CareerFoundry Review - My UX Bootcamp Experience 2021

Hello ello. I recently completed my 11 month UX Design bootcamp with CareerFoundry and thought I'd share my experience with the internet.
CareerFoundry is basically an online school aimed at job/career changers and the intention is that through practical project based application you build from scratch the soft and technical skills required to land a job in tech (UX Design in my case).
It has been a really interesting 11 months and I remembered at the time of deciding whether or not to go with CareerFoundry, I couldn't find much information about other students experiences so I'm hoping this helps at least one person out there.
Feel free to drop any thoughts/questions in the comments.
Secure your 5% discount on CareerFoundry courses:
careerfoundry.com/en/referral...
FTC: Not sponsored.
Music
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Check out my UX Design page: / reux.d
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:45 Structure
01:26 Timeline & Content
04:00 Upsides / Reasons I chose CareerFoundry
10:00 Downsides / Reasons not to choose CareerFoundry
14:00 Summary / Key takeaways
16:03 Would I recommend CareerFoundry?
16:33 Outro

[@khaleemaalkainaat8178]

So happy to find other Black people in tech on KZbin. Instantly subscribed. I’m doing the Google certificate program which I am loving. UX Design is so much fun. Great video and good luck in your career !

[@reux9289]

Thanks Khaleema, much appreciated! good luck to you too on your UX journey :)

[@yannick_yt]

Still enjoying the google one? I'm considering doing it too, but there are so many options I'm having a hard time choosing which one to do 😂

[@cp3onmtv963]

@@yannick_yt I feel the same way, which did you choose??

[@latinstuff1]

I see a human being. Different skin color but a human being, we are all the same.

[@sparrow9982]

Ok relax u racist. It’s not an issue unless you made it an issue. Congrats

[@natibajibowu4753]

Thank you so much for this information! I was on the fence about CareerFoundry and hearing your review of the Bootcamp gave me confidence that this is the right program for me!

[@reux9289]

Thanks for the feedback Natiba, i'm glad you've found the video insightful 🙌

[@rachxoxo18]

Love seeing us in these spaces on YT. 🙌🏾Thank you for this video!! Super helpful. Excited to start my new career path as an UX designer. Coming from a psychology background i’m sure it’ll be extremely useful.

[@reux9289]

Thanks Rachael. Yes Psychology is a good stepping stone so I'm sure you'll smash it too!

[@rachxoxo18]

@@reux9289 Thanks so much! 😊

[@Taskade]

Such an helpful review, thanks for sharing!

[@reux9289]

Glad it was helpful!

[@JulianAlbino]

Thanks for this video! Super informative

[@reux9289]

Thanks Julian. I'm glad you've found it helpful!

[@SharonOommenofficial]

Thank you for this video it's very helpful to see someone that has done the course and it helps others like me make a better decision.

[@reux9289]

Thanks Sharon, glad you've found it helpful for your decision making 🙌

[@faizanrajput8245]

Did you take the course? If yes, please share your experience. thanks

[@mio_cath4738]

Massive congrats to you for finishing the course while having a full-time job, wow! I'm currently finishing up the UX design course at CF and also picked the frontend dev for specialisation :) It's definitely challenging but I'm enjoying it a lot surprisingly (never thought I'd get into coding). I agree with you on so many points you made in the video (both pros and cons) 😁

[@reux9289]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the video and that you are enjoying the course. Have you hit the Java Script lesson yet in the specialisation course? That was the turning point for me and I was well and truly done with coding haha but yes its always good to challenge yourself and see what you can achieve!

[@mio_cath4738]

@@reux9289 Your comment couldn't have come at a better time because I just hit the Javascript tasks last week and it's reallyyyy kicking my butt 😂It's so difficult! and now I can say I am fully in the same boat as you haha. Coding is not really for me. But that's the reason we're UX designers 😄

[@unegouttedoz]

Great and useful review, thank you so much !

[@reux9289]

Thank you!

[@kaialabi7622]

Thanks for such a well-structured and thoughtful review. This was extremely helpful. I've heard good things about CareerFoundry. This is the type of information you typically get from several informational interviews and such.

[@reux9289]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the video.

[@patienceemojevbe1276]

Well done & Kudos to you. Great stuff

[@reux9289]

Thank you!

[@orangescoop13]

Wow this was so helpful! Thank you for putting this together! I'm in the process of deciding and this video explained a lot. Well done!

[@reux9289]

Thanks Stephen, it's not an easy choice so best of luck 😁

[@orangescoop13]

@@reux9289 Absolutely not! I respect your willingness to take a risk and pursue something you believe in.

[@tuesfou]

Very useful information, thank you!

[@reux9289]

Thanks Helene!

