Read this if you’re thinking about doing a UX bootcamp in 2024. (Long Story Short: Don’t.)

This guy is me when I spent that much money on a bootcamp that wasn’t worth that much money.

Thinking about doing a UX Bootcamp?

Don’t.

Not in 2024.

And I’ll tell you all the reasons why. This will be biased considering I went through a 6-month UX bootcamp.

But I also think I’m the perfect person to tell you because I went through a 6-month UX bootcamp.

First, I want to say that there is nothing wrong with wanting to pivot into the UX/UI field. User Experience (UX) design is a valuable skill to have. Especially in today’s world where anything and everything is digital. I never knew what UX was, not until one day, I started seeing so many videos about it on my For You page on TikTok.

It became such a trending topic in such a short amount of time.

And the appeal for UX was great. Headlines like:

• “Making $185k as a UX Designer”
• “My UX portfolio that helped me land a 6 figure job”
• “Get into tech through UX without a degree.”

And all these other videos that show entry level UX designers making $70k or upwards of $120k.

Starting.

Who wouldn’t be interested? I certainly was.

I was a recent graduate of a prestigious school that expected 90% of their students to go to med school. But I hadn’t. I got a medical sales job (which I guess is health related but I’m still not using my degree) and soon left. And when I went back to my job search and applied for jobs related to my degree, I was rejected because I had a bachelors and not a masters.

I was in the middle of a career crisis. I was anxious. I kept asking myself questions like

Do I really want to work in the health field?

Is this really in alignment with what I’m passionate about?

Forget passion. What do I like doing? Do I like public health? Do I like working in the health field?

Then I saw those UX videos and thought, wait a minute.

That’s what I’ve been missing.

Why was UX the next step for me?

My personal story will be brief but if you don’t care much, all good with me. Skip to the “Let’s talk about all the reasons…” section.

When I researched what UX was and whether it was something I could do and would like doing, I found out why I didn’t like doing my previous job in the process. Why I had felt like something was not quite right with how my career was going so far.

I was missing the creative part of me.

Personally, college had sucked the life out of me (a topic for a different time). I had come from an arts-focused high school and jumped into a STEM heavy institution. I felt like I had to conform into the pre-med stereotype.

And I conformed too hard. No social life. Always got to-go boxes from the food hall and then locked myself up in my dorm to “study” some more. Went to class, went home for the weekends, came back, studied, studied, studied. That’s it.

I realized I hadn’t done much that got my creative juices flowing.

And then I found out for myself: I didn’t want to get rid of my STEM heavy training altogether, but I did want to supplement it with my arts.

And UX was the perfect medium.

I had done research and UX involves research.

I am a creative person (theater kid, doodled a lot, sang — the right brain stuff). And that’s where the design part comes in, in UX design.

And I thought that if I’d wanted to pivot, I had to do it now. Not anytime later when I’m already in too deep.

So I decided. Yes, I’m halting my job search and I’m going to pursue UX Design.

Let’s talk about all the reasons why I believed bootcamp was the right decision for me (at the time):

The number one reason why I decided to learn UX through bootcamp was because it followed the traditional class setting.

And accountability was important to me.

All I ever knew what to do up to this point was school. I was super familiar with having a traditional class structure. Penciling in my assignments on my calendar, finishing them before (or by) the deadline and so on.

I already knew how to do school and bootcamp mimicked school.

• It was a 6-month long program (part-time).
• Three, 3-hour sessions per week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday).
• 6 PM — 9 PM.

When I considered learning on my own time, I felt that I wouldn’t be able to do it successfully because

1.) it was completely new to me so my learning would be “scattered” (just grabbing anything I can find online) and

2.) feeling like I wasn’t learning UX the “right” way.

With bootcamp, there were assignments and deadlines (things I’ve dealt with all my life). I thought it was perfect for me because the bootcamp structure would keep me accountable.

Not to mention the price. This was also a crazy driving factor.

I spent $15,000.

Of course I was going to take this seriously.

and I better know how to do UX at the end.

So without wasting another minute, I pulled the trigger.

(A mistake.)

My Thoughts After Bootcamp Completion

I had made a “Bootcamp Tracking + Realizations” google doc where I documented my journey. I talked about all the things I liked and didn’t like, things that annoyed me, all the good and bad experiences.

