Training and skill development
Many people have either stumbled or hustled into a UX role and come from a wide range of backgrounds. It isn’t always easy, but it certainly can be done. That said, there are programs that may make the transition easier. You have a lot of potential options, so it is worth thinking about your situation and learning style to find the right one for you.
For folks still in a graduate/undergrad program:
If you are eligible for internships (even for a few months after you graduate). This is the single best thing you can do. (Note: some non-students are eligible for internships as well, so make sure to read the fine print).
Scour your university catalog for relevant courses. If there is an HCI or School of Information start taking classes there, but there are lots of courses that can help you. Areas to explore include:
- Business or Management School course on innovation or product strategy
- Any research methods type courses (research design, research ethics, interview methods).
- Any human factors, ergonomics, or design classes (visual design theory for instance)
Try to find a professor with relevant background and see if they will let you design a UX type course as an independent study. For graduate students, see if you can tailor your thesis or dissertation to focus on something relevant to the UX world. For undergrads see if you can do a capstone type project that would mimic a UX project. Maybe do some research on the university’s website information architecture?
For quant-focused folks:
- If you already have a quant-focused PhD, I’d consider the Insight Data Science Program (link). It is focused more on data science roles, but a) why not go get paid like a data scientist if you are going into industry anyways? b) it also probably prepares you for a lot of quant UX roles.
- If you are interested in how a Quant UX role and a Data Science role differ, here is a good read.
- There are lots of online programs that are relatively inexpensive (e.g., DataQuest, DataCamp) that can help you learn R, Python, Tableau. If you have a good quant background, but haven’t learned these yet this is a great way to bolster your chances. The critical thing would be to scour the case studies from the larger companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook to get good examples of quant-heavy projects.
Academic graduate programs:
If you are not currently in school, it can be worth considering getting more formal training. While not cheap, some of these programs regularly place folks into positions at prestigious tech companies and other great opportunities. Make sure you pay close attention to admission deadlines and requirements. It can be really good to enter the field with a comprehensive foundation and the networking you get from your cohort can pay dividends for years.
These programs tend to be between 18 and 24 months. Some of the programs are in HCI departments, others in Schools of Information Science, while others are in Computer Science or even a Business school. We were going to make our own list, but this one is pretty good.
Here is a really amazing overview of interaction design programs in the European Union (link). You will definitely have to do your own research to see which ones are best suited for a focus on research. There are certainly excellent programs in other countries as well, but we have yet to see a comprehensive list. Share it if you have one.
If you do any of these programs make sure you graduate with:
- At least one internship lined up or completed.
- Projects you can present as part of a research portfolio when you go out to the job market. Ideally something that you were able to own from A to Z.
For-profit graduate programs:
- Several for-profit institutions offer degrees in UX. While some might cover research as part of a broader UX course, none (as far as we know) focus primarily on research. We have personal qualms with for-profit education models and the rapid expansion seems to have led to a drop in quality in some instances. However, for-profit programs tend to be both cheaper and quicker than most academic programs.
- We’ve also heard that some of these programs may be excellent in some of the cities they operate in, but perhaps not as good in others. We certainly know a few designers and researchers who have been quite successful coming out of these programs, we just don’t know how representative they are.
- Coursera, Udemy, and many other platforms have free or relatively lower-cost online options. Most of these do not focus on UX Research, but you can learn a lot about Human Centered Design and UX. Georgia Tech, UCSD, and Michigan seem to have some of the more popular academic options. Keep in mind which ones are subscription and which ones let you keep the materials. [In the spirit of transparency we want you to know that at the time of publication, Laith works at Udemy]
- Online list of affordable and free UX education courses
Do your homework and buyer beware!
This article was written by Laith Ulaby and Grace Vorreuter as part of a series on getting started in UX. If you would like to see the rest of the articles click here.
