Hackbright Academy
Hackbright Academy Overview and Guide
Hackbright Academy is an all-female coding bootcamp specializing in full stack software development and database programming. Graduates have gone on to exciting jobs in major tech companies, and you could be next. In this Hackbright Academy review, we go through all the course options, schedules, and costs.
The school focuses primarily on building foundational Python programming skills. The versatility of Python is perfect for an array of specialized tech careers, such as backend developer or machine learning engineer. Read on for all the curriculum and enrollment information you need to decide whether Hackbright Academy is right for you.
What You Need to Know About Hackbright Academy
Hackbright Academy is a women-only coding bootcamp located in San Francisco, near the heart of the tech industry. Its software engineering bootcamp and its five-week short courses are designed to provide women with the capabilities and the confidence to pursue successful careers as software engineers and developers.
- Cost: Full-Time: $12,900, Part-Time: $12,900, Prep: $250, Python 101: $250
- Schedules: Full-Time, Part-Time, Flex
- Courses Offered: Full-Stack Software Engineering, Python 101, Prep Course
- Upcoming Start Dates: Varies by course
Hackbright Academy Curricula: What Can You Study?
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Courses at Hackbright teach Python as a baseline for building coding fluency. The idea is that, because Python is so versatile, students will more easily be able to grasp other programming languages down the line.
Hackbright’s main objective is to turn students into full stack programmers. No matter which course you decide to take, you will get a thorough education in software engineering.
Software Engineering
This course is divided into 12 modules. The first three cover the basics of front end and backend software engineering, including core programming tools, data structures, APIs, web technologies, and a big-picture look at HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. You’ll also begin work on coding projects, going through the basics of functions, lists, tuples, and conditionals.
The following three modules cover the realm of databases, principally through JavaScript and SQL. Taking a closer look at what you can do with data, you will use Python toolkits like SQLAlchemy to explore data modeling. The individual project you begin work on during this stage is a great opportunity to build your professional portfolio.
In the final three modules, spread out over six weeks, you will apply all your Python knowledge toward getting your personal project ready for a demo. As the lessons on Python wrap up, you will begin preparing for the job search, including getting to practice your whiteboarding and presentation skills. You will also participate in mock technical interviews.
The final week includes a meeting with Hackbright Academy’s hiring partners, increasing your chances of landing a job right after the course.
Prep Course
Hackbright Academy offers this five-week, part-time course for anyone with little to no experience with Python. The program is divided into five modules covering the basics of syntax, iteration, functions, and debugging. You’ll also get an understanding of data structures and take the necessary steps to start and build your own project.
This program is recommended for two reasons. First, if you haven’t tried coding before, it is a good way of testing yourself and finding out if coding is for you. It’s better to start with a short course before plunging into a full-time 12-week syllabus and realizing you don’t see a career for yourself in programming.
Second, Hackbright’s full software engineering course requires at least 40 hours of coding experience. This course covers those 40 hours, preparing students for the next stage.
Python 101
Like the prep course, Python 101 also covers the 40-hour programming experience requirement. This five-week course is directed towards women who want a deep dive into Python programming, but aren’t sure whether they want to move on to the full-time engineering course.
Like the prep course, Python 101 covers Python coding basics. It also gives students a more comprehensive look at data structures and includes a coding challenge. You are expected to build your own game, which is a transferable skill in the tech world.
Hackbright Academy Campuses: Where Can You Study?
Hackbright Academy provides in-person lectures and seminars at its San Francisco office and fully remote courses that you can take from anywhere. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all courses are currently remote and offered at a reduced rate.
- San Francisco
- Online
Hackbright Academy Schedules: When Can You Study?
Full-Time
The full-time option for the software engineering course is the same whether you take it in-person or remotely. Lessons run Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, for 12 weeks. Mornings involve lectures and seminars, and you will work on your independent project in the afternoons. In-person instruction is slated to resume in July 2021.
Part-Time
The remote version of the software engineering bootcamp has a part-time scheduling option. Over six months of study, you will meet three times a week, twice on weekday evenings for three hours and once on a weekend day for eight hours. Each time you meet for class, you will start with lectures before moving on to lab exercises and pair programming.
The five-week prep course is also on a part-time schedule. Classes are usually held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the evening, and on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm.
Flex
You should sign up for the five-week Python 101 course if self-paced learning is what you crave. You will be given the freedom to structure your own weeks. The time commitment is about eleven hours per week. In the first four weeks, you should spend eight hours on modules, an hour studying course material, and about two hours doing lab exercises.
In the fifth and final week, you will be expected to spend approximately six hours coding your final project, three hours doing programming challenges, one hour taking the final exam, and one hour consulting with a mentor.
