The endless innovation in our digital world continues to transform millions of lives and provide delightful experiences to our once mundane tasks such as going to 7–11 and picking up snacks — yep, there is now an app for that.

Behind every engaging experience is a talented and adept team of designers simplifying every step of the journey. Product Design, UI/UX, UX, or whatever you want to call it, will continue to become a popular career choice following the increase in demand for meaningful experiences. That is at least until superhuman AI takes our jobs, but we still have a few years (hopefully). Flocks of aspiring designers hoping to break into this profession have brought about the rise of schooling opportunities to obtain such desirable skills as well as some inevitable hurdles.

The trend of simplifying our lives with digital products is still young and budding with innovation pioneered by inventive entrepreneurs striving to build the next revolutionary product. The influx of new, what I’ll be referring to as UX designers, into the tech space has created a mix of diversity amongst digital products as well as a melting pot of various cultures and educational backgrounds in the industry. As someone who works in the UX space, I couldn’t be more thrilled to see so many newcomers excited about the industry and working to develop their skills.

UX and UX boot camps are here to stay so the question is, are they worth your big bucks?

I’ve written a few articles about my unique story of how I got into UX — I had a somewhat unconventional path. I was an illustrator, graphic designer, website builder, founder, and caricature artist before I even knew what UX meant.

My multiple transitions within the design space would look like Lombard Street if it were a road.

I won’t bore you with my autobiography, because like I said, I’ve written about it a lot. The important part of my story is that I have no formal education. I dropped out of business school after completing only one year and never attended a UX boot camp or anything of the sort, but I’ve somehow found my way into the UX space. The closest thing I had to education was an internship that even my manager at the time told me I was over-qualified for. Despite my lack of training, I managed to land a full-time gig as a product designer at Skookum, a digital product consulting company.

Often I’m asked by eager newcomers who’ve read my articles, “should I go to boot camp to become a UX designer?” There is no simple answer to this question. I believe you’re the only person who can answer that question for yourself — there is no one-size-fits-all approach or formula for success in UX. What worked for me might not work for you and vice versa.

I have not attended the User Experience Design Immersive, but I’ve called upon a few people that I know who’ve taken the course at General Assembly to provide me with insights on whether it’s a worthwhile investment or not. My attempt to offer a rounded picture of both sides led me to interview two GA graduates and two current students at GA.

Who should take the UXDI course?

If you’re a complete beginner, then ask yourself: Why do I want to become a UX designer? If you answer that you want to make big bucks and work in an office that has a ping pong table, then save your money. However, if you genuinely have a passion for designing memorable and unique experiences (and you want to make big bucks and have a ping pong table in your office), then UX and possibly GA’s UXDI might be a fit for you.

GA won’t turn someone who doesn’t have the chops into a designer in 10-weeks, it’s merely a starting point for one’s education. It should be seen as the beginning of your education — not the final step. GA can provide students with the foundations of design thinking to build off of, but it’s important to remember that UX is a continually evolving field that requires constant learning.

Being held accountable helps you get things done

Elyza, a student in the current cohort at GA mentioned that “the structure is great — to have some someone tell you once a week for ten weeks to work on your resume, do your LinkedIn, apply for jobs, go to networking events, here’s what you should be saying if you get an interview… whereas if I was trying to do this on my own it would be very easy for me to be like, ah, next week.”

Everyone can benefit from accountability and encouragement from peers, especially when breaking into an unfamiliar profession. The alternative is learning these skills on your own through reading, online courses, personal projects, etc. When you’re in a cohort of eager newcomers, it’s often easier to stay motivated as a group since you’re all on the same mission of becoming designers.

Not only will you be accountable to yourself but also to your group members and clients that GA brings in for the final project. When you’re part of a team with a common goal working to solve a problem, you have more to lose than merely your investment in the course. This level of accountability can make or break people. If you find that you work well under pressure and collaborating with other team members, then GA could be a fit for your personality type.

When I’m working on a project for a client at my company, I’m accountable to my team, my company, my client, and myself. GA provides the foundations necessary to promote the collaborative aspects of design as well as establish the essential skills required when working on a team.

If you thrive in a classroom environment

UXDI meets five days a week from 9 am to 5 pm for ten weeks. GA also offers evening and online classes, but I’m focusing primarily on their 10-week intensive.

Emma, a graduate from BrainStation, mentioned that two girls from her class dropped out because the course overly stressed them. She remarked “you won’t pass the course if you don’t get 70% and it’s a lot of work constantly. Everyone in my class was working unsustainably and [we all] needed a break when we graduated.” Emma also notes that “[success in boot camp] is less about [what design background] you’re coming from and more about your perseverance, determination, and work ethic.”

