Bloc

Pros - Price, decent curriculum, able to go at your own pace, good mentors, fun projects, great careers coach, resources for when you are stuck.

Cons - Not as good mentors, always assumes everyone is taking 8 months, slow response time to assignment reviews, no React Hooks, data structures and algorithms is rushed.

Overall, I think taking this Bloc program was really rewarding and I believe that for the most part they kept up their end of the bargain. I learned a lot in a pretty quick time, and I was able to take those skills and use them in pursuit of a new career. I ended up with a great mentor initially and everything was great. As the course is 'Go at your own pace', I took it full time and ended up finishing in just under 4 months. Even though it is go at your own pace, throughout the course Bloc references 8 month finish time. It's pretty weird that they keep referencing that throughout the course considering it is go at your own pace. For the future I hope that this changes considering not everyone will take 8 months to complete the course. Along the same lines, sometimes it can take a long time to get an assignment reviewed. Since I was going at a faster pace, I kept moving and would receive a response a week later, after I had moved way past that assignment. It can get a little annoying to have to go back and fix a little mistake when I am already far past that checkpoint. Overall though, it's not a huge issue. 

In terms of the course work and teaching style I think it is pretty well written and easy to understand - for the most part. The first half of the course is much easier to follow and I believe more well written than the second half. They seem to dive way deeper in the fundamentals than they do in the later parts while learning React and Data Structures and Algorithms. Those later portions of the course feel rushed and not explained as much. They essentially want you to follow along, but then you go to implement it yourself with the same steps and it won't work. I had to take a udemy course on react side by side Bloc in order to understand the concepts easier and get a more thorough understanding. This seems to be what most people do. In the case of Data Structures and Algorithms, I also think they should take more time to go over these concepts, it's not really clear what they are wanting or explaining, and then you have a mock interview on it right after.  

Overall, I enjoyed the course and think it was reasonably priced. I think there are a few things that could be improved going forward but overall they prepare you for a new career and provide a ton of help to do so. I would recommend it to a friend depending on their situation. I think if you have 15k to spare, it's probably better to go to a full time in person bootcamp. Read less

I took the course in 2016 for front end web development. During that time they promised 6 month tuition reimbursement guarantee. Which was one of the things that attracted me. It made me feel comfortable. I finished the course within the given time frame and followed their rules. I applied for jobs for 6 months and was not able to find job. They promised job after 6 months of job searching. If you weren't able to find work within then they promised tuition guarantee. If you are planning to enroll DO NOT bank on the tuition guarantee. Although the content of the course was decent and helped me become better coder but they will not follow through on their promise for tuition guarantee. At least for me they didn't. They told me to do an extra 3 months of job searching. I never did get a job or my tuition. Now I'm stuck with a 10 grand debt I've been paying off for 4 years. I'm working on filing a lawsuit but they make you sign an agreement to arbitrate any disputes. No taking issues to court. They are very sneaky. Worst experience of my life. Highly do not recommend.  Read less

I am a Bloc graduate after being in the Web Developer Track from July, 2019 to March, 2020. I feel this bootcamp does a great job of teaching you the essentials of modern-day web development. My mentor was great at answering questions and the technical coaches on Slack were superb in addressing my coding issues. I liked the fact that mock interviews and job prep were integrated into the curriculum as they are a great primer for getting me ready for the job market. I liked the online self-paced structure of the program as well. I would highly recommend this program to others! Read less

I was previously a graphic designer at my job stuck in my career. I decided to enroll myself in Bloc's Designer Track hoping to transition my career from a graphic designer into a UX Designer. Bloc's Designer Track is incredibly challenging and a lot of work. However, out of the program, I was able to understand UX Research methods, obtain more knowledge in Visual Design, and also learned how to Front-end Code. We took all that we learned and was required to create our own website from scratch. The ability to learn how to code already made my money's worth in my opinion. It has been a valuable bonus skill when I spoke to employers. All the mentors I had in the course were really helpful and definitely did their best to help students out. However, for those interested in enrolling in the course, be mindful that it takes up a lot of time and effort. I oftentimes found myself lacking self-motivation. However, if you keep moving forward, it will all be very rewarding in the end. After graduating, I was given an offer soon after for a full-time UX Design position.  Read less

There are a lot of things I wish I had known about this program before signing up so I'm here to tell my story hoping someone finds it useful if you're on the fence about this. I'm surprised at how many 5 star reviews are on here. The program pesters you to complete a review 2 - 3 weeks into the curriculum which was really annoying. I'd take some of these 5-star reviews with a grain of salt.

