Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I hope this is not too much of a tangent... Over the last month I have probably looked at close to a hundred resumes. This is only partially specific to the Chicago area, but there is a ton of talent out there. There are a lot of folks with excellent educational background, wonderful experience and great portfolios to show. What I find myself more and more concerned with is the ability to partner with product and technology folks to move great design forward and into the market. Frankly, it really does not matter if you are the worlds greatest uber designer... if you can't sell it, work collaboratively and push your passion through the labyrinth of compromise. Not everyone needs to have these skills, but in my world it will surely get you hired quicker and make you a more complete professional. This has been my call to the world of education (both under grad and grad) for the last year or so. You have to do more than supply studio skills. You have to teach students to think, to adapt, to explore and to work in their future environment. Mark Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Yes, Mark - and at the end of the day, we are measured by our execution. That's it. Great ideas, designs, collaboration, theory - wonderful - that's the ante at this table. You can't execute - all the way through to launch (with all the compromise and constraints and politics and bullshit from stupid people that frankly should be digging holes in the ground), well - WTF? Go sit in a coffee shop and blog about process, twitter about ideation - whatever gets you through the darkness of your soul - but we won't hire you if you can't execute, so practice up on your barista skills because I like my espresso a certain way. ~ will On Feb 25, 2010, at 10:16 AM, mark schraad wrote: I hope this is not too much of a tangent... Over the last month I have probably looked at close to a hundred resumes. This is only partially specific to the Chicago area, but there is a ton of talent out there. There are a lot of folks with excellent educational background, wonderful experience and great portfolios to show. What I find myself more and more concerned with is the ability to partner with product and technology folks to move great design forward and into the market. Frankly, it really does not matter if you are the worlds greatest uber designer... if you can't sell it, work collaboratively and push your passion through the labyrinth of compromise. Not everyone needs to have these skills, but in my world it will surely get you hired quicker and make you a more complete professional. This has been my call to the world of education (both under grad and grad) for the last year or so. You have to do more than supply studio skills. You have to teach students to think, to adapt, to explore and to work in their future environment. Mark Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
This is where experience enters the discussion, I think. There are a few skills that can only be learned through exposure. The ability to sell a design solution -- and adjust that solution, and partner with business and development to move that solution to market -- is critical, as is the ability to see the people you work with who aren't designers as partners rather than as obstructions (I really wish this would be taught in school!). The way to pick up the ability to work with others in an effective manner is to ... work with others. No big surprise. -Anne On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:16 AM, mark schraad mschr...@gmail.com wrote: I hope this is not too much of a tangent... Over the last month I have probably looked at close to a hundred resumes. This is only partially specific to the Chicago area, but there is a ton of talent out there. There are a lot of folks with excellent educational background, wonderful experience and great portfolios to show. What I find myself more and more concerned with is the ability to partner with product and technology folks to move great design forward and into the market. Frankly, it really does not matter if you are the worlds greatest uber designer... if you can't sell it, work collaboratively and push your passion through the labyrinth of compromise. Not everyone needs to have these skills, but in my world it will surely get you hired quicker and make you a more complete professional. This has been my call to the world of education (both under grad and grad) for the last year or so. You have to do more than supply studio skills. You have to teach students to think, to adapt, to explore and to work in their future environment. Mark Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I'm going to risk Will Evans trying to order coffee from me for being too theoretical (^_^) but a few things. As a profession, we're still defining ourselves. We started out as disparate professions and academic disciplines prior to c. 2001-2002. Then we started being drawn to and blending with each other -with our existing skillsets/competencies- when 2nd generation web was *really *hitting its stride and was a well-funded, massively-creative frontier. Since 2002ish a critical mass started defining ourselves as being almost the same. Because we play in the same pond, and ---at that time...until rather recently--- we also bonded over a particular new smart radical mindset/ideology/approach (i.e., radically diverging from the status quo of each of the original disciplines/professions). There were these schisms that we inherited from our legacy professions that didn't make sense to us. So we blurred the lines and were a new fluid creative mass. Now we seem to be fragmenting again. And also seem to be resisting accepting that reality. Still insisting we're the same. But we're not. I think that's what we're seeing in this discush---as well as people looking to educate and be eduated -- to hire and be hired. I don't mean that