Educators first, developers second
It’s not good enough to be taught by a programmer who isn’t also a skilled educator. Actualize only hires Lead Instructors who are experienced educators in addition to being experienced software developers. Each Lead Instructor is empathic, funny, engaging, and most importantly, loves to teach. That's why many of our graduates have told us that their Lead Instructor is hands-down the best part of their Actualize experience.
A real connection between you and your instructor
Some bootcamps pre-record their lessons or have a remote instructor broadcast to multiple cohorts simultaneously. What makes the Actualize experience so powerful is that your expert Lead Instructor is dedicated exclusively to your small cohort. We’re passionate about education, so we don’t cut corners to achieve scale. The Lead Instructor’s full-time job is to be there for your cohort alone. Actualize is about the very real relationship between an expert Lead Instructor, and you, the student.
We wrote the book on how to teach programming
We obsess over the art and science of teaching people to code. We spend an inordinate amount of time and effort fine-tuning our curriculum to make it fit with the way students learn and think. In the words of one student who transferred to Actualize from another program, "You teach the concepts so well that it takes 30 minutes to learn what it took me 5 hours to learn in my previous school."
Our book covers some of the best practices on curriculum and instruction that we've honed over our many years of teaching. You can download the book for free below.
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Structured job support, even after you graduate
Our unique job-hunting curriculum, which we refer to as Job Hacking, begins from the very first day and is integrated throughout the bootcamp. We employ the same educational expertise to the Job Hacking curriculum as we do with our coding curriculum. Working with our Career Advisor, our students start with the basics - assessing their previous experience and transferrable skills, building a great resume and online presence, and progress to the point where they’re connecting with developers and employers in the industry. After completing the live program, graduates have access to continued job support, which includes group projects for an enhanced portfolio and accountability groups to ensure success in their job hunt.
Coding bootcamp by day or night, anywhere in North America
We designed multiple options of our course so we can make it accessible to everyone. Whether you need to keep your day job or you want to spend the day coding, we have a program specifically tailored to you. We reach students across North America with our Online Live and Chicago offerings.
Where Our Grads Work
Our grads have landed software positions at companies of all sizes and industries. Most of these grads have made complete career transitions, switching from a wide variety of other occupations. From lawyers to bartenders and taxi drivers to nurses, we’ve been privileged to help them launch completely new careers.
Ever wonder what it's actually like to be a software developer? Download our ebook below.
Our Online Coding Bootcamp
Our Online Live course can be taken remotely anywhere in North America. Because we believe that education requires the personal touch, our Online Live course is 100% live, the only online coding bootcamp of its kind. That means that you, your Lead Instructor, and classmates all see each other over live video conferencing at all times - for both instruction and exercises. Our students say that they feel as if they’re in a physical classroom.
Online coding bootcamp details
Our Chicago Coding Bootcamp
Join us in person at our Chicago headquarters in River North. Founded in early 2014, we're the longest-running Chicago coding bootcamp.
Chicago coding bootcamp details
Think Like a Software Engineer
Learning to code is much more than learning new concepts and syntax. It's a whole new mindset. Get a video straight to your inbox every other week with practical advice and strategies on how to think like a software engineer.