Hi, I’m Elle! I work as a product designer at Getaround and as an industry mentor here at Pathrise, where I help our fellows land great jobs in product design through technical workshops and 1-on-1s. Check out my article where we compare General Assembly vs CareerFoundry.
- Courses offered on General Assembly vs CareerFoundry
- Prices for General Assembly vs CareerFoundry
- Ratings and reviews of General Assembly vs CareerFoundry
- Alternatives to General Assembly vs CareerFoundry
- How do General Assembly vs CareerFoundry compare to Pathrise?
Similarities and differences between General Assembly and CareerFoundry
General Assembly and CareerFoundry are tech bootcamps with courses in UX design, web development, data science, and more.
Similarities
- People can take their design, data science, and web development courses online.
- Both offer 1-on-1 mentorship, though General Assembly provides more in-depth career coaching.
- General Assembly & CareerFoundry have part-time options for those who are looking to advance their skills in a specific subject, such as data analytics.
- Their immersive bootcamps emphasize portfolio building, so students complete various hands-on projects.
- Graduates from both programs have landed jobs at top tech companies like Google and Apple.
Differences
- CareerFoundry only has courses in UX design, UI design, data analytics, and web development.
- General Assembly offers one-day, part-time, and full-time programs in UX design, data science, and web development, as well as other subjects, including software engineering, digital marketing, and product management.
- People who enroll in CareerFoundry complete the recorded lessons at their own pace. Their immersive bootcamps take approximately 360-600 hours to complete.
- CareerFoundry classes are only available online. People can take General Assembly courses onsite in various cities, including San Francisco, New York City, and Seattle.
- Those who enroll in General Assembly can pay for their full-time bootcamp tuition through loans or an income share agreement (ISA). CareerFoundry students must pay upfront or make monthly payments.
Courses offered by General Assembly and CareerFoundry
Both General Assembly and CareerFoundry have courses for aspiring designers, web developers, and data scientists that cover the following topics and more:
- UX design
- UI design
- Usability testing
- Design thinking
- Data analytics
- Web development
- HTML & CSS
- JavaScript
- Node.js and server-side programing
- SQL
General Assembly also has courses that cover other topics, including:
- Product management
- Software engineering immersive
- Digital Marketing
- React development
- Excel
- Data visualization with Tableau
- Agile & Scrum
- Copywriting
- Shopify
- LinkedIn marketing
Prices for General Assembly and CareerFoundry
The CareerFoundry courses in UX and UI design cost $6,555 upfront. Students can also choose 9-10 monthly payments of $550-600 if they make an upfront payment of $1,400-$1,500. For the web development program, tuition is $5,225. People can also pay $1,300 upfront and make 7 monthly payments of $600.
Full tuition for General Assembly’s full-time bootcamps is $16,450. Students who pay upfront get a $450 bootcamp. Part-time courses cost $4,050 and students can choose to pay this upfront (with a $250 discount) or with loans. Discounts and scholarships are also available. Through our partnership with general assembly, you can get access to a series of exclusive program offerings, including $1500 off any of their bootcamps or short-courses. If you’re interested in launching a career in tech, schedule a call with the GA Admissions team and ask them for the free workshops, events and discounts.
General Assembly offers a wide variety of payment options. Probably their highest profile option is the “income share loan” (ISL) — this option allows full-time bootcamp students to pay once they land a job. Made possible via Edaid, students pay only $500 upfront. Then they pay nothing until they land a job paying at least $40,000.
A simpler option might be paying installments. General Assembly allows students to divide tuition into two, three, or four easy payments while in the program. Interest free loans are available as well via Climb. Students can choose to start paying immediately (over 18 or 24 months), or pay 12 months later over 36 months with $500 down payment. Students can also take out interest loans through Ascent, Climb, or Meritize. Students who pay via loans can choose to repay immediately, defer payments, or choose an interest-only option. Interest rates range from 6.5-15%, with terms from 3-5 years. While Launch Academy invites some of their hundred hiring partners to free networking events, General Assembly connects students with 19,000+ hiring partners including top tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google.
Ratings and reviews of General Assembly and CareerFoundry
General Assembly alumni report finding jobs that related to the skills that they developed in their bootcamp. While some people said that they enjoyed the curriculum and career coaching, others were frustrated with the program’s rapid pace and struggled to keep up with assignments. Many students note that it is best for motivated self-starters who are willing to put in the work.
