BrainStation

Alright so I took the Digital Marketing program in late 2020. 

I have to honestly say that the curriculum that is being taught really helps you to develop strong instincts on what you are doing professionally.  This is coming from an individual who has always been skeptical of schools that specialize in tech training only because there is such an abundance of information that is available at your fingertips either for free or for a cheaper price (in comparison to paying for a full-time program).

The foundation that this program builds for an individual learning the ropes of digital marketing is truly un-matched in my opinion.  When I first took the program, I felt that I was coming to this program with a decent amount of knowledge about digital marketing.  During the process of going through the program, I learned that my initial knowledge was really just scratching the surface of developing my knowledge in Digital Marketing.  At the end of the program, I developed a capstone project (along with a series of other projects) that I am truly proud of (and proudly highlight in my LinkedIn profile), I felt challenged in a way that helped me grow significantly as a professional, and I am now a part of an amazing online community that extends beyond my graduation.

Aside from the academics portion of my journey with BrainStation, I also have to give tons of credit of my superb experience to the Career Success team.  There is nothing short of a plethora of support from BrainStation after you graduate.  Ultimately they want to see you succeed as long as you are willing to put in the work.  Follow their advice down to the punctuation mark when it comes to the job search as it is good advice and they stay very current with job application best practices.  The online community that they have built is one of the BEST that I have ever come across.  

In my opinion, this program is best suited for individuals that already have some professional marketing experience, for individuals that have a Bachelors+ degree from university, or individuals that have a successful independent project (like a small business) to showcase their digital marketing skills.  Although the program helps you to develop those independent projects to show off on your own, I found that graduates who were finding the most success after graduation were already working as marketers or had a Bachelor degree to speak of; meaning that employers are still looking for that classic experience + mainstream education mix along with proven digital skills.  This observation comes from my own personal experience as well since I was one of those students that didn't get hired immediately after graduation.

They also do an amazing job at recommending students for jobs as well and I was able to land a couple of interviews directly from their recommendations which has never happened to me with other colleges.

For those that are looking to make a career change that do not have traditional professional marketing experience or a Bachelors+ degree, understand that this program will deliver a great overview of the different roles that Digital Marketing can offer.  But also understand that BrainStation may just be the initial step to get you where you want to go.  You'll have access to a stellar community during/after graduation, and you'll have plenty of projects to showcase, but you'll need to mentally prepare yourself for a longer job-search process because ultimately a recruiter will recognize that your lack of professional experience is still a lack of professional experience no matter which way you try to spin it if you are someone trying to make a sudden career change.

At the end of the day, I actually highly recommend BrainStation for individuals that want to add technical skills to their skillsets from a reputable school.   The academics that you learn is relevant to the profession you are pursuing and the community you end up accessing is such a godsend when you are out in the real world practicing your new-found skills.  Read less

Just finished my first 5 weeks and I dont regret taking cyber security with brainstation. Enrollment was a breeze, any question I had was usually answered before end of day, which is great.  The instructors are very knowledgeable and love what they do. I feel very confident gaining great knowledge and skills in just 5 weeks, I can t imagine how I will feel in a year.  Read less

I enrolled in the BrainStation Digital Marketing Bootcamp as a way of updating a skill set that had grown stale. I couldn't be happier with my choice. The instructors did a fantastic job of teaching us a strategic way of looking at marketing, as well as giving us the tactical tools necessary to use the most popular social marketing platforms. The instructors and TA were knowledgeable and worked hard to ensure our success. It was money well spent. 

I would recommend this Bootcamp for someone seeking to update their skill set, as I was. It would also be a good fit for a recent college graduate who's looking to enter or advance in the marketing field.  Read less

For me, this was the best investment I have taken for my career development. To give you some idea, I have a background in graphic design but I really wanted to refocus my career to become a UX designer.  I have been wanting to do it for years but didn't have the time or the courage to leave my previous job.

During the pandemic, I decided it was the perfect timing to make a big career change in my 40s.
After I moved to the US, I enrolled in the online 12-week UX Bootcamp in February 2021 and completed it in mid-May 2021. Then I spent 4-5 weeks preparing for my portfolio and 7 weeks for job searching and interviews. By mid of August, I was hired as a full-time mid-level UX designer in a tech company.