Curriculum: Once you're enrolled, you're given access to their Slack channels and to their site to begin the program. You then choose a mentor that you'll meet once a week to go over any problems or questions you may have. The material consists of a series of checkpoints with practice problems that you need to complete in order to move onto the next. There are slack channels for each section/modules you're on to ask technical mentors for help when you're stuck on a problem. You'll take an assessment after each module through online video conferencing which will unlock the next module upon successful completion. In the end, you take your final assessment along with a final project to see if you get your certificate.

Pros: It gets you started with web development. Some of the mentors seemed to genuinely care about my success and learning. The git workflows. Career services were solid.

Cons: This is going to be a lot - The material was pretty disappointing. I was expecting video content at least to explain difficult concepts, but it was just plain text with external links to other resources. It's no different from going to a library and checking out a book on web development. I learned most of the material through Google, Udemy, YouTube - All significantly better resources.

The slack channels where you ask for help was extremely inefficient and clearly suffered from having understaffed technical coaches. This was really frustrating and really slowed down momentum when you're trying to solve a checkpoint and have limited time in the day. Sometimes a response could take 20-30 minutes since they had so many questions from other students. If a technical coach's shift is ending midway through a problem, a new one will jump in and you'll start the process over again. This is a HUGE problem when you're trying to complete the curriculum within 8-months. The program is aimed at working professionals, but after an 8-hour workday, I only had about 4 hours before the technical coaches leave for the night. This along with the fact that they were understaffed with 20-30 min response time was painful.

My mentors were hit or miss. As I said, some of them seemed to really care about my growth, while others seemed like they were just there for a paycheck and riding the hype train. You're expected to come prepared for these mentor sessions, but the mentors seemed to be disconnected from the curriculum and didn't come prepared by looking at your status in the program (even though they have access to it). Sometimes going over the checkpoints, they don't know what the projects or problem statements are so you have to spend extra time just familiarizing them. You only have 30 mins a week with them which is sometimes just enough 1 problem and familiarizing them with the curriculum didn't help. I also don't think that the mentors, technical coaches, and graders were all on the same page - There have been numerous times where they would have conflicting feedback on the checkpoints.

Overall: In the end, I did eventually find a job in the industry, but I wouldn't give too much credit to Bloc for that (Thanks Google, Andrei Neagoie, and Brad Traversy!). I know Bloc and Thinkful were going through a merger throughout this time so that may have contributed to the issues, but either way, it wasn't good for the students. If I could go back, I'd definitely attend an in-person, well-known Bootcamp to alleviate all the inefficiencies. I didn't know this going in, but a bootcamps network and reputation is pretty crucial in the job hunt phase. They can introduce you to more companies along with past alumni's in the industry to help get your foot in the door. While Bloc's career support was ok in job leads, their network is small in comparison. Also, after going through the job search, no one is going to care about your certificate of completion from the bootcamp. Networking, grit, portfolio, and interview skills will be key.

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I recently graduated Bloc's Designer Track and I'm very happy with the results

The curriculum is very well detailed and easily explains how the design process works, and even goes a bit deeper and teaches you front-end development, such as HTML5, CSS3, VanillaJS, and jQuery.

My mentor was amazing, whenever I had any doubts or felt like my projects needed a few tweaks, she was always willing to help, even on her days off, she told me to send her an email if I ran into any issues, and when I did, she immediately emailed me back.