The online reviews of CareerFoundry are fairly positive. Most grads felt like they learned a great deal from the UX design, UI design, and web dev bootcamps, though some felt that the career coaching did not go into enough depth. Echoing this, one grad praised the instructors and community, though he noted that because CareerFoundry is based in Berlin, the bootcamp’s job network is wider in Europe than in the United States. One UX design bootcamp grad said that CareerFoundry helped them put together a portfolio and jumpstart a design career.
Alternatives to General Assembly and CareerFoundry
If you decide not to enroll in General Assembly or CareerFoundry, you might consider one of these alternatives instead:
- Aspiring UX designers and software engineers can check out Kenzie Academy, a full-time tech bootcamp that offers in-person and online courses. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- Like General Assembly, Lambda School and Holberton School allow students to finance their software engineering tuition bootcamp through an ISA.
- Tech bootcamps, BrainStation, Thinkful, GW Bootcamps, and Flatiron School offer programs in UX design, data science, and other fields.
- As for online bootcamps with tracks in product design and web dev, Skillcrush, Helio Training, V School, Ironhack, allWomen Academy, and Bloc are possible alternatives to CareerFoundry.
- If you want to take an online product design bootcamp that is self-guided or instructor led, you can also consider DesignerUp. You can see if DesignerUp meets your needs by reading our program review.
- Another online design bootcamp, Designlab teaches the necessary skills to land an entry-level UX designer job. See if Designlab meets your needs by reading our program review.
- An online bootcamp, GrowthX Academy has courses for people who are interested in UX design and growth marketing, as well as sales and business development.
- Similarly, Pluralsight, Bootcamp Digital, Digital Creative Institute, Somerville Academy, and InternStreet offer tracks in digital marketing.
More alternatives
- edX is one of the largest online learning platforms. They have courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT as well as big tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
- On the other hand, Springboard and Udacity are online learning platforms with courses in UX design, data science, programming, and more. Read more about Springboard and Udacity in our program reviews.
- Similarly, Codecademy is one of the most popular coding programs online. They provide free courses on many different programming languages. They also offer membership options ranging from $20 to $40 per month for more course options and greater support. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
- You can also use online learning tools such as Coursera, Pluralsight, and Simplilearn to brush up on the basics or advance your current tech skills.
- Free online resources, SoloLearn and the Mode tutorials have tracks in SQL, as well as other programming languages.
- Those looking to advance their product management skills and network with a community of peers can check out membership and classes at Product Gym.
- Product managers with some experience can check out the community and courses on Mind the Product.
- Another option is 280 Group, which has onsite and online courses in product management.
- Similarly, Product Hall is a product management bootcamp with live courses and 1-on-1 mentoring opportunities.
- Aspiring software engineers and web developers can also consider CodeX Academy, a self-paced coding bootcamp with mentorship opportunities. Learn more about CodeX Academy in our review.
- UX Pro Academy has courses for beginners as well as more experienced people.
How do General Assembly and CareerFoundry compare to Pathrise?
Both General Assembly and CareerFoundry are tech bootcamps with courses that teach people the necessary skills to land a job as UX/UI designer or web developer from scratch. While CareerFoundry also offers a fundamentals of data analytics course, General Assembly has a wide range of programs for current and aspiring software engineers, digital marketers, data scientists, and product managers. At Pathrise, fellows should have some background knowledge in their respective fields before entering the program. We offer tracks in product design, as well as software engineering, data science, digital marketing, and product, strategy & ops.
A full service organization, Pathrise helps people land their dream job in tech. Our mentors, who have years of experience on both sides of the hiring table, provide 1-on-1 assistance on every component of the job search. Besides placing a great deal of emphasis on technical interview preparation, we support job-seekers on resume & portfolio building, cold emailing & reverse recruiting strategies, behavioral interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more. Fellows learn skills that can benefit them in future job searches as well.
While we require fellows to have technical skills, we don’t necessarily require them to have job experience. You may benefit from completing a program like General Assembly first, then joining Pathrise to get placed at a job. To help you get the skills you need to join our program, we offer $1500 off any General Assembly bootcamps or short-courses, as well as other exclusive offerings to get you up to speed. Schedule a call with the GA Admissions team and ask them for the free workshops, events and discounts.
Both General Assembly and Pathrise offer income share agreement, meaning you don’t pay until you land a great job that you love. But unlike General Assembly, we never require upfront payments or deposits. CareerFoundry does not offer an ISA option.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. With our tips and guidance, we’ve seen our fellows interview scores double.
If you are interested in working 1-on-1 with any of our mentors to optimize your job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
