I don't want to do this because it literally breaks my heart.

But this entire damn industry needs to be exposed.

So here's what I know about the coding bootcamp I attended, Fullstack Academy.

Thread.

And no, I'm not being dramatic. It actually hurts to write this because I went there, had a good experience, and it literally changed my life. I wanted to always believe that Fullstack was one of the good ones. And maybe, comparably, it still is.

But, there are issues...

So, we're going to talk about them

It's not a lot of info right now. I've only talked to 3 people, & I'm still waiting to hear back from one of them for more details about their full story

And I'm hoping that seeing this thread will give others the courage to speak out or DM me

So, I'll add more info to this thread as I go along.

If you don't know me, hello. I'm a frontend engineer and I expose tech bootcamps for "fun", if you can call it that. See my previous threads here. https://twitter.com/KeziyahL/status/1173263561763807234

After a couple years of teaching ESL abroad, I knew I needed a change. I looked into coding bootcamps. Making a decent salary and possibly working remotely sounded ideal.

I wanted to make sure I could get a job ASAP. And for that, I knew I needed to attend a top bootcamp

Fullstack claims to accept a very low percentage of applicants. There's also a Hacker Rank test, plus a technical interview in the process. You already needed to have a decent knowledge of coding in order to attend.

That, combined with their success stories, convinced me

I applied to their Grace Hopper program, which is a program for non-men, in which the tuition is deferred until you get a job.

That was ideal for me, because I was broke and didn't have 20k laying around. I already had to take out a loan to live in Brooklyn during the program

It was difficult, stressful, exciting, terrifying, exhilarating, all at the same time.

Every day I felt like the least intelligent person in the room. But then some days I'd look at my work and think...wow, we built that. Or, wow, I didn't understand this 2 weeks ago

The instructors, in my opinion, knew what they were doing. The teaching assistants, in my opinion, were always there to help. The career services staff, in my opinion, gave really helpful advice for finding a job, and really wanted us to succeed.

In my opinion.

That's the problem. This is just my opinion. My experience isn't everyone else's. It's quite possible that my nose was buried so deep into my code editor that I didn't really see what was going on. The only perspective I have is my own, as a student.

Anon #1 has a different perspective. They went through Fullstack's program, and then became a teaching assistant, during which, Anon 1 says, "I was treated like garbage".

Fullstack Academy TAs work for 3 months, during the cohort following the one they graduated from. They are paid 10k over those 3 months, bi-weekly.

Anon 1 says "there were 3 instances where they didn't pay us on time," and they were paid weeks late.

Anon 1: "When they did pay finally pay us, they severely underpaid us."

Anon 1 says they also messed up something about payroll and "and we all got a huge amount of tax withholding taken from us" (more than what was appropriate, I'm assuming)

Anon 1 says they were all broke. Naturally, because before becoming Fullstack Academy TAs, they were students

"We all complained and their solution was to offer us fucking payday loans with interest rates, instead of just cutting us checks they already owed us for like a month."

Anon 1 also told me something very troubling:

"we found out that a bunch of instructors were actively trying to date students."

"It was not an uncommon occurrence for instructors to go out with students, wait until everyone was drunk, and then make a move on someone."

Let's pivot back to just my experience for a second.

I didn't notice that there was *too much* of a drinking culture at Fullstack. However, there was a fridge of beer on campus.

On Fridays, we would sit around after class, have a beer, and talk. It was pretty chill

If there was a heavy drinking culture at Fullstack, again, I missed it, because I was too obsessed with studying (and also had even worse social anxiety than I do now.)

But I do remember one person in my cohort who had just been hired as TA for the next cohort, say that all the new TAs were invited out by staff, and they all got super drunk. So, what Anon 1 says makes sense to me.

Anon 1 also once overheard a conversation "where an instructor was offering a student mushrooms"

Was that included in our 20k tuition, or...?

Anon 1 believes that those who were chosen to be TAs/teaching fellows did try hard to be good at their jobs

But it was difficult, because the curriculum changed often. So sometimes they "legit did not know anything about what we were teaching sometimes."

Sometimes they were learning the material on the same day their students were learning it

One more thing from Anon 1: they were a teaching fellow during the 2016 election. Fullstack, for some reason, wanted to be "non-political" so they sent a message to everyone (or maybe just staff) "saying we weren't allowed to look sad about the election or talk about it at work"

But at the same time they "bought pizza for some Trump supporters who felt attacked by people being upset"

I mean...

Anon 2 went through the program around the same time I did. They also liked the program overall, but doesn't think it's fair that "you were on the hook for paying the full price after half the course."

And if you failed the 1st half, you had to pay a fee to take it again

Anon 2 says that Fullstack was "overall, not nearly as bad" as other bootcamps. But, not perfect either.

Will be back later with more.

If you're a current/former Fullstack Academy/Grace Hopper Program student or employee, my DMs are open.

Honestly, this is what concerns me the most about what Anon 1 told me.

This makes me think that some Fullstack Academy students are/were unsafe.

If that's the case, we need to find out more. https://twitter.com/KeziyahL/status/1227342950025265153

Idk man, drunk or not, that's not something you do when you're in a position of power. Teacher, manager/superior, etc.

You don't make advances on people you have power over. PERIODT. Periodically. Periodic table of elements.

It's just not right.

I sometimes taught adults when I was an ESL teacher and I literally can't imagine the thought crossing my mind. Making advances on my students? No! Just...fucking no!

The fuck.

Like, my brain cannot comprehend the idea. It's repulsive to me. Disgusting. Morally wrong.

And let's say you don't have that mechanism in your brain that prevents you from having those thoughts. Fine! You're still a fucking adult. You should still fucking know better.

Which means you keep your repulsive desires to yourself, and don't act on them.

The fuck.

Ooooh now I'm mad.

As a former teacher and a former student, I'm just pissed off.

I can't fucking imagine being a student under that kind of pressure.

And I want to believe that it stopped at trying to make out with students after getting drunk, but we don't know if it did

(Guess what, it didn't!)

It's 3am here in Cape Town. But I'm still up to serve you this hot tea. Would you like some? I'll get you a cup. Sugar, honey, or Splenda with that?

The reason I do these threads is because I'm concerned about bootcamp students.

I'm concerned about their education, their overall experience, and their safety.

And as I recently said, I worry that Fullstack has a culture that may make students unsafe.

I've been talking to Anon 3, who was a teaching fellow.

Anon 3 says that teachers, staff, and fellows dating & sleeping with students was rather common.

Again, I wouldn't care about this, if it were not for the power dynamics.

Anon 3 says that sometimes displays of affection between teachers and students (like making out) would happen publicly (like during a social outing with students and teachers)

Anon 3 said that a male student would follow a female student around often, to the point where she had to hide in the bathroom.

Eventually the teachers talked to this student about his harassment, "but by this point we were almost graduated"

Anon 3 also told me about a few other incidents of straight up sexism or just inappropriate behavior from teachers, staff, fellows, and students.

A mess.

By the way, Anons 1 and 3 tell me that it was men *and* women on staff who were being inappropriate with students

All of this makes me worried about Fullstack's learning environment.

Even if everything was consensual, even if no one got hurt, I can't imagine being in a learning environment knowing that staff, teachers, and teaching fellows are just sleeping with students.

Like, come on.

Anon 3 says that a cohort adjacent to mine engaged in "rampant cheating".

The Fullstack (co-ed) classes run at the same time as the Grace Hopper (non-men only) classes, but in different spaces. Anon 3 says that the two were collaborating with each other to cheat

(Ok, it's 4am here now. I'll be back tomorrow with more from Anon 3)