Kenzie Academy

Coming in with no experience in any type of web design, or development, it goes without saying that it seems intimidating up front. However, a very informative and in-depth curriculum, dedicated on-site instructors, and amazing learning environment make for an enjoyable, not to mention practical, learning experience. 

The program cultivates creativity, community, and a judgement-free zone, no matter your level of experience with web development, designed to make sure that you personally thrive and are ready for the work force. 

10/10 would recommend. 

Kenzie Academy is a great place to be and great place to learn, prior to attending Kenzie I was a Paramedic with 6 years in the public safety industry.  Traditional college was not an option for me.  Kenzie Academy's education track puts you in the right direction for a blossoming career in the tech industry.  The curriculum is tough but the instructors and staff are available around the clock and extremely informative. The staff at Kenzie has many years in the industry with lots of connections for guest speakers and potential job opportunities in the future.  Do not pass this opportunity up!

Kenzie Academy is a great place for learning in a non-traditional environment. The staff and other students are readily available to assist with any issues. The school is structured to ensure the success of every student.  If you are looking for an opportunity in the Tech field, I highly recommend Kenzie Academy.  There are many opportunities to communicate with industry leaders and a vast network of contacts within the industry to expand learning beyond the in-house staff.  The school is also flexible, allowing students to work remotely.

If I could do it all over again I would've not gone to Kenzie. 

During the first few months, everything is fine, the instructors lie to you and tell you you don't need a degree in UX to be successful (coming from people that went to top universities or have their master's degree) and that everything is fine. You'll be successful having just a certificate in UX. What they don't tell you is that the job market is not only hard but really competitive. Over half a year later I'm still struggling to find a job in UX. If you're in the UX cohort or plan on finding a job immediately afterward, don't bank on it unless you have a bachelor's degree in something.

They're also very unorganized. If you need help with something they'll just send you to the next person without giving you any help or answers. Before I joined I had the impression I was going to do the UX program for 6 months and a UX engineering program for 9 months. They got rid of the UX engineering program and moved everyone that was signed up for that to the software engineering program without even saying anything. Luckily I got to opt out of what I didn't sign up for.

They tell you you get a personal career advisor and coach. When my cohort graduated, they left us in the dust and didn't mention anything about a career advisor. We were rushed to do our portfolios and the time management was poor. They cramped everything in the last two weeks before graduation without any mention of a career coach, something we were supposed to get before graduating. When I emailed someone at Kenzie about a career coach, she was confused and didn't even know what I was talking about. A few sassy emails later from her she sent me links to small group sessions. Upon attending the small group sessions I found my career coach. As of now all she does is send me links to jobs not related to ux but jobs that pay $40k a year because they want me to pay off my loan. This brings me to the ISA agreement.

They tell you you don't have to make your first payment until you are making over $40,000 a year at a UX job. While having no job (I am a full-time college student) their loan officers send me payments of over $600 a month. This happened on three occasions. Whenever I contacted the loan company about not being able to make payments and they're amid that I need to support a W-2 to make some type of payment. They tell me to contact Kenzie if it's really true that the agreement is I don't need to pay until I make over $40k a year. It's weird that they don't know this right? Considering they're working together? Every time I talked to someone at Kenzie they told me to call back the loan company and every time I talked to the loan company they told me to contact someone at Kenzie. It's back and forth with no answers until I put my foot down and let them know this was not the agreement I signed upon.

Moral of the story Kenzie is unprofessional and overpriced. I feel like I was lied to and taken advantage of and I would give anything to go back and NOT go to this school. $11,000 is not worth a certificate that most employers don't view as valuable unless you have a degree or are in college.

If I could give job assistance no stars I would.

5 Instructor stars for: Sharmin Kent and Angela Knezevich


I attended Kenzie Academy for the Digital Marketing (DM) Program. If you look on their website, the DM program is no where to be found. I'd list this is the #1 red flag. There are no student testimonials from the DM program. of which there were 4 cohorts.

The first instructor, Sharmin, was excellent. She gave lots of time to teaching and encouraging students despite any challenges outside of the course they might be facing. 

It was soon revealed that only Sharmin cared about students' wellbeing, job placement, and career advancement. The second block ruined the entire program. We were chastised for not using cameras and were threatened with being kicked out of the program. We were told Kenzie is not a democracy; Kenzie was simulating a work environment for our benefit. Guess what? At my job I have never been told to turn my camera on - this includes during the pandemic.

I am stuck paying back 13% of my income for 24 months. There was zero job support. What do I mean? 

I used strategies from a $200 course to land my first DM job - not Kenzie Academy. The portfolio of projects was never looked at by any interviewer even if I brought the assignments with me. 

We were given no instruction how to to interview. By this I mean, what kinds of questions for DM would be asked? How would be prove our job related skills? Most employers don't want to hear about coursework, they want to know how you're using Google Analytics, PPC, SEO, and content strategy to give % return to a business. We had no such use cases.

One Kenzie employee (yes, only one) sent job postings to our Slack channel. Those jobs were high level, not suitable for a 6 month boot camp graduate. I worked an 8-5 and then had Kenzie 6-9...then filled out job applications for weeks. Hundreds. With no guidance.

I am not the only Kenzie student with this experience.

To this day I cannot verify how many DM students were successfully placed in DM jobs. Supposedly there is a partner network, I have yet to hear of any DM student being hired by said partner program.

Although the DM program is defunct, I can assure you Buyer Beware.