BrainStation

Brainstation learning process exceeded my expectation and was so easy and engaging in every aspect. Teachers are industry experts and give the right information and not from a textbook.For sure, Brainstation will be my go-to learning place for more courses in the future. Read less

I had a stellar experience at BrainStation's online UX Design Diploma (bootcamp) from July 2021 - October 2021. 

Course: I have 2 post-secondary degrees, and I have to say that my educational experience at BrainStation was by far the best I've had! I was nervous about learning online, since I considered myself to be someone that learns better in a traditional "in-person" classroom environment, but the Education Experience team does an excellent job at delivering the course content online (because of COVID) through a variety of engaging methods and formats - this is not a "sit and watch someone lecture AT you" for 12 weeks! The UX Design content is interactive, engaging, well-structured, and the assignments build off of each new content section you learn in a logical way. The capstone project that underlies the whole course is a great way to further apply the knowledge and skills you learn in each unit to a full-scale design project (There are also no tests!). The course content is also adapted and reviewed regularly, and the tools/software they teach you are on the leading edge of what companies/enterprises are using in the industry right now. Lastly, there are many opportunities to work on Design Sprints in groups, Hackathons with cross-functional teams, and to show your own work through independent projects and assignments such as the Capstone - all of these mimic how you will work in the field and set you up for success in your new career. 

Instructors: The course content is delivered by former-UX industry professionals that have great insight into how the theory and concepts work in practice - this really helped to prepare us well to use the UX Design process and principles in an industry working environment. They are some of the most engaging and helpful educators I have worked with - you can ask a million questions, clarify something 5 times, and they don't get frustrated with you - and if they themselves don't know the answer in the moment, they will go away and help you find it! 

Career Success: The Career Success program runs throughout the educational content, but then the team takes over working with students individually once they finish the Diploma. You actually finish the Diploma by presenting your Capstone at a Demo Day to industry professionals and hiring partners. In my case, I started my first UX job at a start up within 2 weeks of finishing the program, and then started another new job 8 weeks after that! The team was great to help me decide the pros and cons between multiple different work options/offers, and how to set myself up for success at this point in my career. 

Overall, 11/10 would recommend this program to potential students!  Read less

Great Instructors - Complete Curriculum - Immersive Experience
During my 12 weeks at BrainStation I learned an incredible amount through lectures, labs (practicing what you learned with your peers) and extra curricular events. Despite being online, BrainStation created an immersive experience to learn and mingle with other students. 

The content covered all important areas of digital marketing - I am walking away with a general (and for some topics deep) understanding of different concepts from content marketing over social media to SEO and PPC marketing. Through lectures we were introduced to the theoretical concepts as a basis, while the labs gave an opportunity to practice and apply what we learned. A big part of learning at BrainStation are the frequent projects - this is where most of my time away from classes went into. The projects were the best way to apply what we learned, research deeper into some subjects of interest or relevance and create actual digital marketing campaigns. Each of the projects revolved around one subject (e.g. search marketing) but incorporated our understanding of different areas of digital marketing. 

My instructors Justin, Mel and Di were great teachers. They all had extensive experiences in different jobs in digital marketing and could share their experiences in relation to concepts learned in class. Having access to experienced digital marketers is one of the most valuable things in this bootcamp (they are always available for 1:1 calls and try to answer all your questions). 

As there are multiple different cohorts running at the same time (e.g. UX Design Bootcamp, Web Dev Bootcamp etc.), BrainStation organises a few extra curricular activities to mingle and learn from other students. These events were a fun way to break up the learning flow and I connected to many talented individuals and could learn from their knowledge in their field. 
One thing that stood out to me was an interdisciplinary industry project - 24hrs to work with web dev and UX design students on a pitch for an actual client was very hard but so rewarding! 

Furthermore, BrainStation has frequent career events (especially at the end of the bootcamp) to help you transition into job search (topics include interviews, you online presence, CV writing, etc.).

