About RED Academy
While writing this RED Academy Review, there were several inspirational success stories found involving people who moved from overseas to pursue their dreams in a booming tech hub.
A Canadian-based design and technology school, RED Academy uses a human-centric approach to give students the skills they need to succeed in the current job market. Tailored to meet the demands of the ever-evolving digital world, RED Academy Courses connect students to industry leaders to work on real-world projects for the hands-on experience that is required to thrive in this competitive digital landscape.
The following RED Academy review is a more in-depth look into the school and its programs to help you make the right choice.
Overview of RED Academy
Raisul Chowdhury moved from Bangladesh to Toronto with a dream to be part of one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the world. Having already received a scholarship from a leading MBA program in the U.S., Chowdhury says that, at first, doing an MBA seemed like the most logical choice to getting work in the tech industry.
Considering the time an MBA takes to finish, and increasing tuition costs, he realized that it might be worth exploring other options. In the end, Chowdhury chose RED Academy over the MBA so he could network and get the real-world experience that comes from the hands-on learning approach.
With the escalating costs of living in big cities, along with increased tuition in universities, students are rethinking their way forward.
Figuring out the process of moving to a new city can be quite lengthy in itself. It was ideal to see a school helping with relocation.
Finding a place to live in Toronto or Vancouver can be a full-time job (especially if you’re on a budget). Even if you’re not from Canada, RED Academy Vancouver and RED Academy Toronto say they make sure you have everything you need. Whether it’s finding a place to live, connecting to other students, the school helps you hit the ground running.
RED Academy Courses can be full-time or part-time. The work-study programs are longer, more intensive, and can help you finish the program on evenings and weekends.
Pros
- Applied learning methods
- Flexibility: full-time, part-time, work-study
- More real-world work experience
- Cost (can be less than university)
- Domestic and international scholarship opportunities
Cons
- Only offered in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, and London
- Increased living costs in Toronto and Vancouver
- No data released on their graduates’ success rate
- No information on which of their clients you will be working for; must contact admissions
RED Academy Digital Marketing Review
In an agency-style environment, mentors from the RED Academy Digital Marketing program help students build their portfolio while working on real client projects. The curriculum is designed to help you harness core skills in areas such as social media, search engine optimization, analytics, advertising, and content marketing.
If you want to learn more about digital marketing in this RED Academy review, there are five different streams under the Red Academy Digital Marketing program, including visual design and marketing strategy.
Full-Stack Marketer ($18,000 Domestic, $21,000 International)
This 24-week double diploma program combines marketing and visual design skills to free you from being dependent on designers.
To create various kinds of marketing campaigns and engaging user interfaces, this program consists of two 12-week installments, in which students apply the skills used by professionals in the areas of user interface, communication design, and digital marketing.
This helps you implement marketing strategies through the use of web and mobile applications using data-driven research, customer behavior analysis and more. By working on 5 real client projects, students can apply skills as they learn them. Here is a quick breakdown of the skills and technologies used in the curriculum:
- Digital marketing strategy
- Typography, colour & composition
- Google Analytics & tag manager
- Creative design software
- Search engine optimization
- User interface design & prototyping
- Brand strategy
- Human-centric design
- Content creation & strategy
- Google ads
- Web & app design
- Email & mobile marketing
- Social media management & advertising
The Full-Stack Marketer Work-Study program is 96 weeks and split into two segments. There are 48 weeks of study and 48 weeks of real work experience. For work-study, tuition costs $19,500 for domestic students and $22,000 for international students.
Digital Marketing Professional ($11,000 Domestic, $12,350 International)
To be an industry-ready professional with less of a time commitment, this program teaches the same marketing skills and helps you build a portfolio while working on real-world projects. People who don’t have a marketing background and want a quick start to their new career typically find this program ideal.
The Digital Marketing Professional Work-Study program is 24 weeks of study and 24 weeks of real work experience for a total of 48 weeks. Tuition costs $13,000.
Digital Marketing Foundation
If you who are reading this RED Academy review, are looking to study on a part-time basis: the Digital Marketing Foundation program is only 10 weeks. However, there is no price listed at the moment and your best bet is to contact the admissions office for more information.