The grading team was also a very important part of my journey to grow as a designer, sometimes it was a bit frustrating when my assignments were sent back for revisions, but their feedbacks were extremely helpful. The only issue I had with the grading team is that sometimes it took a few days for them to correct my assignments, which was a bit of a problem since I needed to pass those assignments to move on to the next checkpoint.

Aside from the grading team, there was also the student success, the slack community, daily design critiques, and a few seminars, which I used all of them, and proved to be extremely helpful towards my new career as a UX Designer.

One thing I wish Bloc's Designer Track had was a mandatory team project. Other than that my experience with Bloc has been amazing.

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Bloc did not honor their guaranteed tuition reimbursement policy even though I followed protocol and adhered it's policies. I was finished with the intense 6 month track on web development and transitioning into the final stages of the program. But before I get there, I just want to give a background on why I chose Bloc over all other web developer alternative programs. Among many features that stood out, one stood out to me more than any. Bloc is an online course that boasts one to one mentorship which provides higher quality mentorship and support. Additionally they offer a rigourous 6 month courseload, Instenlsy focused to ensure rapid development of skills, in my case web developer and programming skills. They also guarantee a job within 6 months of completing Bloc curriculum, granted you keep up with their protocol. This included such actions such as keeping an excel spreadsheet and keeping track of interviews and recording particular details and reporting it at the end of the six month period. This is just one example amongst a list of things which was kept tracked on the course dashboard through a checklist. Mind you this checklist is automated and cannot be manually checked off. The only way it is checked off is if the system verifies it through the site. I followed all the protocols. Went to and applied to jobs required every week. Recorded and kept tabs. I tried my hardest and believed that I could do it but I believe my efforts were not enough. When it came time of the limit of the tuition guarantee, and after having applied time and time again with no luck, I reached out to Bloc leadership and have them notice about my situation that I had did what I was told yet without success. And that i wanted to knnow how it would work to get my tuition reimbursemt. When I confronted them, that's when everything changed. They knew my situation and. Ow all of a sudden they make an excuse. I spoke with Riley on the phone. He tells me a sob story about this wife that it wasn't easy for her as well and took her almost 9 months to get a job doing the same things I was doing. So after almost 6 months of following their strict regiment with no success on job placement after the course was finished, I walk into a wall and Riley tells me he can only honor the reimbursement under one condition. He says I need to do another 3 more months I. Order to get my money back. Mind you this is after 5 and a half months of doing what they told and following all the rules. I threaten to take this to court bbut they have arbitration instead. This is another catch I didn't know about I til I read the fine prints. Riley I want my money back. I never got it and you guuys lied to me and sacrewed me over. Anyone looking into Bloc, please make sure to gather all the facts. They have a history of screwing people over. They are money hungry and don't give a damn about whether you get a job after their course. They use technicalities of the legal process such as using arbitration laws instead of taking it to traditional legal proceedings that PUT EVERY CUSTOMER AT A DISADVANTAGE TO BLOC. I spoke with lawyers and they say this is what they do to get away with their corruptions. Read less

I honestly feel really lucky and happy that I chose to go through Bloc to learn UX Design. As compared to other programs, I found Bloc to be really extensive and feel confident now that I'm a graduate, that I am ready to find a job with those skills. 

I had a good experience with my first mentor, but felt that my second was not helpful in ways that I needed. I also noticed that some students finished the program and got their certificates, even though their actual designs were not very good. So I think my main grain of salt is that I wished that we were also graded for how good our designs were and not that we passed the given criteria for assignments. 

I'm currently job searching and am really happy with my assigned career coach. It's definitely not the easiest to get a job as a junior, but I've appreciated our weekly chats and strategy. 

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Though the curriculum is fair, there are VERY few live office hours for React and Node to get the help you need, which are the most important parts in my opinion. And also, the help on Slack is terrible. Once the coaches finally understand your issue, their shift ends and you have to start over with someone new. I have been on Slack for up to 6 hours without getting the help I need.