On top of this, your teachers will assign you weekly assignments, which could take up to two hours per week.
Hackbright Academy Tuition
While Hackbright Academy can seem costly at first glance, a few payment plans and grants are available, which can help alleviate your financial worries and concerns.
Hackbright Academy Financing and Payment Options
- Loan financing with Ascent Funding. You can borrow anywhere from $2,000 to the full cost of tuition with Ascent Funding, one of Hackbright Academy’s two lending partners. You can also apply for up to $7,500 in living expenses. You can choose to start your loan payments either during your program or three months after your program ends.
- Loan financing with Climb. You can also apply for loans through Climb Credit. You can repay loans over three-to-five years with a low fixed interest rate, making this option easily affordable.
- Deferred Tuition. To be eligible for deferred tuition programs, you need to have a bachelor’s degree and over two years of professional experience. This program allows you to defer paying your tuition until you land a job, which will then be deducted from your salary in fixed monthly installments.
- Scholarships. Hackbright features two scholarships. Two women per course get half off their tuition on the Phenomenal Woman Scholarship, which is awarded based on technical interview performance. The Quip Diversity Scholarship is an award of $5,000 for one woman from an underrepresented group and $1,000 for runners-up.
Hackbright Academy Admissions: How to Get In
Hackbright fosters an inclusive environment and welcomes anyone who identifies as female to apply to its software engineering bootcamp. While you aren’t guaranteed a spot, the school does have rolling admissions, so if you see yourself at Hackbright, don’t give up.
Hackbright Academy Application
When applying to Hackbright Academy, you will need to send in an application covering details about yourself, your educational and professional background, and why you would like to enroll. It doesn’t have to be too long, but all of these topics need to be covered.
Hackbright Academy Interview
To get into Hackbright Academy’s software engineering program, you have to attend two interviews. The first is an informal interview in which you will be expected to present yourself, your background, and your ambitions for the future.
The second interview is technical, in which you’ll have to demonstrate your understanding of coding basics. If you fail the technical interview, you will be given another chance two-to-four weeks later.
For the prep course and Python 101, there is no interview.
Hackbright Academy Admission Rate: What Are My Chances of Getting In?
For the prep course or Python 101, all you need to do is submit the application form and pay the course fee. As long as you can do that, your chances of getting in are 100 percent.
As for the software engineering program, the admission rate isn’t listed. However, the academy encourages women to re-apply if they did not get accepted the first time. Once you meet all the technical requirements, your chances of getting in are high.
Hackbright Academy Outcomes: Will I Find a Job?
Hackbright Academy partners with a number of companies and individuals passionate about getting women into tech. Its software engineering program also includes substantial career development training. As a result, 71 percent of Hackbright graduates find full-time jobs within 180 days of graduation. Of these, the median salary is nearly $90,000.
Job Placement Services at Hackbright Academy
Hackbright Academy provides top-tier job placement services to students in its software engineering program.
The first week involves a career coffee event where you’ll meet with a career advisor to talk not only about your tech ambitions but also about your personal life, anxieties, hopes, and dreams. Subsequent coffee seminars, which are held weekly through the ninth week of the program, focus on things like preparing for an interview and researching tech companies.
From the third week of a course, you will be assigned a personal mentor from a leading tech company. You will meet once a week to discuss your ambitions, as well as how the course is going.
During the tenth week, you will be expected to demo your personal project not only to your classmates but also to the bootcamp’s hiring partners. In the two final weeks, you will learn about negotiation and effective job search strategies. Finally, regular field trips are arranged so that students can get an inside look at how tech companies operate.
Should You Apply to Hackbright Academy?
Over its eight years of existence, Hackbright Academy has fostered a robust learning environment. Unlike most bootcamps, Hackbright Academy openly encourages a healthy work-life balance. Below are a few reasons to consider Hackbright.
- Focus on Python. Python is one of the most widely used programming languages. Most companies and tech firms ask for fluency in Python nowadays, so learning how to use Python will give you an edge in the hiring process.
- Career Services. Hackbright Academy provides its students with one-on-one interview practice, and its field trips give students an up-close understanding of real software engineers’ expectations.
- Mentorship. Each student gets matched with a mentor from a leading tech company. Mentorship covers personal projects, career queries, anxieties, and advice about how to manage your work-life balance.
Hackbright Academy is a fantastic bootcamp designed to usher young women into the world of tech. If you want focused training in data science or cyber security, another bootcamp may be a better option. But if you’re a woman hoping to become a software engineer, Hackbright’s excellent reputation and high job placement figures speak for themselves.
