Ada Core page on 2026-10-08 lists Fall 2026 (applications opened May, classroom September) and Spring 2027 (applications open October, classroom March) cohorts; Ada Build Live is paused and 'will return in 2027'. source
Ada Core is a tuition-free, roughly 11-month path: six months of virtual full-stack classroom (Python, Flask, React) followed by a five-month paid fellowship at a partner company. It suits adults 21 and over who already grasp basic programming and can go without income during the classroom phase. Before applying, confirm the fellowship pipeline for your cohort, since placement now depends on passing partner interviews rather than being assigned.
The facts
| Category | Returnships and apprenticeships, Software engineering |
|---|---|
| Website | adadevelopersacademy.org |
| Based | Seattle, WA · founded 2013 |
| Format | online-live, hybrid |
| Programs | Ada Core (6 months virtual classroom + 5-month paid fellowship), Ada Build (free self-paced intro), Ada Build Live (6-week virtual cohort, returning 2027) |
| Length | 48 weeks (6 months classroom plus a 5-month paid fellowship at a partner company, about 11 months total.) verified |
| Tuition | $0 'All Ada Developers Academy programming is tuition-free.' Out-of-pocket: a Mac computer, reliable internet, an AWS account (up to $100/month) and possible relocation for the fellowship. verified |
| Financing | free Tuition-free. The classroom phase is unpaid; the 5-month fellowship pays a stipend of '$15,400 total, pre-tax'. Fellowship placement requires passing partner interviews and is not guaranteed. |
| Admission | technical interview Be 21 or older, live in the US for the full program, hold permanent work authorization. Three stages: application, technical challenge, interview, reviewed on a rolling basis. Applicants should already be 'comfortable with foundational concepts like loops, lists, and dictionaries'. |
| Stack | Python, SQL, Flask, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React |
Outcomes
Placement: Cohort 23 (graduated Jan 2026): 31 of 39 graduates (78%) employed in tech within 6 months. Reporting period: 2026. reported source
Interview-prep depth
1 / 5
Ada Core page lists computer science fundamentals, the stack above, AI tools and cloud computing, plus a technical challenge and interview at admission; no interview-prep module or hours are listed.
Job support: structured. Fellowship placement is itself an interview process with partner companies; the homepage cites '96% graduation rate' and '201% avg post-grad salary change'. No DS&A or mock-interview hours are published.
Whatever the program covers, the interview itself is free to prepare for here: coding patterns, system design, practice prompts, company guides.
What a careful reader should know
A 2023 Course Report review states that internship placements are no longer guaranteed, and the current Ada Core page confirms the fellowship requires successful interviews. Budget roughly six months of unpaid classroom time before the $15,400 stipend begins. Ada started in 2013 under the Technology Alliance, became an independent 501(c)(3) in 2020 and won a $10 million Equality Can't Wait grant in 2021. Course Report rating is 3.25 from 5 reviews.
Third-party signals: Course Report 3.25 (5 reviews). Graduation-time star ratings are collected by the schools; weigh them accordingly.
Sources (5)
This directory takes no lead fees or placement payments from any program. Where a program runs an affiliate scheme we say so on its page and mark the link. Facts carry a badge: verified means we read it on a primary source on the date shown, reported means a third party said it, unknown means nobody we trust has published it.
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