I did a bootcamp that guaranteed a job, but I was having trouble just getting an interview after submitting over a hundred resume. I had a good mentor who answered all of my questions, but I wasn't good at coming up ways to improve a website. All of our projects were to build an app or website from scratch. I know graduates who were able to get jobs and internships, but I felt very lost at how to proceed after completing the course.
I dropped out of a UX bootcamp and found a job a few months afterwards. These all just happened a few months ago so I actually have a lot to share on this topic. So from my job searching experience two things are really important that UX bootcamp grads usually don’t have : launched projects and visual skills. Due to the bad economy and the competitiveness of junior positions, it’s almost impossible to land a job w/ cookie-cutter case studies. Almost junior positions require 3 YOE and hiring managers really care about impact,business metrics and cross-functional working experience. This does not mean that bootcamp is bad in any ways, but one really shouldn’t be expecting a job right after bootcamp. Instead, be prepared for 3months -a year of freelance/ internships after bootcamp. And the other thing I found was that bootcamp( at least for the one I tried) keep telling me that UX is not UI so visual skills don’t matter. But I found out later that a lot of companies rejected me and my friends because we « lack visual skills ». So I would say that unless you can get into a big company which is probably gonna be super hard without exceptional academic and professional background, visual skills do matter a lot for small companies/ startups
Thank you for sharing! Fair point, when it comes to startups and agencies, because they require you to wear multiple hats, and they want you to make an impact/start working ASAP. And they usually work at a fast pace/environment that will sometime overlook the ux process (especially discovery/research), unless it's a place that really values ux design and knows what it really is.
Thank you so much for your comment! Would you mind sharing any tips on creating a good case study (I've been referring to youtube video these days- not sure if I'm doing it right) & improving visual skills? (& for visual skills- do you mean the aesthetics of the UI? Or do you mean the illustration skills, graphic design skills, etc. using adobe photoshop/illustrator/etc.?)
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y so for great portfolio, go on bestfolios to pick the ones you think that are great.. and it really boils down to whether you are presenting case studies w/ problems that are worth solving, and you have convinced the audience that you have managed to solve them with your design. I think bootcamp portfolios are too cookie-cutter because they don't really think hard about why they need each step, e.g., why do I need to see these sketches, personas, user journey? How do these relate to your solutions? I will get back to you on visual skills and freelance work tmrrw
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y for visuals, it’s about 1). Understanding the industry standard for UI. Would recommend study all the famous design system really diligently and try to copy all the well designed sites/ app 2). Learn the trends, eg glassmorphism, skeuomorphism, different glows etc… try to implement them in your design3). Although graphic design is not a must, try to understand the principles and learn Adobe Suite. A lot of companies do require that
I'm working on the Google Certificate for UX right now and it's also pretty clear for this that there's no vetting process. We have to do peer-reviewed projects and unfortunately most of the projects I've seen have been rough... And I'm just talking about simple formatting stuff. Various out-of-place font sizes, half of the page is cut off, text floating outside the borders of text boxes, etc
I took a quiz on a certain bootcamp site to see what the recommended course was. They proceeded to call me everyday multiple times until I had to block the number lol
I’m getting into UX/UI now with the google certificate course for a potential career change and have heard all about the state of boot camps today. The way I see it is hopefully things have changed a bit in terms of hiring when I’m confident enough with my skills at a later date. Would you recommend a bootcamp if it provides real world work experience? I understand a certificate alone will never get me hired, especially today, but perhaps having real work on my portfolio may? Maybe working with mentors, career coaches, and fellow students expands the networking pooI? I believe springboard offers real work with businesses at the end of the course but I’m stuck somewhere between discouraged with bootcamps and feeling as if my only realistic chance at real experience is through a bootcamp. What are your thoughts?
i did do a short 3m course and now in the field for 1.5years. Can confirm, these courses and expensive bootcamps do NOT teach u the real important things on being a ux designer. also, so many recruiters actively avoid bootcampers and have a negative association
Hello, thank you for your information and it’s very helpful, can you please recommend which bootcamp is better to study ? Which boot camp you attended? Thank you!
