January 17, 2025
In my last post, I talked about the benefits I found in the bootcamps I’ve taken: the solid foundation, the opportunity to learn industry-standard software, and the networking. These were terrific tools that helped me better understand the career I chose.
Despite these great benefits, when stacked against the real world, the things I learned left me feeling unprepared. Most UX bootcamps focus on three types of research: surveys, competitive analysis, and user conversations. We touched on the other types but couldn’t practice or explore them in-depth. In my professional experience, these three “main” forms of research aren’t always fitting, and the templates provided aren’t always appropriate. In addition, my UX bootcamp focused only on designing for websites and mobile apps, but UX expands beyond that in the tech sphere. I learned I needed to throw out my proverbial playbook and become more flexible for each project.
Along these lines, the formulaic nature of bootcamp curriculums often creates an inflexible perspective in new designers. I wanted to use the same techniques in the same order in the early months of my career. On top of this, my game design course taught the process out of order, according to developers I spoke to during and after my course. Methods for projects are as varied as the people who complete them, and what’s needed depends on the scope, the designer, the team, and a mountain of other variables.
Speaking of a team, larger bootcamp companies, like Thinkful and General Assembly, run concurrent courses for many disciplines in the tech space. However, student projects are completed solo, with no encouragement to reach out in their communal chat spaces. I didn’t learn how to speak to developers or product managers until I began working with them, which meant there were a few months (up to a year) where I struggled to communicate concepts and thought processes to teammates. It also meant I didn’t learn how to tailor a project's scope to a team's capabilities in a specific period until I was in the workforce. I also didn’t know how to tie project goals to business goals. I didn’t always understand why higher-ups canceled a project or how to communicate its importance to stakeholders and executives.
My biggest struggle was creating a portfolio, mainly up to the student. While we had some guidance, the focus on portfolios was long, wordy case studies, little to no work on personal branding or design, and no focus on effective platforms (in fact, my program suggested a platform but didn’t teach us how to use it). My entire class struggled with this, and most of us submitted the first versions of our portfolios more than a week after the deadline. The mentors who graded our portfolios and case studies weren’t thinking from a hiring manager's perspective, which meant most of us had portfolios that felt amateurish and needed extensive rework. I still remember showing my case studies to interviewers — showing a 2000+ word essay on the process was a fast way to watch their eyes glaze over.
Would I trade my experience at bootcamp for a more traditional bachelor’s program? No. The fast-paced environment was ideal, and the tuition was far more affordable. But I wish I had more resources to fill in the holes in my education. I felt thrown into the deep end, and while I don’t mind that, some of those stumbling blocks made my first foray into my chosen field harder than it should have been.
