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BrainStation was one of the best experiences of my life. It introduced me to the tech industry in such a fantastic way. I hit the ground running and have been set on an incredibly positive trajectory of which I never before thought possible.

A bit of background on me: I took the full time User Experience Design Course at BrainStation Vancouver back in June 2018. Leading up to the course I was working as a photographer, lost at where my career was heading and flirting with the idea of moving into the tech industry. I wanted to stay creative so UX seemed a logical option and the appeal of launching a new career from a fast paced bootcamp was huge. Too good to be true surely? For traditional teaching methods, sure. For the educational wizards at BrainStation, no they’ve got it nailed. The moment I first walked into BrainStation I knew it was the place for me - I attended their intro to UX workshop which helped me understand what UX was and if it would be something of interest to me. I also experiencing a Demo Day to see how previous students managed (highly recommend!) and seeing what is possible in 10 weeks was astounding. The professional nature of the students, educators and environment helped me confirm my decision that BrainStation was the one.

So I started the course. I had no prior design experience and we didn’t ease into things, diving into the deep end on the first week with a design sprint. Incredibly challenging, incredibly rewarding the growth and progress I saw in a week 1 was noticeable. This continued week on week, with the syllabus combining learning new material in lectures and applying it immediately in design challenges and week long projects. Oh and we were introduced to the mother of all projects - Capstone. Capstone would be the pinnacle of all we learnt during the course, allowing us to show future employers what we’re capable of. During the 10 weeks I felt myself moving from sketching anxiety to being confident in calling myself a designer. The course content has clearly been iterated upon multiple times to give students the perfect platform for a successful career in UX, whether it’s hard or soft skills for post bootcamp life and this really shows. In summary the full time UX programme at BrainStation has prepared me incredibly well for real life UX work. I feel like I even have more current UX knowledge than some of my now colleagues that have been in the industry for years.

The people of BrainStation are the main reason for making the whole experience so memorable. They exude positivity and do everything in their power to get you on the best track possible. I was fortunate enough to have Brad and Uzi as my educators and they really are perfect examples of an educator, tech or otherwise. Their enthusiasm is infectious and they were so knowledgeable and supportive during the entire experience. The post course support is also great and the team is always there to help with any queries in the period after - shout out to Teddy for that one!

So where am I now? Since finishing the course I moved back to the UK and I set about building my portfolio and getting my first UX role. 2 months after the course finished I landed my first role in a tech startup and I now have 6 months of experience. A rapid transformation especially compared to traditional education methods. A role won’t fall into your lap though - listen hard and do everything you can during the course and after to make yourself employable as possible. It’s not an easy role to break into with a lot of juniors out there looking for first jobs so do everything to make yourself stand out.

I haven’t gone into specifics too much in this review, so please reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions regarding anything BrainStation or UX and I’d be more than happy to help.

Pro tip: don’t overthink Demo Day. Just go out there, do your thing and have fun!

After graduating with a degree in Kinesiology in 2017, I decided to make a career change working for a Vancouver tech startup in Customer Service. Making the transition from Personal Trainer into the tech industry was hard, and I found myself longing for ways to upgrade my skills so that I could feel like an asset to the company I was working for. I started looking into bootcamps as time was of the essence to me. I wanted to get involved in a more meaningful career fast and equip myself with a set of skills, that I could be confident to put to use.

After sifting through some of the bootcamp options in Vancouver, I decided that Brainstation was the school for me. The campus had an inviting feel and seeing students both hard at work and having fun exemplified to me that this was a place I could establish a valuable new skillset along with a new network of friends and co-workers. Upon graduating Brainstation after my 12 weeks, I have to say that it exceeded my expectations in all of these realms.

The instructors have seemingly unlimited patients and an incredible empathy that allows you to push yourself through this tough 12 weeks. I found the collaborative, hands-on teaching approach of day-to-day class allowed me to learn in 12 weeks what would have taken me six months to a year.

Activities included: Multiple labs per day, codealongs with instructors and fellow classmates, a group hackathon, in-class exercises, and a weekly assignment.

Following my 12 weeks at Brainstation, I got a job working as a Customer Success Coach at Unbounce two weeks after finishing the course. While the job I got was not directly in Software Development, it has helped me join a great company with a clear path towards achieving that goal. While I will say the 12 weeks at Brainstation will be very tough, it will also be the most rewarding weeks of your life.

Positives:

- Payment plans for tuition
- An open campus that encourages going out and meeting your classmates as well as other full-time course participants
- Career support during and after the program
- Discounts on meetups and workshops
- Tech tours that allow you to talk to industry professionals about what it's like to be a developer
- Access to the course material after the program for 6 months

Negatives:

-Pricey, but as I mentioned above Brainstation offers many flexible routes you can take to pay tuition off at your own pace

Remember, if a Personal Trainer can come into this Full-time Web Development program and come out on the other side with a fulfilling career in the Vancouver tech scene... then so can you!