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I graduated last week.  It took me just over 15 months to finish the program. I had an overall good experience with the program and feel it is a good value and useful for accelerating my new career path. 

Pros:  Student success really listens well and has always responded in a timely fashion with relevant information.  The actual content is engaging and well drilled, each time in greater detail and demanding of more refinement.  There was no filler content.  Every checkpoint I felt was relevant and had a valuable lesson to teach.  If I had a question about the content, or became stuck, I was eventually led into the right direction.  I feel I can speak confidently on what UX is and I came out of the program feeling energized and optimistic, not beat down or jaded.  A handful of the people in the program are absolute gold at instructing and I had gained much valuable insight from them.  

Cons:  I utilized my mentor rarely.  I didn’t need them to get through the program.  I had tried out three mentors, each with variable quality.  The grading team can have a slow turnaround time.  Often, I waited 80 hours to get input.  During a few parts of the course, I was able to apply myself elsewhere... but often I would need to sit and wait before I could move forward.  Sometimes, the feedback conflicted with other graders visions and advice which could be annoying.  Some of the demonstration videos Bloc uses are well edited... but I found many did not have any editing at all and it felt like a slog to get to the relevant information.  I didn’t ever feel there was a community of students to bounce ideas off on the slack channel.  I think this is a powerful tool that could be refined and be a great asset.  The technical coaches were hit or miss.  Sometimes I would get exactly what I was looking for.  However, other times, I felt I had to explain simple ideas of what I was struggling with and was not given pertinent feedback and had to re-re-re explain the situation.  Bloc asks for 3-4 checkpoints a week.  I would say this is an unrealistic pace for most weeks.  Some of the more involved checkpoints took me two weeks just to finish one.

I would recommend this program to others.  If I were to do it again, I would have studied on my own what UX was instead of going in to the course totally fresh.  The most important aspect for me was the feeling of optimism at the time of graduation.  I feel fresh and ready to step into the UX job market.  

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This review is for both Thinkful and Bloc, since they are actually the same company now.

I started Thinkful's Data Science program in August 2018 and finished in May 2019. It took me 2 extra months than the scheduled 6 months, but I made it, and finished strongly. Since before enrolling, I knew I wanted a longer type of program, to really allow myself the chance to learn things in depth.

The program was very hard, but also very good. There's some rough edges in the curriculum, in which I'd like some topics to be covered more in depth, but all in all, it's actually great and very complete. Plus, after all that, you really become proficient enough to continue learning by yourself whatever you want. This just kinda helps you take off, mostly, if you've never been into the Python data science world and used all the main libraries.

The jobsearch was hard as well, but I managed to land a paid remote internship in two months, which actually was a great deal. The internship is in a data science capacity, which is great. And it was with a small company, which means a high chance of conversion to full-time. Their careers curriculum was very helpful in preparing myself in general: Resume-building, Linkedin profile, networking, applications, interview-prep. I had about 8 interviews total in that time, most of which came from my own efforts applying on various sites. Some others came through their employer partnerships. This is a key feature of Thinkful and Bloc, which sets them apart. They actually help you get interviews with some of their partners. I got two of these during that period.

Im very happy with my outcomes and would recommend Thinkful/ Bloc to anyone interested in starting a career in Data Science.

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In my opinion the pros of attending bloc are the always helpful slack community and the meticulously informative support teams. I may be biased, but, the coursework for career advice and searching is incredibly invaluable.

I would say the downsides, seems I was a one off in this case, is the mentoring. In my case most of my mentors were no shows, not to mention I missed a few along the way as well, though we ended up just forfeiting mentor meetings near the end either way.

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I heard about Bloc thru a friend. She was also studying in the designer track. I chose to enroll with Bloc because I heard it has a mentor program. Every week I can have a 30-mins online meeting with my mentor. I don't have any background with web design, so having someone to ask for help is very necessary.

Bloc also has couple slack channels where I can chat with other bloc students, see their works and leave feedback. If my mentor is not available, I can ask other mentor questions via slack.