negatively. But a developer, even a skilled front-end developer, isn't a user researcher. A visual designer isn't an information architect. A designer whose strength is understanding the nature of interaction isn't a data junkie. Many work artifacts are the same, but the cognitive and creative strengths---and increasingly, it seemsbackgrounds cultivated through new educational programs, are different. (see prgms at RISD to Carnegie Mellon IxD to U Mich HCI) Current economics might seem to recommend hiring people with breadth and depth in *all *of these areas --- but reality is breadth and depth of **all** of these don't come in one person. Clearly, you'll get multiple skillsets per person -- but you can't get 6 or 7. At least not with any degree of expertise or depth. When you can, it's a person who''s been busy cultivating a variety of facets over a bunch of years. If you need a researcher and a front-end developer, and the front-end developer doesn't have background and proficiency in research---regardless of passion--they'll be a front-end developer. And your research will fall by the wayside. As for internships, apprenticeships etc I also see this as part of where we are as a profession. More mature professions have mentoring, internships, apprenticeships baked into themselves. Corporations aren't to be looked to for the answer. We have to determine it's necessary. I've chosen to contract since 2005 because it's a flexible lifestyle --- but soon I'll be moving into permanent FT employment. And when I do---as I *always *have in permanent jobs, I promise to set up an intern/apprentice program. Why? It's good for me as a manager, it's good for other employees, at all levels, and I personally believe we owe it to new people coming into our profession---in the same way we were all given breaks (yes, we also made our own breaks - but we did have more of an open frontier to barge around in and define, and we all were given a hand by someone else). Down the road I'm happy to help my peers set up programs like this. Maybe I'll put together an article/talk about it. Back in maybe 2000 I presented on this topic at Special Libraries Assn annual conference. As I said offline to Paul, and echoing what folks here have saidit's not effortless to bring in really junior people. It's time-consuming as hell and sometimes frustrating. But it's also stimulating, fun, surprising, lively, and positively challenging -- and an extra brain, set of eyes, hands to get work done, for not a lot of money. As far as execute I'd be curious if Mark and Will are in agreement about what execute means. I maybe Will saying it's about cranking out work/artifacts, while I hear Mark saying it's about being able to navigate complex environments, projects, personalities, politics, to be able to articulate a perspective and point of view, to teach, and to be a keen thinker and problem solver (beyond wireframes). Susan On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Michael Micheletti michael.michele...@gmail.com wrote: Bryan you have no idea how reassuring this is to me. I've been designing, and then helping build, web and desktop and mobile applications for years now. Our IxDA community hasn't really embraced and encouraged hands-on craft enough for me to feel entirely comfortable. This helps. I just finished a Hollywood UI prototype for a BlackBerry communications app yesterday. Wrote it myself, in Java. The developers will dismantle my prototype for layout parts, graphics, and other interface components. Our business folks are stopping in this morning to push buttons and critique the prototype loaded on a couple BlackBerrys. The upshot is that, if I wanted the UI to look and work
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Paul, I appreciate the thought and passion that went into your missive? rant? :-) In principle, I'm more than happy to have interns and think its a great way for graduates and those in the middle of their program to get experience and learn about the business world. However, it is a misapprehension to believe the labour is not free (even excluding overheads). Every person I supervise, no matter how senior or experienced, takes time and the sad fact is the more junior a person is, the more supervision they take -- especially as, until they've proven themselves, I couldn't put them on production work. But that could be 'cause I'm at a medium-sized agency and don't have the layers management to do so. To be honest, I believe only the larger companies / consultancies would be your best bet. --- Robert M. Fein Director of User Experience t: +44 (0)20 7908 0708 m: +44(0)7803 605 666 f: +44 (0)20 7908 0701 Moray House 23-31 Great Titchfield Street London, W1W 7PA - Original Message - From: paul farm...@gmail.com To: disc...@ixda.org Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 6:11 PM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment. I'd like to start this reply with a pre-emptive thank you for reading along in case it gets a bit wordy; this is a topic very near/dear to me. I too have noticed on twitter, and on the various nonMonster job boards that words like usability, user experience, are being mixed in more and more with the UX / UI / IxD tags thrown in as well. This is relatively fresh and not the usual 'web developer' posts that I've been used to seeing for years now. Fresh has it's questionable freshness factor though (as was commented on numerous times in the comments preceding mine) - it seems that someone in HR doing the posting for many of these companies replaced the former IT position with that of the web developer to the current senior UX/___ developer positions that seem so fresh and vibrant on the job and helpwanted area's. Junior Usability Guru/Ninja/Coordinator/Developer/Evangelist/Etc wanted * Oh cool, something for ME! - junior level, something I can learn more of the ropes with, something to advance on, and give back to a company in the near