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Hey all! We launched App Academy on HN 6 years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4505752 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4505752), and since then a

Hey all! We launched App Academy on HN 6 years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4505752 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4505752), and since then a lot’s happened. We’ve graduated and placed thousands of folks as engineers and actually placed more people as software engineers at Google (30 vs 22) than UC Berkeley has since 2016! Today, we are fulfilling a dream that I’ve had for some time: to put the whole curriculum online, for free. We’ve built a learning platform around it and we’re really excited to give people a taste (or the whole thing!) of the curriculum to help you understand what we’re about.

byproxy 8y ago
What does the paid service offer that this free one doesn't? I'm assuming career guidance/placement. If that's the case, will completing this free offering still grant me access to a better career?
- skinnymuch 8y ago
  Free version teaches you things. Just like many other resources of self-learning. In that way it gives you access to a better career. Not sure what else you might mean.
  - byproxy 8y ago
    Yes, of course. I wasn't trying to denigrate that aspect. Just wondering if there were any other perks the paid version provides.
- CesareBorgia 8y ago
  We have 2 paid options. The mentorship option is a $29.99/month subscription to a Slack channel (i.e. chat room) with one or more App Academy instructional staff 60 hours a week (M-F 6AM-6PM). If it sounds like an insanely good deal, that's because it is :) The placement based plan is the same experience as our full-time, in-person course, but online. You get instructional support, live q&a, pair programming, career support, etc. On this option, we don't get paid until you find a job, so we keep fighting until you do. In that case, it's 17% of your salary for two years, up to $30k total.
  - byproxy 8y ago
    Great, thanks for the response!
berkeleycsmajor 8y ago
What is your source for placing more software engineers at google the UC Berkeley? Looking at the 2017 career destination surveys https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2017Majors https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2017Majors Computer Science https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2017CompSci.pdf https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2... has 21 Software engineers at google from the 40% who responded to the survey and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2017EECS.pdf https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2... has 15 Software engineers at google from the 41% who responded.

byproxy 8y ago

What does the paid service offer that this free one doesn't? I'm assuming career guidance/placement. If that's the case, will completing this free offering still grant me access to a better career?

skinnymuch 8y ago
Free version teaches you things. Just like many other resources of self-learning. In that way it gives you access to a better career. Not sure what else you might mean.
- byproxy 8y ago
  Yes, of course. I wasn't trying to denigrate that aspect. Just wondering if there were any other perks the paid version provides.
CesareBorgia 8y ago
We have 2 paid options. The mentorship option is a $29.99/month subscription to a Slack channel (i.e. chat room) with one or more App Academy instructional staff 60 hours a week (M-F 6AM-6PM). If it sounds like an insanely good deal, that's because it is :) The placement based plan is the same experience as our full-time, in-person course, but online. You get instructional support, live q&a, pair programming, career support, etc. On this option, we don't get paid until you find a job, so we keep fighting until you do. In that case, it's 17% of your salary for two years, up to $30k total.
- byproxy 8y ago
  Great, thanks for the response!

berkeleycsmajor 8y ago

What is your source for placing more software engineers at google the UC Berkeley? Looking at the 2017 career destination surveys https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2017Majors https://career.berkeley.edu/Survey/2017Majors Computer Science https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2017CompSci.pdf https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2... has 21 Software engineers at google from the 40% who responded to the survey and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2017EECS.pdf https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2... has 15 Software engineers at google from the 41% who responded.