UI / UX Design Career Track

I joined Springboard to do UX/UI career track course. It was a great experience. Springboard is perfect for someone looking to do the coursework at their pace and learn in-depth about UX and UI. You are also assigned a mentor who will help you with the projects and give great feedback. I was grateful to work with some amazing mentors who helped me build knowledge that will solve real-life problems. 

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews, but I had a great experience. One thing I heard that was a "bad" reason to choose Springboard was that all the information could be found for free on the internet. That may be true, but Springboard packages the information into a great package. I know I'm not disciplined enough to find the information for myself, nor would I even know where to begin. Anyways, my experience was overall positive. Pros:The information displayed I a wonderfully guided experienceThe mentor program was incredible and my mentor was awesomeThe projects are laid out in a way that is digestibleThe IDP is an invaluable experienceThe job placement guarantee is a wonderful fallbackThe network and career coaching is awesomeCons:Some of the information is freeYou may get a mentor that doesn't careYou might get an IDP that Some of the grammar is bad and some of the words are misspelled in a few of the articles (Springboard higher me as your proof-editor!)

I don't see any cons with Springboard. Mentors, career counsellors, student advisors are all great . All the mentors are great and knowledgable in their feild. The pros that I felt are note worthy are flexible hours, mentors are so full of knowledge, the way curriculum is organised and the job guarantee program. The main reason to take up this course was, It had the flexibility, everything was structured like mentor calls, projects, and the way all the topics were self explanatory. 

Mentor are the best part

The program was focused and streamlined. It provides all the necessary readings and teachings to grain competence and confidence in the product design industry. Mentors and community are extremely helpful.

Some bootcamps pay you to sit through them. Although this bootcamp in particular let’s you move at your own pace it’s possible you take longer to complete the course. None of this takes away from the quality of the course though! 

A comprehensive course, but it will likely take longer than the promoted time. IDP experience was a bit challenging but reflected the real work project limitations and hurdles.

A quality bootcamp that could use a few tweaks.

First of all, I’d like to start this review by saying I was able to land a job in my field of choice before I completed the program.
*I did not have any experience with career services outside of the career sections in the curriculum* 
The Pros:When I enrolled at Springboard I didn’t have any prior experience with UX/UI design. Springboard has certainly built a great curriculum that gave me very solid foundational skills and a fundamental understanding of the industry. Springboard showered me with plenty of amazing resources that I continue to use even after graduating (I had to get very good at organizing my bookmarks). By far THE BEST part about Springboard is the 1 on 1 mentoring. I had weekly calls with my mentor who demonstrated a high level of industry knowledge, and was able to give excellent feedback and insight to my projects and questions. Over the course of 9 months you’re able to develop a relationship with your mentor, and add them to you network of professionals. To me this is where Springboard shined.That being said I’m not sure bootcamps are for everybody. I already came into the UX/UI Design Career Track as a self-taught front-end developer and my web development skills played a crucial role in landing my position. You need to be a certain type of person to succeed in a boot camp. I consistently went above and beyond for my Capstone projects, and Portfolio. I would study design disciplines outside of what was offered in the normal curriculum as well. If you’re an ambitious self-self starter then these bootcamps really can propel you into your next career. However if you tend to take a passive approach to your learning then look elsewhere.

Great program. Loved the weekly mentor calls and the Industry Design Project.

Springboard is a mentor lead Bootcamp that helps people make the transition into the tech world. I love that I get to talk to my mentor every week and got a chance to work with the real clients at the end of the cohort. It was a great experience and exposure! Throughout the course, I can schedule calls with mentors or career coaches at any time to get more support for my projects and job search. 

Overall, the whole experience was amazing. What I loved about this UX/UI bootcamp was the thorough and organized curriculum. It made me follow and finish every chapter very easily. If there's one thing I can say about drawback, it's about limited call availability for career coach/mentor calls. 

