This is the first part of a two-part series covering the basics of beginning a career in user experience, plus a look at traditional schooling and bootcamp learning options. Part two covers online learning resources, the importance of finding the right fit, and what to do your first year on the job.
Where do I sign up?!
In a world where entire organizations measure success with tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the System Usability Scale (SUS), it’s no surprise that user experience design has grown so popular. While this growth represents an enormous opportunity for naturally empathetic technophiles like yourself, the road to success is not always a straight line.
Your ability to get into the right UX position could be the difference between productive iteration in an agile environment and fruitless nights cultivating carpal tunnel. Let me break it down…
[KiwiClickToTweet tweet=”Setting yourself up for success comes down to this—educated intentionalism, and a little self reflection.” quote=”Setting yourself up for success here comes down to two things—educated intentionalism, and a little self-reflection. “]
This is not difficult to accomplish in itself. But it’s certainly helpful to get pointers from someone who’s wandered the roads ahead of you.
I have my own unique story—my own winding road that has gotten me to where I am today. Along the way, I’ve seen what has worked and what hasn’t. I’ve embraced continuous learning, and have been able to assess the resources that the 21st century affords us—from traditional undergraduate schooling and bootcamps, to free online resources and on-the-job training.
Start with a good foundation
To initiate the uninitiated, I’m gonna start out with a classic. It’s one simple and essential question.
Why?
Why do you want to become a UX designer? I don’t mean this rhetorically, nor am I asking with the usual inferred negative inflection. I really mean it—ask yourself why. Take a minute to think through and internalize this, because having a clear and concise answer to this question will help later on.
Starting with ‘why’ is so important, that someone could write an entire book on the subject. In fact, someone already has. If you haven’t already read it, I highly suggest checking out Simon Sinek’s Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. In addition to being a must-read for business leaders, it’s a great primer for designers who must learn to ask ‘why’ and ‘how’, before asking ‘what.‘ For a quick taste, watch Simon’s TED Talk on how great leaders inspire action (runtime, 17:58).
Once you’ve established your personal ‘why’ for pursuing a job in user experience, use it as the foundation for every career-related decision moving forward. In the same way that a product’s mission guides the strategies and tasks that follow it, so does your ‘why’ guide your actions. This is your north star.
Okay, so we’ve stepped back from our initial question of ‘what’ (become a UX Designer!) and asked ‘why.‘ We have our metaphorical north star to guide us, and we’re ready to charge forward. You are doing great! Still with me?
Let’s get into the ‘how.‘ There is an enormous amount of both paid and free resources you take advantage of. While some have inherent benefits or drawbacks, armed with the right knowledge you’ll find a combination that works best for you.
Options for Learning
We live in a glorious time. Technology has enabled the proliferation of information in a way that human society has never experienced before. We have oodles of resources, literally at our fingertips. The options are so so many, and so varied, that it’s difficult to know where to start.
I don’t believe there is such a thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to learning. With that in mind, I’ll lay out options I’ve seen work well for others and or have personally had success with. Paired with an overview for each, and some of the benefits/drawback, you’ll get a good feel for what might work for you. And where to start.
Traditional schooling
Traditional schooling has gotten a lot of flak lately. Critics question its cost to the student, the overall value it provides, and its role in successfully getting graduates into desirable careers. Proponents of college education assert that students become more well-rounded human beings, and better prepared for interpersonal job demands when entering the workforce.
As a product of liberal arts undergraduate education myself, I can say that neither side is entirely right, and neither is entirely wrong. It’s a little column ‘a’ and a little column ‘b’, so-to-speak.
College is waaaaay too expensive. Overall, my own experience was very positive, but I walked away being shocked at what a motivated individual could’ve learned by simply reading the books required for class. Using the 80/20 rule analogy, the books seemed secondary (20% of the effort) and yet provided the bulk of the information (80% of the learning).
On the other hand, I had to opportunity to partake in countless critiques. Sharing designs you’ve spend hours pouring over can feel a bit like baring a piece of your soul. There’s an art to taking feedback during a critique and letting go of your ‘I know I’m right’ attitude, just as there is an art to being mindful of those human emotions when being the critiquer. As one of my absolute favorite professors correctly pointed out to me, this is an invaluable skill to have.
The liberal arts piece was actually the real deal. I had the opportunity to learn about subjects in art, history, and science that I otherwise would not have. I also got to know people who were different than me.
The liberal arts piece was actually the real deal. I had the opportunity to learn about subjects in art, history, and science that I otherwise would not have. I also got to know people who were different than me.
It is difficult to put a price on the liberal arts piece, but if the goal of college is perspective, there are other ways to go about it. I mean, the price of college tuition could easily buy you a multi-year trip backpacking around the world.
Regardless of whether you choose to attend college or forgo it, the lesson here is probably just to read—a lot. Since over one quarter of STEM workers don’t have a college degree, according to a 2017 U.S. Department of Commerce report, it must mean there are other options out there that are working. So, what are they?
Bootcamps
Bootcamps are an alternative to traditional schooling, and are a little newer to the scene. For a comparison, the first coding bootcamps took place in 2011, while the founding of Harvard dates back to 1636. Pedigree is great and all, but old institutions like this tend to fall behind. As Daniel Gelernter, CEO of tech startup Dittach told Fortune Magazine, “University computer science departments are in miserable shape: 10 years behind in a field that changes every 10 minutes.”
These coding bootcamps followed in the steps of other disruptive tech-related businesses models, and soon expanded to include subjects like data science and user experience. As their popularity continued to grow, some universities started their own bootcamp courses, or have partnered with an existing organization.
Bootcamps offer some clear advantages: they provide a condensed curriculum that is hyper-focused on a particular subject, with the goal of making you competent in a given field as quickly as possible. Unlike traditional schooling, the nature of a bootcamp tends to ensure you’ll be with people who are truly passionate about learning the subject (although you’d still be surprised sometimes).
With all these benefits, it’s important to remember that bootcamps are often run by private for-profit companies; even ones that are partnered with universities. I’m a capitalist by nature, so I don’t personally believe this is inherently bad, but it does mean the quality of these courses ranges widely. For instance, I’ve heard positive things about General Assembly, and not-so-great things about some others. As with all classes, your experience will vary a great deal depending on the instructor you get.
No such thing as one size fits all
Bootcamps and traditional schooling options is just scratching the surface what’s available to help you push your career goals to the next level. In the upcoming part two of this post, I’ll help you find the best online (and free) learning resources, the importance of finding the right fit at a company, and what to do your first year on the job.
If you liked the article or feel like I missed out on an important piece of information, leave a comment below. Your feedback may make it into this article or a future one, and if you simply enjoyed it we want to hear it!
Great article Taylor! One of the most difficult things about a traditional college design education is that the learning happens as a result of design thinking choices made by the students while their doing the work. By critiquing, the entire class can learn from each other. That method has little impact with self-learning through YouTube, even though YouTube has to be a go-to for all self learners. It’s been interesting to see the industry change over the years. Keep writing! You are great at it. Of course, #mystudentsarethebest 🙂
Cheers!
Beth! I’m so glad you read it! You bring up very good points — I’d love to work some of them into my material.
Thanks for the encouragement, it really means a lot.