🚀 Start a profitable side project

Launch a live iOS, or web app in 8 weeks
Early decision deadline: Sep 13, Sun, 23:59
Regular deadline: Sep 25, Fri, 23:59
Join our Telegram group for updates and discussions
Photo credit: Louie Psihoyos / Corbis / Newsweek.com

nFactorial School in 1 minute

🗓
8 weeks of fun
Sep 28 2020 (Mon) - Nov 20 2020 (Fri)
🏠
Fully remote
You can participate from anywhere in the world
👨🏻‍💻
Focus on only one product
Accelerate your career by conceiving, designing, building and promoting your personal app
👶
Not for n00bs
Input: a student with prior programming experience, but no background in mobile/web development. Output: a strong junior mobile/web developer + live product with users.
📖
2 tracks
Pick one of 2 learning tracks: iOS, or full-stack web (React + Firebase).
⛩️
Structure
8 weeks = 3 weeks of learning the fundamentals of mobile or full-stack + 5 weeks to build and launch your original app
🥗
Creative atmosphere
8 weeks of fun: live interactive video lectures, interesting homeworks, individual office hours, demo/brainstorming sessions, fun community events, code reviews, online forum, weekly games and tournaments with fellow students and mentors, Friday happy hours with online poker / scrabble / pictionary.
⏲️
Part-time or full-time
Part-time: 20 hours a week, $1999/full program. Full-time: 40 hours a week, $2499/full program.
🎩
4 hats
You will wear 4 hats: software engineer, product designer, growth hacker, market analyst
Not a coding bootcamp
We don’t believe in “learning for the sake of learning”, “learning by doing tutorials”, “learning to get a certificate or get a job”.
🐣
Not an incubator
Our output is not startups, but developers capable of building first-class products in solo fashion.
☯️
Philosophy
Building and launching your idea is the most satisfying way to learn.

8 weeks which will change your life

You will wear 4 hats throughout the program
💻 Software Engineer, Weeks 0-7
Bring your original idea to life with a high quality code continuously reviewed by your mentors.
Mastery of Serverless Computing, BaaS, PaaS, FaaS (AWS Lambda, Vercel)
Backend for mobile developers (Server-Side Swift), Backend-Driven UI
CI/CD (Jenkins, Travis, Gitlab, Bitrise), Deployment (AWS, Heroku, DigitalOcean)
Software Design (architectural/design patterns)
Task runners, Build tools, Bash scripting
Advanced git flight rules, Agile, sprints, iterative development
Testing (TDD, BDD, Functional tests, Unit tests, Integration tests, Snapshot)
Modern frameworks: React + TypeScript + GraphQL + Firebase
🎨 Product Designer, Week 0
Learn the modern design tools (e.g. Figma) to create a pixel-perfect design for your web or mobile application.
Building the prototype of a mobile app
Design tools: Figma, Sketch, Invision, Zeplin
Building the product users fall in love with from first sight
Building the tutorial and effective on-boarding
Studying users' needs and problems they frequently face
UI/UX testing
Typography and fonts
Color theory: meaning, harmony
🔬 Market Analyst, Weeks 0-2
To come up with a novel idea, you will analyze the competitive landscape, study the markets in China/India/US, study the portfolio of venture firms focusing on SaaS, read hand-picked articles, and much more
How to build something no one has built before
How to find new and original user problems to solve
Quick competitive landscape analysis
Learning about the top tools in your category from China, India, and the US
Using Product Hunt for product inspiration
Studying the portfolio of venture firms focusing on SaaS, creator tools, and single player mode applications
Reading blog posts on workflows and automation to study demand
Mastery of nocode tools: Zapier, Webflow, Airtable, Bubble, Parabola, Glide
🏒 Growth Hacker, Weeks 5-7
"Advertising is a tax on being unremarkable". Mentors will help you come up with creative ways to get (paying) users for free.
Simple secrets of effective presentations. Learning the art of pitching.
Finding the best business model for your app
Marketing tactics of the most popular SaaS products: Buffer, Gumroad, Bubble, Zapier, Webflow, Airtable, etc.
Promoting your mobile app on App Store or Play Market: name, keywords, description, App Annie analytics
How to find your first 1000 users, conducting user interviews
Building an effective landing page, promo video, mailing list
Content marketing with newsletters, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
Blogging on Medium and promoting posts on Reddit and Hacker News

⏳ Timeline

Week

Your 3-week iOS/Android/React learning journey starts here. Also we will start brainstorming on app ideas.

