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 Bloc.
- What does Bloc do?
- Who is Bloc for?
- What does Bloc cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Bloc
- Alternatives to Bloc
- How does Bloc compare to Pathrise?
What does Bloc do?
Bloc is an online bootcamp that helps people learn the technical skills necessary to land a job as a web developer or a designer. The courses help beginners learn the fundamentals of the subject so that they can land a job as that role.
The bootcamps are self-paced. But, students should dedicate approximately 720 active hours (15-20 hours per week) to finish the web developer track. Similarly, students should spend 864 hours (20-25 hours per week) to finish the designer track in 8 months. Students read and watch curriculum on the Bloc platform, though they may need to complete exercises from other sites. Students in the web developer track learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript for front-end and back-end dev, APIs, React, and jQuery. Designers learn the fundamentals of UX, visuals, and front-end. In both bootcamps, students participate in projects that they can add to their portfolios.
They offer career coaching alongside the technical training. Students in the program meet with their mentor once a week. If they have questions beyond that, the mentor can take 1-3 days to respond. If Bloc alumni do not receive a job within 6 months of graduating from the program, they get their money back.
Who is Bloc for?
The program is for beginners to learn the fundamentals. Therefore, people with no experience in design or web development but are looking to move into this career path could benefit from Bloc.
What does Bloc cost? How much work is involved?
The web developer track costs $8,500 for 8 months. If students choose to pay upfront, they can save $1,000. The designer track costs $9,600, but students who choose the upfront option will pay $8,500 for 8 months. For students who take longer than 8 months to finish the program, extensions are $1,200 per month.
There is no application process for Bloc. Students can enroll anytime and cohorts start every Monday. After students enroll, they go through an orientation where they learn about expectations of the program. The first few modules of the program are done before the first 1-on-1 with their mentor.
Ratings and reviews
The reviews online of Bloc are mixed. They are on SwitchUp’s list of best bootcamps. Plus, they have received an 84% on overall experience from 22 reviewers on Career Karma.
But, students reviewing on CourseReport felt frustrated by the number of graders and mentors they interacted with throughout the program. Rather than be matched with just one, they were changed frequently. People reported that this made it difficult for the mentor to follow the student’s progress.
Many students in the program did not finish within 8 months. Therefore, they had to pay extra tuition to cover the additional months. In addition, people felt that the curriculum was more of an outline that they needed to supplement on their own. A lot of the other reviews online are from 3-4 years ago, in which students report having difficulty with the administrative side of the program or dropping out because the mentorship and curriculum were subpar.
Alternatives to Bloc
As a bootcamp with a focus on software engineering and design, there are a fair number of alternatives to Bloc.
- Students interested in taking online self-guided or instructor-led product design courses can check out DesignerUp. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.
- 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 software engineering, data science, UX design, digital marketing, product management, and more. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
- If you are looking for a subscription-based online learning tool, you can try Learn UX, which has courses on a variety of topics under the UX/UI umbrella.
- GrowthX Academy and allWomen Academy are online bootcamps with courses in growth marketing, UX design, and sales and business development.
- You can also check out Bubble no-code bootcamps to learn how to make products without coding. Learn more about Bubble in our review.
- Aspiring designers can consider Designlab. This online bootcamp that teaches the necessary skills to land a job as a UX designer. Read more about Designlab in our review.
- Similarly, Miami Ad School has design and marketing courses where students can build portfolio projects.
More alternatives
- Similarly, Skillcrush, CareerFoundry, Interaction Design Foundation, Helio Training, V School, UX Design Institute, Big Nerd Ranch, and InternStreet are online bootcamps and resources with tracks in web development and design.
- HackDesign is a free design newsletter that offers lessons and tools that aspiring and current designers can benefit from.
- Similarly, UX Pro Academy and Avocademy have courses for beginners as well as more experienced people. Other options are Beginex, Design Sprint School, and Memorisely, which are UX design bootcamps with part-time courses.
- If you are more interested in bootcamps, Flatiron School and Designation offer online and in-person design courses on the same campus.
- You can check out Udacity and Springboard. These are online educational platforms that students can use to brush up on the basics or advance their current tech skills. Read more about Udacity and Springboard in our reviews.
- Similarly, 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.
- edX is one of the largest 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.
How does Bloc compare to Pathrise?
Bloc is a bootcamp, with courses for people who are interested in learning the skills needed to become a developer or designer from scratch. At Pathrise, job-seekers in our program should already have a background in the field they are interested in so that they can participate in and fully benefit from our technical workshops, where we provide a more specific curriculum based on what they will see in their interviews.
All of our workshops and sessions at Pathrise are live, as well as recorded, so that fellows in our program can review them afterwards and continue learning. Our program is flexible, with only 4 hours of group sessions per week and 1-on-1 sessions that can be scheduled whenever job-seekers need them and our curriculum is personalized to work on the specific skills that people struggle with the most.
Specifically, Pathrise focuses on technical and behavioral interviewing as well as resume and LinkedIn optimization, portfolio building and strengthening, cold email and reverse recruiting lessons, and negotiation templates and guidance. Fellows in Pathrise find a job, on average, within 3-5 months of joining the program. The Pathrise income share agreement means that fellows don’t need to pay anything until they start working at a job they love 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 want to work with any of our mentors to get help with your technical and behavioral interviews or with any other aspect of the job search, join Pathrise.
