The Pros and Cons: Online vs. In-Person Courses for Advancing Your Career in UX/UI

With the amount of courses now available to learn UX/UI design, it’s hard to know which is the right one for you. Online, pre-recorded, in-person, hybrid….the possibilities are endless! 

There are clear benefits to each option depending on what your goals for the future are. For example, if you are looking to learn the basics simply to gain knowledge, then pre-recorded might be the best option for you. In this article we explore the pros and cons of each type of course format for advancing your career into UX/UI design. 

The flexibility of online learning

One of the biggest positives online learning can offer is the opportunity to study from wherever in the world. With the advancement of collaborative tools like Zoom and Figma, you no longer need to be in the same room in order to learn a new skill or work together on a project. If you are someone who travels a lot for work, online learning could be a great option for you as you can still dial into class, no matter where you are. 

In today’s post-pandemic climate, there has been a large shift towards hybrid and even fully remote working. For those people spending more time working from home, they might not want to venture into a training school, but would rather spend the time learning from their own environment. Nevertheless, this can also be a downside of online learning. When spending the day working from home, you might find extra hours learning on Zoom a chore and so don’t commit yourself to your learning as much as you should. It is easier to become less accountable when you know you don’t have to go into a classroom and are only joining over Zoom. We have seen this happen with some of our students at Experience Haus and can be hard when you see a student’s drive to break into this industry has gone. 

This lack of accountability is something students can also find with pre-recorded learning. When not having to answer to an instructor or don’t have classmates that rely on you, it is easy to become more relaxed with this type of learning. Although the pros of this type of learning include the flexibility it offers, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of free time, it isn’t always the best type of learning if you’re looking to start a career in this industry. When pivoting into something new, you are bound to have lots of questions about the different methods and tools you will need to know, but a pre-recorded learning style can’t offer this immediate assistance. You might have someone you can get in touch with, but your questions won’t be answered as quickly as they would be in an in-person or live online class. 

At Experience Haus, one of our most popular courses is our part-time online UX/UI Design course. During the course of 10 weeks you will learn the entire end-to-end design process used for designing digital products, all while working on a live client brief as part of a small design team. We think this course is really the best option for online learning as all the classes are live, but we still record the sessions so you can watch them back even after the course has finished. We strive to find the balance between teaching the theory to students, as well as running workshops that allow students to immediately apply what they have learned, while also being able to ask the instructor questions, if anything is unclear. Students also get the chance to work as part of a team, giving them an insight into how design teams work together in actual companies and agencies. 

We have had students from completely different backgrounds join this course, from graphic designers, to marketing executives, to chefs! Whether a student is refreshing their skills or learning from the beginning, this course has benefits for everyone.  

Immerse Yourself In the Industry with In-Person Learning

In-person learning is something we are very passionate about at Experience Haus. Despite offering a number of online courses that allow anyone to join, we cannot stress enough the importance of in-person learning when it comes to pivoting into a new career or industry. 

As mentioned above, some students find they are less accountable when it comes to online learning, whereas in an in-person course, they feel the need to show up and be present in the classroom. Speaking to students who have then joined our in-person Product Design course, this need for accountability is the one factor that has led them to choose an in-person course over an online one. 

Another benefit of in-person teaching is that typically the class sizes are smaller for physical classes. This means students have more opportunities to ask questions and have discussions with their classmates, as well as their instructor. We only take a maximum of 8 students on our in-person part-time course, and 10 students on our full-time bootcamp to give students the best possible learning experience and more opportunities to really advance their learning.  

We have two in-person UX/UI design courses that students can choose from to help advance their careers. For those who are still working full-time, we have our part-time Product Design (inc UX & UI) course, and for those who are looking to fully immerse themselves in the industry and want to get a new role within a few months, we have our full-time UX & UI Career Development Bootcamp. Both courses are great options and proof that students can join from any background, and still land a role within the UX/UI industry. Students who have the time to join our full-time bootcamp get the opportunity to work on 3 real client projects, and have further sessions on writing case studies, interview preparation and other career development sessions. This means that at the end of the 3 months, they have a portfolio of case studies that they can immediately start sending out to recruiters and hiring managers. This is the best course for students looking to jump into the industry right away. Students on our part-time Product Design course will still learn the theory and get the opportunity to work on a live client project, they will only miss out on the career development techniques. 

There are benefits to any type of learning. Choosing the right option for you depends on what you want to get out of the course and what your goals are for the future. At Experience Haus we have course options to suit everyone’s learning wants and needs.