0
1

Week

Building pixel-perfect design for your web or mobile application. Building clones of your favorite apps to learn the basics.

Week

iOS/Android/React module is concluding. You are one week away from building your app.

2
3

Week

It’s time to start building your app!

Week

It's time to release v0!

4
5

Week

Gathering and incorporating user feedback. It’s time to deploy v1!

Week

Growing the userbase. It’s time to ship v2!

6
7

Week

Building monetization features. It’s time to launch v3 and showcase the app on Demo Day!

We are not yet another coding bootcamp

Immerse yourself in a unique rockstar developer atmosphere`
🚀
Launch in 8 weeks
8 weeks of full immersion: from brainstorming on app ideas to a shipped product
🎯
Set specific goals
Build an original SaaS idea aiming to make $1000/month or a free web / mobile app with 10,000 downloads worldwide
🙌
Meet the Titans
Guest lectures with Software Engineering titans from Silicon Valley
🎙
Demo Day
Ship your app and showcase it at the Demo Day to a big audience of recruiters, investors, entrepreneurs, journalists, professors and fellow software developers
📈
Growth Hacking
Learn "22 immutable laws of marketing", "19 channels to get traction", and other essentials of growth hacking for apps
🏅
Student leaderboards
By downloads, by revenue, by # of subscribers on social media, etc.
🎰
Chance for a pivot
Mid-program hackathon to pursue alternative ideas
🥊
Tournaments
Champions League among AI bots written by students. Retro-game hackathon: bots compete for energy in a cell-based arena with edible and harmful plants and beasts
♠️
Poker
Weekly poker games (with occassional trash talking!)
📋
Resume refactoring
Get help writing an effective resume
🇺🇸
Remote work
Remote work at awesome international startups for the best developers
🔁
Code reviews
Daily continuous code reviews from first-class mentors
🕒
Office hours
Regular office hours with mentors
💬
Online forum
Get instant help from mentors and fellow students on Slack. Be matched for a lunch or a quick catchup call with a nFactorial student picked at random.
🗓
Key dates
July 12 - application deadline for early decisions;
July 24 - regular application deadline;
July 26 - all decisions sent;
July 27 - the program starts;
July 31 - last day to make the downpayment;
Sep 18 - Demo Day

🎒 Mentors

2 more mentors haven't sent their pictures and bios. Yet :)
Arman Suleimenov

CEO, nFactorial School. Co-founder, Hora.AI / Zero To One Labs / nFactorial Incubator. Purdue CS '10, Princeton CS *12. ACM ICPC World Finals '09, '11. Arman will be helping you with ideation, product design and finding distribution channels to get users. LinkedIn

Bakytzhan Baizhikenov

Founder, Intellection. Co-founder, Crozdesk. Past: imo.im. LSE '2014. 4 medals at IOI: 2007 Gold, 2008 Silver, 2005/2006 Bronze. ACM ICPC World Finalist '2011. Expertise: full-stack web and mobile development. Bakytzhan is a lead instructor in React track. LinkedIn

Almas Tuyakbayev

CEO, UXStone. Co-founder, Zero To One Labs / nFactorial Incubator. CMU HCI ‘2012. Expertise: mobile and web UI/UX, product. Almas will be helping you with designing delightful user experiences and interfaces. Linkedin

Aidar Nugmanov

iOS Team Lead, Azimut Labs. Past: Arbuz.kz / Zero To One Labs. SDU '20, nFactorial '17 participant, '18 mentor. Expertise: iOS, backend. Aidar will be helping you with code reviews, product design. LinkedIn

Timur Tabynbaev

iOS Tech Lead at Kolesa Group. nFactorial ’16 participant, ’18 mentor. AUPET ’15. Expertise: iOS. Timur will be conducting iOS lectures and code reviews. LinkedIn

Beknar Danabek

iOS Developer at Kolesa Group. Past: Khan Group / Zero To One Labs. SDU '19, nFactorial '17 participant. Co-founder of CocoaHeads Kazakhstan. Expertise: iOS. Beknar will be helping you with code reviews. LinkedIn

Ilyas Zholdasbayev

UX Designer, UXStone. MS in Design, U of Edinburgh. nFactorial '15 participant. Expertise: mobile and web UI/UX. Ilyas will be helping you to use Figma when building beautiful user interface screens for your app. LinkedIn

