Learning UX Design
In Episode #6, we look at the different paths to get an education in UX Design and discuss whether it's possible to become a self-taught UX Designer.
For the past few years, especially since I started volunteering as a Mentor in 2020, I’ve been hearing this a lot:
“I’ve got a friend who recently discovered UX Design and would like to pursue this career. Can you point them to a good learning material?”
So, I looked at my bookmarks and books on my shelves and tried to put together a useful list of resources for this poor person. Maybe not financially poor, but from an entire sea of resources point of view.
Each time, it required an extra effort, as I wanted to tailor the resources list to specific needs. It became a repetitive and time-consuming task.
Recently, I asked myself - why not do it once, put it somewhere online, and let it do the job? So, together with Mateusz, we did it.
Today, we are introducing UXStarter – a perfect place to start your journey with UX Design. If you are looking for free, high-quality resources and learning material, need guidance on what to learn next, and would like to understand techniques and tools that Product and UX Designers use in their daily tasks, look no further. We have got you covered.
We didn’t want to create another resource list with hundreds of random links, making the whole learning process even more difficult and overwhelming. We carefully picked only these resources that will really make an impact and help you grow your career from the early days.
The resources at UXStarter are split into two main categories: General UX Design and Visual Design. The first one is recommended for everyone willing to pursue a UX or Product Designer career. The second one is for folks who also want to improve their visual skills to make their User Interfaces (UI) beautiful and easy to use.
So, if you have a friend at the beginning of their UX or Product Design career, please share UXStarter with them. Do not hesitate to point them to this article, too. It’s full of answers to these basic questions:
How to become a UX Designer?
Can you learn UX Design on your own?
What to do to stand out in the tough job market of 2024?
How to become a UX Designer?
Twelve years ago, when I was starting my university phase of education, User Experience was not a popular choice. In fact, UX was available as a major field at maybe one or two universities in Poland at that time.
Today, many universities offer UX as a major field, and you can get a professional education by choosing such a path. Getting a degree from a renowned university might be the most safe option. You would have access to both the highest quality learning material and teachers who are UX practitioners having years of experience working in the industry. But this is not the only path to learn UX and become a UX Designer.
The first alternative is bootcamps. It sounds like a faster option to acquire basic knowledge and kick start learning, as usually these are 3–6 months programs. Some are really of high quality, and their alumni land jobs easily. But be careful. Many bootcamps offer a false guarantee of getting a well-paid job right after graduation, which is an awful trickery. What you can learn in 6 months is not enough to get a UX Design job. Maybe an internship at last, if you have the spark. What you could learn in 3–6 months is basic and must be deepened in many following years.
Can you learn UX Design on your own?
But this is not the end of options, as the Internet is full of great free and paid learning material. You can start with blogs and free video courses. Even YouTube has something valuable to offer among tons of fluff. The only issue with free online resources is the amount. There are simply too many.
How to get guidance on what is worth spending time on? You could look for a mentor or join a mentorship program, either free or paid, and have an experienced UX practitioner as some kind of teacher who tells you where to find knowledge and what to learn next and gives you feedback along the way. Some mentorship programs are more advanced and involve real-life product work – you gain knowledge working for a company on their design problems, while your mentor is always there to help.
And the final alternative is online products like UXStarter. The website we have put together recently is a list of carefully picked free online resources and books you can learn from at your own pace. UXStarter is a great option for people who are at the very beginning of their path to becoming UX practitioners. You don’t get guidance from a mentor though, but this could be your next step.
What to do to stand out in the tough job market of 2024?
Watching the job market in recent years has been painful, especially from a junior designer’s or a junior designer wannabee’s perspective. The majority of companies cut costs and prefer to hire more mature designers with hands-on experience who could do the job without much guidance. If you just graduated from a university or a bootcamp and looked at the market to find these two or three junior positions available, be aware that there are hundreds or even thousands of people like you. There’s very little chance to break into the industry these days.
What can you do to stand out and multiply your chances?
Gain some experience prior to applying for junior roles (and, of course, by preparing an awesome portfolio). This is not an easy option but for sure doable. I’d not recommend redesigning an existing digital product, which many junior designers choose to do when they lack real-life projects. It doesn’t give you anything apart from getting familiar with UI design tools.
What you can do to get real and valuable experience and help others as a volunteer is one of these options:
Attend a hackathon or a startup weekend event and become a part of a team working on an MVP of a real product
Find an NGO with a poorly designed website and offer help in doing work that would boost conversion
Join a group of students or newcomers from different disciplines to build a non-profit digital product.
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