BrainStation

I've always had an interest in website design and development, and I've had the opportunity to develop basic skills in my career. However, our tech needs had become greater and I knew I needed some more hands-on education, but with a full-time job, it was difficult to find the right kind of training. BrainStation was the best decision I ever made. Their part-time program made it easy to attend the classes after work once a week, and their support was incredible throughout the whole process. Each week felt very intense, and we learned a lot despite it being a part-time program - way more than just the basic skills. It was hard to believe that by the end of 10 weeks I was able to code a full website from scratch, but I did and loved every minute of it!

The instructor was amazing - he was clearly experienced in both the subject matter and how to teach, and made every topic feel approachable. He intuitively seemed to understand what concepts the class needed more time on, and was able to be flexible, sometimes introducing concepts typically outside the scope of the course when we seemed ready to try a more advanced topic. Having support not just during class but also available online in between classes made it feel like we had way more class time than we actually did.

The campus was located in the heart of the Toronto tech scene, so it felt like there were constant references to real-world examples of what companies were doing right down the street, which was super cool.

BrainStation also made it really easy to find a way to not only find a class to fit with my busy work schedule, but also the scholarship opportunities made it possible for me to attend and learn a new school that may have otherwise been out of reach.

I truly can't recommend BrainStation enough - I'm confident that any class you took there would result in a new skill set you can be sure to use in the tech industry today!

I just finished the User Experience Design course at Brainstation. I decided to pursue this course because after 5 years of working in the digital marketing sector, I was ready to learn new skills that could lead to new career opportunities. I had heard good things from friends and colleagues who had studied at Brainstation- so I decided to take the plunge!

I signed up to take the course online part-time, so I could study outside of my full-time job. The course was short but intense, and I learned a lot. From designing a sites information architecture, to wireframing, prototyping and user testing- I now feel ready to explore the job market with the skills I learned in this course.

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!