I chose BrainStation over other UX boot camps because of its online live educator class, engaging labs, individual & group project assignments, and hackathons with their brand partners. They prepare you how to collaborate with other designers in Design Sprints, present your projects, and practice whiteboarding sessions to prepare for your job interviews.
In addition, my educators, TAs, mentors, and career service team were awesome and very helpful, but you have to reach to them early and often for feedback. I also learned a lot from my cohort friends and still keep in touch with them.

The Bootcamp was no picnic, it was a grueling experience. It was harder than most professional design work I've done, and I'm familiar with tight deadlines & late nights. Because having graded homework, after 8 hours of class on weekdays, you will sacrifice all your free time working on it. On weekends, be prepared for working for another group submission on top of your individual one.

The real challenge is after the program, no one will guide you. The career service will reach out and forward jobs, but you really have to work hard, have a clear goal in mind, be active in networking, trust in the process and yourself. There are tons of free UX resources, mentorship, and meetups out there to help you succeed in finding your dream job.  Read less

This program definitely changed my life. I had thought about joining a web development bootcamp for a few years, but decided to finally commit once I realized where the world is heading technologically. The instructors are super knowledgeable, passionate, and fun while teaching the subject. They also encourage students to open up and ask questions frequently- no matter what question you have. There is a close and tight-knit family feel as the bootcamp progresses. In our cohort, we started off with HTML and CSS, then began learning Javascript while delving into React as well. They also cover many other technologies that is beneficial for employers today. It is a fast-paced program, but because it is fast, it was how they were able to teach us as much information as possible. They had us work independently, in pairs as well as in groups, and we even had a 24-hour Hackathon project as well. There were also labs that pushed to work collaboratively. Henceforth, we graduated with a sufficient amount of skills in order to continue on our own. They also leveled up our mindset and encouraged us from within. This course requires you to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and to trust the process. Lastly, their career support was helpful as well, and I am forever grateful for the experience and connections I made in order to begin my career.  Read less

I took the 12 week Web Development Bootcamp in Toronto in January of 2020 and had a great experience! The course is taught by instructors that truly know the material and the industry. I really enjoyed that the course focused on solidifying concepts rather than just aiming for grades. I always felt like the educators cared about my progress and looked forward to seeing me succeed. While the concepts covered in the course were challenging at times, I found their curriculum is focused on offering many opportunities to understand and apply the things you've learned.

Towards the end of my experience we went remote due to the pandemic and I found the program adjusted to online delivery exceptionally well!
The course is fast-paced so expect to commit more than full time for the duration of the program. The hard work is worth it!  Read less

The instructors and curriculum are excellent.  We started with basic html/css but did a deep dive into making sure best design practices are ingrained before moving on.  Next we started into the basics of vanilla javascript and continued on to React - most of the course was focused here on both class based react components and react hooks.  From there we went on to back end development and deployment.  Along the way we did pair and team programming and had meetings with Google, Microsoft and other recruiting teams to learn about what they look for in candidates.  There was a lot of support for our job search and a focus on how to deal with 'imposter syndrome', i.e "Am I really good enough to do this?" (the answer is YES!)  We also joined forces with the UX/UI team for a hack-a-thon with Telemundo.  Overall, I can't recommend this course enough.  If you are looking to get started in a career in tech or have some experience and want to level up or just want to really LEARN, this is the place.  In my case, I was awarded the Future Leaders in Tech fellowship which involved a 3 month internship afterwards.  The internship required development mostly in Ruby on Rails and although we didn't go over that in the BrainStation Bootcamp, the deep dive into Javascript, React and good development practices more than prepared me to get started with Ruby on Rails.  I am very happy with my experience at  BrainStation.

