General Assembly

First off, registration is relatively easy. Via email and eventually on a call with a counselor, unless there is a word they otherwise prefer, who was friendly, encouraging, and knowledgable. Further email communications were responsive and efficient enough.

Starting the course: I was a little nervous, since I hadn't done any real continuing education in quite a while, but from the first class I felt like had settled right in and would have a lot of fun learning again. Our instructor was (is!) smart, fun, energetic, and open to any and all interruptions and questions in the spirit of a reasonably free-flowing learning environment.

Overall, the material was organized and delivered at what I think was a proper pace: ideas building on previous lessons, never jumping too far ahead, and each new point related to the previous work. Round about the midway point I started to get overwhelmed, which is natural from time to time, and my instructor read that immediately and assured me that I was doing fine. In fact, we were reminded from the beginning that our learning would not necessarily be a linear thing and that was to be expected.

By the end, I'd met my stated goals for the 10 week bootcamp-style course and am happy with the results. I even made 5 new friends (it was a small class this time around!) and we got a lot done.

I have been in graphic/visual design for 8+ years of my career. I know the ins and outs of it and I know I'm pretty good at it. However, I knew I wanted to pivot my career. I was tired of being a pixel pusher, and I wanted a bit of a change. UX really is the future, and so after a lot of conversations and preparation, I decided to register for the parttime UX Design course. It took place every Tuesday and Thursday evening, from 6:30 - 8:30 PM, for 3 months. 

Luckily, I live in Midtown so the commute wasn't the worst, but traffic absolutely sucks when you're in a rush to go right after work. I work until 6 PM, so I definitely had to move it. Luckily, I was late maybe once the entire time. It was an easy commute otherwise.

The course itself was laid out very well. I will sincerely say, I enjoyed my experience with the General Assembly. I learned SO MANY new things over the three months, but it also allowed me to pinpoint areas in my career where I've already used UX principles without realizing it. You basically start from the very beginning of the process, all the way to the very end: problem statements, user interviews and personas, competitive analysis, user flows and sitemaps, wireframes, and prototypes. I would say 2/3 of the time, you're learning more about the UX research principles, and 1 month is dedicated more to the actual design process, such as wireframing and prototypes. One of the biggest benefits for me was learning how to take the data from interviews and user testing and actually apply it to my product. You learn that with UX design, the design strategies you start to implement, are data-driven and done for a reason, and not just because someone tells you to do it a certain way. 

Our instructor was very well prepared and did a great job making sure we understood what she was teaching each evening. But she was more than just an instructor. She was our friend and our mentor. I lacked confidence and second-guessed my abilities, but she helped push and challenge me the entire time. In the end, she also pushed me to be more confident in my skills. She was definitely a driving factor to my excitement to take the course. 

Be warned, the three months isn't easy. What I mean by that is it's a commitment. Some days you absolutely won't want to go to class, but you're paying to learn a wide range of skills that will benefit you in the long run. There were days that I had to drag myself to go. But I'm glad I did. I learned something new in every class. I also made some connections that I wouldn't have made otherwise.

The biggest and only real negative is that as a part-time student, you do not get help with job placement or networking. Sure, General Assembly looks great on your LinkedIn, but that's sort of the extent of what you get besides a completion certificate. If you're absolutely brand new to UX or design, and you're looking to make it your career after completion, I would actually recommend maybe considering the full-time immersive program. They give you far more portfolio pieces in the end (3 to 5 versus just 1 in the part-time), and they do their best to help with job placement. I was really lucky that as a graphic designer, I was able to tweak some of my work to speak to the UX of a given project. Others may not have been as lucky.

Costwise, it wasn't cheap either. The part-time program costs just under $4,000. They do offer some payment plans, which helped a lot. I don't think anyone can just drop that kind of money in one swoop. So it's not cheap, but I genuinely think you do get the value out of it. 

Do I recommend the part-time program? Absolutely. If you have a job that you're not ready to give up yet, definitely consider the part-time course. I would not have learned as much as I did, or taken it as seriously if I had taken the online course. I, unfortunately, do not know anyone who has taken the online course, but I do know some who have taken the full-time course, and they got out of it exactly what they were wanting. I got out of the part-time course, exactly what I wanted too. 

I have taken both the Front End Web Development and Javascript classes at the DTLA campus, with the goal of improving my skills for work. In both cases what I learned was from professionals active in the industry and the knowledge I obtained was immediately useful in my work environment. So I know that the promise of learning current, relevant information is absolutely true. Both classes I took were the part-time evening classes (twice a week, 3 hours per night for 10 weeks...plus homework). Even though the classes were part time, I learned quite a bit. In the Javascript development class, some programming knowledge plus html and css experience really helped.

