If you’re debating between General Assembly vs. Flatiron School’s coding bootcamps, here’s everything you know to begin making a decision between the two.
If you run a quick Google search you’ll see that there are seemingly endless well schools where you can learn to code: Rather than letting choice overload you, let me help!
A Brief Overview of General Assembly (SEI) vs. Flatiron School
Let’s start our dissection of General Assembly vs. Flatiron School with a high-level look at each platform’s basic elements:
General Assembly
- Cities: Washington DC, New York, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Providence, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Stamford, London, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney.
- Languages: Python, JavaScript, Intro to Coding (HTML and CSS), JavaScript’s React and more. General Assembly’s famous 12 week bootcamp is called Web Development Immersive (WDI) or the Software Engineering Immersive (SEI).
- Price: Costs range from $750 to upwards of $15,000.
- Year Founded: 2011
- Number of students: Over 45,000 students since 2011
- Curriculum: Courses are created by General Assembly’s instructional team. Classes are broken down into discrete units.
- Job Placement: Yes. GA reports that 99% of graduates find relevant work within three months of graduating.
- Structure: Both full-time and part-time classes are offered both online and IRL in campuses around the world.
- Financing: Tuition-based model with scholarships available.
Flatiron School
- Cities: New York, Houston, London, Washington DC.
- Languages: Flatiron offers five immersion programs including Software Engineering, Data Science, UX/UI Design, Online Software Engineering, and Online Data Science.
- Price: Costs vary but averages hit the $12,000-$17,000 range with monthly, pay-as-you-go, upfront payment, and income share plans available.
- Year Founded: 2012
- Number of students: 274 in person students in 2017
- Curriculum: Classes are taught by Flatiron School instructors and based on the school’s Full Stack Web Development Curriculum. Classes are composed of modules.
- Job Placement: Yes. Flatiron School reports that 99% of graduates find relevant work within three months of graduating.
- Structure: Classes are offered both online and in person. In 2017 Flatiron School was acquired by WeWork and since has been expanding to new cities around the world.
- Financing: Tuition-based model with scholarships available.
General Assembly Review
In 2010, General Assembly began as a co-working space for startup entrepreneurs. Since then, the company has become one of the biggest programming education companies in the world.
General Assembly’s most well known for their front-end and back-end web development courses. Other courses available at GA include: React Development, Data Analytics, User Experience, and Data Science.
GA’s instructors all must go through the company’s teacher training program. Like traditional schools, students are given assignments and are expected to turn in project homework.
What General Assembly Students Can Expect
Since classes are offered both online and on campus with the option of taking them full-time or part-time, there’s a wide range of what students can expect. When it comes to the online learning, classes are structured into units:
The Python Programming Course, for example, is comprised of seven units that students completes in person, Monday through Saturday, across 10 weeks. In that time, a student will learn the fundamentals of Python programming (variables, strings, arrays, etc), object oriented programming, Flask (a lightweight Python server) and Pandas (for data analytics).
Overall, General Assembly is an in person coding school. The commitment is long (10 weeks) and the cost beings around $4000.
Flatiron School Review
Unlike General Assembly’s broader approach, Flatiron School focuses exclusively on software engineering, computer programming, and data science. Flatiron’s learning environment is comprised of project-based work, teamwork, and pair programming (two developers working together at one station).
Similar to GA, Flatiron can also function as a traditional vocational school for those who select in-person classes, but also acts much more like other online code-learning platforms in its online courses.
What Flatiron School Students Can Expect
Online classes use the school’s Full Stack Web Development Curriculum and come in full-time, part-time, and self-paced variations. Flatiron’s Software Engineering course, for example, spans 15 weeks and is broken down into four modules that last between two and three weeks each. Students learn the basics of programming (HTML and CSS) before moving onto Ruby frameworks and eventually learn JavaScript before finishing with front end elements (Rails and Redux).
Conclusion: General Assembly vs. Flatiron School: Which Should You Choose?
General Assembly and Flatiron School are two wonderful options for learning to code. When deciding between the two, it really comes down to what you’re looking for.
Both programs are similarly based on price, job placement, and curriculum.
Based on my personal experience GA seems to have a more approachable, and friendly vibe. Whereas Flatiron School can sometimes seem a bit more rigid. GA also has more breadth of other courses available as well (UX, Design, Content Marketing, etc), so that if after which makes it fun and easy to meet people from a variety of disciplines (not just programming), which is nice. Flatiron on the other hand, is much more tailored to coding, but and at the moment is very New York City / WeWork-centric.
At the end of the day, we think that every programmer-to-be should choose a platform based on their personal needs. One Month, we believe that there’s no “best” approach to learning code that works for absolutely everyone. That’s why we encourage our students to use whatever combination of books, courses, and tutors that work for them along the way—and we’re happy to make recommendations.
At One Month we offer 30-day coding courses to help prepare you for immersive coding bootcamps (and also for building up your resume). If you’re new to programming, we highly recommend you first learn HTML and then learn JavaScript. If you don’t know where to start? We have you covered — One Month offers a course just for you called Programming for Non-Programmers. We also have a free coding course called Learn HTML for Free.
Have any questions about where to start? Or which bootcamp to take after One Month? Reach out to us in support. We’re here to help!
