These are some of the questions we receive most often from potential students.

The Academy at Suncoast Developers Guild is an immersive code school. What that means is, in about three months (with the guidance and support of seasoned industry experts) you will gain the skills needed to become a junior developer. Over the course of the curriculum, you will learn the basics of web development and also how to be job-ready for the modern market. This immersive style of education is often called a "bootcamp" because of the fast pace of learning and the full-time commitment.

It's easy and free. There is no cost or obligation to attend if you apply. You'll meet with a member of our admissions and instructional teams where some of your questions or concerns will be answered.

We encourage you to bring anyone from your support group that you feel may want understand more about where you will be spending a large portion of your time for three months.

After that, we let you know if you are accepted and then you can start your prework and welcome aboard!

This program is taught as online evening classes. You will have the same access to excellent instruction, resources and live online assistance during class. This class is taught in a flipped format where students complete readings and watch lessons at home prior to class and work on live problem-solving during class time with your instructor: key for skill acquisition and applying what you learned.

Students graduating from the Night Shift classes demonstrate equal proficiency as the daytime immersive class and the slower pace often opens the door for more concept retention and less stress. Technology requirements and curriculum are identical to the immersive class.

We have new cohorts every three to four months.

Yes, although this program is extremely time consuming and challenging, the holidays are a great time for students to be sure they are integrating a healthy career - life balance. We will give them some exercises and homework to keep them coding, but we also want them to have time to themselves and their loved ones on special days. After all, that is the ultimate end game.

Yes, you will be given homework assignments and projects. We always encourage you to have you time and give yourself a day or at least a few hours to recharge over the weekend so you can come in on Monday and be ready to learn. Our students spend 60 to 80 hours a week and part of the learning process is learning time management and how to balance your work and personal schedule. Although this program requires more than the typical 40-hour work week, this type of accelerated environment is proven successful to get you skilled up and ready to be a developer.

We believe in a learning style that is immersive, full-time and accelerated when learning to code. Our program is full-time and we strongly encourage students to be fully engaged during the program.

Yes and no. We believe that people with the passion to learn, have the needed time to dedicate, and want to make this integrated in their daily life as a career, company, and/or startup can do this. This program is hard but we have seen all types of people with all types of backgrounds be successful. That being said, we also know that you need to have some key factors in place to be successful in this program. Support system, willing to learn, willing to accept a challenge, working with a variety of learners, teachers, and personalities, time commitment, growth mindset

The Academy at Suncoast Developers Guild operates from St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District. A thriving business and innovation district on its own, it has easy access to Downtown’s beautiful waterfront parks, restaurants, coffee shops, and entertainment. The city bus, trolley, and bikes are all within one block.

The modern web runs on JavaScript. This is why the for the first few weeks we focus on the basics of JavaScript (and HTML and CSS). But to truly be job ready, our students need to learn a JavaScript framework. JavaScript frameworks tend to have a relatively short life span, what is taught to a student at the time of learning is relatively trivial, as long as the student receives exposure to using a framework.

React was chosen because it is a widely popular framework that has disrupted the JavaScript framework landscape and, for the most part, leverages mostly existing JavaScript knowledge. React has become the point of reference for many new, and even old, frameworks, and in learning React, it gives the students a scalable point of reference to learning what ever framework is next in there career. In addition to building a strong foundation with a growing framework, we have found that React is relatively easy for new developers to wrap their heads around and allows to easily create beautiful, dynamic sites while still learning the basics of front-end development. It's often said that React makes developers better JavaScript developers.

Apart from being a strong, versatile, and extremely popular language, .NET is a somewhat unusual choice for a boot camp to teach. Its a vast language that can go from sweet and simple to deep and complex very quickly. We have chosen for a few key reasons. Not only is a strong market need for .NET developers, but the syntax and basic concepts of the language offers a strong springboard to learn other languages.

In teaching .NET, this not only gives students a solid resume upon leaving, but it gives them a solid point a references when they learn they next couple of languages. Also, .NET is currently experiencing a renaissance with .NET Core, helping our students gain valuable experience in a rapidly growing culture and learn a bleeding edge technology that also applies to more classic web apps.

Rather than hiring standard instructors to teach our courses, we have aligned with some of the most skilled developers in the trade. Our instructors are industry practitioners who are not only passionate about coding, but they have also been actively involved with community tech events for over a decade. They love to share their knowledge and love for the craft, and have become amazing mentors to all our students.

You bet ya! We know you came here to code, but there is more to learn for you to be successful as a developer. This is a marathon not a sprint, and we teach you healthy habits in the workplace, work-life balance, stress-management, project management, teamwork, networking, and branding yourself as the developer you will be!

Raymond James, Clarity Services, Amazon, Malwarebytes, Gooee, PROforma, Mad Mobile, Spatial Networks, GitLab, Bank of the Ozarks, Healthesytems, Haneke Design, Symphonic Distribution, Hivelocity and Script are just a few.

We have an Advisory Board and Hiring Partners that range from startups, agencies, mid-size, and enterprise size companies that hire our graduates but also give guest lectures, host field trips, and are actively involved in the curriculum builds that are ever changing so we can deliver the education that will make you successful as a web developer in Tampa Bay and across the world.

The tuition is $14,900, but you will not incur any other costs from SDG. A computer is required, you can find out more in our admission requirements. You may find yourself with other cost of living expenses as well.

The typical computer science degree from a traditional college is excellent for those who want a deeper understanding of academic theories and underlying programming concepts. In SDG's Web Development Program, students will begin writing programs from Week One as they focus on the practical applications of software development. Although our emphasis is not on the theoretical aspects of programming, SDG does incorporate vital problem-solving skills and algorithmic thinking throughout the curriculum.

Our academic hours are broken down as Clock Hours. Clock Hours are defined as a period of 60 minutes with a minimum of 50 minutes of instruction in the presence of an instructor. The breakdown of clock hours for the full program is as follows: 180 Theory Hours + 216 Lab Hours = 396 Total Clock Hours.

We believe in a fully immersive and accelerated learning style when it comes to teaching code. Our program is full-time and we strongly encourage our students to be fully engaged during the program. As an alternative, we recently started a Night Shift program which takes longer to complete but could be a better fit for some students. Our recruiter would be happy to provide more details on these alternatives.

A primary factor for the success of our students is that we have equipped them with the practical, high demand skillsets that employers need right now. The tightly-scoped curriculum allows us to iterate quickly and keep up with the everchanging technology in today's workforce. If you're interested, we can connect you with alumni who are more than happy to share their experience firsthand in how the program worked for them.

Check out the how do I apply above, but no, you should not be nervous. This is a time where we get to know each other and want to see if we are a good fit for each other. We want to set you up for success when going through our program. If we (you and SDG) decide now is not the right time, we will give you resources and support to get you ready to be successful going through the program.