BrainStation

This is a full time UX Design program that focuses on teaching you the UX and the UI components of Product Design. It was done completely remotely. It initially had 2 instructors and an associate instructor, about halfway through the course, 1 instructor was taken to do the dedicated online course and we had no choice on which instructor they should take. We were then left with 1 instructor and another associate/in training instructor. The in training one didn't provide much guidance when it came to assignments and a lot of the assignment guidelines were ambiguous at best. When we asked for clarification, we were given a different answer from each person. Ww had 4 TAs, one left midway through as she secured a full time UX position at a company so we were given a new TA. The TAs are hit or miss, they had all recently finished the program and didn't have much experience out in the field so we found that they were good to bounce ideas but it was also strange that once we completed the course, they would be our competition in the job market.

This course was initially supposed to be held in class but changed to full remote because of COVID. There's a demo day at the end of the program that you're continually working towards but found that it was lacking in support when it came to the actual preparation and the part of what happens after the program is complete and you have your diploma. There isn't much in the way of helping you find a position after you've completed the program. 

It's a very stressful experience, as most bootcamps are and with transitioning to a new career, it adds even more stress. The added stresses of working fully remotely as well made it even more difficult. There are a lot of tight deadlines and very little guidance, there are supposed to be industry speakers or guests who come to speak to you but that only happened when we pushed about when that would be happening. 

Overall, it was a good experience, I felt like I got a good base knowledge in order to build and grow from that but the ambiguity and non answers were a lot and it just added to an already stressful experience. It's not for the faint hearted, that's fo sure. 

I’ve taken two courses (digital marketing and data analytics) and can’t recommend it enough. The instructors have day jobs in the disciplines they’re teaching so I find what they teach has real-life practicality to it. They’re great at answering questions about getting into the field, and teaching not just theory but practical knowledge you can’t learn from a book. The final projects require you to consolidate all your learnings into one final pitch of sorts - really great courses for anyone looking to upskill or learn something new. 

I recently completed the 10 week part time web development program. I found the online live course to be a really great option that allowed for the convenience of taking the class from anywhere, but also provided the structure that I needed with a designated required class time each week.  As a designer who frequently interacts with our development team, I took this course to better understand the dev process. I was happy with the knowledge I gained by the end of the 10 weeks. The instructor dove into both css and html, and provided us with the information needed to create a basic one page website as a final project. Our instructor was super helpful and patient with all questions; he never made anyone feel like any question was dumb or a waste of time. I would not go into this course expecting to be a professional developer upon completion; there just isn’t enough time in 30 hours to learn everything you need to know, and that’s not really the intention of the part time course. However, I think this course is great way to get a good base of html and css, and start you off on the right foot in the coding world. 

The social media marketing course covers most of the social platforms and dives deeper in Facebook ads specifically, which I believe is the most valuable aspect of the course. I think there should be a Facebook ads certification that goes along with this course and that could add more value to it but it's also something you can go and get yourself. 

If you have none or limited knowledge of social platforms this is a great way to learn the basics and strategies across various platforms. 

I really enjoyed my learning experience with BrainStation! I signed up for this course because I was looking to start a career in digital marketing and I had very limited professional experience. As a learner with little experience in the field, the curriculum was exactly what I was looking for touching on very important areas such as SEO, paid social ads, paid search ads, social media, Google Analytics and email marketing. The instructors (Deborah and Jordan) were really great, friendly, approachable and did a great job of explaining the content and bringing in their real world knowledge. I was hired into a full time job as a result of this learning. Highly recommend.

Course Summary
- Opportunity Discovery: customer discovery, customer personas
- Value Propositions: market research, vision statements, value proposition
- MVP: lean canvas, build-measure-learn cycle, pivoting, lean UX, wire-framing, user testing
- Agile: agile software development, scrum, story mapping
- Market strategies: product launch, market positioning, lean analytics, success metrics
- Product Finance: risk management, revenue models, pricing strategies

I’ve completed two courses now at BrainStation – Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing. While Digital Marketing provides a good (high level) overview of many digital channels (including a week on social media), it was helpful to dedicate the full 7 weeks to Social Media Marketing. The curriculum dives into Facebook and Instagram with less time allocated to YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Influencers. 

