Tradecraft

When I decided to learn UX, I wasn't really sure how to go about it. I researched several places, whether it was online-only or in person, full-time or part-time, and I finally decided to try out Tradecraft after seeing reviews and talking to someone... Read More who had already gone through the program. And I'm really glad I did!

There's really good culture, everyone tries to help each other out if someone doesn't understand something. There's strong support while you're in the program, and especially impressive support after you graduate. And there's amazing resources like the mentors, other students, reading materials, and teachers that give you a process.

I was really surprised by the integrity of the program.

By the end of my senior year of college I knew that I wanted to be designing experiences for users. I was intrigued by the tech scene in the Bay Area and wanted to be part of the innovation that was happening there daily. While graduating with a liberal... Read More arts degree gave me all the desirable “soft skills”, what I lacked was the marketable “hard skills” that would land me a junior level design role. I signed up for Tradecraft after doing a bit of research but still not really knowing what I was signing up for.

It was a dive into the deep end. I was a new grad, with work experience that extended no further than random summer internships and on-campus tutoring jobs, looking to take on a highly technical role at a startup. Tradecraft was the transformative experience I needed: not only did I become a stronger designer, I was able to confidently talk about my design skills and understand myself as an employee and coworker on a deeper level.

Tradecraft gives you the tools, resources, and mentorship to excel. I now have the most amazing support network and just a short two months after graduating from Tradecraft I found myself on a three person design team at a startup doing way more than I ever could have dreamed of right out of college.

I come from the social science field and was already working in tech and UX, but wasn't learning at the speed I wanted. I felt stuck in my career, and couldn't find the mentorship I was looking for in Argentina.

I was reviewing other similar programs before... Read More I founded Tradecraft. The others were very nice until I mentioned I was latin american...

When I had my first call with Tradecraft, I cannot express how grateful I was for that call. The program's director expended 40 minutes explaining me full details about the program (that I loved, the curriculum looked amazing). And the most important, for me, when I mentioned my nationality, nothing changed! He talked about their experience with foreign students, and pointed that working hard on my skills, the program would help me find my next job.

The program was everything I expected, and more. It's not just a UX bootcamp. It's a full carreer committent, that forced me to focus and learn about what I wanted to become and why, before just jumping into the roles I thought I wanted.

In terms of curriculum, I learned a tone. And what I founded amazing was the way of teaching: regardless your previous level, you would learn how to get better every day in that field.

During the whole program, you have career developement tracks too. It's so important! We can learn whatever you want, but if you don't know who you want to become and where do you want to go, that knowdledge is useless. I believe the success of Tradecraft has a lot to do with their career developement coaching.

And last, but not least, Tradecraft connected me with the most amazing community of people I have ever been part of. It's such a strong network of mentors, teammates and friends! They helped me learn new skills, to train them and get practice. It' doesn't dissapear once you're done: I'm back in Latin America and the community is still there, ready to help when needed.

After 3 months of job hustle in the US, I wasn't able to find a job there, but the possibility of analyzing my performance during the job interviews with my mentors, was priceless. It was one of the most frustrating experiences I had, but it didn't feel so bad: I had great coaches helping me to get better from interview to interview.

One of the (outside) mentors I met during my experience offered me a job in Colombia. Now I'm proud to be building the future of online education for Latin America at Platzi, one of the most dynamic and promising startups in the region.

Doing Tradecraft was one of my best inversions and decisions I made. It is a program great for people that want to give the best of themselves everyday. And being part of Tradecraft means belonging to an amazing community of people looking forward to build a better world through technology.

A year out of college, I moved from Toronto to San Francisco and aimed to transition into tech. I found Tradecraft online, and once I had my initial call with the team it became clear that it was the best option for me. I have a marketing background,... Read More but I had been unfulfilled by my work experience thus far and have always had an interest in design. I thought that Tradecraft would be a great opportunity to see if design was a good fit for me.

I joined the program, kept an open mind, and spent a lot of time during my three months at Tradecraft exploring opportunities in the Bay Area, deliberately working to figure out what role I want and what my skills are. In the meantime, I made a ton of great new friends, both in my cohort and in the Tradecraft community overall. I ultimately realized that while I loved product design and UX, my true passion and skill is in content marketing, specifically for fast-growth startups: I wanted to help interesting, mission-driven companies grow by writing and creating great content. Without Tradecraft – its guidance from professionals, a constant stream of interesting mentors, top notch teaching and career training – I wouldn't have gotten to this level of clarity and direction about what I want out of my career and how to get there.

I came out of the program and doubled-down on finding a great content marketing role, and a month out of Tradecraft I landed a job as a marketing specialist with a B2B SaaS startup. It's the perfect role for me, my skills, and experience. I would not have been in this role without Tradecraft.

The leadership team says that Tradecraft is a kitchen, not a restaurant. By that, they mean that it has the tools, resources, and network to help you on your journey, but ultimately you are responsible for your experience there. That couldn't have been more true for me: Tradecraft helped me figure out what I wanted, and then provided practical training and ongoing support to help me get there. It was the most valuable career decision I've ever made.

Tradecraft was the lifeboat I needed to navigate the incredibly new and intimidating waters of tech. I had come from a healthcare background, forced to leave dental school after being hit with a degenerative nerve condition with my dominant arm. I withdrew... Read More from school in July and made my way up to SF in September to join Tradecraft and figure out how to start afresh.

To say that I was neurotic is an understatement. I never expected to have a career transition, and had no clue where to even start. I had extreme anxiety about starting over in a foreign field that I had no experience in.

Thankfully, TC provided the mentor-ship and the community that I needed to pave a new path. I met up one-on-one with Misha, one of the two cofounders of TC, on a weekly basis. During my first few weeks, I questioned whether or not I made the right decision, going to TC over a coding bootcamp. But Russ and Misha seemed to know me better than I knew myself, and foresaw that I could not be happy or successful if I wasn't in a customer-facing position. I ended up finding a job midway through, leaving TC four weeks early to join a Series-B startup as a customer solutions engineer. I could not have found a better first job in tech, or a better fit, as I am now in an extremely technical, customer-facing role.

The most valuable things I gained from TC was the mentor-ship from Russ, Misha and Thomas, and the community from my fellow cohort members. I was constantly supported and encouraged by my fellow TCers, who were smart, driven and proactive, and came from all different backgrounds. Everyone truly wanted to see everyone else succeed, and was always willing to help me out in any way-reading my resume, connecting me to people they knew over LinkedIn, or just keeping me grounded. I definitely owe the successful launch of my career in tech to my TC mentors and fellow students.

If Silicon Valley was a game (which it's not), then Tradecraft is the cheat code to level up. It almost feels unfair with how much knowledge and support I've received during my 12 weeks at Tradecraft. Coming out of the program, I'm more prepared and confidant... Read More in my abilities now than I could have imagined. I've learned more about myself, the industry and have surely made some friends for life.

It's certainly not easy and they won't hold your hand, but they will match your effort 100%. The instructors are world class and the access to mentors and thought leaders is unprecedented. Seriously, how often is it that you can share and participate in intimate discussions with founders and practitioners that you admire.

The future is bright.

No hype.