Brian- Speaking for myself, I'll reply to questions 1 and 2. 1. The two new hires at my company are a recent grad (not an IxD degree, either) and a co-op who's just entering her second year at Drexel. There are opportunities out there...sometimes you can even approach a company that's looking for a senior IxD and convince them of the economy of hiring 2 entry-level people for the same net cost. I convinced myself of that wisdom, and have been very happy with the results. Besides, there are precious few 6-9 year veterans out there activley looking in any given market who are worth the effort. Now, as to whether you can afford to take that deep a pay cut...that's something only you can answer. Even our co-op position is a paid position, and almost everyone I know supplements with some kind of side work income. So maybe you can consider that..a lower-paying day job to build your resume and skills in IxD, with some night work in graphic design. Or you could just become an Ice Road Trucker. 2. My observation has been that there are two ways to evaluate work...evaluate the product or evaluate the process. Some people are good at doing both. I personally tend to favor the process, because the product is more frequently bound by constraints. So annotate the heck out of your Access app, and go in prepared to explain everything you did...the successes, the compromises, the things you've learned to never do again. This is the attitude that appeals most to hiring managers, especially those hiring people they plan to develop over a long period of time. Hope that helps, Dante
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Brian That's where I am. These are my questions: 1. ...However, I realize that I am in no way ready to take on an IXD job. At least not at a level comparable to my current salary. Every IXD ad has requirements of 6-9 years experience/degree in IXD, etc. How do I get a low-level, possibly part-time start? If I weren't supporting myself, I'd apply for an internship but I can't spare that time. 2. How can I document my interfaces in my portfolio? It seems like it would require screen shots with heavy notation and a long summary of the background of the system. Also, it's done in Access so while the interface is decent looking, I was severely limited in the form creation and so, all of the "quality" is in the behavior. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Guidelines ............ http://beta.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://beta.ixda.org/help Unsubscribe ................ http://beta.ixda.org/unsubscribe Questions .................. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Home ....................... http://beta.ixda.org
