Get A UX Job Bootcamp

Bootcamp Structure

Welcome to the Get A UX Job Bootcamp​! This bootcamp is a completely new type of creative
program designed specifically to help you build your portfolio once you’ve already started
honing your design skills so you can land your dream job in the creative industry.

Over the next 8 weeks you’ll be working with your new mentor to improve your skills and build
up amazing portfolio projects so you can take one step closer to launching your creative career.

The topics you discuss with your mentor in each session are entirely up to you, and you can
spend the time with your mentor however you’d like, but we’ve put together this Bootcamp
Structure document to give you a few different options for structuring your bootcamp depending
on where you are in your design education.

In the Bootcamp Structure doc, we’ll go over...

● Recommended Timeline​: A high level recommendation we created to help you

structure the bootcamp. Regardless of experience level, we suggest following the
suggested format for the first session, working on projects for most of the bootcamp, and
spending the last few sessions on your portfolio site.

● Deliverables Overview​: We’ve also put together a list of the deliverables that we
suggest you reference for each project you work on. You’re free to deviate from these,
but we suggest using these as a baseline for any new project.

○ Note​: If you’re doing a project from our ​Project Frameworks​ library​, you’ll also
see some additional project-specific deliverables to work on in addition to the
Deliverables listed in the Deliverables Overview.

● Week-by-Week Guide​: Use this if you’re early in your UX education and want a deeper
crash course on the UX Design Process for a given project. The guide will walk you
through how to spend each week, including topics and deliverables to cover each week.

● Project Overview Deck​: This is a companion deck that dives into each deliverable in
more detail, including ​WHAT​ they are, ​HOW​ to complete them, ​EXAMPLES​ of each, and
RECOMMENDED​ ​CURRICULUM​ to help the student get more info on each.

Keep reading to see how you should structure your bootcamp!

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 Which of these best describes you?
Before we dive into the structure of the bootcamp, here’s the high level summary of which of
the tools in this doc you should reference depending on which of these most closely describes
your goals for the bootcamp and experience in UX Design...

You already have project ideas and know what you want out of the bootcamp

● Run with your project ideas!

● Spend the time with your mentor however you’d like, but we suggest at the very least
following the ​Recommended Timeline​, particularly...
○ Follow the recommended format for your first mentor session
○ Focus the last few sessions on your portfolio site and a job action plan
● Use the ​Deliverables Overview​ in this doc as a baseline to ensure you’re following
the UX design process steps you’ll be following in a real job.

You’ve started learning UX Design but want SOME structure

● Use the ​Project Frameworks​ in the Resource Library for help coming up with projects
and thinking through ​how​ you should be approaching each one.
● Follow the ​Recommended Timeline​ in this doc, particularly...
○ Follow the recommended format for your first mentor session.
○ Focus the last few sessions on your portfolio site and a job action plan
● Use the ​Deliverables Overview​ in this doc to ensure you’re following the UX design
process steps you’ll be following in a real job or client project, referencing the ​Project
Overview Deck​ as needed to work through each Deliverable.

You’re new to UX and want MORE structure

● Use the ​Project Frameworks​ in the Resource Library for help coming up with projects
and thinking through ​how​ you should be approaching each one.
● Follow the higher-level ​Recommended​ ​Timeline​ and the more detailed
Week-by-Week Guide​ in this doc to ensure you have clear direction for which
deliverables to be working on each week.
● Use the ​Deliverables Overview​ in this doc to ensure you’re following the UX design
process steps you’ll be following in a real job or client project, referencing the ​Project
Overview Deck​ as needed to work through each Deliverable.

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 Recommended Timeline
What is it...

● The Recommended Timeline is a skeleton roadmap we recommend using to structure

your bootcamp. You’ll spend most of the bootcamp working on projects, but it’s important
to spend your first session reviewing your background and goals, and then saving some
time at the end of the bootcamp to come up with next steps for your portfolio and career!

You Should Use This If...

● We recommend ​EVERYONE​ use this as a guide for structuring your bootcamp!

Our Recommended Timeline

Week # Tasks for the week

Day 1 The bootcamp team sends an intro to you and your mentor!

1 (Student Action)

Schedule your first 60 minute session with your mentor! You’ll ​use the code
included in your intro email​ to your mentor to book all of your sessions!

1 (60 minute session)

Have your first video session with your mentor:

● Introduce yourself (background, why UX, etc.) and your mentor

● Come up with a timeline for the 8 weeks

● Choose the project(s) you want to work on during the bootcamp and
discuss what deliverables you’ll prep for the 2nd session

● Discuss the UX Design process + main deliverables

● Set up a Miro board if you want one shared workspace to upload drafts of
your projects (reference ​this template​ as a guide)

● Optional: If you’re using our Week-by-Week Guide doc to structure your

bootcamp, review the first stages of the UX Design Process as well as
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 deliverables associated with the second session.

