Beginex

I was working as an E-commerce manager at a startup and was looking for an opportunity to switch to a pure UX Design role. A few unconfident attempts to get hired were unsuccessful due to a weak portfolio and not understanding how to market me in the... Read More industry.

Beginex was a great step to improve my assets, clarify the area of my expertise, get an additional solid project in my portfolio, and meet knowledgeable experts-mentors for guidance and support. I signed a job offer 2,5 months after graduation.

Pros:
- real project with a real company
- great opportunity to work in a team and meet people from the field
- 1-1 meetings with mentors (I got a lot of support and guidance while interviewing for a new job)
- working tools for successful job search ( Beginex keeps you on track even after the program)
- convenient schedule ( I was able to keep my full-time job while working on a project with Beginex)
- great value for a reasonable cost
- a huge network of alumni working at prestige companies

Things to consider:
- must have at least understanding of UX basics beforehand
- it will take more time than you think ( besides the class ones a week I was meeting my team in person at least twice a week, plus lots of video calls and actual work. be prepared to invest all free time for next 12 weeks)
- fast phasing environment (it requires a lot of self-learning and independent research outside of the program)

After taking a few years off from UX design, I wanted to re-enter the field. My experience at that point was strictly user flows, site maps and wireframes. I knew I was missing some aspects of the design process which are critical in being able to work... Read More successfully in the industry.

While doing some research I found Beginex and was immediately excited by its curriculum and decided to sign up. Beginex provided an opportunity for me to work on a project for a real company and to dive into those other areas of the design process that I was missing including user research and testing, customer journeys, persona development, and prototyping. The course also gave me the chance to work with other designers on a team instead of working in a silo in which I was so accustomed to.

Beginex also provided a few weeks of job prep and portfolio development which was a great addition to the course. They included a session of mock interviews and whiteboard design challenges! This gave me even more confidence that I could re-enter the design community and successfully land more contract opportunities!

The only thing I would suggest Beginex add to their course is a discussion on how designers can best approach and communicate design requirements and ideas with developers, business analysts and project managers in real-world work scenarios. This will help the participants build confidence in the ‘soft-skills’ of UX design.

I highly recommend Beginex to anyone who is new to UX design or who has been away from the design industry for awhile and wants to get back into it.

I was working as a Paralegal for about 3 years, but knew relatively early on in my legal professional career that going the law school route and remaining a Paralegal for life just wasn't for me. I had been considering User Experience Design as a career... Read More switch for a while, but was apprehensive to make the jump for a while, knowing I'd have to invest a lot of time and money into some sort of boot camp or school that would give me a foundation to pursue it as a career. I also knew that the UX world was portfolio-based, and found the challenge of constructing one, while meeting the high demands of my day job, daunting. When I finally decided that I wanted to take the plunge, I obsessively searched for bootcamps online and in the area - many priced ranging between $6000 - $15000. I was even considering quitting my job altogether and moving to Chicago for a couple of months to enroll with Designation! However, I finally stumbled upon Beginex. Given my situation, it was the most ideal time-wise and price-wise - plus, I prefer in-person learning rather than taking classes purely on line. I didn't have to quit my job or move, and I didn't have to break the bank. Plus, I knew I learned best through experiential learning - I'm a big fan of "baptism by fire" because the high pressure and time constraints make the experiences and learnings stick more for me.

The program was a fantastic intro to UX, and was a great choice to supplement the theory-based learning about UX I had done on my own prior to enrolling. I worked on a four person team, and got to learn a lot about team dynamics and project management while practicing the use of UX tools and methods. It was an extremely effective way to gain some practical experience, and learn from the expertise of mentors who currently work in the industry. To my knowledge, other schools typically have you do your own re-designs of existing products, but having "real world" stakes with time constraints adds another dimension of accountability and pressure that pushes you to produce the best work you can, while still making it a safe space for you to make mistakes and learn from them.

