My experience with the NN/g UX conference — 2021

Nielsen Norman Group is a UX research and consulting firm trusted by leading organizations worldwide. They offer research-based best practices, videos, articles, books, and conferences to make your products user-friendly and help you advance your UX career

The decision to participate in the conference

Articles and videos from Nielsen Norman Group have been my go-to sources for a long time now, their research-based explanations of every subject provide a great base for understanding and defending your design decisions. That pared with recognition on the internet and around the design community made me very curious about the conferences NN/g was organizing.

It is common knowledge that conferences are expensive and a lot of planning and work goes into them, so, when I first started researching the UX certifications they provided, I quickly changed my mind. They seemed too expensive at the time, plus conferences were held in different countries every month, so travel expenses were also a big addition to the problem. I couldn’t afford it back then and didn’t really see the value at that phase of my career.

Shortly before and during the pandemic, I started developing my skills and experiences rapidly, changed a job, and even took a part-time position while already working on a full-time one. My impostor syndrome kicked in and I started thinking about the best ways to sharpen my skills, especially in the research field. That’s when I revisited the idea of attending the conference. The idea was more realistic as conferences were held online because of the pandemic, so travel expenses were out of the picture. Yes, the experience of being a part of the conference would not be the same, but I still decided to give it a try and invest in it in the hope of receiving clarity in research processes and useful tips and practical knowledge to start conducting different research or work alongside UX researchers.

The conference

As I mentioned, the conference was held online. The main tool — Zoom, communication tool — Slack. Announcements and important information were posted in the specific channel, you also had channels for networking, posting job offers, channels for fun stuff, and specific channels for specific courses you were enrolled in. These channels were used to share any information about the course: Zoom chat transcripts, additional resources, questions, etc.

People participating in that conference were from different countries, mainly from the US (in my courses), so the timing of the courses was perfect for them: they were awake and had a 45-minute lunch break in the middle of the course. For me, it was late at night, so during the lunch break, I had to fight myself to stay awake. Considering the fact that I had to wake up in 3 hours to walk my dog, it was very hard for me to stay concentrated all 5 days for 7 hours a day. So while choosing the conference you want to attend, pay close attention to the time zones and durations.

The courses I attended for my UX research certification were:

1. User research methods: from strategy to requirements to design — Covered in-depth analysis of key research methods like interviews, ethnographic field studies, online surveys, desirability studies, and overview of other research methods like card sorting, eye tracking, usability benchmarking, focus groups, etc.
2. The one-person UX team — Covered communication and evangelism, managing time, creating short and long-term strategies, demonstrating ROI, and creating a flexible design process.
3. Usability testing — Covered how to conduct testing, targeting and recruiting, test plans, types of testing, involving stakeholders, and analyzing results.
4. User interviews — Covered when and why to do them, different types of user interviews, planning and conducting an interview, common issues and how to overcome them, and finally how to analyze and report the data you receive.
5. Personas: turn user data into a user-centered design— Covered understanding of why personas matter, putting them to work for your team, process of creating personas, and utilizing personas.

Courses were held by industry professionals, they were all well structured, tested, executed and all involved several group activities during each session. Group activities encouraged us to exchange knowledge and collaborate as designers from different fields, experiences, backgrounds, cultures, and countries. This helped me understand the concepts, the ways they are used in reality, and get to know others in the industry. Slack gave us a good place to network after the courses and also got me connected with a researcher from Germany, who told me about their transition into UX research and gave me tips if I decide to do so.

Exams

To become certified in any specialization you have to pass at least 5 exams. I passed one for every course I took. At the end of each course, an exam becomes available to take, as courses finished very late for me, I took them the next morning, but in general, you have more than a month to pass them. The level of difficulty was somewhere in the middle for me, it is helpful to take notes and follow slides that are provided during the courses.

Results are in after less than 15 minutes and come with a recommendation to review certain topics. Each exam counts as a credit towards a certain certification.

Getting certified

The NN/g UX Certification Program offers a flexible, exam-based credential which has helped thousands of professionals build skills, gain credibility, and win projects and opportunities. — Nn/g

So basically they offer you industry-recognized certification after passing 5 exams, if you pass 5 exams in a certain field you receive “Specialty recognition” in UX research, interaction design, or UX management. But if you pass all 15 exams, 3 for each area of expertise, you receive UX Master Certification.

So I received recognition in UX research and am considering attending more conferences in the future to potentially pass 10 more exams.

So, do I recommend the conferences?

Despite the fact, that I plan to enroll in future conferences, I still encourage you to consider the decision very carefully. Yes, courses are designed very well and instructors are professionals in their fields of expertise, but you should definitely think about the following things:

1. It is not a small investment — If you are just starting out and are even not fully sure whether you want to be in the UX field or not, I would not recommend paying thousands of dollars just to understand that UX is not a right fit for you. There are a lot of free options for everybody to start with and even more than enough resources to get into the field and get the first job.
2. It is not a beginners’ guide — I would strongly recommend having some knowledge and if possible some experience in the topics of the courses you are going to attend. Those 7 hours will not be productive if you are new to the topics and you will not get what you paid for.
3. Try approaching your employer first — A lot of design departments in medium and big companies invest in the development of their employees and have a specific budget for courses and conferences. So, if the pricing is the issue for you, approach and ask your employer if they have the budget to finance the conference. Even attending one or two courses at first would be a great start to explore the format of the courses and decide if you want to continue further.

So, if you decide to invest your time, money, and energy in these courses try to make the most out of them: engage fully in group activities, network like never before, explore job offers, ask everything you are interested in, and have a great time.