Coding Bootcamps in San Francisco

Explore our list of the best coding bootcamps in San Francisco to learn programming skills fast.
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Updated on April 21, 2023
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Madison Hoehn has worked as an associate editor for BestColleges, focusing on coding bootcamp rankings and the skilled trades. She is passionate about providing readers with alternatives to a traditional four-year college. She holds a BA in English l...
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With over 619,000 tech jobs in San Francisco and throughout the Silicon Valley as of 2020, there are plenty of job opportunities for graduates of San Francisco coding bootcamps. Approximately 38% of the tech jobs in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley are with the 15 largest tech companies in the area, which includes Google, Apple, Cisco, Amazon, and Oracle.

Although the pandemic has enabled many tech workers to work from home, leading many to leave the San Francisco Bay area looking for less expensive places to live, the region is still a hotbed for tech startups. And big tech companies like Google are still buying up more office space.

This guide highlights the top San Francisco bootcamps and provides an overview of the San Francisco job outlook for bootcamp grads. Continue reading to learn more about the various types of coding bootcamps offered in San Francisco and to find out what jobs you may qualify for after attending a San Francisco coding bootcamp.

Find The Right Bootcamp For You

Best Coding Bootcamps in San Francisco

App Academy

  • Programs Starting At: $17,000
  • Technical Disciplines: Software Engineering
  • Time Commitment: Full Time, Part Time
  • Learning Formats: In Person, Online

Career Services
Evening & Weekend Options
Money-Back Guarantee
Start for Free

App Academy offers a 16-week software engineering immersive bootcamp in San Francisco. The full-stack software engineering bootcamp teaches both JavaScript and Ruby on Rails.

App Academy has a deferred tuition plan, which allows students to put off paying tuition until after they are hired. According to the bootcamp provider's website, its 2019 San Francisco graduates landed jobs earning an average of $104,000 per year within an average of five months after completing the bootcamp. App Academy grads work for several big tech companies in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, such as Amazon, Google, and Uber.


BrainStation

Career Services
Evening & Weekend Options
Start for Free

BrainStation offers four online bootcamps and several certificate courses to its San Francisco students. Students who want to take a bootcamp can choose from data science, digital marketing, user experience design, and web development. In addition, BrainStation offers 13 online certificate courses in six different categories.

BrainStation has over 6,500 hiring partners and claims that 90% of its graduates are employed within 180 days. San Francisco graduates may qualify for jobs with tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Uber, all of which have global headquarters in the Silicon Valley.


Galvanize

  • Programs Starting At: $17,980
  • Technical Disciplines: Software Engineering
  • Time Commitment: Full Time, Part Time
  • Learning Formats: In Person, Online

Accepts GI Bill®
Career Service
Evening & Weekend Options
Money-Back Guarantee

Galvanize's San Francisco students can take advantage of a five-floor coworking space that overlooks downtown San Francisco. The campus offers amenities such as bike storage, a cafe, a recreational space, a community kitchen, and a wellness room. You can even bring your dog! There is a monthly fee for using the coworking space.

Having acquired Hack Reactor in 2018, Galvanize now uses Hack Reactor's curriculum for its software engineering immersive. The program starts with the fundamentals of computer science then moves on to cover full-stack JavaScript and application design and development. Students learn to think like an engineer while working in teams that resemble those they will encounter in the real world.


General Assembly

  • Programs Starting At: $3,950
  • Technical Disciplines: Data Analytics, Data Science, Software Engineering, UX/UI Design, Web Development (Full Stack)
  • Time Commitment: Full Time, Part Time, Self-Paced
  • Learning Formats: In Person, Online

Accepts GI Bill®
Career Services
Evening & Weekend Options

General Assembly is currently offering its San Francisco bootcamps in an online format. Students can choose from data science, digital marketing, software engineering, and user experience design. Each bootcamp gives students the skills they need to pursue a job in the relevant field.

General Assembly has over 19,000 hiring partners around the world. Its graduates work at companies such as CapitalOne, Macy's, PayPal, Samsung, and The Washington Post. The bootcamp provider claims that it has placed more graduates in high-paying tech careers than any other program.


Rithm School

  • Programs Starting At: $23,000
  • Technical Disciplines: Web Development
  • Time Commitment: Full Time
  • Learning Formats: In Person, Online

Career Services

Rithm School offers a 16-week web development program. Weeks 1-11 consist of a combination of lectures, development sprints, homework, and meetups. Weeks 12-14 focus on company projects and weeks 15-16 focus on interview preparation. Students learn to code in both JavaScript and Python.

Rithm graduates spend three weeks working on real-world projects, which improves their job prospects. According to Rithm School's website, 76% of its students are employed within 90 days and 86% within 180 days. The bootcamp provider encourages its graduates to come back to Rithm weekly for job support.


The Data Incubator

  • Programs Starting At: $10,000
  • Technical Disciplines: Data Science, Data Engineering
  • Time Commitment: Full Time, Part Time
  • Learning Formats: In Person, Online

Career Services
Evening & Weekend Options
Start for Free

The Data Incubator offers a data science fellowship and a data engineering fellowship. It also offers a data science essentials course that helps prepare students for the data science fellowship. Students in the data science fellowship work with real data sets and live code as they master the skills they will need in the business world.

In the data engineering fellowship, students learn how to build data infrastructures and models, maintain data architecture, and automate data pipelines. They learn how to work with huge datasets effortlessly.