By searching popular job boards with the skills that RED Academy teaches in their digital marketing courses, hundreds of ads can be found with job titles such as:
- Digital Marketing Specialist
- IQ Strategy Manager, Digital Marketing
- Digital Marketing Consultant
- Digital Marketing Developer, Global Digital Marketing
- Digital Marketing Coordinator
- Digital Marketing Specialist [email]
- Digital Marketing & Content Strategist
Those are a few examples of the thousands of digital marketing opportunities. However, if you want to be more design or tech-savvy, there are other options that we’ll get to in this RED Academy review.
RED Academy UX & UI Design Review
Design Thinking is a cognitive and strategic approach to designing products and services. It uses a human-centric perspective to create high-quality experiences. This is more than just what a product looks like, but starts by identifying human needs.
RED Academy uses the human-centric approach to develop friendly user experiences that balance organizational goals with interactive platforms and easy navigation for various digital platforms.
Essentially, you’ll be using industry-standard software while using Design Thinking techniques to identify and solve problems. Once applying UX & UI skills, you can design websites and applications from scratch.
In this RED Academy review, we’ll go through the list of programs offered on UX & UI Design.
The Full-Stack Designer ($18,000 Domestic, $21,000 International)
This 24-week program teaches core UX & UI skills while working with industry professionals on 5 client projects. The skills you learn are designed for the job market in either agencies, start-ups or on a freelance basis. This RED Academy review will give you a quick breakdown of the curriculum:
- Learning and applying human-centric design techniques
- Industry research methods
- Information architecture
- Workflow and client management
- Usability testing
- Web & app design
- Mobile design
- Typography, colour & composition
- Creative thinking and creative design software
- Prototyping
- Branding & marketing
- Iconography
The Full-Slack Designer Work-Study program is 96 weeks with a combined 48 weeks of study and 48 weeks of work experience. Tuition costs $19,500 for domestic students, and $22,000 for international students.
UX Designer Professional ($11,000 Domestic, $12,350 International)
This 12-week program connects students with industry professionals to work on 5 projects (3 projects with real clients). With the user-centric approach, students have thousands of interactions with people, products, services, and places throughout the city.
The UX Designer Professional Work-Study program is 48 weeks with a combined 24 weeks of study and 24 weeks of work experience. Tuition costs $13,000.
UI & Communication Designer Professional ($11,000 Domestic, $12,350 International)
UI Designers create engaging visuals that meet human and client needs. Understanding that the quality of UI Design can determine whether or not a business succeeds, this program teaches both the creative process and the technical aspects of user interface design.
The curriculum has many overlaps with other UX and UI programs and lists additional skills you can learn such as responsive web design, which is the optimization of screen sizes on mobile, tablet or desktop computers.
The UI Designer Professional Work-Study program is a 48-week program with a combined 24 weeks of study and 24 weeks of work experience. Tuition costs $13,000.
RED Academy Web and App Development Review
If you want to learn how to code and want to work more exclusively on the technical side of the digital landscape, these web and app development courses are designed to prepare you with the skills, latest technology and fundamental knowledge needed to thrive.
Whether you are a beginner or already have some knowledge, the industry professionals who teach the courses know what’s needed in the job market and prepare you with all you need to know to be successful. Here are the different course options to choose from:
The Full-Stack Developer ($18,000 Domestic, $21,000 International)
This 24-week program is designed for beginners who want to develop the skills needed to work as a developer. The first part of the course focuses on front-end development, which requires coding interactive sites by using basic single-page applications.
The second half of the course focuses on back-end web development. The entire process teaches you how to work collaboratively with UX and UI designers on real-world projects.
Here is a quick look at the skills and software included in the curriculum:
- HTML5 (web’s markup language)
- CSS3
- JAVASCRIPT
- JQUERY
- GULP
- SASS
- PHP
- WORDPRESS
- GIT AND GITHUB
- REACT (front-end UI component development)
- REDUX
- NODE.JS (back-end development)
- EXPRESS
- POSTGRESQL AND MONGODB
- METEOR
- REACT NATIVE
- CLOUD DEPLOYMENT
The Full-Stack Developer Work-Study diploma program is 96 weeks with a combined 48 weeks of study and 48 weeks in the field. Tuition costs $19,500 for domestic students and is $22,000 for international students.
Web Developer Professional ($18,000 Domestic, $21,000 International)
Throughout this 12-week program, you’re able to build a portfolio and connect with industry professionals while working on a series of real-world projects.
Immersing you in all the skills listed under the Full-Slack Developer program, you will also be introduced to Git and Github to learn master version control and open-source coding.
The Web Developer Professional Work-Study program is 48 weeks, combining 24 weeks of study and 24 weeks of work experience. Tuition costs $13,000.
