Best product design courses to prepare for your job search - 2023 update

Updated in 2023

The number of product and UX design jobs is increasing as more and more tech companies add these important positions to their rosters. In order to ensure that you are ready to stand out in these interviews, you need the right knowledge.

Whether you are looking to learn product design from scratch, need to brush up on your skills, or want to learn more advanced topics, these product design courses can help.

1. Hack Design

What it’s good for: Designers looking for inspiration and continued learning

Hack Design is a free weekly newsletter and lesson plan curated by successful and professional designers in the tech industry. Each week, subscribers receive a digestible and iterative lesson based on the best and most useful blogs, books, games, videos, and tutorials that helped the curators learn critical elements of design. Some of these lessons include creating a unique personal design style, design system fundamentals, user research, and designing data.

2. Udacity

What it’s good for: People who are ready to put in the work to become a designer

There is a UX designer nanodegree program on Udacity where participants work 10 hours per week for 3 months. There are no prerequisites needed for people to join the program and they can learn the fundamentals of design all the way through a capstone design project that they can include in their portfolio. This is a project and skills-based educational credential program. It costs $1077 upfront or $399 per month. Learn more about Udacity in our review.

3. Springboard

What it’s good for: Designers in various stages looking to advance their knowledge

There are 2 different design career tracks on Springboard: UX design and UX/UI design. The career tracks give students more time on curriculum, specific technical 1-on-1 sessions, and access to career coaching and feedback. The UX program lasts 6 months and requires 15-20 hours of work per week. Alternatively, the UX/UI program lasts 9 months. It also requires 15-20 hours of work each week. In both programs, participants learn the fundamentals of UX design all the way through creating projects for their portfolios. But, in the UX/UI program, participants also get a good understanding of UI design and best practices.

Both tracks offer a few different payment options. The UX/UI program costs $8,200 upfront. If students don’t want to pay upfront, they can choose to pay $9,981 through monthly payments of $1,099 or up to $12,820 through deferred payments or loans. The UX program is shorter and therefore a little bit less expensive. Upfront, participants can pay $5,900 or up to $9,139 through month-to-month payments or loans.

There is also 62+ hours of free UX design curriculum that students can use to learn research methods, design techniques, and tools. Learn more about Springboard in our review.

4. Udemy

What it’s good for: Mastering the latest design tools

Udemy is an online platform with thousands of courses in a variety of subjects. You can choose one of the 136 classes in user experience design, where users can learn about usability, AdobeXD, research, and more. They also have courses specifically in tools like Photoshop and Illustrator as well as web design.

The courses include pre-recorded videos as well as related articles and resources to help students understand what they are learning. After completion, students are given a certificate of completion. Courses on Udemy range in price, from around $50 to $200, though they often have coupons available online as well as large discounts, often bringing the price down for courses to $9.99.

5. DesignerUp

What it’s good for: Students who prefer self-paced learning

The DesignerUp curriculum features 74 video lessons, downloadable resources, exercises, quizzes, and a capstone project, which participants can include in their portfolios. Students move through 11 modules at their own pace, which cover topics such as design thinking, UX research & design, project & business requirements, as well as UI design, branding, and more. Most students take about 3 months to complete the course. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.

6. Designlab

What it’s good for: Landing a job in UX design

The Designlab program, UX Academy, is divided into 8 modules that cover design and communication basics, introduction to design thinking and UX design methods, UX research, information architecture, interaction design, user interface (UI) design, iteration and implementation, and personal brand and portfolio setup. Students then complete 2 capstone projects in responsive web design and 1 in end-to-end application design. They also offer a 4-week introduction course called Design 101, which takes about 10-15 hours of work per week. Learn more about Designlab in our review.

7. Coursera

What it’s good for: Courses and nanodegrees from reputable universities

There are a few options for users interested in UX design on Coursera. First, they can participate in the UI/UX design specialization program, which takes 8 months to complete with students working about 4 hours a week on the program. They work through a series of programs learning the fundamentals all the way through creating design projects for their portfolio and at the end, they earn a shareable certificate from California Institute of the Arts. The specialization costs between $300-$400.

Students can also take the courses from the specialization in visual elements of UI design and web design strategy or prototyping on their own without the certificate program. These courses range from 16-32 hours to complete and cost from $29-$99.

8. General Assembly

What it’s good for: People who learn best in a bootcamp setting

One of the most well known bootcamps, General Assembly has on-campus and online options for aspiring product designers. Students learn the skills needed to work in the industry as well as work on projects that they can add to their resumes and portfolios to help with their job applications. Those in the full-time immersive programs also have the opportunity to work with a career coach as they get closer to starting their job search. Learn more about General Assembly in our review.

9. Bloc

What it’s good for: Beginners who are looking to learn the fundamentals

Bloc is an online bootcamp that helps people learn the technical skills necessary to land a job as a web developer or a designer. The courses are self-paced, but students are expected to dedicate approximately 864 hours (20-25 hours per week) to finish the designer track in 8 months. The designer track costs $9,600, but students who choose the upfront option will pay $8,500 for 8 months. For students who take longer than 8 months to finish the program, extensions are $1,200 per month.

10. Kenzie Academy

What it’s good for: People looking to learn coding alongside design

Kenzie Academy is a full-time tech bootcamp that offers in-person and online courses in UX design and front-end engineering. Students study UX design for 6 months and front-end development for another 6 months. In the first half, they learn about user research, wireframing, usability testing, and more. After finishing the first half, students write a case study, which forms the basis of their portfolios. The second portion of the course covers HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React, as well as databases, Node.js, Bash, and Git. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.

If you are looking to take the next step towards a career in product design, these product design courses can help you get the necessary background you need to succeed.

Or, if you are already ready to become a UX designer, Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. If you want to work with our industry and career mentors to get help with your product design job search, join Pathrise.

Best product design courses to prepare for your job search – 2023 update