Help finding scholarships or getting money funding for my online UX course?

Hi again, you guys might already know me. This might not be about UX or career on UX itself, but I’ll still post it since I am desperate and this could help anyone that has a similar problem as mine. But first of all no, this not about asking financial help here directly or crowdfunding here directly for my own problems, since I already did that here and it looks like it’s forbidden and not allowed here. I’m simply here to ask for you some help finding scholarships (if that even exist out there), fundings from others, finding some UX competitions out there with money rewards to help me finally afford the UX online courses that I want and finally break into UX and launch my career to start over.

Let me tell you about myself first, my reasons, my problems, and my motivations first real quick,

I’m 18 btw, and I’m from the Philippines. And I feel I’m stuck right here in a dead end, I’m currently on college that I no longer want to finish now (I’m taking BSCS) because it doesn’t have anything to do with UX, I can’t switch to any UX related college course here because simply our curriculum doesn’t exist and support that yet, and will not help me further on finding a UX job even when I finish it, now that I knew that your design portfolio is what matters when breaking into UX. I also feel like the whole college experience is so redundant, depressing, stressful, and just a bunch of waste of money and 4 more unbearable years of my life (currently on 2nd year).

That’s why I wanted to switch into that UX online course instead, and with that job guarantee, I think I could start my life over on that independently (move over finally from the family) and finally do and practice what I love to do now.

But the that 6 grand price always hold me back, plus I think I’ll need more than that for some starting living expenses and travel expenses for the networking, meeting with mentor events, applying for the jobs (I was thinking and dreaming of a UX job on the Silicon Valley companies that I love right away, since I always use them and love them, I have so many ideas to improve them and offer my talent, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Microsoft, Samsung, am I not being realistic here)

Now with my options, with scholarships, especially for a non-traditional students like me, it’s hard to find such scholarship grants with this type of education that I been wanting. I have trouble searching it online, there’s no such thing that really fits to what I need, I don’t even know if this really even exist out there

Now this is the part where I will ask for you guys some help because I’m desperate now. Do you guys happen to know anything, out there, that could help me, either a company, a foundation, a website or even a person that could help and support me with this? Financial funding, scholarships grantees that you can recommended that can I approach, maybe even that is UX related? Or even just some small or big UX contest that you know of, competitions out there that’s still happening right now, that I could join, to get even some money to fund this, while also practicing my skills at the same time in hopes that I only win? Anything that you know, websites, ways, things that I could do, or even just tips to help me find some money for this, get started.

Thanks I guess

Thanks for the reply. Appreciated it. I’ll definitely look this all, this really will be a long hunt

But I wanna ask, you since knowledgable on this matter, does scholarships really works and made this way, like they need to partner with that certain school first, or in my case bootcamps (also is bootcamps the real term here? Not course, or program, or online school. I need confirmation to those that know more UX than me bc this will help my research) to have a scholarships funding for that? Because as a UX designer myself too, I see scholarships are very badly designed by how it works, they work very linearly and specifically. Is there really not any grantees out there that could just grant for anything, any type of education, anywhere, without any prerequisites, or is it really even possible, without you being just a student loaner? Because most always needs to be a US citizen, and I’m still not, tho I want to later in employment, after studying this first.

Also Skills Fund is almost match on to what I really need, but UX Academy still not on the list of their partners, if you still know more that like this? Please don’t don’t hesitate to reply to me what you know more.

Thanks

You hit the nail on the head when you said your portfolio is what counts when trying to get into a UX job.’

Not your degree. Not your certifications.

UX is like medicine in a lot of ways. We’re practice our professions. There is no substitute for practical experience.

Unlike medicine, it is absolutely possible to get into the UX world without a formal UX certification. Your knowledge and expertise will determine your ability to break into the profession, but you can earn that by other methods than the classroom.

##Self Learning is Key

Books cost less than college classes, and there is no shortage of literature on the subject. Check out @chrisoliver’s Monster List of Book Recommendations. I’m working on a book about UX niches and am putting together a list of resources on UX specialties. There’s a stack exchange community based around UX, which is always a great learning tool for practical problems and solutions.

Make it a promise to learn something new everyday, and to answer at least one UX question every day.

##Practice Any Way You Can

It doesn’t matter whether you volunteer for non-profits, contribute to open source projects, or just work on writing UX reviews or case studies. Start working. Get better. Prove and improve your knowledge every day.

##Give Yourself a Kick in the A$$

Look, I get that college can suck. I get how miserable it is to be studying something you don’t like. I know what it means to want a different career so bad you can taste it.

Take it from someone who studied journalism, dropped out of college, muddled around for a few years (even becoming homeless for a while) before finally landing a job in this career field. Whatever your circumstances, however many friends you have, how heartbreaking those dreams may seem at the moment, you have a roof over your head, food in your belly, a brain that works wonderfully and the heart of a champion.

Anything is possible, as long as you keep trying. Once you quit, your dream dies forever. Desperation is the last refuge of a dream, and that’s where you are right now. You’re waiting for something to happen to you, and nothing has happened yet.

The key is to know that nothing will happen to you in your life. You will happen to things. Get out there and get it done.

Yes, life may be hard in the short run. Stay focused. Keep dreaming. Work hard.

Not only can you do it, you will do it. I believe in you.

I hope that’s all helpful. As always, let me know if I can help out more or answer any questions.

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Thanks for all the words, advices and encouragements. I really appreciate it.

Anyways, I have a real plan B on my mind, and if you want please it’s worth checking out on the other thread. I think I need validation on that bc that’s where I really work the talk.

Breaking out in UX with unsolicited redesigns

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