San Francisco’s Designer Fund has been doing great work for the design industry for several years. Their excellent Bridge program—which is now accepting applications for its first deadline of 1 March—is an amazing opportunity for experienced designers to connect with many of the companies pushing the boundaries on design today—from hotly tipped startups to late stage tech giants. It’s one of the most unique and prestigious career programs for designers anywhere. Even better, it remains entirely free.

This year, Designer Fund is hosting three Bridge programs, each focused on a different discipline: Product Design, Communication Design and Design Management. Bridge Fellows, as those accepted are called, gather once a week for family-style dinners, workshops, and talks from leading professionals. I gave one of those talks a few years back and the experience was fantastic: the Bridge fellows were exceptionally thoughtful and inquisitive, and the setting is singularly conducive to peeking behind the curtain on how design is made.

Applications for all three programs are open now, but hurry—as mentioned above, the deadline for the product design program is next Wed 1 March. All you need to apply is a link to your portfolio, your LinkedIn profile, and answers to a few simple questions. More info at designerfund.com