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 V School.
- What does V School do?
- Who is V School for?
- What does V School cost?
- Ratings and reviews of V School
- Alternatives to V School
- How does V School compare to Pathrise?
What does V School do?
V School is a tech bootcamp for people who want to learn the necessary skills to land a job as a web developer or UX designer. They offer courses onsite in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, as well as live online options.
Offered online and in-person, the 12-week experience design (UX design) program meets Monday-Friday from 8am-6pm (MST). The curriculum covers wireframing, prototyping, UX research, design flow, and development fundamentals. Students work on projects that utilize user data and create high-fidelity, interactive prototypes, which they can add to their portfolios. Throughout the program, they participate in hands-on projects, presentations, 1-on-1s with instructors, and more.
An online course, the full stack JavaScript web development bootcamp is self-paced and takes approximately 6-12 months to complete. Students focus on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, MongoDB, and Express, as well as common JavaScript frameworks, including AngularJS, Node.JS, jQuery, and React.js. The course covers elements in server-side programming such as building and querying databases. Students also learn important topics in client-side development, like responsive web design. Besides building their portfolios, students engage in group projects, pair programming sessions, and technical interview prep workshops.
All students receive access to the V School hiring network, as well as support from career coaches. They provide 1-on-1 guidance on resumes, interview prep, salary negotiation, and other components of the job search.
Who is V School for?
People with no experience in UX design or web development but are looking to learn the necessary skills to land an entry-level job in those fields can benefit from V School.
What does V School cost? How much work is involved?
V School students can choose from a variety of financing options.
For people who pay upfront, the tuition is $14,900 for each bootcamp.
Those who sign up for the income share agreement (ISA) plan do not start making monthly payments until they land a job with an annual salary (gross) of at least $38,000. Grads who select the ISA option pay 14% of their annual salary for 4 years, with a cap of $38,000.
Candidates can also take out low-interest, fixed-rate loans with Climb or Skills Fund to cover their tuition and living expenses. Rates and loan terms depend on an applicant’s previous credit history.
Veterans are eligible to use the GI bill to finance their V School tuition.
To apply, students need to schedule a phone call with a V School admissions member. Then, they fill out an online application.
Ratings and reviews
V School has recently changed their curriculum, so there are not too many online reviews that focus on their new programming.
People on CourseReport and Facebook praised the bootcamp for its “top-notch curriculum” and the instruction. One CourseReport reviewer noted, “they constantly update their contents to catch up with today’s technology. The instructors demonstrated their expertise in the field of technology and are willing to go the extra mile to help students catch up with their assignments.” As one grad on Facebook put it, “they provide a unique curriculum which teaches students how to effectively retain information and continue on to find effective careers.”
On CareerKarma, grads benefited from the bootcamp’s “great culture” and “outstanding curriculum”. One recent grad said, “It was my dream to work for Adobe and V School made it happen.”
But, some SwitchUp reviewers were disappointed with the web dev program. As one grad put it, “My time at V School was fun and very educational, but the experience isn’t enough for most graduates to land a job in web development.” While the reviewer benefited from the “nice community,” they were still “unable to find an opportunity in the tech industry a year later.”
Alternatives to V School
Depending on your previous coding or design experience, V School might not be the best fit. You might consider one of the alternatives listed below instead.
- One of the most well known bootcamps is General Assembly. They offer full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on a variety of topics like UX design, software engineering, data science, digital marketing, product management, and more. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
- Aspiring UX designers and software engineers who are looking for a full-time bootcamp can also consider Kenzie Academy. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our program review.
- edX is one of the most popular online learning platforms. They have courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT as well as big tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
- Tech bootcamps, Eleven Fifty Academy, BrainStation, Berkeley Bootcamps, allWomen Academy, GW Bootcamps, and Flatiron School offer programs in UX design, software engineering, data science, and other fields.
- Covalence offers self-paced, online software engineering and web dev bootcamps for students who are looking to work on their own timeline.
- Students interested in taking online self-guided or instructor-led product design courses can check out DesignerUp. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.
- Aspiring designers can also consider Designlab. This online bootcamp teaches the necessary skills to land a job as a UX designer. Read more about Designlab in our review.
- Similarly, UX Pro Academy, Memorisely, Design Sprint School, Avocademy, and Miami Ad School have UX design courses for beginners as well as more experienced people.
More alternatives
- Skillcrush, Perpetual Education, and Georgia Tech Bootcamp teach courses in web dev, product design, and more topics.
- Or, people can look at Bloc, Ironhack, and Big Nerd Ranch. They all cover web dev and design, but Bloc is online and Big Nerd Ranch & Ironhack are on campuses.
- Similarly, Austin Coding Academy, DevPoint Labs, and Codeup are online and onsite bootcamps with courses in full stack web dev.
- HackDesign sends weekly design lessons right to your inbox for free, which can be beneficial for aspiring and current product designers.
- Another free resource, Gymnasium offers courses and tutorials in UX design, as well as web dev.
- Udacity and Springboard are online learning platforms with courses in web development, UX design, software engineering, and more. Learn more about Udacity and Springboard by reading our program reviews.
- Similarly, people can use online learning tools such as Coursera, Udemy, and Pluralsight to brush up on the basics or advance their current skills.
- Finally, Codecademy is one of the most popular coding programs online. They provide free courses on many different programming languages. They also offer membership options ranging from $20 to $40 per month for more course options and greater support. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
How does V School compare to Pathrise?
V School is an online bootcamp with courses for people who are interested in acquiring the necessary skills to become a web developer or designer from scratch. Pathrise fellows should have some background in their field of interest so that they can fully benefit from our technical workshops, which is based on the questions they will encounter in their interviews.
At Pathrise, we help our fellows land the best job possible. Our mentors, who have years of experience on both sides of the hiring table, provide 1-on-1 assistance on every component of the job search, including resume & portfolio building, cold emailing & reverse recruiting strategies, behavioral interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more. Fellows learn lifelong skills that can be beneficial in any future job searches as well.
Our program is flexible, with only 4 hours of group sessions per week and 1-on-1 sessions that can be scheduled as needed by fellows. We personalize our curriculum to match each fellow’s specific needs.
While the V School ISA is 14% of a grad’s salary over 4 years (with a cap of $38k), the Pathrise ISA is 5-9% with a cap of $12k and we never require upfront payments or deposits.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. If you are interested in working with our mentors on any aspect of the job search, including the technical and behavioral interviews, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
