The design community hates bootcamps NOT bootcamp graduates.

This is a special homage to SPRINGBOARD BOOTCAMPS and their literal partners in crime CLIMB CREDIT.

It's super easy as a new career designer to be discouraged by all the hate thrown at bootcamps. But you really need to understand, even if you do not feel like your bootcamp was a total waste of time and money that designers and hiring managers truly hate bootcamps, and not you as a designer.

Some may say this is a classist take on education. But its not if you consider the amount that bootcamps cost plus the illegal practices of partner institutions like climb credit participate in leaving students in massive debt, tuition refund guarantees that are nearly impossible for a-lot of students to fulfill, fine print that excludes new students from their tuition refund guarantees to begin with. Fraudulent underwriting practices by climb credit. Non existent debt sold to debt collectors in previous students names. etc. This is not about money. or some hierarchy of academia.

This is about these for profit companies, taking advantage of people who might be in particularly confusing of vulnerable points in their lives and giving them false hope.

I write about this from my own experience. I also want to stipulate not all bootcamp graduate's come out of bootcamp as unprepared, terrible designers.

This is why giving into imposter syndrome can fuck you up

in 2019 I had a crisis of confidence and briefly enrolled in springboards ux bootcamp.

This is a mistake I am now in 2024 paying for.

Every touch point with a for profit business like springboard is a manipulation designed to deceive. I started getting invites to “apply” to their ux bootcamp. Despite having worked in ux and design and studied it. Applying implied that springboard did not accept everyone into their presentation of some sort of fancy bootcamp for only the best of the best.

I kinda knew that was bullshit.

When talking to the guy whose title was probably like senior sales deception expert.

The people at springboard present you with intentionally deceptive data.

when they tell you a high number of their graduates go on to find jobs.

THEY are lying. AND heres where they play with technicalities in their favor.

Springboard will include any and all jobs their graduates take after graduation even if they go back to their previous jobs or take a job as a barista or even an unpaid internship. Or my personal favorite some of their graduates end up working for springboard.

Considering that many for-profit schools don’t hold regional accreditation — and that students pay nearly twice as much in tuition compared to public four-year colleges — for-profit college prices often don’t match the education they provide.

For-profit institutions like springboard, as the name suggests, are educational institutions run as businesses. Their primary goal is to generate profit for their owners and shareholders.

Partnered with financial lenders who are straight up criminals you can read this complaint that was addressed to Kamala Harris, Elizabeth warren among others to understand the full scope of complete bullshit these institutions and their partners are built on.

So what happened in my situation is this

I enrolled in 2019. For less than a month. I determined springboards quality of education and some fine print that was not made clear to me did not warrent the price. I had financed through climb credit.

I was given a refund and withdrew from springboard with no problems.

I DID NOT HEAR FROM SPRINGBOARD OR CLIMB CREDIT UNTIL THIS YEAR.

A few months ago. I get a debt collector call stating I owe springboard/climb credit over 16k. Imagine my surprise considering there had been no attempts at any notices prior to some asshole calling me telling me I owed this money.

I emailed springboard. To which initially they tried to place the blame on me.

They then admitted that it was a clerical error. in writing via email. They and climb credit have admitted it was their fault several times

I reported them to the district attorney of NYCs office for fraud.

They LIED to the DA stating I attended springboard for months. I told the district attorney that I had proof of them stating categorically false dates of my attendence. That they had granted me a refund and I received no notice of their alleged non existent debt I owed prior to it appearing on my credit report.

In the months that the springboard bobble heads have been writing templated emails stating they were working on the matter.

My credit score has gone in the tank

Credit card companies have outright cancelled my credit cards.

Ive had to turn down potential work opportunities because i work in compliance and consulting and know I would not pass a background check with such a substantial unpaid loan on my credit report.

I have told springboard numerous times to contact my attorney and stop emailing me. I have declined any phone calls they suggested.

why ? because I do not trust them to keep their word on a thing and i can not verify whats said over a phone call.

ALTERNATIVES TO UX BOOTCAMPS

you can literally audit any course you want for free at coursera.

After you turn 21 you can get grants that could cover most of your tuition if not all of it because through FAFSA your parents income is no longer taken into consideration.

You could read blogs online, watch free youtube videos. Literally anything than these predatory assholes would be better.