1 (Student Action)

After the first session, make sure you’ve fully scoped out the first project you’ll be
working on and email the final details to your mentor.

1-6 (Student Action)

Over the next six weeks, you’ll work on your project(s), meeting with your mentor
~1x per week and uploading 1-2 drafts per week for feedback. During this
period, we suggest you use the following:

(2.5 hours of additional video sessions)

(9 rounds of written feedback)

7 (30 minute session)

Meet with your mentor to do a final presentation of your project(s) and discuss
next steps for your portfolio site.

7 (Student Action)

Work to fully finalize each of the projects into their final Case Study formats to
ensure they are in a state you would be happy to showcase on your portfolio site
or to prospective employees and clients.

7 (2 rounds of written feedback)

Over the next week, you should use the portfolio prep resources in your Shared
Folder, as well as feedback from your mentor, to upload your projects and build
out the structure of your portfolio site.

7 (30 minute session)

Portfolio review session. Meet to discuss:

● Current draft of your portfolio site.

● How you’re presenting your case studies on your site.

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 ● Feedback on the structure of your site and next steps for edits.

8 (Student Action)

Make any final tweaks or adjustments to your portfolio site based on feedback.

8 (1 round of written feedback)

Ask for one final round of feedback on your portfolio after making those edits.

8 (Student Action)​ ​(Mentor Action)

Now you’ve had 6 weeks of additional experience, go online and find a couple
jobs you want to apply for and send them to your mentor.

8 (30 minute session)

Final session! In this session, we recommend doing a final review of your

portfolio site as well as the jobs you found and focusing on...

● Next steps to continue honing your portfolio

● Specific application or cover letter questions you’ve come across

● Any additional recommended courses or work your mentor suggests you

do to continue getting job ready.

● Elevator pitch​: Hone a 30-60 second pitch of yourself, your work and
your experience

8 Finally, you’ll get a chance to chat with a real design recruiter!

This will be your chance to ask questions you have about how to find and apply
to jobs, handle interviews, and make yourself stand out from other candidates.

You can reach out to the bootcamp team when you’re ready to be intro’d.

Scroll down to the very bottom of this document for some bonus content, particularly if you’d like
a more thorough explanation of how we suggest you structure each of your mentor sessions!
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 Deliverables Overview
What is it...

● For every UX project that you embark on, whether you’ve come up with your own idea or
are using one of our Project Frameworks, always follow the UX Design process steps
that you’d be following in a real job. It can be tempting to jump straight from idea to
wireframes, but by following a proven process and set of deliverables, you’ll stand out
from other aspiring designers and learn what it’s like to really work as a UX designer.
● The steps listed below corresponded to the steps in the ​Project Overview Deck​.

You Should Use This If...

● We recommend ​EVERYONE​ use these as guidance for working through each project.
Not every project will require the same deliverables and there are many different
variations of these deliverables that you may encounter in your career, but these
deliverables serve as a great jumping off point to help guide your first UX projects.

Note: The “Other Project Deliverables” after Step 8 is for any additional project-specific
deliverables. If you’re using one of our Project Frameworks, these will be listed in the framework
doc. You should align on these extra deliverables with your mentor as part of Step 1.

Step Deliverable

1 Project Scope (Problem Statement, Project Deliverables,

and Project Constraints)

2 Long Term Goal

3 Sprint Questions

4 How Might We

5 Customer Map

6 Customer Map w/ How Might We’s

7 Define Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

8 Competitive Analysis

- Other Project Deliverables

9 Wireframes

10 High-fidelity screens and prototype 6

 Week-by-Week Guide
What is it...

● The Week-by-Week Guide is a more in-depth version of the Recommended Timeline

above and provides a detailed week-by-week suggestion for which deliverables you
should be talking about and reviewing each week of the bootcamp.

You Should Use This If...

● Use this if ​you’re early in your UX education​ and want more structure during the
bootcamp. If you already understand the UX process and want to have flexibility as you
work through projects, use this as a reference but you don’t need to rely on it too heavily.

Tips for using the Week-by-Week Guide

● During your first session​: Decide how many projects you’ll work on (2 for most
students), what your projects are (use your ideas or one of our Project Frameworks), and
do a review of the major UX Deliverables and UX design process. Then review
Deliverables Steps 1-4, focusing on WHAT they are and WHY they’re important.
● Before your next session each week:​ Upload ~2 drafts of your project for feedback.
● Each session​: Review the previous week’s deliverables that you completed, get any
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final feedback, and then discuss the next deliverables listed for that week!
 Project Overview Deck
What is it...