I took the Data Analytics course with GA in the Summer of 2018, and loved it. I had already had quite a bit of Excel experience before I took the course, so I was a bit nervous that it would be repetitive - it wasn't. We dove into Excel much deeper than I had before, which provided an immediate boost at my current role. Then we learned SQL and Tableau and other ways to communicate and visualize data. Lots of hands on practice in class as well as homework in class. I now feel my confident in my ability using data tools, and know what I hope to learn from here. Thanks GA!

General Assembly is an extremely welcoming and supportive environment. The frontlines staff is incredibly warm, friendly, and helpful. And the job support is so so useful and helpful.

As for the Web Development Immersive, I have so many good things to say about that program and the people who taught me.

Justin is an amazing teacher. He is skilled, compassionate, challenging, fun, supportive & encouraging. He is a rare combination and I feel very lucky and grateful to have had the experience of taking a class from him. I thank him for creating a welcoming, judgement-free, and silly classroom that allowed for great personal growth and learning.

Dalton was such a huge help throughout this entire process. He was always ready, willing, and happy to help in any way he could. When he taught us subject matter, he always presented material in a very clear, concise way. 

These instructors and the staff/space at General Assembly made my experience what is was. I highly recommend visiting for yourself - meeting your teacher and getting a sense for the place and the people. I think it's what makes General Assembly stand out above the other options in the bay area. 

General Assembly's UX Design Immersive program was awesome. It was intense with a large workload. Do not go into this program thinking you will be able to have another job or have many other obligations. The bottom line in this program is you get out of it what you put into it, so if you are serious, this experience will be invaluable.

I know other cohorts have had awesome teachers as well but Imani and Shalom were amazing instructors. They have become some of the best teachers I have ever had. They bring to the UX classroom a passion for relevant issues and topics that make everyone around them see how UX can and should be applied to all areas of life. I feel lucky to have been taught by Imani and Shalom. The people in my class are also amazing and helped harbor an open environment where everyone felt comfortable giving and receiving feedback, which is an essential skill when working in the real world.

Cannot say enough good things about this program and school. Remember, if you are considering ANY boot camp do not go into it thinking a job will be handed to you, or that there will be someone there to hold your hand at all times. UX is about solving problems and you have to have the drive to do so. Like any school, this program will give you the tools to succeed if you are willing to put in the work.

I'll start with the result - I finished a 3 month Web Development immerasive course in the Santa Monica Campus in April 2018. After following the recommendations and advice of the GA 'outcomes' team I had 3 offers by the end of May. 

The course was intensive - many of us were new to programming, switching careers and required a lot of study. One thing that I underestimated was how much I had to prepare BEFORE I started the course. One recommendation to all considering this program is to do some self learning beforehand. GA has wonderful tools to get you started. Their pre-work is awesome in itself to get you familiarized with HTML and CSS. Looking back, I would've been more confident at the end of the course had I focussed on learning javascript prior to starting. 

GA is very invested in its students not just during the course but after too.The outcomes team is excellent and following their methods landed me in a good spot. They also have a yearly (I think) 'reverse career fair' event where you present your work in a fair sort of setting and companies are invited to talk to you. This is what got me 2 of the 4 interviews I had. 

General Assembly's Web Development Bootcamp in San Francisco was a very positive experience for me. I had Brock and Kenny as my instructors, and they were excellent. If I ever approached either of them with a problem, they wouldn't settle until they figured it out, and were always patient and supportive. You have to put in the work though, because they want to see that you are putting in a effort to figure out the issue yourself.

I self studied for about 8 months prior to starting the course, and I feel that this really prepared me for the intensity of the immersive. I had the luxury of studying part-time while I was still in college getting my degree in Biology, and I had realized I wanted to switch careers before graduating.

In all honesty, the course will be rough if you come in with no experience, but it is definitely doable and shouldn't determine whether you choose to do it or not. Learning something new everyday and applying it is no easy feat, and immersing yourself into web development before the course will definitely help you. You also have to realize that your learning doesn't stop once the course concludes either. Software development is a constant learning process, to quote my instructor Kenny, you have to ABC. (Always Be Coding).

My career coach Jonathan was also very supportive and really helped me succeed at General Assembly. He gave me great career insights throughout the whole program, and he really takes his time with each student to understand their background and interests, giving each student unique advice on how they should conduct their job search. He was also great at helping everyone develop the soft skills necessary to be successful during meet ups, phone screens, and interviews.