future as I develop further... oh wait, an asterisk? * - oh... junior to this company stands for having mastered 4 programming languages, with 5 years of experience, with the added pre-req' for having managerial experience in a specific field. oh.. ok, gotcha. (gulp). As someone that is (pardon the capslock) SINCERELY looking for a junior level position, that was raised on his own non-O'Reilly-coding-only diet of Zeldman, Krug, Nielsen, Garrett and others on the side to his university required programming/design courses that didn't include many of these UX/Standardista titans of industry - I have seen nearly ZERO job posts in the past 5 years with a legitimate junior position to work at, and WITH UX/UI. An internship here or there? sure, a handful out of 1,000 potential internships, that'll really reach the next generation of UX/UI'ers out there. People flock to the conferences as gold. People retweet one designers approval of another designers redesign as gold. Many people are buying the books, and are retooling their role in the IT department, in the Web team, in their immediate world; and are forgetting to give back, and to share, and to open doors for the next generation of UX'ers that exists. There is an entire generation of UX'ers that are not former (insert internet language programmer title here), or are not a hybrid of a former position that worked out and now they wear a new hat, or are not former artschool graduates that ground away at earlier photoshop or quark software on box monitors and now can boss others about typography... There is an entire generation of new, UX-minded, UX-from the ground-up future workers that are seeing that they have to go freelance if they don't have that ridiculous toolset - as being too well-rounded is a downfall that doesn't get you interviewed like these positions call for. This is not a cry for help, not at all - but an honest remark from my end to yours - how many 'experts', how many 'senior level', how many of those directors, managers, consultants, or other leaders of this UX/UI world that is bursting with life these days are willing to take on an intern? To take on an 'apprentice' that lives locally? To take on a 'shadow' that learns, works, and gives back to the company/team-project, and also builds for the future ahead? In all honesty, I can pull out 20? (30?!) names and emails that would be willing to work for free. Not one penny. Not one oh, the economy is bad excuse - as the money will come some day, but the c..h..a..n..c..e.. doesn't - because there is no job listing for chance. A bulletin board by the coffee maker, an online forum for UXSUPERJOBS'ETC that posts on twitter
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I'd like to start this reply with a pre-emptive thank you for reading along in case it gets a bit wordy; this is a topic very near/dear to me. I too have noticed on twitter, and on the various nonMonster job boards that words like usability, user experience, are being mixed in more and more with the UX / UI / IxD tags thrown in as well. This is relatively fresh and not the usual 'web developer' posts that I've been used to seeing for years now. Fresh has it's questionable freshness factor though (as was commented on numerous times in the comments preceding mine) - it seems that someone in HR doing the posting for many of these companies replaced the former IT position with that of the web developer to the current senior UX/___ developer positions that seem so fresh and vibrant on the job and helpwanted area's. Junior Usability Guru/Ninja/Coordinator/Developer/Evangelist/Etc wanted * Oh cool, something for ME! - junior level, something I can learn more of the ropes with, something to advance on, and give back to a company in the near future as I develop further... oh wait, an asterisk? * - oh... junior to this company stands for having mastered 4 programming languages, with 5 years of experience, with the added pre-req' for having managerial experience in a specific field. oh.. ok, gotcha. (gulp). As someone that is (pardon the capslock) SINCERELY looking for a junior level position, that was raised on his own non-O'Reilly-coding-only diet of Zeldman, Krug, Nielsen, Garrett and others on the side to his university required programming/design courses that didn't include many of these UX/Standardista titans of industry - I have seen nearly ZERO job posts in the past 5 years with a legitimate junior position to work at, and WITH UX/UI. An internship here or there? sure, a handful out of 1,000 potential internships, that'll really reach the next generation of UX/UI'ers out there. People flock to the conferences as gold. People retweet one designers approval of another designers redesign as gold. Many people are buying the books, and are retooling their role in the IT department, in the Web team, in their immediate world; and are forgetting to give back, and to share, and to open doors for the next generation of UX'ers that exists. There is an entire generation of UX'ers that are not former (insert internet language programmer title here), or are not a hybrid of a former position that worked out and now they wear a new hat, or are not former artschool graduates that ground away at earlier photoshop or quark software on box monitors and now can boss others about typography... There is an entire generation of new, UX-minded, UX-from the ground-up future workers that are seeing that they have to go freelance if they don't have that ridiculous toolset - as being too well-rounded is a downfall that doesn't get you interviewed like these positions call for. This is not a cry for help, not at all - but an honest remark from my end to yours - how many 'experts', how many 'senior level', how many of those directors, managers, consultants, or other leaders of this UX/UI world that is bursting with life these days are willing to take on an intern? To take on an 'apprentice' that lives locally? To take on a 