● The Project Overview Deck is going to be your close companion as you go through the
bootcamp. For each of the deliverables listed on the previous pages, the Overview Deck
will dive into:
○ What is the deliverable?
○ How do you complete this deliverable?
○ Recommended curriculum to give you more info on this deliverable
○ Examples of this deliverable
● This will be one of the most helpful tools as you work through the bootcamp!

You Should Use This If...

● Use this if ​you’re new to UX or have only been studying for a few months​. Seeing
examples of the different deliverables as you work through a project and getting a bit
more context for why they are important to the final project is crucial if you want to come
out of the bootcamp having truly absorbed the importance of the UX design process!

Click here to open the Project Overview Deck!

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 BONUS MATERIAL!
Structuring your different session types

This is a bonus section that provides even more suggestions for how to structure your first
mentor session, your ongoing rounds of feedback, each project-based video session, and the
final portfolio and career-focused sessions with your mentor!

Session 1: Sample Agenda

● Introduce yourself (background, why you’re interested in UX, etc.) and review your
Onboarding Quiz + Personality Test

○ Spend 5 minutes introducing yourselves to each other, giving a bit of background

on yourself, your work history, how long you’ve been studying design up to this
point, why you’re interested in design, and your main goals for this bootcamp!

● Introduction from your mentor (their background, why UX, etc.)

● Come up with a timeline for the 8 weeks

● Choose the project(s) you want to work on during the bootcamp and discuss what
deliverables you’ll prep for the 2nd session

○ If you have an idea for a project, great! Run with that. But if not, that’s fine too.
Review the project frameworks if you want help coming up with an idea and
decide which projects you want to work on.

● Review the UX Design process map (reference the ​Project Overview Deck​ if you’d like)
○ Review high-level stages of each phase of map
○ Review deliverables associated with each phase of the map

● Chat about how you’d like to ask for and receive feedback (whether you’ll use Dropbox
or Miro, and whether you want feedback via email, Loom, etc.)

● Optional: If you’re using our Week-by-Week Guide doc to structure your

bootcamp, review the first stages of the UX Design Process as well as
deliverables associated with the second session.

● Optional: Create a Miro board and share it with your mentor. This is where you
can upload projects.
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ONGOING: Written/Video Feedback on Projects
As a part of this bootcamp, you’ll receive 12 written or video critiques of drafts of your projects.
You can check out ​this article​ we wrote which details ​how​ to structure a critique, but at a high
level, you should be thinking about these things:

● Start by introducing where you are in the design process (e.g. “I’ve just started
brainstorming some ideas and I’d love your thoughts on which are strongest” or “I’m
having trouble showcasing this element of the brand or creating this screen of the app”)

● Be sure to ask ‘why’. If your mentor is giving feedback that you don’t understand or
disagree with, it’s important to understand where they’re coming from and what caused
them to react that way. Remember, most people who encounter your designs in the real
world will make immediate reactions or decisions so it’s important to understand why
certain elements are or aren’t working so you can continuously improve your work!

● If you have very quick questions, your mentor will likely be happy to provide more rounds
of feedback in smaller doses so that you don’t get stuck and wait until your next major
round of feedback to make any extra progress. Be sure to ask your mentor upfront if
they’re okay splitting larger written feedback rounds into smaller chunks.

ONGOING: Mentor Sessions related to your Projects

Mentor sessions are the heart of the bootcamp and you’ll spend most of the bootcamp focused
on reviewing versions of your projects.

Once you’ve received written feedback on the first two rounds of each project, we’d recommend
setting up your next video session. If you’d prefer to schedule these sessions prior to starting on
each project (in order to plan your approach for each project), that’s fine as well. By now, you
should have fully incorporated all of your mentor’s feedback, and sessions should focus on:

● Discuss the drafts of the projects you worked on over the last week
○ Asking any outstanding questions you might have about their previous feedback
○ Having your mentor give a final critique of the most recent version of your project.
Written feedback is valuable, but hearing someone give their reactions to your
work in person is even more valuable! Take note of what they respond most
strongly to and what they have the most trouble with.
○ Discussing the pain points you had while working through the first project. Based
on the first project, where do you still think you need the most help? Be honest
with your mentor and ask them to give their unbiased feedback. If you’re still
struggling on a certain topic or skill, be honest! 10

● Discuss the next deliverables

 ○ Review the next deliverables associated with your project, focusing on WHAT
they are, WHY they are important, and HOW you should complete them.
○ Use the ​Project Overview Deck​ for a breakdown of the deliverables we suggest
focusing on.

Final Project Review + Portfolio Session: Overview

Near the end of the bootcamp, we suggest spending some time focused on your portfolio site
and ensuring that your current projects are in the proper format to show as full case studies on
your portfolio site.

● Your projects: If you have the final presentation-ready versions of your projects to show
your mentor for feedback, this is the time to do it. By now, you should be focused mostly
on what areas you can still improve and how you should be showcasing the project on
your portfolio site.

