CareerFoundry

I started learning web development course on Nov 15, 2017 and graduated on Mar 27, 2018. I found a job at GTA area on Apr 19, 2018. It's not web developer, but network administrator.

The course is well designed and I think I'm a qualified junior web developer after completing the course. However, it's still not easy to find a job by just completing the boot camp. Most jobs require degrees or years of experience. The only opportunity is small start-up companies with low salary, but you cannot expect too much as a rookie. Right?

Career foundry helps me in multiple aspects.

1. Job guarantee reduces my anxiety which is the biggest headache for me. 

2. The community of mentor, tutor, career coach and other alumni makes me feel that I’m not working alone.

3. Although my job is network administrator, my skills in web development helps me to win the job.

(1) In order to configure the Linux environment to run Ruby on Rails, I learned linux system and I was experienced with virtual machine, SSH connection etc., which is useful for a network administrator

(2) Interviewer asked me some details of my web development skills. Basically my web development skill let them believe that I’m a fast learner and I understand how to make different software work together. 

I wanted to change careers from graphic design to UX design. I joined CareerFoundry and loved my experience with them. I was paired with a great mentor. He was very helpful, understanding, patient, and empathetic. He helped me learn the ins and outs of UX and prepare and practice for the interviews. They have a great team of career specialists too who help you with the interviews and give you tips on your job search.

 Almost a month after graduation, I got my first UX job in a well known company. Career Foundry makes learning UX fun and you get to work on two portfolio pieces during the course. 

Preface:
First off, I have to say that almost everyone I know these days is "thinking about learning programming" or "learning programming on the side right now". They mention weird  words like React and Node.JS, or Rainbow-Trout-Power-Language, whatever it is they try to assure you that whatever you thought is the right thing to learn is wrong, and that their flavor of the week is more important. At the end of the day, Career Foundry got me to actually learn the programming languages and also develop projects - and there is a lot to be said for action vs. talk.

Why I liked the course:
First off, the way the course is made, you actually have to finish it, otherwise you suffer a financial penalty. This to me is perfect, because bootcamps that say you can take as long as you want, are not really there to help you get into the industry rather than fulfill your fantasy of 'kind-of' learning a programming language. This is just my opinion of course, but I really needed a timeline where I had to complete things, as my life is too busy and without an externally motivated deadline, it would likely slip.

The course content itself is pretty good, it gets you through the languages as you build up projects in the course. To be honest, you can learn anything on the internet for free, but why Career Foundry was nice is because they sequence the learning in a way that makes sense. When learning web dev, there are inevitable times when you require knowledge from a more advanced topic to explain a simpler one. CF gets around this quite well by giving you disclaimers like, "don't worry, we'll explain this later" and then they ACTUALLY DO explain it, unlike the last season of the TV show LOST. The best part of the course though is that someone grades every assignment (pass or fail). I once had my assignment rejected because the code wasn't formatted nicely. The code worked fine, and met all the objectives, but looked ugly. While this may sound frusterating, this is the most real world example of something that is really important which you can lose sight of just coding on your own. 

Finally, the job prep course at the end I would say is one of the most valuable parts of the course. Learning a new skill for me is relatively easy compared to the daunting task of looking for work in a new skill, fighting against your own biases about you not being ready enough etc...The job prep course was a lot of work, and I somehow didn't know you only had a month after you are done your main course to finish it (which I think could be boldly articulated at the start of the course that you need to finish it by the date - this got confusing for me as the date was changed a few times). But those things aside, the work you put in really sets you up to look for work. It's tough, and at times gruelling, but I have never been so confident in my resume and cover letter writing skills as I am now. I had multiple reviews of my resume, with minute changes on things such as the structure of sentences and wording - which are all things I would have not caught if completely on my own. I guess it was nice to know that by the end of that, I was ready mentally to look for work.

Things I would improve about the course:

• There were a few times the course content had errors that caused a lot of rework. I found the best way to check if this was the case was simply by looking at the student comments on the lesson. Sometimes there were multiple of the same comment and that helped save me from falling into the same trap. I would suggest CF should go through the comments on each lesson to help find these issues. I submitted a lot of course feedback of as many errors as I could find, but sometimes you don't have the time
• I feel at the end of each unit, there should be a mandatory project that fores you to have to apply the principles on your own (instead of optional). I really don't like the approach that you are just 'done' the unit one you get through each assignment and feel like this would be a great opportunity to weave in things like interview coding challenges etc...
• I experienced a lot of variance with the tutors. I personally feel you should have a mini skype call where you introduce yourselves to each other at the start of the course, as at times it just feels like someone is copy pasting "Great work! You clearly met the requirements etc..." vs. actually giving you feedback. Since the whole course is online, these opportunities to make things feel a bit more connected I feel shouldn't be overlooked.