This was a good informative video. I opted for the Google course since it was the more financially viable option for me. I’m almost done with my portfolio and would love to get a honest critique session going. Is the best way to contact you about that through super peer?
I think we did the same program. I actually thought it was the best boot camp given the length and immersive aspects! They have since sunset the program and switched to a shorter, online only version which I’m sure is not nearly as good.
I’m actually enrolled in a small bootcamp that seems really similar to the one you completed. It’s called Avocademy and they do all of the things that you mentioned as far as real world case studies (they have clients that the students work on their projects in order to form two more case studies after the introductory student chosen case study is completed). It’s also two fold and there is an application process and you have to be admitted into the second “career jumpstart” phase. It’s worth looking into if you’re one who isn’t afraid of hard work and is committed to becoming an actual working UX designer. Great video man ✌🏽😎
Tl;Dr - I agree with the article. I think bootcamps (at least designlab) are a scam and you can be a successful designer with easy to find free resources. I went with DesignLab and, as a bootcamp graduate, I would say it's not worth it. For $7000 it was a lot of readings that can be found on TH-cam, Medium, etc. for free. The only plus was the mentorship (which could be a negative if you get a bad mentor) but things like adplist exist now. My mentors were great but many students complained and requested new ones. Currently entering month 4 of job hunting with only 2 interviews and +100 applications sent. I've been fine tuning my resume and portfolio with adplist mentors and volunteer work since I graduated. All the mentors and sr UXers I talked to outside designlab gave a lot of conflicting advice to what I was taught in the course. DesignLab has a job "guarantee" but it's full of rules that can easily disqualify you. When I started they advertised partner work but have since phased it out (their support gave me a long response that didn't really give a reason). So far I'm pretty sure I hit all the requirements for the reimbursement but let's see what happens after the 6 month mark. I know designlab alumni who got jobs within a month of graduating (some with -tbh- poor portfolios) and others still job hunting after a year (many with great portfolios). The projects are cookie cutter (thankfully my mentor let me slide a more unique case study in) and a bootcamp portfolio is easy to catch. Real work on your portfolio is much more valuable than those projects and you get the bonus perk of networking and collaborating. If I could go back, I wouldn't have done a bootcamp and instead network and chat with experienced designers. That and working on real projects. I feel if I invested the 6 months I spent in DL into that instead, I would have had better luck job hunting (if not already in a full-time UX role).
Do you have any tips on: 1. Finding volunteer work (ive googled a lot and applied to many organizations (mostly on democracylab) but most of them do not have additional projects to work on/do not even reply to me 😅) 2. Finding a good mentor on adplist 3. Networking? I really have no idea how to network.. ive been asking a bunch of questions to designers ive found on the internet (e.g. reddit and youtube) but im not sure how exactly should I "connect" with other designers. Ive been sending connection requests to my school alumnis but most of them do not accept/reply 🥲🥲
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y for volunteer work - I've had good luck with Catchafire. But the projects might not be listed as "UX..." So read the project description under ones for "website redesign", "site audit", "accessibility", etc. For adplist - I filter for people by job titles or search for companies I would want to work for. When I find the mentor I check their reviews. If there mostly positive I request a chat. Networking is similar - I connect with people I'm interested in learning more from. When you connect don't send a generic message - personalize it with why you want to connect. Some of my connections came from adplist. Also discord channels for UX. Since this isn't my channel I don't want to promote a bunch of things lol.
@@brandonux Thank you!! I appreciate your help. Just one additional question- this might be a dumb question but how should I the connection? Like after I get to know them, how should I utilize that connection for my job search? I know I can ask them to refer me when their companies post a job, but is there anything I can do more about with it?
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y general questions and advice. For example one of my LinkedIn connections offered to schedule a call to review my portfolio. Also some adplist mentors directed me to public job postings I just missed before. A lot of my LinkedIn connections also post general articles a lot - it's starting to become my main social network with how much time I spend reading there.