So here is a list of what I DIDN’T like:

• Instructors can be a hit or miss (I was lucky that I liked my instructor, but I’ve heard other cohorts have instructors that don’t speak at all. Just gives the assignment out and 🎵 into the breakout rooms they go🎵).
• Outdated presentation slides. My comments and contributions were far more rich than the content itself. Enough said.
• Assignments were super outdated. And what really annoyed me was that we spent more time trying to figure out what the assignment wanted us to do rather than just moving on or creating another assignment that we can actually work with.
• You will have to work with unmotivated individuals. I know this exists in the real world but you and I paid $15k for this so I don’t know why you’re bs’ing it?
• (cont’d) So you end up building the case study by yourself but they’re named a contributor. So they get to call that case study (you worked on alone) on their portfolio their own.
• You will share the same exact case studies as your peers who have worked on it with you. You’re all going to come out with the same case studies. How are you going to stand out?
• A lot of the assignments during class were all fluff and no substance.
• Burnout towards the end. A lot of people (maybe including your instructor) are just bs’ing at this point. I mean it’s not a real school, grades don’t actually matter. Just get it done.
• and a lot more but I’ll end here.

Some things I did like:

• That there were deadlines to things (this is why I wanted to do bootcamp in the first place).
• (cont’d) so I could pace myself. Allow myself some time to learn new material and then apply it to the projects we were building.
• Friends! I got close to a few people (the ones who were actually serious about their $15k), and it made working on the projects more tolerable and fun.
• You do come out with 2–3 case studies and a portfolio which is what they promised. Still not enough to differentiate yourself with though.
• We learned front-end development. This was my first time learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I thoroughly enjoyed this portion actually. I built a landing page using code for the first time. That was actually fun.

Why bootcamp isn’t a good choice for learning UX

UX bootcamps are still running today. My instructor had finished going through another 6 month program with another cohort not too long ago. My TA is still a TA for another cohort today.

What I’m trying to say is bootcamps pump out under-qualified designers all the time which is why the UX job market is so saturated. I find an entry-level UX job posted 30 minutes ago and it’s already got about 300+ applicants.

Completing a bootcamp is not enough to qualify someone as a UX designer. You are just getting your toes wet. You have to do more work. Find internships or do freelance work (doing either has its own challenges too depending on where you are in your career).

You have to stand out in ways that others don’t.

Better your landing page.

Better your case studies.

Don’t do another travel app.

Make case studies out of your previous (unrelated to UX) experiences.

That’s what makes your portfolio more interesting and more you.

If I had to restart, this is what I would do

Well… I would not spend $15k on a bootcamp.

Knowing what I know now, I could have learned on my own. Even if it had to be scattered learning for a little bit or if I had to feel a bit lost. That would have been much better than spending $15k on it.

Bootcamps are just not worth that much. You can find courses for cheaper (and with content that isn’t outdated).

Side note: Joe Natoli’s UX 365 Academy is $168 for the year. I love this guy and wish I’d found him sooner.

So if I could do it again, I would

• Say no to $15k bootcamps (or any bootcamps for that matter)
• Watch a lot of UX design videos on YouTube from experienced UX designers
• Pull up HCI curriculums from top universities
• Find the syllabi for those classes
• Search up the content they’d listed on there
• Invest some money on courses if that helps (still way cheaper)
• NOT make a travel app case study. Go out into your neighborhood, find shops that could use some UX and do that for free.
• Build case studies on my previous experiences.
• Network earlier to get my foot in the door.

Other possible options to consider:

• Going to grad school for UX

If I’ve not convinced you, ask these questions to help figure out which program is best for you.

Please rephrase these questions when you ask them if you’d like, but I want them to be straightforward so you know what I’m getting at.

I definitely wish I had asked more questions like:

• Are my friends and I graduating bootcamp with the same looking portfolios and case studies?
• What specific benefits will I gain from attending this bootcamp?
• I heard the UX job market is oversaturated. What is the perception of recent bootcamp graduates among companies?
• What value am I getting for the (insert obnoxious price)?
• What is the bootcamp’s job placement rate for graduates?
• Can I see testimonials or talk to alumni who have successfully transitioned into UX roles?
• What opportunities for hands-on projects and real-world experience does the bootcamp offer?
• How does the bootcamp stay up-to-date with current industry trends and technologies?
• Are there opportunities for networking with industry professionals during the program?
• What is the student-to-instructor ratio, and how personalized is the instruction?
• Are there any additional costs beyond the tuition fee (e.g., software, materials, etc.)?

Me Today

I don’t call myself a UX Designer because I don’t have the experience to show for it yet.

BUT I can say that I have UX Design skills.

I can walk you through the design thinking process. I can show you affinity diagrams, my user interviews, how to do heuristic evaluations, wireframes, storyboards, user personas, etc. I know how to work Figma.

But my background and skills before entering the bootcamp are far more important than what I gained from it. So today, I am working on case studies related to who I was and what I did before bootcamp.

I am committed to my continuous learning and improvement and I know that my dedication will get me there. I can’t wait for the day I get to work with project managers, other designers, and engineers. Get my hands dirty in real-world projects and grow within the field.

I hope we all get there soon.

Regardless of your decision, I hope this helped you.

I wish you all the best.