General Assembly Web Development Immersive Review
by Kyle Prinsloo Last updated Jan. 2, 2019
This article is a review of General Assembly's Web Development Immersive Remote (WDIR) and Web Development Immersive (WDI) courses.
WDI is one of their flagship bootcamp courses. You’ll find a detailed breakdown of the pros and cons to help you decide if you’d like to enroll in their course or not.
If you live in these cities/countries, here are the links to General Assembly’s on-campus Web Development Immersive program:
Firstly, who is General Assembly and what do they do?
General Assembly began as a co-working space in 2011 and has since grown into one of the leading learning organizations with more than 15 locations and over 40,000 full- and part-time graduates worldwide
They are fast becoming a highly reputable learning institution that employers like to see on a resume.
The truth is that places like Udemy are great to improve your knowledge and to learn more skills, but when it comes to credibility, General Assembly is considered to be one of the best.
Why should you consider the General Assembly Web Development Immersive or Web Development Immersive Remote?
If we had to get to the root of why you would like to sign up to the immersive remote or immersive program, what is your main goal?
It could be to improve your skills, but for most, it would be to get a (high-paying) job.
With that said and without making this review too “fluff” like, here are the main benefits:
Career coach – You work one-on-one with a career coach to develop a job search strategy that will help get you hired.
Hiring partners – GA has a global network of 10,000+ hiring partners and a job board listing open roles for skilled developers.
Accountability – One of the most important and overlooked things to consider is accountability. You will be motivated, encouraged and assisted to achieve your goals.
Supportive Community – You study with like-minded students who have the same goals as you do. Join an exclusive Slack community of students to help you when you need some extra motivation.
Experienced Instructors – The instructors and teaching assistants are highly qualified and experienced to help you understand the concepts and apply it in real-life projects.
Advanced Curriculum - Their curriculum is created by a team of expert instructional designers that leverage the latest technological tools to ensure relevant, current coursework immediately applicable to the field.
99% Job Placement in 180 Days after starting a job search – This is quite impressive and speaks for itself.
Get Qualified - Learn in-demand skills like JavaScript, Git and Rails, as you build a portfolio of professional websites and data-driven apps. You also receive a certificate from a reputable source for coding education.
Alumni - Connect with over 40,000 full- and part-time alumni and pursue success with an exclusive group of professionals.
WeWork Membership - WDIR grads get three months of free We Membership from WeWork which means you can connect with a global community of professionals and book workspace across 100+ locations worldwide.
Location - Students are located in many different places, giving students an opportunity to connect with people beyond their local network.
Live Communication (from the website) - Ask questions, get feedback, and interact with your classmates and TAs - all in real-time. Engage in a variety of ways including live chat, voice, and video to work on comprehension, solutions and projects.
Workplace Simulation (from the website) - At your dedicated workspace, you’ll experience what it’s like to work and collaborate as a developer in an interactive, real-world coding environment.
Student Testimonials
I felt satisfied every day with the amount of knowledge given to me. This course is excellent for newcomers in Web Dev as well as people with more experience. If you feel like you are drowning in work just keep pushing through and you will succeed, they really do give you everything you need to succeed.
- Brandon, New York City
Great course! Got a job right after!"
- Spencer Stone, Boston
6 weeks after completing the course I accept a Software Engineer position. Yes, a real salaried with full benefits. (And the pay is above the median salary for my city).
- Ben, Atlanta
After graduation and with the support of the team I was able to secure my dream job within six weeks. It felt like a big risk to leave a full-time role and take this on but I can say it was completely worth it!
- Graduate at London
Negatives:
The Web Development Immersive and Web Development Immersive Remote programs require a full commitment. If you are working full time or you like to take things easy, it won’t be for you. The curriculum is “immersive” and requires discipline and effort to complete.
The chances are that you will be working a few hours at night and on weekends to complete the homework assignments.
One of the main negatives is the price as it's considered to be a stumbling block for most prospective students.
This needs to be viewed in context though. If you get hired in a full-time job, the chances are high that you will earn a pretty good salary which will increase as your skills and experience improve.
Therefore, spending 2-3 months of your annual salary to potentially get placed into an awesome developer job that you love is completely worth it. With a 99% job rate placement after starting a job search, it's promising as well.
What’s the alternative? If you compare this route with a CS (Computer Science) degree, you’ll soon find that it’s a complete bargain.
GA has several financing options including payment plans and low-cost loans to assist with this obstacle at least.
