Have you ever considered a career change? Perhaps, you’ve daydreamed about making a transition into a field entirely different from what you do now.
The idea is not so far out of reach and making a bold shift in profession is more common than you may think. Last year, nearly 53% of employed Americans who quit their job switched to a different occupation or field of work.
If you are ready to take a leap into tech but feel unprepared, General Assembly specializes in equipping professionals with the in-demand skills they need to pursue a job they truly love. Your career transformation starts here. Keep reading for insights into programs to help you pivot into Software Engineering, Data Science/Analytics, or UI/UX Design.
What is General Assembly?
General Assembly (GA) is a reskilling provider helping professionals at any experience level transition to or upskill in technical roles, enabling them to pursue a path toward higher paying salaries and more engaging work.
GA is a sister company of Hired, meaning both companies fall under The Adecco Group – the world’s leading HR solutions company. General Assembly and Hired partnered to create a mutually beneficial relationship supporting graduates of the Immersive Programs and the clients looking to hire them. Since the start of GA and Hired’s partnership, employers on Hired have sent more than 800 interview requests to GA grads.
GA offers courses to suit the needs of any schedule. The full-time courses, referred to as the “Immersive Programs” or “bootcamps,” are 10-13 week learning experiences. Think of these as a comprehensive career transformation. For part-time professionals looking to learn in-demand skills in their spare time, GA provides evening, weekend, and 1-week accelerated courses. Remote individuals can participate in GA’s full-time and part-time online classes.
In this blog, we will take a deeper dive into GA’s Immersive Programs. Since 2011, the digital education pioneer has helped more than 670,000 learners gain the skills they need to be successful in today’s digital economy. It’s safe to say you’d be in good company!
About GA Immersive Programs
General Assembly’s 12-week Immersive programs, built and taught by industry experts, are designed to equip students with job-ready tech skills in UX Design, Software Engineering, and Data. All Immersive programs include career coaching for extra guidance and support. Participants also have access to the expansive alumni network for opportunities to build and grow their own professional networking circles.
Now, let’s dig into why thousands of students trust General Assembly and Hired to help them make their next big career move. We’ll explore what students can expect from the different Immersive programs and how Hired supports students in finding their dream job.
Why should jobseekers participate in a GA program?
Immersive Programs are a great way to show employers you’ve got what it takes. These programs condense comprehensive learning into 12 to 24 weeks of study. Each course costs $15,950 USD with financing options available.
While they are a bigger investment, they take less time than traditional degree programs and come at a lesser cost. They are more hands-on than what you would have access to in school and have the outcomes and career support to help career changers land their first jobs in tech.
To ensure job-readiness, GA has systems in place to enroll students who are 100% committed to the challenge of transitioning their careers into the tech sector. The admissions process is thorough as GA produces the most graduates that go to household name tech companies. Although somewhat competitive, GA encourages applicants from non-traditional backgrounds and experiences. The admissions process includes:
- Phone Interview: Once your application is reviewed, the admissions team will interview you to understand your career goals and motivations, and assess course fit.
- Technical Assessment: You will complete a technical task-based assessment to ensure aptitude.
- Behavioral Interview: The admissions producer will review your technical project and interview you to further assess your motivation, commitment, and willingness to practice.
- Pre-Work Assignment: You will receive a pre-work assignment to ensure you are prepared for the Immersive course you choose.
All Immersives include:
- Exploration into new concepts and tools through expert-led lectures and discussions.
- A deep dive into topics and techniques via independent, pair, and group projects
- Individualized feedback and support from your expert instructional team.
- The opportunity to apply what you’ve learned to homework assignments and unit projects, building out a professional portfolio to show off job-ready skills.
Let’s review General Assembly’s four Immersive Programs: Software Engineering, Data Analytics, Data Science, and UI/UX Design.
The Software Engineering Immersive
Get a solid base of fundamental programming and computer science knowledge, as well as experience with languages, frameworks, and libraries employers demand.
Throughout the course you’ll learn to:
- Explore programming and computer science fundamentals, as well as software engineering best practices.
- Create a front-end web application with modern JavaScript frameworks such as Angular or React.
- Develop and deploy full-stack applications with in-demand technologies such as Ruby on Rails, Python with Django, and Express with Node.js.
- Build secure full-stack applications by leveraging common design and architectural patterns like model–view–controller (MVC) and Representational State Transfer (REST).
- Practice version control and collaborative software development with Git and GitHub.
- Safely model and store data in SQL and NoSQL databases.
- Consume and integrate third-party application programming interfaces (APIs) in an application.
Curious about the student experience? Hear from a General Assembly grad who soon landed a role using Hired after completing the Software Engineering Immersive:
“GA was a chance to make a career change. Although [the course] was a lot to take on, it allowed me to learn so much in a short time frame. [GA] really helped prepare me for my current position, giving me the confidence to learn quickly and efficiently.”
As for the job search, “Hired was very easy to navigate and use. I particularly enjoyed how it alleviated the grind of sending out many applications. I could see my profile getting views and soon I was invited to interview for several companies… Hired gave us the platform to communicate and made the experience so simple. This process was also relatively quick for me — I got a job offer within two months of finishing the course!”
