Welcome back to another article of comparison between two major coding institutions in the United States. Both App Academy and Lambda School provide coding bootcamps for full-stack development programs online. With the recent development in the Coding Bootcamp scenario, many schools offer various courses and subjects. Many students find it complicated to choose the best school that would suit their needs and requirements. Here is one such showdown between App Academy Vs. Lambda School. Let us find out what they have in store for us.
There are multiple aspects for both the schools that differ from each other. We provide you the list of factors that you would wish to read at your convenience.
- Duration
- Location
- Pricing Plans
- Prep Course
- Available Courses
Duration of the Bootcamp
The duration of the bootcamp is very crucial for a student. The time spent on learning should be of optimum course such that it does not affect the student’s potential earning period. If a bootcamp takes too long to complete, the candidate will miss various opportunities and would have wasted a lot of time learning unnecessary information. Simultaneously, if the duration is too short, the student would have known nothing to compete with fellow candidates. Since we are clear about why time is essential, let us see who fares or suits a student’s needs better.
App Academy
App Academy offers a 24-Week Program that lets students take part in a coding bootcamp that can transform you into a full-stack developer. As per App Academy, a student can learn JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, SQL, HTML, and CSS from scratch. Their curriculum starts with the foundations of Web Development and ends with Interview Preparation.
Experts suggest that the 5-6 month program is sufficient for students to gain ample knowledge to face interviews confidently. The school expects students to attend classes from 9 AM to 5 PM every day. That totals up to 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week. Those with financial commitments are less likely to choose this course. Nevertheless, Any student who has less time but is interested in completing a course and becomes job-ready in 5-6 months is suitable for this course.
Lambda School
Lambda School offers a 9-month Full-Time Course and an 18-month Part-Time Course for their students. Their full-time classes are 40 hours per week for nine months, and part-time courses are 15 hours per week for 18 months. Though the timing seems too far-fetched, students who wish to gain deep insight into the subject matter may find it interesting. For most people who have to take care of economic commitments, the full-time course might not be applicable.
But they could choose their part-time classes. Again, they would still have to spend 18-months on the part-time course. As we have mentioned above, when a student spends too much time gaining unnecessary information, he/she is wasting their fruitful time where they could have earned thousands of dollars.
Location of the School
For many students, location is an essential factor in choosing the right school. With the recent outbreak of a global pandemic, many students feel that it is risky to go to a physical location and partake in any course. This situation has led to a significant shift in the process of education. Many educational institutions have turned their focus toward online classes. Let us see how both schools have made changes in their education process.
App Academy
From its inception, App Academy always had Live In-Person classes where the students had to visit the campus’s physical location to attend their classes. After the global pandemic outbreak, App Academy has decided to move all their campus classes to fully remote live courses. This move has won appreciation from the App Academy Community.
They have designed their remote live format to yield the same experience as their on-campus programs. App Academy still expects its students to attend classes five days a week and continue until further notice.
Lambda School
Lambda School has only online classes. They do not have on-campus courses. Though it is viewed as a disadvantage by many, at times of crisis like the pandemic, online remote live courses are the best for students.
Lambda lists Access to a computer, WiFi, and a quiet workplace as one of the prerequisites for taking a class. If you wish to enroll in a program offered by Lambda, make sure you cover the course’s basic requirements.
Pricing Plans
Cost is an integral part of the decision-making process when it comes to choosing a program. Many students either have an ongoing debt they have to repay or simply cannot shell out money for the cause of learning. Some students work full-time and have other financial commitments that make them not want to spend their money on a new course.
Many schools decided to roll out an Income Sharing Agreement (ISA) that helped students learn the program without paying it upfront. Students who study, graduate, and start earning a particular amount of money start repaying the due tuition fee. Let us see what types of pricing plans are available with Lambda School and App Academy.
App Academy
App Academy’s on-campus programs take 16-weeks to complete, and for that program, they charge a $3000 Deposit and an ISA option to cover the Coding Bootcamp expenses. A student can also opt for a Hybrid payment option or go ahead and pay an upfront fee of $17,000.