'shadow' that learns, works, and gives back to the company/team-project, and also builds for the future ahead? In all honesty, I can pull out 20? (30?!) names and emails that would be willing to work for free. Not one penny. Not one oh, the economy is bad excuse - as the money will come some day, but the c..h..a..n..c..e.. doesn't - because there is no job listing for chance. A bulletin board by the coffee maker, an online forum for UXSUPERJOBS'ETC that posts on twitter the same post that another one reposted 4 minutes ago, a Linked'In job listing area doesn't exactly cover that, list that, or offer that. Beside the university that offers (some/limited) help in placing students into a UX based position, or a freelancer willing to grind away and learn the rough world of being on your own (but hey - you can write a great inspirational blog post someday of how you did it, no?) - Where is that current and previous generation of coders, IT guys, of those that attempted to convert a coworker into a 'usability expert' that COULD reach out to the new generation that is already grounded in best-practices, accessability, content quality-kings/queens ? Are there more UX/UI postings and listings? Yup. But where are the jobs that are cheap on your monthly/yearly budget that offer a double reward (extra productivity - an extra helping hand to free you up, and doing something to help someone advance their career, hopes, or dreams to hopefully give back later on down the road!) Those job posts don't exist (yet). Junior... isn't. Thanks again for reading along. I would like to finish on the thought that I am . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I happen to be one of these recruiters and I can assure you there is definitely an increase in UX jobs. I have been doing creative, web and advertising recruiting for almost 7 years now and I have never seen this kind of demand for UX/IA talent. I have done nothing for the last 2 months but work on UX and Interaction design jobs. Sure I had to Wikipedia a few of the buzz words, and not all recruiters your are going to speak with are going to have the industry trends and verbage down just perfect. However, that has nothing to do with the fact that there are companies/agencies hiring and these recruiters have direct access to their hiring manager and decision makers... If anyone is interested in hearing specifically about what I mean and what I am seeing, please feel free to contact me directly z...@paladinstaff.com or 972-813-0451. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
hmm? I think I'm just not that cynical. the lion's share of job reqs I've ever been a part of were created by the hiring department and not by the recruitment staff. When I've been a hiring manager the only reason I created laundry lists like these is b/c the budgets required it. Not to lower salary, but b/c the reality is that unless you can make shit, your skills as a designer to communicate to all stakeholders is severely limited. I have also learned that from my perspective for Jr. designers, I can mentor UCD stuff a lot easier and in shorter time than I can a laundry list of technical and tool stuff. I know this is the opposite of what even I have expressed in the past, but I have learned over the years that an amazing UI Developer with an open mind is easily convertable to the UX frameworks. But it is DAMN hard to ramp up a pure UXer on programming beyond simple script coding--i.e. advanced actionscript, java, .NET3.5+, etc. (those are NOT simple script coding). Flash Catalyst so far seems to be a breaking point where I can make stuff real, but I haven't seen examples of data manipulation yet. -- dave On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 5:59 PM, Anne Hjortshoj a...@annehj.com wrote: Maybe it's to lower the salary expectations? That's my assumption. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 4:47 PM, j. eric townsend j...@flatline.net wrote: Dave Malouf wrote: That reality is no longer true. There are a growing # of degree programs that include programming, visual design, and human-centered thinking than ever before. I agree that there are a lot of people fresh out of college with design degrees that have touched Java, AJAX, Flash and the like. (I've helped with classes where they were students, even.) And there are corresponding entry-level job openings out there for which they are very qualified. However, we see plenty of listings out here that have a laundry list of technologies *and* a list of experience requirements that nobody has straight out of college. They clearly want a senior, experienced person who is both an excellent designer and technologist, but they stick 2-4 years experience in the listing for reasons I don't exactly understand. Maybe it's to lower the salary expectations? -- J. E. 'jet' Townsend, IDSA Design, Fabrication, Hacking design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. -- Dave Malouf http://davemalouf.com/ http://twitter.com/daveixd http://scad.edu/industrialdesign http://ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Dave Am I understanding but b/c the reality is that unless you can make shit, your skills as a designer to communicate to all stakeholders is severely limited. this to mean you believe that everyone needs to know how to physically build now? that the roles of researcher, business/user requirements gatherer and interpreter, communicator, integrator, and concept designer do not stand on their own? thanks Susan Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I have also seen a trend of offering low wages on the basis of the recession's effect. As one of my Twitter friends said, If you pay banans, you end up with monkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Susan, I don't think this is an all or nothing thing. I am responding to this thread and people reflexively condemning these types of job descriptions. I used to be one of these people who