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 Beginex.
- What does Beginex do?
- Who is Beginex for?
- What does Beginex cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Beginex
- Alternatives to Beginex
- How does Beginex compare to Pathrise?
What does Beginex do?
Beginex is a tech bootcamp that teaches people the skills they need to launch a new career as a UX designer. While they usually teach their part-time program at their New York campus, their course is now fully remote due to Covid-19.
Their flagship UX bootcamp lasts 15 weeks with a flexible, part-time commitment. Students work on design projects for real clients while they get 1-on-1 mentoring from UX professionals working at top companies like Google and ADP. In addition to hands-on training, students also practice team collaboration, client management, and presentations.
Each of the first 10 weeks focuses on 1 phase of the UX design process, which includes research, user journeys & flows, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing, iterating, and developer hand-off. Students graduate with a polished portfolio they can show employers.
Students work with career services in the last 5 weeks of the program. Experienced mentors work 1-on-1 with students to optimize their portfolios, resumes, and social media profiles. Students also participate in design exercises and mock interview workshops led by experts. Grads continue to participate in 1-on-1 virtual career support as they build a job search action plan with accountability meetings until they land a job and become a UX designer. For example, they can attend free networking events. In addition, they retain lifetime access to the community of alumni and mentors. The program also offers an optional 6-10 week team client partner project post-graduation for extra practice. So far, the program has helped 90+ people land UX design jobs.
Who is Beginex for?
The course is designed to help people with little to no UX experience learn the skills they need to land a UX job. The program is especially helpful for people who want to build up their portfolios with real client projects.
What does Beginex cost? How much work is involved?
Full tuition for the flagship bootcamp is $4,995. Students can pay full or half tuition upfront for discounted tuition at $4,695-$4,845 total. An installment plan with 3-15 monthly payments is also available, for a total of $4,995 with no interest. Finally, students can choose to defer payment until they land a UX job, but they’ll have to pay a total of $5,995 after they are hired. Beginex offers a job guarantee, meaning if students don’t land a UX job 6 months after graduating, full tuition is refunded.
The application process begins with filling out a brief form. Candidates are then invited to a behavioral interview. No formal experience is necessary. Applications are processed on a rolling basis so candidates are encouraged to submit their application form early.
Ratings and reviews
Beginex is fairly new and does not have many online reviews yet, but so far the reception has been positive. Their program was ranked one of the top bootcamps of 2021 on Switchup with a perfect 5 star rating. Grads praised their practical “real world approach to UX design training” with lots of project work and “rewarding client interactions.” Their extensive career services were also a hit, with students raving about “lots of support and guidance” from mentors.
However, some grads felt that the program could be intense, warning that students “must have at least some understanding of UX basics beforehand”. In addition, they reported that the program “will take more time than you think.” Overall though, most grads were very satisfied with the hands-on learning and extensive job support they got out of Beginex’s course.
Alternatives to Beginex
If you decide not to enroll in Beginex, there are a number of alternative bootcamps and resources that can help you launch a career as a UX designer.
- The popular bootcamp General Assembly offers full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on tech topics like UX design. Their program includes mentoring, a massive global alumni network, and access to 19,000+ hiring partners. Learn more about General Assembly in our review.
- Another well-known online tech bootcamp is Bloc, which teaches flexible courses in both web design and web dev. Their hands-on program includes 1-on-1 mentoring and projects students can add to their portfolios.
- Aspiring UX designers and software engineers seeking a full-time bootcamp can look into Kenzie Academy. Although more intensive than Beginex, their program is also hands-on. Read more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- Students seeking online self-paced or instructor-led product design courses can check out DesignerUp. Their paid master course features 1-on-1 mentorship and an accredited design certificate for grads. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.
- Aspiring UX designers can also check out Designlab, a bootcamp that features an industry mentor and a career coach, plus hands-on learning similar to Beginex. Read more about Designlab in our review.
- The well-known bootcamp BrainStation offers courses in UX/UI design and other topics. Like Beginex, their program is hands-on with lots of opportunities for students to build design portfolios.
- Similarly, Prime Digital Academy and Perpetual Education have courses in UX design and software engineering.
More alternatives
- The design resource Gymnasium hosts courses and tutorials in UX design. Like Beginex, their program offers real work opportunities for UX students. Many of their courses are offered for free.
- Students looking for 1-on-1 mentorship can consider Thinkful, a bootcamp with tracks in UX/UI design, software engineering, and data science.
- Similarly, Avocademy, Miami Ad School, Design Sprint School, and Memorisely have design courses where students can build portfolio projects.
- Springboard is an educational resource that hosts courses on UX design and plenty of other tech subjects. If students don’t land a tech job within 6 months of graduating, they get a full refund. Learn more about Springboard in our review.
- The self-paced learning resource Udacity teaches courses on UX design with both technical mentoring and career coaching available. Their program is hands-on with lots of opportunities to build a polished portfolio. See if Udacity fits your goals in our review.
- Students can also check out edX, an online learning platform that hosts self-paced UX design courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT, and even major tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
- Similarly, Coursera offers UX design courses taught by professors at accredited universities. Their program is remote and self-paced with both free and paid options.
How does Beginex compare to Pathrise?
Beginex is a bootcamp for people who want to launch a new career in design. While their curriculum is in-depth, most of their students start with no experience. Fellows in the Pathrise program should already have some background in their chosen field to get the most out of our technical curriculum.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that helps people land their dream jobs in tech. Our mentors have experience on both sides of the hiring table, having helped 1,000+ people land great tech jobs. We work 1-on-1 with fellows on all phases of the job search, including resumes & portfolio optimization, reverse recruiting and cold emails, behavioral and technical interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more.
Our program is flexible, with only 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 upfront payments or deposits.
Pathrise optimizes the job search through 1-on-1 mentoring and tech training. Fellows in our program see their interview scores double and their application responses triple, landing jobs in just 3-5 months on average. If you are interested in working with one of our experienced mentors to land your dream faster, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
