UX Design & Education
The state of design training in India
I ranted about boot camps in general, but now I want to delve into the sorry state of how design is being taught post some insightful conversations that I have had with people who have done them. Someone needs to call out these so-called design institutes/courses/bootcamps. For the lack of a better word, I call them Scams.
I have heard it countless times now. Every mentorship session gives me such valuable insights into how design education in the country is ruining potential designers, that it makes me want to cry. Some people realize it, some don’t and some blindly follow what the so-called teachers and mentors are saying and are not willing to budge from their opinion on the boot camp/courses. This could be because they don’t know what’s good and what’s not and just use that particular boot camp/course as a barometer of measurement for what a good course is.
Until you get them talking. Like coax them to start talking — then it all comes out in spades. And it is just upsetting to hear the things they tell.
“We have to pay extra for personal mentorship … otherwise they are not available for one-on-one sessions.”
“The session is only online and we can only chat with the mentor during the session. They are not available to talk post the classes.”
“They charged fees of 70–80k and didn’t help me in any way to secure a job after all the assurances.”
“The mentors are just 3–4 years in the field and have no idea what they are talking about. Most of the time they are not available for any sort of doubt clarification or mentorship.”
“They assured me that this portfolio template will get me interviews. It’s been months and I haven’t heard anything.”
“They put up all sorts of statements on their websites, but they don’t teach anything that matters. It’s mostly tools, we aren’t taught to think how to approach problems.”
“The portfolio I made is not landing me any jobs and they don’t review it properly. Can you help me make it better?”
“We have to pay extra to join a WhatsApp group where jobs are posted. And nothing comes out of that joining. What are we paying for?”
The ones below are pure gold 👇
The state of education is sad, no?
I dub them Scams.
I do. Whenever I talk to people about these courses, I am brutally honest. They are scams preying on gullible folks just to make money. Once you are done with a course, they don’t care about you. They got their money, they teach something for a few weeks/weekends/months and are done with you. Why will they help you with mentoring or getting jobs? Done and dusted. Now shoo. On to the next batch of gullible freshers and transitioners. And the cycle just goes on.
What does this result in? Mediocre so-called “design professionals” from these “top-notch” design institutes who have no skills, a bad portfolio, poor communication skills, no idea how the industry works, no idea how to think about solving problems, heavy on memorization of concepts … I could go on. None of the graduates is hireable. A company received over 200 resumes for a UX Designer position and the HR, with great difficulty, hired only 1 from those (this is actual info received from a startup founder). There are so many stories going around like these where the students are not even hireable or get hired for just making visuals or smaller jobs. For low salaries. That won’t even cover their expenditures or pay for the loans they take to do these courses.
What is the damn point these institutes are trying to make by ruining the lives of aspiring designers? Are they competing with engineering colleges that just generate engineers with no real skill or aptitude? It’s pretty bad if that’s what’s going to continue to happen.
The future is here and yet …
Training centres and institutes are still teaching the same thing. The same UX jargon, the same processes, and the same templates for portfolios and resumes. There is neither upgradation of their curriculum nor their faculty and mentors. And students have to pay the price for that. There is blame to be taken on both sides, but majorly, it hangs with institutes that make money out of poor students/junior designers/career transitioners by scamming them with words like “top-notch”, “world-class”, “guaranteed jobs”, “become a UX designer in 3 weeks/months, 6 weeks/months, 12 weeks, 15 weeks”. And what do they teach you over and over and over —
- the good old tools
- make dribbble-esque screens without understanding how it is done
- the same standard UX research process without even explaining it properly
- the same old design thinking process
- the same terminologies
- the same UX laws
- to learn by heart the heuristic principles
- the same portfolio template
- to make resumes that look like crap
Tell me, how are all these making one a good designer? Or to use their words, a “top-notch” designer? Granted, there will be some knowledgeable students who will go up and above to improve their all-around skills but what about those poor students who come from Tier 2 cities and towns with hopes and dreams in their eyes to become good UX designers? Do you just take their money and dash their dreams? Is this even ethical? Does it even strike your conscience that you are robbing someone’s life earnings and leaving them with nothing?
Something needs to be done ASAP!
I am sure there are some like-minded souls out there who think of the same thing. How can we revolutionize design education in this country? How can we make it in such a way we generate designers who are ready for the future? How can we get promising youngsters to be ready to tackle challenges that come their way?
We need to have a conversation on this. Right now.
We can’t handle the mediocrity these institutes are spawning. We need bright, smart, curious, future-ready thought leaders. Not designers. Not pixel pushers. We need those passionate problem solvers who will take challenge cracking to the next level with their out-of-the-box ideas.
I hope we can do that someday.
