At Ironhack, we’re dedicated to helping our graduates find jobs in their chosen fields as soon as possible post-graduation; that’s why we’ve created this series: to showcase our graduates and what they’re doing in their respective tech fields. Today, we’re going to focus on Fanni Puskás, a 2023 bootcamp graduate who landed a job during the bootcamp and is thrilled in her current role.
We sat down with Fanni to hear about her bootcamp experience, her life pre-Ironhack, and her current role. Let’s dive right in!
From Retail to UX/UI
Fanni began her career in retail at 18 as that’s what most people around her were doing and although she liked it, after ten years, she was ready for a change. Her partner at the time was a developer and he introduced her to the field of UX/UI design. Intrigued, she did some research and decided to start teaching herself UX/UI through short courses online.
While she did learn a lot from these courses and established a strong foundation of the theoretical aspects of the field, she found that she was frequently stuck when she had questions or doubts and without a teacher to ask, she was unable to advance to the next topic.
As she began her UX/UI journey, she became a Customer Support Manager at work and was introduced to user feedback and user research; this helped her see that a bootcamp would allow her to advance to more complex roles and responsibilities and once she left this role, she started looking into bootcamp options.
After exploring various bootcamp options, Fanni found that the following set Ironhack apart from the competition:
It was immediately visible to Fanni how helpful and instructive the bootcamp material would be for her.
She spoke with a Career Advisor about how the bootcamp would align with her future career goals.
Fanni had friends who had studied at Ironhack, in both UX/UI and other topics, and they were very pleased with the results.
Ironhack’s curriculum included the chance to work with real companies and produce real projects to include in her portfolio.
These factors made the decision to study at Ironhack very easy for Fanny.
UX/UI Design with Ironhack
Fanni began her bootcamp in mid-2023 and chose the remote option as she’d never had the opportunity to work or study fully remotely previously and wanted to also gain experience in this area. Below, we’ve outlined some of the areas that stood out to Fanni.
Project-based learning
On just the second day of class, Fanni’s UX/UI design cohort was already working on their first project, the first of five they would complete over the bootcamp duration. In addition to the valuable, real-life experience that these projects gave students, they also provided a huge advantage in the job hunt: some job applications ask for a minimum of three examples to be included in their portfolio, and Ironhackers were able to include all five.
Growing a community
As she had never studied or worked fully remotely, Fanni was unsure about how the class aspect would be remotely, but was surprised by how close the class grew throughout their time at Ironhack. To this day, they have an active group chat and even visit each other.
Real-life experience
Fanni noted that the courses were structured in a way that mirrored real-life sprints and because it was so intense, she felt prepared for the real world. She even got to learn coding basics, which is another skill she can add to her resume.
Remote assistance
When she first chose to take the remote course, she wasn’t sure what to expect. However, she was pleasantly surprised by the assistance provided by the alumni portal, which recorded all classes and uploaded them for students to later review. In addition, there was always someone online to answer questions or doubts, which helped her take advantage of the remote course’s flexibility.
Landing her First UX/UI Design Job
Fanni actually signed her contract in the middle of her bootcamp, which meant she didn’t fully participate in Ironhack’s Career week. Her contract, however, did stipulate that she needed to complete the bootcamp, as the education she would receive from the course was incredibly important to her future employer.
She joined a team where she was leading the design process and is currently also working on an internship a few hours a week that she landed through networking. Both employers highly valued her Ironhack education and saw that the skills she brought to the table were in demand and would be quite useful for their business needs.
In just three months, Fanni went from a beginner to advanced level in UX/UI and has successfully switched careers. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in? Check out Ironhack’s bootcamps in UX/UI design or any other field and learn how you too can transform your career and start doing what you love.
