Announcing a new Made Tech academy for design and user research

Applications for next Made Tech Academy open 7 February. I’m super-excited to share that we’re running a brand new academy for design and user research. This will run for 12 weeks alongside our usual software engineering academy.

Now – whether you want to launch a career in coding, design, or user research – we have an academy for you. Unlike other academies, here you’re an employee not a customer. You’ll earn a full salary while you learn.

Dates for your diary

7 February – academy applications open ?
20 February – academy applications close
16 May – academy begins ?
5 August – academy ends
8 August – the first day of your new career as a practitioner in your field ?

What to expect

We’ve designed the new academy to give you a grounding in all areas of user-centred design (UCD). Don’t worry if that’s not a term you’re familiar with. It just means that our approach to design is all about solving real needs of real people – it’s how we approach design at Made Tech.

The academy will give a grounding in:

user research
service design
interaction design
content design

We think it’s important for our design team to be familiar with all aspects of user-centred design. So we’ve designed the academy to do exactly that.

Maybe you have a particular discipline you’d like to specialise in. Maybe you haven’t made up your mind. Either way, the academy is the perfect place to start a career in user-centred design. It will help you choose a specialism if that’s what you want. Or it will give you a great foundation as a UCD generalist if that’s best for you.

We provide a safe space to learn. As well as our workshops and tutorials, you’ll do exercises solo, in pairs and in groups. You’ll learn from experienced design and user research practitioners. And you’ll get hands-on experience on real-world cases – potentially, live projects. If all goes well, you’ll join Made Tech as a permanent member of the team when the academy finishes. You’ll join a project team as a UCD practitioner.

Open to all, regardless of experience

We’re not looking for professional experience. Above all, we’re looking for an eagerness to learn. If you care about collaborating, communicating and working hands-on to solve problems, we’d love to hear from you.

Though the academy is a great way to kick off a career in design or user research, this doesn’t have to be your first job. We’re keen to hear from people changing careers, or coming back to work after some time out.

And we’re particularly keen to hear from people from under-represented backgrounds.

Apply for the academy

The academy is one way we can do our bit to build digital skills in the UK. And we’re doing what we can to open up design and technology careers to people from all backgrounds. One way we do that is to remove as many barriers to entry as we can. The main thing we’re looking for is a desire to learn.

I’m so proud that we’ve been able to encourage 51 people into a new career. By adding design and user research to our academy, I hope we can push that number much much higher.