Anonymous
Pros:
– Great start for those without any experience
– Lots of white boarding practice
– Excellent way to rebrand, especially if your previous field was non-tech
– Networking with Bay Area companies
– Learn to communicate/articulate your thoughts to other people of varying abilities
– Potential for informal mentorship between students
Cons:
– If you don’t have any programming background or aren’t great at learning fast, it’s unlikely you will be fully prepared for SWE interviews by the end of this program.
– If you do have a large programming background, you will be suffering a lot of review work while being paired with a partner. There is no customization to each individual’s ability level for the first half of the program.
– Material is not carefully proofread. Often there would be meaning-altering typos on slides and in lab/challenge instructions, stubs, and solutions.
– Very expensive. I wonder why, as all of their mentors are volunteers and many of the company events (ie: field trips/white boarding nights) are company-sponsored.
– Some of the TAs are Hackbright grads. Sometimes it feels like they are still learning the material themselves, so they might give you information that is wrong/only half-right.
– They definitely talk up career day a TON but many of the big name companies did not actually show. It was also my impression that few people actually reaped opportunities they were excited about from career day.
July 14, 2019
Anonymous
I have been working in the same field over 16 years and I was in a well paid career but reached a point where it wasn’t challenging me intellectually. I found that I was spending most of my professional life putting out fires and fighting political battles. I didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction with my current career.
I always had a curiosity with software and coding but wasn’t sure if I had what it took to learn software engineering at this stage of my career. Since I had an engineering degree, I knew that I had the aptitude so I started teaching myself how to code through various online classes but felt that I needed in person instruction. I wasn’t ready to leave my well-paid gig to get into a full time program which was how I discovered Hackbright. They were in a short-list of organizations that offered a part-time course that fit my schedule. I found it to be challenging yet doable especially given the learning environment. All the instructors were very supportive to the point that one of the teaching assistants ran a regular Sunday code brunch where she reviewed each of our projects and answered any of our questions. She even taught us other concepts that were not covered in class. Coming out of this part-time course gave me the foundation and confidence to apply for the full-time fellowship. Not only did I discover that I enjoyed coding, I also felt a sense of accomplishment building a simple Python application from scratch. I am currently in the Fellowship and enjoying all the challenges that it is providing. The education and career staff have been top-notch! The classes are tough and challenging but this is what I signed up for as the industry is very competitive! Thanks to Hackbright, I have new skills which will I feel will enable me to get into a more technical role and immediately add value to an organization.
October 3, 2019
Anonymous
After doing online tutorials to mixed results, I decided to put the money and time toward learning software development. This was the perfect stepping stone between online classes and doing a full-time bootcamp (which I later went on to do). I went to an info session and a follow-up email contained a $500 discount off the part-time night program so I ended up paying $2.5k for the 12-week course.
Pros:
– Relatively affordable. Class was 2x week for 12 weeks, I do feel I got my money’s worth.
– I work downtown so commute was easy
– 24/7 access to the space while you are enrolled, so you can stay late or do extra work on weekends
– Covered a wide range of topics, and things that aren’t necessarily in online coding tutorials and how they work together (git version control, GitHub, sublime/text editors, etc.).
– Aimed at total beginners; very welcoming environment and no such thing as a dumb question.
– Taught by developers with professional experience, so they teach you how to use tools that they actually use on the job.
– First time I’ve ever been asked in a professional setting what my preferred pronoun is!
– Final project is very open and you can be fairly ambitious with what you want to do with Python. I thought my classmates and I did amazing work from where we all started.
– Required nightly feedback forms that do get read and acted upon by instructors
Cons:
– Aimed at total beginners (yes, this is a pro and a con); I did find myself a bit frustrated with the pace of class for the first half of the term.
– Classes are hit or miss. My class had a good vibe but we did have at least one person switch from the other, less good vibe-y class to ours.
– We had 3 instructors and I hit it off with one of them, the second seemed burnt out from work and teaching so he wasn’t around much outside of class, and the third seemed to play favorites (I found it ironic that he completely mansplained my own project to me at a women-focused code school).
Other?
– After I completed this class, I think they either started using it as a feeder for the full-time program or developed another class for that purpose. Either way, no one pressured me at the time to join the fellowship but the staff always made themselves available to chat about that program if I wanted to continue with Hackbright.
– Be aware they cater much more to the full-time fellowship. We weren’t allowed in certain spaces if the fellowship was still there working.
– I overheard a comment that this class basically gets you through the first 2 weeks of the fellowship program.
January 9, 2020
Anonymous
As for every bootcamp, the result depends on the person’s prior experience with coding and their learning abilities. Bootcamps go fast, and you can fall behind quickly without a solid foundation beforehand or are a slow learner. What you get out of a bootcamp depends on the work you put into understanding the concepts, and also how much work you put into networking to get a job.
