I Know Nothing... But Want to Know Everything

Hi Everyone!

My name is Kelly, and I’m brand new to these boards. Without giving you a novel of text saying why I’m here, I’ll just throw out some basics:

-I’m currently working full time and going to school full time, just finishing up my general requirements
-I’m turning 25 next year, been in the professional working world of Human Resources since I was 19. I’m currently an HR Manager at a Fortune 500 company
-I live in Seattle, and am tentatively hoping on transferring to the University of Washington for a degree in Human-Centered Design and Engineering
-I am surrounded by opportunity in the technical field, but quite frankly have zero experience in anything

I’m really hoping I won’t get slammed for this, but I really know nothing. I know how much I love web design, even back in the Myspace days using the most basic HTML code was fascinating to me. Every assignment we had in school that required any sort of graphic design I loved. I love research, I love people, I love the way they think and learning how they make their decisions. This and a few chats with some UW professors, UX friends and an HP recruiter lead me to start thinking UX design.

I really hope I don’t sound like an idiot with this. “I totally want to do UX I just have no idea what it entails or what I should know.” I know, it sounds so dumb. I’m really here to see if anyone could offer advice or give me some insight on where to start my UX journey. I know once I start my core classes things will become clearer, but hey maybe I’m just wildly impatient. Are there any resources I can take advantage of to get a head start? Are there any books you would recommend? Podcasts? Articles? Journals to follow? Does anyone have experience across the tech board, maybe web design, data science, research? Really anything anyone could offer would be most welcome.

Sorry for the board spam. I’m hoping I don’t irritate too many people with my ignorance. Thanks in advance for your help.

Kelly

You don’t sound stupid. :slight_smile:
In fact, I’d say you sound like someone that has the guts to follow their heart.

Welcome on board.

I have a few suggestions. We have a great list of relevant books here that you could get stuck into.
We also have a comprehensive list of online courses here. I have [URL=“http://uxmastery.com/?s=review”]reviewed a number of them.

If you’re interested in getting stuck into some code, try Codecademy – it’s free and well structured.

Early next week we’ll be announcing a pretty awesome discount for our members for enrol to study UX online at uxtraining.com (a massive library of fantastic UX videos by monthly subscription). Keep an eye out for the review and coupon code on our blog.

I hope that gives you somewhere to start. Feel free to come back with further questions. :slight_smile:

Hi @kxk5420

I’m so excited for you starting on your journey, congratulations on making the leap!

One of my favourite web resources, and I know others here use it too is the http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ (no affiliation) they always have their finger on the pulse and have large data sets to pull their research from, that others may lack. They are thorough in their approach and if you sign up for alerts you’ll keep your finger on the pulse.

I also love the Story Mapping book by Jeff Patton http://www.amazon.com/User-Story-Mapping-Discover-Product/dp/1491904909 I found it helped organise tasks around goals and I use it as reference all the time when designing user flow, and whilst working with dev teams on prioritising outcomes instead of just building “more features”. Highly recommend it.

Have fun!
Warmly,

Louise

Hi Kelly,

Firstly, Welcome! :slight_smile:

I write the UX Agony Aunt column for Optimal Workshop and I get submissions from people in your shoes all the time!

Check out this one:

And this one:

Hi ASHM I am new too, I love UI UX design too :slight_smile: , let try your best, I think do from your heart , one day you will be cuccessful :slight_smile: nice too meet you. I hope we will be friend. I am Trancy from Vietnam so my english is not good. I hope I did not make you read my comment
difficultly

Hi @Trancy and welcome! Nice to meet you too! Don’t stress- I understand what you’re saying perfectly :slight_smile:

Hi @ASHM , i am also new here. I am from Nigeria and I love UX so much. I am willing to learn from all of you guys willing to impact knowledge to me.

Welcome on board @D_Nonconformist – glad you found us. Feel free to start a new thread if you have specific questions or if we can support you in any way. Also take a sec to jump in here and tell us about yourself. :slight_smile:

Welcome guys,

You have come to the right place.

Kelly you should have a look at usabilitycounts.com this guy is based in Seattle and the folks here on UX mastery have done an video chat with him in the past, I’m sure its on this site somewhere.

Get onto twitter and follow the best UX people, and follow the people they follow. Great stuff on there.

Also for saving articles and storing them for later reading, I’ve come across this recently and its a lifesaver. https://getpocket.com/

Good Luck
paddy

Patrick Neeman is brilliant! I think he’s awesome.