Springboard

I learned a lot from Springboard's UX Bootcamp. I thought the curriculum was well-organzied, and there is a ton of information that's accessible forever, which is also another huge plus. I'm sure I'll refer back to the dashboard to brush up or strengthen my skills by re-watching some videos. My mentor was also very helpful during the course. He was promt, experienced, and very in-depth for each section's expecations. The only con I have is that the price could be a little lower for those who are taking longer than 3 months to complete the course. With a full-time job, it took me longer and began to hurt my wallet a bit! But, overall it was worth it. I can now apply my knowledge at my job.

before participating in the online UX course from Springboard i had a general idea of what user experience entailed, but had no idea the steps, processes and skills involved in creating a full fledged team of contributors. this program was initially appealing to me for a few reasons. 1) my current position has always been a hybrid design/front-end coding and i wanted to be able to create more effective designs backed by user data 2) my company had started to explore the UX space and toy with installing a process and team and 3) this course also comes with a mentor that can help you through the course materials and project.

the course materials are sourced from many different sites and while i thought this strange at first, i felt that it really added something extra to the course. first and foremost, it resulted in a large list of resources in the way of design and UX websites, blogs, organizations and tutorial sites that i now had in my back pocket and could continue to use for years to come (not to mention you still have access to all the course materials after completion). the other thing i found that i liked about this was that everything was not in the same voice, so you tend to get different perspectives on processes and techniques. that along with the fact that i felt the course dove deep enough into each discipline to get one’s feet wet made this a very valuable course IMO.

to top it all off, Springboard as a part of the UX course matches each student with an experienced UX professional. each week you meet (online) with this mentor and review all the knowledge you are soaking up and discuss to make sure you’re understanding how all the pieces fit together. my mentor had years of contract experience working for companies like PayPal, Apple and Cisco, so she had a wealth of first-hand experience and knowledge to share with me and helped me to understand the application of all that i was learning. this feature alone was worth the price of admission for me.

the one drawback i would take from this course could also be turned into a positive depending on your availability and drive. this course is a “work at your own pace” situation, so if you are overly busy (like i was) or just not motivated enough, the course can drag on and get expensive (you are charged monthly in some cases). that being said, another good part of having the mentor is that they help to keep you on track so if you are ready to make your way through the course, you should be fine!

Springboard had a nice style that allows you to go at your own pace but I found that their weekly office hours and weekly mentor calls left too much of an opening for me when I had questions. Mentors are available by email, and there is a community board for posting but I felt like that by the time I was meant to review I had forgotten what questions I had. Overall I think it was a bit too free forming and needed to be more concrete. On the plus side, my mentor was very smart and offered valuable input when it was asked. There were some great subjects that I felt really stuck and couldn't be forgotten. I really enjoyed how Springboard utilized DataCamp to teach R. On the other hand, I did not like how they used Khan Academy for the probability and stats chapter. The other Youtube video for machine learning was very difficult to follow. 

Initially, what I had in mind was to find a UX course that wouldn’t affect my work schedule and offers a reasonable course fee. I came across Springboard online and decide to give it a try since they charge on a monthly subscription basics. Everything turns out amazing for me within just 4 months. I graduated with a UX certificate, made useful connections with liked minded people over the springboard community and also get to learn UX from an industry expert who is patience and provide career guidance throughout the course.

Pros

• Springboard will assign a mentor who is a subject expert in the field or areas that you are interested in.
• You don’t have to worry about time zone differences. In my case, Springboard assigned a mentor who has a time zone close to mine.
• Don’t have to fret over busy work schedule since it’s an online course. Communicate with your mentor to plan ahead in time.
• Weekly calls with mentor to discuss ideas and give you feedbacks on your course work.
• There are mini projects to get you started with understanding UX and the quickest way to learn is to get your hands on it.
• The Springboard community is useful to share ideas, find volunteers (eg. Interviewees) and get feedbacks for your assignments.
• Since the final submission is a capstone project, you will get to choose your own topic and build a full fledge UX portfolio (Which I find extremely useful especially for starters)

Cons
 

• I find some of the course materials really time consuming such as long videos and lots of readings in some chapters. But some of the materials are optional and also it is not mandatory to complete 100% of the course materials (Although it will be good to)

Overall, I find this course really interesting and the concepts are relatively easy to understand.