[@tw4943]

Thank you for posting brotha! Im about to take the plunge into UX and Front end Web Development and looking to expand my black network. Im looking into this bootcamp as well to start so thank you for the review. Seems like it might be a good foundation. Again, thank you for posting!

[@reux9289]

Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@mateomusic5813]

I do music and am about to start UX/UI Design Bootcamp. I can tell you are a creative spirit like me!

[@reux9289]

Haha thanks man

[@uxdworld]

Nice share! Thank you.

[@reux9289]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed

[@fannizsozso]

Reux congrats on finishing! May I ask if failing the job guarantee section also includes losing the certificate?

[@reux9289]

Hey Zsófia, the job guarantee is to protect you if you don't secure a job in the six months following the course. Technically it's not possible to fail (you either get your money back or secure yourself a new job). The certificate has no expiry date and completing the work means you have the earned the certificate for life, so it can't be taken away from you :)

[@fannizsozso]

@@reux9289 Thank you for clarifying, sounds great :)

[@alexmartinborough6457]

Great feedback! Would you happen to know if careerfoundry offer payment plans or another form of payments? I am looking into this bootcamp asap. Thanks!

[@reux9289]

Thanks Alex, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Yes, Career foundry do offer payment plans and I paid in monthly installments at the time. Would recommend giving them a call and seeing what they can offer

[@TiFFzW0RLD]

Do you have to know how to draw to be a UX designer? I won’t say I can’t draw, but I’m not that great lol. Thanks for all the information! Looking into this job since I wanna do something creative but also “logical” where I can challenge myself

[@reux9289]

You are very welcome. Being able to draw is definitely not a prerequisite for UX Design. We usually only quickly sketch when creating low fidelity paper wireframes but that is honestly as simple as drawing boxes with an X in them to represent a placeholder for an image. We care more about the flow and the whole experience and what we want our users to achieve when interacting with our products, rather than focusing on minute details of the interface. In fact when creating paper wireframes we were even taught to use thick markers for that exact reason. It's much faster, you can't start writing detailed content and everyone has wonky sketches :D

[@JD-zw5os]

Thanks for this, it was really helpful. What are the other specialisations?

[@reux9289]

Glad it was helpful! The 3 specializations were, Frontend development, UI design and Voice Interface Design (eg alexa type things))

[@JD-zw5os]

@@reux9289 Thank you. I’m still trying to decide what direction - I’m curious about voice interface as I’m gathering, from research, that this area isn’t saturated - to make my career change in.

[@reux9289]

Nice, that's true but do anything well and it won't matter how saturated the market is :)

[@Ashton-mx2bg]

Great video, looking at CF but did they change their time commitment to complete their class? On their website it says "4 months at 30-40 hours/week or up to 7 months at 15-20 hours/week" Looking at the web dev class!

[@reux9289]

Hey Ashton, glad you enjoyed the video! Had a look at the CF website and the timings are still the same for the UX design course. Unsure about the duration of the web dev course as I wasn't interested in that path when I first signed sorry pal

[@Ashton-mx2bg]

@@reux9289 ahhh ok, I’m doing then web dev hopefully it’s good!

[@reux9289]

@@Ashton-mx2bg Some focus + some discipline and it will be a walk in the park :D

[@hakametal]

May I ask how in-depth the frontend specialisation went? I'm planning on doing the course with frontend in mind, but is this still very much a UX course primarily? Maybe a better way to ask this is, would this course get you hired as a frontend dev?

[@reux9289]

Hi Hakametal, I do think the frontend specialisation course was really thorough and it does give a proper insight into building a website using html, css and java script in just eight weeks. I found that the specialisation made me realise frontend development was not for me and the desire to learn to code was well and truly diminished by the end of the course haha. But to answer your question, I definitely believe the specialisation course is a good starting point but I imagine to be hired as a frontend dev you need more than one project example. Both to demonstrate your abilities to hiring managers and also to give yourself more confidence and assurance in your skills. Careerfoundry do offer a whole course on web development which takes about seven month to complete so of course there is a lot more to learn than what is taught in the specialisation for two months. If being a frontend developer is your end goal I think it would make sense to do a course on that rather than UX design because it's quite a lot to learn.

[@hakametal]

@@reux9289 Thanks bro.

[@ranaatefatta8921]

Hiii thanks for sharing your experience. Are you allowing to choose the country to apply for a job in?

[@reux9289]

Yes of course! You just need to apply to at least 5 a week, doesn't matter where

[@aaronsmith2929]

Hi, thanks for posting! Did you end up getting a job & do you feel this course was a determining factor in that?

[@reux9289]

I worked in a completely different field before doing the course so it definitely help me gain knowledge in UX. Of course, there are multiple factors involved in getting a job but yes the course was definitely one of those factors and looking back I would still have chosen to do the course. I believe trying to self teach yourself the UX design process is extremely challenging

[@aaronsmith2929]

@@reux9289 Thank you!