You touched over everything, except what bootcamps teach you and what you should look for. Soft skills improve any worker, every job is made for people and done by people to benefit people that's a basic sociology concept. What is the knowledge, skills, tools used in UX UI bootcamps, which frameworks would prepare for your assigned tasks in a workplace, what are the demanding frameworks currently. You mention hard skills really don't matter, so any person with the right soft skills can work as a UX UI designer. Any person that positions or labels themselves as a UX UI designer and has those soft skills you repeat, would be amazing at there job? Would you hire a random UX UI designer with a great portfolio, great social skills, without knowing what tools they use or understand, without knowing their design skills, without making sure that the portfolio presented was actually made by them? Wesley I understand you were following the article, but I feel this doesn't substantially help me choose a bootcamp. Out of the things you mention that I consider somewhat helpful that I should look for in a bootcamp you don't explain how to achieve it: How do I get a mentor? How do I know if this bootcamp helps with soft skills you mention. Did you provide any resource? Did you mention more than one bootcamp either as a positive or negative example? I rarely comment negativity, I think there's enough online, but as Peter Griffins says - "This really grinds my gears."
Hi Carlos, thanks for sharing your perspective! I'd say it's impossible to cover everything you wanted in this particular video, as there's so much to understand and expand on. I'd encourage you to check out the rest of my channel, which I've attempted to cover most of what you brought up across multiple videos.
Got a question for you, as I'm genuinely curious about your bootcamp choice! Why does designlab look "promising" to you? What made you sign up for that bootcamp, above the others? Was it just because of the price or duration? Or are they offering you something that the other bootcamps do not? If so, is it a real-life client, is it real-time lectures, is it a mentor who helps you 3x a week? and how will that set me apart from other bootcamp graduates, when i finish and look for a job? I think these are the questions we have to ask ourselves when we're looking for the "right" bootcamp and why you're giving them your time and money. These are the questions that are hard for me to answer, as I look at all the bootcamps available. It feels like there's nothing that really differentiate each bootcamp from each other.
@@Georgelikestodesign I think there's a first part that's missing from your reply? And gotcha! Honestly I'm not the biggest fan of the "go-at-your-pace" model because you lose on the opportunity to go through the BootCamp together with other classmates. and that goes a long way, when it comes to having support and doing things as a community.
@@WesleyHongUX dang it im not sure why that didnt post ? Strange . Well ill re-type it all Essentially , when i asked about the real life projects, they mentioned that they did not do that because they want students to be able to say they worked on a project start to finish , because generally in ux you collaborate with several people and its hard to say which parts of the project you can truly take credit for . In total it is 4 projects. Each of them a different type (webpage , mobile app , Apple Watch app I believe , etc) As far as cost : 7500$ with the option to pay months after the program / take out loans (which to be honest , is half the price of general assembly and career foundry so that was nice ) So i forgot to mention that although its a go-at-your-own-pace model, youre not really allowed to fall a week behind. I think if youre doing the full time they have deadlines for projects and grading I asked about the mentors on a call and minimum is 3-5 years experience , and often times 6 or more . You meet with mentors 1x a week and it is mandatory that you dont miss more than 1 meeting without approval. You have access to a discord channel with tons of other students in your cohort as well . Lastly there is career services which lasts 6 months of meeting every week with mentor to walk you through the job app process . They claim a 75% hiring rate
I did a bootcamp that guaranteed a job, but I was having trouble just getting an interview after submitting over a hundred resume. I had a good mentor who answered all of my questions, but I wasn't good at coming up ways to improve a website. All of our projects were to build an app or website from scratch. I know graduates who were able to get jobs and internships, but I felt very lost at how to proceed after completing the course.
