Ada Developers Academy Accelerate Program

Ada Developers Academy is a non-profit, tuition-free coding school for women and gender-expansive adults. The Ada Developers Academy Accelerate program is a free alternative for programmers who have previously completed a coding bootcamp or CS degree and are looking to refresh their skills. Each Accelerate Cohort is made up of 24 students who participate in a virtual classroom for 3 months, followed by a 4-month internship. CURRICULUM OVERVIEW The Ada Developers Academy Acclerate program teaches full-stack web development, allowing students to choose what specialty of software development they want to pursue in their post-Ada careers. We cover Python, SQL, Flask, HTML and CSS, JavaScript, and Computer Science fundamentals. The complete curriculum is online and open-source. STRUCTURE The education portion of our program is split into three units focusing on programming fundamentals, backend development, and frontend development. Learning is supplemented through daily readings, problem sets, algorithm exercises, projects, and a three week capstone project. LEARNING PATH Unit 1: Programming Fundamentals Further core programming concepts and learn computer science fundamentals. Explore test-driven development, exception handling, data structures, Big O, object-oriented programming, and version control with Git/Github. Unit 2: Intro to Back-end Web Development Learn the fundamentals of back-end development. Design, build, and maintain a database using PostgreSQL. Design APIs in Flask to interact with databases and extend programs using third party APIs. Unit 3: Intro to Front-end and Full-stack Development Learn the basics of front-end development. Design and build static websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Develop web apps in React to present data and handle user interaction. CAPSTONE As a culmination of each student’s classroom learning experience, they create a Capstone project to showcase what they have learned in the program. Capstone Project Goals include: - Demonstrate self-direction, time management, and independent learning - Learn and implement new technologies - Complete a product life cycle from conception to delivery - Utilize agile practices learned to assist in project completion INTERNSHIP The internship experience is an essential portion of the hands-on learning at Ada. The internship completes a student’s formal training of becoming a hireable junior software developer and is a requirement to graduate from the program. Students are assigned to an internship team and paired with a manager to guide their internship. Interns work at their assigned internship company 35 of 40 hours per week.