Bloc

In my opinion the pros of attending bloc are the always helpful slack community and the meticulously informative support teams. I may be biased, but, the coursework for career advice and searching is incredibly invaluable.

I would say the downsides, seems I was a one off in this case, is the mentoring. In my case most of my mentors were no shows, not to mention I missed a few along the way as well, though we ended up just forfeiting mentor meetings near the end either way.

I'm surprised to see that there are so many straight-up positive reviews of Bloc. I'm a graduate of the Designer program, I can say they got some things right and some things still need work. I'll start with the not-so-great. The curriculum around front end dev felt piecemeal and choppy. I had to slow down a lot during those sections to seek out other resources because their lessons were confusing. The self-paced program made it easy to get more time to slow down when I needed to.

I had different 5 mentors in the 14 months it took me to complete the program. Some gave constructive criticism but others just patted me on the head and said "good job". That was frustrating at points, however, it was very easy to change mentors when I wasn't satisfied, and I recommend changing if you're ...

I was so excited to start Bloc's Designer Track - I liked the flexibility, the mentorship, and the curriculum. I just did not respond well to the teaching style. The curriculum and modules are very text heavy. There are limited videos and what is supplied is not always directly relevant to the content. They offer pre-recorded videos and support via a Slack channel, but even that is still very much driven by the written word. I am very visual (probably why I was drawn to design!) so I learn best by seeing things done. Reading about theories and practices, then being asked to apply that info without much/any demonstration was very difficult for me. I spent more time searching for external resources than I did in the actual checkpoints. I think it could be great for people who are able to ...

I heard about Bloc thru a friend. She was also studying in the designer track. I chose to enroll with Bloc because I heard it has a mentor program. Every week I can have a 30-mins online meeting with my mentor. I don't have any background with web design, so having someone to ask for help is very necessary.

Bloc also has couple slack channels where I can chat with other bloc students, see their works and leave feedback. If my mentor is not available, I can ask other mentor questions via slack.

As for the curriculum, it is well designed even if anyone has no experience with it. All the learning materials are easy to understand without tons of reading. Good for someone who doesn't have a lot of time doing reading. However, I would still suggest people read outside sources to boost y...

I started in 2016 but not sure what month I started, I looked at my first Invoice and it was in November of 2016 so I know I started around that time most likely a couple months before. My review is really late and I decided today I want to write my experience because it wasn't a good one. When I started I was very excited and enjoyed it but about a month into the track, it started going down hill. First thing first is everything they teach you , you can learn on your own. There's so much resources out there especially on Youtube or other websites that offer a FREE curriculum and courses that cost $10 to $20. The curriculum is not anything special and like I said you can learn all of this on your own. Now when I started this program I didn't know this and that is why I was enjoying at ...

Beginning to detail my time with Bloc and all of the value this Program/Team has brought me - is itself already another blog post. As I was a community college dropout, moving around the States, no real direction or passion other than art and travel- I want this review to reach those people who are possibly in a similar situation - You can do it, and Bloc has your back.
The curriculum itself kept me focused, inspired, and motivated to reach my goal of becoming a Designer. The hard skills and soft skills alike, were a refreshing look into the Design world and gave me a whole new perspective on the way I view failures, goals, and hard-work.
I just recently completed the program and the amount of growth I made in a year is inspiring and exciting- I feel that I could write so much ab...

This was a great investment! This gave me an edge with my existing skillset and was such a great value when compared to other bootcamps. I had great help from the student success team and my mentor. This was a perfect fit because I was able to keep my job and work on it part-time and work as fast as I wanted.

Definitely worth it!!

For Start I want you to know that any review you can see Bloc is paying for them. That's the email you can receive from them when you are a student.:

'Just following up here - would you mind writing a review on Course Report and SwitchUp about your time at Bloc? Your feedback will give other students a better understanding about the Bloc experience.
We'd love if you could share your thoughts. If you decide to post your review, please respond to this email and the Bloc team will send you a $15 Amazon gift card! '

There is almost no help at the end. For the same price I highly recommend to go somewhere else.

I started the Bloc program in October of 2018. This has been one of the most rewarding and challenging seasons of my life. I am working full time while doing the boot camp in the early mornings and late evenings. The one thing I can tell you is that it’s on YOU to make it happen. You have to get disciplined and set up routines and systems especially if you’re doing this on top of another job.

What I love about the program is that it’s set up for you to succeed even if you don’t have design experience or design background. I also love that it covers all things UX/UI and some front-end stuff. It’s an all-encompassing boot camp! By allowing myself to get my feet wet in all aspects of design, I’ve been able to identify which path I want to pursue.

Another great thing is the once a wee...

I thought I was doomed to punch a clock at some sales job I hate for the rest of my working days. Taking a chance on Bloc's Designer Track is without a doubt the best decision I've ever made. I'm learning skills that are in high demand in preparation for a new career in creative problem solving as a UX/UI Designer. My future is bright and I couldn't be happier about it. If you're on the fence I highly recommend you go for it. The Student Success team is amazingly helpful and thoughtful, my Mentor and Technical Coaches are all top-level industry pro's, and the resources the program gives you alone are worth the price of tuition. This review is real. Go for it!

