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Why being self-taught is better than taking a UX bootcamp
The biased opinion from a senior designer who is partially self-taught and taught in bootcamps
âHey, Melody. If you are a junior today and had to choose, which path would you take? Self-taught or bootcamp?â
Almost immediately, I would have answered the self-taught route. I think itâs no secret to my close circle and my readers that I really dislike bootcamps. Or any learn-shit-quick educational institute.
Not just because of the lack of ethics at play or because the financial burden it poses to its students, but also because I canât learn in stifling, structured environments. I just donât see how others can effectively do the same when it comes to creative skills.
I tried that in design school, and a decade prior in Singaporeâs rigid education system. It just doesnât yield results for me.
So am I naturally biased towards being self-taught? Yes. So if youâre reading to get a fair breakdown of which pathway is better, youâre not going to get that, sorry.
There are multiple pathways to enter the UX industry today, the two most prominent ones being joining a bootcamp, or being self-taught. Which one should you choose?
The short answer is that being self-taught is likely more advantageous. The long answer (or the explanation to that answer) is this entire article.
Everyone learns differently, but being self-taught shows me youâre self-motivated and (potentially) a stronger hire
Letâs be real here; Bootcamps are absolutely the easier way out for a lot of you out there. I always like to shit on people who go to bootcamps, especially famous or trending ones, because it definitely shows me that they did little to no research about the industry options and the general market.
The worst part of that is that one of the core skills to be in UX design is research. If you canât even pick the right bootcamp to join or give a valid, objective reason why you chose this path, itâs a huge red flag.