Application Developer Professional ($11,000 Domestic, $12,350 International)
If you are not necessarily a beginner, this 12-week diploma program is designed for students who already have some knowledge and understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Allowing you to build on strengths, this program can help you get to the next level of application development. Similar to the web developer programs, you’ll be working in a collaborative environment with designers on several projects.
The Application Developer Professional Work-Study program is 48 weeks, half spent in-class and the other half in job placement. However, the study period of this program is held outside RED Academy’s regular hours. Tuition costs $13,000.
RED Academy Review: Scholarships
We’ll go into as much detail as possible in this RED Academy review, but contacting the institution’s financial advisor or admissions team is your best bet on learning about their payment and loan options.
They also accept applications to their scholarships. Here is a list of scholarships available:
- Paid in Full/Early Bird Incentive ($1000)
- Early Bird Incentive ($500)
- $500 offered if you register for Professional Courses
- $1000 offered if you register for Full-Stack Professional Courses
International scholarships are offered for the same courses. Conditions for receiving scholarships, however, include making a full payment to either Professional Courses or the Full-Stack Professional Courses.
Program-focused scholarships range from $250 to $2000. Internationally-trained professionals can apply to the Global Talent Loan Program, which provides funding between $1,000 and $15,000.
If you’re looking for a payment plan, RED Academy accepts payments on different timelines, either every 3 months, 6 months or 12 months. Your ability to use one of these payment methods will depend on how many people in a certain cohort apply.
Using student aid through federal and provincial governments is another option, in which you can apply for various scholarships, grants, and loans.
RED Academy Review: Are the Programs Worth It?
RED Academy courses are reviewed by students and graduates on the RED Academy website. Many a RED Academy review outline students’ positive experiences with the institution.
Considering the increasing costs of going to university, and the high cost of living in cities like Vancouver or Toronto, investing in practical skills at reasonable prices might be an option worth exploring.
The work-study options might appeal to people who want to start working sooner rather than later. Not only can the work-study programs cost less, but the additional benefits of applied learning work better for people who learn by doing.
RED Academy courses help people pivot quickly into thriving industries. The philosophy of applied project-based learning from industry professionals sets this institution apart from traditional colleges and universities that have less real-world applications.
The Personal & Professional Development (PPD) program helps students learn the soft skills needed to succeed in the real-world. Depending on your circumstances, RED Academy might be the most logical choice.
FAQ
In this RED Academy review, we’ll give you a quick breakdown of programs offered, time commitment (weeks), and costs for domestic and international students.
| Program | Weeks | Domestic | International |
| Full-Stack Marketer | 24 | $18,000 | $21,000 |
| Full-Stack Marketer Work-Study | 96 | $19,500 | $22,000 |
| Digital Marketing Professional | 12 | $11,000 | $12,350 |
| Digital Marketing Professional Work-Study | 48 | $13,000 | Contact admissions |
| Digital Marketing Foundation | 10 | Contact admissions | Contact admissions |
| Full-Stack Designer | 24 | $18,000 | $21,000 |
| Full-Stack Designer Work-Study | 96 | $19,500 | $22,000 |
| UX Designer Professional | 12 | $11,000 | $12,350 |
| UX Designer Work-Study | 48 | $13,000 | Contact admissions |
| UI & Communication Designer Professional | 12 | $11,000 | $12,350 |
| UI Designer Work-Study | 48 | $13,000 | Contact admissions |
| Full-Stack Developer Professional | 24 | $18,000 | $21,000 |
| Full-Stack Developer Work-Study | 96 | $19,500 | $22,000 |
| Web Developer Professional | 12 | $18,000 | $21,000 |
| Web Developer Work-Study | 48 | $13,000 | Contact admissions |
| Application Developer Professional | 12 | $11,000 | $12,350 |
| Application Developer Work-Study | 48 | $13,000 | Contact admissions |
Contact RED Academy
For more information, RED Academy can be reached by email and phone. You can also fill out the contact form directly on their website.
Email for admissions: admissions@redacademy.com
Email for international students: international@redacademy.com
Toronto phone: (647) 793-2333
Website: redacademy.com
Toronto Address:
462 Wellington St W #101, Toronto, ON M5V 1E3
Vancouver Address:
1490 W Broadway #200, Vancouver, BC V6H 4E8
It’s always better to explore your options. Check out our in-depth review on digital learning at BrainStation.