I just finished the UX/UI Career Track by Springboard and I am finally starting the most exciting part: job hunt! So far, I have felt great support from Springboard. I had my personal mentor, student advisor and career coach throughout the process. We had a Slack channel for the students in our cohort and it was very good to have an easy access to a UX community that is ready to help whenever needed! Apart from having finished a very dense, flexible and dynamic curriculum which presents lots of hands on UX practices; I prepared 4 UX projects, created my portfolio, wrote my first UX resume and adjusted my Linkedin profile! Springboard program had prepared me both academically and professionally! I am looking forward to the next phase!

Overall, I really love Springboard and it was personally a really great fit for me. Overall:This program was a lot of work. I thought I would finish well before the nine months...I did not. Realistically, I had a full time job and was taking this course and I would say that their suggestion of nine months is very accurate. It also allows you time to circle back to old projects and improve them and really let your brain be the awesome sponge it is and absorb all it can. I got real feedback on my projects from hiring managers, career coaches, and my mentor, all of which were actually rigorous and making sure your work is up to standard. As the title says, If you stick with Springboard and really actively try to improve your skills, I got a job before I even finished the program with my new skills (and a good one at that). Pros:- My mentor was my absolute lifeline and made the program feel "real" which for me, as someone who avoids social activity at all cost, was huge because I had to talk to her weekly making sure I had something I could bring to her to talk about every week. Basically, I'm the kind of person who goes "all-in" on something for like two months and then forgets about it and drops it, my mentor was the core component of that not happening. - The support system is great- Sometimes I think things like career coaches, mentors, etc. are overrated, but I was surprised at how much value I actually got from these mandatory meetings I would have otherwise passed on. Room for improvement:- My IDP (real job experience) wasn't great, but Springboard staff was extremely helpful in navigating the situation, I would say my IDP experience was more or less a rare experience and other Springboard students seem to have had a great one.  I wouldn't really expect to get a job from the IDP if you had any hopes in that. However, the career coaches at the end of the program will be very helpful to you in finding a job so no worries there. I would say, even if you don't have the best IDP experience, it's still job experience to put on your resume which is huge.- Its very easy to just say you completed the reading by checking the box without actually doing it, I would love to see some sort of short quiz that verifies you went over the material incorporated into the program even if it isnt graded, just some sort of feedback to myself that I shouldnt go back and read more carefully. In Summary:I've talked to other people from other bootcamp programs who don't have nearly as good outcome as springboard. A lot of them are six months out still looking for jobs and (with peace and love) dont have nearly as solid case studies (in some cases these programs dont even make you do case studies which are ESSIENTAL in landing a job) ...as Springboard students. 

Springboard's course materials (which were always engaging and diverse) along the mentor and career assets prepared me for the expectations of the UX/UI market and has made me of great value as designer in my first few contract jobs. Highly recommend this course for its hands-on and practical approach, and for the excellent support team! 

I appreciated that Springboard was so considerate of their students—offering pauses to accommodate varying work/life situations and always being willing to help out. The curriculum was engaging and Springboard does a great job overall of making students feel like they've grasped the material and have people to reach out to for support if needed. They also make sure you have the appropriate job materials in place (LinkedIn, resume, elevator pitch, web portfolio...) and have had a chance to practice mock interviews to prepare you for your job search. What I would offer for improvement would be the portrayal of the job guarantee. I think it would be great if Springboard was directly involved in connecting students with internships, relevant resources, or even potential employers based on their background, interests, and demonstrated success while working through the curriculum (the IDP project is good for the experience but not quite an internship). This would make the job guarantee more comprehensive and compelling.

