Having empowered over 100,000 professionals around the world since 2012, BrainStation has earned a name for itself in digital skills training. Thanks to its curriculum, Career Accelerator Program, and the expertise of its educators and instructors, BrainStation works to equip students with the most relevant and sought-after skills needed to land their dream job in tech.
In BrainStation’s 2019 Outcomes Report, 94% of User Experience Design students found employment within 180 days, as did more than 95% of Web Development graduates and 95% of Data Science graduates. These graduates have gone on to work for some of the world’s largest organizations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
Switching careers can be daunting, but a career in tech is an investment in your future. With the growing need for digital skills across all industries, roles in Design, Web Development, and Data Science are in high demand. According to Indeed, there will be 1,300,000 new developer jobs in the next 10 years, while colleges can only produce 400,000 computer science degrees in the same time. This leaves a deficit of 900,000 positions to be filled, potentially by career changers.
Because of this high demand for qualified professionals, you would be looking at a handsome salary regardless of which field you choose to go into. Take UX/UI Designers, for example, who according to ZipRecruiter earn up to almost $90,000 per year. Or the average salary for a Data Scientist, which is around $108,971 per year.
How BrainStation Supports You in the Job Search
BrainStation offers a huge amount of support to its students throughout the job search process, both before and after graduation through its Career Accelerator Program. From networking events and Demo Days to one-on-one feedback sessions with career advisors, there is a wealth of support for you to polish your resume, portfolio, and job application.
Students also receive resume and cover letter writing workshops to learn how to communicate their impressive skill set.
BrainStation’s Talent Network and hiring partners consist of innovative enterprises such as Shopify, Hootsuite, and IBM that value the quality of BrainStation graduates and participate in Hackathons and in-class Design Sprints. These organizations are also part of BrainStation’s online Digital Leadership Event Series, where executives at leading tech companies share their insights and answer audience questions on how to thrive in the industry.
Talent Network partners attend BrainStation’s Demo Day, where bootcamp graduates present their final capstone projects. Data Science graduate Hannah Cheng highlights the positive impact of her program’s capstone project. “Ultimately this project is the communication between you and industry partners on Demo Day. It is the one time you can showcase to them what the 12 weeks were all about, what you learned, and what you are capable of; the capstone project is really a gateway to job hunts,” she said.
Student Success Stories
Whatever your previous experience, it’s never too late to switch careers; BrainStation’s students come from a whole range of backgrounds. Let’s hear what some alumni have to say about their experience, starting with the aforementioned graduate Hannah.
Hannah Cheng, Data Scientist
Prior to joining BrainStation, Hannah worked in a medical research lab and as an Equity Analyst for the healthcare sector. Hannah said she felt a pull towards BrainStation’s Data Science Bootcamp due to the “fast-paced evolution of the industry in terms of tech, the competitiveness of the job market, as well as my own ambition.”
“From experience, I knew there was an abundance of data to be leveraged and utilized in both the healthcare and finance industries; I had the technical knowledge back then, but lacked the skill-sets to execute those analyses. I thought it was only natural to make the transition and pick up some coding and technical analysis skills that could boost my resume and competitiveness in the market.”
For Hannah, enrolling in the bootcamp was a great way to bolster her marketable skill sets in a way that complemented both her education and her background. Aside from learning the necessary tools, Hannah benefitted from the wide-ranging advice of BrainStation’s Instructors. “I really appreciated the Instructors’ patience and expertise in helping the students get through a steep learning curve,” she said.
Asked about the most valuable skills she learned on her BrainStation program, Hannah points to furthering her understanding of “how to think critically, come up with viable solutions, and how to execute to arrive at the solution.”
“At the end of the day, thinking critically has always been a very important skill set in a professional development environment, but now you’re equipped with the technical skills to execute that, which is a very valuable asset,” she said.
“Apart from the hard skills, it was great to leverage the connection BrainStation has already established within the Toronto tech community. As someone who came from a different background, understanding how the tech world functioned, attending meetups and events, really helped to ease the initial transition process,” she added. “I am really glad to have made the decision to find a way to marry the two disciplines of my technical background and digital skills together.”
