A review of Perpetual Education design and web dev bootcamp

Hi, I’m Elle! I work as a product designer at Getaround and as an industry mentor here at Pathrise. I help our fellows land great jobs in product design through technical workshops and 1-on-1s. Check out my review of Perpetual Education.

What does Perpetual Education do?
Who is Perpetual Education for?
What does Perpetual Education cost?
Ratings and reviews of Perpetual Education
Alternatives to Perpetual Education
How does Perpetual Education compare to Pathrise?

What does Perpetual Education do?

Perpetual Education is a new 6-month bootcamp that helps people launch a new career in tech. Unlike many other programs, their flagship bootcamp strives to be comprehensive enough to prepare grads for multiple tech roles. The curriculum covers web development, UX design, visual design, plus a bit of marketing and product management. Graduates can use their well-rounded skill set to become a UX designer, launch a web development career, or even become a product manager with their new product design and management abilities.

Their flagship bootcamp runs for 6 months and requires about 2-3 hours of work per day for 6 days a week. Classes are small, with only about 16 students per cohort. The program’s founder mentors students 1-on-1 and provides lots of personalized support. Students participate in daily accountability meetings, lectures, recorded videos, hands-on challenges, group projects, and office hours. Although hands-on, the curriculum is still flexible. Students can choose the type of projects they design for real clients, focusing on whatever subjects interest them most.

The curriculum covers the whole web design and development process from idea to completion. Students learn to build their own web apps as they work with HTML, CSS, PHP, HTTP, JavaScript, server-side renderings, client-side renderings, JAM stack, and more. The program also covers advanced visual design, design thinking, user researching, testing, wireframing, and prototyping as students master API design. The curriculum even touches on product management and marketing skills as students learn to launch and promote their websites with proper SEO.

After completing the bootcamp, grads are eligible for a 6-month “apprenticeship” internship program. Grads who choose to participate in the apprenticeship continue to get help with the job search as they build their portfolios even further. Perpetual Education also partners with a job placement team to help grads launch their careers.

Who is Perpetual Education for?

People with little to no tech experience who are looking to launch a new web dev or design career could benefit from Perpetual Education’s bootcamp. People who want to design real projects for clients could also be a good fit for the bootcamp.

What does Perpetual Education cost? How much work is involved?

Tuition for the flagship bootcamp is about $10,000. Two income share agreement (ISA) options are available so students can pay with a percentage of their income after they land a tech job. However, a $2,500 deposit is required.

The admissions process begins with a brief application form. Then, candidates move on to a behavioral interview. Students are accepted based on their personality, attitude, and enthusiasm. No technical assessment or prior experience is required.

Ratings and reviews

As a new program, Perpetual Education does not have many reviews. They have recently run campaigns on Facebook to give prospective students a sense of their program. Their founder has also made a series of posts on Dev.to and Code Newbie to raise awareness. He is also active on Quora. While the bootcamp has no student reviews listed yet, they have a profile on both Course Report and Career Karma.

Alternatives to Perpetual Education

If you decide not to enroll in Perpetual Education, there are a number of alternative bootcamps and courses that can help aspiring web developers, UX/UI designers, and product managers.

One of the more popular bootcamps, General Assembly offers full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on a variety of topics like software engineering, data science, UX design, digital marketing, product management, and more. Their program features mentoring, 19,000+ hiring partners, and a 91.4% job placement rate. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
The well-known bootcamp BrainStation teaches programs in web development, UX/UI design, product management, and more. Like Perpetual Education, BrainStation emphasizes collaboration, with immediate feedback for students.
Aspiring designers and web developers can consider Bloc. Many of their web design and web development programs feature 1-on-1 mentoring with lots of hands-on projects.
The full-time bootcamp Kenzie Academy offers in-person and online courses in 2 tracks: software engineering & UX design and front-end engineering. Like Perpetual Education, their program lasts 6-months and includes a project-based curriculum. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
Aspiring software engineers and web developers can also consider CodeX Academy, a self-paced coding bootcamp with mentorship opportunities. Learn more about CodeX Academy in our review.
The well-known tech bootcamp Thinkful has tracks in web development, UX/UI design, and product management. Like Perpetual Education, students can build portfolio projects, work 1-on-1 with mentors, and get access to an income share agreement (ISA).
Aspiring designers can also check out Designlab, an online bootcamp that teaches the necessary skills to land a job as a UX designer. Their program features a hands-on curriculum, group sessions, mentoring, and a job guarantee. Read more about Designlab in our review.
Students interested in online self-guided or instructor-led product design courses can look into DesignerUp. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.