After doing a ton of research on UX bootcamps, I chose Springboard because it met the most criteria.  Overall, I am happy with the education I got from this program.  However, I was fortunate to be involved with 2 study groups of great individuals (one I was invited to, one I started) that met weekly for 1 hour on skype and were great about sharing resources.  I also had a good mentor that I got along well with, and began meeting with career coaches early and often.   Pros of this program:• The curriculum is well-structured and covers a wide expanse of UX methodology• The program is set up to give you some breathing room - although it is structured for 9 months, it actually allows for almost 12 months to complete• The mentoring and career coaching pieces are really valuable, and each student will have a unique mentor along with access to unlimited mentors• Your student advisor will support and advocate for you• I feel very confident in what I have learned and have gotten confirmation that I'm adding value to the company I'm working for now• You will get out of this program what you are willing to put in - if you are smart and strategic about the methods you use and the work you make, it will work for youCons of this program:• The impetus is totally on the student to be responsible for their own learning - if you are someone that needs a teacher to walk you through new ideas, tools, and techniques, this is not the program for you• The estimated 17 hrs work/week is unrealistic if you are working full-time, have a family, or other life obligations beyond this program.  The program does work with you so you can complete, but it probably won't be in 9 months (think about this with your payment structure)• There are some poorly structured deliverables that definitely feel like working harder, not smarter.  Look ahead at the curriculum, especially once you start putting together your case studies, and build toward your portfolio (not google documents).• Some of the resources are outdated• It can be difficult to find any available times to schedule meetings with career coaches and/or unlimited mentorsSpringboard isn't perfect - nothing is.  However, though there is room for improvement, I feel good about my decision to complete this bootcamp and what I have to show for my time and learning.

 I had a very thorough learning experience with Springboard. They provided diverse content to prepare me for every aspect of the UX/UI career path with challenging projects. The unlimited mentorship meetings and Springboard staff were amazing guides along my learning journey. The curriculum was presented in an easy to follow program and I liked that it was also easy to go back to earlier content if I needed to review.  The only draw back is not having a classroom type environment but learning from home was much better for my complex schedule. 

Overall, I have enjoyed my time at Springboard. It was a different experience for me to attend online courses, rather than in person, but a good and necessary one especially for these times of the pandemic. I like the self-paced learning that it has because there are times that life get's busy. This really helped me to just dial in what I was learning. If I wanted to spend more time in one subunit, I could and if I wanted to breeze through it, I could as well. The only con to this is that you get 9 months to finish the course, though that is a lot of time to finish the course, it does take away from the statement at your own pace because you have to finish in 9 months. My suggestion is to follow their schedule guide of how long you should spend in a subunit and keep to it. Some suggestions are longer than others and that is good, because if you finish a subunit early, then that just means you have more time to finish the other ones that take longer. Another suggestion I have is to look ahead at what you will be working on (both for Springboard and in your own personal schedule). When you get a bigger picture of what you have to do, you can easily manage your time accordingly. I like the mentor lead aspect of Springboard. It's good to get feedback from a professional and very helpful when you get stuck in certain areas of the course. My mentor helped me gain a better perspective of visual hierarchy and made me a better UI/UX designer. The downside to this is that you have one meeting a week with your mentor to check in with you which is a 30-minute call. So you'll need to know exactly what you want to talk about in those sessions. Also, Springboard gives you unlimited scheduled calling with your mentor, but it's scheduled and sometimes you need answers to questions you have at the moment. To get around this, you can simply email your mentor and they usually respond within a day or two.Another great aspect is the coaching calls. You’ll get the first-hand experience with real hiring managers in the field. My coaches have helped me look at their perspective of what they would look for in a UX/UI Designer and what pitfalls to avoid. Through the mock interviews, they have given me great feedback that will help me in interviews and with their keen eyes, they have helped me craft both a great resume and portfolio.I love Springboard and all that it has done for me, I am thankful to be a part of the Alumni grads.

Springboard’s mentor and career coach program prepare you for being ready to work in the industry. They provide 1:1, individualized, feedback and support. They are highly knowledgeable which enhances the curriculum and your preparedness for entering the industry. Some programs have an industry design project where you can get experience in the field before completing. Although the curriculum is curated. Springboard does a good job of selecting content,  and providing additional membership only content including design challenges, instructional videos, and a subscription to Adobe XD or Sketch for the year.