Things I would tell myself now after finishing the course:

• Don't get over confident at the start of the course, it is designed to be easier at the beginning. Eventually you will run into a lesson which takes an insane amount of time to get right, and you need to be okay with that. Remember, your tutor has to approve your results, and sometimes you will go back and forth for a few days on one lesson, while other days you will complete two lessons in one day.
• Really begin with the end in mind, and don't plan to use the portfolio made in the course as your own professional one. That is just an example project and in my opinion makes a lot of design decisions that may or may not make sense for you.
• Pick ONE (not 100) other resources like Ruby done the hard way or Object Oriented programming books, and make a goal of completing some of that content with each lesson. The course is not going to teach you everything you need to know (no course will) so you need to get used to self learning now.
• The job prep course is a lot of work. Don't underestimate it, but also realize it is making your life 10 times easier than it would be on your own. If you put a lot of effort in that course at the end it will pay huge dividends.

I decided to change career from marketing to UX design and enrolled on the UX course. Although when I finished the course I felt that I still was lacking a lot of practice in the field, I got a very good knowledge of what a UX designer should do and know. In order to get more practice the course shoud be longer because some skills they just need practice and time to be developped.

Also the course prepared me on how to present my work and my creative processes to potential employers, which I think has been very useful. I also found very useful the active student community, I have got great help from it. For example, I got to know other fellow students who have ended up helping me a lot on my portfolio and job application documents and it has been a useful source to start networking.

And last when I finished the course I got good couching from CF team on how to do my interviews and landed up on my first UX job through the CF network only one month and a half after I finished the course.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate CareerFoundry for such an affordable program in getting started in web developement! Due to the U.S. market and my location, I was not able to procure a job in 6 months yet they did honour their job gaureente, as always make sure one reads the terms and abides. However, the program itself prepared me for a subsquent local in-house boot camp and now has the pleasure of calling myself not only a full-stack Ruby on Rails web developer but as an upgrade to software developer upon adding the .Net (C#) stack. With the work of the CareerFoundry team has been able to position myself for growth and future success within the tech space by providing me with a module to prepare me for the current and future job market along the main course. I am forever grateful for CareerFoundry team for allowing me to get a good start on my training as a developer and thus happily satistfied. The only thing missing is a JS framework like Angular, React, or Vue was taught which would have enhanced ability to get hired.

I wanted to change careers to UX Design and chose CareerFoundry for my training. Although based in Berlin, the course is 100% online (I am based in Canada). What is great about the course is you get to work through some great and important information about UX Design, then send in a task to your tutor. With the UX Immersive class I did, I was assigned a tutor (to check my activities/tasks) and a mentor (to do a portfolio review at the end of each 'achievement'). This is what I loved the most about the course. I got so much great advice and encouragement from my tutor and mentor during this course, they were always around to answer my questions and offer me feedback on the tasks. I think I have grown so much now as a new junior UX Designer to the industry, then when I had first started. 

The CF slack group was also awesome, so much great advice and help from other students and tutors/the career services team. Whats so great is that everyone at CF wants you to succeed, and do everything in their power to mak it possible. 

They have updated the curriculum since I first started and now include extra video tutorials and quizzes, which I think is great. Even without them though, I enjoyed the course structure. I really learned so much and can't wait to start working as a UX Designer. Recommend them 10000%!

I took the Intro to UX Course, UX Mastery Course, and Voice UI Course. Here's why Career Foundry is your best choice for a Career Change:

• Flexible: CF is completely flexible to your schedule since it's 100% online.
• 6-Month Job Guarantee: The Job Preparation Course is AMAZING. It forces you to rehaul your entire online presence, deliverables, and entire interview process. I had a practice interview with my Job Mentor before interviewing with an actual company the next day.
• Advisors: You'll have at least 3 people looking after you. An advisor, a tutor to help with day to day assignments, and a mentor who is a successful professional in the field and who can help link what you learned to everyday work (and can also help you network).
• Staff: Friendly staff responds quickly to any curriculum questions or concerns.
• The Work: Work is broken into digestible modules and includes lots of outside links for further research.
• Fellow Students: Easily see fellow student work to understand what your work should look like. 
• $$$: Best bang for your buck compared to other programs.
• Voice: The Voice class was just created and was made in partnership with Amazon. Voice is really exploding and will look great on resumes. 
• (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧: Everyone in this company wants you to succeed, and it shows in their interactions.