As for the curriculum, it is well designed even if anyone has no experience with it. All the learning materials are easy to understand without tons of reading. Good for someone who doesn't have a lot of time doing reading. However, I would still suggest people read outside sources to boost your knowledge and keep you updated. All the information in each checkpoint is the very basic, important and necessary pieces that can help you to get it started. 

The workload is intense. People need to treat it seriously and plan accordingly to make sure you can contribute your time and energy into learning. I fully understand that it is hard to motivate yourself to work hard every day, so make sure you set up a plan for yourself at the very beginning.

The grading team who access your checkpoint work is very responsive and professional. Although sometimes I felt frustrated to revise my work again and again, I learned a lot from them. I really appreciate the opportunity to receive feedback from different perspectives.

Overall, Bloc is a good choice if you want to start a designer job without any experience. Even though it cannot guarantee that you can 100% get a job, it gives you enough skills and insights to boost your confidence to explore in this area. 

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This was a great investment! This gave me an edge with my existing skillset and was such a great value when compared to other bootcamps. I had great help from the student success team and my mentor. This was a perfect fit because I was able to keep my job and work on it part-time and work as fast as I wanted.

 

Definitely worth it!!

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I attended Bloc's Web Developer track Sep 2018-Present and unfortunately did not have a positive experience.  

The majority of the course is a "monkey see monkey do" approach, following checkpoints and coding along, followed by assignments relevant to the checkpoint.  Technical assessments occur at the end of each module to be sure you're prepared to move onto the next.  Throughout the course students have access to Technical Coaches via Slack to assist when you get stuck.   

In theory there is nothing wrong with this approach and for what it's worth Bloc did help open the doors to the wide world of web development, I do plan to continue into this field. However I feel there are much more effective, efficient and inexpensive ways to learn this material.  One of the key issues and my main reason for wanting to warn others is the quality of the curriculum. Although the subject matter is ok, the checkpoints are littered with typos.  These typos range from annoying, but insignificant, spelling and grammar issues in the checkpoints, to much more frustrating typos and errors in the actual code students are told to copy precisely in order to get their programs to work. 

On countless occasions I would follow directions precisely only to find my program didn't work as expected. After spending time, typically an hour or two or more, looking for bugs and reviewing the checkpoint over and over, I'd try Slack for support from a Technical Coach. An average wait time for technical coaching was anywhere from 20-30+ minutes and once someone finally begins chatting with you, 15-35+ minutes would elapse between replies, sometimes even longer. More often then not this would equate to a total of anywhere from 2-5 hours of back and forth trying to get a program to work. To make matters worse, technical coaches work part time hours (I believe) so after spending several hours with one coach trying to get something to work, you'd be informed their shift was ending and someone else would be there to help. In this case I found myself typically starting back at the beginning, reexplaining my problem trying to resolve the issue with the same 15-35+ min gaps between replies. This agonizing cycle continued to happen again and again and again so I decided I'd stick to Udemy and other programs to further my education since Bloc was only leading to frustration and feeling discouraged.  Like most in the program I was balancing this with full time work, so my free time was prescious and couldn't justify spending hours and hours on weekends and evenings just waiting for assistance.  

In the majority of cases, after wasting literally hours of time, I'd be told the issue I was experiencing was caused by a typo in the checkpoint's code and to just move on and ignore it. Since Slack is a chat community where you can see other threads from other students looking for support, I'd often see students running into the exact same problems with typos I had run into, only to be told the same thing by the technical coach - that it's just a typo and to move on. There were times I saw this happen MONTHS after I had encountered the same typo, which tells me Bloc is not interested in the feedback they receive from their students as these problems are not being fixed in a timely manner. 

Although Bloc offers "Group Sessions" (live and prerecorded video content focused on specific topics), the videos are subpar. All of the videos I tried to watch, simple technical issues, like the host's screen share being so zoomed out you can't see any actual code, made it frustrating and pointless to attempt to learn this way. I often found myself relying on YouTube and Udemy for far superior content. 

