Avocademy

 A great and affordable way to learn UX/UI design! I was able to complete the foundations course in about 10 weeks. I needed some extensions, and Student Success was so understanding about it. 10 weeks is pretty good considering that I had a full time job while completing the coursework. The actual coursework itself in my opinion was great! Everything is broken up into modules, and in each module there may be several activities to complete. The only thing that I can see being a potential issue for some people is the amount of reading. I recommend taking good notes on each article because they have very valuable information, but if this is not your learning style, don't worry because you have unlimited access to mentoring! The mentors are extremely helpful and you should definitely schedule frequent calls with them to make sure you're on track. Over all, the vibe was genuine. Maca (CEO) and the mentors clearly all want us to succeed, they go above and beyond to help us out. Throughout the entire duration of completing the coursework , I felt supported and hopeful for a better future. (I am a 20 year old college drop out) Avocademy does help students with job search in their Career Jumpstart program, however I marked job assistance "Not Applicable" because I haven't completed it yet and this review is specifically for the UX/UI foundations course. 

This course is definitely worth it! For a while now, I've been wanting to switch careers and take a UX Design Bootcamp. However, all the other boot camps cost way more than what I could afford, until I found Avocademy. It was too good to be true. The Foundations course really goes into detail on how to create your first project. I enjoyed every aspect of the course from the videos to all the readings and applying everything that I learned to my project. You get unlimited mentorship which is something other boot camps don't offer. What is also great about this Bootcamp is being able to attend an online speaker talk that features various designers from other companies and they talk about their experiences as well as any tips and knowledge that they can share with the students. I highly reccommend this boot camp if you are struggling to find one. 

Once I came to the realization UX/UI Design is what I wanted to do career-wise, it came down to which boot camp to enroll in.  From doing research on various boot camps, one concern I remember hearing about was students not being taught how to use design tools (e.g. figma) and that it was a “learn it on your own” type of situation.  When I reached out to Avocademy, I was assured students were taught how to use design tools. So with the cost of the Avocademy bootcamp with this reassurance, I took the leap to enroll and I am very happy I did.  You get so much in return as you build your UX/UI foundation of knowledge and it truly is a diverse welcoming community! 

I'm changing career paths and wanted to take a low cost risk to see if UX Design and Research was for me. This was a great option to do that. It worked out well too. I left the program with a tool bag full of skills and industry knowledge. I have a million bookmarks, notes, articles, and examples because of the Foundations course. If I were to do it all over again, I'd be more active in booking mentor sessions. Access to the mentors is what you're paying for in this course. They really know what they're talking about because all of them work in the industry. You could be talking with a future coworker and not even know it! Overall, this was a great experience when transitioning into a new career field.

Who I think this course is excellent for: 
People who have been learning about UX design on their own and are ready to follow the steps to complete a Portfolio from start to finish.  The course calculates you will take 6-8 weeks to learn the basics of UX/UI and complete an entire project. My overall experience even as a new designer without any graphic design, marketing, project managing or tech experience was great!  Although I have to say, that if I had learned more on my own prior to taking this, I would have finished faster! Either way it’s a great path to take for someone, like me, who was completely new to UX design. For those who are new, prepare to read a LOT, research a lot, watch many tutorials, Google many UX best practices. 


You will get access to mentoring calls during those 6-8 weeks that you work on your project. The more research you do, the better prepared you will be to ask questions, get feedback and understand feedback. (That’s a tip for total new ones to the field!) 

It’s a lot of work, but the payoff is great as well. I love how you come out of the program with an entire portfolio piece! If you are ready to continue your career shift, enrolling in career jumpstart is the next step. 

I had previously taken an UX/UI course with another institution and wished I had came across Avocademy sooner. The 6-8 week course is self paced and the learning material is very informative and resourceful. Mentors are available throughout the course to assist with the project and provide guidance. We also get to communicate with other students and help each other out. There are also speaker series with people who have years of experience in the UX field give us advice and share their experience. I'm looking forward to their Career Jumpstart program. They guide you every step of the way to help you succeed. I'm glad I've came across Avocademy. 

