Career advice for someone transitioning into UX

Careers & Mentoring
#1

I am in full-time employment, Packaging Technologist past 7 years specialised in Sustainable Packaging and Circular Plastic Economy. Before I used to design bespoke furniture and lighting, organically I ended up doing Packaging structure and Graphic design, packaging is a product and needs to be manufactured so I manage that process and enjoy it until recently. I have a degree in Product Design (as in industrial design no digital products!). Since 2003 I had a strong interested in Human centre design.

I am in my late 30’s, I am ready and looking forwards to make this (tricky) career change. I have been following UX blogs and listening to UX podcast for some years now. I strongly feel I will be a good User Researcher but would prefer to work on the entire UX process at least for the first few years before specialising in an area of UX.

So my question (and thanks for reading this far!) is will I be better off doing the shortest full time UX course to learn the basics of the UX design process with the Design Institute so I can then get a junior position ASAP (many jobs in my area) and take it from there OR should I do the longer, more in depth CF course instead, as the extra in-depth content would make my life easier through the first few years of my UX career?

Would love to hear your opinion! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

#2

Hey Vita,
I’ve split this part of your question out into a new topic to keep it separate from the bootcamp topic. I hope that’s ok. :slight_smile:

My advice would be to take the shorter course and get experience. I think it’s almost always a better option to do some short course online learning to get the basics and to make sure that UX is the right choice for you before investing a lot of money in a bootcamp or longer course.

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#3

Thanks HAWK for prompt reply and help, very much appreciated! I am taking your advice. I was also considering doing after the UX course a Design Spring Masterclass online course from AJSmart. Seems like a good skill to have as well but not sure if this is only for very advance UX professionals . They claim is for everybody. Have you got any experience with these spring masterclasses? https://ajsmart.com/masterclass?_ga=2.62216750.385400424.1563358021-1547891758.1563358021

Thanks.

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#4

I don’t sorry!

#5

My opinion is do it right the first time, or you’ll just end up doing multiple courses.
You mentioned the Design Institute, so I assume you are referring to https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/
I work at UXDI, so can give you a little more info about our online course if that helps?

The course is designed to provide you with everything you need to start a career in UX Design. Firstly, the course is a Professional Diploma in UX Design which is university accredited and globally recognised qualification. This means the course has been fully assessed and approved by an educational institute and proven to be off the right duration, quality of content and learning outcomes be accredited at university standard.

This is great from an academic qualifications perspective but we wanted to go a step further so we also got the course industry approved. What this means is that we put the course in front of an Industry Advisory Council made up of people from tech giants such as Dell, Mastercard, Virgin, SAP, to name a few. Their role was to assess the course from an industry perspective to ensure the person who takes the course has all the skills and knowledge to move into the industry right away.
What the course gives you is a globally recognised qualification to confirm you have an education in the subject, and a full portfolio of work to prove you have the skills and knowledge.

The UX industry is booming right now and set to continue to grow, with the number of positions available well outweighing the number of qualified designers available. The two most powerful assets you can have right now is a recognised qualification and portfolio. This will give you a competitive edge in interviews as a huge amount of designers out there are unqualified and recruitment agencies and companies are no longer using experience as a measurement tool for good candidates.

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#6

Hello @HAWK, @david02,

I’m currently considering enrolling in a Bootcamp class to pursue UX/UI. I am very drawn to the visual components of the job (wireframing, prototyping, interface design). As a UX/UI designer, what percentage of my job would consist of these tasks that I most enjoy?

I could also go down the path of pursuing UI only, though I’d prefer to have a well-rounded understanding and skills of both UX/UI so I would have more flexibility in choosing my job opportunities.

I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!