RED Academy

I have been in corporate manangement for over 20 years. I decided to take a year off to update my knowledge. I got a bootcamp at another school. And then I went to RED to take Digital Marketing. I think RED is the best school in town. What sets RED apart from other schools is how much RED truly cares about the students. At RED I do real work projects from real clients. I learn from instructors who have deep industry experience. And not only am I learning real skills, I meet great friends who have the same interest as me. I now feel very confident to present in front of clients and feel good about having a community behind me. A few students and I love life at RED so much that we made videos about it. You may use the link to have a look below:

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=tLQYHcEtAcA

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=r7j7XuWQbV4

I had a great experience at Red Academy, the 6 month course for full stack development was difficult, but it's what to be expected at a bootcamp with so much material to go through. It took a while to get used to the concept of googling and researching how to develop, because the approach to learning is different from most schools. The instructors are well accomplished and their background to get to where they are today are mostly self learned, and that is the mentality they push toward students, which will become their greatest strength.

It is an absolute asset, to not just be able to understand the material given to you, but to be able to know the right questions and what to look for to accomplish the task given to you. Although I see many reviews about how being told to google seemed offensive, I believe that the instructors respect you enough to know that you can find it on your own, because most likely any question you ask has been asked many times before to the point where they know exactly what you should search and which page for you to look at. It is difficult to know what to look for in the beginning, but they are supportive enough to show you the right direction to go. This approach to learning really helps you to become self-sufficient as a developer, which is what I personally value the most as my outcome from Red.

Red Academy provided me with an invaluable experience. I come from a background that was completely separate from UX but, with great instruction, I was able to bridge my previous expertise with this newly developed skill set. Working with RED’s community partners allowed us to practice and solidify the skills we learned in class. Our instructors were experts and challenged us to always think strategically while problem-solving for humans. The 12-weeks and experience with RED Design Labs was met with many late nights, sweat and tears, but was also met with big rewards: a killer portfolio and the knowledge to live and breathe UX.

Perhaps you won’t come out of the course with your dream job right away, but you will come out with the creative confidence and your path paved.

I attended RED in the summer of 2016. I secured a job before attending the course and have nothing but good things to say in regard to the program itself. I was lucky enough to have some amazing instructors and an extremley small class size. Most of the skills I learned at red I still use in my day to day job. I was distrubed however to see my access denied from the old learning app. Red had some great slides that I found easy to follow. As an alumni I was always under the impression I would be given access to the material consdiering it's what I paid $7500 for. Even if the website has changed its unacceptable. Red has no issue sending me stupid surveys on a monthly basis but can't keep the ONE usable thing for alumnis up and running. Guess its back to yotube as soon as you finish at red! I would message my teachers but most of them don't even work at RED any longer. Great school but needs some serious change in managment because they are clearly just focused on money and expansion. Don't believe me? Look at the reviews from the Toronto campus. Before figuring that shit show out the deicded to open a london campus...? I would suggest going to another coding camp until RED becomes more focused on the students and less focused on expansion and money. 

I recently graduated from the UI & Communications Fulltime program at RED in Vancouver, BC. Throughout my time at RED I was able to not only hone my skills as a designer but further grow my passions and engage with them through the community partner projects.

First and foremost, the word boot camp does not do RED Academy justice. RED has established a unique learning environment in which you can grow your skills, no matter your previous experience or education. I, myself, had previous design experience through freelancing but no formal design education and didn't think I would be cut out for formal design education after just finishing a 5-year degree in social sciences. However RED offered an entirely different environment in which learning was done through thoughtful, hands-on lessons with the instructors and engaging design labs and projects 

The second thing that made RED such a great learning experience is the instructors. Our cohort had students from all walks of life and technical/creative abilities. The instructors at RED have a unique talent to see potential in people and help them grow and harness that potential. The first time I realized that is when one of my instructors pulled me aside and told me she realized I was very interested in the emotional aspect of user-centric design, she handed me a book on the emotional design from her collection. 