● Your portfolio site: Speaking of portfolio sites, this is the perfect time to discuss yours!
○ If you have a portfolio site already, you should spend 15 minutes with your
mentor reviewing it for structure, content, and overall branding. Ask your mentor
what they think you should change based on the skills and industry you’re hoping
to focus on. What projects should you showcase front and center? Do you still
need to create any personal branding (logo, typeface, etc.) for yourself?
○ If you don’t have a portfolio site, you should spend most of this session
discussing how you should structure it. Bring up all of your projects on your
screen and decide which ones you want to include and in what order. Also
discuss whether you need to work on any personal branding to make you stand
out more to employers. Ask your mentor if they have a favorite portfolio site
platform and what pages you should build for it outside of just showing your
projects.

Job / Interview Prep Session: Overview

This is when your career prep kicks into high gear! This session should on perfecting your
portfolio and how you speak about yourself and your design work.

● Your Portfolio
○ Review of your portfolio site and next steps based on edits you’ve made from
mentor feedback.
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 ● Your career goals
○ Chat with your mentor about whether or not you’re ready to start looking for jobs.
You should ask them to candidly tell you whether you think your portfolio is
strong enough to start applying for jobs or if you need to keep working on a few
additional projects. If you have time, feel free to review your resume and ask for
high-level feedback on how you’re branding and presenting yourself!

● Your dream roles

○ First, you should briefly review any roles you have found that seem like a great
fit. You and your mentor can align on whether they all seem like a good fit for you
and see whether they have any specific questions or cover letter requirements
that you’ll need to work on. These are the five jobs that you’ll apply to over the
next couple weeks.

● Your resume and portfolio site

○ Based on the roles that you found, do a review of your portfolio site and resume
with your mentor. Discuss whether there are any particular changes or edits you
need to make to either to make yourself stand out to these employers. If you
found a few employers in a specific industry, make sure any work that focuses on
that industry is front and center in your portfolio. Also make sure that the
responsibilities listed in the job description are called out prominently as skills in
your resume. Write a list of To-do’s that you need to work on in your resume and
portfolio prior to applying to these jobs.

● Elevator pitch
○ An elevator pitch is a short (30-60 second) overview of yourself, your work, and
your experience. When you’re in an interview or on a client call, you should be
able to succinctly discuss your background, what strengths and skillsets you
possess that would make you a valuable hire, as well as your work focus and
specialties that make you stand out above the crowd.
○ Start to brainstorm the different things that you should be showcasing in your
elevator pitch and write down a list with your mentor. Plan to start working on this
over the next two weeks so that you can perfect it when you land your first
interview. Use the materials provided by RookieUp to review what an elevator
pitch should include.

After this session, once you make any extra updates to your resume and portfolio site and have
a chance to write cover letters, you should actually apply to the five jobs you found! If you don’t
hear back, don’t get discouraged. This is the beginning of your journey and over time you’ll
perfect your application skills, improve your portfolio with more projects, and start landing more
interviews. :-)
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If you have time for more career-focused sessions

If you have more sessions to book with your mentor, this is your chance to perfect your elevator
pitch and practice the way you talk about your work. You should reference the Interview Prep
guide beforehand. Your mentor should ask you to talk about the following areas:

● Your elevator pitch: Start the session by practicing your elevator pitch. After giving it
once, ask your mentor for their feedback. Incorporate it and try again. Spend up to 10
minutes perfecting this, as this will be the first impression an employer has of you and
you should make it as strong as possible!

● Your process and projects: Now is time to get to the fun stuff - your projects! One of the
most important things recruiters look for in design talent is an ability to talk intelligently
about their design process, why they made the decisions they made. You should have
all of this documented from your work over the past month -- you might even have it
summarized on your portfolio.
○ Discuss at least two of your projects, starting by discussing the client (real or
fictional) and the problem you were trying to solve for them.
○ Discuss any constraints that were provided for the project and then dive into your
process.
○ Review your early concepts and discuss what you were trying to solve for in
each. Then discuss why you chose the final design that you did.
○ Finally, review the final version of the project and explain why you made each
decision that you did. Explain how the elements work on their own and as a
cohesive whole.
○ Ask your “interviewer” if they have any questions about the design as well!

● Your experience and strengths: If you have time, dive into some more traditional
interview questions. This could range from:
○ Discussing your strengths and specialties
○ Discussing your weaknesses and areas for improvement
○ Talking about your work style and how you fit into a team
○ Finally, talk about the interviewer’s “company” and why you want to work on their
creative team

Another tip we suggest is videotaping yourself talking about your portfolio pieces and then
watching several times, taking careful note of what you notice. Sometimes simply watching
yourself through someone else’s eyes is the best way to quickly understand what you’re doing
well and what you could improve upon!

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