Summed up, I had a great time of intensive learning and connecting with like-minded people. I walk away from this bootcamp feeling empowered (getting rid of that impostor syndrome) and motivated to work in digital marketing. 
I would definitely recommend the bootcamp to everyone that wants to learn in an immersive way and can put their life away for the 3 months - "The more effort you put in, the more you will get out of this bootcamp!"


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 This was my first time taking a course at BrainStation and It was a very informative and inspiring course. I was able to gain skills in programs such as Sketch, Flinto and InVision. The most beneficial part is definitely learning all the workflows a typical company/agency will be going through. I look forward to taking more courses here in the future.  Read less

This month, my workplace gave me the opportunity to brush-off on my digital marketing know-how, tools and strategical thinking with BrainStation here in #Toronto. The course encouraged me to learn something new and even network, and it definitely helps get you out of the rut of working remotely, where one would quickly feel either the burnout or isolation. This course definitely gave a boost of confidence to network with instructors such as Talina Titizian & Omkar Deshpande - (Full Stack Digital Marketing Manager) who come with a load of knowledge from their experiences as well. Read less

I recently completed a Social Media Marketing course at Brainstation. As a fair beginner in the field of digital marketing, I was looking for a course with comprehensive knowledge to strengthen my foundation in the field as well as get hands-on experience with the most used social media channels for marketing today! I was absolutely fortunate to get instructors with superb experience and backgrounds within the field. I did think the class was too fast for me at times, but it also gave me a chance to push myself to do more research, read and stay updated to catch up. I enjoyed the questions asked by co-students leading to fruitful discussions, not just instructors but also everyone in the class adding so much value to my learnings. Loved working on the final project and importantly seeing others presenting was amazing! In all, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Thank you, BrainStation. Read less

The experience was great. It was harder than I expected but it was well worth the challenge. The curriculum was great and so were the instructors. The job assistance is still happening so I was unable to leave a rating but the job preparation which includes resume building, LinkedIn, and other career workshops have been great.  Read less

I applied to and completed the April 2021 cohort of BrainStation's Web Development Bootcamp. Due to the pandemic, my whole experience was online. And while I was initially skeptical about learning something so in-depth remotely, it turned out to be an amazing experience. All of the educators and TAs were very skilled, knowledgeable, friendly and approachable. They covered the concepts thoroughly and provided lots of feedback for the practical applications and assignments in the course. I cannot overstate the value of learning web development in a live environment (as opposed to just following recorded courses online). It really made the difference in how quickly I could learn and pick up new skills, which is both extremely important and transferable to real working situations.The careers team provided great info and feedback on how to approach the job hunt, and they continue to offer sessions and support well past your graduation date. While I am definitely not as skilled in job hunting as I am web development, the career focused workshops really helped me refine how I present myself to employers in each stage of the process.Overall, BrainStation's web development bootcamp is a very strong offering and should be at the top of every interested person's list. Read less

Looking back at my experience with BrainStation online I am amazed at the amount I have learned over the 10 week course. From SEO and PPC to creating Social media campaigns and influencer strategies. Being able to dip a bit into each area and see what part of Digital Marketing I excel and am interested in is the thing I really enjoyed most. My instructor Brad was a pleasure to learn from, using his real world scenarios to make the content relatable and incredibly personable teaching style made it easy to learn and the whole experience amazing. The online platform made it able so I can learn and collaborate with people from all over North America which helped make this a very unique experience.  Read less

I wanted to take a UX course that has flexible learning options, industry-practicing instructors, and has a robust curriculum and BrainStation ticked all the boxes. I was very pleased with their LMS and other tools which allowed for seamless communication with the instructor, the learner support team, and my fellow classmates.