After spending the last 8 years in the insurance industry I needed a career pivot. Following a lot of research, I found that UX design was where I wanted to be. I went the self-taught route but quickly found that I needed to approach learning in a more structured environment. Insert Avocademy. 

There are a lot of great things I can say about the bootcamp but here are my 5 biggest takeaways:

1. Mentor feedback and availability: Each activity needs to be approved by a mentor before moving on. Having someone in the UX field critique your work and provide actionable feedback was invaluable to me. Also having the ability to set up meetings with mentors to talk through issues as they came up was great.  
2. Community: Being able to interact with other students and build connections over time helped a lot. It's been great getting to work with fellow students. And you never know where those connections may lead to in the future. 
3. Encouragement to participate in hackathons and other design competitions: While taking the foundations course we were introduced to and encouraged to participate in other projects.  I took part in the Adobe Creative Jam and learned a new design tool, met some amazing people, and built on my skills. After just a few weeks in I had enough skill to participate and that blew my mind. 
4. A portfolio project: A project that I'm proud of and guidance in setting it up in my portfolio. 
5. Cost: When I was looking for other bootcamps, nothing else came close to comparable. 

Given what I took from the foundation's course if you asked me if I'd do it again the answer will always be 100% Yes.

When I first learned about UX/UI, I immediately knew I wanted to enroll in a BootCamp but the real question was...which one? There were so many boot camps out all with various price ranges, mentorship, and different features. After some thorough research and listing out the pros and cons for each BootCamp I finally decided on Avocademy.

Why?
I chose Avocademy because of the price. It was extremely affordable and offered unlimited mentorship. I also liked the duration of the BootCamp which was 6-8 weeks and it is self-learning. This allowed me to learn on my own time and at my own pace.

After completing the course foundations for Avocademy, I truly loved it, Avocademy taught me the basics of the UX/UI and I was able to have a completed personal project by the end of the week. The material was easy to understand and follow. The mentors are truly helpful and provides great feedback to help you be a better designer. I absolutely love the community of Avocademy as well because everyone is extremely supportive of each other. After course foundations, I decided to join career jumpstart and I am still learning so many new materials and concepts there. Highly recommend!

I was extremely skeptical about signing up for an online bootcamp. Would it be worth the money? Would the outcome be something I’d be happy about? Would I actually get a job in this field?!  All my concerns were valid but instead of trying to figure all these answers out by myself, I did my own research and then I set up a one-on-one to chat with Maca. Our conversation left me feeling like I would be supported in my learning and there was a plan in place to ensure my success. The next step was to trust myself to do the work, really apply myself to the learning, and use the resources Avocademy was offering me to succeed.  I am the kind of learner that needs context for information to stick. This program allowed me to learn about UX/UI theories and practices and asked me to put that information to use by conducting activities to reinforce this new information. Once completed, I would submit my work for mentors, who were experienced designers, to provide me feedback on how to improve my work and WHY! If I needed support and had not completed an activity yet, I could always set up a meeting with a mentor to receive additional support in the meantime. This is my ideal approach to learning. [New information > application > submit > feedback > revise > resubmit]. This method is supportive, encouraging, and provides opportunities for the content to really stick.  I am so happy to say that I have recently completed the Foundations course and am so excited to start the Career Jumpstart portion of the program. I am already signed up to work on two different projects! These projects will continue to reinforce my learning, boost my confidence as a designer, and provide me with REAL WORK to add to my portfolio. All of these things will make me a stronger candidate when I begin applying to jobs.  In the past, I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars committing to for-profit academic institutions that provide inadequate support with no plan to help me break into the workforce. I believe Avocademy is different because the plan to help you turn your learning into a career is laid out in plain text and, if you commit to the process, you are incredibly likely to see the fruits of your labor. I am seeing other students share their new job stories and it is so inspiring! I cannot wait to be among them. Thank you Maca & Avocademy!!