I dropped out of a UX bootcamp and found a job a few months afterwards. These all just happened a few months ago so I actually have a lot to share on this topic. So from my job searching experience two things are really important that UX bootcamp grads usually don’t have : launched projects and visual skills. Due to the bad economy and the competitiveness of junior positions, it’s almost impossible to land a job w/ cookie-cutter case studies. Almost junior positions require 3 YOE and hiring managers really care about impact,business metrics and cross-functional working experience. This does not mean that bootcamp is bad in any ways, but one really shouldn’t be expecting a job right after bootcamp. Instead, be prepared for 3months -a year of freelance/ internships after bootcamp. And the other thing I found was that bootcamp( at least for the one I tried) keep telling me that UX is not UI so visual skills don’t matter. But I found out later that a lot of companies rejected me and my friends because we « lack visual skills ». So I would say that unless you can get into a big company which is probably gonna be super hard without exceptional academic and professional background, visual skills do matter a lot for small companies/ startups
Thank you for sharing!
Fair point, when it comes to startups and agencies, because they require you to wear multiple hats, and they want you to make an impact/start working ASAP. And they usually work at a fast pace/environment that will sometime overlook the ux process (especially discovery/research), unless it's a place that really values ux design and knows what it really is.
Thank you so much for your comment! Would you mind sharing any tips on creating a good case study (I've been referring to youtube video these days- not sure if I'm doing it right) & improving visual skills? (& for visual skills- do you mean the aesthetics of the UI? Or do you mean the illustration skills, graphic design skills, etc. using adobe photoshop/illustrator/etc.?)
Also, how do you find freelance work?
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y so for great portfolio, go on bestfolios to pick the ones you think that are great.. and it really boils down to whether you are presenting case studies w/ problems that are worth solving, and you have convinced the audience that you have managed to solve them with your design. I think bootcamp portfolios are too cookie-cutter because they don't really think hard about why they need each step, e.g., why do I need to see these sketches, personas, user journey? How do these relate to your solutions? I will get back to you on visual skills and freelance work tmrrw
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y for visuals, it’s about 1). Understanding the industry standard for UI. Would recommend study all the famous design system really diligently and try to copy all the well designed sites/ app 2). Learn the trends, eg glassmorphism, skeuomorphism, different glows etc… try to implement them in your design3). Although graphic design is not a must, try to understand the principles and learn Adobe Suite. A lot of companies do require that
I'm working on the Google Certificate for UX right now and it's also pretty clear for this that there's no vetting process. We have to do peer-reviewed projects and unfortunately most of the projects I've seen have been rough... And I'm just talking about simple formatting stuff. Various out-of-place font sizes, half of the page is cut off, text floating outside the borders of text boxes, etc
I did it and it’s pointless other than learning the foundations in the earlier courses.
I enjoyed listening to this one Wesley - really interesting conversation here!
Hi Alexa, thank you for watching! I'm a big fan of your content! Please keep creating and inspiring me and others!
Wow lots of insight! But also…that mic placement 😂
better than holding a clip on mic in the hand lolol
This is so true! Glad you did this video!
thank you sir🙏
I took a quiz on a certain bootcamp site to see what the recommended course was. They proceeded to call me everyday multiple times until I had to block the number lol
I’m getting into UX/UI now with the google certificate course for a potential career change and have heard all about the state of boot camps today. The way I see it is hopefully things have changed a bit in terms of hiring when I’m confident enough with my skills at a later date. Would you recommend a bootcamp if it provides real world work experience? I understand a certificate alone will never get me hired, especially today, but perhaps having real work on my portfolio may? Maybe working with mentors, career coaches, and fellow students expands the networking pooI? I believe springboard offers real work with businesses at the end of the course but I’m stuck somewhere between discouraged with bootcamps and feeling as if my only realistic chance at real experience is through a bootcamp. What are your thoughts?
i did do a short 3m course and now in the field for 1.5years. Can confirm, these courses and expensive bootcamps do NOT teach u the real important things on being a ux designer. also, so many recruiters actively avoid bootcampers and have a negative association
Hello, thank you for your information and it’s very helpful, can you please recommend which bootcamp is better to study ? Which boot camp you attended? Thank you!
This was a good informative video. I opted for the Google course since it was the more financially viable option for me. I’m almost done with my portfolio and would love to get a honest critique session going. Is the best way to contact you about that through super peer?
