General Assembly

I'm based in Singapore and I enrolled into this part time course after seeing this institution being recommended by IMDA Singapore (Sg's Media Development Authority). Prior to this, I just graduated with a Bachelor in Communication Design. However, I'd like to expand my skillset and learn more about UI/UX design so that I'll be able to land a job in this field.  This part time course was held twice a week via Zoom over the period of 3 months. I personally felt that the pace was just right and the duration of each lesson was perfect (2hrs). Our instructors were professionals who have been working in the UI/UX industry for quite some time and thus, were more than qualified to lead the course. Apart from Zoom, we utilised Slack as a communication platform to reach out to fellow classmates and instructors.  As for my classmates, we all came from diverse backgrounds. Some equipped with design knowledge while some aren't. However, everyone was very supportive and shared whatever knowledge or things they found. Initially, the idea of being in a class full of working professionals whereas I was just a degree holder, felt daunting but after the first class, I found myself looking forward to my lessons because my classmates & instructors made everyone feel belonged.  In terms of the lessons, each lesson was covered in-depth and my instructors were very meticulous in explaining the concepts to ensure the lessons were well executed and understood. While the main instructor lead the lesson, the other instructor kept a lookout for any questions that appeared in the chat and would promptly address them.  During each lesson, we will have a partner exercise where we'll be paired up randomly with a classmate to discuss about the task or activity given. I really enjoyed this part of the course as it's so much easier to work in pairs and at the same time, I got to meet new people each week and learnt about their working life and experiences. It was interesting to be given a hands on opportunity to apply the knowledge taught during the lesson and from there, we'd know if we had truly understood the lesson. At the end of the course, we will present our prototype project which we have been working on, to the rest of the class. It was really fun seeing how each and everyone came up with their ideas and designed their prototypes. We were then tasked to provide feedbacks to our classmates - 1 glow & 1 grow  Overall, this course is a good start for anyone looking to have a career start or a career switch to the UI/UX field. There will be tons of resources shared by the instructors in the Slack platform. Additionally, whenever you needed extra guidance outside of lesson period, you can always schedule an appointment with any of the instructors and they will be more than happy to assist you. Would definitely recommend this to anyone interested to build a career in UI/UX. 

I decided to enroll at GA, dropped out of college, did all the hours of prework, got my GI bill approved, and was ready to go. My class moved from in-person to remote pretty early on in the process. About two weeks go by until they finally decide to tell me on the Friday before my class start date that the VA was not going to approve my GI Bill. Highly confused, I call the VA who assures me that the loan will very much be accepted and that the financing people at GA need to submit a form 1999 and put into the comments that the class was canceled due to COVID. I get put into contact with Jessica Wright, a finance coordinator at GA who tells me that the VA is not going to accept it. I explain to her what the VA told me, and she tells me that the VA does not have the full context of the difference between the SEI and SEIR courses. I told her that I talked to the VA and explained that they're different courses and the VA continued saying that it doesn't matter, if it was canceled due to COVID then it is an approved course. I also asked her for contact information to talk to someone over the phone because there was such a large discrepancy between what she was saying and what the VA was saying. She sent another email saying that no the form was not going to be submitted and again, the VA didn't have the full context. Since that email, she stopped answering me. She has ignored five or so emails from me, so I would imagine she muted the conversation and just moved on with her life.
It wouldn't shock me at all if she was completely correct. The VA very much may not have had the full context. But why would she not provide me with the context? I don't deserve to know after throwing everything away in my life to join this program? I just want answers. It boggles my mind that she didn't have the time to explain to me what was happening, and she also doesn't have the time to submit a form that is literally two pages and just needs one signature. She only had the time to send me two emails and addressed nothing that I had sent to her. So as far as I'm concerned, my GI Bill would have been approved and GA threw away $15,000 because someone was too lazy to submit a form. Now I need to scramble and figure out what to do with my life.

They allowed me to attend the first class and the instructor seemed fantastic. This is not a poor review of the school, only the people who manage it.