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The curriculum is good but the instruction is a bit rushed through (it's a bootcamp at the end of the day). This means you'll have to put in extra time, especially after graduation, to research and do excercises to become properly skilled and ready for the job market. Same goes for job assistance: they'll send you jobs you posted on the internet and follow-up on how things are going but you'll need to teach yourself how to write proper resumé and cover letters for your role and network to get referrals.
Basically, go there to learn, but don't expect them to hand you a new career on a silver platter - that's on you! Read less

I just completed the UX Design Bootcamp at BrainStation. Before enrolling, I did my research on different programs/bootcamps and landed on BrainStation. The onboarding was intense, written statement, mini project and then an interview if you made it that far before they make their decision. While I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, it was by far different! I should preface this by saying, I'm not in my 20's, in fact, I'm 40. I've been around the block, worked in different industries, no stranger to tight deadlines, high expectations and long hours. But I still wasn't prepared.

The first couple of weeks we were eased into the theory, briefly touching on design and then it all fell apart. It's like we switched into overdrive and never stopped. Every week a new assignment, every week learning multiple theories. It was difficult to process when the next day you're learning something different and just as challenging. This was difficult for me, it affected my pride, my confidence, my anxiety was high. I questioned the process. I had quit my job to enroll in this program...I wondered if I was making a mistake. I thought about quitting...

I leaned on friends who became my biggest supporters, they encouraged me, gave me the boost to keep going. And I kept going and I'm very happy that I did! I can now say that I've successfully completed the program, learned so much and have seen my skills improve. My biggest regret and the biggest advice I can give anyone thinking about joining this program, reach out to the Educators, TAs and fellow classmates early. Ask for help! Don't try to do it yourself. It's ok if you don't know something, that's expected. It's ok if you need something explained further...ask the questions, it doesn't make you look less than others if you do.

Yes, it's intense, they don't hide that, the hours are long, often only getting a couple of hours of sleep a night and your weekends are dedicated to schoolwork or learning theory. You're going to question yourself and that's ok. If it was easy, everyone would do it. But after 12 gruelling weeks, the feeling that overcomes you is euphoric. You created something from nothing! You did that!  Read less

BrainStation was an amazing place and their team helped me transition into a full time employed Full Stack Web Developer. I had no prior experience with code prior to joining BrainStation, but I worked closely with coders in my previous job and knew it was something I wanted to learn to do. 

The program was very thorough, fast-paced, and intense at some points (especially for a beginner). If you plan to join a coding bootcamp, just know that you will need to invest the majority of your time into it in order to succeed. We were eased into the program by learning how to code with HTML and CSS, then it progressively became more challenging going into JavaScript. The course took a weekly sprint approach, where we were introduced to new topics at the start of the week and then had a project due by the end of the week to prove our understanding. From my experience, the instructor lead sessions and reading material provided to us was very high quality. As long as you put in the time to go through the material and complete the practice coding questions, you would be confident going into the end of week projects. The instructors and teaching assistants were also always available to help you through any struggles or questions.

In my cohort, I had three instructors and three teaching assistants to guide us through the bootcamp. Each of my instructors were very well spoken and had a deep understanding of what they were teaching. They were always willing to go above and beyond the course material to dive deeper into topics to help the students better understand too. Our teaching assistants were recent graduates of the previous cohort and they provided great support with the material. Everyone involved in the classroom training tried their hardest to be as inclusive as possible and to make it a fun atmosphere.

On top of the very high quality of classroom training I received, BrainStation also provided a Career Accelerator. This portion of the bootcamp was where we learned how to properly build our resume/cover letters and tips on how to find a job. We were taught by recruiters on how to make our LinkedIn profiles and how to network. After graduating, the Career Accelerator team continued to help support us by posting new job postings and interview prep. The sessions and connections that I gained through the Career Accelerator played a huge role in landing my first job.

Overall, my experience with BrainStation was a great one. I got what I came for and feel confident with my skills as a developer. My time over the three months was very fun and rewarding. The people I met along the way made it an unforgetable experience. I am almost 3 months into my first position as a Full Stack Web Developer and am still really enjoying it. I would recommend BrainStation to my friends and family in a heartbeat.  Read less

I was part of the full time 12-week Web Dev Bootcamp program (from the Toronto location fwiw). It was entirely remote, so there were students and instructors from throughout North America. And while it felt like there was an added challenge to be on Zoom for hours at a time, ever day, for 3 months, the experience was nonetheless rewarding and fun.