Dakarai Turner, Product Designer
Former Account Manager Dakarai felt unfulfilled and decided to change the course of his career. “I was getting jealous of the creatives I was working with because they were able to have that blend of strategy and creative thinking in their role, and I wasn’t getting a lot of that,” he said.
”UX design seemed to be that perfect blend of psychology, creative thinking, and strategy, which were all elements I was deeply interested in. That’s what led me to go into that field.”
Having spoken to various designers in the industry, Dakarai said that “BrainStation just kept coming up over and over.” Curious, he decided to reach out to some alumni on LinkedIn and organized coffee chats to really get a full scope of their experience. “I also liked that BrainStation had really great industry connections with some of the top tech companies,” he said.
Dakarai eventually completed the UX Design bootcamp: “I really liked my experience at BrainStation. I was able to dive deep into all the different UX methodologies and when and where [those methods] are used. It was also great because I was able to get feedback every step of the way from classmates, Teaching Assistants, and Educators. Having that full collaborative experience was really great.”
Speaking of the impact the program has had on his career, Dakarai points to the support provided to him by the BrainStation Career Accelerator Program, including portfolio reviews, advice, resume workshops, and various other aspects that prepared him to go into interviews with confidence. “I really credit BrainStation for helping me land a job a couple of months after graduating. I think without them it would have been hard to do all that on my own,” he said.
Laura Brennan, Support Analyst
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to have a technical background in order to succeed in the industry. Laura Brennan graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Music and then began working in administration roles in London, UK. However, she “always loved making things,” and performed best when in her element crafting, or designing graphics and document layouts.
Laura came to realize that she wanted to pursue a different career path and decided to try something completely different. Three years before starting the Web Development Bootcamp at BrainStation, she left London for rural France and started her own business in the form of a craft beer bar. “There were things about running the bar that I absolutely loved – liaising with local Brewers and Artisans, crafting something all my own from the ground up – but ultimately the reality was that running a bar in the middle of nowhere was unsustainable,” she said.
“By then, I knew what I wanted to do next – I had taken a chance on an Intro to Web Development night class to gain enough skills to make my own website for my bar, and I found that I loved to code. It had all the problem-solving, detail and design-oriented thinking, and creative energy I was looking for.”
Although Laura did not have a technical background herself, her father and younger brothers did. When she asked one of her brothers for advice on where to study, he recommended BrainStation as the best in the field. “I decided to take my biggest leap of faith yet, and enrolled at BrainStation,” she said.
Laura describes her experience at BrainStation as an intense three months: “I often felt like my brain was whirring far too fast for my body to keep up, but I can’t believe how quickly I progressed and how confident I feel in my abilities now. Not only have I built a strong foundation of knowledge in the field, but I’ve also learned how to keep teaching myself, how to continue to progress and adapt to an ever-changing industry.” She also points to BrainStation’s 4D Hackathon—an event where students from all four of BrainStation’s disciplines work together on a challenge—as a highlight of the experience. “It was incredibly rewarding just to be done with the project and have a working product to show off. On top of that, being announced as the winners made me feel on top of the world,” she said.
Taking part in a bootcamp program can feel overwhelming as you are learning so many new skills. But which skills stood out as the most valuable? According to Laura, “the most valuable skill I’ll be taking away from my time at BrainStation is the knowledge of how to learn to code, how to build on my existing knowledge and adapt to new technologies. I’m going to be entering an industry where the only constant is change, and knowing that I have the tools to change with the times is invaluable.”
Conclusion
As we’ve seen, BrainStation works to equip its students with all the necessary tools to kick-start an exciting and rewarding career in tech. It features a collaborative and project-based learning environment, as well as a wealth of advice from industry experts, all designed to support you in your program and beyond.
Graduate Laura puts it nicely when she says that “the world is only getting more and more online, so if you’re thinking of moving into the world of tech, I’d say go for it!” If you’re ready to launch your dream career, why not take a look at BrainStation’s courses and bootcamps? Speak to one of their Learning Advisors today to get the ball rolling.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
