Are UX bootcamps still worth doing in 2024?

[@anamaria.prifti]

First time in a while gaining a realistic view of the ux domain on youtube! UX design is definitely maturing, hopefully so will its content here on youtube for starters like myself, focusing less on the promotion of outdated courses and more on concrete and from-experience professional advice from ux content creators. There are only few creators that embody their professionalism on their videos, and you are definitely one of them!

[@LusiLin]

This is very helpful- thank you so much! I am currently in UX Academy in Designlab and I totally agree that the mentorship is a bit off because of the reason that you talked about here- I’ve gone thru 3 mentors in Designlab and 2/3 was were graphic design majors (while I was not a design major at all), so they are definitely equipped with a lot more design skills than I am. That’s why sometimes their advice requires me to do extra learning outside of the bootcamp yet at the same time I also have to stay on track with DL’s timeline 😅. Also, currently creating my design portfolio per the curriculum. I’ve watched a lot of KZbin vids on how to build UX Case Studies on our portfolio, and I totally see what you’re saying about this. Yet for our assignment on writing our first case study, we have to put A TON more info on our design process (like sketches, even our brainstorming deliverables, etc!) rather than just the parts that are most important. Would love to have you as a mentor if you are even open to mentoring.

[@leanderangst]

So glad you found it helpful! Designlab is the same bootcamp I did 😄- would be very interesting to hear about your experience! I do offer mentorship, link is in my profile. Feel free to connect on LinkedIn if you're after something more specific too!

[@larameg9553]

I really enjoyed watching this video! It answered a lot of my questions about UX career!

[@EstelleVandeVelde]

Yeah, I'm working to improve that portfolio of mine at the moment because it looks the same as my classmates...

[@leanderangst]

Great idea to differentiate - your portfolio is YOUR story, it shouldn’t read the same as anyone else’s

[@mitchmyers4256]

Hi Leander, this was really insightful! Thank you so much for the video on this and going into a lot of depth on the topic. For my previous career I was a UX/UI Designer for 2 years before going full time with my KZbin channel back in 2019. I am still running the KZbin channel full-time currently, but at I am looking into stepping back into the UX/UI world potentially at some point. As a former professional with some experience in UX/UI, how would you recommend getting back into the industry? Would a bootcamp be helpful in sharpening skills and getting back into the job market? Thanks!

[@sambasiva8142]

I loved your content Mr.Leander can you make a video where and how to learn UIUX from basic to advanced level and some Figma tutorials/ Thanks for this content🙂

[@leanderangst]

Definitely will make more of those! There's a Figma tutorial already on the channel so be sure to check that out if you haven't yet :)

[@fiffrelin]

Very interesting thank you. I was tempted by the bootcamps a few months ago but they were too expensive for something I wasn't even sure to like. (Thanks for the video! If I may criticize something : I found the background music very irritating... Not sure it's necessary to have it).

[@leanderangst]

You bet! Bootcamps definitely ARE expensive. Plenty of ways to learn design for free online though 😊 Thanks for the feedback, might have been a bit over-eager with the tunes on this one 😅

[@fiffrelin]

@@leanderangst And coming from the public university french system, I've been a bit chocked by how much marketing strategies they put in, to enroll you... ("if you sign up for the bootcamp before thursday you have a grant" blablabla... It kind of put me off...). Anyway thanks a lot !

[@saeryu6719]

Thanks so much for this video! I just started thinking about getting into UI/UX design to hopefully pave the way to game development one day (just started watching and learning about tech on EDX). But keeping in mind that bootcamps are what are making hiring managers so cautious, would you still say having an associate degree/graduating from a bootcamp is worth mentioning in our resume, or is it something we should consider leaving out and just have our portfolio and presentation do the talking?

[@StrikeDemonX]

I kind of met the same fate. Joined GA bootcamp and they heavily advertise how much UX/UI designer can earn. The downside of a bootcamp is really just learning fundamentals of UX/UI and you're right on the cookie cutter portfolio 😅. Most recruiters will think twice hiring those UX/UI designers because of bootcamps as it is saturated.

[@leanderangst]

Exactly that - bootcamps can definitely be a good starting point, but they should advertise as being that rather than giving you the keys to the kingdom in 3 months

[@keenalou595]

Would you say that having some HTML, CSS, JS could be helpful?

[@leanderangst]

It definitely could be, but more so to help you understand a developer's world. Unless you're interested in actually being a developer, getting a lot of coding experience really isn't a great use of your time as a designer. I would say spending a couple of weeks taking some free classes and trying to code something is enough. Making sure you spend lots of time speaking to developers about the challenges of their role is where I would spend more of my time. Hope that helps!

[@dc28]

What are your thoughts on getting a Masters degree instead of a bootcamp?

[@LusiLin]

What are some websites you would recommend for inspirations on more realistic UX design portfolios (not bootcamp-type of UX design portfolios)?

[@leanderangst]

Check out some of these - www.casestudy.club/journal/ux-designer-portfolio While going through people's case studies, see if the process they followed differs from case study to case study. If they all look the same, that's a red flag.

[@EstelleVandeVelde]

Are you open to mentoring some juniors?

[@leanderangst]

Absolutely! I need to set up a mentor page for bookings, will let you know as soon as I have 😄

[@jessm5809]

Hey thanks for the advice. I've seen other UX designers on KZbin sharing similar advice/sentiments. I'm a senior creative (last title was creative director) but my background is in brand design and experiential marketing. I have no experience in UX or UI. I keep seeing lots of jobs at start-ups and small companies for lead designer or lead brand designer and they want the candidate to know web/UX in addition to having a good foundation in graphic design. I'm thinking I need to get some background in UX to land a job. Do you think with my prior experience that doing an online course and making a few UX projects to add to my portfolio might be worthwhile?

[@jessm5809]

Oh and I should say is that my goal is to land a fully remote role and get away from experiential marketing.

[@leanderangst]

I think so, yeah. Depends on how extensive your UX knowledge needs to be. When a company says they want ‘UX Experience’ it can mean 100 different things. Might be useful to talk to a recruiter or hiring manager at one of these places. A course is definitely a good start though - from there im sure you could land some freelance gigs for web ux with your brand design background.