Yevgeny Telegin

Frontend Developer, Yandex Money. Passionate about frontend optimization. Expertise: Typescript, NodeJS, React. Yevgeny will be helping you to build your original React + Firebase app from scratch. LinkedIn

Adilkhan Kenzhetaev

Freelance Frontend Developer. Past: Full-stack developer, Intellection. IITU ‘2018. Expertise: React, Redux, GraphQL. Adilkhan will help you with developing your web apps. LinkedIn

Olga Khvan

Freelance UX Designer at Toptal. MSc, HCI and Design, University of Washington ‘2020. Past: UX Designer, Azimut Labs, Étage, Intellection. Co-founder, Sheberkhana. nFactorial '15. Olga will do design critique sessions for each student. LinkedIn

Aigerim Katayeva

Product Designer, Yandex. nFactorial ’16. Past: Product Designer, Clockster; Mentor, Technovation Challenge; UI/UX Designer, Innovation Lab UNICEF. Nazarbayev University MS ‘2019. IITU ‘2016. Aigerim will give you feedback on your designs and help you produce 4 design iterations in 4 days. LinkedIn

✅ 2 tracks

You can pick one of the following 2 learning tracks.
iOS/Swift
Full-stack web

💰 Pricing

Part-time
8 weeks x 20 hours a week
Apply
$1999
Full-time
8 weeks x 40 hours a week
Apply
$2499

We have been doing it since 2015

4
SUMMERS
300+
SHIPPED APPS
400+
GRADUATES

⭐️ Join the exclusive community

Our alumni go on to achieve big things

Having my first iOS application available on the App Store was like a dream come true. It was even more exciting to have active users who were paying for the product!

Nurdaulet Bolatov, Software Engineer, Facebook (London, UK); nFactorial '15; built Syntle, iPhone app to learn programming language syntax using flashcards

nFactorial is probably one of the happiest times I ever had in life and one of the core reasons why I can do internship at Apple now.

Yersultan Sapar, Software Engineering Intern, Apple (Cupertino, CA); UC Berkeley '2022; nFactorial '17; built Platonic, an iOS app for learning solid geometry using augmented reality

During nFactorial I launched the Toybastar mobile app for hiring wedding professionals. The moment I presented the result of my hard work in front of the audience is one of my favorite memories from the program.

Nursultan Amir, Software Engineer, HBO (Seattle, WA); nFactorial '15; built Toybastar, iPhone app for hiring wedding professionals

This school taught me how to build a startup - from product development to design and marketing. Later on, that knowledge helped me found a startup in London & become a part of 'TechStars' accelerator program with investments of $120,000.

Didara Pernebayeva, Imperial College Business School '19; nFactorial '15; built Kelin, anonymous social network for women (250,000 downloads)

To say that nFactorial impacted my life is practically to say nothing. It was a truly wonderful journey, where over the course of 9 weeks I was given a chance to meet new people and do many new crazy things!

Anuar Serikov, Software Engineer, Google (London, UK); nFactorial '15; built iPhone game "Dilemma"

Once the app hits the App Store and the friends and family would poke you about different functionality improvements and bugs, that's the moment of realization that it's very much real.

Assan Toleuov, Software Engineer, Facebook (Menlo Park, CA); nFactorial '16; built Zheti Ata, iPhone app to build your genealogy (60K downloads)

❓FAQ

Here we gathered some answers on frequently asked questions

When will I know that I'm accepted?

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Applications will be read on a rolling basis. The decision will be made within a week of your submission. The earlier you apply, the earlier you will see the decision.

What is a typical day in the program like?

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• 10am-11:30am - interactive video lecture + Q&A with one of the mentors
• Most of the day will be spent working on the product
• 2-4pm - individual office hours with mentors
• 6-7pm - Group video call to wrap up the day. Rewarding yourself for a productive day with fun group activities. Playing board games online (Zynga Poker, Cards Against Humanity, etc.). Video game nights. True confessions. Movie nights. Karaoke nights. Socializing online over non-alcoholic drinks :D

I don't have an idea for an app. What should I do?

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We will help you pick an idea even before the program starts. To find an app idea which is perfect for you, we will make a ton of reading, conduct dozens of group brainstorm sessions, group presentations, etc..

What is the price of the program?

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1999 USD for a part-time program. 2499 USD for a full-time program.

Do you offer any grants?

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Unfortunately we don't offer any grants at this point. If you can't afford it, try fundraising using https://www.gofundme.com/start/education-fundraising

Do you have a physical office?