I had a great experience at GA. My instructors were knowledgable and passionate about what they were teaching and they worked really well together, which led to a positive classroom experience. Bootcamps pack in a lot of information in a short amount of time, so you have to be good at learning things quickly or you might be at risk of falling behind and feeling overwhelmed. Luckily I also had a great group of classmates. We helped each other whenever one of us was stuck on a problem/topic. Having the support of my instructors and classmates was crucial in being able to complete the program.
We covered many frontend and backend topics throughout the 12 weeks, such as HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React, Express, Mongo,  PostgreSQL, Ruby, and Rails. I had some knowledge of HTML and CSS before I started, which was really helpful in not feeling too overwhelmed the first week of class. One of the best skills I learned was learning how to learn new languages/frameworks. The field of software engineering is so vast that there's no way to learn everything in a classroom setting, especially in a short bootcamp. Being able to teach myself and having the confidence in knowing that I can learn new things has been the biggest help to my career post-graduation. 
Speaking of post-graduation, the one place where I felt we could have had more support was in the job search. Throughout the course of the program there was a lot of time spent each week on what felt like general job search advice (network, have your "elevator pitch" ready, etc.). Most of this was presented in a pretty passive way and I felt like I would have preferred to spend some of that time in the classroom. Towards the end, things got more serious with resume reviews and more personalized help. Our outcomes coach would also share jobs for us to apply to in a Slack channel. Each Outcomes coach handles how they structure this part of the program differently, so your experience may vary.
Overall, I would recommend GA but you have to understand that the courseload is not easy and you might have to put in a lot of work after class to understand the content. It would also be helpful to research what technologies you're interested in learning and find out whether the instructors of the cohort you're applying to will teach that. When I started, I didn't know enough about this field to even know what technologies I wanted to learn but the more information you have in the beginning, the better. 

I took this "boot camp" few years back they accept anyone willing to pay. I took the UX program and my instructors were promoting their DJ stuff and playing favorites(certain females who brownnosed). In my cohort we had a guy who didn't even know how to use a computer. He sold his mechanic shop to apply for this program with a promise of a six figure salary. I looked his profile up on linkedin and saw that he wasn't currently working many years later. My "career" advisor changed right as I graduated with someone who absolutely did not care about me. She just harassed me to apply to jobs and gave no help. Also while taking the course we found all course material online which was plagiarized by the instructors. YOU ARE NOT JOB READY after finishing this course no where near close to it. It felt extremely cult like with the way the instructors had everyone acting. They teach you about latest technologies as far as applications but its more of an introductory course to using these tools. I understand that you have to want this and put in the effort but the curriculum is an absolute joke. There may be better instructors at GA but obviously it's a roll of the dice. I wanted this to be read so that others understand that someone who took this "bootcamp" might be your instructor right after they finish. KEKW

A really great program for breaking into Software Engineering! It’s fast paced but my instructors were very knowledgeable, and helped me and my fellow classmates keep up. We studied the MERN stack along with Python and Django, and created some great projects along the way. I've also gained resources I never would have had before. I'm very glad I deiced to take this boot-camp, I know I couldn't have learned this on my own especially without my great instructors help! Would recommended to most beginners who know a little bit of coding.

Even though a tech bootcamp is very "you get what you put in" when it comes to the work and building connections, for a 13k+ price tag it is absolutely reasonable to have expectations regarding the quality of education and how you are treated by staff. Since day one, getting in touch with the individuals that you literally need to communicate with as part of the process was near impossible. Not long after I got to their outcomes stage I was hit by a car and hospitalized with broken bones and a long list of other health issues. I was trying to communicate with them as much as possible but it would be weeks before they responded to my questions, if they did at all. 

It eventually got to a point where I knew I would need to pause my software engineering journey due to health reasons. Upon communicating this (and NOT asking for a refund btw) they threw money at me for a couple of one-off classes and told me that my outcomes coach and management would be contacting me.  

That was over a month ago.. 

