Moving into a career in the tech industry in three months* is hard. You have to learn difficult new technical skills and convince a company to give you an important job. It’s kind of crazy. But App Academy alums do this constantly and successfully. And while the learning-to-code bootcamp aspect is most important, the job search curriculum is also critical. According to independent analysts and former students, App Academy has the best job search curriculum in the industry.

Reviewers say the intensity and personal-touch of the job search curriculum makes the biggest difference. On the ground, this means the bootcamp uses a deep curriculum that improves behavioral interview skills, clarifies verbal and physical communication, and optimizes technical job search tools. Over the years, as App Academy has placed more and more students in top jobs, these techniques have been improved and laser-optimized to work for students.

But the success rate of the job search program isn’t something that’s new. From its start seven years ago, the bootcamp founders focused on improving ways people could get the best job as fast as possible because, remember, App Academy only gets paid when its students find high-paying jobs. It’s the crux of the reason for its great curriculum: It needs to be good and so it is.

Since there are many students interested in the course’s career program, we sat down for a wide-ranging interview with App Academy Career and Development Manager Eli Blair. Also known for his Ask Eli column, Eli discussed all of the major questions people have about the career part of the course. He always tells the truth, so pay attention.

Tell me about the specifics of the job search curriculum. We know the first 12 weeks* are for coding mostly and then your career services team takes over. What happens then?

So let’s talk about what weeks 10, 11, 12, and 13 at the bootcamp are like, [following the coding focus]. We’re trying to get our students up to speed with a portfolio to show. Usually they’ll have two to three projects they’ll show at the end of their time with us. At the same time, they’re learning all these new technologies and zeroing in on [career training]. We work on resumes, on personal pitches. We talk about interview skills and we do a big deep dive into negotiation.

So those last few weeks are really intense. They have to be self-driven and there’s a lot of stress once they graduate. We want them to get out there into the marketplace. You have to fill your funnel in order to start to get noticed and so we are with them through that process, [sending resumes.]

Typically our coaching team will meet with students about once a week, every other week, to help them through. Whereas other companies might just drop a student, like we got your money