My recommendations would be:
1) Pay the money and go to a program with an actual campus so you can get quality assistance as needed (like Turing or something...)
2) Purchase a handful of Udemy courses for cheap (and or use other free programs like Odin Project, Free Code Camp, Codecademy, etc) and find some help at codementor.com for one on one support. You'll save money AND likely have a better experience than Bloc can offer. 

Lesson here is you get what you pay for and Bloc is just about the cheapest program out there.  So I guess it shouldn't be surprising this was my experience. 

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I started the Bloc program in October of 2018. This has been one of the most rewarding and challenging seasons of my life. I am working full time while doing the boot camp in the early mornings and late evenings. The one thing I can tell you is that it’s on YOU to make it happen. You have to get disciplined and set up routines and systems especially if you’re doing this on top of another job.

What I love about the program is that it’s set up for you to succeed even if you don’t have design experience or design background. I also love that it covers all things UX/UI and some front-end stuff. It’s an all-encompassing boot camp! By allowing myself to get my feet wet in all aspects of design, I’ve been able to identify which path I want to pursue.

Another great thing is the once a week 30 minute one on one mentor sessions. SO worth it. I’ve been able to dive deep and cover so many topics with my mentors and they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

They also do a great job of assisting you in marketing yourself for when you’re applying for jobs.

Overall, it's been a really awesome experience!

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An amazing time. The way I think through problems and designed solutions has changed dramatically for good. While I am not a pure UX/UI Designer, having developed these skills has helped me get a dream job as Senior Product Manager in Munich.

 

A core component of the program is the Daily Design Critique, where you can submit your work (no matter your level) and get very actionable feedback on how to improve it. You can also attend those sessions and see how other students are doing, what they had designed and what feedback they get.

 

My only feedback right now has to do with job assistance: My plans where to get a job in Europe, but the service was only available for US & Canada. If you plan to rely on the institution to increase the likelihood of getting a job, please keep that in mind! 

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I went into Bloc.io wanting to completely change careers and had no prior knowledge of software design. I have had the most amazing experience through Bloc's program. Not only is the mentorship aspect amazing but I've learned a brand new skill and about to start applying for jobs. I am beyond grateful for the experience I've had and would recommend this program to anyone. In fact, my brother is about to go through the program because of the awesome results Bloc.io produces.

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I reached the end of my time at Bloc a few months ago and this has been my first week as a designer at an enterprise software company. I'll break down my review into the aspects I found most helpful when searching for a bootcamp.

Background: I had no previous experience in tech or design. I worked in education as a teacher and counselor before deciding to enroll in Bloc to make a career switch into UX Design. I worked full-time while completing Bloc.

Tools: Most students use Figma or Sketch. The Bloc team generally encourages Figma because of its collaborative capabilities and because it's free but this is left open-ended. Get what works for you! I used Figma throughout the program and had to switch to Sketch for my job but the platforms are similar enough where I didn't have too much trouble making the switch. When interviewing, I found that there was no real preference for tools but most were using Sketch in my area. 

Curriculum: The Bloc program is broken down into mainly three areas: design, front-end development, and a capstone project (if you have time left in your program, you can do 1-3 different capstone projects). The introduction to design really gives you both a historical and theoretical look at design; they provide several videos and external resources to supplement your learning which is great. The front-end portion of the program is really what helps separate Bloc from other bootcamps, and I can't stress enough how helpful it's been for me in understanding basic aspects of development (HTML, CSS, Javascript, Git/Github, the DOM, etc.) Knowing how to prototype with code is a valuable skill in the industry and made some companies more interested in me as an interviewee. But outside of the job market, it also helps you to be able to communicate effectively with engineers on your team and understand where they're coming from. 