I accepted an entry level Front End Developer position before I graduated the immersive, and couldn't have done it without the support of my instructors and career coach. General Assembly's program is great, but you also need to put in a massive amount of work to be successful. I sacrificed a ton of free time to learn this stuff before attending the program, so if I have one piece of advice for people on the fence about a bootcamp in general it's this: if you can survive 4+ months of self study for atleast 2 hours a day, and still have the drive to attend a program like this, do it 100%, it will really accelerate your learning process and you will succeed if you put in the work!

To start - with any boot camp you do, what you get out of it is what you put into it. Most of these courses will have pros and cons, which you have to weigh before you choose one. But you absolutely have to put in the work or you won’t get as much out of it. Also - prepare yourself for what you’re getting into, read this.

General Assembly’s full-time UX course is the only full-time in-person course that I know of in the L.A. area. It is also the most expensive option that I am aware of.

But, since I could live with my parents if I stayed in Los Angeles, and wanted to do in-person because online learning isn’t a great option for me, and didn’t want a course that would take 6+ months to complete, and taking into consideration that I would likely end up working in Los Angeles, I went with GA.

 

PROS:

Professor: My professor, Gerrit, was awesome. He explained complex issues really well, was relaxed and calm in his demeanor, provided helpful feedback, and was always honest and transparent. He brought in explanations and rationales based on personal experience and was originally a graphic designer, which was nice since that is part of my background.

Classmates: I loved that I was in an in-person program. My class was about 17 students, which at times felt like a lot, but I am ultimately grateful because I enjoyed the groups I was in, loved meeting and learning with new people, and overall was honored to be surrounded by people from such a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and ages. I enjoy surrounding myself with those who are different than me so I am continuously challenged.

Job Support: While I just finished the program last week, I’ve enjoyed the openness and support from our Career Coach. He’s easy-going, readily available, easily reachable, and pushes you to utilize him for help. He helps with interview prep, portfolio, and cover letter review, and you can go to him for pretty much anything and if he can’t specifically help, he’ll go out of his way to find someone who can, which is amazing.

Group projects and portfolio pieces: I also chose an in-person course so I could work on projects with a team since that is how it likely is in a job. I enjoyed my teammates and I gained valuable experience in learning how to balance personalities and differences of opinion. We got to work with a real client as our last project which is great as well since the other two are spec projects. One project is also solely focused on your portfolio, and GA puts a lot of emphasis on trying to make you as career ready as possible.

 

CONS:

Coding/Development: The primary gripe I have but didn’t negatively impact my experience, is that we don’t work on projects with developers. I don’t know if that is something other schools do, but it would be smart to pair up UX students with someone from the web development classes to work on a  project together. Designers have to work with developers in a professional setting, so it’s great practice to do that in a school setting.

The course also didn’t cover any coding basics, but they give you $500 towards their courses, and you can take night classes and all day weekend classes to learn some basics, which is what I did. You can also do that for visual design, job prep and more. So I don’t see that as much of a negative, but some might.

Price: GA is definitely the most expensive school I looked into, which means my loan is bigger, but the school could use to be a few grand cheaper. Here’s to hoping I just get high paying job!

Admissions variations: While I naturally get neurotic when making major decisions so I spent weeks, sometimes even months, doing research on programs and UX in general before I chose this program. But many students don’t necessarily do that. Some students in my class were told different things by different admissions people, and there really needs to be consistency so all students are coming in equally prepared. For example, if students don’t have any visual design experience, they should be prepared for what they will need and spend time learning. Or if students want to work while doing a full-time program, they should be heavily warned against it - not casually warned against it.

Interaction design: We didn’t spend too much time on learning the nitty-gritty of this, which, in a sense, makes sense since it’s only an 11-week course and UX is a massive discipline with many verticals. But a quick project on it would have been nice.

 

LAST THOUGHTS

Again - I spent a lot of time preparing myself for this course mentally and financially. I watched YouTube videos, read Medium articles, talked to folks who took the course before, and really made sure its was the right fit and the right decision. I come from a graphic design and marketing background, which was incredibly useful. So take what I am saying with a grain of salt.

 

Some students in my class came from wildly different backgrounds, like acting, music and finance. If you feel like you need to take a few brief courses in things like visual design or the like to prep, it’s incredibly useful and just makes it so you won’t fall behind.

I had an incredible experience in David Bickham's 1-week Data Analytics course. This course had the same curriculum as the full 10-week course and I loved being able to get so much content in that 1-week structure. David was an incredible instuctor who brought so many real world examples into the course. He made sure every single student was truly comprehending the course work. We had a nice small class size and it was really fun to get to see everyone's final projects because we really learned a ton. I used a data set from my work and was actually able to use my final project for my job. I highly recomment taking the Data Analytics course and was really happy with the depth of the curriculum and the instruction. Being a block from the beach was a pretty amazing location also.