University of California, Berkeley

  • Programs Starting At: $12,995
  • Technical Disciplines: Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, UX/UI Design, Web Development
  • Time Commitment: Full Time, Part Time
  • Learning Formats: In Person, Online

Job Placement Assistance
Evening & Weekend Options

The University of California, Berkeley offers seven bootcamps, each of which comes with a Berkeley Extension certificate of completion. Students interested in coding can choose from their coding, data analytics, UX/UI design, or cybersecurity programs. Berkeley Extension also offers bootcamps in digital marketing, fintech, and tech project management.

Berkeley's coding bootcamp prepares students for jobs as full-stack web developers in 12 weeks of full time work or 24 weeks of part time study. Students complete real-world projects that help prepare them for their future careers. They learn JavaScript, HTML/CSS, databases, server-side development, and API design.

Get the Qualities You Want in a Bootcamp

We use icons to make browsing bootcamps easy for you. Use this breakdown to quickly identify program qualities you are looking for.

Accepts GI Bill®

Accepts the GI Bill® as funding for tuition.

Also Available In Person

This online bootcamp also offers in-person options.

Career Services

Offers career services to help you land your dream job after graduation.

CIRR Member

This bootcamp is a current member of the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting. Learn more at cirr.org.

Evening & Weekend Options

Bootcamps are offered during convenient evening and weekend hours.

Job Guarantee

Employment is guaranteed as soon as you finish your bootcamp.

Money-Back Guarantee

Tuition is refunded if you don't land a job within a given time frame after graduation. Visit the bootcamp website for terms and conditions.

Start for Free

No deposit is required to get started. Begin your bootcamp for $0.

Methodology

Bootcamp Ranking Guidelines

At BestColleges, we believe the best bootcamp is the one that fits your schedule, your learning needs, and your career aspirations. That's why we often present our recommendations in alphabetical order -- because the real best bootcamp is the bootcamp that's best for you.

Our Methodology

The Bootcamp Team at BestColleges has collected data for over 150 bootcamps to help you find the best bootcamp.

At BestColleges, we believe the best bootcamp is the one that fits your schedule, your learning needs, and your career aspirations. That's why we often present our recommendations in alphabetical order -- because the real best bootcamp is the bootcamp that's best for you.

At this time, our recommendation round-ups feature only immersive bootcamps designed to prepare students for job placement upon graduation.

To be included on our lists, bootcamps must meet the following criteria:

  • Must offer at least one bootcamp in the United States.
  • Must offer at least one bootcamp that is a minimum of 4 weeks long.
  • Must require at least 15 hours of work per week if the bootcamp is part time.
  • Must encourage at least 10 hours of work per week if the bootcamp is self-paced.

Pricing disclosure: The prices listed were collected from product websites in 2022. However, given the dynamic, fast-paced nature of the tech space, prices are subject to change throughout the year. To get the most up-to-date information about pricing, contact providers directly.

Methodology for Recommending Cheap Bootcamps:

  • The bootcamp must meet all of the general criteria listed above.
  • The bootcamp must cost less than $8,000 if it is offered full time, and less than $5,000 if it is offered part time. These numbers were chosen based on data collected by BestColleges in 2020 that determined the average cost of a coding bootcamp is $13,580.

Featured Online Bootcamps

Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.

Job Outlook for Bootcamp Grads in San Francisco

According to Payscale, the average base salary in San Francisco is $103,000 per year. Keep in mind that in addition to having a high average salary, San Francisco also has a cost of living that is 80% higher than the national average.

Tech jobs are in high demand in San Francisco. The most common job titles in the city are software engineer, senior software engineer, project manager, senior project manager, and software project manager.

Payscale data as of March 2022 lists the average salaries for tech jobs in the San Francisco Bay area as follows:

Average Salaries for Tech Jobs in San Francisco
Career Average Annual Salary
Senior Software Engineer $153,903
Product Manager $125,626
Data Scientist $125,110
Software Engineer $124,700
UX Designer $100,160
Project Manager $93,510
Web Developer $85,360
Data Analyst $82,800

Although there are reports of people leaving the area during the pandemic due to the high cost of living and the availability of work from home jobs, the Bay Area job market had its strongest gains in a long time in October 2021. Over 21,000 new jobs were added, accounting for 21.8% of the state's job growth for the month.

Frequently Asked Questions About Coding Bootcamps in San Francisco

What is the best bootcamp in San Francisco?

The best San Francisco coding bootcamps provide high-quality tech training at an affordable price. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer as to which is the best. You will need to examine each bootcamp provider's curriculum, compare the costs, and read reviews from former students to get an idea of which providers deliver the best bootcamps.

Since there is typically no accreditation for bootcamps, there is no third party holding each bootcamp provider accountable for its student outcomes. You can get independently verified information on student outcomes such as graduation rate, employment rate, and starting salaries for some bootcamps at CIRR.org, but most bootcamp providers report their own outcomes without any third-party oversight.

Do employers accept coding bootcamps?

Yes, many employers accept bootcamp graduates. According to a survey by Indeed, 72% of employers consider bootcamp graduates to be just as well-prepared for jobs as those who have degrees in computer science. Another 12% think bootcamp grads are better prepared than computer science graduates.

SHRM reports that IT workers are in short supply, which means HR managers need to be open-minded about their applicants' backgrounds and hire those who have the necessary skills, regardless of how they obtained them.

Are bootcamps still worth it after 2020?

Although COVID-19 put many employees out of work, there are jobs available for those who have the skills to fill them. This makes coding bootcamps a good investment for those who need to start new careers quickly. Most bootcamps take only a few months to complete, so graduates can see a return on their investment relatively quickly.

The average cost of a coding bootcamp was about $13,580 in 2020, which makes it significantly cheaper than the average bachelor's degree. Considering the amount that coding jobs in San Francisco pay, it is likely well worth the investment.

GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at https://benefits.va.gov/gibill/index.asp


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