Part 3: My Experiences of the UX/UI Immersive at the Flatiron School

Christian Rogers
Nov 3 · 5 min read

Here we go again!

Edit: I’ve published several other (so far) additions to my blog series. If interested, they’re linked here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

Wow! Time absolutely flies when you’re g(p)ainfully inundated. Since my last update quite a lot has happened. Phase three simply evaporated and I keep finding myself saying “Eh? WTAF time? Where’d you go!” Needless to say, as per the requirements for phase three (which is on campus), I’ve unconditionally submitted myself to the time dilating effects of my new temple - Flatiron HQ.

I’ve also reluctantly mastered the cruel, cruel mistress of prototyping software - Axure; wrangled a new team through hell and high water; budgeted for that really rather expensive commute; started getting up at 6:30 … simply to avoid the tube crush and lastly started phase four, which is the client phase. Despite my pitiful mewlings, it’s been absolutely fantastic.

Yup. Nothing good to say about commuting.

Except for the commute. That can literally fuck off. TFL and South West Tw…ains aside then, what was phase three like? Understandably there’s a lot of ground to cover, but unlike the prior two phases, there’s no homework mercifully. For me, this phase was what I’d been looking forward to - lots of face-time with seasoned industry vets; saying that though, I can’t fault Flatiron on instruction thus far.

Phases one and two were both very interactive and I always felt supported as I learned new things and took on fresh challenges. Now though, there are three poor souls who have to deal with my bullshit IRL (again, so sorry). So, Ha! Not quite sure why, but still. HA! Much like what I mentioned in my previous post, their eclectic experience is fantastic and has been so, so, so beneficial.

Plus it makes for some highly entertaining exchanges. Preferences between in-house, agency and freelance work play out like a game Risk, as the instructors vie for the great Eurasian landmass of your thirsty minds, all the whilst giving you invaluable insights into the industry and what to expect. My inner Mark Corrigan couldn’t be happier. What then about the infamous teams?

Enough said…

As I mentioned in my last post, teamwork can be a real challenge in phase two - since it’s all remote. Fortunately, phase three went far more smoothly, on the whole, thanks to it being IRL (I'd just get used to it at this point) and to a crucial new skill we were taught. Weirdly this skill isn’t a core part of the syllabus, but thanks to our instructor's insistence it hopefully will be from now on.

Agile, to the uninitiated, is a form of project management. Traditionally it has been the domain of developers, but increasingly it’s being applied elsewhere. Despite everything you hear (and will learn early on) about UX being a step-by-step / ‘waterfall’ process, you’ll quickly see the value in learning ‘lean UX’ as it’s known (arguably been the most useful thing I’ve learned).

Using a board like Trello or Pivotal Tracker (my choice) you and your team break down work into tasks per ‘sprint’ and by importance. At the start of the day tasks are assigned, meaning you always know what you're doing. The idea here is to avoid wasting time - due to aimless team communication - or going down rabbit holes by getting regular user feedback at the end of each sprint.

A beloved franchise I have some inexplicable fondness for…

Think of it like Captain Jack’s (almost) infallible three-sided compass, always steering the Pearl toward their often insalubrious or syphilitic goals. A course correction device for teams if you will. Our cohort found this especially useful when we were allowed to fail. And it’s a lesson I won’t ever forget. Whilst making our prototype we focused too much on the all-singing all-dancing aspects…

It was responsive. It was interactive. It was glorious. But it was folly. In other words, we spunked too much time down(?) rabbit holes (bit weird) and didn’t have a clear focus as a team. Mercifully we each repented to the gods of Agile, vowing to worship and tend to our boards and the rest of the project became a breeze. Hallelujah brothers and sisters, all hail the omnipotent fucking Agile.

Fuck. Agile is my life now

You’ll also hopefully feel far less pressure during phase three since you don’t have endless assignments to submit on Sundays and Wednesdays. The work / life balance won’t be quite so utterly fucked in other words, but then factor in a three-hour daily commute and your back to where you started. Which brings me to another fallacy I made early on. Don’t drink ALL of the free booze.

Not quite believing my luck, I engaged in frequent libations at the free bar on the ground floor. Yes. Again. You heard right. A free bar. My activities perhaps contributed to WeWork’s recent $40 billion devaluation and needless to say it was extremely foolish (as indeed I predicted it would be in my last post). After three weeks, the cumulative hangover ravaged me like a pack of rabid curs.

I’ve now resolved never to engage in such mid-week frivolities ever again. So far so good. But as you may have ascertained, I clearly lack a certain amount of self restrain. Alas, I always have to learn the hardest lessons. Before I bore you completely with stories about my pitiful drinking constitution (how did our grandparents manage it?), I wanted to touch on phase four.

STAAAAAAN!

As I mentioned earlier I’m now in the final major phase of this course. This is where you’re paired with a client and really left to your team’s own devices, which is amazing. We’ve been lucky enough to be paired with an interesting fin-tech startup called Pynk and we’re a week in already. By now all you’ve learned is so deeply embedded you should be a well oiled UX machine.

What’s so exciting is the work you do is real, adding some serious clout to your portfolio and giving you some vital soft (client management) skills. Plus at the end of it you’ll hopefully get to see your work improve their product. Winner! It’s surreal when you find yourself naturally leading a client meeting, instilled with a confidence you didn’t know you had thanks to your training.

That isn’t to say the instructors aren’t there. They are. But they take a backseat at this stage. The training wheels are off at this point - and that’s exhilarating. Not only that but we have been paired with a UI designer for phase four, again to make the team more like what you’d find IRL (not even sorry by this point) - teaching you how to manage a project from their POV too.

This feels like a natural evolution of what we’ve been doing so far and has set us up to feel very confident about getting a job. On that note, before I sign-off the cohort ahead of me has graduated, so I’ll be paying close attention to who gets jobs and where. So far it looks promising. Some of them have already had job offers, which is very reassuring, to say the least.

(hopefully)

I myself have also begun to be approached with job offers, reflecting what we have learned that London is thirsty for that sweet, sweet UX juice. On that note, I’ll leave you to it. Take it easy!

Christian Rogers

Written by

A fledgling UX designer who hopes to share their experiences with you, for anyone who is considering a career change or is just curious!

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