The capstone projects are really great because you, as a student, determine what you're going to design and really what problem you are going to solve. Some common complaints from hiring managers about bootcamps are that all bootcamp grads end up with the same portfolio. This is absolutely not the case at Bloc! We each have a very different portfolio because of these projects and are able to develop a portfolio that plays up our skills in design. Are you coming from a different industry? Do a design project that solves a problem you faced within your last role. In this way, you develop your story as a designer which is key in the job search process and you also show how your skills are transferable into a different career.

Concerning portfolios, Bloc students design and code their own. This means no Squarespace, Wordpress, Wix or other similar sites. So again, your portfolio can stand out and you can showcase your front-end skills. 

Mentorship: While all of this can seem somewhat intimidating, hands down what I loved most about Bloc was the mentorship and the community. Bloc has such an active Slack community with mentors available at almost any time. There are dedicated channels with technical coaches to help you solve whatever is challenging to you. This is especially life-saving when you’re coding your portfolio and your code breaks. On top of the curriculum, there are also live video sessions dedicated to different topics: Design Systems, Designing Instagram, Coding with Javascript, talking to alumni, etc. The most helpful session for me was always the Daily Design Critique. Students submit their work and get feedback from a senior designer and their peers for improvement. Being able to respond to feedback is a very important skill as a designer and Bloc helped me develop a thicker skin when accepting criticism. But at the same time, it was always in a helpful and supportive manner.

Job Search and Career Support: Another great aspect of Bloc is the personal career coach you receive after completing your curriculum. Since its Thinkful acquisition, Bloc has been really great about sending your application to different companies to help you. Just from Bloc introductions, I was able to get to the final stage at a company in Mountain View and several introductory calls with hiring managers or recruiters. My career mentor was extremely helpful and supportive. If I came across a role, I would ask her if she could make an introduction, and she would always do her best to make it happen. Also, when completing design assignments as part of the interview process, I had access to any mentor with experience pertaining to the role. Though one mentor was based all the way in South America, he went out of his way to review my design assignment before I submitted it to the hiring manager. I received such positive feedback from that interview and made it to the final stage despite their trepidations about my lack of experience because of the feedback he provided me.

Final Thoughts: Bloc was really great, but any student signing up should be mindful that the program alone isn’t always enough to get a role. For myself, because I live in such a competitive area (San Francisco), competition was high and I had to freelance for a bit to build up my portfolio and experience before a company was willing to take a chance. My ability to get freelance roles, however, would not have been possible without Bloc. And with their help and that of my mentor, I landed a position in about 3 months.

There are definitely certain areas I think Bloc can improve, but overall I think it was well worth the money and the time. I hope within the curriculum, web developer track and designer track students can collaborate to design and build a capstone because it gives students real practice with handoffs. Bloc should also develop a doc of Slack channels dedicated to Design because jobs are often posted there and it's a great way to network off Twitter.  

It took me a year to complete the program and was stressful at times but it was worth it to make such an incredible career transition. Thank you, Bloc team!

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Choosing Bloc as my way into the UX/UI design field was hands-down the best decision I ever made. I learned a tremendous amount of information in a relatively short amount of time, and I feel that I got real exposure to the world of digital product design and UX/UI. I chose Bloc out of other online bootcamps because unlike other bootcamps, Bloc focuses on front-end development in addition to UX/UI design. Learning HTML and CSS was definitely a challenge, but I have become proficient and was even able to code my design portfolio from scratch. This is only one example of the application of Bloc's curriculum and being a designer with the ability to code was something that really impressed potential employers. 

I finished Bloc in 11 months and took about 3 months to find a job. One of my most favorite parts of the Bloc experience was working with the career services team, and I found them to be invaluable to the entire experience. I got regular, personalized career advice from proven professionals in the field as well as a whole lot of emotional support. My career coach helped me with things like phrasing cold emails and follow up messages as well as "professional etiquette" such as figuring out the appropriate amount of time to reach back out to an employer, navigating tricky interview questions, and so much more. I think that the information and resources that the career team provides are definitely not something that someone can get from a university/higher education career center. 

I just started my new design position at a NYC startup, and I could not be more grateful for the Bloc experience and everyone who helped me get here!

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