Hugh,
I think part of the issue is where you come from. Very few of the IA/
Ixd's I have worked with have a background or undergrad in design.
There are a lot reasons to move into the interactive field, and that
often occurs after the undrgrad work and in fact after some real world
eye opening work. That has been a very powerful and successful pattern
in our field.
The GSSC as you called it is a sometimes slow moving, but very big
stage to work on. It that floats your boat it is out there. There are
also plenty of start ups and small shops, agencies and even academia.
As with any purchase (and grad school should be handled as a very
large purchase) you should evaluate what you get out of it both
financially and otherwise. The demand is very hot for well trained and
smart interaction folks that can land at a desk and be productive in a
short time.
Like Dave M says in another message on this post... you can get a lot,
if not all of this stuff working in the rights spot or company, but
not as intense or as quickly - and without the paper.
Mark
On Jan 19, 2010, at 11:19 AM, Hugh Griffith wrote:
Good grief! That's a lot of IA's. I'd like to work somewhere there's
even
one. :)
I'm thinking about this like a "realist" I suppose. (And that's
probably not
even the right term I'm looking for!) That's a lot of time and money
for
something that really isn't going to get you *that* far ahead. I
understand
if you had your heart set on working at a GSSC (that's "giant, soul
sucking,
corporation" for you folks at home), having that might elevate you
above the
crowd a bit. But, for most I would think working and learning on
your own
would be better in the short term, *and* still have the long term
benefits.
Don't get me wrong, school is great. But, school usually means debt
(for
most of us), and debt can really mess up your life and limit your
career
options. Especially in this economy!
Anyhoo, best of luck whichever road they travel down.
Hugh Griffith
User Interface Designer
On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 9:51 AM, mark schraad <mschr...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Hugh,
We have more than 30 IA's (we call them UXA's) in our group and
close to
75% have graduate degrees in Interaction design, HCI or an MBA. It
is not a
critical criteria in our hiring process, but it's sure become the
norm
amongst those able to show ability, experience and knowledge. Does
that
help?
Mark
On Jan 19, 2010, at 10:31 AM, Hugh Griffith wrote:
Just to play devil's advocate, what's a masters degree in ID going
to get
you other than a depleted bank account? (FYI, I'm assuming ID
refers to
web
interaction.)
It seems like such a specialized field that most employers
wouldn't really
care.
Hugh Griffith
User Interface Designer
On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 5:28 AM, Rob Nero <r...@nerointerfaces.com>
wrote:
Malmö, Sweden, has a 2 year Masters in IxD, along with PhD's in
IxD too.
www.ixdmalmo.se
(though the site is currently being developed more)
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