CareerFoundry

I came from an unrelated field so I did not have much experience in the UX field. But chose Career Foundry as the course "guaranteed a job or my money back". I spent around £2500 and to be honest I feel I could have used that money in a better way in trying to change careers.

The course itself seemed well structured and my mentor was helpful. At the end of the 6 months I had one project to show for my work which I could use when applying for jobs. There is a smaller short course that focuses on 'career change' and I was only able to complete 9/10 modules due to other restrictions on my time.

After I completed the course I spent 6 months applying for jobs but found the process extremely difficult. I did not even receive one interview after the coaching and help from careerfoundry. I think most people who find success come from a related field like design or programming. I made a request for a refund but the conditions for a refund are extremely stringent, I later found out and the request was denied.

Pros:

• Well structured syllabus which moved at a decent pace.
• Mentors are helpful (Well my mentor was).

Cons:

• There is no special job board, I received one link to a job but it was completely inappropriate.
• After graduation you will only have one complete project – so the course places an emphasis on self-learning and creating your own projects. This made me think I could've self-learnt the whole course and created my own projects.
• There is a lot of emphasis on linkedin and networking to find a job. This made me question why I did the course if this was the best way to get a job.

My advice

If I could do this again, I would learn UX design from Udemy or Lynda, then learn how to network to get a job. You'll save a lot more money.

I've started with the Certified UX Designer course october last year, and am now working as a (junior) UX Designer at a design agency in Berlin - even before I finished my course!

I had some doubts before booking this course, as it's quite an investment and I did not have any experience with online schools. I didn't think they could offer real value but thank god - I was wrong!

Studying at Careerfoundry is the best decision I've made so far - the things you learn are really hands-on, you're working on portfolio pieces and you don't have to reads dozens of books or study for exams. My tutor Allison was great in guiding my throughout the course: she gave extensive, helpful and motivation feedback within hours after sending in exercises and would always go an extra mile if I needed more support. The same goes for my mentor Pia, who supported me with finding a UX job and helped me prepare for the job interview (with success!) The support of your tutor and mentor is what makes Careerfoundry so special - you have professionals guiding you.
 

The curriculum is pretty straight forward: you're designing an app following the Design Thinking Process. The course exists of 6 Achievements with around 25-30 exercises per Achievement. Some exercises are more theoretical and teach you about the basics of psychology, other exercises are more technical and show you how to work with all relevant tools in the field. 

At times, the course can be pretty demanding - especially when you're working fulltime. Expect to spend at least 10-15 hours a week on the course - yet in the end it will all be worth it!

When I took the course I already had many years of experience in Graphic/Web design so some contents weren't new for me. I took it because I wanted to gain more knowledge on UX design and also have the academic trainee and the official certification. The first part of the course was the most interesting, it's focused on UX thinking, business goals, competitor analysis, usability, prototypes, etc... 

Then we started with wireframes, user flows, visual design and google analytics. This second part was something I already knew so I didn't took much advantage of it. But if you are a beginner, it will be useful. 

It took me almost 3 months to finish the course and I spent around 3-4 hours per day (every day you have a different subject so you have to go through the content and then complete the assignment). You will have a mentor and you can ask him/her everything you need, that’s pretty cool. 

The course worth the money. In 3 months you will have an good overview, create a connection with your mentor and you will create a project for your portfolio that will help you to get your first job in UX. 

I have decided to switch from social pedagogy to a completely new topic, UX Design, and it was one of the best decisions that I´ve made in the past few years. I took the course in January 2017 and have finished it in June. It was a great experience that has opened the whole new way in my career.

Career Foundry has fulfilled all my hopes and wishes related to (1) professional support on my learning path, (2) learning topics that a UX designer needs to know, (3) taking a good course that would support me on all the way from learning to getting a job. 

(1) The support from my tutor and mentor during the course was great. Their feedback to my work was relevant and helpful.

(2) I really liked the way in which the content was presented. It was interesting and easy to consume. So, I really had a fun time learning new stuff.

(3) Unfortunately, I didn´t have time to finish the Job Preparation Course, as I already started working on my own startup with some friends. But in the end, I still got a job in a digital agency and can say that the Career Foundry gave me a solid background on which I can now build even more skills and knowledge from real work experience.

I started the UX Immersion programme with specialisation in UI in October, and finished last month. My experience with CF has been very, very good! 

I decided to switch careers, with a background in Business Management and Marketing. I found the course itself to be challenging enough without being overwhelming, and having access to support of my tutor (Allison), mentor (Pia), and the awesome people in the Slack group. That sort of support is really necessary when you're doing an online course, that too about a field that you don't have much previous knowledge about. 

The exercises and tasks themselves were very clearly explained, with just enough focus on theory and more on the practical aspect of things. Each lecture provides and extensive list of additional reading materials if you want to learn more about a topic you like. The tutors and mentors challenged me to produce my best work, which did get frustrating at times, but in a good way! The portfolio review at the end of each "achievement" really helps in putting all the work that you've done into perspective from a portfolio-point-of-view. They encourage and train you to not only work like a designer, but to think like a designer, which goes a long way! Now they've updated the curriculum with video tutorials and quizzes, which adds to the 'gamification' of the entire course, and will make it more dynamic and fun! 

The career counsellors are, as with the tutors and mentors, readily available to help prepare for CV/cover letter building, portfolio feedback, job interviews, or any other job-related queries you might have. I've been working with Mike, and he's been a great help! I would highly, highly recommend this course to anyone thinking of going into this field and willing to put in the effort. 