When I decided to make a shift from being a business analyst and database admin to more design and user-oriented work, I chose to take the General Assembly (GA) User Experience Design Immersive. Candidly, there may never be a perfectly designed boot camp for you, it's all about balancing trade-offs, which I think GA did well. In particular, huge credit is due to the passion and hard work put in by our instructors and their real-world experience anecdotes. We touched on the tools, processes, and job hunting skills necessary to help us be successful. Sure, for skills I was weaker at I would have welcomed a few more weeks of coursework to practice. At the same time, a few more weeks of unemployment weren't financially appealing, so I give GA credit for trying to hone in on the right course length to weigh those competing priorities. So, if you consider this program what should you expect? You will have a solid foundation as a beginner in the UX practice, and employers be interested in those skills but vary on how junior/senior a role they feel you qualify for as a result.

:::Curriculum:::UX is an ever-changing field and GA recognizes this very well. They are constantly updating their curriculum based on feedback from instructors, students, and industry trends. All of the topics and tools covered were relevant and helpful. Attending UX events or reading UX articles really demonstrated how much information I learned in the bootcamp. 
Building a portfolio was one of my key goals for taking this course. By the end, I had a couple of class projects that I could turn into a case study as well as a real-world client project. This final UX project gives students the chance to work with a real client and apply their newly acquired UX skills. It was definitely one of the highlights of the course in terms of experience and has yielded the engagement post-graduation.
:::Instructors:::Our cohort had 2 lead instructors and 2 Instructional Associates (IA). All 4 were amazing. They supported everyone in the class and showed so much empathy and understanding of things UX. The 2 leads had so much experience and would constantly use past anecdotes to reinforce the lessons. The 2 IA (former graduates) were always available for help and would provide amazing feedback and one-on-one meetings when needed. They understood what we were all going through and supported us during tough times. Yes, there will be tough times but know that you are not alone (see the next paragraph).
:::UX Friends:::Attending a GA bootcamp makes you a part of the GA network and it is big! I have met so many amazing people through networking and events. The immersive course is like a full-time job and after 12 weeks, you really learn a lot about your fellow designers. You learn about each other’s backgrounds and their unique stories. We had a former teacher, journalist, architect, food server, car salesman, and so much more. I am constantly amazed at how close our cohort was and is. Even today, we still keep in touch. Having this network is amazing and I love hearing about new success stories. 
:::Conclusion:::This course was tough. There is a lot to learn and do in 12 weeks. The toughest part will be finding a job after graduation. You will have enough knowledge to do UX but I have found that experience is essential. Your portfolio will look like a portfolio of a UX bootcamp graduate filled with school projects. You will need to figure out what is best to overcome this obstacle but it can be done. In the end, I would recommend the UX Design Immersive program.

