Hi, I’m Elle! I work as a product designer at Getaround and as an industry mentor here at Pathrise. I help our fellows land great jobs in product design through technical workshops and 1-on-1s. Check out my review of Avocademy.
- What does Avocademy do?
- Who is Avocademy for?
- What does Avocademy cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Avocademy
- Alternatives to Avocademy
- How does Avocademy compare to Pathrise?
What does Avocademy do?
Avocademy is a new online bootcamp that teaches people the skills they need to launch a career as a UX designer. The flagship course is self-paced and part-time. Classes are kept small, with only about 10 students per cohort. Students get unlimited 1-on-1 mentoring sessions as they build a strong UX design portfolio. The curriculum also features about 90 hours of self-guided content, including case studies, recorded video lessons, articles, guest speaker lectures, and 22 hands-on design activities. While there are no live classes, students get access to a Slack channel for discussion as well as unlimited live mentoring sessions.
The flagship course lasts for 6 weeks and requires about 15 hours of work per week. Students start the program by defining design problems, learning design thinking skills, and mastering UX/UI fundamentals as they complete their first set of self-paced activities. After meeting with their mentors, students begin conducting and synthesizing research. The curriculum then covers more practical design skills such as ideation, sketching, and information architecture. Next, students focus on UI as they work with wireframes, design systems, and style guides. In the final 2 weeks, students focus on their portfolio projects and case studies as they work on high fidelity mockups, prototypes, and lots of testing. Grads leave the program with a capstone project and a polished portfolio to help them become a UX designer.
In addition to developing job search strategies with their mentors, students get resume templates, job search training videos, and access to a network of recruiters. Grads can continue to work with fellow students on 2-4 week projects for Acocademy’s partner UX/UI agency, The Guac Group. In addition to helping grads build up their product design resume, these projects sharpen grads’ practical skills and add real design work experience to their resumes.
Who is Avocademy for?
The bootcamp is designed to teach total beginners the skills they need to land entry level design jobs. Their unlimited 1-on-1 mentoring sessions make the course a good fit for students seeking lots of personalized support. People looking for a short self-paced course with lots of hands-on learning and portfolio projects could also benefit from the program.
What does Avocademy cost? How much work is involved?
The 6-week flagship UX/UI course costs $1,497 upfront. Students can also choose to pay in monthly installments, although they will face 10–30% APR.
Unlike many other bootcamps, there is no formal admissions process. Candidates can schedule a free 1-on-1 mentoring session to see if the program is a good fit. No prior experience is required.
Ratings and reviews
Avocademy is still a new program and does not have too many reviews. But so far, the reception has been extremely positive. They hold a 4.89/5 star rating on Course Report where grads praised the unlimited mentoring and practical learning experience. One grad described her mentor as “awesome, knowledgeable, and kind.” The student appreciated that the course was self-paced and flexible, allowing her to participate while working full-time as a firefighter. Although the student did warn the course could demand “long hours”, she felt it was “worth the time, sweat, and frustration.”
Another grad loved that her mentor “always took the time to make sure I was ready for the next step” so she “never felt rushed.” The low tuition price was also a big hit among grads. The program also hosts 8 student testimonials on their own website.
Alternatives to Avocademy
If you decide not to enroll in Avocademy, there are a number of alternative bootcamps and resources that can help you launch a new career in design.
- Students seeking online self-paced design courses can check out DesignerUp. Like at Avocademy, students participate in 1-on-1 mentoring sessions as they build projects. Grads get an accredited design certificate they can add to their LinkedIn profiles or resumes. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.
- Aspiring designers can also look into Designlab. Their bootcamp features lots of 1-on-1 support as students work with an industry mentor and a career coach. The curriculum is hands-on, just like at Avocademy. Read more about Designlab in our review.
- People looking for a flexible online design program can check out Bloc. They teach both web design and web dev courses with a hands-on curriculum and weekly 1-on-1 mentoring. Students build projects they can add to their design portfolios.
- Another remote program with lots of personalized support is Springboard. Students in their UX design program build polished portfolio projects while meeting 1-on-1 with a mentor. If students don’t land a tech job within 6 months of graduating, they get a refund. Find out if Springboard is right for your career goals in our review.
- The popular online bootcamps Thinkful, University of Arizona Bootcamps, and Perpetual Education have tracks in UX/UI design, software engineering, and more. Their program includes 1-on-1 mentorship and a project-based curriculum.
- Another popular bootcamp is General Assembly. They offer full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on tech topics like UX design. Their program includes 1-on-1 mentoring, a massive alumni network, and 19,000+ hiring partners. Learn more about General Assembly in our review.
More alternatives
- Aspiring UX designers and software engineers seeking a full-time bootcamp can look into Kenzie Academy. Although their program is even more intensive than Avocademy, the curriculum features lots of hands-on learning and job support. Read more about Kenzie Academy in our program review.
- BrainStation is another well-known bootcamp with tracks in UX/UI design. Like Avocademy, their program is hands-on with lots of opportunities for students to build design portfolios.
- People who want to build and design a tech product without learning to code can check out Bubble no-code bootcamps. Their drag-and-drop platform allows anyone to create software with no technical experience. Learn more about Bubble in our review.
- The design resource Gymnasium hosts both free and paid courses on UX design. Some of their courses provide real work experience for students, just like Avocademy.
- Students seeking self-paced university courses can check out Coursera. They offer 3,900+ courses taught by professors at accredited universities. Like Avocademy, their program is remote and self-paced. They offer both free and paid options. Currently, 100+ UX courses are available.
- Similarly, edX is an online learning platform that hosts thousands of self-paced courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT, and even top tech companies like Microsoft. Find out if edX is right for your career goals in our review.
- The self-paced learning platform Udacity teaches courses on UX design with both technical mentoring and career coaching. Their program is hands-on with opportunities to build design portfolios. Read more about Udacity in our review.
How does Avocademy compare to Pathrise?
Avocademy is an online bootcamp for people who want to launch a new career in design. The course is for people who have no design experience. Fellows in the Pathrise program should already have some background in their chosen field to get the most out of our technical curriculum.
While Avocademy offers mentoring and some job search training, support ends after 6 weeks. Pathrise offers unlimited mentoring sessions until fellows in our program land a job. Our mentors have already helped 1,000+ people land tech jobs by helping with all phases of the job search, including resumes & portfolio optimization, reverse recruiting and cold emails, behavioral and technical interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more.
Like Avocademy, the Pathrise program is flexible. There are just 2-4 hours of group sessions per week and fellows can schedule 1-on-1 sessions as needed. The Pathrise income share agreement (ISA) means that fellows don’t pay anything until they land a job they love and start working. We never require any upfront payments or deposits.
Pathrise optimizes the job search through 1-on-1 mentoring and technical training. Fellows in our program can see their interview scores double and their application responses triple. If you are interested in working with one of our experienced mentors to land your dream job faster, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