would stand up on the soapbox on challenge the requirement of visual even prototyping skills along side interaction design skills that you listed. Having dug deep into recent EDU changes this past year I have seen students who do amazing work as conceptual and analytical designers who also have the skills to visualize and execute their concepts into prototypes. Are they doing production code? probably not, but they aren't that far off and if I literally went across the street to another program at my school they could. And I know that SCAD is not alone in having programs of such breadth and depth. So my message is more of a warning, than it is a proclamation of the way it has to be. It is a complication for those of us (yup, me too!) who after 17 years of doing conceptual and analytical design have not really learned how to master prototyping at truly high fidelity of both look and behavior. if I was to make a prediction for the next 5 years, I would say that the breaks are going to exist mostly between researcher, ux designer/developers, and then business logic developers. but in many cases the researcher and UX designer will be maintained through visual and non-production prototyping and then there will be a UI developer (using software as he model). I also don't think this is going to be uniform across all design theaters. Some will offer things the way they are now. Others will come up with new formulas that fit their needs. The reality is that there is no single way to break these down. So much of it is contextual. But what I didn't like in this thread is the de facto condemnation and cynicism of this approach that is being attacked. Hope that helps to clarify. -- dave -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Dave Great post, thanks -- really interesting perspective! And as a professor you're actively shaping the market/profession, as well as responding, as I suppose we all are :) Susan On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Dave Malouf dave@gmail.com wrote: Susan, I don't think this is an all or nothing thing. I am responding to this thread and people reflexively condemning these types of job descriptions. I used to be one of these people who would stand up on the soapbox on challenge the requirement of visual even prototyping skills along side interaction design skills that you listed. Having dug deep into recent EDU changes this past year I have seen students who do amazing work as conceptual and analytical designers who also have the skills to visualize and execute their concepts into prototypes. Are they doing production code? probably not, but they aren't that far off and if I literally went across the street to another program at my school they could. And I know that SCAD is not alone in having programs of such breadth and depth. So my message is more of a warning, than it is a proclamation of the way it has to be. It is a complication for those of us (yup, me too!) who after 17 years of doing conceptual and analytical design have not really learned how to master prototyping at truly high fidelity of both look and behavior. if I was to make a prediction for the next 5 years, I would say that the breaks are going to exist mostly between researcher, ux designer/developers, and then business logic developers. but in many cases the researcher and UX designer will be maintained through visual and non-production prototyping and then there will be a UI developer (using software as he model). I also don't think this is going to be uniform across all design theaters. Some will offer things the way they are now. Others will come up with new formulas that fit their needs. The reality is that there is no single way to break these down. So much of it is contextual. But what I didn't like in this thread is the de facto condemnation and cynicism of this approach that is being attacked. Hope that helps to clarify. -- dave -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I noticed this as well. Originally I was planning to look for my next job in the fall, but with the amount of positions open now and with the fear that this is temporary (though I would hope that it will be a continued term), I decided to start applying now with the hope to start in May. I submitted a few applications for positions in the DC area on Monday/Tuesday this week and had received two calls for phone interviews by the end of the week. Both places made it clear they had an urgent need to hire someone. The positions (UI design/development) are for someone with 1-3 yrs experience and I have 1.5 years experience doing front-end web development and UX/IA tasks for a college, some graduate-level coursework in a related field, and some digital PR internship experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I've noticed more positions that require 1-3 yrs experience. Also...sort of kitchen sink loading on a mish-mash of skillsets. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 1:38 AM, Erin Stewart emstew...@smcm.edu wrote: I noticed this as well. Originally I was planning to look for my next job in the fall, but with the amount of positions open now and with the fear that this is temporary (though I would hope that it will be a continued term), I decided to start applying now with the hope to start in May. I submitted a few applications for positions in the DC area on Monday/Tuesday this week and had received two calls for phone interviews by the end of the week. Both places made it clear they had an urgent need to hire someone. The positions (UI design/development) are for someone with 1-3 yrs experience and I have 1.5 years experience doing front-end web development and UX/IA tasks for a college, some graduate-level coursework in a related field, and some digital PR internship experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
