Cyber Patio

Joining this Bootcamp is without any doubt one of the best choices I've ever made! Months ago, I finished my job as an industrial designer with the intention of changing my career path to design digital products (since we all know it is the future). 
As I have studied something related to design, I already knew some resources and methodologies used in UX/UI, and I did not want to invest more time in it, so I looked for different options, and CyberPatio's proposal was the one that best suited my needs and especially my budget!! hahaha :)

One of the things that I liked the most was the possibility of it being a 100% personalized remote Bootcamp (both in content and duration!) This has allowed me to combine the course with other personal projects that I have been doing.

From the beginning of the course, they give you the possibility to choose several topics that really interest you in order to create your projects, and I really appreciate it, because it motivates you more to further develop it.

Thanks to the complete and useful contents of the course, during these months, I have been able to expand my knowledge in user research and UI.

Margarita gives you the confidence and flexibility you need to finish the Bootcamp becoming a super well-prepared junior UX/UI designer, not only because of the content of her classes, but because she really knows the world of HR very closely, and gives you advice during all the course regarding how to prepare the case studies and the portfolio in order to improve your job hunting!

I definitely recommend this Bootcamp and any of the courses that CyberPatio may offer because I am sure you will come out very well-prepared! 

Margarita and her colleagues have an amazing school in Cyber Patio. I've been very fortunate to be one of the first people to take on this 1:1 personalised bootcamp. The program went through all areas of UX / UI, and really opened my eyes to the wonders of the field. 

For the first classes, we had a general overview of the world of UX and got a grasp the role it plays in the creation of digital products, it was amazing to see the importance of experience in the context of a digital product and how it can benefit our lives.

The first project was used as a venture into the in-depth learning of the processes of the field. 
Beginning with the research phase, we started asking the questions surrounding the the chosen topic I wanted to base my project on. This switched my brain into a different perspective, thinking one more so around the prioritising of the user that will be at the end of this product I was designing. 
Then researching the market, competition and also the technology which is related to the questions I was asking and had to research. 

It was around this time I was given a overview of the process of a design sprint and how companies use them as windows to design and test small features and changes and how they can be used to efficiently, to benefit the user, the product and to use it in a cost effective manner for the business. 

Continuing with the user research, I was given the task of conducting user interviews to generate insights for my project. This was something I was initially hesitant to undertake but they ended up being one of my favourite parts of the course. Listening to people and getting their takes on the the subject was a lot of fun as you got to see people open up and get excited about what they were talking about and interested in. 

As with all researching, analysis of what we've done is essential and that was our next step. Margarita was great in showing me the many different ways we can synthesise the research and make our personas, creating an empathy map, and showing the journey map a person goes on and how we can spot the opportunities that arise and how we can use our project to benefit the user and give them a feature to help them at that stage. 

The next phase of ideation was a lot of fun. This had us putting on our thinking caps and getting creative in our solutions to the opportunities we saw for our users. This was a looooot of post-it notes of ideas from our "How might we?", "Why, How, What", "How, Now, Wow", "Must, Should, Could, Won't" exercises. 

It was around this time we started to design our solution. Writing task flows of where we can implement our solutions into the project, writing our MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and Value Proposition, getting ready to begin bringing it to life with the next stage. 

The next stage was the sketching and initial wire framing of our product. It was great to be putting the pencil to paper and browsing the web for inspiration. This was where Margarita was such a great help to me, as this wasn't my strong suit in the slightest, she used her well experienced eye to help me inform my decisions with placement of features and what was expected with the standards and conventions of digital product design. 

Moving to the applying UI to the project, this was another area I needed a lot of help in and once again margarita was wonderful help, not only correcting me on areas I could improve but showing me the reasons why the changes would benefit the design. 

This was the gathering of a style guide, making decisions on branding and how that effects the look and feel of the design. 
Then we moved on to the testing of the site and similar to the interviewing stage, I really enjoyed this part. Not only for the interacting with users but also getting fresh eyes on something I had dedicated so much time to over for the past few months. 

Around the half way point of the first project, Margarita assigned me with my second project, which was a redesign based project.  It was great to see other application of the knowledge I'd acquired and how it can be applied to existing products in an effort to improve them, and also showing me that the eye for design doesn't have to always be designing something from scratch but seeing how you can improve a product at any point. I was put in touch with a senior UX designer at the company I was redesigning and was able to chat with them and get a few insights that would help inform my redesign process. This was great in many ways, as I was intimidated to meet a senior UX person, i was quickly put at ease with not only how kind and receptive they were to me as a less than junior designer but they gave me a great impression of UX people in general with their willingness to help out people starting out. It was thanks to margarita pushing me to contact them that I had this lovely experience that fuelled me to want to pursue this field further! There's great people fkn everywhere in this field it seems! hahaha

The other stages of the redesign project ran similar to that of the first project with Margarita being there for me every step and answering all the questions I had. 

