Springboard

Towards the end of 2018, I was looking for a UX bootcamp to make the career pivot. After digging around, I decided to join Springboard's (SB) UX Career Track because with the job guarantee in place and affordable tuition, I felt reassured that it would be the quickest and efficient means to get into a new industry. 

Now that I'm done, I believe this was one of the wisest decisions I've made. What I liked the most about SB is that it is designed to be very resource-conscious, and even though they are an online program, you actually get a lot of one-to-one/real-life interaction. They are genuinely invested in your learning and success, and everyone I've engaged with through the SB network—from the administrative staff to mentors to fellow coursemates—are really smart and supportive individuals. You don't get the impression that they are just "running a business" or scheming to milk your every dime. The entire experience was very human.

The curriculum is also very thoughtfully designed. Even though at first I thought the idea of "curated content" rather than "original content" may be a downside, I have come to appreciate it. Because we are reading materials written by multiple people on similar subject matters, I have a better feel of the overall disciplinary discussions out there, and I feel like the knowledge is something I could confidently fall back on.

Even though this is an online/remote program, I am glad to see that over time SB is investing in more in-person activities and interactions, such as onsite community events. One of the three projects we had to complete was an industry design project (IDP) where we get paired with a start-up to do real client work. My student advisor, Dave Weiner (Hi Dave...), thoughtfully paired me up with a company that works with education, since I came from academia myself. The office of the start-up was also located really close to where I live, so I actually got to visit the office and meet the team in real life. Because of this human thoughtfulness, the whole internship experience unfolded much more smoothly and successfully, and in the end, I got hired back as full-time staff without having to go through endless rounds of resume (re)writing, etc.

The fact that the industry project turned into a real full-time position really helped me get the foot in the door (which is the hardest step really), so I don't take it lightly. But even without that luck, I do believe that in the current product job market, having real work experience is more important than learning of any shape and form, so having the IDP as one of the units was a huge advantage. Hopefully, SB will continue to invest in the IDP/internship program and expand their professional network, so that more students can continue to benefit.

Overall, I had a very nice experience with SpringBoard. The most useful resources to me are my career coach and mentor. 

My career coach is extremely supportive, and helped me throughout my interview process, and always gave me very prompt replies. Big thanks!

My (2nd) mentor is very patient, knowledgable and supportive. Always thinking from my perspective, and sharing all he knows about a problem. 

SpringBoard is also very supportive when I had to switch mentor two months into my program. I think it is worth the effort to find someone that is suitable for your background and situation. Don't settle down with someone you don't feel comfortable.

SpringBoard administation and student advisor team are also very responsive everytime I need help. 

One thing that may require improvement is the course material, which appears to be a big collection of online videos and articles. So after going through, I would not treat it as a structured course like from school, but rather a big libary with most things about data science up to now. The good thing is that I provides me a complete picture of what are the things available and need to know. But some people may feel overwhelmed if they try to completely read everything, and lose focus. My advice is that feel free to skip and bookmark some of them (most of them are free online materials that you can always access), but just be aware that they exist and come back when you really need them. 

I took weeks in deciding which bootcamp to choose from. I looked at Careerfoundry, General Assembly, Designlab, and Springboard. 
I ultimately chose Sprinboard because they had a special offer for the UX Essentials Course. 
I was skeptical because of other reviews that I had read about Springboard. 

The course is mostly made up of content that you could find on the web. At first, I was skeptical about it, but what worked well (in my opinion) is how they structured the content to provide a thorough understanding of the UX Design process. 

I had a couple of months learning on my own about UX Design, and needed the structure that Springboard provided. 

The Springboard team is AMAZING! They responded very quickly and professionally that I would definitely take another course from them for their customer service! 

My mentor provided insight into every project and any questions that I might have. At times, we would also have discussions on topics unrelated to the bootcamp, but still related to the field. 

I would definitely recommend Springboard for anyone interested in taking their first steps into UX Design. 

SpringBoard is an ideal bootcamp for many reasons. There are flexible payment options, the course is entirely online, and there is tons of support from the large community and network of mentors. The curriculum uses many different resources to keep things fresh, exposes you to many different data science methodologies, and has two capstone project. The capstone projects were my favorite part of the bootcamp, as they were where I was able to learn best, bringing everything I had learned together for a problem that I got to choose. Overall a wonderful learning experience.

UPDATE (Got a job!)

This is the absolute best UX bootcamp you will find for the price and quality.  I found contract work 2 months after applying for jobs and continue to receive career support as I look for full-time positions.  I was also able to complete the course in half the time for half the price.   If your curious about how to complete the track super fast and efficiently please DM me - andrew.hopkins.d@gmail.com - I'd be happy to send you some lessons learned or answer questions :)  Feel free invite me on LinkedIn or view my portfolio there to gauge what you might come out with: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-hopkins-53052a114/ 

REVIEW

I thoroughly researched all of the other options before entering into this track, this one's the best.  Other bootcamps charge $10,000+ for coursework that teaches the same principles over the same length of time.  Additionally, springboard comes with a straight-forward job guarantee.  

The quality of the course material is excellent.  I’m an avid learner and have taken many online courses through community colleges and state colleges.  The amount of knowledge you gain and support you get from springboard makes universities look slow, petty, wasteful, unresourceful, and greedy.  Much of the course material is drawn from online sources, but this is now common practice in higher academia.  The coursework is highly informative and of sound quality (rivaling and surpassing the quality of a HCI course I took at PSU for example).  

What’s more, at the end of the career track you will also have a portfolio and a website platform to showcase all your work - critiqued by senior designer to make sure it looks right. And a CV and cover letter that is evaluated by those same designers.  You also get a weekly one-on-one mentor throughout the length of the course.  My mentor, Ciarda, tailored every session to my needs, was efficient beyond compare, and was always accessible.  You can also schedule help from additional mentors whenever you need.  

Finally, the administration of springboard is flexible, personable, and does right by its students.  I had the intention to complete the 6-month track within 3-months (I was on the month-to-month payment option so this would make the course $2,000 less for me).  There were a few set-backs that pushed me a couple days past this deadline.  The career track manager, Dave, very kindly worked with me through the obstacles to make sure everything worked out fairly. 

Going into it, I was worried a bootcamp might just be another form of degree-mill.  The company isn’t about extorting students for money, but really wants to empower students to learn and earn a good name doing so.  Way to go!  I’ll likely be coming back for the AI/Machine Learning track once I get my Python up to speed :)