If you’re looking to learn tech skills for a new job or promotion, you’ve probably come across General Assembly and Practicum by Yandex bootcamps.
Finding it difficult to choose between these two platforms? That’s what we’ll cover today. We’ll highlight the similarities and differences in courses offered, tuition, teaching style, support, and more.
Let’s get started!
What courses do these bootcamps offer?
Let’s start with the basics—what courses does each bootcamp offer?
General Assembly provides three types of courses, as well as workshops and events. Immersive courses are designed to train you in a new career, like Practicum’s courses. Evening and 1-week courses are for professionals who want to learn new job skills. And on-demand courses give you 12 months of access to content that teaches the basics of a topic.
Practicum General Assembly
Part-time: Full-time Immersive:
- Software Engineer - Data Science
- Data Analyst - Digital Marketing
- Data Scientist - Software Engineering
- User Experience Design
Evening and 1-week courses:
- Data Analytics
- Data Science
- Digital Marketing
- Front-End Web Development
- JavaScript Development
- Product Management
- Python Programming
- React Development
- User Experience Design
- Visual Design
On-demand courses:
- Data Analysis
- Digital Marketing
- User Experience
Duration and course structure
Choosing the right program depends a lot on your schedule. Before we dive into the details of how the course content is structured, you need to make sure that your level of commitment matches your chosen course.
Practicum
- Duration: Courses range from seven to ten months (96-120 weeks).
- Curriculum: Each course contains a series of sprints, each lasting two weeks.
- Study hours per week: We recommend setting aside at least 20 hours per week for studying and homework.
- Flexibility: You can study when and where you’d like. The only requirement is to submit coursework on time—each two-week sprint has a firm deadline.
- Application requirements: None. Try the first sprint for free and see if you like it before signing up for the full program!
- Format: 100% online.
General Assembly
- Duration: General Assembly offers two versions of each course—a 12-week full-time track and a 24-week flex track.
- Curriculum: Each course starts with a fundamentals module, then 4-6 learning units. Both full-time and flex content is the same.
- Study hours per week: The full-time track is estimated at 40 hours per week. The flex track is estimated at 20 hours per week.
- Flexibility: The flex track is designed to fit your own schedule.
- Application requirements: You’ll need to fill out an application and speak with an admissions counselor before beginning a General Assembly course. Remote courses are only available in US markets, and not offered in Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, or Wyoming.
- Format: Online or at one of General Assembly’s 30+ worldwide campuses.
Overall, Practicum’s courses require more study time than General Assembly and are more flexible. Practicum is also free to start and online-only, whereas General Assembly requires an application process and has in-person courses as well.
Cost and tuition arrangements
After your schedule, you need to consider your budget. Here’s what you should know about how much you’ll pay and what payment options are available.
Practicum
- Upfront cost: Courses are priced at $8,500 to $11,000.
- Payment options: You can pay for a course in one upfront payment or separate smaller monthly payments.
General Assembly
- Upfront cost: Immersive courses (both on campus and online) cost $15,000-16,000.
- Payment options: In addition to a one-time payment, General Assembly offers a three-part payment plan. You can also apply for a loan or an income share agreement. Eligible US military personnel may pay with the GI Bill. You can also apply for scholarships for underrepresented groups in tech.
Practicum courses have a much lower price, but General Assembly offers a variety of deferred payment options.
How it’s taught
What’s your learning style? Before starting an intensive course, it’s a good idea to understand how the material is structured. Here’s what you need to know.
Practicum
- Instruction: Study with interactive activities and video and text on the Practicum platform. Our experienced tutors will guide you on your educational journey. Plus, you’ll be paired with an expert code reviewer who will share feedback on your work.
- Live sessions: You’re welcome to join live webinars.
- Projects: Much of what you’ll learn comes from projects based on actual (anonymized) data from real-world companies.
- Support: We have a 24/7 support team on Slack who answer questions within 15 minutes.
- Community: You’ll become a part of our large student community where you can ask questions and share your experience with others.
General Assembly
- Instruction: You’ll learn on the General Assembly platform and receive knowledge from instructors (either on-campus or online).
- Live sessions: Most teaching sessions are held live. If you’re not able to join, you can watch recordings or schedule a different time slot.
- Projects: You’ll work on one project per unit, plus a final capstone project.
- Support: You can reach out for help during scheduled office hours or to one of the available teaching assistants.
- Community: You’ll become part of the large (and growing) General Assembly student community upon joining.
The biggest difference between teaching styles is that Practicum's teaching material can be accessed at any time, while General Assembly has mostly live sessions. Practicum also provides expert code reviews on each project, whereas General Assembly has a team of teaching assistants to help if you’re struggling.
Career help
You’re looking for a new career. So how does the program prepare you for a new job in tech?
Practicum
- Career training: Practicum trains you for the hiring process with mock interviews, HR sessions, and personal LinkedIn and resume assessments.
- Money-back guarantee: Practicum will refund you the entire course if you don’t get a new job or promotion within six months of graduating.
- Post-graduation support: Once you graduate, you’ll still have access to Practicum’s resources and training for your job search. You’ll also be part of our alumni community.
General Assembly
- Career training: General Assembly helps you prepare for a career with mock interviews and career coaching. You’ll also have access to exclusive events.
- Money-back guarantee: General Assembly does not offer a money-back guarantee.
- Post-graduation support: After graduation, you’ll have access to General Assembly’s alumni community with over 70,000 members. You’ll also get discounts for other courses.
Both Practicum and General Assembly offer career guidance. The biggest difference is that Practicum continues helping after you graduate and will refund the course if you’re not hired or promoted within six months.
Third-party ratings
One of the best ways to judge a program is based on the opinions of former students. So, what do the reviews have to say on the three top bootcamp review sites?
Practicum General Assembly
SwitchUp rating: 4.92 stars SwitchUp rating: 4.29 stars
Course Report rating: 4.83 stars Course Report rating: 4.33 stars
Career Karma rating: 4.9 stars Career Karma rating: 4.6 stars
Both programs are well-rated, though Practicum has slightly higher ratings on all three platforms.
Summary: Which should you choose?
To wrap up, let’s summarize some of the key advantages and disadvantages of both platforms.
Practicum pros General Assembly pros
- Lower prices - In-person option at 30+ worldwide campuses
- Money-back guarantee if you’re not hired - Full-time intensive track
- Expert code reviews - More payment options
- Can try the first sprint before signing up
Practicum cons General Assembly cons
- Longer course duration - Higher prices
- No on-campus option - Remote courses only available in select US states
- Fewer payment options - No money-back guarantee
Interested in taking a look at Practicum’s bootcamp? In just a few minutes, you can start learning the skills you’ll need for a new career! Just choose a course today and start studying!
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