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No, the program is fully remote.

Can I attend remotely?

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Absolutely! That's the only way to participate in the program.

What do I need to know before the program?

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We expect you to have strong CS fundamentals before the program. Our 3-week iOS/Android/React module is fast-paced and designed for people with prior programming experience.

Do I need to have a computer?

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Yes. It can be either PC or Mac with your favorite IDE and programming environment setup.

How many hours will I have to dedicate to the program?

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40 hours for a full-time program, 20 hours for a part-time program. Saturday and Sunday are days off for full-time students. We will hold sessions for part-time students on Saturdays if needed.

I want to participate, but I have a full-time job. What can I do?

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You can participate in our part-time program. We will be recording all our group calls, lectures from mentors and guest speakers so you can watch them (at 2x speed) when it's convenient. We suggest that you participate in at least one group call a day (either morning or evening one). If our regular workday office hours won't fit your schedule, we will hold office hours on Saturdays as well.

I have zero programming experience. Should I apply?

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No. We recommend you to complete one Intro to CS course before applying. 3 possible options: Stanford's CS106A, Harvard's CS50, or Princeton's COS126.

How many students will you accept?

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We are ready to accept 50 students in this batch.

How many mentors will be teaching at the school?

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We will have at least 10:1 student to mentors ratio.

Any age restrictions for the candidates?

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Not really, but we're expecting this program to be of interest to developers from 16 to 35 yo.

What picture did you use in the header of this landing page?

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When we think of a single company symbolizing the fusion of creativity, storytelling and technology, we think Pixar. Hence, the choice of a picture!

What will I have at the end of the program?

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By the end of the program, you will have a live application on the web, App Store or Play Market. Apart from that, you will have a repeatable process to conceive original app ideas, design, execute and promote them.

What if I can't attend live sessions?

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You can watch recordings of our sessions and participate in our online forum discussions. We will also host live sessions and office hours on Saturday.

What am I paying for?

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Excellent question. You’re paying for: 1) interactive video lectures on development/design/growth/idea generation (see the curriculum above); 2) regular code reviews from experienced mentors; 3) individual office hours with mentors; 4) daily group sessions - project demos, poker nights, guest lectures, tournaments, resume refactoring, etc. Ultimately, the participant is paying for the fact that our program transforms a student without mobile/web experience and any individual projects into a developer with a live product. 

Will there be a selection process? Or if I’m paying, I’m in?

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There will be definitely a selection process. It took us a lot of effort and 5 years to build nFactorial brand, and we won’t compromise it for short-term profits. We make application decisions based solely on your past programming experience. You can pay for the program only if you were admitted. 

Will we be building products in teams?

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Nope, solo, not in teams. Our goal is to prepare autonomous developers who can 10x any team they join later in their career. 

I have an idea, but I don’t think I can launch it in 8 weeks. 

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We will help you break your big idea into complete sub-ideas which can be launched in time.

Do I have to pay for App Store developer account myself?

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Yes. Your nFactorial tuition doesn’t cover your personal additional expenses: service subscriptions, Internet, laptop, etc. 

What is more important for an admission committee: idea or  programming experience?

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The most important criterion for us is your past programming experience. Everything else is secondary. 

💸 What's in it for me?

Rise above the crowd

If you ask around, very few software engineers have live feature-complete independent apps with traction in their portfolio. Mini apps from completing tutorials don't count! Rise above the crowd and become top 1% developer by building and launching your very own independent (and original!) application.

Epic community

Join the community of impressive software engineers and alumni of previous years.

Side project is a new resume

Substantially strengthen your resume and stand out when applying to the company of your dreams. A lot of companies devote entire 1-hour interviews to discuss your independent projects. Live side projects show creativity, ownership, unambiguous hard technical skills, curiosity, well-roundedness, ability to focus and make time to build stuff. Ability to conceive, design, execute and grow your app solo is a non-commodity skill 

Level 5 developer

Become a truly autonomous developer who can ideate, design, build, launch, and grow their app on their own.

Worst case scenario

Your app doesn't get traction, but you acquired new hard technical skills, improved your resume, and made new friends.

Average case scenario

Your app has a moderate traction, but you got a higher paying job at the end of the program.

Best case scenario

Your app consistently brings you sufficient income with minimal efforts on your end (more efforts and updates → more revenue) + you get a six-figure job at your dream company.

"There’s never been a better time to launch a digital product". -@naval

Apply