New to UX, 26 year old, in a small country. How to get started to UX job?

Careers & Mentoring
#1

Hi im 26, and deciding to switch careers. i live in small country called Singapore.

I studied Interactive Media Informatics which consist of Web Development, HCI, Graphic Design, Filming, 5 years ago. I use to be an intern in a Web / Digital Agency which creates websites, and also worked as a Developer for an e-learning website for a few months ,after that.

Ive already started signing up online courses, listening to podcasts, and alot of UX articles and trying my best to get a grasp of the UX field. and i really love this field as it fits my personality of always wanting to learn new skills, understanding people, strong in empathy, and i have the eye of problem solving and loving to make things change for the better.

my question is how do i get exposure and build connections/networking/mentors/jobs(without experience) here in my area?

#2

Meetups, conferences, book-clubs etc.

This topic might be helpful.

And welcome! :slight_smile: Great to have you here.

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#3

Are you looking for unpaid projects to build your resume?

#4

Yes i would love to, but i dont know whether im ready yet as i just started to learn a few weeks ago. Havent get a good grasp of the terminologies, and not confident yet on which ux research methods to use , with the thought process. @ben2

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#5

@HAWK Thank you for the help! Its such a great UX community!

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#6

I have just entered a UX school myself @ineffablefelicity , so, first of all, best of luck to you!

Before I ever thought about entering school, I read articles about UX and watched whatever YouTube material I could. In doing so, I started to notice things that I interacted with every day that could use a tweak or improvement. Because of my familiarity with it, I wrote up a document about those fixes to present to the company, if the chance ever occurred, as if I was presenting it to the lead UX or Web Development guy/gal themself.

I’m still working on that document.

I have, however, taken this pet project to this community when I had gotten stuck, received feedback, found a new direction to go, and I am still working on this between class and reading up on UX articles.

On top of your prior experience, projects like this with company, community, or even interviewee feedback will be something to show to job interviewers in your portfolio to say, “I have studied UX, here is my work, and what I have done qualifies me to work for you.”

As a side note, I have learned a lot from my school in my past week. So, here’s some topics to study/practice that I’ve gone over recently:

-Personas
-Card Sorting
-Wireframes and ‘High-Fidelity Mockups’
-Sitemaps
-Mood Boards
-Research Techniques such as Interviews and Surveys
-Writing up a Project Brief (also knows as a Creative Brief)
-Usability Studies (Including reading about Motion Tracking, and Eye Tracking, though I haven’t done these kinds of test yet.)

Again, best of luck on your research!
-braydn

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#7

Hi and welcome!
Singapore has a strong UX community and presence with a number of meetups that run on a regular basis.

Singapore also has a great UX conference that runs every 2 years (next one is in 2018 I believe).

By networking with those in the field, you’ll be able to get more exposure to UX.
Hope this helps, Ruth

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#8

Another thing that I use to structure my learning is two questions:

1.) What does it take to be minimally qualified for the role? Aka: what will people need me to be able to do to get in the door

2.) What are the skills that are rarest and most in-demand? Is there something you can possible learn to bring to the table that will distinguish you from everyone else?

#9

@treyroady Wow! didn’t expect this, It is really helpful ! helped me to define the clear path to whatever that i’m lacking in and to look out for . I’ve jsut browse through Linked in jobs to see the requirements and also finding out peoples roles who work in the UX.

@ruth Thanks for the heads up. Ive just attended some UX talks, but getting abit awkward with networking events since its my first time. But slowly im getting the hang of it. Thanks!

@BraydnDegraw Hello ! This is very informative. I’ve been reading up articles and podcast on all those personas/card sorting/ sitemaps etc. Getting the hang of it now. Right now i’m coming up with a real project with someone on a web app. one question. is it necessary to have a formal education in UX to be working in UX like signing up on GA/University/PRivate Bootcamps/Courses ? would it be enough to just be learning/ reading/ writing and creating projects to land a UX job?

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#11

It isn’t necessary at all, no!
What matters in design is the work that you do.
Being self-taught is perfectly fine, and it proves that you are self-motivating, which is good in any field.

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