Nate Z.
Less than 5% of UX Course Springboard grads get hired
Make sure you sign up with REALISTIC expectations! For reference, yes I graduated, and yes, I got hired. I see so many 5 star reviews on here, but what percentage of these students actually got hired after 6 months? I'll be as honest as I can. The sales reps at Bootcamps like Springboard commit a serious crime in how they set unrealistic and ridiculous expectations. The job market for UX designers is tough. It can take months to break in, and many starting salaries for entry level in-person positions are under 60k /yr. NOT six figures, (like the “selective”* sales rep at Springboard would have you believe). *(Selective as they claim to only accept 20% of applicants. Not true. what they really mean is: only 20% of applicants accept them) The following claim is not true: “Yes, it will cost you $10,000 dollars, but you will make that all back within 3 weeks after you get hired!” - My Springboard sales rep If they were truthful, they would have said: “Yes, it will cost you $10,000 dollars, and then you will job search for a full-time job for up to 12 months. You can get a job guarantee, but we really would hate to give you that money back, so we will extend the 6 months as long as possible, and use any excuse possible to disqualify you from it. Finally, IF you actually end up getting a job, you will make the $10,000 back in three months because the starting rate for entry-level is only 60k. - Oh, and that’s not counting all of the money you spent trying to support yourself while you search for jobs full time or the money you could have made during the time spent in the Bootcamp working a second job.” As if transitioning to a new career wasn’t financially stressful enough, Springboard would have you PAY them thousands of dollars, and in the end, there is a high chance you will have no job to show for it a year later. It’s all over my LinkedIn feed. If you sign up, make sure you are aware of this issue and the gamble you are taking. The only valuable part of Springboard is the mentorship. The hiring manager reviews are not great and are subjective, with little actionable advice beyond a “well done!”, or “you are missing this thing from the rubric that hiring managers could care less about…” In general, for the “Hiring manager reviews,” I’d estimate that they spend as little as 5 minutes on each case study, and give hardly any input. Meanwhile, an actual hiring manager looks at that Case study they passed as “would interview,” rolls their eyes, and thinks: “Oh, another fictitious, recycled, bootcamp project, NEXT.” - *Deletes you from the list* - The projects for your final portfolio are not impressive in the slightest to hiring managers unless you go well above and beyond the SpringBoard curriculum. Even the IDP is not impressive on your portfolio. I had to find my own “real” internship and go far above and beyond SpringBoard to land a job. I also got severely lucky in that I got paired with a mentor who could push me to go above and beyond Springboard and make an impressive portfolio, something most students won’t get but does speak volumes about the potentiality of getting a high-quality mentor. The percentage of Springboard UI/UX track graduates who get hired after 6 months is embarrassingly low because getting hired after 6 months with three fake projects and one two-week real-world project on your portfolio is unrealistic. The curriculum itself is merely a collection of links to web pages you could google and find yourself. Also, the quality of the articles is very poor, and grammatical errors can be found everywhere in some articles. Let’s summarize. You’re paying $1300+ a month for: * a short 30 minute weekly mentor call * on demand mentor calls that are so booked you need to schedule them 30 days in advance (and are not that helpful) * Career advisors who are helpful overall but not necessarily experts about what makes a good portfolio, (the most important aspect) * A bunch of community advisors and managers who you will never talk to or need help from, but you are still paying for * An “industry design project” that is so short, that you have next to nothing to show for it (unless you get lucky) * A sketchy job guarantee with a thousand words of fine details, which according to students I’ve spoken to, will take any opportunity to disqualify you from it or extend it for months * And, again, the curriculum can be found by google searching for it all yourself Let’s be honest. All you really need to pay for is the mentor, and maybe a resume expert /career coach who has lots of experience working with UI/UX designers. My advice? Find the curriculum online for free for youself, and hire and pay your own mentor. Then reach out to small startups and offer to volunteer to get the needed experience. SB would have you pay them 1,300/month for all of that.