[@michellesudhakar9961]

Thanks for the video. It has been helpful as I consider the best avenue for me. Difference in cost is a tipping factor but as I navigate the short course I realize that the extent of information nested in each tutorial is enormous. How do you know when enough is enough? Or do you go through all the nested information? eg: Tutorial 1: An intro, has a link on line 1 to UX Design (One of around 25 links). UX design talks about the differences bet UX and UI, which again has a link to another article(again one of many, many links), which in turn has links to more articles and so on. I have tried to find the end, unsuccessfully and keep in mind that I am still on line one of tutorial 1. So at what point do I stop going through the nested links? Cause if I am to navigate through all the links and nested links, I imagine this course will take a lot longer than 6-8 months to complete even at 40 hours a week, and there is no way I can remember all that is being covered in tutorials or discussed in videos. Appreciate your response, Thanks!

[@reux9289]

Hey Michelle, to be honest with you, I was just focused on getting an awesome portfolio together which the course exercises help you achieve. So for me, I would typically study the learning material of each chapter and then complete the exercises. Only if I got stuck or needed help would I then dive into the extra material. I found that the chapters were already thorough enough so rarely did I need more. Plus the tutor is also there to help you. Remember you're supposed to be enjoying the learning experience of this too so don't over exert yourself trying to study every single link because, as you said, it would be impossible to remember it all 😁

[@michellesudhakar9961]

@@reux9289 Phew! that's a relief. I enjoy the UX UI phase, but yes the enormity of all the material covered in the links was concerning, especially since I thought we had to watch/read/ memorize all. I am familiar with most of the material as I have been learning /freelancing for a few years now however this course guides with preparing a portfolio and resume, so am seriously considering it. Watched your video about your new role and would like to wish you the very best in your present job and whatever you choose to do forward. Thanks for your response.

[@The_business_Podcast]

I am studying economics and management at LSE. Do you think that I can learn UX while I am studying?

[@reux9289]

Good question. It depends on a lot of factors (like your workload and outside of uni commitments) but if you're determined i'm sure you'll find way

[@amirtheartist]

Hello! Thanks for this video! Really close to making my decision on the CF bootcamp, but I was wondering if you are required to accept the first job offer you get in the 6 month period post-graduation, or do you forfeit the job guarantee if you decline the first job offer?

[@reux9289]

Hi Amir, I am not 100% sure how it works when a job offer is received and you don't want it but I do know you only have to track 5 job application per week during the six months. Of course, often graduates apply to way more than 5 jobs so it saves time only having to officially track 5. My suggestion would be to only put applications you are sure of and would accept on the tracker or better still, don't waste any time applying for opportunities that don't interest you 😀

[@amirtheartist]

@@reux9289 Gotcha. Thanks so much!

[@DS-nh4gu]

Are you also an audio engineer? How do you balance the two?

[@reux9289]

Hey, I'm not an audio engineer, just filmed in a nice room haha

[@Bolder_Lebza]

Finally a black person int his industry, lol. Thank you! 😂

[@reux9289]

Haha everyone is capable!

[@cp3onmtv963]

@@reux9289 totally agree but it’s nice to know we aren’t always the only 1 in the room. ☺️

[@lol-pz1ni]

this was great info but the volume was so low , I found it hard to hear you dude

[@reux9289]

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I noticed that too, hopefully you believe my future videos have improved in that aspect :D

[@lol-pz1ni]

@@reux9289 Yeah the others have awesome quality and your story is a good one man thanks for sharing.

[@ogievahappinesseghosa2916]

Good morning. I want to start a course in careerfoundry. Please, can you tell me how genuine is careerfoundry.

[@reux9289]

It's genuine, many students including myself have switched careers through one of their courses

[@kwamediwani5039]

mhhh

[@satendrabais2806]

Bro did you get a job that's what you forgot to mention🤩🤩

[@reux9289]

Hey haha I have actually given an answer to this question in the latest video on my channel 😃

[@Shins703s]

Did Career foundry got you a job ?yes or no?

[@reux9289]

Hi Shin, I'm going to give the classic "it's complicated" answer because I pivoted my learnings from the course into a related role within a product team. Basically, I found through work experience that you can be heavily involved in UX without the UX designer job title and that the key aspects of UX Design that I liked would be better utilised in a different role. Studying at CareerFoundry played a part in having the confidence and insight as to what exactly I was looking for, so I accepted the role. If concerned about securing a job, CareerFoundry does have a 6 month job guarantee or your money back which I talk about in the video and I believe thats quite a unique offering to CareerFoundry. Hope this helps :D

[@reverymusic]

@@reux9289 Wow!! Very helpful and useful information. Thanks a ton for making the video and replying to comments!

[@reux9289]

@@reverymusic Just here to help :D