So in other words, people want to pay for 1-3 years of experience, but they want to get a laundry list of massive skillz. Good luck with that. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Susan Doran susando...@gmail.com wrote: I've noticed more positions that require 1-3 yrs experience. Also...sort of kitchen sink loading on a mish-mash of skillsets. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 1:38 AM, Erin Stewart emstew...@smcm.edu wrote: I noticed this as well. Originally I was planning to look for my next job in the fall, but with the amount of positions open now and with the fear that this is temporary (though I would hope that it will be a continued term), I decided to start applying now with the hope to start in May. I submitted a few applications for positions in the DC area on Monday/Tuesday this week and had received two calls for phone interviews by the end of the week. Both places made it clear they had an urgent need to hire someone. The positions (UI design/development) are for someone with 1-3 yrs experience and I have 1.5 years experience doing front-end web development and UX/IA tasks for a college, some graduate-level coursework in a related field, and some digital PR internship experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
... and I mean good luck to the recruiters listing these roles, not to Susan. -A On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Anne Hjortshoj a...@annehj.com wrote: So in other words, people want to pay for 1-3 years of experience, but they want to get a laundry list of massive skillz. Good luck with that. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Susan Doran susando...@gmail.com wrote: I've noticed more positions that require 1-3 yrs experience. Also...sort of kitchen sink loading on a mish-mash of skillsets. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 1:38 AM, Erin Stewart emstew...@smcm.edu wrote: I noticed this as well. Originally I was planning to look for my next job in the fall, but with the amount of positions open now and with the fear that this is temporary (though I would hope that it will be a continued term), I decided to start applying now with the hope to start in May. I submitted a few applications for positions in the DC area on Monday/Tuesday this week and had received two calls for phone interviews by the end of the week. Both places made it clear they had an urgent need to hire someone. The positions (UI design/development) are for someone with 1-3 yrs experience and I have 1.5 years experience doing front-end web development and UX/IA tasks for a college, some graduate-level coursework in a related field, and some digital PR internship experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Still, it's a good sign for recent grads - up until recently there's been the experience catch-22 with jobs (most of those advertised up until now have been for at least 3 years experience), so at least it gives those recently out of school a chance to chalk up time, even if they have to do hard slog with those 'massive skillz' On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 9:15 AM, Anne Hjortshoj a...@annehj.com wrote: ... and I mean good luck to the recruiters listing these roles, not to Susan. -A On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Anne Hjortshoj a...@annehj.com wrote: So in other words, people want to pay for 1-3 years of experience, but they want to get a laundry list of massive skillz. Good luck with that. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Susan Doran susando...@gmail.com wrote: I've noticed more positions that require 1-3 yrs experience. Also...sort of kitchen sink loading on a mish-mash of skillsets. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 1:38 AM, Erin Stewart emstew...@smcm.edu wrote: I noticed this as well. Originally I was planning to look for my next job in the fall, but with the amount of positions open now and with the fear that this is temporary (though I would hope that it will be a continued term), I decided to start applying now with the hope to start in May. I submitted a few applications for positions in the DC area on Monday/Tuesday this week and had received two calls for phone interviews by the end of the week. Both places made it clear they had an urgent need to hire someone. The positions (UI design/development) are for someone with 1-3 yrs experience and I have 1.5 years experience doing front-end web development and UX/IA tasks for a college, some graduate-level coursework in a related field, and some digital PR internship experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Vicky Teinaki Email: vicky.tein...@gmail.com | Mobile: +64 021 027 01410 | Skype: vicky.teinaki | Twitter: @vickytnz | LinkedIn : http://nz.linkedin.com/in/vickyteinaki Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
I think this discussion board has become the default and go to posting venue. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:28 PM, Vicky Teinaki vicky.tein...@gmail.comwrote: Still, it's a good sign for recent grads - up until recently there's been the experience catch-22 with jobs (most of those advertised up until now have been for at least 3 years experience), so at least it gives those recently out of school a chance to chalk up time, even if they have to do hard slog with those 'massive skillz' On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 9:15 AM, Anne Hjortshoj a...@annehj.com wrote: ... and I mean good luck to the recruiters listing these roles, not to Susan. -A On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Anne Hjortshoj a...@annehj.com wrote: So in other words, people want to pay for 1-3 years of experience, but they want to get a laundry list of massive skillz. Good luck with that. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Susan Doran susando...@gmail.com wrote: I've noticed more positions that require 1-3 yrs experience. Also...sort of kitchen sink loading on a mish-mash of skillsets. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 1:38 AM, Erin Stewart emstew...