Has anyone taken the UX immersive 8 week program at General Assembly in NYC? Did it help you get a job as a UX professional? I’m thinking about taking the class and transitioning from marketing to UX.


Short answer for me is yes it did.

I've also taken the UXDi SF immersive class and am currently a User Experience Designer at CloudOn through the apprentice program.

I think the bigger question of whether you should attend is more mixed though.I personally had a good experience from GA's UXDi program, but I think a lot of it had to do with expectations and effort. I'd figure I could best answer this with my personal experience.

Summary:
I quit my job at a non-profit to do the program, some freelance web-design experience, sales in startups experience, psychology background. Some front end skills. (HTML, CSS, JS)

Expectations:
My expectations for the UXDi program was to help me create a UX focused portfolio, learn the terminology of the UX field, and give me an opportunity to network with designers in the field.

Effort:
I worked my ass off. Day in day out. Occasional all nighters, frequent 12-14 hour days and regular work on the weekends. In this program everything will feel very rushed, and it is very tempting to finish portfolio pieces after the class is finished. I tried my best to finish the pieces throughout the course.

Note: I think Wesley Haines made a good point with " The curriculum as it stands today is focused on giving you just enough skills to allow you to call yourself a UX Designer." IMO UX Design is a methodology that helps inform decisions in various facets of the design process. Knowing the methodology alone will likely not get you hired somewhere. Seems pretty crucial to be able to rapid prototype, usability test, wireframe, photoshop, illustrator etc. (at least that's what a lot of job postings ask for)

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