Interview With Fullstack Academy of Code

This is where I’ll go through how my admissions process was with Fullstack.

I’ll be doing this with every bootcamp I’ve applied to and be critiquing along the way. I think it’s important that people have an honest look at each bootcamp.

That being said, I’m not releasing anything here without Fullstack’s permission.

My experience with Fullstack has been the best so far in terms of the overall admissions process, so they’ll be my first so I can head off to a positive start with all this reviewing. 😁

Part 1: The Application 📝

• You fill out the virtual application for Fullstack here. It involves filling out basic background info such as education, social links, coding abilities, employment status, post-Fullstack plans, and a small essay question as to why you’d be a great fit for Fullstack.
• Once you fill this out, they’ll send you an email shortly afterwards where you will schedule a virtual interview through Skype with the admissions officer, Huntly.
• The process overall was clean, efficient, and very organized. No problems here.

Part 2: The Interview 📞

So besides the 3 coding challenges I was given and answering any questions about myself and my background, I was also given the chance to ask Huntly some questions. I thought the coding questions were challenging and they reassured me that Fullstack was a competitive program. Huntly was also a very nice/informative guy and I did not feel uncomfortable at all throughout the process. It was nice knowing he knew what he was talking about since he’s a Fullstack grad himself.

When I did end up asking Huntly some questions, here what’s he had to say:

answers taken from my interview are paraphrased or just referenced straight by mouth from Huntly

personal comments are highlighted like this

1. Yield rate - out of the applicants you accept, what percentage end up attending?

   80%
   Nice!

2. How many drop out after simply experiencing the pre-work?

   Since we do base our main coursework off the pre-work so we try to select people that we feel can handle the pre-work, which is typically 15–20 hours a week. I don’t think anyone has dropped out yet in that process.

3. How many college students have you had in the past?

   We’ve had a couple in the last summer cohort. For the upcoming summer cohort, we’re planning on having a separate group compromised of just college students.**

4. Why the ‘no asshole’ rule? Details?

   It’s actually a reference to this book called “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t” and we believe the mentality described in the book forms an ideal culture here at Fullstack. #1 best seller on Amazon in the Business Etiquette category!

5. What kind of process do your instructors go through?

   We screen for good developers who have open source contributions. We want to see clear examples that they know how to code and that they have significant teaching experience. We’ll ask them to teach them something on the spot by writing it out (something random). They’ll interview with the founders, Nimit and David and also give trial lessons to a bootcamp cohort. We’ll then get feedback from the students directly to see if they liked the trial lesson. We won’t even specifically tell the students if it’s a person interviewing to be an instructor, we just let them know they’re a ‘guest lecturer’.

6. How much of the day will a student at Fullstack be spending coding?

   I’d say in the first half of the program, students will usually spend about ²⁄₃ of their time coding and ¹⁄₃ on lectures and review. In the later half of the program though, they’ll be in their project phase and that’s where they’re probably going to be spending 80% of their time coding.

7. Talk to me more about the CTO program that you build in with every cohort.

   The CTO program is there to make sure that students know how to approach coding from any aspect that is given to them, and that coding is not just about programming per se, but about helping the community and contributing in many different frameworks/aspects. So with the CTO program, we are emphasizing to students that they’re just not trying to become great programmers, but great contributors to the community they end up joining and understanding the code is just one part of the larger process when it comes to startups and leading in the tech scene in general.

8. What do you guys recommend students do outside of the course?

   We have our own Meetup group based at Fullstack and we encourage our students to attend local Meetups that relate to JavaScript or programming in general. Students will even lecture or present projects at these Meetups midway through the program. We also encourage participating in Hackathons and have gotten a lot of success with our students participating in local ones as well.

Part 3: The Decision 💡

I was accepted!!! Apparently, they liked my critical thought process, problem-solving skills and positive attitude. 😄

Now here are some logistics for reference:

• Once you’re accepted and offered a spot in whatever cohort you applied to, you’re formally given a week or so after to register and secure a deposit once they’ve given you enrollment instructions. If you don’t answer by then, they’ll release your spot and will also require you to re-apply after a month or so after.
• Securing a deposit of $2K assures you have access to their ‘Fullstack Foundations’, which is a 120 hour virtual course that acts as the pre-work to the Fullstack main curriculum onsite and also secures your spot in the class.
• Thankfully, I applied early and once I was accepted, I was required to meet with one the founders, Nimit. He understood my situation that I wasn’t quite decided as to what I was doing yet, so I’ll be talking with him in late January again to see what my plans are from there.