More About the GA Web Development Immersive and Immersive Remote Programs
Overview: An interactive virtual classroom to help you develop the skills needed to become a full-stack web developer.
Duration: 13-weeks, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. EST, five days a week, plus about 40 hours of pre-work.
Objective: To make you a skilled full-stack developer.
By the end of the course, you will be confident to:
- Write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that displays as intended in modern browsers
- Develop a back-end web application and APIs using a modern programming language and MVC web development framework, such as Rails
- Develop a dynamic front-end to your application using a modern framework used to create single-page apps, such as Angular or Backbone
- Consume web APIs from third-party sites like Twitter or Yelp
- Write secure applications and deploy them to cloud services like Heroku
- Collaborate within a team using an agile development workflow and widely-accepted collaboration practices using Git
- Design and layout responsive web applications
- Build secure full-stack web applications according to common design patterns
- Use modern JavaScript browser application frameworks
- Safely model and store data in SQL and NoSQL databases
- Develop web applications using both Ruby and JavaScript
- And more
Here is a unit breakdown of the Web Development Immersive and Immersive Remote programs:
UNIT 1: FRONT-END DEVELOPMENT
- How the Internet Works
- Using the Terminal & Navigating the Filesystem
- HTML5
- Chrome Developer Tools
- Text Editors
- CSS Styling
- CSS Box Model & Positioning
- Web Typography
- JavaScript Data Types, Objects, and Functions
- JavaScript Control Flow
- Debugging JavaScript
- Advanced JavaScript OOP & Prototypal Inheritance
- DOM Manipulation & Events
- Git and Github
- Asynchronous JavaScript Callbacks
- jQuery
- JavaScript Scope
- Responsive Web Design
- User Stories and Task Tracking
UNIT 2: SERVER SIDE APPLICATIONS
- Introduction to Node.js
- RESTful Routing with Express.js
- MVC Design Patterns
- Debugging and Logging in Node
- NoSQL with MongoDB and Mongoose
- Express Views and EJS
- Encrypted Passwords and Authentication
- Token-based Authentication
- Heroku Deployment
UNIT 3: MEAN STACK/ANGULAR.JS
- Introduction to Angular.js
- Extending DOM Elements with Custom Behaviors
- Client-side Models and Data Binding
- Connecting and Syncing with a REST API
- Managing Authentication State
- Team Workflow using Git and Github
- Using AJAX to create Single Page Applications
- Nesting Scope
- Using Filters
- Using Services
- Writing Your Own Custom Directives
- Listening for and Triggering Events
- Setting Up Dependencies
- Routing in Single Page Applications
UNIT 4: RUBY ON RAILS
- Ruby Data Types, Objects, and Methods
- Ruby Control Flow
- Ruby Collections
- Classes and Inheritance
- Introduction to SQL
- Object-Relational Mapping in ActiveRecord
- Building & Submitting Forms
- Controllers and Routes
- Layouts, Partials, & Views
- Encrypted Passwords and Authentication
OPTIONAL TOPICS
- Computer Science Interview Fundamentals
- CSS Pre-processors
- Bootstrap
- OAuth and Third-party APIs
- Social Network / Third-party Application Login
- Introduction to Testing with Mocha and Chai
- Introduction to WebSockets
- PHP
- Wordpress
Common FAQs about the WDI and WDIR programs:
What will the class experience be like?
GA’s lessons are broken up into micro-lectures, which teach you content in short spurts so that you can immediately break out into groups and practice applying what you’ve learned.
The course activities have been modeled so that you’ll be able to have constant conversations with your fellow classmates and instructors throughout the course.
Lessons are created to make you think about concepts until you understand them. It forces you to apply what you think you’ve just understood by writing code after the theory.
If you ever struggle with certain aspects, the instructors are always ready to offer guidance to help you grasp everything easier and quicker.
How do I know if I am ready for this course?
Although it is beneficial if you know how to code, it doesn’t matter whether you know the basics of web development or not.
You are provided with approximately 40 hours of pre-work once you are admitted to help you prepare for the course as well.
Students have been able to land jobs at these companies after their Web Development Immersive graduation:
That’s it :) I hope you found the Web Development Immersive Remote and Web Development Immersive review helpful and understandable and you are able to make a decision from here.
Click here to read more about the GA Web Development Immersive Remote (online) program.
Click here to read more about the GA Web Development Immersive (on-campus) program.
If you would prefer part-time instructor-led courses that are cheaper and less time-consuming compared with the Web Development Immersive or Web Development Immersive Remote, take a look at these:
Note: info correct as of date of publish.