More alternatives

For students seeking lower-cost web development and UX/UI design courses, Simplilearn, Learn UX, Treehouse, and Pluralsight could be worth pursuing. While they may not have the same level of support as Perpetual Education’s small 16-student cohorts, these programs offer a wide range of online courses to help people learn essential design skills.
The online bootcamp GrowthX Academy has courses for people looking to launch a new career in product management, UX design, growth marketing, sales, and business development. Their program is self-paced with 1-on-1 mentoring opportunities.
Aspiring product managers can check out Product Academia. They offer full-time and part-time PM courses with formal certificates for grads. Their focus is helping women launch careers as product managers.
The online product management community, Mind the Product has over 150,000 active members. They provide workshops, memberships, and networking events for aspiring product managers.
Another product management association, Product Gym offers training, job support, and networking opportunities to aspiring product managers. Classes are flexible and remote options are available.
Similarly, Product School teaches full-time and part-time product management courses. Students meet weekly with mentors, receive career support, and get a certificate upon graduation.

Even more alternatives

The massive online learning platform edX hosts courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT, plus big tech companies like Microsoft. Students can choose to learn the fundamentals or dive deeper into specific topics, like web design or web development. Learn more about edX in our review.
Students seeking low-cost learning with 1-on-1 mentoring can look into Udacity. They offer free intro courses, as well as paid “nanodegree” programs for a more intense experience with greater support. Topics include both web development and digital marketing. Nanodegree students meet 1-on-1 with both a technical mentor and a career coach as they build projects they can add to their portfolios. Read more about Udacity in our reviews.
Codecademy hosts free hands-on coding courses on web development, dozens of programming languages, and even data science. They offer $20-40 monthly membership options for greater course options and more support. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
You can also check out Bubble no-code bootcamps to learn how to make products without coding. Learn more about Bubble in our review.
Beginners can check out Dorm to learn the basics of product management and other startup roles.
Students can check out Springboard, an online learning platform that offers thousands of courses on a variety of tech subjects including UX design. Students in their career tracks build 14 portfolio projects while working closely with mentors. Read more about Springboard in our review.

How does Perpetual Education compare to Pathrise?

Perpetual Education is a new tech bootcamp for people interested in learning the skills needed for a career as a web developer, UX/UI designer, product manager, or other web design related role. While a general interest in tech is recommended, most Perpetual Education students start from scratch.

Pathrise job-seekers should already have a background in their chosen field to get the most out of our technical curriculum. As a full service organization, Pathrise works with fellows at each step of their job search, including resume and portfolio optimization, cold emailing and reverse recruiting, technical and behavioral interviewing, and salary negotiation. Through workshops and 1-on-1 mentoring, Pathrise tailors the program to fit each fellow’s specific needs. Our mentors have already helped 1,000+ people land great tech jobs.

While Perpetual Education is part-time, classes still meet 6 days per week. Our program is flexible, with only 2-4 hours of group sessions and 1-on-1 sessions that can be scheduled as needed. Like Perpetual Education, we offer an income share agreement so fellows only pay after landing a job. We never require any upfront payments.

Pathrise is a career accelerator that helps people land their dream job in tech through 1-on-1 mentoring. Fellows in our program have seen their interview scores double and their application response rates triple. On average, fellows land a job in only 3-5 months. If you are interested in optimizing your job search by working with any one of our mentors, join Pathrise.