The course brings you through the full cycle of campaign creation; from identifying your segment, setting objectives, ad creative and copy, and implementing campaigns.  Getting set up with Facebook Business Manager and working through the tool in class and with the instructors’ tips was great! I’d say it’s a pretty good balance of learning and application. 

I have huge appreciation for the instructions, Alex and Amber! They enhanced all of the course material with their own experiences and insights from being professionals in the industry. 

I recommend the course for people new and/or somewhat familiar with social media marketing (I’m in marketing myself but don’t work in digital marketing), but it may not be advanced enough for someone already with a hand in paid social. 

1) The content that is taught be BrainStation in their web development program is not even adequate knowledge to lend a job in their affiliate company Konrad.

2) There is hardly any support after you complete the program. If you bring this up and keep bugging them you will surely be on their "black list". 

3) There is hardly any  Database and Authorization covered in the course. Which is one of the keys.

4) Waste of Time, and Money!! Double loss!!

5) Last but not least, there is 0 Job Assistance!  ZERO!!

I will not Recommend them to anyone. 

I enjoyed the online training, John Kantor our lead instructor was great on every class, he was prepared and seems to have a great knowledge about topics. David Aboutboul was always sharing great links and information, he also had goo knowledge and was a good compliment to discuss other software options for pc users.

I had a great experience, refreshed a lot my knowledge in design, got confident on what I already knew. Understood better the concept of UI Design and added a couple of software to my list, which is great!

I recommend Brainstation to those who have a previous background in design and know how to use the tools, if you are a begginner you may want to learn about design FIRST!

I took the 10-week in-Class Product Management course in Vancouver. I am a current Product Manager and had read multiple books prior to attending. The main difference between a MOOC and a Brainstation course is having an industry expert live. You can ask questions to both the instructor and your classmates. I'd recommend Brainstation after you have a basic understanding of your course topic (use free MOOC courses/podcasts/books) to develop greater depth. 

If you're thinking about joining Wyncode to pivot your career to UX/UI Design, think no more! Wyncode has been an amazing experience that challenged me and gave me the foundation of the designer that I am today. The support from the staff and students is unparalleled. You honestly feel like you are a part of a family (Wynfam), and the career support is greatly appreciated. They truly want you to succeed and thrive into the world of tech and design. So grateful for the experience! 

Amazing school to learn valuable skills in the UX/UI field. Phenomenal instructors and TA’s who taught and encouraged us students every step of the way. Very rigorous 10 week course but I’ve learned more in this program than ever before. I would recommend this program to ANYONE interested in entering the Coding or UX/UI field. Plus lifetime job support!?!? Couldn’t be better!

My instructors David and John were amazing! John was very personable and would always try to include his students in the discussions so we were not just sitting there for 3 hours straight listening to his speech. The true value I got from this course was the mentorship and project feedback from David outside of class. He was very responsive, detail-oriented and cared a lot about the success of his students. I would rate my instructors 1000000/10 if I could.
 
Other than that, the course curriculum was not great and definitely not worth over 3.5k for 10 weeks part-time. Luckily I had a scholarship and an employee development fund that covered most of the cost but the course was designed for people without a design background and for beginners as there wasn't a focus on UI design principles. UI design is pretty subjective as it differs from project to project so I can see why it could be difficult to teach but much of the content was pointing out the history of UI, showing pictures of real-life objects and what you can do to translate it onto a digital product, basic knowledge of design principles and teaching you how to use programs like Sketch/InVision (which was barely even covered). I can't imagine what the 5-week course is like... even though it's just a condensed down version of the 10 weeks.

I feel like this course should focus more on teaching us design principles and design languages for both Andriod/ios/desktop/tablets. It also felt like the course was more about teaching you what you CAN design than teaching you HOW to design.

Overall, I had a really good experience and lucky that I had amazing instructors!

Wyncode is the best Bootcamp and I will explain why. First, they treat every student as a person, not a number. They know you and they make you feel being part of a family. Second, they are very supportive, not only regarding the course itself but even if you feel overwhelmed because it is a very fast-paced course, they will help you. Third, they will teach you not only technical knowledge and how to be a developer, but they will teach you about believing in yourself and how to develop good soft skills to be able to get a job after course. Plus, they have what they called "wynwork" meetings with great opportunities jobs.  I attended this course and after 2 months I've got a great job. 