GA also has an attendance requirement — “to be able to put it on the resume that you graduated from GA, you have to be able to make it to X number of classes” Elyza points out.

I’m an inherent autodidact and have never done well in the classroom. I didn’t enjoy high school classes one bit, and I dropped out of college the first chance I got. Someone like me wouldn’t magically be engaged and enthusiastic about going to class every day to learn UX. I probably wouldn’t be a UX designer if I were required to have a certification that could only be achieved through acquiring a traditional degree or schooling.

Hopefully, you know yourself well enough to determine if this is an environment where you will flourish or not. It’s not only a considerable time commitment, but long days in the classroom can be challenging both mentally and physically.

You like structure, being critiqued, and told what you don’t know

A classroom environment with a set agenda and 10-week curriculum provides the organization and structure that makes learning a new skill more approachable. When beginners sit down to learn UX for the first time, I can imagine they’re inundated with overwhelming jargon, programs, skills, etc. GA can provide a starting point for someone who’s not sure what it is that they don’t know or need to know to become a UX designer.

In addition to structure and a clear curriculum of learnings, GA helps build the soft skills that go along with being a designer. One of the critical skills associated with UX design is being able to empathize and understand other people’s perspectives and opinions.

“UX is a field that is all about interacting with other people,” Elyza said in our chat. She also mentioned that having the ability to interact with the two GA instructors and asking them about times that they’ve used certain methods or had to make specific decisions with clients was eye-opening for her.

Dayna, a recent graduate of UXDI, said: “I felt really supported and things that I didn’t know how to do my classmates [knew] or my teacher [would know].”

When I was getting started learning UX design, I didn’t have peers to provide me with constructive criticism, a necessary component of developing as a designer. Feedback comes in many forms while working at a UX job. You not only have to be seasoned with being receptive to feedback given by teammates, managers, clients, and users but also providing feedback appropriately.

EL Fox, a UX designer, and GA graduate provided her perspective on receiving feedback in her article about whether you should attend GA or not: “after the class completes each portfolio project, students present their work for feedback and critique. My instructors coached students to tell a compelling story about the evolution of their designs and to stay open to feedback. This turned out to be great interview prep, at least for portfolio reviews. I also used these presentations as the basis of the case studies I put in my portfolio. By the end of the course, I felt well prepared to discuss my work with inquisitive strangers.”

The benefits of GA

If you’ve decided that you enjoy going into a classroom every day, being held accountable, and a predictable course structure, then let’s discuss what set’s GA apart from the alternative routes.

Networking / Community

During my interview with the attendees of GA, they brought up multiple times how GA helps build a solid foundation for networking opportunities. At GA, students are connecting with other classmates, building relationships with companies that GA has partnered with, and attending networking events together.

Dayna mentioned that she’d taken an online class with Codecademy and had a much harder time due to the lack of social environment. “I felt very supported in person [and enjoyed] the community aspect — I think that the way to get hired in Denver is networking and this is the start of that network,” Dayna said. She’s absolutely right. I landed my job at Skookum by grabbing a coffee with a design manager, and my current intern got connected with me by doing the same. My company and thousands of others have generous referral bonuses and incentives, so it makes sense to be out networking and to follow up on those connections to land a job.

GA can help you get started with networking and ease you into something that can often be daunting to tackle on your own. “Even when doing the pre-work I was like this is all really good, and I’m digesting a lot of this, but man would I love to be able to talk to someone about this and have a conversation about it or discuss what the best practices are, what they found in their experience and have actual interaction” Elyza noted.

If building a network and finding people who are like-minded to you is something that sounds exciting then GA can be an ample starting point, but if networking isn’t for you, then I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. When it comes to networking, there are different strokes for different folks, different courses for different horses, different strains for different brains (ok probably not the last one but you get the point). Some people don’t enjoy networking or the constant need to interact with people to find jobs, and that’s ok. I can understand this outlook and empathize with it; it certainly is not required to go out and build a vast network to be successful in the UX field. I know plenty of seasoned designers who have impressive portfolios with extensive designs skills that live in cities where they know very few people and work for a company remotely.

Having UX abilities and being a master of your craft will pull more weight in the tech industry than merely meeting someone who is hiring at a networking event.