The Data Science & Data Analytics Immersives
Be poised to succeed in a variety of data science and advanced analytics roles, creating predictive models that drive decision-making and strategy throughout organizations of all kinds.
Throughout the courses you’ll learn to:
- Collect, extract, query, clean, and aggregate data for analysis.
- Gather, store and organize data using SQL and Git.
- Perform visual and statistical analysis on data using Python and its associated libraries and tools.
- Craft and share compelling narratives through data visualization.
- Build and implement appropriate machine learning models and algorithms to evaluate data science problems spanning finance, public policy, and more.
- Compile clear stakeholder reports to communicate the nuances of your analyses.
- Apply question, modeling, and validation problem-solving processes to data sets from various industries to provide insight into real-world problems and solutions.
The UI/UX Design Immersive
Learn to approach problems with creative and technical acumen and design the next generation of successful apps, websites, and digital products.
Throughout the course you’ll learn to:
- Identify and implement the most effective methods of user research to gain a deeper understanding of what users want and need.
- Use interaction and visual design techniques to craft a dynamic digital product that brings delight and function to users.
- Conduct usability testing to make product experiences more accessible for diverse user populations and environments.
- Learn best practices for working within a product team, employing product management techniques and evaluating technical constraints to better collaborate with developers.
- Produce polished design documentation, including wireframes and prototypes, to articulate design decisions to clients and stakeholders.
- Touch on the basics of hot topics like service design, design operations, and design leadership.
- Engage in real client work to execute the UX design process from start to finish with sketches, user research, and prototypes.
Where does Hired come in?
Simplifying the sourcing process
When a graduate finishes the program, Hired and General Assembly have a specific process to connect companies with talent in the respective Immersive sectors. Here is insight from Outcomes Partnerships Manager, Lupe Colangelo, on the process:
“When a student is close to graduating, their Career Coach outlines the Hired platform to the class and shares the signup process using materials GA and Hired have collaborated on to make the process easy!
GA and Hired have created onboarding materials to make the signup process seamless for students. We communicate closely when students have questions and have held quarterly Ask Me Anythings where we walk through the Hired platform and have the Hired team join to answer student questions live.
We recommend that all of our graduates sign up for Hired so they can take advantage of the platform and showcase their skills in this way.”
Connecting employers to non-traditional talent
At Hired, we encourage organizations on our platform to search for and connect with General Assembly graduates. Employers can do this easily by searching, “General Assembly Immersive” in the keyword search. GA students get interview requests from top organizations and these employers take advantage of focusing on skills-based hiring and diversifying their teams with non-traditional talent.
Caroline Sequeira, HR Coordinator from OpenAsset was impressed by high-quality candidates with unconventional backgrounds:
“I was blown away by how prepared Nell was overall. Because she comes from a non-traditional background as a former nurse, I was very impressed with her ability to walk me through some of her projects she worked on at GA, the way she talked about different technical skills that she learned at GA and how she used them in her projects. Overall I was impressed by her ability to incorporate her skills and experience in the healthcare industry into being a successful Support Engineer on our team at OpenAsset.
She came prepared to discuss her background and did a great job talking about her experience as a nurse and her experience at GA, and how both of those experiences have led her to where she is today.
Nell has been an absolute pleasure to work with and we are very happy to have her. For future opportunities, it is a no brainer I will be reaching out to GA grads on Hired. I really enjoy using the Hired platform – it’s straightforward, organized, and sends reminders for scheduling interviews. Plus, there are definitely a lot of highly intentional candidates on the platform – just like Nell!”
Empowering companies to build their teams
Marc Fischer, CEO of Dogtown Media, and General Assembly go way back. He considers access to General Assembly grads on Hired a fundamental part of building his business:
“General Assembly has been a fantastic partner since the early days of founding our mobile tech studio, Dogtown Media. In fact our first UX design hire was a graduate of GA’s first ever UX Immersive cohort. We’ve found GA’s emphasis on training UX designers, product, and engineering talent to address real world problems via user-centric technology has been a huge contributor to our team’s success in the mobile app development space. Whenever we have talent needs, our partners at Hired and GA have been there to support us and I’d recommend them to any company looking to supercharge their growth.”
Ready to make your career transition?
As an Immersive student, you’ll receive dedicated support from career coaches who will help you set goals, make a roadmap for success, and stay on track with your job search.
With a GA course, you’ll:
- Get an inside look at the industry through day-in-the-life talks, hiring panel discussions, guest speakers, and more.
- Cultivate a competitive candidate mindset, learning to assess your skill set against job descriptions, track progress, and recognize opportunities.
- Develop your professional brand: Polish your online and in-person presence, and build confidence to set yourself apart in interviews.
- Tap into an exclusive global network of experts, influencers, and peers, plus learn strategies for leveraging your existing connections, in person and online.
- Become an active contributor to the General Assembly alumni community.
- After graduation, you’ll also gain access to resources to help fuel a lifetime of learning. Dive into new topics or continue honing your new skills with discounts on a suite of tools, passes, and packages to premier events, and more.
Regardless of where you are in your career right now, this is your reminder that it’s not too late to make a change to do the work you love. The Hired and General Assembly partnership was designed to guide professionals like you toward their dream job.
See a GA Immersive Program you’re interested in? Get more information and see if you’re eligible for a discount.
Source: Talent Acquisition - hired.com