@smcm.edu wrote: I noticed this as well. Originally I was planning to look for my next job in the fall, but with the amount of positions open now and with the fear that this is temporary (though I would hope that it will be a continued term), I decided to start applying now with the hope to start in May. I submitted a few applications for positions in the DC area on Monday/Tuesday this week and had received two calls for phone interviews by the end of the week. Both places made it clear they had an urgent need to hire someone. The positions (UI design/development) are for someone with 1-3 yrs experience and I have 1.5 years experience doing front-end web development and UX/IA tasks for a college, some graduate-level coursework in a related field, and some digital PR internship experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- ~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Vicky Teinaki Email: vicky.tein...@gmail.com | Mobile: +64 021 027 01410 | Skype: vicky.teinaki | Twitter: @vickytnz | LinkedIn : http://nz.linkedin.com/in/vickyteinaki Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Anne Hjortshoj wrote: So in other words, people want to pay for 1-3 years of experience, but they want to get a laundry list of massive skillz. That's what my wife has been running into lately. Job openings for someone with 2-5 years of experience but with a list of requirements she still doesn't have after ~20 years as a designer and IA. -- J. E. 'jet' Townsend, IDSA Design, Fabrication, Hacking design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
As I was saying in a side conversation with Susan, in better news: the market for independent (contract) UXDers seems to be revivifying, finally. I've had several good conversations in the last month with recruiters for positions and pay scales that are in line with my interests and my experience. So perhaps that particular drought is at an end. I think it will take at least another six months for the full-time/perm market to catch up. People's budgets simply aren't there yet, even if their needs are. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 3:45 PM, j. eric townsend j...@flatline.net wrote: Anne Hjortshoj wrote: So in other words, people want to pay for 1-3 years of experience, but they want to get a laundry list of massive skillz. That's what my wife has been running into lately. Job openings for someone with 2-5 years of experience but with a list of requirements she still doesn't have after ~20 years as a designer and IA. -- J. E. 'jet' Townsend, IDSA Design, Fabrication, Hacking design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Maybe it's to lower the salary expectations? That's my assumption. -Anne On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 4:47 PM, j. eric townsend j...@flatline.net wrote: Dave Malouf wrote: That reality is no longer true. There are a growing # of degree programs that include programming, visual design, and human-centered thinking than ever before. I agree that there are a lot of people fresh out of college with design degrees that have touched Java, AJAX, Flash and the like. (I've helped with classes where they were students, even.) And there are corresponding entry-level job openings out there for which they are very qualified. However, we see plenty of listings out here that have a laundry list of technologies *and* a list of experience requirements that nobody has straight out of college. They clearly want a senior, experienced person who is both an excellent designer and technologist, but they stick 2-4 years experience in the listing for reasons I don't exactly understand. Maybe it's to lower the salary expectations? -- J. E. 'jet' Townsend, IDSA Design, Fabrication, Hacking design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Anne Hjortshoj | a...@annehj.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj | Hjortshoj is pronounced YORT-soy. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Dave Agreed that it's partly generational. But it's more than generational, in terms of individuals and their generations. It's generational, in terms of evolution of our profession(s). We're entering our professions' third generation. As I said offline to Anne, what we're now seeing---in terms of positions requiring 1-3 years of experience and an impressively broad array and depth of skills/experience---is macroeconomic---hiring agents in a sluggish economy looking to get much more for much less. AND it's a result of proliferating IxD-related academic programs pumping out newly minted designers---hence, a rapidly growing supply pool. It's also the mixed blessing result in our-all selling to employers that they *need* to hire IxDsthe mixed part being employers often do not really understand what that means, or what they should be looking for. So portfolios that are the byproducts of classes where students are graded on well-rendered wireframes become *evidence *of competency, sharp thinking, experience, and creativity -- rather than as artifacts/documentation that may serve as a jumping-off point for conversations in which competency, sharp thinking, experience, and creativity can be explored. Looking at deliverables as core indicator of employee potential (etc), hiring agents will not see appreciable difference between someone with 1-3 yrs experience and someone with 7-10 yrs experience. And may not inderstand the appreciable differences in candidates---in terms of experience, insight, thinking, and perspective that aren't to be found in the deliverables themselves Current situation *is *fortunate for recent grads -- and there's a proliferation of them. That supply pool will continue to grow. Not as favorable for people who do have the years/depth of experience/skills. And not favorable for the profession qua profession. Looking at many technical professions -- and I'll include engineering, architecture, law, medicine -- distinctions are