(I'd actually posted this earlier but it had gotten lost in the moderation queue, I%u2019m leaving it unedited, it was supposed to appear after Scott Berkun%u2019s reply)
It's a little unclear of what you mean by the technical tester position you're being offered is about because you say technical tester (usability). Further detail on both the positions and organization would have been helpful. If the technical tester position (though I doubt) involves you to work only in Usability Testing, then I'd say go for it. You'll (hopefully) get to plan and conduct all types of usability tests on prototypes and products that are applicable to different phases of the product development life cycle, learn to analyze test data and present reports which will include recommendations to issues. And recommendations is where you'll get to use your interaction design skills since recommendations can involve presenting mockups, wireframes and simple prototypes in order to explain what exactly you're trying to propose. Do ask HR what exactly will your role entail or even better ask them if they could get you in touch with somebody within the company who can explain it to you in detail. Will you get to plan tests, facilitate them, act as a note taker or do all or any of them as required? Will you be analyzing data gained from the usability tests? Will preparing reports be a part of your role or your seniors take care of that? If not, how long will it take before you can do most of all of this? But if you meant QA by Technical tester (and I'm not aware of QA's handling usability testing), then I'll go with David, Elizabeth and Scott and say grab the technical writer position. There are also a lot of pure technical writers who move into usability and do a fantastic job in it. What%u2019s common is that both revolve around trying to understand the user and making products/ documents simple for them to use. In fact, Janice (Ginny) Redish who%u2019s co-authored %u201CUser and Task Analysis for Interface Design%u201D (fantastic book) amongst others and also known as the %u2018mother%u2019 of usability began work in document design and is a Ph.D. in Linguistics. Technical writing will certainly help you gain a good understanding of using simple language as effectively as possible which you can then apply to the products you will work upon as an interaction designer (sooner or) later in your career. Best of luck! Cone www.conetrees.com www.twitter.com/conetrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35392 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