When I went into these interviews, I was under the impression that classmates would be somewhat competitive with each other because there are four graduating classes a year, and they’re all applying for the same jobs. However, Scott, a member of the most recent class of grads, reassured me, “I hope it’s not unique for just our cohort, but we’ve been getting each other jobs.” Dayna quickly agreed. It sounds like GA does a superb job of cultivating a collective growth space. In fact, competition is the opposite mindset, other classmates in GA aren’t seen as your contenders, but instead, GA encourages students to feel that your peers are going to be allies in your job hunt.

Classmates can help build your network by introducing you to people in their circle, which can lead to more job opportunities. Classmates can also push you to attend more networking events. Emma mentioned that she is aggressively extroverted, but several people in her cohort were on the introverted side, she said it was fantastic for her to see introverts teaming up with extroverts to go to meetups and networking events together.

Mentorship

Having a mentor is the difference between ‘I’m gonna do this thing’ and ‘let’s do this thing.’ A mentor can be instrumental in providing a less obstructed view of the bumpy road ahead, making the navigation to your destination much more manageable.

When I was starting my journey to a career in UX, I leaned heavily on digital mentors from YouTube, Medium, UX courses, etc. I didn’t have anyone telling me, “you can do it, Danny, you little bugger, you!” There were times when I felt overwhelmed or was browsing portfolios on Dribbble and felt discouraged. When I was feeling down or downright didn’t know how to do something, it was only me trying to amp myself back up or figure out the missing pieces of my UX knowledge.

When I asked Elyza about mentorship at GA, she said, “you’re signing up not just for the course but for two defacto mentors for ten weeks. I think for someone who is brand new to a field it can be really intimidating [to start on your own]. There’s a certain element of giving you the confidence to just go for it, [Our instructor] Nick, tells us all the time [when applying for jobs], yes they’re asking for a few years of experience but apply anyways.” Dayna chimed in, “he also told me what I’m worth, I am now asking for so much more money than I was asking for before taking this course because I didn’t know what UX designers made.”

It makes sense that being a mentee can help you overcome the inherent imposter syndrome that can accompany any newcomer charting into new territory. Mentors can also provide a clear lens into what you need to improve upon to ensure you’ll be qualified for certain roles. If you’re under the impression that companies are only hiring people with 3–5 years’ experience then you’ll likely skip over those job listings, or you won’t ask for $75/hr for a contract position because you might assume you’re being compensated appropriately at $20/hr.

“Ten weeks is incredibly fast, and I’m super stoked about what is to come versus where I would be right now if I were trying to do this on my own, for the last ten weeks I [would have been] flailing” Elyza optimistically concluded as she waved her arms in a flailing motion.

Portfolio Development

For designers, a portfolio is the confirmation of the skills, projects, clients, etc. that are listed in their resume or written about in their cover letter. Publishing your most compelling UX design samples allows prospective employers to get a better idea of your visual style and process. Having good work in your portfolio supersedes a great resume or cover letter.

Although none of the projects I’ve seen in a GA grad’s portfolio is mind-blowing, I think GA does a satisfactory job of laying the groundwork for how you should be displaying work in your portfolio. Many grads that I see have very in-depth case studies where they lay out their entire process and provide a very granular view of how they came to their conclusions. However, it does seem to be a common trend that the portfolios I see from GA grads are deficient in their visual design. This is likely because the projects are rushed, and it often takes considerably longer than ten weeks to develop strong visual skills.

A designer’s portfolio is one of the most important aspects of landing a design job, whether it’s freelance, contract, or full time. GA equips students with a real client to design for on their final project, which is an excellent opportunity to obtain valuable portfolio work. It can often take months of marketing and networking to land a client on your own, so this is a very key benefit in GA’s offering.

When I was getting started, the majority of the projects in my portfolio were for products that I created as side projects. Luckily I had a friend who introduced me to my first UI/UX client but having something compelling in my portfolio was imperative to landing my first UX gig. Even if you don’t have a client, yet, you have to work as if you do. I’m a huge proponent of side projects for aspiring designer’s portfolios. Side projects allow designers to demonstrate their authentic design style, and they also show that they’re passionate enough about UX to do it for fun.

Teaching students to interview

GA has a program called outcomes that is centered around helping students develop their professional brand, write a noteworthy resume, polish their online and in-person presence, and practice interviewing skills.

As stated on the GA website, “Your career coach will be your accountability partner who will help you set goals, make a plan for success, and stay on track with your job search. Learn to assess your skill set against job descriptions, track your process, and adopt a growth mindset to help recognize opportunities and open doors. You’ll learn to communicate your new skills and competitive edge, plus gain tactics for overcoming mental blocks standing in the way of your success.” The grads and students that I met with from GA all had overwhelmingly positive feedback about their current outcomes coach, though the current cohort did mention that their previous coach had been fired.