Thank you for watching! And yes, Superpeer is where you can schedule a time with me. Looking forward to it!
superpeer.com/whhong92
@@WesleyHongUX I should be done with my portfolio in the next few weeks, will keep you updated!
I think we did the same program. I actually thought it was the best boot camp given the length and immersive aspects! They have since sunset the program and switched to a shorter, online only version which I’m sure is not nearly as good.
If its Designation, hello fellow alumni =)
I’m actually enrolled in a small bootcamp that seems really similar to the one you completed. It’s called Avocademy and they do all of the things that you mentioned as far as real world case studies (they have clients that the students work on their projects in order to form two more case studies after the introductory student chosen case study is completed). It’s also two fold and there is an application process and you have to be admitted into the second “career jumpstart” phase. It’s worth looking into if you’re one who isn’t afraid of hard work and is committed to becoming an actual working UX designer. Great video man ✌🏽😎
Those real-client experiences will definitely give you a leg-up, amongst the others!
Best of luck with Avocademy!
How’s the journey thus far? Are you done with finals// job hunting ?
Been awhile, how was the bootcamp? Have you decided to do the career jumpstart program?
Tl;Dr - I agree with the article. I think bootcamps (at least designlab) are a scam and you can be a successful designer with easy to find free resources.
I went with DesignLab and, as a bootcamp graduate, I would say it's not worth it. For $7000 it was a lot of readings that can be found on TH-cam, Medium, etc. for free. The only plus was the mentorship (which could be a negative if you get a bad mentor) but things like adplist exist now. My mentors were great but many students complained and requested new ones.
Currently entering month 4 of job hunting with only 2 interviews and +100 applications sent. I've been fine tuning my resume and portfolio with adplist mentors and volunteer work since I graduated. All the mentors and sr UXers I talked to outside designlab gave a lot of conflicting advice to what I was taught in the course.
DesignLab has a job "guarantee" but it's full of rules that can easily disqualify you. When I started they advertised partner work but have since phased it out (their support gave me a long response that didn't really give a reason). So far I'm pretty sure I hit all the requirements for the reimbursement but let's see what happens after the 6 month mark.
I know designlab alumni who got jobs within a month of graduating (some with -tbh- poor portfolios) and others still job hunting after a year (many with great portfolios). The projects are cookie cutter (thankfully my mentor let me slide a more unique case study in) and a bootcamp portfolio is easy to catch. Real work on your portfolio is much more valuable than those projects and you get the bonus perk of networking and collaborating.
If I could go back, I wouldn't have done a bootcamp and instead network and chat with experienced designers. That and working on real projects. I feel if I invested the 6 months I spent in DL into that instead, I would have had better luck job hunting (if not already in a full-time UX role).
Wow thank you so much for your comment! Really helped
Do you have any tips on:
1. Finding volunteer work (ive googled a lot and applied to many organizations (mostly on democracylab) but most of them do not have additional projects to work on/do not even reply to me 😅)
2. Finding a good mentor on adplist
3. Networking? I really have no idea how to network.. ive been asking a bunch of questions to designers ive found on the internet (e.g. reddit and youtube) but im not sure how exactly should I "connect" with other designers. Ive been sending connection requests to my school alumnis but most of them do not accept/reply 🥲🥲
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y for volunteer work - I've had good luck with Catchafire. But the projects might not be listed as "UX..." So read the project description under ones for "website redesign", "site audit", "accessibility", etc.
For adplist - I filter for people by job titles or search for companies I would want to work for. When I find the mentor I check their reviews. If there mostly positive I request a chat.
Networking is similar - I connect with people I'm interested in learning more from. When you connect don't send a generic message - personalize it with why you want to connect. Some of my connections came from adplist. Also discord channels for UX. Since this isn't my channel I don't want to promote a bunch of things lol.
@@brandonux Thank you!! I appreciate your help. Just one additional question- this might be a dumb question but how should I the connection? Like after I get to know them, how should I utilize that connection for my job search? I know I can ask them to refer me when their companies post a job, but is there anything I can do more about with it?