The instructors were awesome. They were knowledgeable, approachable, and truly cared about your success. Along with the TA team, answers to your questions were always a Slack message away, and if you had a question more specific to your situation, there were opportunities every day to chat 'in person', virtually of course. 

I found the curriculum to be just right. They really do aim to ramp someone up to full-stack from next to nothing. It's A LOT. HTML, CSS, Browser APIs, Internet protocols, JS programming, React, Git, servers, REST APIs, node, CLI, Auth, DB, SQL, deployment, and the list goes on. So it's definitely important to find your groove and make sure you keep up pace with the content delivery. And even if something doesn't click right away, if you keep at it, and keep taking in the new stuff, the older stuff starts to get better and better formed. My main feedback would be to introduce Git earlier, but I think I heard they're already working on this.

The Career Success program has content interspersed throughout, which was great for helping me stay on track with setting up my LinkedIn, crafting my resume, and learning and practising the skills I'd need to get interviews, do well in them, and get a job. There was also whiteboarding practise during the Web Dev program, which is important to doing well in an interview. There were lots of resources and support made available to students after the program as well to help with the job hunt, but I didn't take advantage of them.

I was super happy with my experience at BrainStation. Beyond the learning there were also so many great efforts to bring students together and get some positive community energy going, even though we were all remote. It was definitely intense, and takes a lot of hard work, but if you're up for the challenge (and a bit of a marathon) then you'll definitely come out with what it takes to be a web developer.  Read less

Brainstation's UX Bootcamp was a good experience. Coming into this program as an Industrial Designer, I was expecting to not learn much more than I already had in terms of theory, but I was pleasantly surprised!

The teaching assistants and educators were extremely knowledgeable of the topics and gave great feedback when it came to coursework. Although the course was face-paced, I could keep up and ask any questions I had with confidence that I would get a well-educated answer. 

The Career assistance given is also top-notch. The Education Experience team really does want to see us succeed, which is a great feeling. This is demonstrated through the various workshops they hold over the twelve-week course. 

My constructive feedback in regards to this program and school are as follows:

• 12 weeks, or three months, seems a bit too short to be learning design principles and tools. Many of my classmates came from non-design backgrounds and had trouble understanding some concepts in the first month. The obvious remedy to this would be to lengthen the program by 2-4 weeks, making it a four-month program, but I'm not sure how this affects Brainstation's logistics. 

• The resume / cover letter / linkedin workshops were handy, but also repetitive. I understand this would be useful to someone coming out of high school or university/college, but many of us in my cohort understood these concepts already. How can we make this more engaging? 

All in all, I found Brainstation to be worth my time because of how much I learned and the people I met. Moving forward, I am 100% confident I shall be moving into a career in the UX design industry in the next few months! Read less

The Bootcamp gave me a good foundation to build upon and it's a quick and structured way to learn everything needed to break into the field. It would be great if there's exposure to other programming languages during the program since it's always a good thing to have multiple programming languages on a resume and it helps students stand out during the job search process.

The career program helps a lot especially the resume and LinkedIn review, I was able to land a full-time role right after I graduated from the program. Read less

Amazing Cohort. I learned a lot and improved my skills to the point where I can build out the projects that I want to build. I still have ways to go but going to this Bootcamp help fill some gaps I had in my skill set. Word of advice: Study and practice beforehand because it's really hard to learn everything from scratch in just 12 weeks.  Read less

For me, the full-time data science bootcamp at BrainStation was exactly what I was looking for.  I was coming from a scientific background looking to get into data science, and BrainStation did a great job of teaching me the cutting edge tools used in industry today.  The instruction is great - I had 3 educators and 2 TAs throughout my course, and all of them were super helpful, knowledgeable and approachable.  It is obviously a lot of work and quite time consuming, so be prepared for that.  Personally, I had some coding experience coming into the course, so that definitely helped ease the workload and learning curve, but I wouldn't be too worried though if you don't have that experience - most of the people in my cohort had no coding experience coming in.  

