time after class to get help from TAs, she answered questions well, and the assignments were so helpful to review. Highly recommend!

Great Program. If you are brand new to the world of coding this is the program to select. The team is incredibly patient, attentive, and flexible regarding the learning process. My teacher (Peter Jang) is an extremely high qualified instructor who takes a more out of the box approach with his teaching style. Most my life, regarding education, I was in the position of "a fish being told to climb a tree", this experience has been far away from the float or swim mentality. If your looking for a bootcamp, I would highly recommend this one. 

I was deciding between a bunch of bootcamps and had interviews with almost every bootcamp out there. However, when I interviewed for Actualize I knew it was the one. Their staff was so friendly and warm and their curriculum really made sense. I was definitely hesitant leaving all of the other bootcamp options behind but this one was definitely the right choice. The pace was perfect, and I learned so much. The instructor (I had Peter Jang) was the greatest teacher I've ever had. He was so good at explaining complex topics in a clear and simple way and always had a good joke to tell. He was with us every step of the way and made sure we understood the material. He also always made it so fun and enjoyable and gave us good tips to deal with the stresses that come with coding as well. I not only learned the fundamentals of coding, but also how to learn new coding skills and languages and grow in the tech field in general. The job hacking was also amazing as they helped us build our resume, make connections, network, build a personal website, and do mock interviews. Overall, the bootcamp taught me more than I ever thought and made me ready and excited for my first step in the coding world!

I learned fullstack: a good backend and a couple different frontends and feel very confident about the job world before the last day of school. I chose Actualize in Chicago, IL, because they were the first Software Engineering school to be fully online (also covid-19 was happening). It ended up being very fun because it was like we were at a tech company with a team of like 16. I would recommend people to take an Immersion Class at Actualize if they wanted to get job opportunities in the tech field for website stuff. 5* Actualize.