The third thing that made RED the perfect place for my learning was the community partner projects. RED's community partner projects are a unique feature that allows not only the students to gain from the education provided but also the organization in the community that might not be able to afford to design/development/marketing for their cause. 

Don't get me wrong the 12-week program at RED is the hardest thing I have ever done from an educational perspective. Never before have I been challenged to this extent but that is what made into the designer I am now. I left the 12-week program exhausted but also completely excited for the vast possibilities that have opened up to me due to my time at RED. 

RED is the prime example of 'what you get is what you give.' Every day at RED will pose a different design challenge, and you can choose to give it your all and find a solution, and in my experience, it will be the best choice you can make for your future career.  

My 6 months here at red has been a great experience. The Program itself could use more poslishing such as organization and possibly more casual effective one on one check ins. But material covered in the course was delivered at a good pace as some materials had to be revisited on our request. The instructors we're able to make that time for us and made sure we got that skill down. The instructor and other staffs really made my expereience better. I feel a genuin connection with the staff at RED. They care and would make sure to help you in anyway. 

 

I absolutely loved my time at RED Academy.

I learned more in my 3 months here than I did during my 3 years at University. The style of learning is definitely very hands on for the students and relies a lot on self-taught skills to take things further, but this is great because it develops skills that are required to work in the design community.

During my time here every single member of staff was open and friendly, both in terms of schooling and just being lovely! The atmosphere was so homely and real and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I genuinely feel like everyone not only cared about, but loved what they do at RED and this transcended into the teaching styles and the motivation of the students to produce good work.

I have only been out of RED for a week, but I know that I am welcome back here for as long as I like in order to work on my portfolio, skills and resume etc. Because of this I know that RED have my best interests at heart and they will be supportive during my time trying to land career I love.

Thanks RED!

The biggest difference that made this program stand out was the mentorship that is always available to any student. The UI lead instructor was extremely helpful to my personal development, very empathetic, yet challenging at the same time. The RED Labs lead was also always ready to help with invaluable advice based on more than a decade worth of industry experience. Overall, the staff at the school go above and beyond to foster the self-development of its students.

The other amazing thing about RED is the community partnership program, in which you get to work on real client projects. This gave me the perfect opportunity to exercise what I've learned in the curriculum. As a UI student, I got to work in groups with UX students in which our designs brought a lot of value to the clients we worked for. 

The curriculum has a lot of very up-to-date, diverse, and relevant design material available. We learned a large array of software such as Sketch, Illustrator, Axure, Proto io, and Invision, as well as user-testing software such as Optimal Workshop and Fengui.

All the tools and resources are available to go above and beyond in this program. It is extremely intense and requires a lot of work, but at the same time it is very rewarding in terms of the experience and opportunities it provides.

