Hi!
I was wondering if someone might be able to help me with a question about statistics. How important is it to have formal education or experience with statistics for getting a job in UX design? Does it help to get a job on your resume with a title like Data Processing Technician or Quality Assurance Specialist if that job involves putting together reports on trends in the data? Or would that not hold much weight without formal education? I currently have an anthropology degree (involved very little training in quantitative research) and live in the U.S.
Thanks!
In general a formal education in stats is not currently essential at all, I would say.
Most employers wouldn’t expect it as part of a usual UX skillset despite UXers handling data and identifying (not just reporting) trends on a daily basis. Those job titles wouldn’t necessarily indicate the right mix for an experience designer. Having said that, lot of people come from those roles into UX, or have significant crossover/collaboration.
Our Annual Reader’s Survey shows UX positions for in-house roles are heading towards certain specialisations, so if you already had quantitative data analysis skills it could be a helpful point of difference.
The fundamentals of statistical analysis and an understanding of data driven design are important though. Some of the basics can be picked up with thanks to excellent resources like the topics and calculators on Jeff Sauro’s measuringu.com.
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Thanks much for the information, I’ll definitely check out that website! I’m thinking about learning more UX skills and then trying to get an internship or a web design job to start, so this helps me a lot to figure out what I need moving forward.
It really depends on the country you’re living I think. In the Netherlands, where I’m from, a degree is most of the time needed (or experience).
My suggestion to you is to learning and document your journey, while documenting it you can start with personal branding. For example, you the things you’ve learned on LinkedIn (underestimated how much value this platform has), but also on Instagram. This way your friends, family, (old) classmates all know what you’re up to. This might help you in finding a job in the end.
Next to that write blogs and/or case studies on Medium.
Feel free to add me on LinkedIn, if you need a mentor for this I’m glad to help you for free (no strings attached) since I want to improve my mentor skills.