A big thing for me when I was choosing which bootcamp to go with was the help that BrainStation offers in terms of career success and professional development.  I have to say I was not disappointed - they have an entire career success team that puts on workshops every week, covering everything from resumes and cover letter writing to networking skills and LinkedIn workshops.  I found them to be extremely helpful, and they even continue to provide support in the job hunt process after the bootcamp is finished.  They also send out the final versions of your resume to employers throughout the bootcamp, and that's actually how I landed my first position after graduating!

If you're at the point where you're looking at reviews, you probably know that bootcamps are pretty expensive and so it's a pretty big decision to make.  I would highly recommend BrainStation - I had a great time in my course and I think it's an extremely worthwhile investment! Read less

BrainStation was an incredible experience to be a part of. 

The instructors were amazing and were there to help you as much as they could. You create great friends as well -- and I did this bootcamp all online. 

In terms of skill, you really create a great foundation that you can easily build on after graduation. Highly recommend this bootcamp to others!  Read less

Personally, the 3-month, $10K-ish USD investment was worthwhile for me.

There are many UX influencers who discredit bootcamps because pretty much all of the curriculum can be found online one way or another. The BrainStation curriculum was not an exception. It did a good job providing the basic knowledge so that graduates could break into tech, but anyone with a tight budget would probably find UXD materials online at a cheaper price.

The instructors made a difference for me though. A live classroom setting provided structure, organization, and opportunities for discussions. All educators were industry experts (they had both agency and in-house experience); they were friendly, approachable, and easily accessible. I found most of their lectures helpful, and even more so in lab sessions where we had design exercises on the topics that were just covered on the day of and got feedback right after class. Yes, I could have dug up the internet to look for the UX principles and what-not, but constantly getting feedback on projects from the educators and peers helped prepare me for what to come in the industry.

The job assistance was another highlight. We had guest lectures from industry experts who worked at reputable companies, a demo day to showcase our project to recruiters and hiring managers, a hackathon hosted by a prolific tech leader, and multiple coaching sessions on resume, cover letter, job search, etc during and after the program. For a 3-month program, I think the career assistance team did their best in organizing these events. Personally, I would have loved one more design-a-thon with another reputable company, but it's hard to cram such an event in a 3-month bootcamp.

Overall, my experience was positive. The cost seemed a bit painful at first, but in hindsight, I think it was the easiest and most structured path to get into UX. I don't think anyone should question bootcamp or no bootcamp - the focus should be on what your individual learning style is and which bootcamp fits your own style the most. BrainStation worked for me personally because I wanted to learn through a structured, intensive curriculum and a lot of discussions with industry experts. Read less

The BrainStation digital marketing diploma program was a fantastic experience! I won't sugarcoat it though...It was tough. It required all my time and attention during the program. But what I got out of it was a strong foothold to the start of my career. The school's name is recognized by most, if not all employers in the field. It definitely helped me during my interviews. The projects are designed to be similar to what you would be doing in a real job. For one of my interviews, I was required to complete an SEO audit. I handled my presentation exactly as I did a BrainStation project and I got the job! I also met some incredible people. The Instructors were fantastic teachers and experts in their field. I learned a lot from them and my peers. 

I definitely recommend this course if you aren't afraid of hard work.  Read less

Great experience at BrainStation - my lead educator was wonderful but unfortunately, he did not give many lectures. Lectures were often given by Associate Educators and while some of them were knowledgeable, others just would read off of powerpoints which we can obviously do ourselves. I liked the hands-on approach and the fact that we did labs to learn how to apply certain skills. I was disappointed at times when the educators told us to teach elements ourselves, for example, the design tool Figma by suggesting we watch YouTube videos. At the cost of this program, I would expect it to cover every inch of the UX design process, without suggesting we look at external resources constantly. I think the value does not match the cost, but overall it taught me a lot in a short time span and led my employer to recruit me, allowing me to secure a job post-graduate in less than a month. They have a great network with employers and many employers in the Toronto area specifically look for BS grads. Read less