I chose RED after thoroughly reading the reviews, reviewing the content on their website, talking with them, and finally seeing the six-month money-back guarantee they had advertised on their site (which is gone now). After reviewing other schools, RED’s program seemed the most feasible with 12 weeks to learn the same amount other schools offered in 9 weeks. I had expected completing this program to be no easy feat and that a lot of work and dedication would be required and anticipated this would include time off work, and a significant loss of family time with my son and wife as I would be putting all my effort into the school. The school was a failure within the first 3 weeks. First off, was the Personal Professional Development program (PPD) that the school provides once a week to prep the students for interviews, resumes and networking. It was supposed to have industry experts shed light on getting into the industry for someone right out of school and what to expect in the process. Instead, we got an accountant who basically had no tech experience and was actually working for RED’s partner Creative Niche, along with REDs own HR person who was clearly unimpressed with doing presentations and scheduled 2hrs for the PPD session but provided a whopping 30mins at times and at other times had us wasting valuable project time doing juvenile team work exercises like building popsicle stick towers and writing rap songs (yep you read that right. Rap songs.) Of course my cohort complained. The school said they would fix it but nothing was done. RED also promised interview prep, and being in the web developer program you would figure this included technical interviews with code challenges, but as with REDs other promises they dropped the ball again, and we received none. When we raised this issue, RED came out with its standard corporate PR message -- we will fix it and you will get past this. Once again, nothing happened. On top of the already horrendous approach to getting us job-ready, one of RED’s very pricey pieces of advice, was to exaggerate on our resume to get your foot in the door. Instead of having us fully ready to be able to present our skills RED believes dishonesty about your skill level would be the best course of action. Along with this jewel, any job offer between $30-$35k should be jumped on (which is dramatically lower than the salary expectations we were told going into the program.) As for the program itself, I will point out the teachers were knowledgeable, and one actually had prior teaching experience and he always went above and beyond. However, the 7:1 ratio RED advertises is misleading since each teacher teaches different aspects and specializes in different languages it really boils down to 1 teacher with 12 students teaching JavaScript to a class who has never learned it before. It's easy to understand why majority of us had to purchase our own tutorials outside of RED just to get an understanding of the material. Both these teachers were also expected to teach basic HTML to the other courses, talk with prospective students, and even work on repairing REDs own website, all of this during the time we had paid for. Our first two projects were created with HTML, CSS, and Javascript and were the only ones we were evaluated on and received feedback on. But when it came to the more complicated coding, where one would expect support, review and explanation, we received no feedback. In fact, the majority of us didn't even finish the rest of the projects until a month or 2 after the program ended and again after buying our own tutorials from Udemy, and basically teaching ourselves. A far cry from the "job ready" grads RED promised on it website. Finally, there’s Creative Niche. When applying, I figured that a school that's already partnered with a digital staffing agency would be a bonus as they would help us find jobs in the industry as junior web developers and they could rely on the education RED was providing to ensure they were getting "job-ready grads" but, like everything RED does, this was a huge failure as well. Since we graduated there has been one posting from Creative Niche for a web developer and even then, they did not hire from RED. It makes you wonder why RED’s own partner won't hire RED students. After many complaints from myself and my entire cohort, requesting they return our money, RED replied and told us they would not be giving us our money back, and offered to provide us the missed training and education that we had paid for. So, almost 3 months after graduating RED is offering to do what I had paid to learn during the program. The audacity of the CEO to offer this and expect me to take this offer, to take unpaid time from work, to again sacrifice family to get what I had paid for and they failed to deliver is a clear admission of wrongdoing on their part and, frankly, quite insulting. On top of that, were REDs CEO’s emails to my cohort where he insultingly suggests we aren't trying hard enough. The last thing that really got to me is RED’s price for the program that's shrouded in mystery. The school claims tuition is $8500. I paid $8000 ($500 discount and no clue why.) Others, I was shocked to find out, paid as little as $5700, and there were many who paid an amount somewhere in between the $5700 and $8500 price. I still don't understand why there is such a discrepancy between everyone's payment, and a lack of transparency. So, If you are at all considering this school, I say get yourself a Udemy web developer program for $30, and spend time at the library learning. You will gain more from that than you will from RED and you'll still keep $8000 in your pocket.

RED is not only a school, but a place you can call your second home, at the end of the day. Out of all of the schools and certifications that I've undergone (undergrad, Master's and PR certification) it was definitely the most intimate learning experiences I've ever had. So special! Right?

Just a little disclaimer: the course is not for the faint hearted. You really need to be passionate about digital marketing and put 110% in order to stay on top of things. Procrastination will literally eat you alive. It's all totally worth it though as you will come out knowing all about digital strategy, develop all the digital marketing skills and apply into the real world. In today's day, practicality trumps theory. Having taken this course, I've now got a competitive edge over others and feel confident to undertake digital marketing on in the real world.

RED is more than a school, it is a culture and a way of life. If you're into the idea of 'we're all in this together' then you'll fit right in. The teachers are hip and charismatic and know what they're talking about, massive bonus. I highly suggest taking one of their tours, so you can see their cool work space and get a general feel for the RED vibes.

 

Here's the deal: 12 weeks of how to become a competent digital marketing specialist at either entry or intermediate level. 

For me, I found:

-The course well planned out 

-The course material is streamlined to give only relevant information that is current

-The instructors are young and have recent experience to offer.

-Most, if not, all elements of digital marketing are covered, particularly SEO and SEM best practices.

