Questions

What would you say to someone considering the Skills Bootcamp?

Go for it! It’s hard work but the more you put in, the more you will get out and you will learn so much in such a short amount of time. The skills bootcamp has put me on par with some established user researchers and UX designers and I don’t feel like a junior!

What are some of the best things about your Skills Bootcamp experience or your biggest achievements?

I use the skills I learnt on the bootcamp such as research planning, affinity mapping, persona creation and user journey mapping in my role everyday.

The skills I learnt have made me confident taking the lead on these and even upskilling clients in user centred design principles.

Please tell us about your new role. How does the Skills Bootcamp experience relate to your new role?

I am working for a large software consultancy as a user researcher. I started this role in September 2023 finishing the bootcamp in August 2023
I have since worked on 2 major projects including a project for a large financial company and one for a government organisation. I have led on user research and created artefacts such as user journey maps, personas and service blueprints.

Have you been offered a new job role and/or responsibilities which utilise the skills and experience acquired on the Skills Bootcamp?

Yes, I am now a User Researcher at BJSS.

Tell us about yourself and your journey to studying a Skills Bootcamp.

I am a career changer into UX design. I have been a secondary teacher for 4 years but felt this was not the career for me. I left teaching 2 years ago and began working for an educational technology company as a trainer. This made me aware of the many roles and careers within software. As part of my role as a trainer I engaged with the users on a daily basis and often heard about their pain points with the software and what they needed from the software to get the job done. I was often championing the user in team meetings and found myself becoming passionate about user centred design. I studied a free online course in UX design to learn more about this which I thoroughly enjoyed and cemented my plans to study further. It was here I researched bootcamps and found the Skills Bootcamp.

Why did you choose to study a Skills Bootcamp at the University of Birmingham?

I chose to study at the University of Birmingham due to it being a local university to me with a great reputation.
I saw many online UX/UI bootcamps but the syllabus for this bootcamp seemed a lot more robust. I liked the fact that there were online sessions and not just self paced, university lecturers were involved and that the certificate was endorsed by the University of Birmingham.