I can't recommend Beginex enough for those wanting to break into UX as a career. It gave me a portfolio piece and so much experience packed into a short time span, which wound up landing me a UX job within my current company several months later - I still carry and apply my learnings from that experience in my career today. Plus, the founder is extremely attentive to those that come through Beginex and is always available to offer a helping hand, even to alumni of the program. This company is not out to drain your wallet - it's genuinely built to help you actually succeed and grow in a UX career in a very practical way - during and even after the program.

TL;DR: For those looking to break into UX, or supplement their knowledge, experience and portfolio, don't waste your money on a $10k plus school that just regurgitates content you can find online - Beginex is the place to go for a practical and efficient UX learning experience.

I have been a participant and a mentor for the Beginex program - in 2018 and 2019. The first time around it was extremely helpful and eye opening. My team worked with a real startup client and we had to figure everything out for ourselves, which is how... Read More it often is in the real world. I had to learn the language and talk about the field as though I knew what I was talking about! I never felt like I did- but I kept on learning and reading relevant articles/ books, etc. I got hired at a global bank midway through the program, which has also added to my knowledge. I was asked to be a mentor for the program - which is where I met the person who is now my boss at my second full time ux research role. Beginex is a great way to meet and form relationships with others in the Industry here in nyc. It forces you to get out of your comfort zone and abandon the idea of perfectionism and just jump in and do it.

I was trying to make a career change, but mine was a somewhat different story since my major at university was product design, but I was working in the "physical" industry and I was trying to get into the digital product design industry. In theory, I... Read More "had the knowledge" and knew about the methodology. But I lacked experience.

This is where Beginex was essential. It was an in person, part-time program, working with a real client. Beginex has the framework so that you can learn about many skills at once: working with a team, collaborating remotely, working directly with a client, project management, tight deadlines, developer hand-off, etc. You accomplish all of this while still keeping your current job, getting guidance from very experienced mentors and making real world connections. Doing the program provided me with the confidence to know that I had the talent and drive to be the best I can be in my new career move, and a solid case study for my portfolio.

As the program keeps evolving now they offer hands on career preparation for interviews, whiteboard exercises and portfolio creation.

I was working full-time as an elementary teacher and needed a UX program that could provide opportunities to work with real clients for a successful career change. After researching different programs in NYC, I found Beginex and realized it fit my needs... Read More and aligned with my goals.

What made Beginex so appealing to me:
- Covering the entire UX process while working on real projects, with real clients
- UX career prep with case study and portfolio critiques, design challenges, and mock interviews
- Networking opportunities
- Fitting into my schedule while working full-time

The curriculum is well structured and delivered appropriately throughout the project. The classroom meetings were spent wisely with informative lessons and the remaining time collaborating with the client, UX professionals, and other teams. The program helped me advance technical skills as well as sharpen soft ones. It provided networking opportunities and ways to connect with others at the beginning stages of their UX career to industry veterans. Most importantly it gave me the confidence to enter an extremely competitive industry by being prepared. This helped me pursue and land my current position as a UX Designer.

Beginex was a great program for me. I was looking to transition from architecture into a UX related field, and my experience at Beginex gave me the essential foundation to be able to do that. Having regular face-to-face interactions with industry mentors... Read More as well as with clients was also invaluable. In large part thanks to Beginex, I was able to build a portfolio of UX projects and parley that into a design researcher position at a design agency. Can't recommend this program enough!

Looking for a career change, I began a coding bootcamp, but became fascinated by UX design. After working on some personal projects, I knew I needed more focus ed training , as well as experience with a real company. I learned about Beginex at the perfect... Read More time and it made a huge difference in my life. I honed my skills and learned what it takes to work with a team and provide deliverables to a client. Shortly after competing the course, I landed a job on the product team with a startup. I've put much of what I learned from the Beginex course to good use, and it's made me a stronger employee. I can't recommend it enough.