Career change

Hi all,

I’ve been working in the banking industry in IT, primarily infrastructure, for over 15 years, ive never been passionate about it, so I’m looking for a change in career. I’ve always loved graphics (the old man was a graphics designer in pre Mac world) and sketching , love building things (Lego architecture etc etc) - ie love to have a finished product, something I don’t get in my current profession. Which brings me to UX design OR web developer… I love the sound of both but which path do I go?? If UX, what courses (have to be online, self paced, Structured) aré available. Cost is no issue (within reason) if the. Courses come recommended!!

Any advice?

Thx

Wes (Aussie living in the US)

Hi Wes.

There are plenty of low-cost courses that will let you dip your feet and decide whether you like what you see. There’s a big list of UX courses here (many have been reviewed and rated). We can’t really help you make the decision about web development though. I guess it depends on whether you want to write code or study/design for people.

Matt

Hi Wes,
I came from a web development background and now spend a lot more time around the UX process. The main difference for me is that UX is so much more psychology based. It’s about how people think and react, rather than simply what something looks like.

If you’re looking for a great UX course (I’ve done a LOT of them) then check out the DesignLab ones. If you search for designlab on our courses page you’ll find one. I reviewed one of them [URL=“http://uxmastery.com/interaction-design/”]here.

Thanks for your responses guys…

Over the weekend I have run many google searches and found many UX / Web developer courses [some are below], but one thing I wasn’t really clear on in my original post was the main reason [apart from lack of passion for current career] for change - flexibility.

My goal is for my family and I to live basically anywhere in the world (Sydney house prices scare us!) but still be able to entertain a moderate income and the internet enables this. Do you guys have any opinion on if entrepreneurship is feasible as a UX Designer? Or would experience in web development and UX design be more beneficial? I know this question theoretically cannot be answered but any advice would be welcomed…

In terms of courses I have found… Any specific thoughts on these?

on your list - Careerfoundry : UX Designer / Web Developer
then there are these :- Bloc.io; thinkful.com; mysliderule.com… i have read mixed reviews and they are not cheap…

The designLab sounds good… Would you recommend doing the design 101, UX research and strategy as well as interaction design [in that order?]?

thx, Wes

I’ve actually only taken the Interaction Design course, but it was incredibly well structured and explained. I imagine their other courses will be the same formula.

Regarding your question around entrepreneurship and flexibility – theoretically either career should fit that bill in that they can both be done remotely. I know that Indi Young does the majority of her consultancy work remotely. http://indiyoung.com/

If you want to learn more about UX without breaking the bank I’d check out the courses on Coursera.org.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/humancomputerinteraction

Hello Wes,
I also like to suggest you to attend local UX/Design meetup around you also, which will help you in touch with a lot of people. From them you can learn a lot of things, you can discuss your doubts,etc. It will be a different learning experience, which will also help you to understand the current trends and professionalism involved in UX practice.

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