But there's a catch; it needed my time and full attention (the whole 12 weeks of it!). That was due to the amount of information I needed to learn since marketing was not my background.

My only gripe would be not having funds set aside to implement AdWords excercises. This, in my eyes, can only be learnt by implementing and learning from your mistakes.

What's the real story? I found the community partner projects (working with real clients) to be hugely advantageous, which sets Red aside from its competitors. I found the personal development sessions and the advice offered by the career development team very useful. I also found the time and support the instructors gave more than adequate.

The best part? Well, Red's network is their net worth (sorry for the cliché). The instructors are also well connected within the community and can offer advice and referrals.

Why does this matter? Because it will speed up your chances of employment, and could land you a better job than anticipated.

Advice to future students - make the most of your time at Red, and plan you time wisely.

A 12 week intense program (or as I did...a 6 month full stack program) is costly but worth every penny! It's definitely not for everyone, but as long as you're here and willing to commit, the things you take away from the programs are priceless. Having first hand experience of other programs at other local tech schools (BrainS------), I was blown away by the commitment these instructors and staff are willing to give to their students.  RED instructors actually create their own curriculum so I felt assured that these industry professionals teach what they preach. 

The environment they've created at RED is very similar to that you'll find within a tech company.  The PPD (Personal Professional Development) program is also something that sets RED apart, and shows that they care and prep their students for the industry.

I've recommended RED to fellow colleagues and they've all stopped by for a sample course or two and ended up taking the course as well.  RED is obviously doing something right, because my colleagues are just as pleased as I am.

Coming from a four year design program previous to this, as well as a few internships in various agencies/start-ups, I found RED to have the same friendly, community vibe - if not better! Working with like-minded people, has definitely motivated me and made the learning experience great.

In my short time here, I've worked on many client projects that have really taught me how to navigate the world of design and how to effecitvely communicate with clients about ideas/art directions etc. The instructors have been nothing but helpful in motivating and pushing me into exploring different methods of research, design etc. and have definitely given me the skills I need to move forward.

12-week intensive programs aren't for everyone. However, I HIGHLY recommend RED Academy. For me, it was the perfect fit for my career transition into UX. A huge part of success with RED Academy is that you get what you put in. The program is intense and you'll spend a lot of time working on projects. But if you put in the work, RED will provide all the resources you need to succeed.

The other students are also great. I got to know the people in my class really well and made some amazing friendships. There are many opportunities to socialize with the students in other programs as well. The people

The class instructors are very supportive. They are available to help with any questions, even after you finish the program. I appreciated how they use different teaching styles and used lots of "learning by doing" activities. 

I felt everything taught was directly useful to real world working. They provide the tools you need to complete your projects -- which is where the real learning happened. You work with real clients on real work, which adds pressure since you aren't just redesigning Twitter or anything. From conversations with UX professionals, this sets RED apart from many other intensive training programs. They also provide training and support for developing soft skills, like teamwork and communication. 

You get support after you graduate with job search assistance, but I found the resume and portfolio help during the course equally helpful. The continued feedback has been so helpful as I'm looking for work. I feel confident that the training provided by RED will lead to a job. 

I must say that I had my share of skepticism coming into the program due to the short duration compared to traditional programs at public institutions. What if it was true and that I can learn the skills necessary to transition in the tech industry in three months? The time saved would be invaluable and I decided to enroll in the full-time UX Design program. In hindsight, I'm glad that I took the program at RED Academy.

I can confidently say that I gained more real world skills in the three months compared to my four-year undergraduate degree. The school operates like an agency and working with real clients really helped me to become confident in entering the workforce. The instructors are very knowledgeable and the staffs are always around to support you. People at RED really grows on you that you'll miss seeing them every day.

My only constructive feedback is that I felt that the UI elements were overlooked and that we should at least have the foundations as many employers seek for UX/UI Designers. However, it is understandable that there's only so much that you can put into a three-month curriculum and that there's the UI program should you feel that it's necessary. Nevertheless, I learned so much during the program and would recommend it to anyone that is looking to get the relevant skills to enter the tech industry.