Challenging:

• My mentor was frequently traveling/in a different time zone, so it was sometimes hard to reach him, and I didn't always get timely feedback.
• Some instructions weren't written very clearly, but CareerFoundry has been making improvements both to the course content and assignments based on student feedback.
• No location-based job assistance

Satisfying:

• My tutor was top-notch--quick to answer questions and review work.
• The course does a good job presenting the material for a career-changer--I learned a lot!
• The Career Advisors are knowledgable and helpful.
• Very supportive community on Slack

I was a little sad after finishing the course because I enjoyed my time as a student.  The course format is great when working full-time.  I could work ahead on the assignments or spend more time on others (there were no assignment deadlines).  And I was able to move on the next section without having to wait for my tutor/mentor's evaluation.  Overall, it was a worthwhile experience!

This cource provided a great jumping point for learning web development. As compared to free programs that are out there, this provided a much more "start-to-finish" view of development. The price was affordable, and if you aren't looking for something that will land you six figures straight out the gates, this is a great program. I was looking to add to existing skills vs learning a whole new career, and the course provided what I needed. 

Pros: Price tag, great overview "start-to-finish," 

Cons: Course materials were mostly written, some lessons basically tell you what to do vs finding a way to make you think and find a solution, tutor/mentor feedback was often the same, telling me what to do vs giving me a tiny hint and allowing me to find the answers, difficult time connecting with other students (this is likely inherent of ANY online program, not specific to CF). 

I recently completed CareerFoundry’s 6 month UI/UX course and received a job offer about 3 months afterwards. It enabled me to achieve my goal of changing my career trajectory. I was already working as a traditional graphic designer, but had been wanting to do more UX/UI work and CF helped make that a reality. I was so pleased from beginning to end. 

The course is very well laid-out and paced appropriately. I worked hard, but was able to complete it while still working full time. Expect a minimum of 15hrs each week, more if you want to get the most out of it. It was worth every penny. 

CF pairs you with 2 mentors, one who you work with weekly, and another who reviews your final unit assignments, of which there are about 6. This pairing works really well so that you get multiple viewpoints. They also have numerous active slack channels setup for student communication which really help if you take advantage of them. It was always great to get feedback from students around the globe. I live in New Jersey, USA, but often communicated with students on the opposite side of the globe. I also like that CF is constantly re-evaluating the course and making tweaks to improve it. 

The tail end of the course is set up towards completing your online portfolio, which is really key. It is not an afterthought, or something you are left to do on your own. That alone is priceless. I went back and forth with each mentor honing it, along with my resume, until I felt it was “ready” to show to prospective employers. It paid off. 

Once my portfolio was ready, CF has many job placement specialists who help you prepare and also have industry contacts. They were able to connect me with a few NYC firms and I was off and running. 

I highly recommend CF! You will not regret it!

It's now been more than six months since I went through the UI Design course and I can honestly say that I totally regret it. Although the instructors were great, the curriculum and the job assistance left a lot to be desired.

  First for the good. You are assigned a tutor and a mentor. The tutor looks at your smaller projects and gives you feedback and the mentor gives you detailed feedback on the larger projects. My tutor and mentor were both great. They gave me a lot of helpful feedback and I learned a lot about design from both of them.   The written curriculum was another matter. It was badly written and hard to read. I had to read it out loud to follow what was written (not typical for me) and I had to rewrite a lot of the sentences to make them make any sense. There were a great many typos throughout which was, I think, a large part of the reason the text was hard to read. Both the UI Course and the Career Course desperately needed to be checked by an editor and a proofreader.   The job assistance was the worst part of the course. At the time I went through they said they would help you find a job you love within six months or they would refund your money. They seem to have amended that to just "find a job" since then which is probably for the best, especially if they have the same career advisors now that they had when I finished the course. My advisor basically told me it was unrealistic for me to get a job that I loved and that I would have to settle for something I probably wouldn't much like.    I ended up switching to another career advisor who was less gloomy but she was not anymore helpful. I am chronically ill so I need to work remotely. They weren't able to help me find remote work or to offer any guidance for finding freelance work. The only advice the career advisor offered for finding a freelance job was that I should know how long it takes me to finish a project so that I can offer a time estimate to clients. I knew that already anyway, but she didn't offer me any help or guidance for freelance work other than that.   I would not recommend that someone take this course if they think they'll actually need help getting a job. If you live in a big city or can relocate, it might be all right, but if you're like me and need to work from home they won't help you. They also have things set up so you probably can't get your money back. I wish I could. I regret taking the course. It did not help me to get any sort of job and I could really use the money I spent on their course because I'm broke. If you are in a good position to get a job already, they might be okay, but if you need help finding a career, look elsewhere. They may well just drop you as soon as you complete the course work the way that they dropped me.

Last year I took the leap and undertook a UX Design course with CareerFoundry. I'm so glad I made this choice and it was by far the best (also hardest) course I've ever done. It took me 9 months to complete and you have to be willing to put your all into it. I like the pratical element and each task built up to a final portfolio piece. The mentor and tutor support really is invaluable and you also get support after the course from the careers advisors. I've just landed my first UX role all thanks to the course and my final portfolio piece. I really couldn't be happier and can't recommend it enough!

(I had basic coding knoweldge and a little bit of iOS experience before beginning the course)

The CareerFoundry iOS Bootcamp helped take me from a beginner iOS Developer to paid professional.  Throughout the course you cover a wide range of iOS topics that when put together give you the tools to create tons of different apps.  I enjoyed taking the course online, at home, and at my own pace.  This allows you take more time on topics you struggle with, and less time with others. 

My mentor and career specialist were also instrumental in helping me pass the course and get a job.  They were always available, extremely helpful, and awesome throughout! 

I highly recommend CareerFoundry!