How I went about doing a comparative benchmarking for UX certification courses?
Tanishi Gola
As a psychology major exploring more fields of work or an engineer trying to switch career paths, UX research sounds like an enticing path to hop on. A field of design that forms the core of most projects and yet is so distinct from the cliche interpretation of ‘design’ that it is almost exotic. One common challenge someone might face in a situation like this is deciding how and where to start their journey. With a surfeit of options available online, it is natural that after a quick internet search, professionals and students take up one of the popular certification courses which everyone is doing. However, are these hot UX courses worth the time, effort, and money?
Curiosity got the best of us, and recently, Turian Labs peeked into the bank of UX certification courses on the world wide web. Being a part of this project, I went through a sea of information and research about the topic. With a researcher’s lens, I successfully compared and contrasted the different specifications offered under each course. I learned about many certifications. Sitting and weighing the various options on the list was a serious task. Let me share how I went about the research process for this particular project.
Defining the objective
Mapping out what we aim to achieve through a research project is always the first step. For this one, I listed down the research objectives. The main aim was to finally draw a comparison between the various independent and affiliated UX certifications by setting them side by side and deciding what stood out. I aimed to study each course structure in detail. At the end of the project, I saw myself with a clear understanding of why some UX courses were more desired and valued than the rest.
Secondary Research
I started plain and simple. I made a list. Through a bunch of internet searches, I noted down the most popular UX courses that professionals were enrolling in with a blindfold on. I was not surprised by my findings. Being a UX researcher, I have also taken the very route of doing a UX certification course. My findings through the secondary research did not fall far from what I already knew due to my prior exposure. Using my existing knowledge to back up my data, I noted down everything I could find about the top 7 courses in the market. I dived deeper into each of them individually.
I analyzed these courses on five factors which I essenced out from comments and reviews of people while choosing an online certification course. The top 5 aspects people consider are as follows:
Platform and availability: UX certifications can be classified into two categories. The ones available on popular e-learning platforms like Coursera or Skillshare, and the ones provided by independent brands standing strong in the field of UX. Under the latter category, I looked at standalone courses and boot camps for UX. During this, many prominent design education names offered UX courses for professionals and students.
Duration and pace: How long does the course take? Can the learner take it up at their own pace? How flexible are the deadlines? These are a few questions that I explored under this criteria. The pace of the course and whether it was live or pre-recorded mattered a lot to learners. In addition, the deadline for assignments and flexibility of attending were deciding factors in whether a course was preferred or not. Most learners preferred to take up these courses along with their college studies or professional jobs. This finding was backed up by the primary research I conducted later on.
Course content: There are so many UX courses out there, that what they offer to the learners in terms of content becomes a defining criterion for their success. I studied the course structure for each UX certification and validated them. Comparison between the course options on my list was majorly based on what unique thing the course had to offer to the learners.
Pricing: The fee that the certification courses charge plays an integral role in how people perceive them. Courses with a higher fee are unintentionally considered to be eminent. The affordability of the certification also becomes a key factor when it comes to students taking them up as a few courses might require them to have a solid financial source.
Job guarantee: Many professionals who take up UX courses to switch career paths also desire a job by the end of their learning journey. I learned that for this, a few independent courses do provide guaranteed placement after graduation. Meanwhile, in the case of some courses, the learners are promised a furnished portfolio with full-fledged projects to showcase their skills.
Primary Research
Once I had my facts, I decided to back up my findings with some primary research. I created a survey form and floated it for professionals and college students to answer. After a thorough analysis of the responses, I selected a few people whom I interviewed to gain more insights into why they opted for certain courses and what they planned to achieve.
Analysis and Benchmarking
My research process concluded with forming a benchmarking analysis for all my findings. I created a table. I put in all the information that I had gathered and weighed the measures against each other. I highlighted what was working for different courses and went ahead to map out an ideal UX certification course if one were to even exist.
In my research, the UX boot camp by Springboard emerged as a leader due to its in-depth course structure. It provides learners with one-on-one mentoring in the live classes and even guaranteed placement. Following Springboard, the UX course by CareerFoundry was another potential candidate due to the quality of its course content and the mentorship provided while it was in the hybrid model. However, all of them lacked practical hands-on experience to some extent, which was often a case of disappointment as sighted by many learners during my primary research.
I had a very enriching experience with this project. Building the project up from the start gave my whole process structure. It was effective in drawing out the findings. It provided a clear result for the project in the end. At Turian Labs, I have learnt about many approaches I can take for research. Drawing from them and charting my derived process was very empowering for me. I learned a lot through the research project as well as applied a lot of my knowledge and skills practically.