Dear Senior UXer, how can a developer the skills needed to be successful?
Good morning Jason,
I am studying IT — software development. We had few courses in design/UI/UX and I am interested in that area. I would like to ask you as a successful professional in this area how can I achieved the “skills” for it and how can my course help and what can I do to be successful? Thanks
- RB, Canada
Hey RB,
If you ask around you’ll find plenty of established UXers that got their start in just that way. They were taking a course in a related practice that had a component of UX, which sparked their interest and began their journey into more specialized training.
At its core I think your question hinges on two things; how do you acquire the knowledge of specific UX techniques, and secondly how to sharpen your skills while applying these techniques.
Lucky these two things can and often do go hand and hand.
My preferred method for achieving proficiency with any given skill is through the practice gained by applying them to a specific challenge. In short applying, a process to a practice problem, or sample project will allow you to practice multiple techniques across the stages of a project.
There are a few ways to do this, you can take a UX Bootcamp over a few weeks or months. This will often be providing you with exposure to the Design Thinking technique, as well as provide you with the opportunity to select a challenge to work against, which will often end up being your first case studies in your portfolio. While I can’t endorse any specific Bootcamp program, I’d advise you to look for programs that are going to give you a broad level of exposure to the entire design process and provide lots of opportunities to collaborate with other students.
Alternatively, you can select your challenge problem and undertaker a design sprint against it on your own time. I think Google’s Design Sprints kit is a great resource on the process & techniques involved in a design sprint.
Whichever path you choose it’s really about getting familiar with the techniques and then applying them to a problem over a few weeks/months, as oppose to learning a specific set of skills… and then hoping to apply them one day.
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