I would rate Springboard a 4.5/5 ! I’m really glad I joined Springboard and I would recommend anybody who is interested in learning UX or wants to be a UI/UX designer to take the course!

I completed the Springboard UX course in December of 2018, and as a previous graphic/web designer I could not be happier with it. I recently took some time off from work to stay home with my small kids, and am looking to get back into the field. Springboard gave my resume a boost and helped me fill in some gaps, as well as the confidence boost I needed! I worked with a terrific mentor, Michelle, who was able to give me advice and feedback that I needed to complete my Capstone project! If you are looking to move into UX  from a similar field, then I do recommend Springboard. 

I'd heard that the Springboard mentors were great, and I was not let down. My mentor had a huge amount of UX experience and was happy to share it with me. He was super supportive the entire time, and I'm sure will be there to offer advice as time passes.

I was surprised that most of the course was sourced from online resources. There is no original content, but this was not a bad thing. The conent they have currated is of a high quality and would have taken me a long time to find myself.

Over-all I had a great experience with Springboard and would highly recommend! 

Springboard was a great overview to the UX design process. The curriculum was thorough and my mentor helped me to focus on what really matters based on his experience in the field. I work full time and have a family, so the course took me a little less than 4 months. For the $2000 I paid, I wish I had more than the one capstone project to add to my portfolio. I am thankful that I have access to the curriculum after the course is done so that I can go through the process for another project on my own. One suggestion I have is to facilitate relationships between non profits who need UX volunteer work and students, allowing for real-world projects and case studies. 

o I completed my Bachelors, went directly into my Masters, but then was really struggling with landing a job. I was failing the technical interviews, and then a good friend of mine recommended Springboard.

I took the entrance exam (At the time it was timed exam with a few simple to moderate coding problems) and was accepted into the program.

In my first week I was assigned a mentor and introduced to all of the software / learning platforms.

The first month was centered around learning python, SQL, and completing a slew of DataCamp courses (You get a DataCamp membership with your Springboard course) that really prepare you for your big projects, the Capstone Projects.

You work with your mentor to choose your projects (The first one is intended for a simple but deep data set, a good example is the Capital Bikeshare dataset from the UCI Repository, feel free to checkout my github for an example Username: JonOrr . Meanwhile the second project requires a bit more data cleaning, think along the lines of a kaggle competition.) then you follow up through weekly calls that keep you on point.

Throughout the course you'll also learn how to better conduct your job search, interviews, and role targeting (Do you want to be a Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Analyst, etc.). There is a job guarantee that gave me a lot of confidence while I was doing the course, it has a good amount of terms and conditions, but all of them are reasonable. They include but aren't limited to: Apply to 5 jobs a week, don't skip any interviews, etc. The career team works hard to make sure you get into a role that both fits your skill level, and your career goals. Let's say you want to be a Data Engineer and are quite suited to it, they won't push you to be a Data Analyst instead.

One month after the completion of my course I was offered a Data Scientist position with a competitive salary (going to keep the number confidential but it was strong) in one of the regions of my choice (You choose 2-3 regions at the start of the course, I chose: Boston & San Francisco) I could not be happier with my experience.

 

If you found my review helpful and decide to pursue a Springboard course please consider using the following referral link: https://www.springboard.com/invite/6HPPV

The springboard UX Design online course is a cheap alternative to the in-person bootcamps. The course goes through the basics of UX design, allows students to complete 1 full project, and pairs students with mentors. Mentors are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and are well-connected in the industry. The project goes through the full UX design process, and gives you material to put onto your portfolio at the end of the course. The online forums, or community, is composed of fellow classmates who are available to give feedback and provide information or help.
The concept of UX design relies on obtaining feedback for any work you have created, and this is one area that Springboard struggles with. Students who have completed some work need to spend a lot of valuable time finding people to help them with things like surveys, interviews, user testing, card sorting. Additionally, some of the curriculum can be repetitive and overlapping.