An amazing time. The way I think through problems and designed solutions has changed dramatically for good. While I am not a pure UX/UI Designer, having developed these skills has helped me get a dream job as Senior Product Manager in Munich.

A core component of the program is the Daily Design Critique, where you can submit your work (no matter your level) and get very actionable feedback on how to improve it. You can also attend those sessions and see how other students are doing, what they had designed and what feedback they get.

My only feedback right now has to do with job assistance: My plans where to get a job in Europe, but the service was only available for US & Canada. If you plan to rely on the institution to increase the likelihood of getting a job, please keep that in ...

Three years ago I knew I wanted to make a travel app that hadn't existed yet. I had it all planned out, but I had no way of implementing it without hiring designers and developers to do it. I had a desire to make something from nothing, but I didn't have the skills, education, or tools to do so. This realization paired with my yearning to flex my creative muscles led me to explore a career in UX Design. In the end, I chose Bloc because I felt that it provided me with the education, tools, resources, and mentorship that the other programs didn't seem to have or were too expensive for my budget. So I went for it.

Fast forward to a year later – not only did I make that travel app, but I've now accepted a position as a UX Designer for a travel company, after receiving two other job offe...

I went into Bloc.io wanting to completely change careers and had no prior knowledge of software design. I have had the most amazing experience through Bloc's program. Not only is the mentorship aspect amazing but I've learned a brand new skill and about to start applying for jobs. I am beyond grateful for the experience I've had and would recommend this program to anyone. In fact, my brother is about to go through the program because of the awesome results Bloc.io produces.

My name is Holly, and I'm a career changer who is about 3/4 of the way through Bloc's Design program.  I came to the school with a background in the fine arts, and way too many years of dead-end administrative support jobs washed under the bridge.  I was definitely in need of a drastic change, and Bloc brings it without hesitation!  I was fortunate to be able to benefit from the Close The Gap scholarship - which supported female and female-identifying students interested in breaking into tech.

When you sign up for Bloc, you are gradually introduced to a wide-ranging and constantly evolving discipline.  There is a vast, interconnected variety of topics to explore in the curriculum.  In addition to covering Experience Design, Visual Design, and Front End Development, there are also ampl...

My name is Holly, and I'm a career changer who is about 3/4 of the way through Bloc's Design program.  I came to the school with a background in the fine arts, and way too many years of dead-end administrative support jobs washed under the bridge.  I was definitely in need of a drastic change, and Bloc brings it without hesitation!  I was fortunate to be able to benefit from the Close The Gap scholarship - which supported female and female-identifying students interested in breaking into tech.

When you sign up for Bloc, you are gradually introduced to a wide-ranging and constantly evolving discipline.  There is a vast, interconnected variety of topics to explore in the curriculum.  In addition to covering Experience Design, Visual Design, and Front End Development, there are also ampl...

You can learn a lot with this progam unfortunatly in the middle of mine they change a lot. I had 6 Different tutor and thats not helping I lost at least 4 weeks because of that.

Bloc is a great online platform with a strong curriculum that teaches you everything you need to know to be a UX designer. It covers three main topics - UX research/testing, visual design, and basic frontend development. The way the curriculum is designed is innovative as well. It starts with teaching you the fundamentals for each topic, then gives you a project to do where you have to repeat the steps with some guidance. Then another project where you repeat the cycle but you have more freedom to design as you want. That system has been strong as it allows you to learn the basics and then repeat to strengthen your skills.

Besides the curriculum, there's an always-active Slack channel where students, mentors, and staff alike can interact! It's a great place to support other students ...

I chose Bloc because of their flexibility, self-paced coursework, and because they were offering a Close the Gap scholarship for women. I had had previous UX and coding experience, which helped a lot, but even so, it took me 5-ish months of full time work to complete the course. However, I was able to land a lot of interviews and even ended up having the option of choosing between two job offers in my chosen field before my program ended. The technical coaches are great in helping you when you're stuck, and I'm glad I enrolled with Bloc. It was a great choice for me--just be sure you have the motivation and the self-discipline to keep yourself on track.

I recently graduated from the designer track program. The Bloc experience fueled my knowledge about the subject matter to that of a person with decade long mastery in the same. The mentors have been super helpful and super critical in shaping the outcomes of my projects and my portfolio. I have got multiple freelance projects and landed a job within 3 mos of graduation just by putting up my portfolio out there and on LinkedIn. It was quite a journey. Although I am an international student, the amount of skills injected during the program has been a great support for making design decisions at a fresher level. Don't think any other code school provides such a wholistic experience.

I reached the end of my time at Bloc a few months ago and this has been my first week as a designer at an enterprise software company. I'll break down my review into the aspects I found most helpful when searching for a bootcamp.

Background: I had no previous experience in tech or design. I worked in education as a teacher and counselor before deciding to enroll in Bloc to make a career switch into UX Design. I worked full-time while completing Bloc.

Tools: Most students use Figma or Sketch. The Bloc team generally encourages Figma because of its collaborative capabilities and because it's free but this is left open-ended. Get what works for you! I used Figma throughout the program and had to switch to Sketch for my job but the platforms are similar enough where I didn't have too ...