However, when a student opts for 24-Weeks Online Live classes, they can opt for a Zero Deposit ISA option. In this payment option, a student doesn’t have to pay any money, and the tuition fee’s repayment starts after they land on a job that pays them a minimum of $50,000. After they land on a job that pays $50,000 every year, the students need to pay 15% of their salary for three years with a maximum payment limit of $31,000.
Lambda School
Lambda School conducts only online classes, and they offer their course for a $20,000 upfront fee if you choose the full payment option. They also provide an ISA option. In ISA, a student can opt to start paying the program fee after landing on a Qualified Job that pays you a minimum of $50,000 annually. In Lambda, a student has to complete the ISA within 24 months at an interest rate of 17% and a maximum payment cap of $30,000.
Prep Course
A Prep Course is a class taught at a slightly advanced level to prepare students for the syllabus they will encounter in a coding bootcamp. The prep course challenges a student to push his/her limit and simulates a similar experience that they would face in the bootcamp. Under this section, we’ll see what type, of course, prep one can avail in both the schools.
App Academy
Straight off the bat, App Academy has one of the most confusing Interview Prep payment options in the industry. At the time of research, we found App Academy’s Course very confusing to choose from, and it is highly possible to bewilder many students. They charge $3000 for Live Online classes that pose an option for students who select In-Person Courses.
For students who choose Online Bootcamp Prep they give three options: Standard, Plus, Premium. At the same time, each option costs relatively higher than the last chance due to added features such as increased tutoring time and interview prep hours. Though the pricing is transparent, one would find it complicated and confusing as to why a person has four different pricing options for the same Online Course. We recommend students be careful while choosing the prep course.
Lambda School
Lambda provides its Online Prep Course for free of cost. Students are required to complete a test at the end of the course. The Precourse Work can be self-taught, and it is 30-Hour Self-Paced Precourse Work content that acts as a reference to solve challenges. It has many videos to watch and solve their doubts and gain essential knowledge necessary to solve coding problems.
Confused about which school is the best? Check out the Best Coding Bootcamp in 2021.
Courses & Programs
Each school has its own set of courses and programs. Some specialize in teaching a particular stream of technology, while others instruct a couple of courses and let the student select their favorite stream. Both App Academy and Lambda School provide classes that train students to change or launch their IT career. Let us see how they differ from one another in this section.
App Academy
App Academy has got a 24-Week Online Program that teaches Web Development. It aims at creating Full-Stack Developers with programming skills such as JavaScript, Python, SQL, HTML, and CSS. Students also get trained with ReactJS, Express, Flask, and SQL Alchemy.
App Academy concentrates only on Web Development Courses and offers full support related to that particular course. It is unclear whether there will be any other program added to their list in the coming times. The student should be a US CItizen and willing to spend a minimum of 40 Hours Per Week.
Lambda School
In Lambda School, students can either choose the Web Development or Data Science Program. Though it might sound easy, each program has its prerequisites to be fulfilled. For a student selecting a Data Science program, he/she should have a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree with exposure to Math or Statistics. For Web Development Program, it is enough if they have a GED/High School Diploma. However, both the courses require the student to be a US Citizen and willing to spend a minimum of 40 Hours per Week.
Final Note
Both Lambda School and App Academy provide similar kinds of services to the students. Lambda School offers a Full-Time Online Course for Web Development and Data Science. App Academy offers a Self-Paced Full Stack Web Development Course that teaches Live-Remote classes.
The Prep Course is a crucial differentiator in this comparison. Lambda offers free Precourse Work, whereas App Academy has a confusing pricing policy in this segment. Our team sincerely feels that App Academy could have done better and offered an easily understandable option for students.
With a general outlook, we feel that Lambda Academy does a reasonably good job in comparison. However, it takes longer to complete the course when compared to App Academy. Both schools require students to know basic coding knowledge before enrolling themselves in the class.
Each individual has different requirements. The choice is left to you to choose the best school that suits your preference. Before jumping to another exciting blog of ours, we would like you to share your thoughts about this comparison in the comments section.