However, in light of my hopes to #KillTheJoneses, I think it’s necessary.
Here it goes:
I wasn’t accepted into AppAcademy.
These past two months, I’ve been preparing for a 12 week programming bootcamp. AppAcademy accepts less than 5% of their applicants via an intensive process of two coding challenges and a live-coding interview. This selective process is to maintain that 98% of their graduates receive job placement within 6 months of completing the program. Coding bootcamps have become quite a thing since the whole coding movement began, but AppAcademy is unique because of their tuition model. Instead of paying tuition upfront or financing your debt, you don’t pay a cent until you’ve been placed in a job. At that point, you’ll pay AppAcademy 18% of your first year salary, so the tuition itself is relative.
Pretty amazing, right?
I applied to AppAcademy hoping to be accepted to their SF program in April. They liked my application and invited me to take their first coding challenge. After studying their supplied resources for weeks, I took the test. A couple days later, they emailed me back saying they they thought I’d be a good fit. It was clear I was a beginner, so they gave me more resources and exercises to complete. Once I submitted those, they invited me to take the second challenge.
This is where I fucked up. The coding challenges are timed: 45 minutes. You also aren’t told what kind of problems—or how many—to expect. The minute I began to read the first problem, I panicked. I was reading, but not absorbing; I got confused, my breathing got short. I wasn’t thinking straight and I could feel it. After 15 minutes of this, I finally passed a problem and calmed down. With a win in my pocket, I realized the problems weren’t as complicated as I thought. I nearly passed the second problem, but my 45 minutes were up. Forget the extra credit.
I submitted the challenge and promptly ran to my room and cried. I cried and cried until I was bawling. Then I bawled until I wasn’t making a sound. I knew I failed, I knew it. Living in San Francisco, being able to afford my own apartment in the city, coding for a living… all these dreams I fantasized for the past two months, I had just thrown out the window. Gone.
That night I got the email officially rejecting my application. AppAcademy currently doesn’t allow rejected applicants to reapply.
I didn’t want to post this because I’m past it. I can’t afford to pay $2-30K for 10 weeks tuition and quit my job. So, I’m going back to Plan A: learning all I can & making all I can so I can apply for a full-time position as a front-end web developer in a city I really love.
AppAcademy would’ve been a straight shot to my dream, but I’m part of the 95% of rejects that are going to have to take the long way. It sucks, but there are other ways to make this happen.
Wish me luck.
Or better yet, hire me to design and/or code your next website. (I do custom Tumblr themes too!)
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