Intro:In my experience, the online UXD Immersive was an amazing environment to learn the basic foundations of UXD. Don’t think however that going through a bootcamp is an easy and effortless way to make a career switch and a surefire way to score a UXD job post-course. The curriculum, instructors, and career coach give you the tools to become successful, but you need to go above and beyond to make the most out of it. 
Pros:Amazing learning environment. I’ve never been surrounded by such incredibly positive people before. Everyone in my bootcamp (instructors, career coach, and cohort) genuinely wanted to see everyone succeed and it was so refreshing to have people constantly rooting for you and lifting you up. I’ve always been really shy and never liked asking questions or speaking up in school, but the instructors and my cohort peers truly value everyone’s opinion, so I never felt embarrassed or too shy to ask questions. I also never felt any weird competitive toxic energy during my bootcamp (versus in the past where I’ve been in environments where everything seemed like a toxic competition). 
I also felt so supported knowing that my instructors were truly passionate about what they were teaching and were always there if you needed additional assistance. In the past during college and whatnot, I had so many dismissive professors where it seemed like they didn’t care about their students and I’ve never really enjoyed being in class so going into the bootcamp I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was so pleasantly surprised at how compassionate, honest, and supportive my instructors were. My cohort was about 35-40 people give or take (so I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t have a personalized experience), but I felt like the instructors genuinely cared about all of us and took the time to answer everyone’s questions.
Cons:You are taught design in a very formulaic academic way and your portfolio will reflect this and initially will probably really suck. This course teaches you UXD foundations, but understand that it’s easy to get caught up in adhering to GA’s very formulaic design methodologies when creating your design portfolio case studies and your work is going to scream “I just graduated from a bootcamp!”. The feedback given from instructors when critiquing your class projects tbh wasn’t as helpful as it could have been. During the course, it seemed like the instructors gave good feedback, but when I graduated and got feedback from design professionals outside of GA, that was a HUGE wake-up call. I feel like the feedback I received from instructors throughout the course on my projects and portfolio pieces were too easy and missed a lot versus when I sought outside opinions post bootcamp. I get that the instructors only have so much time to give feedback to all the students and that they’re tied closely to all of the projects they give out, but definitely, the most valuable feedback I got was from my networking calls after the course. Also too, when you present your projects during the bootcamp, your cohort peers also give you feedback, but this was totally unhelpful. Cohort peer feedback was totally unhelpful because a.) my cohort was just so nice and nobody wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings so it’d always be super positive, like “great job, good work!” without any actual critiques or room for improvement and then b.) we’re all students, so we didn’t really know how to properly critique a person’s design work or the small things to watch out for. 
Advice: IT IS ESSENTIAL to seek outside opinions once your portfolio and case studies are ready. After graduating on January 20th, I spent about a month and a half finishing up my portfolio and then setting up networking and portfolio review calls. I went on about 30+ networking/portfolio review calls during this time. I also was applying to jobs and not having any luck. After this initial first month and a half post bootcamp, I took about another month to really fix my portfolio based on all the feedback I had received. After updating and making revisions to my case studies and actual portfolio website, that’s when I finally started gaining some traction with job applications. Then I took another month applying to jobs, interviewing, etc… I applied to about 127 roles and interviewed at 10 companies (1 intern role, 1 part-time role, and 8 full-time roles). Then on April 28th I received my first full-time contract offer and took it. So overall my job hunt was about 3 months. What I found to help me be the most successful was that initial month and a half going on networking and portfolio review calls and really making my case studies to where they needed to be. The main case study that I would present during interviews was from the GA client project and I ended up doing 3 case study revisions on that and 2 additional UI revisions to the initial project. Definitely seeking outside advice and applying that to my portfolio I believe was essential to my success. 
Last Thoughts:It’s really all up to you on whether or not you succeed. Also too as far as career support goes, during the bootcamp you have “Outcomes” once a week. This was a lesson on things like writing cover letters, resumes, interviewing, etc… I didn’t find any of this information to be groundbreaking (but I suppose if you haven’t been in the job hunt situation in a long time this information could be helpful). For me I graduated college undergrad in 2018, so the process of writing cover letters, creating a resume, applying to jobs was all pretty fresh in my mind and felt familiar, but I can see if you’re someone who’s been in the workforce for a long time and haven’t had to write a cover letter in 10+ years, this could be helpful. Then post bootcamp you get a career coach. The career coach is there to answer questions and to guide you if you have questions, but they’re not going to hold your hand at all. I found my career coach Ruby really helpful because I knew I could rely on her to ask questions and to get her opinions on things. You need to actively utilize the fact that you have a career coach as a resource though, once again no one is going to do any work for you. 
Another point I wanted to make - why I chose GA over other bootcamps… I looked at other courses like Springboard, Designlab, Flatiron, etc… What made me choose GA is because I wanted that accountability factor of having to be in class 8+ hours a day, 5 days a week, and to really commit myself to this career switch. I think I would have really struggled to make this career switch if I had done a course like Springboard where you go at your own pace. I like being held accountable and having hard deadlines. Also having a cohort there to support you. GA's bootcamp price was worth it for me, I took out a loan for GA which was scary at first since I am still trying to pay off my undergrad loans. Also to note I am in a privileged position where I was able to quit my old job and move back in with my family so I wouldn’t have to worry about paying rent while doing this course and job hunting. So I’ve been fortunate enough where I haven’t had to worry too much about not having a job during these past 6 months of the bootcamp and job hunting since I’m living with my family, but if you’re someone who isn’t in the same situation, obviously the commit of GA might be too much. 
Overall if you realize that your success will be based on how much work you put in and the GA bootcamp will not guarantee a job, I think this could be a great experience for someone who wants to make a career switch into UX! Also overall too this whole experience has been incredibly positive and has made me much more confident in myself and feeling much happier and positive!