RED Academy

In October 2017 I have started a program UI Designer Professional at RED Academy with hopes to become fluent in today's tech landscape and build my career in that field. Before I made my decision to take the course I worked as a model and an actor in the Asian market (Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok). Upon coming back to Canada I really wanted to get the skills that would allow me to start a new and interesting career and maybe one day create my own business. RED Academy seemed like a good fit.
The program started with basic training of design skills, colour theory, layouts, wireframing, idea inception, moodboards and software. We had 2 school projects and 3 community partner projects. Community partner projects were especially useful because we got to work on real projects for real ...

The part-time Digital Marketing Foundation (10 week) program offered at RED Academy in Vancouver provides a great combination of engaging real-world knowledge and practical applications of current industry products/insights in a manner that is easily digestible for students across a wide range of abilities. While the learning curve is initially very steep, instructors and TA's seem passionate about their field and willing to go the extra to help everyone learn the concepts and skills needed.

Some areas to improve include: better attention to detail for the school administration and course outlines - because these programs are fluid and changing based on trends, feedback etc it's important to ensure that any communication to students is current/correct/up-to-date with changes; also en...

RED Academy's Digital Marketing course has provided me with the tools to succeed. From the very beginning, the instructors shared great insight on industry trends and how to use various practices in the real world. I was able to put my new skills to work immediately. I would highly recommend RED to anyone who is looking to learn a new skill, brush up on their current skills or those who are curious about learning the ins and out of a new industry. The class environment was fun and I enjoyed working with/meeting new people.

Pros:
Fast paced learning environment that allowed me to excel in my Marketing career
The educators were current in the industry and were able to teach from their personal career highs and lows
Worked with real clients to develop proposal's and pitches
Networking opportunities were provided for you (with coaching on how to network effectively)

Red Academy was an invaluable jumpstart for my career. I not only had the opportunity to network with hiring (relevant) industries but I also got the support I needed to take my current role to the next level. Working with closely with analytics and other marketing tools I was able to collaborate with team members and put the data to use. I appreciated the real-world experience brought to each lesson - having industry professionals actually teach just makes sense to me.

Pro:
The school offers real-world experience and operates like an agency which was extremely valuable.
The teachers are professional and always willing to help.
You get to work with people from all over the world, and from all types of career backgrounds.
Egos are left outside and it's a safe learning environment.
Socal Fridays and a lot of Networking Opportunities
Even if you are enrolled in one course, you get a sample of all the other programs and learn how they're connected

Cons:
Lots of Turnover with Instructors which can be difficult once you get adjusted to a specific learning/teaching style
Classes are getting larger. Sometimes, teachers aren't available during workshop time when help is needed. Google can only do so much. The teachers are occupied with a lot of o...

RED is not the typical traditional factory style institution that teaches you about abstracts. RED gets you prepared for the real world applications for those who want to make an impact riding the new era of technology. RED not only teaches you, but revolutionizes the way you think about the world.

I stumbled upon RED Academy via an ad on Facebook and decided to check them out. At first I was very skeptical about the program because they were boasting that you could become a professional Web Developer in 3 months with no prior knowledge on the subject. It sounded too good to be true, how would you become a professional in 3 months when similar programs take at other post secondary's take 1-2 years to complete? I did all my research and went in for an interview with tons of questions prepared, to learn more about them and why they are so confident in their capability to teach a 1-2 year program successfully in 3 short months. While I was at RED Academy for an interview, I talked to several staff members, instructors, and students and gathered from all their responses, that this s...

Pros of the course were: Small classrooms, quick lessons, lots of opportunity to work on work at and after school, laid back environment.
Cons:

Pros:
You work as if you're already working in an agency.
You get to experience the hand off process and experience interdepartmental dynamics.
Everyone wants to see everyone succeed, so you gain some priceless relationships.
Relatively small teams means there's no room for slackers and everyone learns fast together.

Cons:
It's still a young school and they're trying to find their footing in terms of curriculum, but if you're taking UX it's a great case study to observe as it unfolds.