Having a career coach is a terrific perk of GA, the career coach strikes a balance between holding students accountable and providing a better understanding of the prospective job market, making the transition for graduates more seamless.

The coaches are of critical importance because they prepare students for fewer surprises when interviewing for UX jobs. Students learn what to and what not to say in emails, interviews, networking events, etc. Amanda, a current student in GA, mentioned that she had interviewed with a startup before starting the course and felt unprepared. “When I had my interview for the startup in Boulder, it was all day [and] I was not expecting that. [They had me doing] culture fit, meeting with the CEO, and being interviewed by several people. I was not prepared because that’s a different interview process [than I’m used to] so it caught me off guard — I was very drained that day.”

The drawbacks of GA

I’ve mentioned loads of benefits and perks that I came across while researching GA. GA provides students with UX skills, networking, mentorship, portfolio development, accountability, teaches you to interview, provides a curriculum and classroom structure, and so much more. However, GA is not perfect, and inevitably, there are flaws, which may not make it worth the $14,000 price tag.

A lot of the info is free or cheaply available online

The truth is, GA doesn’t teach any revolutionary knowledge about the UX industry that isn’t already readily available to seekers on the web. The core knowledge taught in the classroom, and the process I see displayed in graduates’ portfolios is nothing ground-breaking. They’re teaching universal UX principles and practices. There are thousands of free resources on YouTube, Medium, etc. As well as online courses that are marginally cheaper than a boot camp. If your primary argument for going to boot camp is that you would have a hard time learning on your own or that you have a hard time staying motivated then that’s a personal problem that even GA can’t solve.

One of the most important aspects of working in the tech industry is the ability to learn fast and efficiently. Companies aren’t hiring candidates who have the skills they need; they’re hiring people who they believe can adapt to the changing landscape and grow from their current foundation. Many of our standard practices today will be outdated tomorrow, and we as UX designers need to be prepared for that.

Because UX is continuously evolving, it’s vital to not only have the foundational design skills but also the capacity and willpower to be a perpetual learner. Being an autodidact is one of the essential traits that every designer in our fast-paced world must have to evade displacement.

When I first started at the software consultancy that I currently work for, I was presented with the responsibility of designing a chatbot for one of the largest healthcare diagnostics companies in the USA, Quest. I’d never paid much attention to chatbots, and I had never created a conversational UI before.

My scope for the chatbot included but was not limited to: conversation design, personality design, research, interface design, user research, and user testing. I didn’t have time to take a 10-week course on how to solve the problems I was being presented with, I had to learn on my feet, and I had to do it in a crunch. Every day I was presented with a new challenge that I’d never seen before. How do I design a personality for a chatbot? How do I research users to inform my decision on the personality of the bot? I can thank my supportive team-members, chatbot articles, and YouTube university for assisting me in designing the chatbot. In the end, we created something that our client was stoked about and is currently being used by thousands of users every single day.

Expensive

Expense is subjective, but I’ll assume the average person doesn’t have $14,000 to dish out for a course that may or may not have an ROI. GA does have payment plans, grants, etc. but no matter what boat you’re in, you’ll have to consider whether it’s a worthwhile investment.

There’s no rush; the UX space isn’t going anywhere. My recommendation is to try UX on your own part-time for a bit. By practicing UX in your free time, you can assess whether it’s something you genuinely enjoy and you can even teach yourself some of the skills on your own. Like I said before, learning how to learn is a fundamental skill — your education won’t stop at GA, so why would you wait for it to start at GA?

UXDI takes time out of your life to complete

If the price tag for UXDI isn’t an issue, then you’ll need to consider whether you can commit to a 10-week lapse in your work life. There are alternatives to the UX intensive like their part-time course that meets at night or their online course. If you’re doing the 10-week course though and leaving a job to do so, then it will cost you more than $14k. You’ll have to take into consideration the opportunity cost of missing 10-weeks of pay which could be costing you an additional $10–20k on top of the $14k for the course. Not to mention, if you’ve left your job, then you’ll need to find a new job after the course which can easily take months. You may also need to be prepared for a pay cut once you do make the transition because you’ll likely only be qualified for a junior position.