I especially loved the interactive workshops we did each class. It allowed me to better understand the material and collaborating with groups and partners enabled us to learn from each other. Our instructor, Han, was especially helpful during studio times when we would work on our final project. She facilitated a safe, inclusive space for the students to show our progress, which allowed us to get a fresh perspective on our projects and improve on it. I've never experienced such a supportive learning environment! I'm definitely taking the Digital Marketing course next and I'm looking forward to it. Read less

Overall the class was phenomenal. The instructors were very good and precise from beginning to end. They were very helpful when it came to the full class and one-on-one. The class had so much detail that I wish I would have taken the  longer course. Anyone that is considering Brainstation to further your knowledge its a must have.  For your set up make sure you have 2 monitor to get the full experience of all the applications that are taught. I enjoy the experience and well worth it. Thanks Brainstation!!! Read less

Overall the experience was fantastic and definitely worth it. The content is great, the instructors are great, I just didn't realize that the course would be so heavy when taking the condensed version. I wish I had taken a longer course. I felt as though there was too much to learn and not enough time.    Read less

I have to preface this by saying that before joining the Bootcamp I had a myriad of jobs, many of which were technical in nature. With a background in engineering, I feel I did have an advantage when it came to understanding and comprehension of the more technical aspects of the program compared to those with completely unrelated experiences. I found the content straightforward and detailed, with sufficient information and instruction to complete the curriculum. This is not to say it was easy, I had to commit full time each day and night to ensure I absorbed the material and completed each assignment. You get out exactly what you put into it and you really need to expect to commit 100% of your life for 3 months to this program. 

Having completed the program nearly a year later, looking back I can confidently say that the curriculum was very frontend focused, and the backend portion was more of a knowledge base than put to practice. It's understandable that in 3 months to attempt to teach a full diploma's worth of content is a great undertaking, but if the program claims emphasis on Full-Stack development, there should be more meat than potatoes (if the metaphor sticks lol). Alongside the coursework were various hackathons and pair-programming events which were very valuable experiences in my opinion. Allowing us to experience the social aspect of the work, especially over the pandemic, enhances learning and understanding. These challenges allowed us to connect with our colleagues and collaboratively improve our skills. I learned a lot through how others were programming and I can say with certainty that they improved my skills.

When it came down to finding a job, it really is on you as a person to put in the work until you are actually hired, if you don't keep that momentum going when you finish the program you will struggle. BrainStation does provide the necessary tools to gear up for the hunt and interviews but there are no guarantees that you will find work immediately. I will say the most important job assistance aspect is networking; connect with your peers and build bridges, they are key as you will be the next group in the industry. Unfortunately, BrainStation's ability to provide quality networking was dampened due to the pandemic, so being unable to carry out live in-person demonstrations impacts the ability to speak 1-on-1 with potential industry representatives and employers.

To conclude, if you're considering this program and have some technical background then BrainStation can definitely give you the base ingredients to be a developer. However, it will be more challenging for those who have completely unrelated backgrounds and I strongly suggest getting some base understanding before deciding to commit. I loved my time at BrainStation and I am greatly appreciative of the skills learned, the connections made, and how they helped shape my future. Read less

A very quick deep-dive on all the major digital elements: SEO, SEM, Google Analytics data, content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing. This online course was taught live by a working industry professional, who included wonderful examples of their work and how certain aspects of digital marketing applied with real world examples.
As comprehensive as it can be, considering each of the pillars mentioned above was a three hour lecture. A great way to learn basics, expand your digital marketing brain, and learn jargon, if you are unfamiliar with it.
The final project is a great portfolio piece or worth using to show to your management team or client. 

Definitely has changed how I see the digital landscape. Read less

This bootcamp was a fantastic way to gain exposure to the modeling and technical skills currently expected in the industry. Although I didn't immediately start in data science after I finished the bootcamp, even in my corporate finance position I was able to leverage my new skills to improve processes and run more complex analyses (I effectively became a better Financial Analyst). 

~One year out, I now have a job as a Data Scientist, which would have been MUCH harder to land without this bootcamp.

While BrainStation will provide you with relevant information and plenty of opportunities for practice, it is really important to take the lectures and assignments seriously (don't just go through the motions) and continue developing your skills on the job / in your free time. A lot of becoming stronger at coding / modeling is simply practice, so if you are able to apply what you've learned in the bootcamp (and practice a lot), you can be successful in the data science field. 

BrainStation was also a cool way to meet a lot of professionals from diverse backgrounds! Read less