

App Academy: Free nine week iOS course - ruggeri
http://www.hashmaplabs.com/app_academy

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eggbrain
Looks interesting, but there are a few lingering questions remain:

1) Where will the academy be located at? Do you already have the logistics
covered? If so, could you share some of these details? (Location/Photos of
area/etc)

2) You mention that the Summer program is free to build up excitement for the
fall session, but later you mention you will try to help find the developer a
position. Are you acting as a recruiter, taking a % of the first year salary?

3) Could you go over in a little more detail the schedule of the class? You
mention starting in ruby and moving over to Objective C and iOS, but don't
really delve any deeper. You mention that "No programming experience [is]
required", so I'd imagine there would be quite a few weeks of basic stuff.

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ruggeri
Hey! Great questions all!

1) We haven’t picked a place yet; but we’re talking to places in East Bay. The
likeliest location we’ve seen is in downtown Berkeley off BART.

2) We’re trying to do both. If we place the student at a company we’ve
partnered with, we’d collect a fee from that company. But the long-term
success of the program is going to be measured by the percentage of students
who are ready for and get jobs afterward. We’d want our students to talk to
all companies, not just ones we’ve partnered with.

3) We do have a curriculum planned and are running a small trial class in
advance of the summer session. We’ll have students working on Ruby basics in
advance of the course, and we’ll run a web-based kickoff class to help them
prep a few weeks before the official start date. In addition to that, we’ve
budgeted three weeks of class time with Ruby and Obj-C to get them up-to-speed
with programming fundamentals. We’ve based that timing off of other programs.
We’ll jump into iOS then.

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mehrshad
Love the idea, and I just applied. But dismayed to read point #2, especially
as I ticked 'no' for the last question.

Does this mean that I won't be considered as a likely candidate if I'm just an
entrepreneur, or someone who really wants to put these newfound skills to use
but doesn't yet know how? If that's the case, some additional details as to
admission criteria would be welcome in the FAQ.

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ruggeri
We definitely want a mix of people to get the class balance right. Without
entrepreneurial folks the group would lack spark.

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gordonbowman
Hi Ned - would you all consider offering a free scholarship for the Fall
course as well? I think for those who are already employed, the July 23rd
start date is a very quick turnaround to quit or take a leave of absence. It
would be much better to have more time to prepare.

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Aftershock21
If no programming experience required, What are the other prerequisites for
this course? Can anyone without a collage degree join ? Do you think person
with zero programming experience with just 9 weeks of study get $80k salary ?

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lachyg
[http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/10/dev-boot-camp-is-a-ruby-
suc...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/10/dev-boot-camp-is-a-ruby-success/) \-
"Startups Court Dev Bootcamp’s Ruby Grads: 88% Have Offers At Average Of $79K"

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acoyfellow
All the good stuff is on the west coast.. I'd murder a unicorn to have this
available in Philadelphia.

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wyclif
I hear you. I was about to say exactly the same thing 'cos I'm in Philly, too.

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acoyfellow
Maybe we should talk? My contact is in my profile.

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matt
This is great. Especially with services like Parse out there, I could see how
a sufficiently motivated/creative person could start from zero programming
experience and become a skilled iOS developer in the course of a summer.

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0003
For the fall session, is the $1,000 discount* for female candidates legal?

*<http://www.hashmaplabs.com/app_academy/program>

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jaysonelliot
I'm interested to know why age is one of the required fields. Will there be
any preference given to people who are either "old enough" or "young enough?"

Making something like that required without disclosing why it's being asked
seems like an invitation for people to supply false information in hopes of
not being passed over for an arbitrary reason like their age.

~~~
ruggeri
Hmm; good point. We put it in there pro forma. Age isn't very important to us;
feel free to put 0 in. We'll take the field off when we get a chance :-)

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jaysonelliot
Thanks for the reply. I put my age in anyway :) The application form was
actually fun to fill out, it got me thinking about my motivations for wanting
to join the class, and a bit of looking at oneself is always a useful thing to
do.

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smit
This looks great. I applied. Will you guys help with housing or perhaps
providing it would be great. You know what would be awesome? If you are
finding spaces, why don't you find a hacker house and then people can live as
well as learn together. This way all the participants won't have to spend
money on rent and try to find an apartment?

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jdoody
This is a great idea. I'm 21 and currently live on the east coast and I am
thinking of applying. However with limited income I am wondering how I would
find temporary housing for the course. In my area at least it's very hard to
find a 2 month lease and living out of a hotel doesn't sound very financially
practical.

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smit
I agree. Hope the look at my comment as it benefits both us and appacademy.

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alxndresp
I'm about to apply and I'm definitely down for the idea of finding living
space with others that would be attending.

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smit
Its very important for me because I can't afford expensive rent. And I am sure
its the same with others.

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steve8918
Looks interesting!

I'm an experienced programmer (15+ years), but have only a limited exposure to
IOS programming. I was planning on learning on my own, but your course seems
pretty helpful.

But do you recommend this only for beginning programmers?

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ruggeri
We're looking for people with all ranges of experience! For students new to
programming, we'll cover much of the basics before the class, so you hopefully
won't be bored when the class proper begins.

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will_work4tears
Man, I'd love to do this. Can't afford to take off work, don't have 9 weeks
vacation, a new kid and a wife that wouldn't appreciate it.

I know, I'm merely making excuses, but... this would be fun and worthwhile.

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Jemm
Sounds great. Any thought being given into an online course using some kind of
conferencing for student interaction.

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sonicjohnson
I wish I was able to take 9 weeks off. This looks awesome.

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CesareBorgia
We've been thinking about how to make some of the curriculum available online
as well. If you're interested, sign up for our mailing list and we'll keep you
updated.

That said, we believe that you will benefit significantly from the class
experience, so do join us if possible.

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fourmii
Thanks! I'd definitely be interested in the online curriculum. Especially
since I'm in Boston and working full time.

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hannahlillian
This looks so cool! I can't wait to sign up.

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davj
This is an awesome opportunity!

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CBizzle
I agree. I'd bail out of my decent, relatively well-paying job and take my
chances with the future if I got in on this.

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earl
The model isn't without precedent. For example, lots of paramedic companies
run training programs at a loss, eg REMSA.

Congrats on the launch! I wish I had 9 weeks to do nothing but learn about
IOS.

suggestion: tell everyone to buy a macbook air. Affordable and unixy.

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netvarun
mac os, since os x leopard, isn't just 'unixy', infact it is a 100% POSIX
compliant certified UNIX operating system!

gnu/linux is what one would call 'unixy' =)