Pro
*Learn many things
*Can learn real skills what company wants
*Work with real client is the big step
*Communicate with a classmate and can see what other department do.
*Possible to make networking

Cons
*School does not mention how much important to do pre-study before that class.
*Does not know what to do with the student cannot follow the class

Great program! Wanted to do the Full time 3 month Digital Marketing program ended up doing the 6 month Full stack marketing program (DM+UI). Best decision for my career so far, Learnt alot in a very short period of time. Its not a traditional school there are no books. What you do get is a chance to apply the skills you learn to actual client projects during your time there, great hands on learning. Highly recommended!

RED gave me the education I needed to change careers and start working full time in tech. I’m now in a position at my job where I’m hiring people, and it’s clear when I interview individuals from other training programs in design and marketing that they are no where close to the skill set and abilities of RED grads. While at RED I worked hard, learned a ton, and it was worth every minute. I highly recommend RED to anyone looking for training in Digital Marketing and Design.

This program will teach you how to position yourself for success in the tech job market, from technical skills, interview preparation, to personal development. Highly recommended.

RED Academy has a great way of developing culture and team-bonding. There is an aspect of being an adult learner that makes RED so much fun.

The week-hand however is the design programs. Its very broad learning where you cover the entire 'UX' design cycle and do multiple sprints. The issue is that in the real-world you're expected to focus on some area of UX design & have tangible work to show for it. Couple that UX designers need to be able to often CODE their own designs. This leaves the alumni exiting the program with a lot of BROAD knowledge but not really a functional portfolio.

An example of this is:
When I graduated from RED I could do the work of going through the 'UX' of a project overall from conception to presenting a prototype. The issue was that I wasn't 'amazing' i...

Different from traditional education, RED sets the stage for a great experience that is very similar to what you will experience in the tech industry. The condensed course load was tough but rewarding, and allowed me to be super efficient with my work post-RED. Coming from a totally different background, the full-stack design program has allowed me to completely change industry and work in the world of tech.

The in-house staff and educators are industry professionals and are supportive beyond words. They are also one of the more irreplaceable things about RED. Keep in mind, these programs are not for those weak at heart, you get out of this program what you put into it. Trust me, it's worth it.

Taking the Digital Marketing FT Professional Program definitely helped my career immensely. I had previously worked in traditional marketing and had some experience in social media, email marketing, and graphic design. Though, I knew there was much more in the digital marketing world that I needed to learn.

RED was such a great tech school because the teachers were very helpful, knowledgeable, funny and approachable. The workload is intense and I highly don't recommend anyone who has a FT/PT job to enrol in this. For the FT program, you need to put in many hours after school and on the weekend to complete your projects and learn at your own pace.

I love how the community projects allowed you to work with real Vancouver start-ups where you can apply all the skills that you have l...

As a mature student I expected the course to be a fun and relatively pain-free way to pick up additional skills which would help me develop my career and give me an edge over the competition. I was overwhelmed with the reminders of homework, and the amount of extra reading required if you really wanted to master the skills. But with that said, I think if it was any easier, I would have wondered if it was a waste of time and money. It was NOT!

The teachers were very supportive, if I had any questions or concerns they took the time to speak with me and make sure I left fully understanding what I came to them for. They covered everything I felt was relevant and new in digital marketing. Even better is now when I go to read my marketing blog dailys, I am reading things I already learned ...

I took the 3 month Digital Marketing Professional course.

Pros:
- Relevant curriculum, with up-to-date information and tons of hands-on experience. This course provides the students with a template for success that they can re-create in their professional lives.
- RED offers students and alumni access to their community/network. There is always someone sharing job openings, professional development opportunities, networking events etc..
- Well rounded learning experience. Students receive weekly personal development and career coaching sessions to prep them for work once they complete the course.
- Working with real-life clients.
- Lots of great guest speakers, who are professionals in the industry.

Cons:
- The tight deadlines in this bootcamp-style course means that you ...

Red academy was a great experience. I learned a ton about design thinking and processes...and I applied them to community projects (free work for the client, experience for you)!

The only con I really hold onto is that the staff talk up all the jobs that will be available immediately upon graduation, when that isn’t exactly the case...

The jobs are there, however most for designers with more experience than one can acquire during a 3 month program at red. So in conclusion I would say I wished the job prospect expectations were a little more realistic and weren’t so pumped up by staff.