My only wish would be the opportunity to make some projects with real companies so that your portfolio isn't just student work. However, this is easily remedied by doing freelance on your own. If you're ready to commit to the program, you will be rewarded.

I took the UX Designer course last year in January 2017 and graduated in June 2017. My goal was to gain as much knowledge as possible, not just certificate. Therefore I spent weekly more than 20 hours studying and preparing for the assignements. It worth it. The course itself is really well organized and you always get the sense of the progress, even after small achievements. Next to studying I practiced on one real project. It means sometimes I was running after people to get interviews and user feedback. Was an exciting and interesting time. I loved the huge community and the support from my mentor and tutor. They were fast and always there for any questions. Actually thanks to my mentor I got my current position. One Manager in my network was browsing randomly on LinkedIn when my mentor reposted my ux portfolio. The manager contacted me and after few months I got a UX position in one of Switzerland leading bank. As I look back to the course and the school, I think it was a good investment and a great experience.Careerfoundry cares a lot about their students and non stop working on improvements. They do UX as well :) 

I have been stuck in a rut for so long and was wary of taking a boot camp style course because I am easily demotivated. My CareerFoundry course was completely different from any online course I had taken previously. Although I found that my tutor sometimes was very set in their ways, in real life as a UX Designer you will have a client expecting you to create to their liking. It was so motivational to work with a mentor in the field. My mentor helped me in my interviews, I truly felt like I had a whole team rooting for me. I would definitely recommend this course if you want to change your life with something you are passionate about and do something you love. I never dreamt I could be working as a UX Designer after a 6 month course (I took 8 months due to being a mom and working freelance). CareerFoundry not only prepares you for a career but they help you in the whole process towards applying to jobs and interviewing which is extremely important. I am now starting my first job in UX design, thank you CF!!

To Make a Long Story Short
The UX Designer course at CareerFoundry helped me to evolve my career and to land a job as a Junior UX Designer within three months after I finished the course. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is really interested and willing to make some serious effort. This is not a taster course and you should really be convinced of what you’re doing since you invest a lot of time and money. If you just want to learn more about the basics (so that you can decide better if this is the right thing for you) then you might be better off with the cheaper and shorter UX Fundamentals course offered by CareerFoundry, too.

My Personal Professional Background
I studied Interface Design as a specialization field of Industrial Design in Germany. After that, I worked as a freelancer on minor complex projects (mostly graphic design) and at a small Start-Up as an Interface Designer. When I began to feel stuck in my career I took some time off to reflect on my very own skills, needs, and motivations. I deepened my knowledge and became even more fascinated by UX. Also, I discovered that I already was (or at least wanted to be) a UX Designer but there were some parts missing. I enrolled as a student at CareerFoundry to close those gaps. My expectations were high.

The Course
It started quite easy and flat but after just a few lessons it became harder and really rich in content. The schedule was tough and after some time on the course, I had to realize that I wouldn’t be able to finish the course within three months. I put high standards and demands on both myself and the quality of my work. I had to extend the course timeframe which was no problem. My mentor and tutor cheered me up and encouraged me since my submissions have been excellent.
The course content has been quite comprehensive and well curated. In real life probably no employer would hardly pay for all the steps taken in the sketched design process but it’s good to have a broad understanding of many different design methods and strategies. The topics that have been taught are not CareerFoundry exclusive. Indeed, you could manage to find and learn everything online for free. The big difference is the very good didactic conditioning and the chunking into lessons and tasks. You will apply what you’ve learned on a real project. Any submission will be reviewed by your tutor (day-to-day tasks) or your mentor (final task of the block) providing valuable feedback. They responded very quickly. I came to know my mentors and tutor to be very committed and I hope we will keep in touch. They have a great attitude of sharing their knowledge and experience. I never felt like I was bothering them and always felt encouraged.

Feel free to watch the project showcase on my behance profile: https://www.behance.net/gallery/54800867/Project-Showcase-Taskly-Task-Management-App

After The Course
When you finalize your course you can optionally take the Career Change Achievement. I would highly recommend this free extension to anyone who is going on job hunt. The lessons give you some very helpful tips and kind of guide you through the first time of your job search. They help (force) you to reflect on yourself and your newly acquired skills. In the end, you will understand yourself a lot better and you will be able to articulate your goals and your strengths in a polished application package. In my personal case, this led to a job offer after three weeks of searching and applying!