Pros:
The community – My cohort ended up being pretty close. We have all kept in touch since the program ended. The alum community and networking is valuable. Instructors all genuinely seemed like they wanted to help the students succeed and learn.
Teaches full stack – Useful to know python and javascript
Mentorship – During week 3, you are paired with 3 volunteer mentors from different companies all over the bay area. The mentor experience can vary, but most have been positive connections made and helpful
App project – You make your own app during the last four weeks of the course. It is your own individual project and you can do whatever you want. (Some other bootcamps have partner or group projects)
Cons:
Definitely still too expensive, mostly paying the cost to be in a women’s only bootcamp. They seem to have a small budget for amenities and snacks, when we are paying so much.
Partnerships with other companies are lacking. There are no guaranteed internships that some other bootcamps provide.
Too much emphasis on demo night, and no good connections were made from it.
Instructors varied in expertise level. Some were better at teaching than others.
People consistently have mentioned the chairs are uncomfortable, but no change has been made.
Feels much more for-profit, since the acquisition by Capella. New cohorts start every six weeks, leading to rapid expansion and a saturated market of bootcamp grads.
February 12, 2020
Anonymous
Coming from a nursing background with zero coding experience, Hackbright’s 2 month prep program absolutely prepared me for the fellowship. Going into software engineering is a scary thing, since you don’t even know where to start learning. This program gave me a structured way of easing into the fundamentals, which I am so grateful for.
(+) Instructors: Everyone was helpful and knew how to explain concepts to those just starting out with coding. Additionally, the staff always went above and beyond in case we needed extra help.
(+) Pair programming: Having 2 months of pair programming experience excelled me into an easy transition for the fellowship.
(+) Content: The way they structured their curriculum made so much sense. It was such a good pace, knowing that many students attend this program on top of their current jobs.
(+) Project: You leave the prep program having a tangible project under your belt, which additionally reinforced all the concepts you’ve just learned over the past 2 months.
(-) Since it’s a program intended to introduce coding vs. strictly preparing for the fellowship, the “coding challenges” lecture could have been more expansive. However, actually taking the fellowship’s coding challenge — I was 100% prepared after all!
Coming from a nursing background, I had zero coding experience prior to attending Hackbright’s prep course (and onto the fellowship). After talking to tech recruiters regarding what bootcamp to attend, they all unanimously pointed towards Hackbright.
There are 4 dinstinct qualities about Hackbright that make it stand out from the rest: the transparency, continuous passion for improvement, support system, and alumnae network.
Transparency – They held info sessions for prospective students, were timely with email exchanges, and are part of a 3rd party outcomes report. Just looking at the website, you know exactly what you’re getting into, up to the day-to-day schedule of the program.
Continuous passion for improvement: During the prep and fellowship program, every lecture was paired with a feedback survey, as well as the TA writing notes in the back for potential powerpoint typos, areas of clarifications, etc. They also restructure the curriculum from time to time to keep up with the latest versions of programming languages / if a certain technology is starting to be prevalent in the job market.
Support system: When you’re attending a lecture and look back, seeing all the other instructors/TAs literally attending the lecture WITH you, you know you are in the right place. What an amazing staff. I never once felt insecure about asking a question, and never once had no one available to ask the question to.
Alumnae network: Hackbright continously hosts events where alum and students connect with one another, as well as the career services team being more than happy to introduce you to previous graduates. It’s by far the strongest community I’ve seen. We are all proud Hackbrighters, easily spotted in the city with our red jackets.
My only room of improvement would be the tech stack they teach. It’s a carefully curated one, intended for pedagogical reasons. However, in terms of the job market and what’s prevalent out there, it does not exactly align. But, this bootcamp above all else taught me HOW to learn new frameworks/languages in a short amount of time, which is absolutely the most important skill you can have going into the tech industry.
April 19, 2020
Anonymous
The most valuable resources you need making a major career switch is a strong network and support system. The community at Hackbright is unbelievable. I started school with a competitive mindset and just wanted to make a quick career switch and get sh-t done. At Hackbright, I learned how to build community and what it means to empower others, especially women. I felt more accepted than I ever had by a group of peers (besides my best friends from childhood).
My incredible cohortmates inspired me daily, and the alumni network was very supportive in my job search. Hackbright also has an excellent mentorship program (2 mentors : 1 student ratio), and a network of industry partners that regularly host job fairs and whiteboarding sessions to help you shine in the job market.
May 24, 2020
Anonymous
I love the structure of the lessons, it kept a good balance between the pace of lessons and the amount of hands-on practice. After the 7 lessons, I got a better understanding of computational thinking
July 20, 2020