Heard a lot of chatter about whether or not to go get a degree or go to a bootcamp. I am not going to argue for or against any educational path. Choose what works best for you. My only advice is before you drop money on any design education (certification program, boot camp or college degree) research first.

📑 Ask for the course syllabus.
Look to see a detailed breakdown of what you’ll learn in the course.
• What is on the curriculum?
• How does this curriculum compare to similar programs?

👨🏾‍🏫 Research the instructor(s).
You want to trust this person is going to guide you in the right direction.
• Who is teaching the class?
• Is the faculty made up of people who have a background in the industry?
• What have they done, their credentials, etc?
• What do students think of their teaching style?

🎓 Look at student projects.
Many of schools and workshops feature student projects on their sites. They use these projects to give visibility to what they consider to be the best output of their courses. Take a critical look at these projects.
• Does this work stand up to industry standards?
• If you saw it in the wild, could you imagine it having practical application outside of the classroom?
• Would you want to have similar work in your portfolio?

💼 Ask about job placement, career fairs, networking events and whether their students get hired by the industry.
The bottom line is people take these courses so that they can gain the skills, and knowledge required to be (hopefully!) hired in the industry.
• Is the program attracting industry leaders to recruit students?
• Who shows up at career fairs? Does taking this class result in internships, interviews, promotions or job offers?
• Where are the former students today?

💸 Consider the cost.
Folks see a boot camp as a cheap and fast alternative to a traditional college degree program. Still, these boot camps are often over $3k and can take a few months to complete. That’s not an insignificant amount of money or time.

⚖️ Finally… Compare programs. They are not all built the same.

☝🏽Before you leap, look at the previous notes above to see if paying for it is worth it. An education is an investment in yourself, make sure it’s worth your time, effort and money.