Apprentice Applications for 2025: Take Your First Step or Second Step
If you’re looking to break into UX Design or Information Architecture, our 2025 Apprentice Program is a great way to get started. You’ll gain hands-on experience in key areas like UX Research or Design, plus work directly on a project with your mentor to really dig into the process.
Deadline: February 7th, 2025
UX design is constantly evolving, and this apprenticeship gives you the chance to deepen existing and new skills—whether that’s conducting user research, designing wireframes, learning new tools, or collaborating with your mentor on a project. It’s all about building your skills and confidence in the field, so you’re ready to take the next step in your career.
About the 2025 Apprentice Program
The apprentice program will start later in March and last 9 months. As always, the program is free, funded by goodwill and compassion for supporting the new generation of people aimed to work in tech, UX, and related disciplines.
Who should apply? – This hasn’t changed
We said this before, and we’ll say it again. The apprentice program is catered towards those who haven’t made it: they haven’t found their way and need help getting them on their way.
- If you’ve gone through grad school or bootcamp BUT don't have a supportive network of mentors and connections to introduce you to your next UX gig, come this way.
- If you’re a first-generation college student, born of immigrant parents, or identify as being the first in your family to navigate the complexities of being in the tech field, our door is open.
- If you feel like an outlier or a misfit, like you don’t fit anywhere or are not interested in a traditional path, we are here for you.
New for 2025
We have a new crew of mentors ready for next year. Past mentors are still mentoring continuing cohorts and they’re still around to advise us. Incoming apprentices have nearly 40 senior apprentices from previous cohorts to call on as accountability buddies.
For 2025 we’re accepting 5 apprentices within the Americas (Canada, United States, Mexico, Central America, South America). We will have 1 mentor for every apprentice.
The application is open from January 20th to February 7th, 2025.
About the apprentice program
This is a 9-month cohort, March to December, where you review user experience foundations. There’s no curriculum, maybe some short presentations along the way that may be related to projects you’re working on. It’s 9 months, with monthly meetings with your mentor and live office hours every month.
It is completely free - no debt, no income share agreement, no monthly subscriptions. All interactions, both learning and working, are conducted remotely.
The apprentice program is focused on developing your mindset, critical thinking skills, and use cases for working in the UX field. You won’t be learning about how to use Figma per se; tools come and go.
Building hard and soft skills for long-term success is the focus here. You should have some foundational understanding of what user experience is and how it could be applied in various contexts. You are expected to be engaged and meet regularly with your mentor and the community.
What will you get?
Over the course of your apprenticeship, you’ll learn and refresh your understanding and process for documentation, project management, content, and design deliverables, whether your focus is on content, design, research, or another tenet in the UX field.
- Networking with other apprentices
- Regular meetings with your mentor
- Informational workshops, mixers, etc.
- Most importantly, everyone is expected to pay it forward and help support one another.