MS in UX design and Research ? Guidance Appreciated!

Careers & Mentoring
#1

Hello Im Rachit From India,

Im Currently Pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Computer Engineering(Final year).
To be short & Precise: Im not good at Programming & hate Mathematics.
I have interests in:

  • Human Computer Interaction
  • Design
  • Human Behaviour & Psychology.
  • Software Design & Principles
  • & a Good Hold on communication Language.

Im thinking to go for MS in UX design and Research & planning to study from Canada.
Im still confused as the Content is Huge & I wud be investing a huge amount of my parent’s hard earned Money :frowning:

  • Is it worth it ?
  • What skill shud i enhance being from a computer background student for the course ?
  • Do you Find me compatible for the Occupation ?

Pls, All of ur guidance & Response is precious- I wud Appreciate it !!

Thanks

#2

Hey Rachit,
I’m doing my MS in HCI at Indiana University.
Theres nothing that a university could teach you different than any of the online courses - if your goal is simply to work in the UX industry.
If you’d like to follow a more research oriented path, publish some papers, and later take up PhD, then an MS is totally worth it. The facilities good universities provide for research is really amazing.
The professors you work with matter a lot when you go for research. So make sure you do good amount of research about that before you make a decision.

Worth for money
To reiterate my previous point - unless your motivations are more research oriented, it is NOT worth spending lakhs and going abroad to study. Since you also mentioned youre still in your final year, it’d be better to work a couple of years at least before you go on for MS. Most of my classmates have about 3 to 7 years of work experience in all kinds of fields. It helps a lot of you have some workplace experiences to relate the education to.

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#3

Thanks for your Enthusiastic reply bro…
Im on it !

#4

I agree with @enlightened_06 – degrees are valuable for many reasons, but they are not a necessity when looking for UX work. I’d do some online learning first, and if you decide you do want to pursue this career and you have the time and money in the future, you can always revisit.

Investing your parent’s money in a degree adds an extra layer of pressure that probably isn’t necessary.

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#5

Thanks :+1:

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#6

Maybe this should be a different question or thread, but I am curious how professional UXers would feel about a HCI/human factors masters degree vs. information and knowledge management degree/library science, both with the intent to work in the user experience design. Would you have to always explain yourself in this industry if you had the latter?

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