Differentiating yourself as a grad can be challenging

When I asked Scott if anyone in his cohort didn’t graduate, he emphasized that almost everyone graduates from GA, “I think like one person in the last ten cohorts didn’t graduate.” Amanda echoed this sentiment: “they’re definitely driving the idea that no one is going to be left behind.”

I’m stating this as a downfall of GA because if everyone taking the course will graduate, then this lowers the value of the certificate awarded to students. There aren’t too many other career paths where anyone can get a certificate in only ten weeks and be equipped to begin a successful career in that industry. I wouldn’t want the mechanic working on my car to have a ten-week certificate of completion if I knew everyone who took a course was given one. This also may deter employers because they receive such a wide variety of applicants with the same GA certification in their resume.

With the bar being low enough for the majority of students to cross the finish line, it robs those individuals who are genuinely talented and qualified for a career in UX. However, from a business standpoint, I understand entirely why GA gives everyone a certificate. If someone pays $14k for the course, then they walk away with nothing to show for it, GA would have plenty of unhappy customers.

Abby Covert, a leading independent information architect, isn’t sold either: “I feel like I want UX to be a teachable set of skills and places like GA are trying to do that, but I worry that their business models demand a turn around time for these skills that is not reasonable, which means they likely turn out a lot of graduates that think they are ready to work, but in many cases they are not.”

What Abby is saying is that merely because a student has received a certificate of completion doesn’t mean they’re qualified for even positions as low as an internship.

Dan Maccarone further addresses this in his article about the UX of learning UX: “With the vast number of UX courses and programs pumping out graduates with certificates of completion, the market for junior UX designers is completely saturated. It’s wonderful to see so many people who are excited about the industry and who want to be a part of it, but if they truly believe it’s the right career path for them, we’d rather they earn the experience than try to buy their way in.”

I’m not sure I agree with his perspective on GA students buying their way in, but I do agree that in many markets they are churning out more junior talent than tech companies can employ. I checked BuiltInColorado, a popular site for job listings here in Colorado, and I found only three postings for junior UX roles. With the 15+ students per cohort and four graduating classes per year, it puts a lot of graduates in a tight spot. When I brought this up to Scott, he acknowledged this pitfall and said: “it’s not like you’re going for an accreditation, no one is going to hire you because you graduated, but people will hire you because you found out how to get things done.” This might be true, but it does make it harder to set yourself apart from your classmates when you all walk out with the same piece of paper.

In conclusion, General Assembly has a lot to offer those that want a career switch to UX. It provides a strong network, opportunities for professional development, portfolio creation, mentorship, career coaching, and so much more. GA is also both a time and monetary investment with no guarantee that there will be a job waiting at the end.

For those considering GA, I highly recommend continuing your research and considering the alternatives. There is no “do A, and you’ll get B” when entering the UX space. Of the 12 UX designers at my company, none of them went to any boot camp. There are plenty of alternatives routes, and it’s important to keep in mind that GA is only a starting point.

U/ryanquintal summed this up well in a discussion on Reddit about GA — “The biggest [concern] is how you look at the world. If you get excited about software and beautifully designed products. It’s hard for me to recommend switching careers and paying GA all of that money unless you feel excited by the prospect of designing things. I’d say start with buying a sketchbook and good pencil. Design your own apps and websites just on paper and think through that process, what’s important to you and what you think everyone else is doing poorly. If by the time you finish a couple dozen sketches you’re still interested, that could be a barometer for how to make this decision.”

If UX design is a topic that excites you and you’re passionate about it, then GA or boot camps alike can be a sufficient vehicle to help you break into the UX space. No matter what route you decide to take, it’s essential to keep in mind that no one owes you anything and there is no blueprint for success. Being able to prove that you are capable of performing UX tasks effectively and consistently is all that matters in this field. It doesn’t matter where you get your UX education, who you know, or how long you’ve been doing it — all that matters is that you can do it and do it well.

Of the four past and present GA students that I met with, all seemed satisfied with UXDI and optimistic about their futures in UX. After graduating from GA, Dayna is now the sole UX designer on a contract team, and she is leading their UX projects. She stated, “I’m very confident [leading UX projects], and it’s because of the projects [I worked on at GA].” Emma from BrainStation and Scott are both doing contract work and currently searching for full-time positions. Elyza and Amanda just graduated at the end of June 2019.

I couldn’t have written this article without the help of the students from GA — check them out on the web:

Elyza Brillantes, Scott Compton, Amanda Greening, Dayna Saffertstein, and Emma Thomilson.

Let’s be friends! Follow me on Dribbble and connect with me on LinkedIn.