CNM and United Way Partner to Create an All-Women’s Deep Dive Cohort
After years of success with their Deep Dive Coding bootcamps, CNM Ingenuity is now offering its first-ever User Experience / User Interface (UX/UI) Design bootcamp in conjunction with the United Way of Central New Mexico. The first cohort starts this week and will be a group of women who’ve experienced interpersonal violence and want to use their UX/UI skills to create economic independence and escape from any future abuse.
"United Way of Central New Mexico appreciates our partnership with CNM, which will mean that the six participants can look forward to using skills that are in tremendous demand across sectors," said Rodney Prunty, President and CEO of United Way of Central New Mexico. "By coming together, we're providing an important opportunity that will have real and lasting impact."
The Family Advocacy Center, which brings together many different organizations in order to provide free and confidential services for victims of interpersonal violence, identified all the women in the cohort and suggested they would be good candidates.
"This will be life-changing for the survivors enrolled," said Bev McMillan, the Family Advocacy Center Manager. "The graduates of this course will have a valuable skill and excellent prospects of employment, which will help ensure they can be independent from their abusers while building family resilience."
Funding for the bootcamp came from a variety of sources including the PNM Resources Power Up Grant, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Jennifer Riordan Sparkle Grant, and the Macy’s Cares Grant.
Broadly, UX applies to anything that can be experienced, such as a website, a vehicle, or a commercial, and uses design to help shape the interaction between the user and the product or service. UI is the point of interaction between the user and a digital device or product that gives it a unique look and feel. As an example, UX is used to design how a website functions, and UI is used to ensure things like website buttons stand out and serve their intended purpose.
Andrea Sisneros-Wichman, the Program Director for Deep Dive Coding, says Ingenuity picked UX/UI for this bootcamp because UX/UI skills are in high demand. They worked with local tech businesses, including RS21, to design the curriculum, and students will come out of the bootcamp with a developed portfolio.
“Every industry needs someone who can research and guide the user experience,” Andrea says. “I have no doubt that the students in this cohort will land important internships and jobs.”
Taught by Melody Carlisle, who’s the Lead Designer and VR Developer for Sol Acting Studios, UX/UI is the newest part-time bootcamp. Students are in class for 15 weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. The part-time schedule was developed so students could keep their day jobs. This cohort finishes in December and the next part-time UX/UI bootcamp, which starts in Feb. 2021, will be open to the public. Applications for the Feb. 2021 bootcamp are currently open.
“The development of this new training program is a great example of how our community can come together to help change lives,” Andrea says. “We appreciate all of our partners who have assisted us in launching this new bootcamp, and we can’t wait to share these success stories in the near future.”