@@user-vk2ei5ze4y general questions and advice. For example one of my LinkedIn connections offered to schedule a call to review my portfolio. Also some adplist mentors directed me to public job postings I just missed before. A lot of my LinkedIn connections also post general articles a lot - it's starting to become my main social network with how much time I spend reading there.
You touched over everything, except what bootcamps teach you and what you should look for. Soft skills improve any worker, every job is made for people and done by people to benefit people that's a basic sociology concept. What is the knowledge, skills, tools used in UX UI bootcamps, which frameworks would prepare for your assigned tasks in a workplace, what are the demanding frameworks currently. You mention hard skills really don't matter, so any person with the right soft skills can work as a UX UI designer. Any person that positions or labels themselves as a UX UI designer and has those soft skills you repeat, would be amazing at there job? Would you hire a random UX UI designer with a great portfolio, great social skills, without knowing what tools they use or understand, without knowing their design skills, without making sure that the portfolio presented was actually made by them? Wesley I understand you were following the article, but I feel this doesn't substantially help me choose a bootcamp. Out of the things you mention that I consider somewhat helpful that I should look for in a bootcamp you don't explain how to achieve it: How do I get a mentor? How do I know if this bootcamp helps with soft skills you mention. Did you provide any resource? Did you mention more than one bootcamp either as a positive or negative example? I rarely comment negativity, I think there's enough online, but as Peter Griffins says - "This really grinds my gears."
Hi Carlos, thanks for sharing your perspective! I'd say it's impossible to cover everything you wanted in this particular video, as there's so much to understand and expand on.
I'd encourage you to check out the rest of my channel, which I've attempted to cover most of what you brought up across multiple videos.
I wonder what your (or other current students ) thoughts are on designlab ...looks promising and I'm starting in a month
Got a question for you, as I'm genuinely curious about your bootcamp choice!
Why does designlab look "promising" to you? What made you sign up for that bootcamp, above the others? Was it just because of the price or duration? Or are they offering you something that the other bootcamps do not?
If so, is it a real-life client, is it real-time lectures, is it a mentor who helps you 3x a week? and how will that set me apart from other bootcamp graduates, when i finish and look for a job?
I think these are the questions we have to ask ourselves when we're looking for the "right" bootcamp and why you're giving them your time and money.
These are the questions that are hard for me to answer, as I look at all the bootcamps available. It feels like there's nothing that really differentiate each bootcamp from each other.
@@WesleyHongUX and also , no the lectures are not real -time , rather a go at your own pace (full time = 3 months / part time 6-8 months)
@@Georgelikestodesign I think there's a first part that's missing from your reply?
And gotcha! Honestly I'm not the biggest fan of the "go-at-your-pace" model because you lose on the opportunity to go through the BootCamp together with other classmates. and that goes a long way, when it comes to having support and doing things as a community.
@@WesleyHongUX dang it im not sure why that didnt post ? Strange . Well ill re-type it all
Essentially , when i asked about the real life projects, they mentioned that they did not do that because they want students to be able to say they worked on a project start to finish , because generally in ux you collaborate with several people and its hard to say which parts of the project you can truly take credit for . In total it is 4 projects. Each of them a different type (webpage , mobile app , Apple Watch app I believe , etc)
As far as cost : 7500$ with the option to pay months after the program / take out loans (which to be honest , is half the price of general assembly and career foundry so that was nice )
So i forgot to mention that although its a go-at-your-own-pace model, youre not really allowed to fall a week behind. I think if youre doing the full time they have deadlines for projects and grading
I asked about the mentors on a call and minimum is 3-5 years experience , and often times 6 or more .
You meet with mentors 1x a week and it is mandatory that you dont miss more than 1 meeting without approval.
You have access to a discord channel with tons of other students in your cohort as well .
Lastly there is career services which lasts 6 months of meeting every week with mentor to walk you through the job app process . They claim a 75% hiring rate
@@Georgelikestodesign WOWOW, thank you for sharing, super insightful!