It also has to be said, that during this time I was dealing with my own issues surrounding getting through the workload and looking after my own mental health with the effects of isolation and lockdowns still lingering and at times, clouding my mental state. While expressing this to Margarita, she was so kind in helping me through this and gave me all the time I needed to get the work done and enjoy it to the fullest of its potential. 

After I had finished the two projects, I moved on to the third and final project of the course, which I intended to undertake mostly by myself to test out all the knowledge given to me by the wonderful Cyber Patio tutors. All this time though, Margarita was there at every step, answering all my questions and giving fantastic suggestions that I simply wasn't able to see just yet at my current level of UX knowledge.

Along with all the projects, I was also given a lot of help and materials to help me write my case studies and eventually put them into my portfolio! 

Overall, this is a fantastic course. One thing I will say that I missed was the camaraderie that you would have in a classroom environment. The learning from each other and all that goes with that. If that is something that is integral to your learning experience then perhaps a more conventional bootcamp would be more suited to you. 
While I at times I wished for this, Margaritas friendliness and personable nature greatly comforted me and was there for me when I needed it.

10/10 folks, sign up now!!

 El 5 day-ux-challenge me pareció genial!
Aprendí muchísimo en este curso, intensivo, dinámico, interactivo, con muchísimos tipps. 
Es de mucho valor todo lo que aprendí como persona y como diseñadora. 
El material presentado fue muy práctico, resumido, legible, con muy buena info. 
Solo el diseño de las “diapositivas” como tal me pareció que no era bonito ni llamativo. más bien como anticuado.

Lo que más me han gustado:
- la accesibilidad gratis al curso
- Una cantidad enorme de buena información.
- Los ejercicios
- Los temas
- el conocimiento de nuevas plataformas
- tipps sobre otras páginas
- la comunicación muy clara
- la amabilidad de Margarita
- Acercamiento a otras personas 

Lo que menos me han gustado:
-pues..que lastima que no tengamos más tiempo todos junt@s para darnos feedback :)

Sobre el enfoque a los temas solidarios:
Me parece muy bien y necesario! es un muy buen ejemplo de cómo podemos ser mejores personas y así ayudar a otros, a nuestro mundo a ser mejor!  o tener una mejor calidad de vida! Este tipo de enfoques permiten y despiertan la afinidad, la empatía hacia estos temas sociales/solidarios :)
Gracias Margarita por esta experiencia TAN ENRIQUECEDORA!

Me encantó poder participar en 5 Day Ux Challenge, ya sabía algunos de los temas que se tocaron en el curso pero me gustó mucho recordar de mano de la profesora Margarita los conceptos básicos del UX, ella es muy amena y didáctica todo el tiempo me mantuve interesada en las lecciones.
 
Me gustaron mucho los materiales de trabajo,  las presentaciones me parecen muy fáciles de entender y perfectas para personas que van empezando en el mundo del UX, también me gustó aprender usar Notion. 

Me hubiera gustado que se le diera más difusión, los recursos que manejan son excelentes para atraer a más personas al mundo del Ux

Lo más lindo del curso fue que el reto a resolver tenía que ver con un tema solidario, he hecho diversos voluntariados y cuando leí que el caso de estudio iba tener que ver con apoyo social, de inmediato pedí mi acceso al curso. Considero que utilizar  nuestras habilidades y conocimientos para apoyar a los demás le da sentido a nuestra vida, nos humaniza y nos vuelve mejores personas.

Muchas gracias por todo Margarita y Cyber Patio :D

El 5-day-ux-challenge me ha parecido un reto increíble, tanto por la forma de "aprender haciendo", la estructura de las clases, los ejemplos que se usaban para explicar cada apartado que tratábamos y sobretodo lo bien explicado por parte de Margarita. He pasado de no conocer el proceso completo de UX Design a llevar a cabo mi primer caso de estudio en menos de una semana! Esto también me ha animado a seguir aprendiendo sobre UX ahora que tengo más conocimiento en este tema. Por otra parte, que hayamos tratado temas solidarios me ha gustado mucho y más en los tiempos en los que estamos actualmente debido a la pandemia, donde nos hemos dado cuenta lo importante que es ayudar y apoyarnos unos a otros. Y en especial, que una parte de las ganancias obtenidas en los cursos de la escuela vayan dirigidos a Homeless Entrepreneur dice mucho de la gente que hay detrás de Cyber Patio.