CareerFoundry

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! 

 

 

I decided to start my UI design course at Careerfoundry because after years of experience as a 'classic' graphic designer I felt it was time to upgrade my professional skills for the world of digital design. Before deciding to sign up for the course I've been hesitating many times about my choice, since in many cases an online formation doens't really give the skills you can then apply in the real work market. All my doubts just blew away as soon as I started my experience at Careerfoundry. All the lessons were really clear, focusing on the most practical aspects of design. My tutor and mentor (the lovely Henrietta Creedy and Argenis Alvarez) were extremely qualified and very kind people, always there to help me and clarify all my doubts. Last but not least, when the course was over I could still count on the support of the members of Careerfoundry's team, who shared with me a lot of useful informations and tips for my job research and interviews. And 1,5 months after the end of the course I got my first UI designer job!!! 

I would definitely repeat this great experience and recommend it to anyone else who feels fascinated by the growing world of UX/UI design. 

I took the UX Design Course at CareerFoundry in 2017, and can absolutely recommend it anyone who wants to gain practical experience in User Experience Design. The course covered everything from the conception of ideas, through sketching, prototyping testing and iterating. Don't worry about the fact that it is an online course - my tutor was always available when I had questions, my mentor was there for the bigger questions, and the community of students and student advisors is super supportive. I was already super happy with course immediately after finishing it, however the cherry on the top was the career specialists' advice AFTER the course. I could always reach out to them and get an answer, or an appointment for a skype call / mock interview within a few days. Their advice was actionable and super helpful. I think, this is what makes the course different to others in the end. Only a few weeks after finishing the course I started working for a Design Agency, that I had dreamed of working for in about 3 years time.

I’m a Creative Development Specialist in Global Product Development at eBay and work with developers and engineers on a daily basis. Since I don’t have a CS background I wanted to use this course for understanding Web Development better and be able to facilitate this understanding in my job. The course provided a good opportunity to dive into Web Dev through a concrete project, which was challenging but also fun. My tutor provided superb support and patient explanations on every topic, that needed further elaboration. I’m happy I took the course and would recommend it to anyone, who would like to deepen their knowledge in this exciting field. However, if you want to start a job in Web Dev, this course wouldn’t be enough and some more practice would be necessary. It provides a good starting point though and you can learn a lot, if you are willing to do some research and exercises on your own. I didn't take the "Job preparation" course, so I can't evaluate the Job Assistance.