made among practitioners with various years of experience. Not everyone is regarded or compensated equally, once they've received their degree(s). Experience is seen as more than extraneous years clocked in. None of the above is about sticking one's head in the sand. Discussing and exploring what's happening -- and why -- is important to the further maturity of our professions. To articulate a reality is not to deny it...or even necessarily to assail it. Those who've chosen to teach are, thus, at least somewhat focused on sending newly minted undergraduates into the world and nabbing jobs at as high a level of pay as possible. That's a metric of their success as professors. If undergrad degree programs are successful at creating a high-job-placement/salary track record, the value of the program is demonstrated to the institution, the program gets more resources, faculty, funding, attracts more talented students -- benefits the college -- and the program itself grows. Traditionally, any art/design undergraduate who can pop into the world with a BA and earn $70K is doing very well. Nothing wrong with the above. But that's one, academia-oriented set of goals and agenda. Not necessarily synonymous with the long-term goals, agenda, and sustainability of a profession (or set of professions). And, yet, may be effecting tremendous change in the market, and therefore in the professions. btw -- like Anne, I'm seeing a promising uptick in 2010 in terms of hiring (I'm a contractor by choice) that rewards and remunerates for complexity, depth, and breadth of thinking and experience! -- Susan btw Dave said a good 90% of us who have over 10yrs (hell over 5yrs) experience do not have Bachelor degrees in computer design (new media, web design, etc.). But I believe--also I have no citations, which is lame of both of us---that surveys from years past re: people's backgrounds and salaries, *did *indicate high levels of people with masters-level education in MFA, ethnography/sociology, computer science, library science, MBA etc on one hand -- and on the other hand, many who were completely self-taught, often without college degrees -- and at one point not long ago, like 2004-05, education was often touted as elitist and often irrelevant - remember that?! But that was generation 2 On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 7:57 AM, Dave Malouf dave@gmail.com wrote: This issue is generational and not one of asking for too much. I'd say a good 90% of us who have over 10yrs (hell over 5yrs) experience do not have Bachelor degrees in computer design (new media, web design, etc.) That reality is no longer true. There are a growing # of degree programs that include programming, visual design, and human-centered thinking than ever before. yes, it is still growing, but to poo poo it as unreasonable, I think is putting your head in the sand. This will catch up to us. Now all you youngins who are straight out of school or even in school. Look at these job
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
To be fair, skill laundry lists are common in lots of fields. For example in IT, there are some ads with very silly requirements especially when the final salary is taken into account. Part of this may be for recruiters to get more bang for their buck, but another part might be a lack of insight into how the field actually works. Consider the number of ads even here asking for interactive designers when they want interaction designers; or several ads I've come across in my travels asking for X years experience in a particular toolset when the toolset had not existed that long. As a question to this group, did the recruiters that put out these ads seem clued up about IxD/IA/UXD? Or are did they seem more like jumping on the latest bandwagon? Perhaps if we could examine some of these ads ourselves, it might be useful feedback for recruiters (e.g., No, you shouldn't expect that level of effective skill for someone with less than 5 years experience but you're asking for new graduates). Comments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
FWIW, I've noticed that recruiters know much more about UX than they did even 3 years ago. I think this is in no small part to the efforts of IxDA, UPA, and some of the private groups like Forrester who publish state of the UX industry type of reports. I led the UPA's UX salary survey from 2005 to 2009, which was three report cycles. In the beginning, when the reports circulated it seemed that most of the questions I received from recruiters were of the what is UX variety. By the 2009 survey, recruiters knew the key terms and skill sets, primary job descriptions, and most importantly they knew how to interpret what employers were asking for. They weren't just parroting phrases to prospective hires. E.g., 2005 - I need an interactive designer (sic), do you know of one? 2010 - I'm looking for someone who can help a product team conduct early-stage design research, create personas and conceptual designs, and iterate the designs based on further data collection. BTW, in case anybody wants the free to all version of the 2009 UPA salary survey, you can get it at the link below. Yes, UPA's web site needs work. And yes, they're working hard on updating it. http://bit.ly/cpCOr7 I handed off the project to current board members at the end of the year, but if you have f.b. please @ me and I'll pass it to the salary survey project team. Wow, did I just slip into tweetspeak back there? -Paul - - - - - - - Paul Sherman p...@shermanux.com www.ShermanUX.com +1.512.917.1942 - - - - - - - Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
Hello, I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice to us recent college graduates with graphic design degrees where to truly start their career as UI/UX designers. Obviously there are multiple roads to the same place but what's a good road map? Thanks, Shelby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