For someone looking to get started in technology, Wyncode is definitely an amazing opportunity! I was part of cohort 10 for UX/UI Design and I enjoyed every single minute of it. My instructor, Gessica Tortolano, was amazing; She has an impressive background and expertise so learning from her was an outstanding experience. Gessica and other TAs like Kaiya, Rachelle, Nishita, and Veronica with whom I interacted every week, were extremely helpful and supportive. Vasti, Beto, Johanna, Juha, and everyone else at Wyncode were energetic and gave inspiring talks every week. They encouraged students to collaborate and learn as a group to prepare us for "the real world". I 100% recommend Wyncode, especially the UX/UI Design program! 

 I signed up for the Product Management course at the beginning of 2020 because I was contemplating a job/career change.I am passionate about solving complex problems/situations and it seemed that the Product Management course could give me a good insight on the entire process.The course itself is complex, with lots of information and details to go through; it could probably be more challenging to take this course as self-study, especially for someone with very little to no experience and involvement in the product development cycle (like myself). The 2 instructors leading this course were first of all very knowledgeable, experienced, passionate and personable. They did a great job explaining the course material as well as creating actual scenarios from ‘a day of a PM’; they provide additional examples of situations and resources to refer to and learn from. They were also very approachable, I felt very comfortable reaching out to them outside of class with any questions or requests for feedback. I finished the course with a good understanding of the overall product cycle as well as some great resources that, at the very least, are great reads and ‘aha moments’.My favourite part of the whole experience was meeting and connecting with people and the opportunity to participate at ProductCamp BC; I was able to build some amazing connections and with many of them I keep in touch with to date. Completing the course did not necessarily result in a career change for me, for now at least, but it gave a fresh perspective on my current job. I look at my industry from a different perspective now and I see opportunities that I’ve dismissed before, which is very energizing and exciting!

As a 23 year old, I was hesitant to spend 4 digits on a 5 week course, it's the equivalent of taking 3 courses at my university for a semester. However, my curiosity prompt me to sign up and go for it. 

You get exactly what you pay for, extremely experienced instructors with excellent up-to-date industry work experience. It is very fast-paced but since it's only one class per week, you have the other 6 days to catch up on anything you want to look into! 

Do it if you're on the fence, I have no regrets from this learning experience. 

The education team is great and very helpful. BrainStation really knows what they're doing and how to deliver such an intense program.

At some points in the program, there are moments of doubt and questionable thoughts:
-Should I quit, should I drop out? Is this really for me? I don't want to fail out of the program.
-What is going on? Do they know how to teach and layout the material? Why didn't they just teach us this from the beginning?

In the end, after going through the entire program, everything worked out and the pace and style of how the program is structured is great.

A fully online program has its challenges but so does everything else.

I actually wish I started studying in their Part-Time intro the Web Dev course-program because I was looking at programs for a very long time. It probably would have made the full-time program a little bit easier on me too since I come from a background with very little coding experience.


My advice to anyone that enrols in the full-time program:
-Trust the program and listen to the education team.
-Ask questions.
-Help fellow classmates.
-Use an Apple computer.
-Plan and prepare that you will do nothing else for the entire length of the program.
-Put it in the time, effort, and work.

And lastly, if you are taking a long time, thinking and considering, about whether or not to take a full-time program then at least take the part-time Intro to Web Development.

My experience for UX Course from Brain Station has been nothing more than amazing!  When I started, I knew nothing about the industry and by the time, I completed the course, I felt like I can change my career with a confidence.  
Our course teacher, Jenna has been nothing more than incredible and well skilled within the UX/UI industry.  She taught us all the tips and tricks she learned during her career and that she made us feel comfortable and easy to learn with descriptive explanation. Brain Station also laid out a great course curriculum and exercises that can be utilized within the real world environment. 
The course was short but very much detailed and well put together for all students to learn. 
I highly recommend to those who are interested in going in to UX/UI field and for me, Brain Station has delivered more than my expectations.  I'm looking forward to signup for the UI certification course during Fall/Winter of 2020 as well. 
I have nothing but the best to say about Brain Station and Thank You for your assistance to get my feet off the ground in new career path.